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It’s a nice sunny day the first time it happens. 4-year-old Katsuki and Izuku are at the park situated about halfway between both their houses. They are running around playing hero tag when the smaller green-haired boy falls down and scrapes his knee. Instantly, a barrage of tears threatens to flood the playground. The other boy, a spikey-haired blond, panics. The two boys had finally convinced their parents to let them play alone at the park, and now they might not get to play together anymore!
The blond stomps over and plops down beside his crying friend. “C’mon ‘Zuku, it’s not that bad!” He leans down to inspect the wound. Pulling a small pouch out of his pocket, he shows it to little Izuku. “Look, Ma made me bring some band-aids just in case! You’re gonna be fine, crybaby.”
The blond takes out a band-aid and an antiseptic wipe and gently cleans up the small scratch, before placing a band-aid over it.
Izuku sniffs. ‘But Kacchan, it still hurts a lot!” He reaches up and wipes the snot and tears away with the sleeve of his shirt.
“That’s gross ‘Zuku! I know you have tissues with you.”
“Oh yeah.” The boy pulls some out of his pocket. Before he can wipe his face, the blond takes them from his hand and starts doing it for him. Izuku giggles between hiccupping sniffs. “Kacchan, not so rough.”
“You gotta be tough if we’re gonna be hero partners ‘Zuku! I ain’t having a weakling as a partner!”
Izuku’s face crumbles and he starts to cry again. “K-Kacchan doesn’t w-want to be p-p-partners anymore?!”
Katsuki internally panics. “I didn’t say that dummy! We’re gonna be partners no matter what, so you gotta toughen up, okay?!” Not knowing what to do, he reaches out with both hands to gently pat Izuku on the cheeks to try and calm him down.
Izuku stops crying, curious to see what his friend is doing.
Seeing this reaction, Katsuki internally pats his own back. He’s already gonna be awesome at this hero thing!
After patting chubby freckled cheeks a few times, he squishes them together with his palms. Leaning forward, he rubs his nose against Izuku’s.
“Wah-chan! Whut are you doin’?” Izuku mumbles out. The green boy’s eyes go cross-eyed as he tries to look down at his nose at the action.
“Ma does it to me all the time. ‘S called butterfly kisses, and she says they make everything better! So now your ouchies won’t hurt anymore, ‘kay?”
Izuku giggles again and attempts to nod. But his face is still squished between two warm palms. “Okay Kacchan!”
Katsuki rubs their noses together a few more times for good measure before leaning back and nodding resolutely. “You’re all better now ‘Zuku!”
Little Izuku nods back, sparkles in his eyes as he stares at his best friend in awe. “Thank you Kacchan! I feel better.”
Katsuki folds his arms across his chest and nods wisely in the manner that only a small child can. “Of course you are! Cause I’m gonna be a hero, and this is what heroes do!”
Clasping his hands together, Izuku leans forward and shyly rubs his nose against Katsuki’s. “Kacchan sugoi!”
Katsuki sputters, a heated flush spreading over his face. “C’mon dummy, let’s go throw this trash away and keep playing!” He stands up and pulls his friend to his feet, albeit gently so as not to put too much pressure on the other boy’s hurt leg. Scraped knee already forgotten, the two continue their game of hero tag until their moms come to pick them up.
~~~~~
From this point, this becomes their “thing”. Whenever Izuku gets hurt, his grumpy blond friend gives him butterfly kisses until he declares him to be “all better”.
It stops for some years as their relationship feels the strain of their miscommunication.
The first time it happens again after their friendship is repaired is on a day where nothing seems to go right for Izuku.
A long and strenuous training session the previous night led Izuku to sleep through his alarm.
He’s late to class and is sternly lectured by both Iida and Aizawa.
He fails Ectoplasm’s pop quiz in math.
He trips in hero training, causing his team to lose at the last minute.
And due to the cold weather, his arms are hurting and he just can’t handle it.
So now he’s currently huddled up in bed, crying quietly when his door slams open. He lurches up at the impact, only to gape at the explosive blond standing in his doorway with a tray of dinner, a bottle of pain pills, and what seems to be his heating pads for his arms that he had left downstairs. He had been working up the energy to go downstairs to get them for the last hour.
“Kacchan?! What’s this?”
Katsuki stomps into the room and puts the tray onto the desk. “C’mon dumb Deku, sit up so you can eat.” He helps Izuku sit up, propping pillows behind his back and covering his lap with his blanket. He then sits the tray down on Izuku’s lap.
Izuku tries to ask him what’s going on again, but Katsuki grumbles and tells him to shut up and eat. Not having the emotional capacity to argue back right now he does so. Seeing that the dinner provided is finger food that would be easy to eat with his sore arms, he gets a funny feeling in his chest. Kacchan is taking care of him without wanting to acknowledge it with words. He looks up at his best friend and smiles. “Okay Kacchan. Thank you so much.”
After eating and taking the pain medicine provided, Katsuki activates the heating packs and gently and quietly holds them to Izuku’s arms, wrapping them in an ace bandage to keep them in place.
He moves the tray back to the desk and then sits beside Izuku on the bed. After a few moments of quiet deliberation, he seemingly comes to a conclusion and nods to himself. Before Izuku can react, Katsuki reaches up and squishes Izuku’s (still chubby and freckled) cheeks between his warm palms and leans forward to rub their noses together like they did as children.
Izuku’s eyes widen as he takes in the blush on Katsuki’s cheeks. “….Kacchan?”
Katsuki pulls back and turns to the side, trying to hide his red cheeks. But the flush on his ears gives him away too. “Gotta have your butterfly kisses so you’ll get better, idiot.”
Izuku’s eyes well up. He had thought they would never get back to this point. The happiness in his voice is evident when he says, “Okay Kacchan! But ummm… I don’t think that was enough. M-maybe I need some… more?”
Katsuki’s gaze jerk’s back to Izuku’s, but he nods shyly. “Y-yeah. Stupid Deku, you hurt yourself a lot more than you used to. I guess it’s gonna take a lot of butterfly kisses now.” He scoffs. “Good thing I’m here then.”
Izuku reaches up and places his hands over the ones still clasping his cheeks. “Yeah Kacchan… good thing you’re here.”
His smile spreads from ear to ear when Katsuki leans forward to rub their noses together again.
Yeah. Kacchan is here. Everything will be okay now.