Chapter Text
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also termed broken-heart syndrome, is a sudden transient failure of the heart chamber percipetated by an extremely stressful event.
The first time Izuku confesses his love, Kacchan crinkles his nose and sticks out his tongue.
They’re watching a movie together, the adult kind on the adult channels they’re not supposed to touch. But it’s part of the All Might Legendary trilogy and it’s fine as long as they don’t get caught. Izuku makes sure to stress that to Kacchan, who keeps eyeing the door, anxiously waiting for his mother to walk in.
The movie is in a foreign language. English, Izuku thinks. There are subtitles but they move too quickly for Izuku to make an attempt at reading them. Besides, his kanji reading skills aren’t all that. But Kacchan is amazing at reading so he fills Izuku in on what the characters are saying.
Mostly, Kacchan and Izuku just stare in awe at the cool action sequences.
“Wow!” Izuku draws out, eyes glued to the screen where All Might carries an entire bus with one arm while he holds a girl with his other arm. The sky is filled with sparkles and epic beams as he lands slowly on the pavement. His cape flows in the wind and everyone around him cheers. He makes it look so easy and effortless! Izuku wants to be able to do that one day.
As All Might sets the bus down on the street, he and the girl start to talk. She has her hand on All Might’s cheek. They look sad for some reason.
“She is saying thank you for being the coolest and most amazing hero ever,” Kacchan says confidently. There is very little kanji on the screen, but Izuku trusts Kacchan.
“Why do they look sad then?”
“Oh.” The question stumps Kacchan a bit, who looks back at the screen as if he’s concentrating hard. “She’s sad All Might did not catch the villain yet and he’s saying to have no fear because he’s here!”
“So cool!” Izuku looks over at Kacchan who’s watching starry-eyed, the blue lights of the screen reflecting on his wide pupils. He cheers at the screen, waiting for All Might to fly into the air when he does something unexpected.
He leans down to look at the girl and then they… oh my gosh!
“They’re kissing!” Izuku points, although he knows he’s not supposed to be watching, and then turns over to Kacchan to gauge his reaction.
Kacchan is making gagging noises and so Izuku follows suit and exclaims, “Ew!” He doesn’t actually think it’s gross. Quite the opposite. It looks very sweet and Izuku loves receiving kisses from his mom. Kacchan doesn’t seem to like kisses though. What a shame.
All Might and the girl say something after they kiss, and it looks very emotional. Izuku concentrates on how they make the sounds and repeats it in his head. He makes the noises under his breath, over and over again so he can remember.
Once Kacchan stops groaning in disgust, he starts “They are just saying some gross stuff now—”
“I love you,” Izuku mutters out loud, tongue tasting the foreign words and trailing the way it sounds in his voice.
He turns to face Kacchan, who is staring at him with wide eyes and a slack mouth. “What?” Kacchan chokes out.
“That’s what she said,” Izuku says matter-of-factly. “I love you.”
“STUPID!” Kacchan shouts, face wrinkled in disgust. “Do you even know what that means?”
Izuku blinks at him, a bit caught off guard by Kacchan’s response. It sounded nice when she said it to All Might. Izuku didn’t think much past that.
He shakes his head.
With an upturned lower lip and a harsh puff of air, Kacchan explains, “She said suki da! You don’t go around saying that kind of stuff.”
Oh, Izuku heard that before! It’s the special kind of ‘I like you’ he heard about.
“But I really like you, Kacchan!” The confession comes easy to Izuku, a fact he’s well acquainted and comfortable with.
“Gross!” Kacchan exclaims loudly, sticking his tongue out and brushing his arms as if to get rid of dust or shivers. “Stupid Deku! The right way to say it is daisuki da and not that!”
Izuku doesn’t really understand the difference or why Kacchan is making such a big deal of it.
“Dating is for … gross adults. You can’t just say stuff like that because…” Kacchan purses his lips and makes a thinking face before pointing at Izuku’s chest and shouting, “Then we have to get married, and I don’t want to marry you!”
The jab on Izuku’s chest hurts but he doesn’t say anything about it. “Why not?” He tries not to sound too rejected, but he can’t help the upset that statement fills him with.
“Because you don’t have your quirk yet and I am not risking marrying someone with a weak quirk.” Kacchan crosses his arms with a self-assured smile. He’s still so proud of his new-found quirk now that it has presented. Izuku can’t fault him, it really is cool.
He hopes his quirk turns out to be just as cool or Kacchan may never give him a chance.
Without knowing where this confidence came from, Izuku puffs his chest and faces Kacchan head-on.
“One day I will be a big and strong hero… so strong that I can lift you up with one arm like All Might. Then… then you will have to marry me!” Izuku feels himself grow winded with his big declaration, cheeks growing hot and rosy but he doesn’t stand down. His face remains determined.
Kacchan gives him a big grin as if to accept the challenge, equally excited. “We’ll see about that, Deku. As if you will ever be stronger and cooler than me.”