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“Ah Izuku, you made it - please, come in, come in.”
Izuku closes the wooden door behind him, shutting out the chill of the early winter air, and turns to face the leaders of the Bakugou tribe: Masaru and Mitsuki Bakugou.
Despite living in one of the nearby villages, Izuku has spent an untold amount of time within the Bakugou tribe, both formally in performing duties as an ally and local witch, and informally as the partner and lover of their leader’s son, Katsuki: a bombastic combination of his parents and the up-and-coming heir to the tribe. While their relationship was far from pristine, especially when Izuku was studying to make up for his lack of innate magic while Katsuki was working to control his overflowing stores to better prepare himself to lead his tribe after his parents, the two of them continued to circle the other and become further entwined as they pushed each other to become better and better. This eventually culminated in formalizing their relationship and partnership, and when not bound by tribal duties or village needs, the two spent as much time together as possible.
All of that being said, Izuku knows the Bakugou tribe almost as well as he knows his own village and his people, so it was easy to notice that something was wrong from the moment their fastest tribal messenger had arrived in his village and summoned him to report as soon as he could. From there, the messenger had little more information and instead led him through the unusually heavily guarded entrance and straight to the leader’s shelter. The tension was palpable: there was no casual conversation with the messenger or the guards, no lively bustle from the other tribe members cooking food, performing weapons repairs, or sharing stories…it was eerily somber and still, in a way that Izuku had only encountered in the tribe either before a conflict or during a season of illness.
And so, standing in front of them now, and without Katsuki present, Izuku’s chest tightens with dread. “Bakugou-san, what’s wrong? What’s going on? Where’s Kaccha— Katsuki?”
For an agonizing moment, there’s no response. Then, Mitsuki sighs hardas she opens her outer coat to reach inside one of the inner pockets. Izuku has no idea what she could be reaching for without addressing him first - would it be a letter? Some type of herb? A potion, perhaps? But instead—
“Bastard!”
Instead, in her hand is some kind of…creature!
Instantly Izuku is flooded with questions: what is this thing, where did they find it, did it just speak, or curse, rather?? He starts to move to reach out for it, but to his astonishment, Mitsuki flicks her finger at the back of the creature’s head, which prompts it to gnash its teeth and start babbling angry gibberish at her. Izuku’s hand falls back to his side, stunned, and he looks over at Masaru, unsure of how to begin making sense of this.
“The thing is, Izuku,” Masaru starts, ignoring his wife and this…creature, arguing, “we don’t know much. But what we do know is that this…this is Katsuki.”
Izuku can’t contain his gasp, lurching around Masaru to where Mitsuki and Katsuki (!) were still squabbling. The creature was now bouncing up and down in the palms of her hands, waving its small arms in a flurry. Its speech wasn’t very coherent, and in fact, the only actual words Izuku could understand were…curses.
Fitting for Katsuki, really.
Izuku blinks deliberately. “Okay, so…um, obvious question, how–how did this happen?”
Masaru frowns, his brows drawing together, and Mitsuki pauses in her bickering with Katsuki to answer. “As Masaru said, we don’t know, and that’s the biggest worry.” She glances down at Katsuki, who still looked indignant but had quieted for the moment. “You know how he is - he keeps a tight schedule, both for his own sake and for his duties to our tribe.” She shifts Katsuki into one palm and waves her other hand. “When he didn’t show up for our morning meeting, I was irritated at first, but,” she pauses, her own brows furrowing to match her husband’s, “despite him being a brat, he’s consistent. He keeps his word, and he’s never just blown off or neglected any of his tribal duties. So when Masaru and I went to his tent to check on him…” she lifts her hand, presenting the creature, “this is what we found in his bedding.”
Izuku reaches out again and Mitsuki deposits Katsuki into his hands. Katsuki - as this creature - was small enough to fit into one of his hands and about as tall as his hand was long. His body was surrounded by some type of protective shell that was dark green and had a textured block pattern all around it. Behind him was a silver appendage (tail?) that was gently forked and rounded at the ends and seemed to be able to be freely controlled by him, as well as respond to his emotional states. The only thing that seemed to be identical to his human Kacchan was the wild shock of blonde hair, under which were his eyes and his mouth full of sharp teeth, having seen them while he’d been “arguing” with his mother - though it seemed that when he wasn’t speaking his mouth was hidden beneath the top edge of his “shell”.
Katsuki is still in his hands but his eyes follow Izuku’s every move, and Izuku tries not to forget the seriousness of the situation in favor of examining his new form. He makes a note to jot down what he’s noticed for now and hands Katsuki back to Mitsuki to continue speaking with Masaru.
“I can…yeah…I can see how that would be a surprise, to say the least,” he murmurs, hand drifting up to his chin.
Masaru nods seriously. “Yes, to say the least,” he echoes. “Once that shock wore off, Mitsuki grabbed him to keep him safe and went to close down our borders while I sent our fastest messenger to retrieve you, because we need your help to break this curse and turn him back.”
Izuku freezes, and he hates how squeaky his voice sounds in response. “I just…why me? For an unknown magical curse? You know…that I…” He clenches his jaw, angry at how weak he sounds questioning the tribal leader. He’s an accomplished witch even without innate magic, having made up for it by obsessively studying any texts he could get his hands on. He’s got a long record of successfully helping and healing members of his village and neighboring tribes, but the feelings of emptiness and inadequacy never felt healed despite his successes. They were always there, ready to darken his mind with the reminder that his lack of innate magic denoted him as…less than.
Seeing the doubts flare, Masaru grips his shoulder. “Well, first, we have faith in you, Izuku,” Masaru replies kindly, squeezing gently. “You’re intelligent and well-read and we know how hard you’ve worked and will continue to work. You’ve saved so many in our tribe with your skills, regardless of your magical status, and we will never forget that.”
Izuku feels his eyes sting and his chest swell with emotion, but he takes a deep breath to settle himself while Masaru continues.
“We also know that Katsuki is…particular,” he continues. “If he was able to speak more…thoroughly,” both men cringe as another loud “fahking bastard!” rings out, “we know that he would demand to see you and have you work on him first…not only because of your relationship together, but because he trusts you completely.”
Mitsuki chimes in, her voice lower but just as earnest as her husband’s. “Not just the trust Katsuki has in you, but the trust we have in you, too.” Her face hardens as she glances at her son in her hands. “The fact is, we don’t know how this happened, who cursed him, what kind of curse it is and its duration…” she looks down at Katsuki, who rumbles unhappily and flicks his tail, “and so while we’re working on that, we need someone that we all trust to work on breaking this while we figure out what happened.”
Cold flows down Izuku’s spine at the weight of her words. As absurd as the situation initially appeared, she was absolutely correct: someone had managed to put an unknown curse on the son of the leaders of a prominent tribe. Without any leads to go on, Masaru and Mitsuki would have to do a significant amount of work figuring out how, when, and why this happened, and it would be Izuku’s job to care for and change Katsuki back while they were doing this.
“Of course I’ll help,” he responds automatically, stamping down his doubts. Insecurities or no, he’s never been able to stay away from or say no to Kacchan…or in this case, Katsuki’s parents, on behalf of Katsuki. “Of course I’ll do it…I’d do anything for Kacchan.”
Both of his parents smile, despite the worried creases still in their features.
“We’ll provide you with everything that we can so you can get him back to normal: a workspace, parchment, herbs, bowls, and a fire and cooking station, and anything else you find you may need,” Mitsuki declares, passing Katsuki back to him, who snaps at her fingers as she pulls back.
Masaru nods, adding, “At some point we’ll be consulting with other mages to figure out how this curse was able to be placed without anyone knowing, so if you find you need those extra resources to help you, we’ll arrange something once we’ve vetted their trustworthiness.”
Izuku pulls his hands in, cupping Katsuki close. “Thank you…thank you both. I won’t let you down.”
Masaru smiles, his intrinsic warmth shining through. “You never have, Izuku.”
* * * * *
“Okay, I raided your tribe’s libraries and your parents’ shelves for books on magic and curses to see what it is we need to try to break this.”
Izuku sets his armfuls of bound parchment and scrolls in a pile on the table, then claps his hands together.
“I may not have innate magic, but I’m still a witch, and I’ve done as much reading as possible as I’ve travelled and kept all of my notes. From what I’ve read, and I’m sure that these texts will agree, there are some curses that can be reversed with spells or incantations that aren’t magical. I’ve also grabbed materials for some ancient potions and mixtures that were used to break curses. It’ll be a little difficult since we don’t know what kind of curse you’re under, but,” he smiles at Katsuki, giving him a thumbs-up, “I’m not going to give up until you’re back to your true self.”
Katsuki wiggles in place on the table, his tail lashing once as he mutters a soft “bastard”, then hops closer to see what Izuku is looking at first.
* * * * *
It…wasn’t going to plan. At all.
The first attempt had been rituals. While Izuku had no innate magic, there were a few of the ancient rituals that had been recorded as being performed whether or not someone had it. It was unnerving, though, to perform rituals without being able to feel the magic flowing through you, but Izuku was determined to try.
It took time to search through the available texts and his notes for transformation rituals that didn’t require innate magic, as they were, obviously, ancient and rather obsolete when most all mages and witches who practiced had innate magic. Scorched drawings and faded runes were given new life on his note-taking parchment, and Katsuki hopped back and forth on the table, watching Izuku flip through pages and carefully sketch a copy of his best interpretation of texts so old they were close to disintegrating.
Lovely, to be trusting in something so unstable and unsure.
Nevertheless, after a few hours of pouring over his parchments, Izuku stands and stretches, rubbing at his tired eyes before grabbing the supplies he needs to copy the diagrams and runes.
Marks etched into the dirt, runes aligned and circled just so, and in its center: Katsuki, with the hope of being transformed back into his old self once this curse was broken. Izuku takes one look back at the text to confirm the next piece, then presses his hands together and closes his eyes, chanting in a smooth, steady voice.
Despite not having innate magic, neither of them can deny the power surge that’s felt with Izuku’s chanting, and Katsuki’s eyes grow wide as the the marks Izuku made start to glow faintly. He resists the urge to yell out - he doesn’t want to distract Izuku - and as the chanting gets louder and more intense, he feels his body start to heat up, in the same way that his hands heat up when channeling his explosive magic.
The temperature is rising, Izuku is still chanting, and while Katsuki would never admit out loud that he’s nervous…he’s nervous. If he were human, he would discharge this magic by now, as too high a temperature at too long a duration would damage him regardless of all of his training. He opens his mouth to yell out and stop the ritual when the heat spikes and there’s a loud bang!
It’s this sound that scares Izuku to alertness and he opens his eyes to see Katsuki surrounded by black smoke in the center of the etchings. He shoots forward, reaching through the smoke to grab him, and is momentarily stunned by what he sees as he’s catapulted back into a memory.
When Katsuki was younger and was first learning to channel his explosive magic, he liked to show off more than the average child - which made sense, as Kacchan was the best, but it also meant that he was showing off with significantly less control of his magic that as an adult. There were so many times when Katsuki would channel his magic to show off a new technique and it would backfire - literally. His face and hair would be covered in soot, red eyes wide in shock that his grandiose plans didn’t succeed, and it never failed to send Izuku into fits of giggles. He may not have innate magic, but it was always funny to see the comically stunned look on Katsuki’s face when he blew himself up.
And now, several years later, in a new form in the center of ancient etchings and runes, is Katsuki: covered in black soot with eyes wide in disbelief that he had been blown up…again. Izuku laughs so hard tears form in the corners of his eyes as he picks Katsuki up and listens to him tantrum as he wipes him clean with a damp cloth.
Attempt number one - rituals - was a failure.
* * * * *
The second attempt: potions.
This one scared Izuku more than the spells: medicines and tinctures are crafted based on humans and human ailments and symptoms - what is he supposed to do for a small creature? And an unknown creature at that? He has no idea if Kacchan still has human systems or completely new ones - if things safe for humans would harm him or vice versa!
After the failure of the rituals, Katsuki insisted on helping with this one. He would hop from book to book as Izuku scoured each page, desperate to try any options that would be both safe and (potentially) effective. With little hands, Katsuki would point out specific herbs and berries based on their uses, and Izuku would scribble down combinations and their ratios if they were compatible, and once they had argued and refined three different tests, it was time to cook.
Izuku’s fear only heightened as each potion was completed. Each of the three mixtures was a variant of a transformation potion, differing in both application and potency, and he prayed to every god listening that the human recipes wouldn’t poison a, well, non-human.
The first potion was a shimmering gold, the second potion was a fluorescent green, and the third was a navy so deep it could be mistaken for black. Pouring some of each into three little cups, Izuku handed him the first, the shimmering gold. Little hands tilted the cup to his mouth as he drank, and as soon as he swallowed, he belched. It wasn’t any belch, though, as flames shot from his mouth and nearly caught Izuku and his notes on fire. The little bastard laughed as Izuku screeched and flailed to protect himself and his notes, and had he been human, Izuku would have tackled him and started a fight. As it was, he could only glare at the little menace and note that, aside from breathing fire, there was no change or breaking of the curse.
The second potion, the fluorescent green, had somewhat of a sickly sweet smell to it - even Izuku had to cover his nose while it was bubbling in the pot, as it was too intense and causing his eyes to water. Passing Katsuki the second cup, it was his turn to roar with laughter as, immediately on hitting his tongue, Katsuki screeched and spat the liquid out, rubbing his hands on his tongue to wipe the offending substance off. He was assaulted by several “bastard, fahking bastard!” sentiments as he wiped up the spittle from the table as Katsuki fumed. Test two was marked as a failure because Katsuki was unable to tolerate the taste, though if he had managed to swallow any of it, it made no notable difference.
The final potion, the dark navy, made Izuku the most nervous - this was the strongest of the three, per his research and his notes, and seeing how the last two had given Katsuki unintended side-effects, he was afraid to see what would or wouldn’t happen. After swallowing the final potion…nothing happened immediately. Izuku encouraged him to wait, to see if time would cause any change, and just as they were about to mark it as a dud, Katsuki started to shake. It was unintentional - he started to shake, his tail whipped back and forth as his eyes squeezed shut and he released a choked “fahk…bastard…”
Panicking now, in fear that he was actually about to kill his lover, Izuku scrambled for his herbal bag, looking for anything that could cancel the ingredients in the mix and also act as an emetic, to force it out of his system. Thankfully it wasn’t needed, as just before Izuku could grab him and force the medicine down, a sharp hiss filled the workspace and a cloud of steam seemed to leave every inch of Katsuki’s body, leaving him looking like he had been dunked in water. And it was indeed steam, as Katsuki’s body became too hot for Izuku to touch for a while, so after seeing that he was no longer in danger and was literally cooling down, Izuku scribbled notes as Katsuki panted beside him. It actually had looked like Katsuki would have transformed: the heat and massive release of energy were common in transformations, so why didn’t the curse break? Izuku had no idea, but what he did know is that he couldn’t try this again and risk Katsuki’s life.
Attempt number two - potions - was officially a failure.
* * * * *
“I’m so sorry Kacchan…you must be exhausted. Not only are you still stuck like this, but we’ve been researching and experimenting on you all day…”
He releases a long breath, coming around the table and scooping Katsuki back up into his hands and lifting him to face level. In response, Katsuki huffs a large sigh. He’s irritated - and Izuku doesn’t blame him. It’s not pleasant to be experimented on. However, they both know that he wants Izuku to keep going, to try everything in his power to prevent him from being stuck like this.
Izuku clears his throat. “But I think…I think now that we’ve tried some things and those things have failed, I can do what I’ve wanted to from the start.”
Katsuki rumbles in interest at his words, causing him to vibrate slightly while the tip of his tail flicks back and forth in a sign for him to continue.
Izuku licks his lips, a nervous habit borne out of his anxiety making his mouth dry. “I know we obviously don’t know what curse you’re under…but from what’s been recorded, as well as learning from other mages and witches, unknown curses will tend to be broken in threes, m-meaning that whatever the third thing that’s attempted, will usually break it.” He takes a deep breath to steady himself before continuing. “I’ve also found, in my studying, that there’s a type of magic, a powerful one, that’s older than time itself, and while it’s not the fix for every curse, there are records of it being able to break some incredibly strong ones, so…” he trails off, stroking the small creature with his finger.
Despite Katsuki’s earlier fighting spirit, Izuku feels him press back into the touch, his little eyes closing in a rare moment of softness. He would never show it - outside of his loud squeaks and curses that demanded to be changed back - but Izuku knows he hates this and is wary about being stuck like this for too long. His parents needed their son, his tribe needed their top warrior…and Izuku needed his Kacchan.
Melting at the sight and surging with a newfound determination, Izuku finishes his thoughts. “S-so, since this is the third attempt at breaking this curse, I want to use this third attempt combined with this ancient magic to set you free.” Cupping Katsuki in both hands now, he brings him closer to his face.
“The magic…the magic is love, true love…” he starts, “a-and you can use ‘true love’s kiss’ to break a curse, and so,” his cheeks flame red and his words are soft but steady, “so I want to kiss you, Kacchan. I want to break this curse with a kiss.”
Katsuki’s eyes widen slightly, but he relaxes as Izuku closes the distance between them, stretching his tiny self upwards. Izuku presses his lips to the crown of his fluffy head, channeling all of his mental energy into evoking the ancient power, directing his love for Katsuki into this kiss and commanding the curse to break…break…break…!
…and as he pulls away, nothing happens. Katsuki sits in the palms of his hands, unchanged.
Panic fills his head and chest, and he prays his hands aren’t shaking. “But I…I thought that was going to work.” Izuku whispers, eyes filling with tears. “Love isn’t…you don’t need innate magic to love, it’s that old, it’s why it has the power it does to break the strongest of curses.” His voice wobbles as his tears spill over and blur his vision. “I don’t…there’s…that was supposed to be it!” His feet move without him thinking, anxiety and distress needing an outlet and forcing him to pace. “A group of three, an ancient magic that anyone can invoke, innate magic or not…Kacchan, if that failed, w-what does that mean? What are the implications of my love failing? What if that means—”
Izuku never finishes this thought, as his panicked feet stumble over themselves and he trips, lurching forward sharply and causing Katsuki to fly out of his hands.
“Kacchan, no!!”
He scrambles unsteadily, trying to reach forward and catch Katsuki but he’s too late. With a loud thud! Katsuki crashes into the wall, releasing a loud and squeaky “fahk, bastard!” before tumbling to the floor.
“Oh gods, Kacchan, I–”
He’s unable to finish before a pop! rings out and the room is filled with a gush of pale gray smoke that billows throughout the room. Coughing and trying to blink through the stinging of his eyes, Izuku flaps his arms frantically, trying to clear it out and scan the floor for Katsuki so he doesn’t step on him and hurt him even further—
“It would be your clumsy ass tossing me across the room for this stupid curse to break!”
Izuku freezes as the last of the smoke disappears, and instead of the tiny creature he’s spent so much of his time with…in its place is…
“K-kacchan!”
Dropping to the floor and scrambling into his lap, Izuku wraps his arms around Katsuki’s shoulders and buries his face in his neck, wetting it with tears. “I’m so s-sorry for throwing you— are you hurt?” Shifting backwards slightly and sniffling, he takes Katsuki’s face in his hands. “How are you feeling - I know we were trying so many things to turn you back - and not that any of the potions were dangerous but I didn’t know if they would be different with you as that— that little creature versus a human or if the magic we used in the rituals would have hurt you when you were that small…and then, and then I tripped and threw you Kacchan, what if you hadn’t changed back and you ended up hurt—”
“Easy, easy— take a breath, stupid Deku!” Katsuki reaches up to grab both of Izuku’s wrists and free his face, as well as refocus his attention to break the verbal spiraling. “I’m fine, Deku - you didn’t even throw me hard enough to hurt, don’t think I’m that weak! And even if you did throw me, I had that shell around me that wasn’t gonna break just because your ass is clumsy!”
Izuku laughs at his predictable grumpy response, freeing one of his hands and wiping at his face. “You’re right, you did…I still feel badly, though…had you not changed back, it would have been difficult to see if you were injured."
Katsuki snorts. “Like I said, I had that shell. And if you somehow did manage to injure me, I would have found a way to cuss you out and let you know.” He tilts his head as Izuku’s giggles fade and his green eyes meet his own, studying the man in his lap for a long moment. “So a kiss, huh?”
Immediately, Izuku’s expression drops. “I— yeah. That’s one of the things a lot of the texts said could break a curse, and I…” his voice wobbles. “Like I said, love is one of the oldest recorded magics we have and since we were at the third try a-and I love you so much, I j-just thought…” his voice breaks, but he still drives on, “I th-thought that invoking an old magic would be okay even if I don’t have any m-magic, but it didn’t work and Kacchan, what if that means I can’t even invoke love? What if it didn’t w-work because it’s not true l-love? What would I—what would we even do—”
As Izuku rambles, Katsuki’s eyes narrow until he’s finally had enough. “Oi oi, quit— De—Izuku, shut up!” he barks, clapping his hand over Izuku’s mouth. “First of all, we don’t even know what kind of curse it was. Just because a kiss is something that can break curses, doesn’t mean it’s gonna break every curse.”
Izuku’s eyes widen and Katsuki feels his mouth move behind his hand, but he keeps his grip firm so he can finish speaking.
“And second, even if a kiss were supposed to break this curse or whatever and it didn’t work…is that gonna stop you from being with me?” He raises his eyebrow, daring Izuku to argue. “Because some shitty fate or magic says we’re not ‘true love’ or whatever?”
Rising to the challenge, Izuku pulls Katsuki’s hand away from his mouth and clasps it securely against his chest, without looking away. “No, Kacchan. Never. You’re…I—”
“Exactly,” Katsuki interrupts. “I don’t care about predestined ‘true love’ or whatever else. You’re…” he pauses, ears tinted pink, “you’re mine, Izuku.”
Wide eyed and flushed red, though with a grin spreading across his face, Izuku squeezes the captive hand still held in his own. “And you’re mine too. My Kacchan.”
The original blush from his ears spreads to the top of his cheeks, but Katsuki keeps eye contact with Izuku as he nods sharply. “Damn right. So no more worryin’ about this crap. You changed me back and you did it on your own, and…” his shoulders shrug as he sighs and his cheeks darken further, “…and, thanks. For doing it.”
Izuku leans forward and kisses Katsuki’s cheek. “Anything for you, Kacchan. Always.”
There’s a few moments of silence as they sit together, and while Katsuki would love for this ordeal to be over, he’s known Izuku for too long and therefore, knows that this is far from the end. The silence alone tells him Izuku has more on his mind. He leans back to look at Izuku, who is, indeed, lost in thought.
“Spit it out, nerd, what else are you thinking?”
Izuku starts at being called out, but laughs lightly as he first climbs off of Katsuki’s lap and then stands, offering a hand to help him to his feet. “I was just wondering…if our positions had been reversed and I was the one that became a little creature…would you try to turn me back?”
Katsuki stumbles as he takes his hand and rises up, caught off guard. “What kind of a question is that?”
“I just want to know if you would change me back!”
“Of course I would change you back, why would I want you to stay as some weird-ass creature?”
Izuku gasps, faking distress. “‘Weird-ass’? You’re saying I wouldn’t be cute, if I was turned into a little creature?”
Katsuki’s mouth falls open in disbelief. “Why do you care if you would be cute or not? Isn’t the whole point to change you back to your human form?”
Izuku grabs onto his forearm and shakes it slightly to emphasize his point. “Yes of course that’s the end goal, but would you not also love me if I were a little creature?”
Sputtering and rubbing his eyes in disbelief, Katsuki takes a breath before yelling, “I love you because you’re De-Izuku, not whether or not you’re some shitty ass creature! Even if you’re a creature, you’re still my shitty nerd and you need to be changed back into your shitty nerd form!”
Izuku pauses. “…so you would still love me if I were a little creature?”
Katsuki roars, grabbing Izuku by the shoulders and shaking him. “Yes, shitty Deku, I would love you if you were a little creature and I would also change you back to your shitty Deku self so I could kick your ass for asking me dumb questions!”
Izuku laughs, a bright sound that cuts through the bulk of Katsuki’s irritation, and wraps his arms around Katsuki’s middle. “Thank you Kacchan, I’m glad your feelings would remain unchanged.”
Katsuki grumbles, knocking his forehead against the top of Izuku’s head. “…as long as yours stay, too.”
Squeezing him, Izuku murmurs, “Always, Kacchan. Always.”