Work Text:
Izuku arrives at their usual rendezvous twenty minutes earlier than needed.
The full moon is bright tonight, as if it’s casting its own light, bathing every tree, branch, and leaf in glimmering silver. There’s not a cloud in sight to obscure its glow. It’s taunting.
Izuku would find its beauty alluring if it wasn’t for what he knows lies ahead tonight.
A brisk wind rustles through the forest, making the old windows of the abandoned house behind him rattle. Izuku shivers despite the warm coat he’d thrown on He wraps it tighter around himself, tucking his face into the collar, and waits.
The moonlight trickles through the thick canopy and strikes pale blonde, catching Izuku’s attention. He straightens up with his heart in his throat as Katsuki makes his way over with his hands shoved deep inside his jacket pockets, sweatshirt hood pulled up, and shoulders hunched against the cold wind. Or maybe it’s the fatigue, the muscle aches that he’ll never admit to Izuku on the days leading up to it. His heart clenches at the sight alone, one he’ll never get used to.
“Hey, Kacchan,” Izuku says quietly as soon as he’s just a few feet away. Katsuki just grunts as he shuffles past him to the shoddy front door of the house. He keeps his head bowed, letting the shadows hide his pallor, the dark circles under his eyes. Izuku knows how much he hates Izuku seeing him like this, this side of him that he so desperately despises. And Izuku does too, but not for the same reasons Katsuki does.
Izuku follows in after him, letting the creaking door shut behind them.
Katsuki is already near the bottom of the stairway that leads underground. As Izuku descends them the musty, frigid air and the faint stench of blood fill his senses and it’s all too morbidly familiar in a way it shouldn’t be. But it is for them. Izuku shudders as he catches up to Katsuki, as they stride deeper into the belly of the large cellar.
When they reach the cell at the far end Katsuki walks straight inside without a word as Izuku lights the small lantern, immediately picking up the chains and restraints from the wooden chest in the corner, exactly where they’d left it the last time they were here two weeks ago.
Izuku watches from the cell’s door as Katsuki wastes no time clicking on the shackles around his own ankles, tugging them roughly to make sure they don’t budge. The chains are loud as they drag against the cold stone floor when Katsuki shuffles over to the metal grate embedded into the ground at the opposite corner of the cell.
He settles down onto the ground, hissing as the cold floor chills his skin even through his clothes, securing the other end of the shackles onto the bars of the grate before leaning back against the wall and pulling his knees up and planting his feet.
Izuku feels his throat close up with suppressed tears when Katsuki squeezes his eyes shut, head tipped back, letting out a shaky exhale through cracked lips that forms a little cloud of vapor in front of his handsome face.
Katsuki lolls his head back down and his intense red eyes pin Izuku with a sharp gaze.
“You gonna just fuckin’ stand there or help me out, nerd?” he barks.
“Y-yeah sorry,” Izuku peels his eyes away and walks over to the chest to pull out the rest of the restraints. When he turns, Katsuki has already taken off his jacket and hoodie, shivering as the icy air hits bare skin. Izuku has to resist the urge to shrug off his own jacket and wrap Katsuki with it.
Izuku focuses on untangling and carrying the remaining chains over to Katsuki who holds his wrists out to him without hesitation, eyes looking somewhere over Izuku’s shoulder when he kneels in close, setting them all down. Izuku can already see the beads of sweat collecting on his forehead, his upper lip, the dips of his collarbone before dripping down the plane of his chest despite the cold.
He gently takes one of Katsuki’s hands in his, caressing the scarred ring around his wrist with his thumb that has and never will fully heal. He swallows thickly, eyes watering, but Katsuki makes an impatient sound. Izuku clips on a cuff and then the other without looking up. He can’t look, because if he does he won’t be able to do this. It’s his least favorite thing and he hates it, but at least if he doesn’t look up at Katsuki while tying him down like he’s some kind of rabid animal, it’s somewhat doable.
Izuku pulls Katsuki’s cuffed wrists to the steel bars of the cell to his side, using another chain to tie them to the bars and then securing it with a padlock. He carefully sticks the key in his pants pocket.
He has to swallow the bile that rises when he gingerly reaches for the next restraint, a thick metal collar with spikes around the outside circumference and a chain attached to it, Katsuki already leaning forward so that Izuku can put it around his neck.
Izuku clears his throat, “Do we have to use this one?” he asks softly.
“You know we do, Deku,” Katsuki responds gruffly, though he looks severely nauseated by it.
Izuku nods and grits his teeth, reaching forward to wrap the open end around his neck but pauses, then pulls back. Katsuki growls low in his throat, slightly animalistic.
“Get the fuck on with it, nerd,” he snaps, “The quicker you get this shit done the quicker you can go upstairs and not fuckin’ watch me turn into a goddamn mutt.”
Izuku purses his lips, “I don’t wanna use this tonight.”
“Hah? Are you an idiot? I’m dangerous! You don’t have a fuckin choice, we’ve fought over this shit before and I ain’t got the fuckin’ energy to yell at you again so just do it, fuck.”
“No. No, it’s inhumane, Kacchan.”
“Yeah well, I’m not human.”
Izuku shakes his head, eyes aching from holding back the tears for so long. “No, sorry Kacchan, I-I can’t. I won’t. These,” he gestures to the secured restraints at his feet and hands, “are enough.”
Katsuki drops his head and sighs, long and hard. He looks up, looking even more tired than just a second ago and Izuku feels bad for fighting him on this when he’s already dealing with so much pain and frustration. “Fuckin’ fine. But promise me you’ll go back upstairs before midnight strikes ‘coz if you wait ‘till after I turn, you’re gonna regret not using it.”
Izuku wants to protest but he nods. He looks to the side to find the last restraint, the worst of them all.
“You’re not skimping out on the muzzle, ya hear me?” Katsuki tells him in a low tone when he notices Izuku just staring at it beside him.
“Okay,” Izuku whispers, eyes still on the despicable piece of metal. He drags his eyes away to meet Katsuki’s, “But only at the last possible moment, not until then.”
“Deku…”
Izuku steels himself and glares, “We wait until 11:58, or we’re not using it.”
They have a short stare down but thankfully, Izuku wins this one. Katsuki exhales and then accepts with a nod.
Izuku feels mildly relieved and falls back to sit on his butt, crossing his legs and pressing his knee against Katsuki’s. He reaches into his large coat pocket and pulls out a pack of chips.
He shakes it up and opens it. “You didn’t eat anything before coming, did you?” he murmurs and he hears Katsuki click his tongue in annoyance as he pulls out a chip.
“I–fuckin’ no. You know I get nauseous, asshole.”
“You know that only makes it all hurt more, if you’re starving yourself?”
Katsuki rolls his eyes, “Whatever, nerd, gimme a chip.”
Izuku feeds it to him and he instantly takes it between his teeth. He gives him another and takes a chip for himself every few in between. The cellar is silent except for the crinkling of the wrapper and their munching. A light wind whistles through the gap in a window somewhere upstairs. Soon the chips are all gone. Izuku offers the tiny plastic bottle he’d stuck in his pocket for Katsuki to drink, which he accepts gratefully.
He watches as Katsuki attempts to roll his shoulders and his back makes a few pops as he twists slightly, wincing. Izuku hates this so much.
“What time is it?” Katsuki asks after a short period of silence.
“11:52,” he answers quietly, “we have a little more time.”
Katsuki grunts, leaning his head to the side and there’s a dull clang against the metal bars. Izuku winces as Katsuki shuts his eyes, body starting to shake slightly, and Izuku knows it’s not from the cold.
His heart aches so much for him, for Katsuki. His best friend for as long as he can remember. His Kacchan who’s been suffering this curse for so long because of him. Because he’d saved Izuku all those years ago, taking the bite that should have been his.
“Hey,” Katsuki whispers and Izuku snaps his head to face him, only then realizing he has his hand on Katsuki’s knee and is squeezing it so hard his knuckles are turning white.
He takes the hand away, “O-Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
But Katsuki just shakes his head, eyes firmly on Izuku’s face, frowning. He nudges Izuku’s thigh with a foot and Izuku puts his hand back on Katsuki’s knee.
“I, uh, I know I haven’t said this shit as much as I should,” Katsuki says, looks away, then back again. “I don’t think I’ve ever said it actually. But thank you.”
Izuku’s eyes widen in surprise, unable to comprehend it. Kacchan is thanking him when he’s the reason why he’s–huh?
“This shit–it’s h-hard. It sucks ass big time, and not just for me, I know, but at least we kinda got used to it now I guess, have a fuckin’ routine and method to deal with this goddamn madness,” he laughs wryly. “But it’s been easier than it could have been, and that’s ‘coz of you. You haven’t,” Katsuki’s throat bobs as he swallows, “you didn’t leave me, even when you could have. You always fuckin’ stayed even when I asked you to leave me the fuck alone, you stubborn bastard. And so, yeah, thanks for helping me. For doing all this shit even though you don’t want to. Even though you don’t have to.” Katsuki’s voice trails off near the end.
He looks like he wants to reach out to Izuku, the shackles clanging against metal, but he can’t. Instead, he watches Izuku, waiting for Izuku to say something back or maybe just looking, the way he does sometimes when he’s too tired to hold up his walls even when he knows Izuku has the ropes to simply climb and peer over when he needs him to.
Izuku’s face feels icy and it’s only then Izuku realizes that his cheeks are wet, that he has steady tears streaming down both his eyes. He swipes at them quickly; he knows Katsuki hates it when he cries, it makes this whole thing so much harder.
“C’mere,” Katsuki says just as Izuku’s wiping his snotty nose with the sleeve of his jacket.
He looks up, “Wha–?” He’s not sure what he’s supposed to…?
“I said c’mere nerd, clock’s fuckin’ ticking,” he says a little more gruffly. Katsuki adjusts his position, wincing but managing to stretch out his legs, though both his arms are still awkwardly pulled to one side.
Heart thudding in his chest and a sense of anticipation pooling in his gut, Izuku obeys the request and crawls onto his lap, straddling his thighs.
“Yes, Kacchan?” he whispers.
Katsuki just shakes his head and closes his eyes, leaning his head forward despite his arm between them and pressing his forehead to Izuku’s. He lets out a shaky exhale and it’s warm against his skin. He searches Katsuki’s face and his eyes trail lower to the small smile despite this whole situation. Izuku wants to scream about how unfair it is, how they shouldn’t have to do this.
“Listen,” Katsuki murmurs, opening his eyes after a moment of silence, “I should’ve told you all that sooner so I’m sorry–”
“Kacchan, please stop, all this– is ‘coz of me in the first place, so don’t–don’t–”
Katsuki’s eyes glint in sudden anger. “Shut up. You try’na tell me that you’ve stuck around this whole time only ‘coz you feel guilty? ‘Coz if so, that’s–”
“What?! No! Of course not, how could you even say that?”
“Then stop with that shit then. I took us to the woods that night to fuckin’ mess around. We were both dumb teenagers, alright? And we’ve had this shitty argument before, we’ve done it enough and it gets us nowhere. It’s fuckin’ pointless. So quit it.”
Izuku gulps, then nods. “Alright.”
“Good.” Katsuki bumps his forehead against his. “Dek–Izuku, there’s something else I should’ve said by now, and I know it’s a shitty time to say it but–I gotta. I gotta say it now and–fuck–!”
Katsuki’s eyes squeeze closed, head suddenly thrown back, hitting the wall with a loud thump as he groans in pain.
Shit, it’s happening. Izuku pulls back the sleeve of his jacket to glance at his watch. 11:59.
Katsuki’s gonna turn soon.
“The fuckin’ muzzle, nerd,” Katsuki grits out, “And get the fuck outta here, hurry.”
Izuku’s brain is frenzied, still stuck on the words Katsuki just said to him, was about to tell him, and he’s not thinking straight.
He fumbles with the muzzle, still seated on Katsuki’s lap though he knows he should probably get off. Katsuki growls at him to hurry up but he can’t, he can’t, even though he’s done this so many times. Too many times. He can’t and–and maybe he won’t have to. Maybe–
Ever since that day he’s always been searching, researching, looking for the cure. And until now he’s failed, failed Katsuki over and over. Because every piece of information he could find, on the internet, the library, the dark web, illegal trading of copies of ancient texts from ruins across the world. All of them said the same damn thing: lycanthropy has no cure. No cure except death.
But Katsuki said it earlier, Izuku’s a stubborn bastard, so he hadn’t stopped looking, he hadn’t given up.
And he managed to find it, after following a dangerous trail of mystics and musings that lead him to a frightening encounter with the oddly kind red and white-haired vampire who’d offered him more crumbs to follow.
He found it after so long: the curse breaker. Found it just last week, had learned that it has only been recorded to have worked twice in all the millennia of existence and had wept in his bed. Because the curse breaker wasn’t a potion or spell or any magic, not really, which had only made it seem that much more unattainable.
But now–now there’s hope, he thinks. If what Katsuki was going to say what he thinks, it might be possible…
Katsuki is shuddering, shaking under Izuku, trying to buck him off, to get him out, but Izuku holds firm. He takes Katsuki’s face in his hands and gets him to look at him, despite the way he tries to fight him off.
“Look at me, Kacchan,” he says as calmly as he can, “Look at me, I found the curse breaker, I know what to do. Do you hear me? We can end this now but you have to trust me. Can you trust me, Kacchan?”
Katsuki suddenly stops moving and he’s breathing hard through his nose as he meets Izuku’s gaze. Izuku glances at his wrist; it’s midnight and they have about thirty seconds at most for the moon to hit its true peak. He has no time to explain anything, about the curse breaker, but it’s now or never. He’s not about to wait for the next full moon for this, it’s gotta end now.
“You have to bite me, do you understand Kacchan?” he says resolutely. “The moment you turn you have to do it, okay?”
Katsuki is clenching his jaw hard, the veins are popping up on his temple, his neck. His eyes flare and he shakes his head stiffly but vehemently.
Izuku shakes his head back and taps his cheek lightly. “You have to, it’s the only way. I can’t explain more right now, so trust me. Please.”
He shifts and rolls up the sleeve of his jacket to his elbow, exposing his forearm. He holds it up to Katsuki’s face as he attempts to protest again, in pain and clearly trying to control the changes and urges that are threatening to consume him.
“One bite, Kacchan, that’s it. You can do it, I know you can. Five seconds is all it takes and after that–after that, I’ll leave. If it doesn’t work I’ll lock you up and run back up, I promise, okay?”
Izuku takes a deep breath when he knows it’s time, when the soft hairs of his skin turn coarse and dark on his neck and down his chest. When the soft blond hair atop Katsuki’s head parts to make way for ears, canines elongating and cutting into his lip, the deep red of his eyes starting to sharpen into a vicious vermillion right in front of him.
Izuku presses the skin of his forearm against bared teeth and he holds Katsuki’s gaze as he wastes no time sinking them in, breaking skin easily.
Izuku lets out a pained yell but then grits his teeth, swallowing it. He counts to five in his muddled head, slowly, and breathes out his nose.
“Okay, that’s good Kacchan, that was good.”
But Katsuki doesn’t let go, and his teeth sink in a millimeter more. Izuku yells again.
“K-Kacchan! That’s enough–that’s enough, let go!” Tears are starting to spill out of his eyes again but it’s not from the pain in his arm.
It didn’t work, the curse didn’t break. Kacchan is still–he’s going to–
His arm is let go and Izuku somehow staggers onto his feet and backward, clutching his bleeding arm to his chest and out the cell door. With his good arm, he quickly grabs the large key to the cell from its spot on the wall and locks it up.
Izuku is breathing hard and he’s crying. His arm throbs, and he warily watches Katsuki whose eyes are still locked on his through the bars, now having fully transformed into his werewolf self. He’s snarling so loudly, fighting the restraints aggressively, and the sound of the chains echo throughout the cellar.
Izuku inches toward the steps, heart sunk low in his gut and a sense of grief flooding his entire system. He glances down at his arm halfway up the stairs and grimaces, pausing to gingerly shrug off his jacket and wrap his arm in it for some pressure. The bite isn’t huge and it's not too deep, but it’s bleeding. But hopefully, this should help for now.
He gulps some air, doing his best to ignore the growls and whimpers coming from down below and continues up. He reaches the landing and is approaching the couch on the far wall–his usual spot of refuge while he waits until the sun comes back up again–when the sounds from below stop abruptly.
It takes Izuku a few moments to realize that the silence is real and not just some side effect of his blood loss. He comes to a halt and listens.
Dead silence.
Panic rises inside his chest like a volcano.
With sudden vigor he didn’t think he had, Izuku turns and bolts right back down the stairs, skipping a step in his haste and almost losing his footing halfway down. In the dim light of the lantern, he sees that Katsuki isn’t moving and from this distance, he looks limp, maybe unconscious.
The jacket wrapped around his arm falls as he rushes forward and he can only hope that the bleeding has slowed, but that’s the least of his concerns right now.
When he nears the cell Katsuki is hunched in place, head hanging between his still shackled arms, and legs twisted oddly after all the struggle from earlier. But from what he can tell, he doesn’t seem to be unconscious which instantly relieves him, but only a little.
Izuku slows his pace just a little, “Kacchan?” he whispers.
Katsuki doesn’t respond. He's breathing heavily, breaths coming out uneven and fast, short gasps of pain escaping his lips. The skin of his wrists and ankles look raw and red, his skin is flushed all over, and he’s drenched in sweat.
Wait, his… skin. Not–not coarse fur, it’s skin. And his fingertips, curling and uncurling against the steel cell bars show no sight of sharp claws, just fingernails. Normal, human fingernails, just normal human ears, and no tail in sight.
It worked. The bite worked. Which means–which means…
Izuku rushes to undo the chains wrapped around the cell door without any further thought and throws them off, ignoring the throbbing pain in his blood-crusted arm as he yanks the door open. He hears Katsuki groan, incoherent sounds slipping out of his mouth, probably instinctively sounding a warning, still trying to protect Izuku.
He quickly gets to his knees beside Katsuki and cups his jaw, trying his best to not let his hand shake. Izuku lifts his face and takes a sharp breath when he notices the long canines continue to retreat back into his gums in real time. His eyes, Kacchan’s eyes, look dazed and confused, but they’re his.
It takes a few seconds but red meets green and it feels like their world does a one-eighty, finally right side up again.
“‘Zuku?” Katsuki murmurs and Izuku is ready to collapse into his arms. But he doesn’t, not yet.
“Yeah, s’me, Kacchan,” he whispers back, not sure what else to say.
Katsuki’s brows furrow and he looks down at his feet, wiggling his toes, eyes trailing up his own legs and torso, head turning to look at his hands. And then his eyes widen and snap back to Izuku.
“I–what? Did it– Am I–?”
Izuku is grinning like a madman, eyes pooling with tears as he reaches for the cuffs with the key and takes it off him. The action displays his arm and the bite wound, now thankfully no longer actively bleeding.
“Fuck, Izuku, your arm, shit I fuckin’ hurt you, I–”
Izuku shakes his head furiously, quickly moving onto the chains around Katsuki’s ankles and freeing his legs. Freeing Katsuki. Izuku’s laughing and crying and he’s a whole mess and he clambers onto Katsuki’s lap once more before wrapping his good arm around his neck, threading his hands into his soft hair at the back of his head and pulling his face into his chest.
Izuku giggles wetly as Katsuki grumbles something, indignant, but doesn’t move away, just noses his way up and buries his face into the crook of Izuku’s neck, wrapping his arms around his rib cage and holding him back, tight.
He feels Katsuki’s warm breath against his skin, getting deeper and slower, the tickle of his eyelashes as he opens and closes his eyes trying to process everything that's happened in the span of the past several minutes alone, the same as Izuku.
Izuku cards through the blonde hair, lightly scratching his scalp as he keeps his face buried in his hair. He has his eyes closed and he breathes Katsuki in, the smell of him and only him.
He feels the soft pressure warm lips against his skin before Katsuki is pulling back and Izuku lets him, his heart beginning to race again when they’re face to face again.
“Hey,” Izuku says quietly.
“Hey, nerd,” Katsuki breathes, then laughs lightly, so real, so genuine. “The fuck did you do huh? How did–how?”
Izuku feels all the blood in his system rise to his face, oddly bashful now of all times. He instantly tries to look away but Katsuki doesn’t let him, a hand coming up to his cheek and turning his face back to him, the other hand steady at his low back.
Izuku runs his tongue along the backs of his teeth, “I just–you know I’ve been doing a bunch of research since everything happened,” he starts, “and yeah I know you asked me to stop, like, so many times but of course I couldn’t Kacchan, I still dunno why you thought I’d stop, but yeah I kept digging and I found one last week, that’s a whole other story by the way, which reminds me I should probably let that vampire know it worked and thank him for his help–”
“Vampire?”
Izuku waves him off, “Like I said, it’s another story for another time, but yeah I found it, the curse breaker, but I wasn’t sure it would work, Kacchan, actually I was sure it wasn’t possible because it wasn’t what I expected it to be, and it’s only ever worked twice in all of forever, or at least has been recorded to have I guess so–”
“Izuku,” Katsuki cuts him off softly, the hand at his low back running up and then back down, “Why’d I have to bite you. What was the fuckin’ cure?”
Izuku swallows, “I–um–it w-was–” he clears his throat and answers firmly, “It was True Love’s Bite.”
Katsuki’s eyes go wide.
“T-That’s why I didn’t think it would work, that I’d hit a dead end again because I wasn’t sure how you felt, even though I knew how I felt, but that’s only half the equation, y’know? But earlier, when we were talking and you were about to say something, but you never said it but I had a feeling I knew what it was gonna be, but again I was really just taking a chance, haha, can you imagine if I’d been wrong, we could’ve gone through this together then maybe, I dunno that sounds rather depressing, but I’m glad I was right ‘coz that means–that means–” The tears are welling up and spilling over again, his vision is blurry, and he’s sniffling, oh god.
“That means?” Katsuki prompts him, tipping his head forward and knocking their foreheads again, just like before, but also different. The feeling is different now, and they’re different now.
“That means,” he whispers, voice shaking with emotion, “you love me too.”
He’s not sure who leans in first but that’s not something Izuku’s too concerned about because Katsuki is kissing him and he’s kissing Kacchan, lips colliding, retreating for the briefest of moments, and smushing firmly back together again.
A warm tongue pokes his bottom lip and Izuku parts his mouth in a gasp and Katsuki’s tongue doesn’t hesitate to slip in, pressing against his own tongue, and licking along his teeth.
They kiss for what feels like a long time and not long enough, the intensity of them simmering down into chaste, sweet pecks eventually, the soft smacks the only sounds filling the space until they finally pull apart when Katsuki shivers a little.
Izuku rubs his hands down his bare arms and back up to his sturdy shoulders, letting Katsuki press his lips to the corner of his mouth one more time. “We should go upstairs,” Izuku whispers, “It’s so cold down here. Also it’s late and there’s the couch, which isn’t that big but we can both squeeze on it I think?”
He flushes with the way Katsuki looks at him the whole time he speaks but he doesn’t look away this time. Katsuki’s eyes have a renewed spark in them, one he feels like he hasn’t seen in so long and Izuku can’t stop himself from grinning when Katsuki’s lips curl up in a smug grin of his own.
“Hell yeah, we can squeeze in there.” He gently takes Izuku’s injured arm in his hand with a concerned frown, “But first we gotta clean this shit and patch it up. Maybe go to the clinic early in the morning, yeah?”
“Mm,” Izuku nods, even though he wants to protest and say it’s fine, that he’s fine. He is, he’s so giddy with joy right now but yes, it’s probably best to get it checked out.
They gather Katsuki’s hoodie and jacket which he throws back on gratefully before they head up the stairs of the old cellar, together for the last time. They’re never going back down there again and the thought alone is enough to have Izuku get all choked up again.
Once they have his arm cleaned and all the stray blankets and pillows they’ve brought over here over the years have been acquired, the two of them settle on the lumpy couch.
Katsuki stretches out on his back and instantly pulls Izuku down over him and he rests his head on his chest without a second thought. Izuku finds himself starting to drift off almost immediately, the night’s events and emotions having taken a lot out of him.
But just before he dozes off he glances up to see Katsuki’s eyes wide open as he stares out the window above the back of the couch, the shimmering moonlight falling on his handsome face, highlighting the curve of his lips pulled up in a smile.
Izuku tilts his face to look out the window too and he falls asleep like that, with Kacchan’s steady heartbeat under his cheek.
And for the first time in a decade, the light of the full moon no longer feels like a curse but a benediction.