Archive of Our Own ^beta

When Izuku was a young child, not much older than five or six years old, he became betrothed to the Bakugou Dragon clan.

Completely by accident.

"You"re gonna marry me, Deku!" Katsuki declares one autumn evening.

Crunchy leaves giggle at them underfoot as they trek through the woods, Izuku clinging to Katsuki"s cape so that he doesn"t get lost (again).

"That way, I can take care of you forever!"

Katsuki had unclipped his cape and wrapped it tight, too tight, around Izuku"s neck. Then he pulled him close and placed a messy smooch right between Izuku"s eyes.

And, with a mischievous laugh, he sprints away. Towards the clearing where, in the middle of the tall grass that reached up to Izuku"s neck, sat an even taller boulder.

Even back then, Izuku had gone breathless at how stunning Kacchan was. Izuku held the cape close to himself as he stumbled forward, tripping over it and the pebbles hidden in the grass, and felt small in the presence of the future Dragon King.

Katsuki climbs the boulder with ease, though it"s smooth all over—almost like a turtle shell, if turtle shells were smooth. He laughs as he nearly slides off the other end, but he digs his heels in and stands up tall and proud.

Then, as if he was worried Izuku wouldn"t be looking, he yelled and pointed directly at him.

"So you"d better make sure to always watch me! Got it, Deku!?"

The grass had tickled Izuku"s chin as he nodded, face aching from how wide he was smiling. There was a whistle of wind between his teeth where there was a gap, where he was waiting for an adult tooth to grow in to fill the edges.

"I will, Kacchan!" He"d agreed.

Generally, a child"s promise wasn"t very binding in many cultures. But Katsuki had nodded, resolute and growing solemn. Rather, as solemn as he could be at six, with no weight of the world on his shoulders and nothing but a hope-filled heart.

Then he"d said, "Gimme your hand."

He reached down, to where Izuku was still drowning in the grass—his element. The earth and the ground and all things stable. Still, Izuku let go of the grip he had on the cape. The weight of it nearly drags him back, but Katsuki is quick to yank him by the wrist and tug him up the smooth rock. They collide in the middle with matching "oofs", and—

And the world feels so much bigger, just standing a foot or so higher.

Izuku has climbed trees, has stared across the canopy from the top of the tallest redwood and saw how the people turned to ants and the ants turned to nothing as he went high enough to touch the sky. But never had the world felt so big than it had in that moment, holding Katsuki"s hand as he looked out in the clearing that was untouched by man and magic. Hardly a sacred land, but a land left alone nonetheless. It was theirs, for they had found it and claimed it under a moonlit night some few weeks ago.

Katsuki grabs his hand tighter, and tugs to get Izuku"s attention.

"You"re gonna be my mate, Deku. Then you"ll be mine forever."

Izuku nods, and a gust of wind curls around them as if to pull one another closer. Katsuki nearly slips, but Izuku tugs him back and wraps both arms around him, to keep him there.

"Okay, Kacchan! And you"ll be mine."

Katsuki had grinned, sure and true.

And then they slipped off of the rock. A complete accident, but one that sent them dissolving into laughter and joy nonetheless.

Then Katsuki had gathered him up, and they laid his cape out across the boulder so that it wouldn’t get lost.

"Okay!" He"d declared, digging in his pockets. "Um… here! To prove it."

Izuku holds his hands out before he even knows what it is. Even though Katsuki sometimes tricked him with bugs that liked to bite his palms to get away, Izuku would always accept what Katsuki gave, he thinks.

But instead of a bug, or a dirty stone, or any other thing that he may have found in the wild while they played, he delicately drops a gemstone in Izuku"s grubby hand.

It"s heavy, as if it was filled with water. Colored like grass, though, but brighter—almost like the emerald seas. It was as if someone had reached straight into the color and pulled out the softest parts of it, only to make it tangible and smooth and let it freely roam the world.

Izuku holds it to his chest immediately, and feels his eyes prickle with budding tears.

"It"s pretty, Kacchan!"

"It matches your eyes," Katsuki says, chest swelling with pride.

"I don"t have anything to give you…" Izuku deflates all at once, staring down at the beautiful stone. He rubs his pointer finger across it, and it"s cool to the touch even though it"s been held against Katsuki"s body heat for the last few hours.

It tingles in his grip, actually. Sort of like how mint tastes, but cooler.

When Izuku blinks his eyes closed, he swears he can feel something in him respond to the feel. Deep inside his belly, it"s like something is swimming inside—but… gently. Like when the two of them sometimes float down the river and just let the current take them as they count the clouds.

It feels like magic.

Izuku"s eyes blink open, and Katsuki is staring at him strangely.

"I don"t need anything," he begins to say, but Izuku shakes his head.

"I do have something."

Katsuki is reluctant when Izuku hands the stone back, and even more so when Izuku begins to shuck off his boots.

But Izuku has to be barefoot for it to work. Or, atleast he thinks so? Having a direct connection with the earth just made it feel better when he did things like this. Oh, but he shouldn"t tell his mom that he did it. She gets mad when she does his little tricks. But Kacchan had given him something first, so he had to return the favor! So that their promise was real.

So, Izuku shakes off his mother"s past warnings and wiggles his toes so that they dig in to the soft soil underfoot.

Immediately, a breeze picks up as the earth responds to his call. The grass curves away, and then towards him, as if to steal a few wisps of his magic and drink it down like a flower"s nectar.

Izuku keeps his eyes shut even when he feels the tall blades of grass wrap twice around his legs. They won"t harm him, he knows deep down. He is part of them.

There"s a surge of another feeling in his belly. It happens quickly, quicker than it did when he was holding the stone. But this one feels much different, and makes his lungs ache in a good way. Like the days when he chases Kacchan around the clearing as they try to catch butterflies and memorize the patterns of their wings, or when they scale mountains even though they aren"t supposed to. They never get very high up before Kacchan"s parents catch them, scold them, and send them back to Inko"s for dinner, but…

The rush is all the same.

Izuku lets that feeling bloom inside of him as brightly as it wants. He waters the budding feeling with memories from his soul, and breathes in deep to keep it strong.

He doesn"t realize he"s fallen over and is swarmed in grass until Kacchan is screaming as he tries to fight back the weeds that have come sentient.

Because, to him, it looks as though Izuku was being eaten by the ground. But to Izuku, he knows that the ground is just welcoming him home, as if he"s been gone after a long day.

The grass lets go when it feels tears drip off of Kacchan"s eyelashes, and Izuku sits up with a gasp. He does it so quickly that they nearly headbutt, but Katsuki gathers him up all the same and drags—no, carries him—away and back to their turtle-boulder.

"Deku, does it hurt? Are you okay? You were glowing, are you—"

"Kacchan!" Izuku interrupts, positively wiggling with excitement. There"s a heavy weight in his hand that had grown while he was out, but it"s no heavier than the water stone had felt. "I have something for you, too."

What he holds out is surprisingly, stunningly red. It isn"t smooth like the stone that Kacchan gave him, nor as round. The shape was almost abstract, sort of like how a fish twists in a small pond as it follows the edges.

But Katsuki"s eyes—the same color as the stone—light up as they take in its essence.

"You made it?"

"I think so." Izuku pokes the stone, and it doesn"t crumble with the touch. Not that he was expecting it to, with how heavy it is. "I don"t know how, but… I did."

"For me." Katsuki nods, resolute and "solemn" once again. "It"s good."

Izuku excitedly scooches closer as Katsuki spreads the cape out in front of them, careful not to fall off the boulder again. The two stones are innocent and small while swathed in the fabric, but they"re symbols for one another.

And, generally, a child"s promise would have just been a child"s promise. Whispered fantasies from two beings who didn"t know any better.

But Katsuki, of the Bakugou Dragon Clan, accepts Izuku"s token for what it is, though he doesn"t realize the implications way back then.

And Izuku, of elven blood and nature spirit, accepts Katsuki"s claim. He welcomes the growing bond that will later (many years later) kindle in his belly and keep him connected to Katsuki forevermore.

So, because it is them, it isn"t just a child"s promise anymore.

Neither would have had it either way.

---

"Do you take Midoriya Izuku as your partner, your morning sun, and your evening wind? Do you vow to protect him as he vows to protect you, Prince Bakugo Katsuki of the dragon"s blood?"

Katsuki"s hand is a warm presence against Izuku"s palm. His hands are large and callused and decorated in silk. Izuku"s are similarly dressed, though only painted in pale colors to mimic the way the silk pools and lays across Katsuki"s skin.

The priest is an imposing figure, more dragon than he is man. His voice is loud, reaching perhaps even the dragons circling overhead as they push the clouds away with each mighty beat of their wings and roar and whistle happily at the ceremony.

"I do," Katsuki says.

His grip tightens minutely, squeezing the ring already adorned on Izuku"s finger. The stone is red, the color of the Bakugo clan, and it contrasts nicely with the green signet ring, now engraved with his clan"s symbol, below it.

The same one that he"d given Izuku so many years ago.

"And you. Do you take His Highness Bakugo Katsuki as your partner; as the sky to your earth, the water to your roots? Do you vow to protect him as he vows to protect you, Midoriya Izuku of elven blood?"

"I—" Izuku"s voice shakes, and he clears his throat as he shifts his weight from side to side. He can feel the nerves overcoming him all at once, of every pair of eyes being laid upon him as he finally claims his betrothed in the eyes of his law.

Katsuki glances to him in the corner of his eye, though he doesn"t look worried. He shifts his fingers purposefully, curling them in the spaces between Izuku"s own.

Their rings make a small noise audible only to them. The matching pair, though different in significant ways, are stunning once they are placed together.

Izuku glances at Katsuki, though he isn"t sure if he"s allowed to or not. Katsuki mimics the motion, lip curling up with a sure grin. No, a smile. A guarded one, not quite as bright as the type he gives Izuku in the privacy of their rooms.

But a smile for him, regardless.

His earring moves with the motion, a gentle sway. It"s fashioned out of the stone that Izuku had made for him, forever ago, and just the memory of their childhood promise is enough to steel his resolve. It belies the ardor that they"ve felt, from then until forevermore.

Izuku nods his head, and the smile grows wider.

"I do."

---

The evening of their wedding, Izuku gets dressed in leathers and furs instead of the silky wraps he was adorned in during the day. The paint is washed from his skin and replaced with scented lotions and a gold chain that climbs up his wrist, to his shoulder.

He"s made to sit as Kacchan"s family surrounds him and touches across his back. Their fingers trace along the curve of his ribs beneath the skin, painting new patterns that mimic the feathers of a bird wing in flight.

As they do this, he"s fed their food and made to drink their drink—some of which Katsuki shares with him before he leaves Izuku again.

And though Izuku is decorated, he"s mostly bare. The only thing he has on are his underthings, the chain on one arm, and leather bracers around his neck and biceps and thighs. His hair, long enough to reach his midback, has been braided up and swept across one shoulder and out of the way so that it doesn"t get stained with paints.

He does get a pelt to wrap around himself, made of soft fur from an animal that Izuku is sure he"s never even seen before.

The grass is cool against his bare thighs as he lays it flat, sitting in the same clearing that he got betrothed in those many years ago. The rising moon is bright, but he"s surrounded by controlled fires that burn in wide circles and arcing patterns and each one is much much brighter.

The dragons have circled the clearing with their magic in the form of fire. There"s a ring of it all around, mostly to keep outsiders out rather than to keep the couple in. They, the fires, don"t harm the grass that they touch, but they are still burning hot even from where Izuku is sitting. The long grass that he sits upon, levelled flat by dragon feet and wagon wheels for the last few weeks to prepare for the wedding, is soft enough that he nearly falls asleep when he doesn"t concentrate.

He curls up like a crescent and rests his head against his knees, squeezing against them to keep himself grounded even as his eyes sleepily shut.

Because, truth be told, he didn"t want to miss a single moment of this. The post-wedding ceremony was more for the dragons than for him, and more for Katsuki even further than that.

Though he was already bound to Kacchan for life, official wedding or no, it was his duty (his honor, really) to sit and be decorated in his family"s colors, markings, love. Each pass of their fingers, covered perhaps in paints or smooth fire ash, marks him as belonging to the clan now.

And how badly he wanted to be accepted by them, even though Kacchan tells him all the time that it wouldn"t matter either way. That Deku was his, to the very end.

Just remembering the words makes Izuku"s heartbeat quicken. How blessed he surely is, to have a partner who grew to love him so completely.

There are tents around him, far enough away to give him a few modicums of privacy, and they billow softly in the wind.

The breeze brings with it the natural scent of dragon: half brimstone, half pepper. Izuku has never been able to accurately describe the smell of a dragon, but there"s also just a hint of ozone, as if they carved a physical path through the sky every time they flew.

Izuku yawns, picking at his toes as he watches the festivities.

Much of the party was happening in the sky overhead.

There were dozens of dragons circling up above, playfully painting the atmosphere black with their shadows, or painting the air red with their flames. The smoke billows out and keeps away the annoying flying bugs that Izuku is used to combating in the clearing, and for that he"s grateful.

And the food.

Izuku swallows down every rich morsel that is passed his way by friendly dragon-shifter hands. He would be sharing half with Katsuki if he could, but his part hasn"t yet been fulfilled.

Neither of their roles are complete, actually. There are still spots on his back that need to be filled, and Katsuki is still concluding his… performance, one could say?

Far across the meadow, Katsuki is tending to the biggest fire of all. It"s as if he"s the center of the flame, the main attraction. Though there are other dragons tending to fires here and there that burn higher and hotter than the ones outlining the clearing, Katsuki"s is the largest.

The sheer size is enough to blind a Giant, and the heat of it reaches even where Izuku rests, nearly swaddled in the earth. Surrounded by the elements like this, Izuku nearly falls asleep again.

He"d never really slept outdoors, beyond the little naps here and there with Kacchan to watch over him while the latter hunted (either for sport or for dinner). Never around those who were practically strangers. Much too dangerous.

But here, he"s wrapped by earth and warmed by fire.

Fingers pass across his spine, feeling the planes of his wingspan. Each pass of paint is imbued with magic that feels how sparklers look. Soft, but with just a hint of a bite. Izuku doesn"t mind it, nor does he startle at the touch.

Many fingers have passed across him in the exact same way, for hours now. But it was so relaxing after this long while, being touched and comforted by his new… family. His family. How was he meant to stay awake?

"Welcome to our clan, little elf. Your spirit is a strong addition to our bloodlines."

The dragon, with the same visage as a man despite their jutting horns and sharp teeth, dips their head before they leave him again.

Those words, though they varied from time to time, have also been repeated along with a few simple patterns across his back. But he still blushes at the praise regardless of it being a rehearsed line.

It felt nice to be welcomed.

When Izuku was younger, the only magic-bloods he knew were himself, his mother, and Kacchan. He hadn"t even known much of Kacchan"s family until his teens, though he"d met his betrothed when he was only four or five.

As such, he wasn"t used to being welcomed. Let alone being "normal". His mother had always been so fearful of people finding out that Izuku was elfblood.

Izuku remembers when she"d trimmed her ears when she was younger, though he must have only been a baby then. They"d gone round (and lightly scarred) at the tips, and it had cost her a bit of her magic along with it.

She could only do low-effort tricks these days, like moving small objects or encouraging small plants to grow. But she couldn"t talk to them anymore, the plants and trees.

Inko was always a bit lonely after that, but the humans finally left her alone so… perhaps it was the price to pay.

Izuku still has his tipped ears, but he also has scarred arms and wounds on his soul that"ll always be there. Perhaps that"s his price.

With a sigh, Izuku shifts so that he"s sitting with his legs crossed. He shakes away the tired thoughts flitting around his head like butterflies, and gives a startled smile when someone takes the opportunity to hand him a glass of wine.

It"s dark in color, red like mahogany wood. When he takes a sip, it"s oddly sweet. The bite of alcohol hardly even stings as it goes down his throat when he takes a cursory sip.

It must be strong, though, because he feels floaty all at once. Like when he does big magic spells, and there"s a slight shift that skews his brain from his body. It"s less intense, and it feels good.

Izuku takes another sip.

In the reflection of the clear crystal glass, Izuku catches a glimpse of blonde hair outlined in firelight. He doesn"t even have to lift his eyes directly towards Kacchan to know that he"s staring. He can feel the weight of the gaze across every exposed inch of Izuku"s skin.

And, as such, he shivers despite the warmth heating him inside and out.

He places the wine down. The glass is overfilled, and spills a bit of the pinkish red across the green blades of grass. The droplets don"t soak in, for the grass is too thick and layered over the dirt beneath, so Izuku idly brushes it away with his fingertips.

They end up sticky and dirty, and his face goes red when someone brings him a soft cloth to wipe himself off with.

"Thank you," he murmurs. The drakeling is small compared to the other dragons, but beats Izuku in height by nearly twice in their draconic form.

They excitedly bob their head, throat glowing white as excited heat builds. They only release a plume of smoke, though, for their throat hasn"t yet developed the mucus lining needed to protect them from burns. Izuku has a few journals on the subject, actually, and…

And, Kacchan is still watching him from afar.

He makes a motion that causes the bonfire in the middle to split and twist around itself like braids, and Izuku is immediately drawn to it.

Izuku wipes the cloth between the valleys of his fingertips, blinking away the bright spots in his vision that come from staring too close at firelight.

Then, he gathers his wine and his pelt, and goes to the middle. He ends up spilling the wine across the fur, and his steps are a bit wobbly after sitting for so long.

"Whoopsie," Izuku laughs to himself, spilling more of the wine. This time it goes across his knuckles and surely will stain his skin for a few hours.

By the time he gets to Katsuki, the glass is mostly empty, both from spills and from him taking sips every few steps.

Katsuki watches him the entire time, for once wearing an expression that Izuku has never exactly seen before.

His arms are outstretched in front of himself, though they hang loosely as if he"s just warming them. His sweat reflects the light of the pyre, and it"s as if he"s glowing because of it.

Izuku can see steam rising off of him.

Nonetheless, Izuku comes up close. Katsuki lets him, chin tilting up to make room as Izuku leans his head in the empty space that it creates.

"Hi, Kacchan."

Katsuki"s fire grows impossibly brighter at the touch. His face is drawn in a severe scowl as he concentrates, eyebrows furrowed like ridged valleys. Izuku rubs his thumb against it, in that way he does so that it won"t cause wrinkles.

The expression softens by the gentlest margin—like when a dandelion tuft brushes against a water"s surface. Nearly imperceivable, unless you knew how to look.

Izuku wobbles as he stands back on his heels, and Katsuki"s drops his arms to steady him. The touch lands on Izuku"s waist, firm as he"s pulled in close again.

Izuku accepts the touch with a hum, face red and soft and openly enamored—with a stupid grin and eyes half-lidded with his inebriation.

Katsuki isn"t sure if he"s ever been more in love.

The flames calm now that Katsuki isn"t actively focusing on them. It was imbued with his spirit for the night, and it"d be his duty to keep it alight for the next few days to prove his dedication to his beloved.

Which, fucking easy. Katsuki could be halfway across the world and do it, probably. No— definitely.

Katsuki plucks the soiled fur from Izuku"s grip, tossing it straight into the fire to return it back to nature. Izuku hardly gripes at the loss, though he shifts uncomfortably.

He"s bared completely then, the leather doing a good job of accentuating the way his body curves and dips with muscle and pliant fat alike. The chain leads the eye from his neck, dusted red with his blush, all the way down to the rings on his finger marking him as claimed.

His pretty eyes need no such marking to draw attention. Katsuki is drawn to them regardless.

Deku"d always been shy at showing off his body, beautiful as it is.

Still, Katsuki could agree. He felt a flare of jealousy build up at the thought of others seeing his Deku—and it manifested in the fire as it lashed out at the wind above it. Katsuki shakes his head to restore the connection to something calm, gesturing vaguely with one hand for someone to bring him his things.

Izuku is fully drunk off the Python Spirit, though it leaves him quiet compared to the other times that Katsuki has gotten him tipsy. Not even a contemplative quiet—just quiet. As if he"s run out of words but was happy with the silence left behind.

Katsuki has just circled his arms around Izuku"s back and breathed in a deep breath of his scent when Eijiro thrusts his cloak in front of his face, dropping it over his shoulder (and across Izuku"s head).

"Give me that, fuckface."

Eijiro only laughs as he drops off the rest of the supplies: fresh water, another pelt to keep them comfy, a plate of food.

Katsuki hooks the cloak around Deku"s body and secures it beneath his chin. He"s small in the thick, opulent fabric. It"s been freshly brushed, it looks, and the soft tufts of fur tickle Izuku"s nose.

Katsuki rubs his palms across Izuku"s back to make sure he"s warm.

"Ya with me, Deku?"

"Mm." Izuku"s eyes flutter open, and he smiles that same dopey way. "Hi, Kacchan."

Katsuki"s chest rises with a silent sigh, but he returns Izuku"s greeting with a nod. "Tired?"

Izuku"s fingers peek out past the fur stole stitched into the cape"s hem. They"re red at the edges, but the smell wafting off of them tells Katsuki that it"s from the spilled wine and not because he"s injured.

Still, Katsuki reaches out to touch them anyway.

"I"m happy," Izuku says.

Katsuki pauses, fingers already entwined in Izuku"s. He hovers his other nearby, unsure if he wants to touch Izuku more directly, or just hold onto his hand.

He opts for the latter, curling his palms around Izuku"s fingers and kissing the faint taste of wine away from the tips. "So am I, beloved. You"re finally mine."

Izuku goes pink, and Katsuki dips forward to kiss him on either cheek, just to ensure that the color stays there.

"But are you tired?"

"Are you?"

Katsuki chest rumbles, a half-warning.

Izuku just hums again, eyes going shut as he leans forward to feel the vibrations directly. His ear lands nearly atop Katsuki"s hearts. He stays there, listening to how stoutly the two beat. They even pick up in pace, the same way Katsuki can hear Izuku"s do every time they see one another.

"You"re too troublesome," Katsuki gripes. "Oughta send you off and cancel the wedding."

"But Kacchan," Izuku begins. He turns so that his other ear can hear the hearts beating, and then he nuzzles even closer. "We"re already married."

Katsuki huffs, leaning his cheek down to rest it in the mess of curls atop Izuku"s head. He leaves a kiss there, hidden near his scalp.

"Guess I just gotta deal with you then."

"Forever, Kacchan."

---

Katsuki holds Izuku until the party winds down. It was a simple affair, just so that most of the dragons could catch Izuku"s scent and aura and fully recognize him as a new member of the clan.

Katsuki would"ve just been happy to toss them an old blanket and let them sniff at it like hungry dogs, but his mom didn"t much appreciate that sentiment. She"d whapped him across the head and made him plan the ceremony with her.

He was the one who decided on letting the bonfire burn for a week. Had to prove to everyone that his dumbass Deku was his, and he would protect him with all that he had. And he had a fucking lot to give.

Katsuki grumbles to himself as he hoists Izuku up, to carry him towards their housing for the night. The yurt was larger than the others, centered as close to Katsuki"s fire as it could be.

Katsuki would have to let the pyre die down a little in the night, just so that Izuku wouldn"t sweat himself out of his body. Elves weren"t as insulated as Dragons, it seemed.

Izuku"s legs wrap around Katsuki"s hips as he"s carried the short distance to their lodging.

Curled up as he is, he almost disappears completely beneath the cape and it looks as though Katsuki"s just toting supplies to camp rather than taking care of his husband.

Ah, well. Let him rest.

Katsuki still grumbles, though, as he smooths down Izuku"s hair as it tickles his chin.

"Going to bed?" Mitsuki asks, gnawing on a deer rib. She licks blood from her fingertips, her wings flexing up behind her as Katsuki passes so that she doesn"t trip him.

She"s in her dragon form, one of the largest dragons in the clearing. Her voice is soft, though, as she leans down to assess her son and her new son.

"Mm. He"s already gone."

Masaru, curled up upon Mitsuki"s back, chuckles as his tail sways back and forth. It"s an affectionate motion towards his wife, more or less petting her with it as he speaks.

"It"s been an eventful day for him. So many came to visit our first elfblood of the clan."

"So many more wanted to visit, too," Mitsuki gripes. Steam plumes past her nose as her temperature rises along with her disgruntled ire.

It calms, though, as Masaru shifts and wraps his tail around the base of hers. He only reaches halfway up her spine in their dragon forms, but she twists her long long neck back to huff at him and rest her chin atop his head, curled up like cats.

"Well they can fuck off and leave my husband alone. Only I get to touch him once this shit is over."

"Selfish!" Eijiro calls from across the way. He"s in his human form, and his belly is stuffed full of the day"s meal by the way he"s rubbing it while he lays flat in the mass of cuddling dragons. "Let us play with him, too!"

Mina, beneath him, snorts. "Now you"re just asking to be blasted, coming on to his cute little bride. It"s only been a night!"

"It"s been a few years," Denki argues. "We get to run around and play with him now, too!"

Katsuki knows they"re just teasing, for they "run around and play" with Deku nearly every other day. Izuku loves to study their biology, their mannerisms, and their social structures—the fuckin" nerd.

Every time Izuku runs off with one of his asshole dragons, Katsuki always gripes that he is the one who he should be studying all that much. But Izuku always dissolved into nervous, flustered laughs and turned red like a sunset.

Katsuki wasn"t even trying to get into his pants when he was saying it!

For now, he settles with glaring at the dragons as he holds Izuku impossibly closer.

"If you fuckin" touch him, you"ll be eating your own tail for breakfast."

"Ouch," Eijiro laughs good-naturedly. "Alright, alright. Stingy."

Katsuki flips Eijiro off and sticks his tongue out while he does it, for good measure. Mitsuki"s laugh rumbles like a boulder rolling down a mountain, a backdrop for the rest of their mirth.

Katsuki is still grinning to himself when he finally enters the yurt, Izuku sound asleep against his chest.

He also doesn"t want to let go when Katsuki drops his hold, trying to let him rest across the soft bed set up for them.

It"s large, more circle than it is square. Kneeling in the middle of it with Izuku clinging to his chest like a monkey just makes him feel like a fucking idiot, but he laughs all the same.

"You drank too much, dummy."

Katsuki leans close to his ear and kisses along the sharp curve of it. Izuku is ticklish there, and he quickly squirms away when Katsuki nibbles on the soft appendage.

"Kacchan, noo—" Izuku interrupts himself with a laugh when Katsuki lays flat, pinning him to the feather-stuffed mattress. "You"re heavy!"

His voice is still thick with his sleep, the words pleasantly rumbly. Katsuki buries his face against Izuku"s neck and growls there in response, sending Izuku into another fit of sleepy laughter. He hardly flinches at the teeth that press against his collarbone when Katsuki smiles, though they"re sharp and as dangerous as the fire outdoors.

"We"re married, so you gotta deal with my shit, too." Katsuki pries his jaw apart and lays the pointed tips directly against Izuku"s nape.

His mouth nearly goes all the way around, especially when he lets himself transform to make himself grow bigger.

Izuku is dwarfed, like that. Teeth wrapped around his neck like a bunny in a tiger"s mouth. Pinned flat by the heavy mass that does nothing more than playfully growl and lave his tongue against the jut of his collarbone.

Izuku"s hands come up to tangle in his hair, making sure to skirt around the bits that have climbed partway down his back as it gives way to sharp spines and scales.

He pets through to Katsuki"s scalp, which is still soft with human hair. Shifts just an inch so that he can press the side of his mouth against Katsuki"s eyelid, and it blinks shut in response.

"You"re so silly, Kacchan. What are you doing?"

"Gonna eat you."

Izuku"s entire body vibrates as Katsuki responds, connected as they are. Katsuki shifts further, until his claws elongate. He uses them to grip the wood beneath the mattress so that he can lift his heavy tail and curve it around the edge of the bed.

Katsuki lets go of his throat once he"s finished, preening as Izuku finger-combs through the tangles in his hair. Izuku nearly falls asleep again, in the comfort of his betrothed"s—his husband"s arm. Katsuki can feel when his breathing does deep again, though it hardly shifts his body with the motion.

Izuku"s head tilts as he falls asleep again, arms still loosely curved around Katsuki"s shoulders. "I pro"ly taste like grass..."

His voice trails off at the end, and Katsuki snorts.

He licks away the reddened marks where his teeth had dug in a little too deep, and watches as the contusion fades just as quickly as it appeared. A little benefit of them being magicblood.

"Y"taste good," Katsuki says to Izuku"s dozing form. "Dummy."

He rolls off of him, though he doesn"t go far. Izuku rolls with him part of the way, and ends up on his front as Katsuki reaches toward the small trunk beside their bed. The things that Izuku had wanted to bring with him from his childhood home while they found a new place to live.

They wouldn"t go far, because Izuku wanted to stay with his mother, and because Katsuki knew these lands. Would be easier to protect instead of some shitty new place.

But Izuku still needed his things. Katsuki digs through the dowry, careful not to damage the spines of the leather-bound journals or not to spill the potions that have been brewing for months. What a nerd.

Katsuki finds what he"s looking for at the very bottom of the belongings, and tugs out the heavy quilt that Inko and Mitsuki and Masaru had stitched together. Meant to symbolize the bond that their family had created.

It had been stitched and worked on for years, and the detail almost makes Katsuki hesitate as he shakes it out.

Was it okay to use as a simple bedsheet?

Izuku shifts, still swaddled in Katsuki"s cape. It"s bunched up in a way that his toes poke out the bottom, and Katsuki shakes his head.

"You"re lucky I"m here to watch out for you, always so fuckin" comfortable around a bunch of predators."

He drapes the blanket over Izuku"s prone form. His husband was always so clingy when he was tipsy, Katsuki was sure that he wouldn"t be getting that cape back until morning.

Ah, well. Katsuki would give the fucking thing to him, if he wanted it.

He lays down heavy on the mattress again, and the wooden supports creak. He"s halfway between man and dragon, and part of his tail lazily swoops across the floor as he finds a space to get comfortable in.

He ends up, of course, directly next to Izuku. He curls his arm around his back and feels how his breathing deepens and evens out in close proximity to his mate. Katsuki thumbs across the inward curve of his spine beneath the layers of fabric, and smiles to himself when Izuku turns his head so that they"re face to face.

He"s still asleep, but Katsuki can see how his eyelashes reach so low that they tickle the top curve of his chubby cheeks—which look even chubbier the way the left one is squished against the mattress.

His hair is swept back, the braid halfway unraveled from where he"d let Mina play in it after the ceremony. Katsuki reaches forward to feel along the wavy ends, which are moist with Izuku"s perspiration.

Izuku just makes a soft sound, almost like the beginnings of Katsuki"s name. Katsuki kisses him in response, against his sensitive, pointed ears.

Izuku breathes out a pleased noise, and Katsuki watches as he settles down once the warmth of the yurt washes over them. It does a good job of keeping the air relatively cool, though, with the openings around the top.

Katsuki swipes sweat away from Izuku"s head. Maybe the blanket was a bad idea. Katsuki tugs it down a few inches so that it only covers Izuku"s lower half, worriedly gnawing his bottom lip.

When Izuku does nothing more than continue to sleep, Katsuki lets himself relax; his mate is properly attended to.

Katsuki lays his palm flat against Izuku"s face. He shapeshifts his fingers so that they"re less dangerous, like stubby little human ones.

Nevertheless, the touch is like breathing fresh oxygen at the top of a mountain, and he slides closer just so that he can rest his forehead to Izuku"s.

He lets himself shift again, upper body man and lower body dragon. His tail tips up onto the bed to wrap firmly around Izuku"s middle and keep him close in case he rolls away in the middle of the night.

Izuku only nuzzles closer. The tips of his ears twitch once or twice as he finds comfort in the warmth of Katsuki"s chest, and he breathes out a sigh as Katsuki combs through the small tangles at the ends of his braid.

"Love you, Deku." Katsuki kisses him thrice, once against his cheek, once against his temple, and the other on his lips when Izuku shifts and exposes them to the air again.

Katsuki loves him so much.

He ends up falling asleep like that, curled with his husband like the rays of the moon curl around clouds.

The fire outside their door calms with him.

---

When Izuku wakes, it"s to a searing, bright pain all across his body. It surfs through him from his eyebrows to his ankles, and for a moment he can"t even make a sound; can"t even breathe.

Izuku"s eyes are wide open, trained to the ceiling because it"s the only thing he can do as he waits for the sudden wave to pass.

Katsuki wakes up at almost the exact same time.

Tears well up over the rim of his eyelid, soaking coolly into his scalp as they curve around his face and drip there.

Palms warm up the trail they leave. "Beloved?"

Izuku"s body trembles, but he feels a disconnect from it. It"s as if he"s floated out of it and was walking with only his spirit—his soul.

But the pain brings him back in as he squeezes his eyes shut, and his mouth drops open in a broken, hoarse gasp as the pain finally lessens its grip on his lungs.

"Deku, what"s going on?"

"Ka… I—!" Is the only noise Izuku can make. His body seizes as his stomach clenches, just one step above nausea and two steps more painful. He gags, and Katsuki hoists him up so that he can sit on his knees and keel over the edge of the bed.

Katsuki"s hands give him something to stay grounded. The warmth bleeds through the pain, though it makes him sweat. Sweat more than he already is, rather.

It feels as if he"s drowning in himself, and his body won"t respond as he tries to—

"Breathe, Deku. Breathe with me. C"mon…"

Katsuki coaches him through the motions, chest rising exaggeratedly as he tries to usher Izuku to do the same. In contrast, Izuku"s lungs jump with each shuddering, sobbing breath as he tries to give his body the oxygen it needs to live. His lung feels constricted to a needlepoint, and for a moment he"s certain that this is how he"ll die.

He has been happy too long, and this is his true price. Just like the ears, just like the magic.

He"s going to die in bed, wrapped in his husband"s worrying hold, and there"s nothing he can do to stop it.

There"s another flare of pain that makes Izuku"s eyes roll, and he goes entirely tense as his brain stutters, stammers, and peters out.

Everything goes blank.

---

Katsuki shrieks, like a young drakeling that has hurt himself, when Izuku goes limp in his arms.

His heartbeat is pounding against his eardrums so loudly that he can"t listen for Izuku"s anymore.

In his panic, he grips Izuku by his shoulder and shakes him, as if that will bring him back. He only stops when Izuku"s head lolls uselessly to the side, his neck unsupported. It"s as if his bones have turned to jelly, and Katsuki can"t stop his hands from shaking when he reaches up to swaddle him like a freshly born babe.

He gathers the blanket, the cloak, half of the fucking mattress as he hooks Izuku"s body over a shoulder.

There"s a crash as the bedframe topples over, caught by Katsuki"s tail which swishes angrily behind him like stalks of wheat in a storm.

Katsuki kicks the frame away and grapples with the tent"s billowing fabric that acts as a door.

The entire yurt nearly comes with him as he thunderstorms out of it, and the noise startles awake the half of the camp that had fallen asleep after the festivities.

"Mother!" He bellows, voice desperate.

It"s perhaps the first time since he was a child that he"s used the tone in conjunction with her name (and perhaps even the first time in a long while he"s said anything other than "Hag" or "Ma").

It"s because of this, maybe, that Mitsuki clears the camp with just a single beat of her wings. She is built for stealth, and she appears as if she"s morphed out of shadow.

Katsuki stumbles into her arms as she meets him halfway, and he gasps out a sharp, "Help him," just as Izuku screams himself awake.

If Katsuki"s cries had been desperate, there isn"t a word to describe what Izuku"s sound like in that moment. Katsuki has never seen anyone experience pure agony before, not until now.

"Go get his mother," Mitsuki orders, gesturing to Eijiro. One of their fastest fliers.

He, though confused and more than a bit nervous, snaps alert at the command and takes off without another word, towards the human village halfway up the mountain. Despite the speed, it"ll be an hour before he comes back down.

Katsuki drops to his knees as Izuku struggles against whatever it is that"s hurting him, but Katsuki doesn"t let go. Izuku doesn"t want him to, by the way he grabs onto his wrist and squeezes so hard that the bones beneath it shift.

"Give me him, Katsuki."

"No."

Katsuki bares his teeth at his mom as she kneels down with him, hands outstretched with the palms up as if Katsuki will just let someone take his injured, hurting mate.

"I need to see if some of our magic will help calm him. I won"t hurt your beloved, my son."

Katsuki shakes his head, his throat fully igniting (his skin turning a red-yellow under the heat of his flame) when others crowd behind the Dragon"s Queen. In the moment of panic, Katsuki doesn"t see them as his brethren and his blood. As they advance, they are his enemy—come to attack his ailing mate.

Katsuki"s body begins to shift without him meaning to. His nails grow to sharp peaks like freshly forged swords, and his jaw snaps closed once at a hand that is too close for his liking—before it"s forced open again by too-long teeth that snarl out his mouth.

He"s halfway to sprouting his wings out of his back when Izuku gasps. The sound is low and barely louder than a whimper, a complete opposite to the pained shriek he let out before.

Still, it cuts through the boiling blood rushing past Katsuki"s ears, and he drops his face down against the sweaty curve of Izuku"s neck.

"Kacchan…" Izuku struggles, hands reaching up to cling to whatever he can grab. His fingertips graze across the curved end of one of Katsuki"s horns, and he grips it tight. "Hurts."

Katsuki"s keening whine echoes through the clearing, and he only goes even more tense when Mitsuki takes a half-step forward, humanoid in figure but Dragon-Queen in scent. It"s the only thing that stops him from swiping at her in reflex.

"Katsuki. Let me try to help him."

Katsuki clings to Izuku tighter, one hand clawing gouges into the ground and sizzling the grass down to the roots. The other curves around Izuku"s back, more human than the rest of him as he feels the muscles spasming beneath Izuku"s skin.

Familiar fingers drop to his shoulder, squeezing tight as he tenses. His mother leans over him, shielding the two of them from view as Masaru drapes a cut of cloth across their backs. Similar to how she does with her wings sometimes, she wraps it around Katsuki"s form and leans down to hug him close.

"Katsuki."

He feels how Izuku goes limp in his hold again, the pain taking him out of consciousness again.

Katsuki goes limp with him, eyes stinging with sharp tears. He leans against his mom"s belly, letting the frustrated tears well up and soak in against her skin.

She pats him once, and then reaches for Izuku. Katsuki lets her, both hands dropping to the ground to fist up balls of earth in his palm, if only to stop from trying to grapple him back.

Mitsuki lifts Izuku in one arm, careful of the way he"s gone limp like a baby that hasn"t yet figured out how to work its own bones. Her hands glow as they pass along his body, turning towards the few gathered dragons that have medical knowledge.

She leaves behind the cloak that her husband had given them, hiding Katsuki"s distraught expression from those who need not see it.

Still, they don"t need to see him to know that he"s, above all, frightened.

---

The healers have news as soon as Eijiro returns with his beloved"s mother in tow. Two warbling cries announce his arrival, along with the muted, muddled scent of a flustered, startled, anxiety-riddled Inko.

She smells like the woods during a drought at night, but muted. Soil yearning for moisture, trees yearning for soft sunlight.

Katsuki"s head jerks up to watch how she clings to Eijiro"s back as he lands, much like how a ladybug clings to a leaf in a windstorm. Still, she has some sort of resolute determination on her face. Who knows what Eijiro has told her to make her look like that.

Katsuki nods at her as she scuttles through the camp from where Eijiro landed, straight to him.

He"s just stood up to receive her when Mitsuki intercepts.

"Katsuki, come with me."

She gestures at Inko, whose steps have faltered at her old friend"s appearance, but she hurries over even faster at the motion.

"How is he?"

Mitsuki looks at him, and Katsuki feels ice bleed through his veins. When she turns away, to greet Inko, he has just taken a step towards the hut that Izuku had been rushed to when Mitsuki tugs him back.

"Not just yet, Katsuki. Come with me first."

"He needs me."

"Mitsuki," Inko murmurs, as she meets the two of them. Mitsuki"s grip tightens on Katsuki"s arm as she tugs him closer.

A gentle hand of Inko"s rests against the curve of agitated barbs cresting out of the skin near the back of Mitsuki"s neck, and Inko murmurs some more until they eventually peel back into hiding.

Katsuki"s own flare up, body halfway to transforming once again when Mitsuki speaks.

"Your son is… unwell."

Inko"s frown grows into a perfect arc, downturned and severe despite her soft features. Mitsuki hooks one arm in Inko"s and uses her other to wrap around Katsuki"s back as she leads the two of them away from the healer"s hut.

"Is he—is my Izuku…" Inko"s eyes well up with tears, clouding the green of her eyes. Katsuki aches down to the most hidden part of his soul.

"Is he dying?" He asks for her. "Does he… have long left?"

Inko"s chest shudders at the words, and she nearly keels in on herself when Mitsuki shakes her head unsurely.

"We don"t know. We aren"t sure why, but it seems that his body is changing."

Mitsuki sits upon a perfectly circular stone, seating meant to withstand the fires around the camp. Katsuki only just realizes his own at the very center has grown weak and shaky. Even as he stares at it, it"s wispy like a campfire made from weak twigs that snap when they ignite.

He falls heavy on a stone beside his mom, and Inko kneels (rather falls, too) upon a pelt of fur beneath their feet, wringing her hands in the thin cotton of her nightgown.

"What, um… how is he changing, exactly? Would it be reversible?"

Mitsuki runs her hands through the tangled ends of her hair. The jewels adorning each of her fingers get tangled, a bit, but eventually shine through the blonde strands.

"He"s becoming one of us. Our healer says that the pain he was feeling was that of his bones shifting to, hm…" Her mouth quirks up at the edges with an incredulous smile. "Wings. He is sprouting wings. His magic is changing his body."

The very idea of Izuku turning into a dragon, for some reason, makes Katsuki feel as though he"s been struck by lightning.

Would he lose his pointed ears? Would he stop glowing when he communes with his trees and his plants? Who is Izuku if he"s not an elf?

"If… necessary precautions are made, we believe he"ll make a full recovery."

Inko, it seems, is less upset about the idea than Katsuki is.

"But… will he be okay? This pain he felt, it… it"s not permanent?"

Mitsuki shakes her head. "As far as we can tell, as soon as he"s fully changed forms… he"ll be perfectly fine."

"He"ll be a dragon," Katsuki bites back.

And Mitsuki, never one to clip her words, stares him in the eye as she says, "Better than dead."

Katsuki buries his face in his palms and feels how they try to ignite with the conflicting emotions making turbulence in his chest.

Would Deku even be okay with this change? He"s always been so happy as an elf… There is no other Deku except as an elf. Katsuki can"t imagine him wielding flame the same way he wields his notebooks and potions.

How could this even happen?

Katsuki stands, abruptly, and stomps towards the hut.

"Katsuki—"

"I"m checking on him. He needs me."

"Not right now, my son. Let him rest."

He had been resting, before Katsuki startled awake upon feeling the panic radiating from Izuku"s form beside him. Even without a dragon"s nose, even without the magical bond they were forging after the rituals of the wedding… he could see how much whatever was happening was hurting him.

"He… he couldn"t breathe, when he first felt the pains. I need to see him."

"Katsuki…"

"Why do you keep saying my name like that?" Katsuki whirls around to her. "What the hell is happening to Deku? What"s really happening? Why can"t I see him?"

Mitsuki looks over to Inko, who helplessly looks back. She seems to have picked up on some subtext that is lost in the warring thunder of his hearts. He just wants Izuku.

"If you see him, you"ll only hurt him more."

"I would never—not to my beloved—"

"Not purposefully. Of course, Katsuki." Mitsuki steps forward, until she"s between him and the hut. "But this is something out of your control, as far as we"re aware."

He grips the hand that reaches forward to comfort him, and shoves it away.

"Mom. What the fuck is happening to him?"

Mitsuki crosses her arms in front of her then and sighs at the ground.

"He"s changing," she repeats. "And it"s because he mated you."

---

Izuku wakes up alone, wrapped twice around with the soft blanket that his mother and his new immediate-family made for Katsuki and him.

The room he"s in is not the one he fell asleep in, but the last thing he remembers is Katsuki"s distressed face pressed against his skin. His palms itch with the leftover feeling of scales digging into them, nearly slicing through the top layer.

His lungs hurt, and his back hurts worse. Light is filtering through the thin, red fabric that makes up the windows of the tent-hut.

Where is Kacchan?

Izuku shoves himself up, wrists weak enough that they nearly give out when he hoists himself up. He has to lean against the delicate, flowing walls of the yurt in order to not faceplant. He"s just surprised the whole thing didn"t come tumbling down as soon as he did.

An ache twinges its way up his spine, and he gasps as it just gets tighter, tighter, tighter until eventually a cry is forced out of his lungs. As if he"s being squeezed by a mermaid"s tail as he gets yanked to the deep blue abyss for their midday meal.

There"s a sound of hurried footsteps, of thick fabric being shoved aside as someone rushes in.

"Breathe, little elfblood. The pain will pass soon."

Something cool wipes across his forehead, gathering the sweat that he didn"t even notice has built up. Izuku"s vision has gone entirely white, so he isn"t sure who it is, but he clings to the voice as it eases him towards comfort.

Another pair of hands eases him back down flat against the bed, stretching him out like a tense muscle.

"There we go. Drink this."

A wooden bowl presses against his lips, and he swallows down the mixture, cool like the rag against his forehead. The food, or whatever it is, is so smooth that it feels like solid air as it fills his belly, but the taste reminds him of the juicy, bitter fruits that he and Kacchan used to find when they were playing as children.

He drinks the entire bowlful, and a helping of water.

A hand, supernaturally warmed, holds itself against his abdomen, and the last clinging wisps of pain unclaw from his bones and release him.

"Kacchan…?" He holds a hand out, as if to summon his husband forward, but someone shushes him and tucks the blanket back around his shoulders. Izuku blinks his eyes open just in time to see his dragonfather, Masaru, pick up a mortar and pestle to continue mixing what must be medicine.

"You"ll be okay, you troublesome elf." A familiar, teasing voice says. Mitsuki steps into his view between one blink and the next, knelt across the bed to pull at the curtains outlining the bed. "Get some sleep."

"Is Kacchan okay?" He asks, hands balling into an empty fist. His whole body feels numb, like when you lose bloodflow in your foot but without the painful tingling that comes along with it. "Where…?"

His new family shares a look, and Izuku is already near asleep again when a gentle, clawed finger comes to move hair away from his forehead and press down on the cooling rag to keep away his fever.

"You"ll see him soon. Rest, elfblood."

Izuku rests.

---

"Will he die?" Katsuki thinks to ask, the morning after his husband collapses.

Mitsuki doesn"t look him in the eye.

The sky is grey, and the bonfire is dying.

"We don"t know."

---

Izuku dreams. His body aches, but it"s distant—as if his brain lifted from his body and took a walk.

The dreams are more like memories, or a passing consciousness. It slips between his fingers more often than not, but in all of them, Kacchan is there.

"It"ll only be three days," Katsuki explains. His arms are wrapped tight around Izuku, to memorize the way their bodies mold together.

It"s the summer before Katsuki"s coming of age ceremony. They won"t see one another until afterwards, betrothed or not. The memory is hazy, but he remembers it well.

Izuku sniffles wetly against his shoulder, and nods.

"You"ll come right back?"

"Of course, dummy. I"ll never leave you." Katsuki pauses, peeling them apart only to lift the plain necklace around Izuku"s neck, leather twined around the green stone Katsuki had given him. "You see this?"

Izuku nods, and Katsuki smiles. Tilts his head forward to knock their heads together. Katsuki"s red earring reflected and refracted light, blinding, blazing, bright.

"Means you"re mine forever, Deku. I"ll never leave you."

---

Izuku wakes, feels pain until medicine passes across his tongue. And then he dreams more.

---

Katsuki sits on the outer fringes of what makes up the circle of magic. He"s just outside of it, actually, letting the natural cool air of the universe gather goosebumps up and down his arms.

He"s curled up at the base of a tree, legs crossed and arms digging into his ribs as he stares at his fire from this far away. No matter what he does, it grows weaker and weaker with each hour that passes without Izuku by his side.

This is partly by design. What is a marriage if you are separate?

But it is mostly happening because Katsuki doesn"t want to be tending to it. He"d rather be tending to his love"s needs and making him comfortable as he essentially regrows his entire fuckin skeletal system from scratch. His body can hardly handle the changes it"s going through—shifting from elf to dragon all at once.

Fuck.

It"s been a full four days since he"s last seen him. Since he last held him.

The last touch-memory he has is that of Izuku going limp in his hold, as if he… as if he"d died and Katsuki was helpless to stop it.

And for the last two days, he"d clench his hand just to feel the wisps of the memory of it against his nerves. The old hag wouldn"t even let him set foot in his own tent, to surround himself in Izuku"s scent. It was too close to where they"d holed Izuku up until he… got cured, or whatever.

Eijiro is the only one who has enough free time (and the only one bullheaded enough to not leave Katsuki alone even when he asks for it) to keep him updated. He had been the one helping the most with Izuku, sent out most hours to search for rare herbs for medicines, or to tote Inko back and forth to her home so she could try her own weak spells.

"He"s eating solid food again. Your mom is worried because he keeps asking for you instead of working with them to heal his body."

"He"s stubborn," Katsuki says, trailing his nail across the edges of a tree branch until the brown bark has been scratched away to reveal the pale, tender meat of the stick. "Fuckin" dumbass. Is he still…?"

"He"s still in pain most of the time," Eijiro says with a wince. "Even with you all the way out here, it"s like his body senses you"re near and tries to change even faster. Last night he lost two of his dull teeth but I think he"s already getting new ones."

"Dull?"

Katsuki already knows the answer.

Eijiro gestures to his mouth, to mime the canines that Izuku has lost.

"The new ones are probably sharper than mine, now." Eijiro pulls back his teeth to reveal the fangs that are permanent even outside of his dragon form. "He keeps cutting his lip with them."

"Tell him to stop fucking muttering and he won"t have that problem."

Eijiro is sitting next to Katsuki beneath the tree, oddly tense. He isn"t used to seeing him without a dumbass laugh brewing on his lips, but… this was probably a bad time for laughing. The entire glen had gone somber and silent the night Katsuki had toppled through the thing, yelling for his mom.

"He wouldn"t listen to me," Eijiro dismisses. "Probably would barely listen to you."

This he says teasingly, meant to be lighthearted. Katsuki nods anyway.

""s not like I can go see him anyway. It still…"

"Hurts him. Yeah."

Eijiro looks away from Katsuki, who hasn"t looked him in the face once. His eyes have been downturned ever since Izuku had fallen ill, and his skin has grown pallid in color with the amount of worry coursing through him.

Izuku, though, is no better.

Though he has been able to keep down solid food lately… it wasn"t much. Any more than half a helping and his belly would rebel. He would lurch and nearly seize as each muscle in turn overreacted to the feeling.

It took a lot of careful planning to note how much he was able to take. Same with water, and same with the medicine that was keeping the pain dulled down as much as possible.

Which decidedly wasn"t much. Even when sleeping, he whimpers and cries out in pain as his bones ache and his skin stretches to make room for his new insides. More than once, Eijiro had to leave the room before his own emotions got the better of him.

He almost wonders how Katsuki is able to stand it, knowing his mate is in that condition but… he knows that Katsuki can"t.

"He"ll get better soon," Eijiro tries, but Katsuki scoffs so hard that it must hurt his throat.

He twists his head away, and Eijiro notes the trickles of moisture that cling to his eyelashes before he"s able to hide them.

"He"ll die soon," Katsuki spits.

The word makes Eijiro cringe, but… it"s one of the most probable outcomes, if Izuku doesn"t get better soon.

And, despite knowing the risk of Katsuki blowing up in his face, perhaps even literally, Eijiro grabs his shoulder. He bears down even when Katsuki tenses and growls, and he holds on when Katsuki deflates in a way that Eijiro in his entire life has never seen.

"I did this to him," Katsuki says, miserably. The words come out of him thick with his grief. "My Izuku…"

A sob brews in his chest and breaks his words up as if they"re a fleet in the middle of a churning ocean.

Eijiro grabs onto his lifelong friend and doesn"t let go. He gathers the crumbling dragonborn—the strongest man he knows—and shields him so that his tears can fall in the safety of his kin.

And Katsuki, for once, doesn"t shy away. He lets the tears come, lets the pained whimpers catch at the curve of his lungs, and he holds onto Eijiro.

"My mate is gonna die because of me," he cries. And Eijiro doesn"t have a response.

Katsuki weeps, and the bonfire recedes to embers.

---

Eijiro eventually leaves. He has to complete the duties that Katsuki himself isn"t allowed to attend for his own mate. For if he leaves the dying pyre, it will never light again.

But if he gets any closer, well… Izuku"s pain was palpable even from this distance.

Katsuki cannot stand it—not being there to brush the tears from his eyes or comfort him with a gentle growl from his chest.

Izuku loved it so much when it was deep in the night and they cuddled together, and Katsuki tucked him close to his hearts and allowed him to hear them beat between timed rumbles.

But Katsuki has to sit in the cold, dewy grass, and Izuku has to lay catatonic in his cold, clinical sickbed.

It is miserable. Katsuki can hardly handle it any longer.

And with every moment that passes without good news, Katsuki withstands the agony of it less and less. What is he doing, allowing Izuku to hurt like this? What kind of mate is he?

There is only one thing he can do, and he has been too much of a coward to do it thus far.

The only way for Izuku to get better is if Katsuki leaves. It"s the only choice.

The bonfire is already near-ashes. Katsuki could probably survive off of the land long enough with his heartache to atleast be able to sneak back and see how Izuku has recovered once it is all over.

Their bond will be broken, but Izuku will live. That"s all that matters.

It will hurt so much, but… Katsuki has to leave. For his beloved.

Doesn"t he?

---

For days, Izuku has been left alone.

Rather, he has been kept from Kacchan.

Every time he asks for him, between hellish fevers and stomachaches (and bone aches that he hasn"t felt since puberty), the dragons flinch and curl away.

Whenever he stands to look for him himself, legs shaking and weak, he is quickly ushered back to his medical cot and given more food. The food leaves him heavier and sleepy, so that he rests through the pain.

But when he wakes up again, all he wants is Kacchan. All he gets are the worried gazes of his parents: his dragonmother, dragonfather, elfmother.

This time, Izuku wakes alone.

There are no dragons acting as doctors to his pained body, and there are no slumbering figures outside the tent meant to keep watch. From the twinkle of the stars above, it"s so late that it was probably early morning.

And Izuku had been steadily fed the numbing, sleep-inducing medicine all day to help him. Surely they wouldn"t expect him to awake until midday.

Izuku himself is surprised he"s bright-eyed as he is, but… he regards it as a gift as soon as he realizes.

He needed to find Kacchan, and let him know that he was alright.

The wedding paint has dried and partially chipped off during his bedrest. Izuku can feel some of it peel when he sits up, and grimaces at the bit that has soaked up his sweat and smeared messily across his thighs.

Ah, well. Maybe he can convince Kacchan to help bathe him once he figures out what"s been going on.

Izuku scoots out of bed, and immediately finds himself winded.

His chest aches when he takes too deep of a breath in, or too fast of a breath out. It leads to him clinging desperately to a rickety table that had been brought by his cot to hold his food.

He belatedly notices that his signet ring is resting there, too, instead of on his fingers.

Izuku blinks owlishly at the green jewelry, which looks dull in the lowlight, and slips it on without another thought.

For the briefest of moments, he feels anxiety bite in the meat of his brain and cling tight—as if Katsuki had come to see him while he was sleeping and took the ring off as a sign—

But Katsuki isn"t the type to do that. To leave hints instead of outright stating his feelings.

Izuku knows this… but why hasn"t his Kacchan come to see him?

His hand is cold when he holds it to his chest, as if protecting the ring from someone who would want to steal it.

Eventually, Izuku is able to shoo away the fear in his mind at the same time his knees stop shaking as they bear the full brunt of his weight for the first time in days.

Izuku isn"t sure how long it"s been since he"s fallen ill, but he hopes no one else has caught it. He probably wouldn"t wish feeling what he"s been feeling on his worst enemy.

Izuku is quiet as he shuffles his feet across the soft flooring of the tent, wiggling his toes into a pair of maligned slippers near the entrance. The fabric billows freely, to air out the stench of his sick and replace it with the sweet aroma of moon-kissed air.

Izuku basks in it for a moment, and welcomes the shiver that arrives when his sweat-slicked skin is tickled by the cool night.

With every step he takes, he feels weaker and weaker, but he"s able to make it to the center of the clearing before he"s spotted.

And he only realizes he"s been spotted when someone gasps sharply, as if they"ve been hit.

Izuku whips his head around, and spots hair the color of the brightest sunlight, and eyes the color of the deepest fire.

"Kacchan…!" Izuku calls, but his voice doesn"t come out all of the way. He dissolves into a fit of coughs, and collapses in on himself when they don"t stop.

"Deku!" Katsuki responds, rushing forward. He drops a heavy pack of supplies at his feet and leaves it behind despite the glass that shatters inside of it.

The pain builds, crests, and Izuku faintly feels something crack in his chest. Physically, it feels as though a multitude of veins have popped, perhaps, right in his lung.

He grips too tight against Katsuki"s wrist, and watches how the skin grows red under the hold. But the contact comforts him, despite the pain, as well as the worried words that Katsuki spills.

"Just breathe, dearest. Breathe through it. I"m here."

Izuku isn"t sure why he isn"t panicking. In any other situation, he"s sure he would—he"d gotten his worrying tendencies from his mother, after all.

But his husband was here, finally. Izuku couldn"t be happier.

Despite having been asleep and delirious however long he"d been sick, he knows deep inside of himself that this is the longest he"d been away from Katsuki.

The pain passes as Katsuki wraps his arm around Izuku"s back and allows his head to fall in his lap.

He has forgone his cape, and Izuku doesn"t have it around him like he last remembers having it, so the chill of the night still seeps into his bones. But the warmth from Katsuki"s body has him relaxing all over, until he"s limp like soaked paper.

The pain recedes, but doesn"t fade completely. Izuku breathes too deep, coughs, and the two of them freeze in case that begins the agony all over again.

But the wave has seemed to pass, and it is just the two of them.

When Izuku"s vision returns, blurry until he blinks a few times, Katsuki is staring down at him with a pained expression.

Izuku can"t help but smile, though, as he reaches up to cup his palms to Katsuki"s cheek. His lips ache where his teeth have cut into them.

"I missed you, Kacchan."

"Idiot," Katsuki bites, shaking in Izuku"s grip. Shaking.

"What"s wrong…?"

"You—!" Katsuki jerks his head back, but doesn"t try to dislodge Izuku"s touch. "What are you doing outside? You"re hurting, dumbass."

"I haven"t seen you in…" How long has it been? "—In too long. I missed you, Kacchan. What happened?"

Katsuki"s head tips up, so that he"s facing the moon. Izuku has never seen him so stricken. But he"s stunning, covered in swathes of moonlight. It"s as if he"s part of the landscape, painted in with loving strokes of a brush.

Izuku"s eyes catch at his shoulder, at over his shoulder, and he sees the dying bonfire.

His mind blanks.

Katsuki"s head tilts back down, and Izuku"s eyes dart to the faint tear tracks on his cheeks. To the growing tears at his waterlines.

"What…" Izuku feels weak and lightheaded again, for an entirely different reason. "What happened, Kacchan? My beloved?"

"It"s my fault," Katsuki rushes out, frustrated. "When we mated, I… I changed you, somehow. Your body is trying to become dragonborn."

Katsuki hesitates, as if he"s not sure himself. Izuku"s brain is static.

He hasn"t heard of anything like this before—and he has a feeling that no one else has either.

"If you"re too close to me, it"ll progress faster. Hurt worse."

Katsuki"s palms, which have clung to the curve of Izuku"s shoulder to make sure he"s steady, drop with that.

"I need to go. You won"t get better if I"m here."

"What?"

Izuku shakes his head, and bites his tongue when it feels like his brain bounces loosely in his skull. Blood blossoms on his tastebuds, and he belatedly notices that his teeth are sharp.

"You"ll get better once I"m not around. It"ll be okay, my love." Katsuki tilts back onto the balls of his feet, and takes away every point of contact Izuku had with him. "My Izuku."

Izuku reaches for him, but Katsuki stands and begins to turn away. Towards the pack he left behind, full of things that will help him during a long travel.

As if he"s really going to leave.

It"s then that Izuku remembers, all at once, the sessions he and Katsuki had to sit in on with high-ranking dragons such as his mother.

They explained how their bonding would work. How Katsuki would imbue his power in physical form and how Izuku would connect with it by way of the paints and the foods and the contact with his chosen—with Katsuki.

Without those links, the bond would break and fade. And broken bonds could never reforge. There was even a chance that the two of them would never be able to bond to anyone at all, ever again.

That last part hadn"t mattered much to them. In fact, most of the explanation hadn"t mattered at all. They knew who they would choose and what they wanted.

But now, crumpled up against the cold ground as Katsuki turns away from him… Izuku allows himself to feel that fear.

"I don"t understand." The words come out as a whisper, though Izuku wants to shout them. "You"re… going to leave? To leave me—what we have?"

Katsuki stops, half a step away from his chosen"s—his former chosen"s?—body.

"There"s no choice, Izuku. It"s either this, or…"

"Or what?"

Izuku reaches out, and is able to grasp his fingers in a weak grip against Katsuki"s leggings.

He can feel how Katsuki is trembling, as if he"s about to bolt like a startled animal. Izuku has never seen him like this.

"Izuku… There"s nothing we can do. No one knows how to fix this, beyond me staying away from you."

Katsuki"s arms cross, and he"s tense all over as if that hold is the only thing keeping him from turning and gathering Izuku up the way that they both want him to.

"And if I have to go in order for you to not be in pain… for you to live, then there is no choice here, Izuku."

"Deku. You call me Deku." Anger flares inside of him like red gushes from a stab wound. "That"s the name you gave me, Kacchan. Deku, beloved… chosen. You chose me. I"m yours."

"That doesn"t matter now."

Those words hurt more than the last few days have, by leaps and bounds.

And the thing is that… Izuku had felt better when Katsuki wasn"t around. Though it had still hurt, none of it had been so painful such as these moments. Now that he knows to notice, he realizes this.

His body must have calmed down the process of shifting his bones from elven to dragon. It had felt as if he"d been bathing in hot springs just a few degrees too hot, instead of like he"d been coated in magma as it does now.

But how could any of that pain matter when his heart—or has he already grown the second one that all dragons have?—shatters in his chest at the thought of being left behind by his chosen.

"This isn"t you, Kacchan. You"ve always fought for what you wanted, from the very first moment I"ve known you. Y-you promised…"

Warmth splashes against his shivering hands as he holds back his sob, and Izuku feels how the tears stick messily to the divots of his fingers. They"re already growing scales.

"I"ve never known you to run. Not from anything, but especially not from promises."

Katsuki flinches, but Izuku keeps talking. Because if he stops, then Katsuki may never turn to him again. And everything that they"ve had and ever will have, will not exist. Izuku searches for words desperately, cards through his brain for everything he knows so that he can just convince Katsuki that he can"t live without him. Not ever.

"If you don"t want me then…" Izuku runs a frustrated hand through his hair, and his ring gets caught at the scalp where his braid has gone messy and tangled. He tugs, and hisses in pain.

Katsuki shifts, half-turning to him at the noise. He never could stand it when Izuku cried, no matter the circumstances. How could he stand it now?

Izuku can"t understand how, when his own chest burns without Katsuki"s eyes on him.

"If you don"t want me, then fucking say so to my face, Katsuki."

For a moment there is nothing. The wind dies at the challenge, and the moon tucks itself beneath the blanket of clouds in the sky.

All Izuku hears is his own heart as it thumps, keeping count of every moment of silence that Katsuki leaves him with. His eyes burn with the tears, and his chest burns with the hurt.

Izuku is still curled into a tiny ball when Katsuki finally turns to face him, slow as if Izuku will change his mind and decide he wants him gone.

But Izuku doesn"t. Of course he doesn"t.

Of course he doesn"t.

He"s holding his hand tight to his head, still snarled as it is in his hair—and Katsuki sees the green jewel reflecting starlight back into his own face. Izuku searches his entire expression, shoulders tense as he prepares for a blow.

He is messy with broken blades of grass and tears and sweat dripping from his brow. There is paint coating his thighs. His hair is messy and his lips are swollen as he chews on one nervously.

Izuku is alive, in that moment, and he has never been so beautiful.

Katsuki drops to his knees, and pulls him close again.

"I can"t lose you," Katsuki gasps against his skin. "It"s agony watching you hurt, Deku. I can"t stand it—how can you—?"

"I can"t do it without you." Izuku tugs at his scalp again, and Katsuki is quick to card his fingers through the tangled mess.

As soon as he"s free, Izuku wraps his arms tight around the full width of Katsuki"s chest and doesn"t let go. Katsuki clings back just as fiercely.

"I can"t do it without you," Izuku repeats. "So stay with me."

"I don"t want to leave you." Katsuki bears his palms down on Izuku"s face, parting his lips to press an achingly soft kiss there. Izuku responds with a breathy sob, and Katsuki swallows his own down to continue, "You really think I would want to leave you? I finally have you Deku. You"re finally mine."

He kisses him again. And again, until Izuku"s gasp isn"t from pain. "And I can"t have you. Not if I want you to live."

"I"ll live, Kacchan," Izuku promises, despite it all. Katsuki knows that Izuku must realize what could happen. He"s the smartest man that Katsuki knows.

"We don"t know that," Katsuki argues, helplessly.

"We do."

Izuku says it so surely. As if the end of their happily ever after is just in sight.

And Katsuki says nothing. What can he say? For how can he prove his love for Izuku without hurting him more? And why can"t Izuku see that there"s no pain-free option here? That, no matter what, Izuku will be hurt…

Oh.

His fist clenches, eyes growing wide as he realizes all at once.

There is a choice, and Katsuki had been making the wrong one.

His knapsack, stuffed full of things to help him hunt and things coated in Izuku"s scent to help him on those days that would have been the hardest when he left, feels heavy like iron chains threatening to drown him.

How stupid he would have been, to not fight for their happy ending. How cowardly.

Izuku, unaware of this epiphany, continues, "You love me, don"t you?"

"With my entire soul. With everything I have and more."

Their foreheads press together, and Izuku looks him in the eye. They"re lined in red from the force of his crying, and Katsuki thumbs at where he knows they"ll swell.

"Then believe in me, Kacchan. My chosen."

Katsuki buries his face in the open space of Izuku"s neck, which tilts to welcome him in further. The scent of him washes over Katsuki and he wraps his arms so tight around Izuku that it surely must hurt.

But Izuku simply holds him back, so that they"re impossibly flush skin to skin, as much as they can be without being able to crawl into one another and become one.

Katsuki can feel something shift in Izuku"s back, where his new wings will sprout. Katsuki has a feeling that they will be as beautiful as their new owner.

"Will you?" Izuku asks, when the pain begins to flare again. It grows faster than the last time, but he"ll be damned if he lets Katsuki go.

Katsuki pulls back, and Izuku kisses him messily. His noise of surprise is swallowed down, as is the noise of yearning need that quickly follows.

They continue holding one another as they break the kiss to look each other in the eye.

Katsuki"s voice is low as he speaks again. "Will I…?"

"Will you believe in me?"

Behind Katsuki, the charred wood of their pyre heats. It catches fire in places where it has gone cold, and the embers glow bright as they ignite into soft pillars of flame. Katsuki doesn"t need to look to know that it"s happening. Their bond is strong.

This is all the answer that Izuku needs.

Katsuki laughs wetly, and Izuku laughs with him.

"I will."

---

Two weeks later, the land is blanketed in thick rain. Every blade of grass is soaked, though they all reach up towards the sky for more.

The precession of dragons have gone just as they"d come for the wedding—in large droves through the sky. They leave behind ash and firepits and a forest that will need a healthy, vibrant spring to replenish the deer population.

The Bakugo clan had only lost a handful to the migration: those who have found new mates or those who have decided to aim for something new.

Katsuki had nearly joined them, in the hopes to learn how to better himself in honor of Izuku.

The rings he was gifted with from his former-betrothed sit heavy on his finger every day, but he welcomes the weight. It reminds him of his Izuku no matter what he does.

Such as now, as he sits on a rain-slicked boulder while he watches the drakelings play.

Katsuki wonders if Izuku would have been able to figure out a way for them to have their own with his spells—if they would have been half-elf, perhaps. If they would have inherited dragon magic or elf magic.

But now, it isn"t something that he"ll have to worry about. He lifts his fingers to fiddle with the red stone that weighs down his earlobe, his final gift from his elfblood fiancé.

Katsuki will forever mourn those tipped ears.

He"s just sat up from the rain-slicked boulder he was sitting on when a chipper voice calls for him in the distance, "Kacchan, look!"

Izuku is wobbling on the tips of his toes, his new tail in a curved line behind him. It sways back and forth as he tries to balance in place. He was still learning the new distribution of his weight, not easy with the new length of his wings that have sprouted to their full size finally after agonizing days.

It had been the last painful part of his transformation, despite being the first things to grow.

Now Izuku was truly, from every speck of blood in his body, a dragon.

Katsuki snorts as Izuku slips on the grass and ends up sprawled out in a puddle.

His wings flare out beneath him, startled, and he kind of looks like when a chipmunk gets knocked out of a tree. All ruffled and pouty, with his arms and legs sticking straight up as he tries to flip onto his front.

Katsuki snickers as he watches, and falls out into full-blown laughter when Izuku hisses. It had been one of his new favorite noises to make, with his new set of lungs.

And boy had Katsuki been subjected to Izuku cataloguing every new piece of himself. He"d been so excited about the mucus thing that would help him breathe fire. His mate had already grown so quickly into his new role of dragon that Katsuki had a feeling he would be able to do the most amazing things.

He still mourned the ears, though.

Izuku"s new ones are still pointed, kind of. Just like every other dragon"s. But it"s just not the same.

Izuku says he pouts about it a lot when they cuddle.

His beloved beams at him now as Katsuki steps forward to hover over him, hands on his hips. His ears twitch when Katsuki breathes one more soft laugh at him.

"Don"t tease! I"m getting better at this thing."

"Sure, Deku. Soon you"ll be able to take a single step without tripping."

Even with the new claws and scaled skin, Izuku reaches out to him gently. As if he isn"t sure Katsuki actually wants him after it all. As if Katsuki wouldn"t be happy holding him for the rest of his days.

Katsuki will do his best forevermore to prove that he"ll always fight for Deku, just as he always should have.

Katsuki meets him, his clawed fingers curling around Izuku"s palm firmly so that he can help him to stand.

It"s new, Izuku being so heavy. Usually Katsuki can lift him no problem with one arm, but now it takes him shifting his stance so that he can push back against the earth before he can help Izuku back onto his feet.

He grunts as Izuku tilts too far forward and ends up knocking right into him. His tail slaps against the ground, leaving a sharp divot in the earth with the force of it.

"Oops."

Izuku clings to him, arms loosely wrapped around Katsuki"s middle as he works to unstick his tail from the dirt. Katsuki rests his head against Izuku"s crown and inhales his earthy scent—though it has begun to transform into something new, tinged with spice and ash.

Katsuki feels his hearts flutter beneath his chest when Izuku finally gets himself unstuck and pulls back to beam his brightest grin directly at him.

But when Katsuki simply stares at him, eyes slowly cataloguing every new scale that line Izuku"s freckles, Izuku curiously tilts his head.

His grin drops into a smaller smile, and he distracts Katsuki by squeezing him tighter.

"What are you thinking, Kacchan?"

"Thinkin" about how the hell I"m gonna teach you to fly when you can"t even walk," Katsuki says, softly. His palms cup Izuku"s cheek and he swipes away some dirt from his romp on the ground.

Izuku laughs, and the sound of his joy does indescribable things to Katsuki. But he simply lays a kiss between his brows and accepts the one against his cheek that Izuku sneaks in, in retaliation.

"But Kacchan, I"m your responsibility now. We are married now."

And his wedding ring sparkles as he holds it up, despite the rain and the clouds.

"Guess I just gotta deal with you then, Deku."

"Forever, Kacchan."

The pyre behind them burns brightly, tall enough to rival the mountains and bright enough to battle the sun. Now that Izuku is dragonblood, his spirit has been imbued in the flames as well.

It has become twice as powerful—requires twice the work. They"ll have to work together to keep it alight.

Just as they were always meant to.