Return of the Squirrels - Part 2 [Sequel Saturday]

[Previous]

Katsuki pulled a box of chocolates out of his pocket, running up to the little green squirrel to hand them over. He smiled to himself as she thanked him, but when the dialogue options popped up, he froze in his tracks.

“I didn’t want to spoil it,” Izuku said knowingly, grinning as he leaned over to look. “You gonna build her a vacation home?”

“Fuck yeah I am.”

He set to work immediately, making sure every little detail about it was absolutely perfect. He tested out every wallpaper and every floor, he cycled through hundreds of different furniture options, he made sure there were rugs, and plants, and paintings on the walls – everything he could possibly do, he did it. Every time Izuku looked over, he was still designing, and Izuku couldn’t help but chuckle at him, at how slowly he worked, how much time he spent dithering.

When the door to his room opened, he glanced up, eyebrows knitting together when he saw his parents standing there.

“Go to work, slackers,” he said, huffing quietly. “You don’t have to be here.”

“You’re in the hospital,” Mitsuki said stubbornly. “Of course we’re fuckin’ here.”

She sat herself down at the bedside pointedly, folding her arms, and Katsuki just shot her a silent glare, quickly going back to his screen.

“I brought lunch,” Masaru offered. “I know Inko brought you food too, but I thought you might want a hot meal that isn’t just rice.”

“You’ve only been eating rice?” Izuku asked, eyes wide. “Is that all they’ve brought you?”

“It was all shit,” Katsuki huffed, setting his Switch down to take the container from his dad. “Overcooked fish, soggy tofu, mushy rice.”

“You should have told me! I could’ve gotten you something!”

“No need,” Katsuki shrugged, shaking his container lightly. “Dad’s got me covered.”

Masaru smiled softly, sitting down beside Mitsuki to settle in for the day, and Katsuki barely resisted the urge to drool when he opened up the container of hot curry, loaded with chicken and vegetables. Masaru made the best curry Katsuki had ever tasted, it was one of the few things he still looked forward to when he went home for the holidays.

“Fuck that’s good,” he said, after his first spoonful. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Katsuki,” Masaru said with a smile. “I’m glad it’s good.”

“S’always good,” Katsuki reminded him. “You better leave this recipe in your will or some shit.”

“Kacchan!”

“He refuses to teach me,” Katsuki explained, when Masaru just chuckled to himself. “Says if I can cook it myself, he won’t have anything special to make me anymore.”

“Aww, that’s kind of sweet,” Izuku conceded.

“Besides, let’s be real,” Katsuki said, gesturing to the room around them. “He’s not the one in a fucking hospital bed, his will won’t do me much good anyway.”

“Katsuki!” Mitsuki reprimanded him. “Don’t say shit like that.”

“I’m a hero, it’s pretty damn obvious.”

“You’re still a child.”

“Fuck off.”

“A teenager,” Mitsuki amended, rolling her eyes. “You’re not old enough to talk about death.”

Katsuki and Izuku exchanged a knowing look, but Katsuki shut his mouth obediently – no point getting her riled up over something they all knew, anyway.

“What have you two been playing?” Masaru asked, pointing at their Switches sitting in their laps.

“Animal Crossing!” Izuku grinned, relieved to move to a much lighter subject. “They put out a DLC where you can build vacation homes, so we’ve been busy!”

“For your squirrels?” Masaru asked. “That’s neat, must be a good way to pass the time in here.”

“Kacchan’s been working on one all morning, making sure it’s perfect for his favourite squirrel. I’ve been doing them for other villagers; they give you little themes they want you to build for them, so I like meeting their requests, but Kacchan only cares about his babies.”

“Shut up,” Katsuki huffed, between spoonfuls. “You’re the one who told me to stop gardening.”

“Only because I was excited for you to see the new stuff!” Izuku objected. “You’ve got plenty of time to garden without risking spoilers!”

“They added cooking to the game,” Katsuki explained. “So now I can grow vegetables and make food.”

“Oh, that’s neat! Do you have to collect recipes like with the furniture?”

“Yeah, some of them you just learn from catching a fish or harvesting a vegetable and stuff like that, though.”

“Oh that’s neat, you can just get a nice surprise doing your daily activities.”

Izuku smiled to himself at the conversation, and Katsuki shoved him lightly with his shoulder, amused when Izuku refused to shove him back. Their whole lives, Masaru had been the one to listen to what they were interested in and do his best to remember, so Izuku certainly shouldn’t have been surprised that he knew what was going on. They’d talked about it before, after all – it wasn’t exactly new.

When Katsuki was finished eating, he settled back into his game, and Mitsuki pulled a book from her bag, kicking her feet up on the railings beneath the bed to get comfortable. Masaru pulled his laptop from his bag, setting up to get some work done, and Izuku just leaned his head on Katsuki’s shoulder gently, smiling to himself. He’d always said their family had such a cosy feeling to it, that they could just sit and enjoy each other’s company in a way most people couldn’t – they didn’t have to go out and do something, they didn’t have to hold a conversation, they could just be.

“Can we edit exteriors at home, too?” Katsuki asked, nudging Izuku to look at his screen. “You should use this one for your shrine building.”

“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that! I think we can, but I’d have to connect my second profile to my online membership and progress that account through the DLC far enough to unlock it, if only my houses were the other way around!”

“Gets you some more playability, I guess.”

“That’s true! I bet I could do some really cool stuff to my shrine with these options, I might have to get stuck in all over again. I haven’t even finished it on this account yet!”

“Leave it with me when you go back to school, I can play through it for you when I finish mine.”

“Don’t be silly, Kacchan, I’m not going anywhere until you’re all better.”

“You can’t skip school because of me, asshole.”

“Sure I can!”

“You have to take notes for me.”

“I’ll get Iida and Todoroki to take notes for us both!”

“Damn you and your nerd friends.”

“I’m sure your friends would take notes for you, too, Kacchan. You’d just have to ask. You don’t think someone like Kirishima would jump at the chance to help?”

“Oh I’m sure he would jump, he just wouldn’t help.”

“You’re so mean to your friends.”

“They deserve it.”

Izuku sighed at him, but gave up on arguing, and Katsuki just smirked. He knew Izuku was going easy on him while he was stuck in a hospital bed, but he was still gonna take his damn victories.

“Oh, you’re finished?” Izuku asked, when he saw the camera icon pop up on his screen. “Show me!”

Katsuki turned around obediently, giving him a clear shot of the room, and Izuku finally understood why it had taken him so long to decorate – there were dark wooden floors, but green and orange rugs were tiled in one corner, with bookshelves marking it off like a separate room. There was a double bed of matching dark wood on top, with a bedspread from a pattern that Izuku had made a long time ago – alternating red stripes, white stripes, and blue stripes with white stars in them, just like the curtains in Izuku’s dorm room. It made a pretty good blanket, actually – Katsuki was pretty sure Izuku was going to ask for a real one, at some point. Each bedside table had an open ring box on it, just like his home island, and at the end of the bed perched two teddy bears, a match for the giant ones on Izuku’s island. Even the books on the shelves had been customised with All Might colours, and two desks in another corner had All Might laptops on top, one desk housing an orange chair and the other a green one. A third corner had a dark rug and a kotatsu, customised with that same All Might pattern, though the cushions around it were covered in Izuku’s and Katsuki’s hero costumes. The final corner held a little black kitchen, complete with steaming curry rice and aji-fry, ready to be served to the kotatsu. And finally, there were the walls – one wall had huge windows looking out at blue sky and trees, while the others were panelled in pale wood, decorated with posters, paintings, plants, and photos – as many of them as possible featuring All Might pictures, their hero costume patterns, or pictures of Nibbles and Marshal.

“It’s beautiful,” Izuku praised. “You must have spent so long customising all that stuff to decorate the walls with! My homes look so boring in comparison!”

“Had to be perfect for her.”

“It is, she’s gonna love it. Do you wanna know a little secret spoiler?”

“Sure.”

“You can add roommates, later.”

Katsuki just stared at him, eyes wide, and Izuku laughed brightly.

“Just don’t build a home for Marshal yet, I’m not sure if you can move them in if they already have a home of their own. You’ll be able to add a second storey at some point, too, so you can even give them a bigger home!”

“Fuck yes.”

With a last goodbye to Nibbles, he set sail for the mainland again, button-mashing through the next part of the conversation. Next thing he knew, he was following the weird otter to a big building, and she was asking him to build a school. He was pretty sure that was outside of his wheel house, he specialised in Squirrel Homes, but he supposed he could give it a try.

“Is that our classroom?” Izuku asked, the next time he leaned over to look. “I’m so jealous, I never thought of that!”

“It’s not perfect,” Katsuki lamented. “The door is too small which throws off the proportions, and I can’t customise the windows enough.”

“But the desks are just about perfect, and the chairs, and the cubby holes, and the blackboards – it looks so good!”

“Thanks,” Katsuki grunted. “It’s alright I guess.”

When he got back to the office, he headed upstairs to change his uniform for the first time, surprised to see a little teddy bear backpack hanging out in wait. He put it on to test it, turning his character around and grinning when he saw it hanging on his back.

“Izuku,” he said, elbowing him in the side. “Look.”

Izuku gasped when he saw it, eyes lighting up, and Katsuki couldn’t help but laugh at him. After his obsession with bears in shirts, it had been a pretty safe bet that he was gonna adore the backpack, too.

“Where did you get it?!”

“I don’t have it, it’s in the work uniform stuff. You can wear it on shift.”

“Heck yes! If you see one for sale, get me one of those too, okay?”

“You know I will. There might even be different colours.”

“Oh my gosh, I could have a bear for every day of the week!”

“Yeah, you could,” Katsuki chuckled, leaning into him again fondly. “I’ll see what I can find.”

Izuku ran back to his own office to change, to get a bear backpack of his own, stopping to take a look at his catalogue on the way out and see if he could purchase one. Instead, got distracted in the Ds, and Katsuki glanced over to see what had him so excited all over again.

“We’re having a baby girl, now,” Izuku informed him, as he began putting in orders. “She’s gonna love this stuff.”

The list of items he was ordering was all labelled “dreamy”, and Katsuki caught a glimpse of a pink and purple bed, and a pink shelf full of teddy bears, and Izuku scrolled through. He smirked, elbowing Izuku lightly and watching him turn to look.

“What,” Katsuki began. “Our baby boy can’t like pink things?”

Izuku just stared at him for a second, then cracked a smile, nodding faintly.

“Of course he can!” Izuku agreed. “You’re right, Kacchan! We’ll teach our little boy how cool it is to have unicorn plushies and toy grenades, the perfect all-rounder!”

“Damn right, nerd. Ain’t no sexism allowed in this house.”

Izuku’s phone buzzed on the bedside table, and he jumped as he reached for it, staring at an unknown number that popped up. He hesitated, thumb hovering over decline, but with a sigh he shifted it instead, holding the phone to his ear.

“Hello?”

He listened for a minute, smile quickly fading, and finally let out a sigh, eyebrows knitting together.

“Okay, I guess so,” he agreed reluctantly. “Just to talk, right?”

Another pause, then he nodded, even though the person on the other end couldn’t see it.

“Okay, I’ll be there soon,” he said. “See you there.”

He hung up, giving Katsuki a heart-broken look, but Katsuki just nudged him lightly, hoping his touch would come across as reassuring.

“I’ve gotta go talk to the police,” he explained. “Aizawa wants me to meet him there soon. I’ll be back tonight, okay?”

“I’ll survive,” Katsuki assured him. “Go get shit done so I don’t have to.”

“I guarantee they’ll come talk to you soon,” Izuku said with a grimace. “Don’t see why they can’t just talk to me here.”

“It’s okay. I’ll be here when you get back.”

“You better be,” Izuku said, smiling softly. “If I find out you ran off while I wasn’t here to supervise, I’ll be very unimpressed.”

“We won’t let him do anything stupid,” Mitsuki promised. “Take your time, if you want a shower or some decent food again, or anything. We’ll be here.”

“Thank you. I’ll be back as soon as I can!”

With a last kiss on Katsuki’s cheek, he headed off, and Katsuki wriggled a little, getting comfortable again in his absence. He hadn’t realised how much he’d been relying on Izuku’s body heat and the support he offered to lean against, and when he began to shift, he grimaced, feeling a dull ache deep in his spine.

“Everything okay?” Mitsuki asked, already setting her book aside to help. “You’re due for more pain meds soon, I’m sure they aren’t far away.”

“I’m fine,” Katsuki insisted, though he gritted his teeth a little as he said it. “Just need to sit up.”

“Here, let me.”

She grabbed the remote for the bed first, tilting it up a little more, then slid her arm behind Katsuki’s back, helping him shift backwards to rest against it. She grabbed a spare pillow, once he’d adjusted enough, and propped it between him and the rails, giving him something to prop his side in place a little more, like Izuku had.

“Thanks,” he conceded, finally comfortable again. “I’m fine, I swear.”

“I know you are,” Mitsuki said fondly, her smile a little sad. “Just take it easy, okay?”

“I am.”

He hadn’t really stopped to take inventory of his injuries, since he’d been doped up on painkillers anyway, but he suspected they’d started to reduce his dose now that a few days had passed. He could feel a weird pain that seemed to be inside his spine, all the muscles down one side of his back seemed to no longer exist, neither of his legs seemed eager to function – he supposed it was a good thing he didn’t have to get up to use the bathroom, even though he’d hated having to awkwardly kick Izuku out of the room regularly to let him go – and one of his shoulders felt like it had been shattered into tiny pieces and reconstructed with a pair of blunt tweezers. It wasn’t like he could say that to his parents, though; they were already freaked out enough without him telling them how shit he felt.

Besides, he had to go back to school, once he was dismissed. It wasn’t like one stupid fight was going to stop him from becoming a hero, after all. The sludge villain hadn’t stopped him, USJ hadn’t stopped him, the kidnapping hadn’t stopped him – this was just one more thing in a long line of stupid shit he’d had to deal with, and it was not going to be the one that made him say “nah, forget it” even if his parents might be quietly hoping for it.

“I’m still gonna be a hero,” he blurted out, watching both pairs of eyes dart up to stare at him. “I just... I hope you know that.”

“Of course we do,” Masaru said, frowning slightly. “Did we give you the impression we thought otherwise?”

“No,” Katsuki admitted. “But I know you’re hoping.”

“You think I’m hoping that my son was hurt badly enough to give up on the one thing he’s cared about for his entire life? That I’m hoping you were traumatised badly enough to say you want to give up on being the number one hero?”

“When did you get so patronising?” Katsuki grumbled, pulling his fluffy blanket up to hide his blush. “You know what I mean.”

“As much as I’d love it if your dream didn’t involve getting beat half to death,” Mitsuki continued for him. “I know how much this means to you. We both understand how much you care about this, how much you were made for this, and you can’t stop us from sitting in front of the TV and fucking praying for your safety, but that doesn’t mean either of us wishes you would stop.”

Katsuki huffed, lost for words, but neither of them pushed him.

“Good,” he said finally. “As soon as I get out of this place, I’ll be back out there, fighting assholes and saving people and shit.”

“Good,” Mitsuki echoed, smiling this time. “I can’t wait to watch it and brag to all my friends that my son was the one out there kicking ass.”

“Both our sons,” Masaru corrected her, smiling wryly. “We may as well start practicing now.”

“Shut up,” Katsuki huffed, blushing again. “You two are embarrassing.”

He picked his Switch back up, pointedly turning his gaze back on the screen, and ignoring the little chuckles he got for it. He’d just learned he could set up permanent ladders, so it wasn’t like he didn’t have something to focus on – why carry a ladder around with him all the time when he could just set them up, hidden behind trees or something, where they’d always be available to him? Not to mention he could finally add another bridge, too, so he wouldn’t have to carry his pole around either – the quality of life on his island was looking up – not the least of which for his villagers, who didn’t even have ladders and poles. They’d finally be able to access every part of his island efficiently and safely! It was an important project that required his laser-focus, he was definitely not just avoiding the dumb jokes and teasing about his boyfriend.



—————



Katsuki finally gave in to the chiming mailbox at his door, turning around to check the contents. He knew what it was all gonna be – interest paid into his bank account, gifts from his in-game mom, ratings for his perfect house – but he was just gonna have to suck it up and go delete it all, just to silence the annoying noise it made.

Within the list, though, he found a familiar name, frowning slightly as he hit the button to open it. He didn’t know Kirishima had even played again, since the last time they’d all played together, but apparently he’d found some time to send Katsuki a gift.

IDK when you’ll play again, but they added this and I knew you needed it.

Attached to the little note was a rug, and Katsuki shoved it in his pocket, taking off his shoes and heading back inside to check it out. He put it down in his main room, grinning the moment he saw it, and picked up his phone to take a quick photo of the screen.

“Thanks,” he typed out. “It’s fuckin’ cool.”

A reply came through almost immediately, and Katsuki quickly realised why – that photo was the first message he’d sent any of them since the fight, and they were probably all waiting with bated breath to hear that he was okay.

Oops.

“How are you doing??” the message read. “It’s good to hear from you!! Can I phone??”

Katsuki sighed, but caved, hitting the phone button and holding it to his ear. Kirishima picked up immediately, without even a full ring passing by, and Katsuki couldn’t help but smile a tiny bit.

“I’m alright,” he said, before Kirishima could burst with questions and enthusiasm. “Stuck in this shitty hospital bed for two fuckin’ weeks, but I’m alright.”

“Shit, bro, it’s so good to hear your voice,” Kirishima said, trying valiantly to hide how choked up he was. “You were so cool out there, but we’ve all been worried as hell! Midoriya told us you were awake and all, but it’s not the same!”

“Yeah,” Katsuki said awkwardly, swallowing hard. “Um, thanks. For giving me time, I mean.”

“Of course, bro! I mean yeah it was hard, but we all get it, you don’t need us bombarding you with constant messages when you’re trying to recover. But when you’re up to visitors, give us a yell, and we’ll come keep you sane for a bit. How’s the food? I always hear it’s awful, but I’ve never really had to deal with it for long. I’ll sneak you in a pizza or something if you want.”

“The food is shit,” Katsuki confirmed, smiling to himself. “But my dad has been coming by every day, and Deku’s mom too, and they’re both keeping me fed with the good shit.”

“Oh thank god, I was worried I was gonna have to learn to cook for you.”

“Are you back at the dorms?”

“No, not yet. Oh, shit, right, I could just ask my mom to cook for you. Well, if you get hungry, let me know and I’ll sort it.”

“I’m good. But uh, thanks.” He halted, staring at the empty room around him, strangely quiet with visiting hours over. “You can come visit some time, if you want. Izuku is here pretty much all the time, and my parents a lot too, so I’m fine. But I know what you’re like.”

“It’s be good to see your face,” Kirishima acknowledged. “I’ll definitely come say hey. You should tell the others, too. If you’re okay with it, I mean. I think everyone wants to see you.”

“I’ll message the group chat now that I’m more awake, I guess. Let them know I’m fine.”

“They’ll appreciate it,” Kirishima said softly. “I know I do.”

His phone beeped with another incoming call, and Katsuki moved his phone for a second to check it, unsurprised to see Izuku’s name pop up.

“I’d better go, nerd is calling me too,” Katsuki said. “I’ll uh, see you, at some point?”

“For sure. Tomorrow, or the day after at the latest. I’m looking forward to it!”

“Yeah. Um, me too. Later.”

“Take care!”

Katsuki hung up, and immediately called Izuku back, listening to a couple of rings before it connected on a breathless Izuku.

“Kacchan!” he said, always so delighted just to say his damn name. “I’m so sorry, it took forever and by the time I got back they wouldn’t let me in!”

“I figured,” Katsuki assured him. “It’s fine, go home and get a decent sleep.”

“But you might get lonely!”

“I’ll text you or something, if I do. I was thinking about messaging the class anyway, letting everyone know I’m alright, so I’m sure I’ll get bombarded with way too much social interaction from that.”

“They’d all appreciate that,” Izuku said softly. “They’ve all been asking me daily for updates.”

“Thanks for taking the bullet for me.”

“Of course, Kacchan! You’re sure you’re gonna be alright alone for the night? I could probably find your window, if you want. I can jump up to it and see if I can wiggle it open from the outside. Or I can wait until the staff have their changeover, and I can try to sneak in as part of the night nurses. Or I can just beat the shit out of the security guard and take his swipe card.”

“As hot as it is to imagine you beating up a civilian just to come sit with me, I’m good.”

“Okay,” Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. “I was worried you’d say yes as soon as I suggested that last one.”

“Go home,” Katsuki said fondly. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I love you, Kacchan.”

“Love you too, nerd.”

He hung up, setting his phone down to give his shoulder a break – dumbass brain hadn’t thought to use the good side when he picked up the damn thing. For a moment he just lay back a bit, staring at the ceiling, recovering a little of his social battery before he picked it up again.

“Sup losers,” he typed out, immediately erasing it again. That seemed a little mean even for him, to the people who had been worried about him.

“Hey extras.” Nope, same problem. He didn’t want to be nice, but he didn’t want to be a complete asshole.

Instead, he settled for opening his camera, realising for the first time exactly how rough he looked. In a hospital bed, exhausted, hair a mess, scrapes and bruises everywhere, covered in bandages – it was a shitty sight for sure.

Oh well.

He snapped a quick photo of him flipping off the camera, since his hands were thankfully unaffected, typing a quick caption over the top before he sit send.

“Guess who’s alive, bitches.”

That was probably still a little mean, he knew, but he felt like it was meme-y enough to get away with it.

A dozen names all popped up at the bottom of the screen, typing their responses, and Katsuki smiled to himself as he watched their messages pop up, one after the other in quick succession.

“He’s alive!!!”

“Holy shit!”

“OMG you look like crap!!”

“He lives!”

He chuckled to himself as he watched them pour in, shaking his head fondly. If he wanted social interaction with Izuku not around, he’d sure as hell found it.

“How are you keeping yourself sane?” Ashido asked. “You must be going stir-crazy by now.”

“Izuku has been here,” he answered, knowing no more really needed to be said. “And we’ve been building vacation homes.”

“I love that DLC,” Uraraka wrote back. “Have you found the cooking??”

“Yeah. Deku gave me shit for gardening too much.”

“But it’s such a cool feature, Deku!”

“I didn’t say he couldn’t garden!!” Izuku insisted, presumably safely on a train. “I just wanted him to start on the DLC so I didn’t spoil anything by accident!!”

“Not good enough.”

“They have gardens now??” Kaminari chimed in. “Invite me over, Blasty McBlastface, I wanna see your garden.”

“Me too!!” Uraraka insisted. “Do you have all the crops??”

“Still missing sugarcane.”

“I’ll bring you some if you have spare wheat!”

“Deal.”

He reached for his Switch, heading for the airport, and as he mashed through the dumb Dodo’s endless chatter, his phone began to ring again. This time, when he looked down, he saw a group call forming in their chat, and he sighed as he hit accept.

“Just for a bit,” he said, when they all began talking to him at once. “I can’t build squirrel houses if you’re all here. Gates are open.”

Immediately his screen filled with the incoming visitor message, only to repeat four more times in quick succession – he hadn’t realised how many of them would have their Switch on hand, though he supposed they were probably all bored at home; none of them were used to having free time.

“Dude what an upgrade,” Kaminari said, running off to explore. “All this space stuff is awesome, is this why you guys cared so much about stars?”

“Frank was doing good work, he deserved a promotion.”

“He’s even armed now!” Kaminari laughed. “Good on him!”

“There’s a new sword that just kind of sticks in the ground,” Uraraka told them, when she ran over to take a look. “Do you want one?”

“Hell yeah.”

“I’ll send you one as soon as I go back,” she promised. “Gotta have all the options for fighting Space Monsters.”

Kirishima ran off the other direction, heading straight for his squirrel paradise, and Katsuki didn’t bother to stop him. They were all bound to stumble across the little section eventually.

“Aww,” Kirishima said, and Katsuki felt his face grow warmer. “This is so cool, bro. I love the ponds.”

“Wasn’t hard.”

“Still!”

“And look at the snowmen!” Ashido gushed. “Oh my god, come up top!”

Katsuki headed up to his festival area, watching the others quickly converge on him at the gates, and he couldn’t help but smile when they all began gushing over his snowman waiters – he’d been proud of that little area, it was good to finally see other people appreciate it too. Well, other than Izuku, since he made a fuss over everything.

Speak of the devil, Izuku jumped into the call as soon as he got home, greeting everyone with more enthusiasm than Katsuki had ever felt in his life.

“I don’t have my Switch on me so I can’t hop on,” he lamented. “But I thought I could at least talk with you all!”

“Of course you can!” Uraraka assured him. “We’re just checking out Bakugou’s island updates.”

“Oh! They’re super cool, right? I love the squirrel spot.”

“It’s adorable,” Kirishima teased. “Very you two.”

“Shut up,” Katsuki huffed, well-aware that his face had finally turned completely red. “I just like the squirrels, asshole.”

“Sure, buddy. That’s why they have your hero costumes up as decoration, and your colours on their engagement rings.”

Fuck, he hadn’t expected Kirishima to spot that so quickly.

“The game picks the colours, asshole,” he argued all the same.

“Sure, buddy.”

Uraraka began dropping sugarcane at his feet while he was standing still, and Katsuki picked it up with a little clap, opening his pockets to drop some spare wheat for her in return.

“I thought you might like these, too,” she offered, dropping a couple of items labelled rescue mannequin. “I’m sure you’ll do something... creative with them.”

Katsuki opened a new window on his phone to look them up, cackling when he saw the image.

“Fuck yes,” he grinned. “I’m gonna litter my island with dead bodies.”

“Don’t you dare!” Izuku protested. “I love your island!”

“Too bad, asshole, it’s all dead people now.”

“Uraraka, what have you done?” Izuku whined.

“Sorry,” she giggled. “I just thought he’d like them! And I was right!”

“Hell yeah, I can’t wait to play with these.”

Izuku just sighed at him, while the others laughed, but Katsuki knew he didn’t really mean it – it wasn’t like he was gonna replace his squirrels, after all.

“I ordered a bunch of castle pieces today,” Katsuki offered up as conversation. “I wanna terraform my island and put my house inside a big-ass castle.”

“But where will the duck pond go?” Ashido asked.

“They can guard my moat.”

“Fair,” Ashido laughed. “You could probably make the dead bodies look like they got shot from the castle walls or something. Maybe give Frank an outpost up there, too.”

“Hell yeah. Are there crossbows in this game yet?”

“Not that I’ve seen, but I’ll keep an eye out,” Uraraka promised.

“There’s that gold bow and arrow from the star diys?” Kirishima suggested. “Or slingshots.”

“I’ll make it work. Keep an eye out for a torii gate too, Deku wants them.”

“Will do!”

Katsuki’s shoulder was starting to hurt again, without something to prop his arm up just right, and he was just about ready to piss again too, which he was decidedly not going to do while on the phone with his classmates, but in that moment, Katsuki didn’t even care.

Maybe it was nice to have his classmates around, after all.

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