Chapter Text
All the blood in Izuku’s body rushed to his face as All Might’s words rang in his ears.
“Young Midoriya would need to ingest small amounts of Young Bakugou’s DNA several times a day for months.”
When All Might had called Izuku and Kacchan into his office, Izuku’d already known it was about Kacchan’s desire to return One For All to its chosen successor. What he didn’t expect was for All Might’s step-by-step game plan to be so . . . involved.
Izuku gripped the seat of the couch, and a seam ripped.
“That’s it?” Kacchan leaned back next to Izuku, remarkably chill about this whole thing. He actually looked bored.
All Might paused his tea pouring for just a moment, perhaps also surprised at Kacchan’s nonchalance, and then he continued pouring steaming water over three cups of matcha as he spoke.
“It’ll most likely be unpleasant for both of you. We don’t know what eating that much hair will mean for Young Midoriya’s digestive tract, and if we went another route, like finger pricking–”
“No!” Izuku stood too quickly and knocked his shins into the coffee table. “No finger pricking, not with Kacchan’s quirk. Who knows what it would do to the precision of your explosions? It’s too risky! Plus, we don’t even know if it’ll work, right? No one’s ever transferred One For All this quickly after receiving it before. I made my peace with losing my power, Kacchan, you don’t have to do this.”
Red eyes shifted from Izuku, to All Might, and back to Izuku, and then, inexplicably, Kacchan burst into laughter – the loud, mean kind that shook his whole body.
Hot anger spiked in Izuku’s sternum. Obviously, he was being laughed at, but what for? This was serious! Now that he and Kacchan were proper rivals, friends even, Kacchan’s ridicule didn’t make him sad, it just made him angry.
“What?” he snapped, a little louder than he meant to. Kacchan choked and shut his mouth with a click. Izuku bit back a smirk. Even now, knowing Izuku was totally quirkless again, Kacchan saw him as an equal. If he didn’t, he’d never react to Izuku shouting at him like that. Unless Izuku was imagining it, Kacchan looked a little flustered too. His cheeks were pink.
All Might cleared his throat, and Izuku sat back down.
“Young Bakugou,” All Might pushed Kacchan’s teacup toward him, “Young Midoriya’s right to be concerned. We shouldn’t–”
“What about spit?” Kacchan interrupted. “You’re telling me you idiots never thought of that?”
Izuku needed a moment to blink away his stunned reaction to Kacchan calling All Might an idiot. The audacity. Only then did Kacchan’s suggestion sink in.
Spit. Like saliva. Huh. The thought of drinking spit–-slimy and frothy-–had Izuku suppressing a gag. Kacchan was right, though. Saliva did seem like the most practical solution. Lots of people “swapped spit” multiple times a day, every day, and as far as Izuku knew, no one had ever recorded negative side-effects. It shouldn’t be too difficult to store, either. That is, unless saliva needed to be temperature controlled to retain One For All’s potency, or maybe it’d need to be fresh, and in that case—
“Ow!” Izuku must’ve been muttering, and Kacchan had elbowed him. Why’d he have to have such pointy elbows? Izuku rubbed his sore rib and pouted. Kacchan rolled his eyes.
“I hadn’t thought of that.” All Might sat up straighter. “It might be difficult to store a daily supply, but I’ll ask Recovery Girl this afternoon if she has any–”
“You think too much, both of you,” Kacchan interrupted again, straightening up and cracking his neck from side to side like he was prepping to spar. “It’ll go like this.”
Izuku had no idea what to expect, but suddenly his heart was pounding as Kacchan turned to face him. He had a wicked glint in his eye, and it sent a chill up Izuku’s spine.
“Kacchan, what are you–”
Kacchan took hold of Izuku’s jaw. His grip was firm, but not bruising. Izuku could only stare at him in utter confusion and mild panic. Kacchan wouldn’t hurt him, not outside of a fair fight, and definitely not in All Might’s office, so why did Izuku feel like his heart wanted to leap out his throat?
Every action Kacchan took was more baffling than the last. Without breaking heated eye contact, Izuku’s friend-turned-bully-turned-rival stuck his first two fingers into his own mouth. What the actual fuck was going on?
Izuku’s confusion only seemed to egg Kacchan on. His eyelids drooped and his cheeks hollowed as he dragged his fingers out with a pop, and Izuku’s body temperature spiked like a fever.
“Say ‘ah,’ nerd.”
“Huh?” As soon as Izuku opened his mouth, Kacchan was pressing two fingers past his lips-–the same two fingers that’d just been in Kacchan’s own mouth–-and sliding them across Izuku’s tongue.
Oh, god. The taste melted him. Spicy sweet, slightly metallic, and perfect. Izuku barely resisted an urge to curl his tongue around Kacchan’s long, slender fingers. Nothing had ever tasted that good before, and he’d never get enough, not ever. Kacchan massaged Izuku’s tongue with his fingertips before pulling out, and Izuku actually whimpered.
“Will that, uh, work for you, Young Midoriya?” All Might’s voice was awkwardly clipped and farther away. He’d gotten up and was now halfway across the room, speaking to a potted fern.
“Uhuh,” Izuku squeaked and jumped away from Kacchan’s grip. He was sweating. Should he have said no? If Izuku was going to react that way every time Kacchan fed him DNA, maybe they should find another method.
“You can start with three times a day, evenly spaced.” All Might made his way back to his chair across from the couch, still avoiding eye contact. He picked up two yellow UA folders from the table and handed one to each student. Inside was an outlined daily schedule, much like the one All Might gave Izuku when he was first training One For All. “Both of you will monitor and record changes in your body, quirk, and overall mood, which we’ll use to determine whether we need to increase or lower the dosages.”
Three times a day. Three times a day with Kacchan’s fingers in his mouth like that. Izuku’s vision actually blurred at the thought. Why was this affecting him so much? Why did Kacchan taste so good?
All Might, who seemed more relaxed, cupped his tea in both hands. “Maintaining your physical strength will be more important than ever, so I’ve detailed your training schedules as well.” He took a long sip.
Right, Izuku had tea too. Maybe warm matcha would help him calm down.
“Sparring together every damn day? And weight training too?” Kacchan groaned. “Next you’re gonna make us share a bed or something.”
Izuku did a spit-take. An honest-to-god spit-take sprayed over the table, and he wheezed. “Oh gosh I’m so sorry, All Might, I’m so, so sorry!”
All Might wiped his eye with his oversized sleeve.
“Here, let me help!” Izuku plucked some tissues from a nearby tissue box and frantically wiped up the mess on the table.
“That’s alright, my boy,” All Might chuckled, dabbing his tie with a tissue.
“We done here?” Kacchan stood, swinging his backpack over one shoulder. “We’re gonna be late for Aizawa’s shitty evacuation training.” Kacchan didn’t really think Aizawa’s evacuation training was shitty. His swearing was a lot like Tsu’s ribbets – just a bit of flavor. Spicy sweet, mouth-watering flavor.
“I won’t hold you,” said All Might.
Kacchan turned to leave and halted when their mentor spoke again.
“Young Bakugou, thank you. What you’re doing for Young Midoriya is truly honorable. You’re growing into a fine hero.”
“Tch. This ain’t for him.”
***
That night, Izuku stared up at the emergency sprinkler on his dorm room ceiling, unable to think of anything but Kacchan’s fingers in his mouth. Moonlight painted his room navy blue, crickets chirped, and a cool breeze slipped past a crack in the window and ruffled Izuku’s curls, but he still felt hot.
Izuku curled onto his side, twisting damp sheets around his ankles. This feeling had to be an effect of re-inheriting One For All, right? But then, he’d felt nothing like this the first time he inherited One For All from All Might. Maybe the heated feeling had something to do with Kacchan’s original quirk. Yeah! That had to be it!
Kacchan’s quirk also had to be part of why he tasted so good. Nitroglycerin supposedly had a sweet taste, and Kacchan’s sweat was almost identical to nitroglycerin under a microscope, so that was why his fingers were sweet. Sweet, smoky, and a little tingly on Izuku’s tastebuds, a firm grasp on his jaw, his mouth full, Kacchan’s piercing red gaze staring deep into his soul . . .
“Hhnnnnngg . . .” Heat pooled in Izuku’s lower abdomen and he squeezed his thighs together.
This was making him horny. Izuku was doing himself no favors by refusing to admit it to himself. But it was Kacchan. Izuku already had way too many feelings when it came to Kacchan, he couldn’t add horny to the list. Unless . . . it had already been on the list, and he just hadn’t seen it?
No. Izuku flipped onto his other side, facing the wall. They’d been through too much together. Kacchan was his rival, his inspiration, his image of victory, his future hero partner. Izuku’d never thought of him in a sexual way in all the years they’d known each other. Why would he start now?
. . . So, maybe that wasn’t entirely true. In fact, Izuku could date his sexual awakening to one fateful (and shameful) day in middle school when Kacchan wore gray sweatpants. That could’ve happened with anyone, though! It just happened to be him. Izuku definitely didn’t have a thing for Kacchan in middle school. That would’ve been completely messed up.
Izuku didn’t have a thing for Kacchan! In fact, in the locker room, he’d probably checked out everyone except Kacchan. He made a point of not checking out Kacchan. He’d walked into a row of lockers on more than one occasion from closing his eyes and whipping around to avoid seeing Kacchan naked.
Izuku hugged an All Might Squishmallow to his chest, his breathing returning to normal. Right. He wasn’t sexually attracted to Kacchan. Well, not more than anyone with eyes had to be at least a little attracted to him. This was just a side-effect of One For All transfer. He’d get used to it.
He’d get used to it.
He had to.