a #bkdk thread bc i haven't done one in a bit: HANAHAKI

They’re three years old when Katsuki bounds up to Izuku on the first day of class to show him his All Might action figure. It bends at the knees and elbows, and all the little costume details are painted on with great care.

Izuku ooh’s and aah’s over it accordingly, and Katsuki grins at him, offering to let Izuku hold it as long as he’s careful. Izuku gingerly takes it in his little hands, and lets Katsuki manipulate the little doll until it looks like All Might’s jumping through the air.

“Press the button,” Katsuki commands, and Izuku does.

“Never fear, for I am here!” All Might’s tinny voice booms, and Izuku gasps.

Katsuki’s grin is big and infectious.

“He’s really cool, right?! You like him? Let’s be friends!” he says, because they’re three years old and it’s as easy as that.

In that moment, something warm and heavy blooms in Izuku’s chest.

DAISY
Izuku, at the age of four, takes a bite of rice and immediately starts coughing. When it’s finally over, his throat hurts a little and a tiny little flower sits bloody in his palm, barely even a bud, its white petals closed up tight and dripping with red.

“Oh, Izuku,” Inko says. She picks up the flower bud, and it stains the tips of her fingers red.

“What is it?” Izuku asks.

“It’s a sign,” she says tearfully. “You love someone very much, who doesn’t love you back. And that love will hurt you, unless you let it go.”

“Oh.” He takes it back, holding it between his fingers. The corners of his eyes suddenly burn and the urge to cry floods him. He turns and buries his head into his mom’s shoulder. “Why doesn’t Kacchan love me?” he cries. “Is it because I’m quirkless?”

“Oh, Izuku,” Inko sighs, petting his hair as he cries. She holds him tightly and whispers, “Don’t let it go too far. Don’t let it strangle your heart. Please, please don’t ever fall in love.”

Izuku is dimly aware that his mom is also crying, he voice far away. Instead, all he can think about is Katsuki, bright, amazing, powerful Katsuki who pushes him down and laughs, but always lets Izuku follow him home.

DAFFODILS
“Of course, I’m fine!” Katsuki snaps, standing up in the stream. “I’m not some quirkless Deku who can’t do anything.” He dripping wet and scowling with embarrassment, but he’s fine.

Izuku presses his hands to his shirt, hunching his shoulders. “Okay,” he says timidly.

“It was scary, but I’m glad you’re okay, Kacchan.”

Katsuki huffs and grabs Izuku’s arm, dragging him from the stream. Izuku shoes squelch, soaked, as they climb back up the hill, and Katsuki snatches Izuku as he stumbles.

“Can’t you walk, you baby?” he says, pulling Izuku up.

Izuku turns his head and coughs as quietly as he can, his throat burning. There are three little yellow petals in his palm when he’s done.

“What’s that?” Katsuki demands, his hand a brand around Izuku's wrist. The other boys peek over his shoulder, and Izuku stares at the ground

“N-Nothing,” he stutters. “Just some flower petals.”

They snort and laugh, teasing Izuku for picking flowers. Katsuki stares him in the eye, before releasing him and turning away. The skin of Izuku’s wrist is hot where Katsuki had touched him.

HEATHER
Katsuki pushes Izuku into the dirt and Izuku stays there, and Izuku throws away one bloody, purple petal. For the next four years, he doesn’t cough up so much as a single leaf and Izuku’s mom breathes a sigh of relief.

CALLA LILY
He avoids Katsuki and Katsuki avoids him in turn. Middle school is lonely and loud, but Izuku keeps to his notebooks. He's fine with that. Fine with dreaming. If something is sitting, still, a stunted, heavy thing in his chest, he pays it no mind.

And in that one moment of weakness, when he'd seen Katsuki crouched down on the sidewalk in Izuku's path home, feeding a stray kitten, and Izuku had coughed up long, bell shaped petal...

Well, Izuku had decided not to think about it.

"Never fall in love," his mom had said.

LIALACS
He's on his way home, tired after such a strange day, Katsuki's yelling still ringing in his ears, and Katsuki's desperate face asking him for help burning in his mind.

His chest heaves suddenly, and his lungs ache, and his already abused throat screams.

Izuku coughs up three little purple flowers. They sit innocently in his palm.

By the time All Might catches up to him, Izuku's already thrown them in the trash, along with a bloody napkin.

GARDENIA
Izuku knows he may be in trouble, staring at the bloody bud in his palm, the sleeve of his UA uniform stained red. He clenches his fist over it, and his hands are strong enough now to crush it. He doesn't.

HYACINTH
They're barely back in the dorms, aching and awaiting their early morning house arrest when Izuku has to stop. Katsuki pauses as well, and Izuku has to turn to the side to hide the tiny blue flowers in his palm.

"Don't tell me you're that weak, Deku," Katsuki huffs.

Izuku wipes the blood quickly from his mouth and hides his hands behind his back before he faces him.

"Are you concerned, Kacchan?" Izuku says with a weary smile. Katsuki scowls and whirls around. Izuku watches his back, the flower petals wet with blood on his finger tips.

SUNFLOWER
Katsuki turns to him, grin triumphant and challenging, and Izuku is struck so suddenly that Katsuki -sees- him that he's scrambling for the bathroom and bowing over the sink. He heaves, tears streaming down his face, until the white porcelain is yellow and red.

There are fifty petals in the sink. Izuku scoops them up and counts them each before he throws them in the trash. The tears haven't stopped just yet.

"Never fall in love."

Izuku wishes Katsuki had made it a little harder for him.

ASTER
The day they graduate is cold but sunny, and Izuku has to excuse himself to the bathroom three times during the day. The flowers in his hands are beautiful, red as they are from Izuku's raw throat. People have gotten used to his raspy voice.

His mom looks at him sometimes, like she knows, like she's already mourning him, but they don't talk about it.

Izuku collects bloody bouquets, and watches silently as Katsuki's shoulders grow broader, as Katsuki's back straightens, as Katsuki's voice deepens.

CARNATIONS
"We'll be unstoppable," Katsuki grins, and Izuku just nods along. The years have stolen Izuku's words slowly, and he's fine with that. No one seems to notice the difference, and he's fine with that too. He gets to stand by Katsuki's side as his hero partner. He's happy

He finds flowers on his pillow, blue and white and pink, and always, always red.

"Never fall in love," his mother had told him.

This love may hurt, but Izuku soaks it up anyways.

ROSES
The first red petals brings fresh tears to his eyes. He can feel the thorns in his throat, choking him, and he lets himself weep for a moment, weep for the life he'll lose, and the dreams he'll leave unfulfilled.

The flowers are soft as snow on his skin, and he thumps along the edge of the rose. He almost can't see his blood between the folds. His mother said to never fall in love, and a part of him wishes he'd listened.

But mostly, he's just tired.

Blood loss. Oxygen deprivation. Each breath is a battle. It hurts to walk, to stand, to breathe. He's going to miss his shift. Katsuki will be pissed off, but Izuku stays curled under the covers, coughing weakly with each flower that blooms on his tongue. He closes his eyes.

Dying is a cold, lonely affair.

So Izuku sleeps. He dreams of warm hands on his face, and voice calling to him. He can't really hear the words.

"Don't ever fall in love," his mother had said. She had been crying.

Izuku takes a breath. It's the easiest he's taken in years, filling his lungs despite the aching in his ribs. It feels like relief, his chest light. The growing, choking thing inside of him, that had wound its way around his heart and into his body loosens, and then withers away.

"You idiot. You absolute fucking idiot."

Izuku opens his eyes.

Katsuki is glaring at him, tears tracking wet paths across his scowling face. He's ugly when he cries. Izuku thinks he's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

"I hate you," Katsuki sobs. "You goddamn idiot."

"Kacchan," Izuku says. It's the first word that's gotten past the flowers in his mouth in nearly a year, and he can't help the way he smiles, or the way he hand reaches up to cup Katsuki's face, wiping away the tears. Katsuki sobs a little harder.

"You're so stupid," Katsuki hisses. "Waiting for me all this fucking time. Waiting for ME. What were you thinking?"

"That I love you," Izuku says. There's still rose petals between his teeth, bittersweet on his tongue.

"So you were going to die? Stupid fucking Deku."

Izuku grins. "That's me."

And Katsuki huffs, pulling Izuku a little closer where he's lifted him into his arms, and presses his face to Izuku's still beating heart. "I can't believe I'm in love with you. Stupid Deku."

Izuku chokes a little on a laugh, his body aching.

In his closed palm, there's still a rose sitting, pretty in his fingers. He turns his hand over and drops it, watches as it falls to the floor amongst the countless others and instead presses his fingers into Katsuki's hair, holding him close and breathing in deeply.

END
can't believe none of yall yelled at me for accidentally leaving it hanging we are about the hurt/COMFORT in his house yall, aint no dying up in this bitch