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Izuku trudged through the forest, pushing branches out of the way as he squeezed through the narrow spaces where the path was supposed to be, only for a wayward tree root to send him tumbling to the ground. Cursing, he stood up and brushed himself off, pulling his map out of his pocket to see if he could make sense of where he was. According to the map, there was a large open space just ahead. He took a deep breath and continued in that direction. He had no idea what exactly he was going to find out there, but at this point anything seemed better than this dark forest.
He emerged from the trees and stepped into the sunlight. It nearly blinded him after spending so long in the shelter of the trees, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. When he could finally see, he gasped in surprise; what had looked like nothing but empty space on the map was actually the remains of some sort of ancient structure.
Knowing the sun would be going down soon, Izuku prepared to make camp. Secure on all sides, this seemed like a good area to pitch a tent and make his dinner. He began to gather wood and stack it on top of a large, flat stone he’d spotted in the middle of the rubble. Too large to move, he left it in place, and it created the perfect area to start a fire because the surrounding stone would stop it from spreading. When he had a sufficient amount of kindling he took out his flint and steel, making sparks until the sticks ignited.
He had a good fire going before long, and he set about boiling some water for soup. While he was putting the pot over the fire, he noticed some words carved into the stone that hadn’t been there before. They seemed to be in another language, and he wondered what they meant. He began to say them out loud, giving each foreign letter the sound he imagined it would make by the strange shape of the letters. As he read the words to the best of his ability, he tried to recall if he had ever seen anything like them before.
Suddenly the flames blazed higher, creating so much heat that Izuku began to sweat. He had the eerie feeling that he was being watched, except when he looked for the source he seemed to be alone.
Until he turned back to the fire, and let out a startled shout.
There appeared to be a man in the fire, covered in tattoos and with a crown of flames surrounding his blond hair. Angry red eyes glared at Izuku and he stepped back, noticing that the man did not seem to be in pain, or really affected at all by standing in the middle of the fire. Was he a figment of Izuku’s imagination? The fire scorched Izuku’s skin and stung his eyes, but he couldn’t look away as the man extended his hand. It was like a comet- red and burning, beckoning. Izuku, unblinking and drawn by the flames, reached back.
“Oi! What the fuck is the matter with you?!” cried the man as he stepped out of the fire. “This is fire. As in hot. And here you are about to stick your damn hand into it?! Didn’t your elders ever teach you anything?! You damn Deku!”
Izuku backed up, flushing with embarrassment. The fire on the man’s body died down as he stepped out of the flames, settling into a pattern of tattoos on his arms and chest that glowed red like hot coals, forming the very words Izuku had read from the stone.
“Wh- who are you?” Izuku stammered.
“Tch. I’m your worst nightmare, Deku. Is there any particular reason you decided to wake up a fire god?!”
“I didn’t!” Izuku replied. “Or at least.. I didn’t mean to.”
“So you don’t even have a good reason. Tch. Humans are such a bothersome lot.”
“I’m sorry, Sir!” Izuku cried.
“Katsuki,” the fire god said, smirking with amusement. “My name is Katsuki.”
“Kacchan,” said Izuku, trying and failing to pronounce the foreign name.
“Close enough,” said Katsuki, lowering himself to sit cross legged on the ground. “So when do you plan on sending me back?”
“Send you back?” Izuku squeaked. “How?”
“You’re telling me you don’t even know how to send me back?!” roared the fire god, flames appearing again on his body.
“I-if you just tell me how to do it, Kacchan, I-I’m sure I could—“
“No!” the angry god interrupted him. “That won’t work.”
Katsuki was trying to act tough, but Izuku could see the fear behind the bravado. “You don’t know how either, do you?” he asked quietly.
“Shut up!” Katsuki snapped, and Izuku knew he was right.
“You were taken away from your home and brought here, with no idea how to get back! Like a poor lost kitten…”
“FUCK YOU!” Katsuki roared, threatening Izuku with his flames. “I’m not a poor lost anything. I’m a god for fuck’s sake, and don’t you ever forget it!”
“O-Okay, I’m sorry!” Izuku stammered, putting his hands up defensively. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out somehow.”
He sat down on the ground across from Katsuki, thinking. They had a problem. A problem he was sure he could solve, given enough time and resources. But where to even begin? Izuku began to mutter to himself as he worked through the problem in his mind.
“Oi! Deku!” Katsuki growled, reaching out to smack the top of his head.
“Wh-what! Sorry, I got lost in thought….”
Izuku looked up and their eyes met for a brief moment. Katsuki’s brilliant, dazzling eyes, red like fire, seemed to consume Izuku’s entire being.
“Stop staring at me,” Katsuki growled, snapping him out of it.
Izuku blinked and looked away, but not before noticing the blush on the god’s face, making it nearly the same shade as his tattoos. Izuku coughed and covered his face to hide his own blush, then noticed his stomach grumbling and rose to make the soup. Neither of them said anything as he prepared the ingredients and tossed them into the pot, and the awkward silence stretched on as Izuku waited for his meal to be ready. Should he offer some to Katsuki? Did gods even eat? He didn’t realize he’d started muttering again.
“You know, I can hear you,” Katsuki pointed out. “And to answer your questions, I don’t need to eat but I can still feel hunger. So give me some of that damn soup, I’m fucking starving!”
Izuku squeaked, then went to grab his bowl and spoon. He only had one bowl, and he felt like he should serve his guest first, but he was so hungry…
“It’s fine, I can drink it from the pot,” Katsuki told him, seeming to sense his dilemma.
“But… it’s hot! You’ll burn yourself!” Izuku warned, then remembered he was talking to a fire god.
“Tch. You’re the one who was reaching into the fire when we met,” Katsuki scoffed. “It won’t hurt me. Just take what you want and pass the rest over here.”
Izuku filled his bowl and then brought the hot soup pot to the grumpy fire god, gasping in surprise as he drank the soup straight from the pot. Again, silence settled over them as they ate their meal, but this time it wasn’t awkward. It felt natural, like they’d known each other for a long time. Izuku couldn’t quite place the familiarity, but he felt comfortable in Katuski’s presence. It felt right.
When they were done eating, Izuku began to nod off. He wasn’t sure exactly why, but Katsuki made him feel safe, so he opted to sleep next to the fire rather than going to his tent. Katsuki hadn’t moved from the spot where he was sitting, and his expression was unreadable as he continued to watch Izuku, who smiled as he struggled to keep his eyes open. Eventually he drifted off into an easy sleep.
~~
When he woke a few hours later, the fire was down to just a few glowing embers and was about to die out. Getting up to fetch some more wood, he looked around for Katsuki and didn’t see him. Where had the fire god gone? The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon when movement caught his eye and he looked over to see Katsuki- or at least it looked like Katsuki. Except at the same time it didn’t. It was as if he was fading, and he looked more like a spectre than a god.
“Don’t build up the fire,” Katsuki told him, and his voice sounded as faint as his body looked. “This whole time it was the fire. Let it die out, and I can go home.”
“But how did you—“
“I just know,” said the god. “I didn’t realize before that it was that simple.”
“Oh.”
Izuku didn’t know what to say. Katsuki seemed oddly vulnerable compared to how he had been last night. He realized a part of him didn’t want Katsuki to go, because he liked being around him.
“Will I ever see you again?” Izuku asked.
Katsuki got more and more faint as the embers continued to smoulder.
“Tch. As if I’d ever wanna come back here and hang out with some nerd,” scoffed the god. “But knowing you, you’ll find a way to bring me back and then I’ll have to kill you.”
The last of the embers faded to ash and then the fire god was gone, leaving Izuku with a sense of bittersweet wonder. Was it his imagination or was there a bit of underlying hope in the god’s parting threat?
Izuku began to pack up his camp, preparing to move on, but not before taking out his notebook and writing down every single one of the foreign symbols he’d found etched into the stone. He traced over them reverently with his fingers, thinking about how amazing it was to have stumbled upon such a thing by accident, and being given the opportunity to meet a real live god.