Crossing Fates : Special Story 7 - The Divided (BakuDeku)

15 - Twin Gods

Over the next week, Izuku and Katsuki gave themselves permission to sleep and rest as much as they wanted.

And between bouts of caring for the baby, they slept a lot.

"We have to start calling him something," Katsuki said one morning as they lounged in bed. "You're sure he hasn't said anything about his name?"

Izuku shook his head as he absently ran his foot along Katsuki's ankle. "I'm sure. I've been watching and waiting for it. We dream a lot together. Usually we're running around in the woods somewhere, and he really loves to sunbathe, but no... he hasn't told me what his name is yet. I believe he will when he's ready. After all, Iori told us his name."

"I guess we just have to keep calling you Nugget for now," Katsuki said into the baby's tiny, innocent face. "One of these days you'll understand what that nickname really means. I don't think you'll like it quite as much as you seem to right now."

As the drug cleared Izuku's system, food started to taste good again to him. It wasn't that it had tasted so bad before, but as his balance and health were restored, he began to realize just how all his senses had been dulled.

He couldn't get enough greens and gleefully ate salads until he was stuffed. Then he shapeshifted into his Nyr form to graze outside. After a few days, he started running in the mornings for the sheer pleasure of feeling his body move. The circles under his eyes disappeared, the extra weight melted away, and he healed with remarkable speed.

Ochaco was a big source of worry, and Izuku fretted mightily until his friend was able to come home. After keeping Ochaco in an induced coma for a couple of days, the physicians were able to facilitate the rest of her healing.

Izuku talked with her several times on the phone while she recuperated, and when Ochaco returned to Musutafu, Izuku insisted she stay at the house with them so that the staff could help to look after her.

After a nominal protest, Ochaco capitulated easily enough. She spent long afternoons in her canine Nyr form, napping on the rug in the kitchen until it became second nature to step over her on the way to the fridge.

Soon after their return, Katsuki and Izuku Skyped with Tenya and Momo in Katsuki's home office downstairs. Everyone in the pre-birthday party had left Detnerat and gone home by then, so the couple was back in Deika recovering.

Already Momo looked miraculously better. It would take her a few months to regain her full strength, but while she still looked gaunt, she was no longer the skeletal horror she had been in the cave.

"She terrified me at first, but then it didn't matter so much, and having her there was really comforting," Izuku told Katsuki before their Skype session. "She made a promise that she wouldn't hurt me, and I believed her. You could see it in her face, her eyes. She had full possession of herself. I don't know how else to describe it."

"I think I understand what you mean." Katsuki looked thoughtful, as he did so often these days.

"Himiko made blood thirst sound so awful." Izuku gave Katsuki a sidelong look. "But despite how bad Momo looked, she brushed it off."

"According to what I've read, blood thirst is one of the most terrible conditions you can endure," Katsuki told him. "Severe blood thirst feels like every vein in your body is on fire- and I understand other creatures find that to be very painful. Plus, Momo would have been starving. Blood thirst can drive a Vampire to indiscriminate slaughter. They lose complete control over themselves and their actions, and they can no longer discern when they've had enough to eat. They keep drinking and killing until they're stopped."

He hadn't realized he had stopped breathing until his husband had finished talking. Then finally he had to suck in a breath. "Ew."

"As you say," Katsuki replied, raising one eyebrow. "Ew."