For @katsudeku-kidweek

Title: What’s a Detroit?

Prompt: Day 5 (Apologizing for Bullying/Make Believe)

Warnings: Spoilers to Izuku vs Muscular

Pairings: BakuDeku/KatsuDeku

Summary: “Come on, Kacchan, we’re playing pretend. You can tell me, even if I don’t have a quirk, right?” (aka: All Might shouts random American locations with his attacks and Izuku doesn’t get it, but Kacchan is smart and has a quirk, so he’d know, right?)

They’re at that age where they have a designated bedtime. 9 PM. Time for bed. But the boys know Mama Inko’s weakness — the Izuku Midoriya smile — and Katsuki Bakugou exploits it whenever he can.

Maybe it’s Deku’s quirk: freckles and all.

When 9PM hits Katsuki gets to work, pushing Izuku in front of Inko and telling him all the right things to say. He thinks he’s whispering, but he hasn’t quite gotten the hang of being quiet.

“Pleeeeease,” Izuku whines, “Can Kacchan and I stay up and see if they talk about All Might?” The two boys are in the middle of a sleepover, which should, by default, extend their bedtime by at least half an hour.

Inko sighs, but the smile is already on her face. She’s cracked, as always, for Izuku. “Fine. You can stay up, but only until the news is over.”

To think, they’re in an heroic age where children want to watch the news.

It’s the top story, and both boys sit on the couch together, eyes practically sparkling as footage of another All Might battle is proudly displayed on screen. Each one is wearing their very own All Might shirt, Izuku holding an action figure in red with Katzuki holding one in blue. The Number One Hero defeats a group of monstrous villains with ease, that big ol’ smile as confident as it is comforting as he reassures a crowd of frightened onlookers that he is, indeed, there.

As promised, they go right to bed when the story is over… they just don’t go to sleep. Unbeknownst to Inko — naw, she definitely knows — the boys are wide awake, armed with their overactive imaginations.

“Since Deku doesn’t have a quirk, I’ll let him be the hero,” Katsuki says, way too proud of his supposed generosity. “We’re gonna play pretend, ok? You’re the hero and I’m the villain.”

“Ok!” Izuku’s beaming now, eager to jump into action. “I’m gonna smash you real good!”

Katsuki rolls his eyes and lets out an overdramatic, four-year-old sigh. “Stupid Deku,” he says. “That’s not what you’re supposed to say.”

Izuku goes quiet, images of the news report and an obsessive amount of All Might video watching circulating through his brain. Finally, he claps his hands together and says, “I am here!”

“Yeah… I guess that’ll do,” Katsuki says. It could use some improvement, to be honest, but he doesn’t have that kind of time. “Now, you gotta do a Detroit Smash!”

“Yeah!” But then Izuku goes quiet, curiosity spreading across his round little face. “… what’s a Detroit?”

“Huh?”

“All Might says it before he smashes but I don’t know what it is. Do you know what it is?”

Katsuki laughs. “Of course I do.” He doesn’t. He’s lying through his teeth but Deku doesn’t need to know that. “I guess a quirkless loser like you wouldn’t know, huh?”

“Awwwww! Come on, Kacchan! Tell me! Tell meeeee!!!”

“Shhhhh! Not so loud, we’re supposed to be sleeping!”

Izuku immediately shuts his mouth, hands on his knees, tiny feet kicking in anticipation. When Katsuki doesn’t say anything he pouts. “Come on, Kacchan, we’re playing pretend. You can tell me, even if I don’t have a quirk, right?”

Katsuki sighs, rubbing the back of his head in a gesture that he hopes doesn’t look nervous. “Fine, fine!” Think, Bakugou, think! You’re a hero, for goodness sake! “I-It’s like saying… um…  super? You know, like, Super Smash!” Then he punches his fist in the air with a grin that almost rivals All Might’s own.

“Oh! Ok!” Izuku grabs a pillow and, without warning, smacks Katsuki in the face with it. “Detroit Smash!”

“Wah!” Katsuki falls back onto the bed, completely taken off guard by the plush attack. “You little-”

“I’m the hero, remember?” Izuku stands triumphantly up on the bed, jumping up and down as he continues to hit Katsuki with the pillow. “Detroit Smash! Detroit Smash! Detroit Smash!”

Izuku’s so busy playing make believe that he misses the smile on his Kacchan’s face.

***

“Detroit…”

No.

That’s not enough.

Not for a villain like this.

Pulsating muscles covered in so many veins that his entire body is a bulbous blob, this is the first time in Izuku’s short hero life that he’s felt like he was going to die. But there’s too much for him to do, too many people he has to protect. Kota, first and foremost, then-

“Do you know Bakugou?”

Kacchan.

So no, this requires more than just Detroit. Of course, at this point in Izuku Midoriya’s life he’s fully aware that it’s an American city, not a fancy way to say super. Why All Might calls out to it in the middle of battle, he has no idea, and to be perfectly honest he’ll probably never know. But in that moment, as Izuku slowly pushes himself up with pure adrenaline and determination, he remembers playing pretend.

It’s like saying super.

So Izuku Midoriya grits his teeth, entire body shaking, ready to fall apart as he decides to make believe. “Delaware…” Another random place in America. It seems to flow well after Detroit for some reason. If Detroit is like saying “super” then maybe, just maybe, Delaware is like saying “duper” so…

“SMASH!!!”

Detroit Delaware Smash.

Super Duper Smash.

And as the villain goes flying into the mountainside, out of commission from the strength of Izuku’s imaginative punch, he can’t help but let out a victorious yell.

He can’t wait to tell Kacchan.

He just has to pretend like he can make it to him in time.

***

Notes: And we all know what happens next :( 

Notes the second: Probably the last prompt I’m doing for this week long adorable-thon of our boys because I’m off to Pride/vacation with my partner! But I’ll definitely be writing more stuff for these two in the future!

Notes the third: If you feel so inclined I’m on Twitter spouting on and on about my fandoms and like, the importance of representation and stuff, so come say hi!