Katsuki was living the life he wanted. He moved far from everyone on a farm and avoided the majority of the human population like the plague. The way he saw it, a quiet life surrounded by nature was far better than battling through the stupidity that others brought to your doorstep. The only thing was that his farm needed work, not just a little but a lot. The man who had sold it to him didn't have the money to keep it going, Katsuki generously paid him for the farm and surrounding land so the man could retire without worry, but that left the ramshackle farm for him to fix up on his own.
Katsuki was pretty handy, he managed to do the work on his own but it was taking more time than he anticipated doing it all on his own. He spent months mending all the fences and rebuilding the chicken coop, he moved on to the barn that was a mess all on it's own and kept a steady pace.
But it was in this hard work that he started to notice thing. It started small, one day he went to mend a tattered bridle for his favorite horse and found it somewhat mended. Someone had wound twine-like tiny ropes around the frayed areas and although it did help hold things together it would not be a strong enough fix to last so Katsuki spent five minutes removing the ropes to fix it with sturdier supplies.
He couldn't figure out who had done the task, but that was only the beginning. One day a week or so later he found a small lamb on his doorstep, it was not one of his own, but instead looked wild and unkempt. It only took a moment for Katsuki to notice the poor thing walked with a limp, upon further inspection the lamb had suffered an injury, it's leg badly cut. But what caught his eye was the fact that someone had applied a green salve and covered the wound with large green leaves. Katsuki cleaned the wound with medicines and rebandaged it but was gain left wondering who was attempting to help him.
Katsuki spent hours wandering his property, checking out all of the surrounding areas to see if there were anyone staying nearby that might be doing these things but he found no one. Outside his property was all nature reserve, no one lived there and very few visited due to rough terrain. This only made Katsuki more curious, he kept a closer eye on things around his farm from then on.
One night after a long day of re-shoeing the horses Katsuki left the barn in a state of disarray. Things had taken so much longer than he had anticipated so he did nit have the daylight nor the energy to clean up properly. He reluctantly dragged himself to bed only to awaken the next day to the sight of a clean barn. He was perplexed. He stood staring at his work bench for what seemed like forever before something caught his eye. There were tiny marks in the dust that had gathered on the workbench surface. He moved closer to inspect things and was shocked, if he wasn't mistaken these markings looked like footprints...teeny tiny footprints.
Katsuki wasn't an idiot, he had heard the tales of fae, but he never imagined they could be true. But now he stood looking at evidence of the someone who had been helping him and he did not know what to do with it. From then on he kept a sharper eye on things, hoping to catch the fairy in the act.
The next weeks went by with little signs of the fairy here and there, but he had yet to catch it in the act. He was starting to grow frustrated when it happened at last. One morning he went to the barn to change the fly tapes around the horses. There had been a bad illness passing through the livestock, and the carried was the flies. Katsuki had only gone out to check on things and found quite an unusual sight. A tiny green haired fairy was stuck to one of the fly tapes, struggling to get free.
Katsuki was in shock. He hadn't known what he expected, but this was definitely not it. The tiny fairy struggled against the sticky glue, unable to free his emerald tinted wings from the trap he had become entangled in. It took a few minutes before Katsuki's brain caught up and he finally moved in to help.
"Oi! Stop struggling," he barked out, reaching out to hold the fairy still. "You're making it worse."
The fairy froze and looked to him horrified, not having noticed the blonde walk up on him. "Let me help you," Katsuki said softer, gently taking the fairy in his hand and trying to separate the fly tape from his delicate wings.
Katsuki worked to painstakingly peel the tape back from the fragile looking wings, careful not to pull or tug too hard. The fairy was silent as he worked, and Katsuki wondered if the fae folk even spoke his language. After about ten minutes of careful work the fairy was free, Katsuki gently released his grip on the tiny figure and waited for him to fly away. Instead the tiny man stood in his palm slowly opening and closing his wings, assessing the damage the tape had done.
"Thank you," the fairy said softly, his voice as delicate as windchimes.
Katsuki swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded, "of course, you've been helping me, it's only right that I return the favor."
"You- um... you knew I was helping you?" the fairy asked quietly.
"I'm not blind and you're not subtle," Katsuki answered. "I'm Katsuki, by the way."
"Izuku," he answered, dropping into a small bow. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," Katsuki answered gruffly, "why not?"
Izuku blushed, "Do you know how to remove the sap from my wings?"
"Sap?" The blonde questioned, "Oh, the glue...yea I can probably help you out with that. Can I take you into my house?"
Izuku looked around, considering his options before grabbing onto Katsuki's thumb and nodding, "Okay."
Katsuki walked back to his house with the little fairy clinging to his thumb as not to tumble over. Once inside Katsuki placed out a small towel and let Izuku carefully step off onto the plush fabric. Katsuki then hurried around his home, plucking items from all over before coming over and setting down his supplies. "That glue is stubborn, I got some things that might help take it off, but I need to be careful, I don't want to hurt your wings."
Izuku fluttered his wings a bit and nodded, "Wings are to be cared for with the upmost respect, I could only imagine what my mother would say if she could see the mess I have gotten myself into."
"Sit here," Katsuki directed, pointing to a small space just in front of him. Izuku made his way over and sat on the edge of the table, wings toward Katsuki.
"What were you even doing out there to get yourself stuck," Katsuki grumbled as he dipped a soft rag in a soapy solution and carefully dabbing at the fairy's wings.
"Ka- Kacchan that's cold!" Izuku exclaimed as he flicked his wings in surprise. Katsuki barked out a laugh and the fairy shot him a look, his cheeks puffed out in frustration. "I was checking on the horses," he answered, "I wanted to make sure they were not sick."
"That's my job," Katsuki pointed out before dabbing more solution on the delicate wings, the glue seemed to be loosening.
"I was only trying to help," Izuku huffed, "Kacchan is all alone out here, I just wanted to make sure he wasn't all alone."
Katsuki stopped his work and furrowed his brow. "Why you do you keep calling me that?"
Izuku shrugged, "It is a common thing in our culture to give chosen names to those who help us."
Katsuki thought for a moment before saying, "Then I am going to call you Deku, so we're even."
Izuku's wings fluttered a bit, "A returned chosen name means we are friends then."
Katsuki began cleaning the wings once more, "fine, I guess I could use a friend."
The two mage polite conversation while Katsuki finished cleaning Izuku's wings. They talked a lot about the farm and the things Izuku had done to help out, Katsuki laughing when he found out that Izuku had oiled all the hinges on the barn doors for him, which still sat on Katsuki's own to-do list. Izuku of course offered to take a look at the list and see what he could help with, Katsuki simply grumbled to himself that he could handle things on his own.
Once all the sticky residue was gone Izuku flew carefully around the room to test out his wings. "They're good as new," he gushed, flitting by Katsuki's face. "I guess now I can get out of your hair," Izuku said sounding a little sad.
Katsuki sat back and though for a moment before he spoke up nervously, "It's not like I am kicking you out or anything, can you maybe stick around for a little bit?"
~~~
Katsuki and Izuku grew closer and closer over the days and weeks to follow. Izuku would fly in to see what his Kacchan was up to and help him around the farm, but there was one day in particular he did not see the blonde around when he showed up.
Izuku searched high and low for his friend and eventually went to the window of the house and crawled in through the small gap. Once inside Izuku found his Kacchan laying on his bed, bundled in blankets looking pale. He immediately flew over to investigate and was nearly blown over with the deep huff and groan that escaped the human.
Izuku perched on the headboard and reached down to feel Kacchan's face, his skin was on fire. Kacchan had a fever. Izuku was worried, he knew the blonde was alone and kept himself secluded. There was no one around to care for him and complete the farm chores they would usually do.
It was then that Izuku got an idea. He whispered to the blonde, "Don't worry Kacchan, I will take care of everything," and hurried off back toward his home.
It was only about an hour later that Izuku was back at Katsuki's bedside. He had begun preparing a tincture his mother had taught him although it was admittedly hard to prepare enough for a human rather than a fae.
Just as he finished Izuku heard the blonde groan and roll over in his bed, Izuku flew from the bedside table to his friend to comfort him. "Kacchan," he called, "How are you feeling?"
Katsuki groaned again and burrowed into his blankets, "so cold."
"Kacchan," Izuku gently rubbed a hand on the feverish cheek, "I need you to drink your medicine."
Katsuki cracked an eye open as if he only just realized Izuku was there, "Don't have any."
"I made you some from echinacea and spilanthes flowers. I need you to sit up and take some," Izuku softly pleaded. Katsuki reached out a shaky hand toward the dropper Izuku was now trying to hand him, "Please take this entire dropper Kacchan, it will make you feel better."
Katsuki drained the dropper and choked a bit on the bitter taste before cringing. "Tastes awful."
"That means it's working," Izuku teased softly. "Now you need to get some rest."
"I need to check on the horses," Katsuki said as he tried to sit up, his entire body shaky beneath him.
"It's fine, it's being taken care of," Izuku practically cooed at him, running one of his tiny hands along his sweaty brow.
"You can't do all that on your own, nerd," Katsuki said as he laid back again, unable to sit fully.
"I am not doing things on my own, I have my friends here to help. We've managed to do most of the things you and I would usually do in our daily chores," Izuku explained.
"Why would they do that for me? I thought you guys didn't usually approach humans," he questioned. Izuku sat beside Katsuki on his pillow, gently running his tiny hand through the sweaty blonde locks,
"They know how I care for you, Kacchan. My friends are curious to meet you, but they are more than willing to help out until you are better.”
For days Izuku remained at Katsuki's bedside, only leaving long enough to get more supplies and coming back. One such time Izuku came back in through the cracked window to find Katsuki sitting up, leaning against the headboard. "Deku, you're here!" The blonde sounded so excited to see him. "I thought I it had all been a dream.
"Izuku flew over, landing on his pillow, "You weren't dreaming, I spent as much time here as I could."
Katsuki wore the softest smile he had ever seen from the blonde, " 'm glad." He still sounded so tired.
"How are the animals?" Izuku leaned into his hand, holding onto his finger,
"They're good. My friends have been taking very good care of them."Katsuki rubbed the pad of his finger against Izuku's chubby cheeks, "what would I have done without you? I was all alone."
"You were never alone," Izuku said fondly, "even when you thought you were. I was always here keeping an eye on you. I saw the day you showed up and I just couldn't look away." Katsuki sighed, smile never leaving his face. Izuku flushed deeply, "I care for you in ways I can't even begin to explain."
Katsuki looked into his eyes, "Don't ever leave."
Izuku let go of his finger to fly closer to his face, he placed a gentle kiss on the blonde's cheek and smiled. "I will stay with you forever if you let me."
Part Two https://www.tumblr.com/fantasticnic/723136577774256128/the-littlest-things-part-2?source=share
