Katsuki had plenty to say when Izuki half led, half dragged him into a tiny space in the cliff-face. Because it stank.

"Holy shit on a stick, what defecated and died here, Zuku?"

Izuku's little ten-year-old face was bashful.

"I, uh, may have coated the entrance with, um, stuff."

"Do I want to know?"

"Not really-but I thought if it stank bad enough it could cover up Eji's nose?"

And since Kirishima-or Ejiro, since he couldn't really remember his last name for some reason, probably because dragons didn't have last names and his dragon name had been something unpronounceable-had been riding his butt constantly, Katsuki decided to forgive the offense to his nostrils.

He called the dragon a few choice words as he army crawled deeper into the space. It didn't go very far, but it did open up high enough for him to sit up. Just barely. The top of his scalp scraped the ceiling.

The shorter Izuku fit just right.

"So, why'd you make a stink hole?" Katsuki asked. "I thought you of all people would be all up in arms about talking to a dragon."

And he had been excited about it. For the first few days.

Izuku looked off to the side, fingers fidgeting. It was such a Deku habit from their old life that Katsuki felt the corner of his mouth lift up. If only they had paper and pens to keep his hands preoccupied. And, you know, a written language, though wouldn't witches and wizards have that? Question for another time.

"I…I don't know how to say it," he said, haltingly, which would have driven Katsuki up the wall in their previous life, before he learned to stop being such an explosive asshole.

"Did he hurt you?" Hard to imagine, friendly, puppy-dog Ejiro hurting anyone, but Katsuki would put Izuku's word above the dragon's any day, even if the first was lying…not that he'd ever tell anyone that.

"No," said Izuku. "But…I get this tight, achy feeling when I'm around him or I hear you guys talking about…you know."

"No, I don't know."

Izuku pulled on his fingers harder. They didn't have scars in this life. He didn't have scars when he was ten in the previous one either, though.

"Your life before this one," he said quietly. "Our life."

Katsuki watched Izuku fidget in the half-lit hole in the rock, barely aware of the stink anymore.

Ah…shit, he should have thought of this.

"You're jealous because Eji can remember and you can't."

Izuku flinched minutely, then bowed his head.

Yeah, Katsuki probably could have said that nicer. Though it'd probably take him five more lifetimes to learn that particular skill.

He sighed heavily, making Izuku tense up.

"Don't," he smacked the kid's shoulders, as he usually did whenever Izuku instinctively tensed up. You'd think the kid was beaten in this life too, gawd damn.

"Don't be jealous?" he asked.

"No, don't tense up like a girl about to pee, I ain't mad, why the hell would I be mad just because you have damn feelings? And even if I did get mad you should give me the finger and feel all you want."

Izuku sighed as well, then forced his shoulders to relax and brought his head up.

"I…I don't want to be jealous of Eji," he said.

"Yeah. Being jealous sucks balls." Katsuki had no quick fix for this.

"He's really cool and really friendly. I want to be friends."

"Friend him all you want, then you can chatter each other's ears off instead of mine."

"...I'm sorry."

"For damn fucking what?"

"For making this hole and tugging you into it so I can be with you without your dragon."

"I needed a break." He leaned back, wondering if he could get more comfortable by maybe slouching against the wall. He didn't. Stupid walls had to be jagged. And he was starting to get cold. There was a reason the cliffs were used for the summer months. Mother Earth's natural A/C.

A comfortable silence spread between them. At some point, they could hear the skitter-scatter of scales and claws and the echo of Ejiro's voice in their minds.

When it sounded as though Ejiro had long passed them, Izuku spoke again.

"Was he really your best friend in your past life?"

Ugh, Katsuki did not like talking about this kind of stuff. "I guess."

"...More than me?"

Katsuki had to remind himself that Izuku was only ten right now before he could call him an overdramatic baby. Kids worried about this sort of stuff.

"Don't you remember me telling you how much of a bullying ass I was to you most of our lives?" Katsuki asked. "It ain't about who I liked more. It was who was the most determined to deal with my bullshit."

"I would have, um…dealt with your b-bullshit."

Oh gawd, it was like being confessed to by a girl. An ugly, ten-year-old girl with a penis.

Katsuki took a breath and actually stopped to think around his discomfort with this conversation before speaking. He wished he could remember more of how ten-year-olds thought. But then he remembered that this was Izuku, who he'd been friends with since they were babies, both in this life and the last. Izuku, who caught up to his maturity level as best as he could, who wasn't discouraged whenever Katsuki spoke over his head because he simply had no clue how he should be otherwise.

"We're best friends now. That's what should matter. It's this life that counts, not the last one."

Izuku's eyes shone.

"Promise?"

"Ugh, you're going to make me gag."

"That's probably the smell." But Izuku was smiling, finally. "Come on, Kacchan, promise."

"I promise we're the fucking best bosom companions, yada yada, so go make friends with Eji already so I don't have to hide in a stink hole to get away."

Izuku nodded furiously, curls bouncing everywhere, and all but dove out of the hole.

Katsuki waited for him to clear the way before crawling out himself.

Freaking Ejiro was waiting for them, sitting on his haunches and tongue lolling out like a happy dog.

Ferocious dragon my ass, thought Katsuki.

" Did I hear something about friends? " he chirruped into their minds.

Katsuki shook off the dirt and…something else that Izuku had smeared around the cave and muttered something about My Little Pony and barfing.

Izuku clenched his heels together, as though readying to tap them and chant 'There's no place like home!'

"I-I-I want to, um, apologize. I didn't-I got jealous and-"

" No big! " broke in Ejiro. " I'd totally be jealous too and not nearly as nice about it, let's go take a bath too! You stink! "

Katsuki froze. "No."

Both dragon and Izuku pouted.

"But-I can make the water warm," said the dragon.

"My mom made bubbles," whined Izuku.

To his credit, Katsuki had done very well remembering that these two were children. Or, at least, that Izuku still was. And it wasn't like they hadn't taken baths together before.

But gawd damn it, "I'M A MAN! I don't need an entourage every time I need to clean my ass! Go have your own stupid bubble bath!"

"Can I come?"

Where the hell had Birdie come from?

"Excuse me?" Katsuki did not squawk.

Birdie, an almost twelve-year-old girl now, twisted her hips, swinging her stiff leather skirts about while peeking at him past her lashes. "I could scrub your back?"

"You freaking-you're 12! You're growing tits! What makes you think you can pull off pervy crap like that?"

Any other little girl in the tribe would have bursted into tears and ran, but Birdie had been trailing after Izuku and Katsuki since day one and had never taken no for an answer. So she just pouted.

"It's not like it's nothing I haven't seen before," she said mulishly.

Katsuki's skin crawled. By the way Izuku's hands clutched to his chest like a hamster, he must have gotten the same feeling.

Fucking Ejiro laughed.

"You peek?" croaked Katsuki, scandalized.

Birdie rolled her eyes. "No. But it's not like your boy bits are going to be any different than my little brother's, and I bathe him all the time."

"He's five!"

"And you're only ten," she said, grin particularly coy. "Daddy says man bits don't grow in until you're at least thirteen. I asked."

What the hell kind of girl asks that so she can sneak into the neighboring boys' baths? And why the hell was she even here? Did she stalk them? Of course she did. She always did.

Ejiro stuffed his claws into his maw, as though that could stem the laughing that crackled across their minds.

Katsuki had had enough of the creepy crawlies.

"Come near my bath and you die," he said, very seriously. "I'll blow up your face."

Birdie pouted again. "That isn't very nice."

But Katsuki wasn't listening. "You can come with me, Eji. Be my guard dog.

" What? It isn't like you got anything to hide- "

Katsuki set off an explosion in the dragon's face, making both Birdie and Izuku jump a foot in the air.

Ejiro, of course, wasn't affected in the least.

And since he didn't trust that stupid dragon as far as he could throw him, he grabbed Izuku's wrist as well and marched towards the pools set up higher in the cliff that the tribesmen used for bathing. He could feel Izuku's goosebumps under his palm.

"I think she likes you," said Izuku quietly.

"Fucking eww."

" I thought it was sweet," said Ejiro.

"Shut up and make sure she isn't following us. Nothing she hasn't seen my ass…"

" She's right, though. Puberty has yet to grace your bitty boy bits- -"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, Ejiro!"

Ejiro gasped. " He said my name!"