Chapter Text
“You still haven’t told him!?” Mina shrieks, “What the hell, Eiji!” She slaps her hands down on the table so hard that their coffee cups wiggle a little.
Eijirou throws his hands up in defense. “I don’t know, it just hasn’t felt like the right time yet!”
“Ugh! You like him, he definitely likes you back, so what are you waiting for?” She huffs, disgruntled, crossing her arms and glaring at him.
“I’ve only really known the truth about my own feelings for a few weeks, and…I just…I’m waiting for the perfect moment…I want it to be special, you know?” Eijirou puts his arms back on the table and props his chin up in one hand with a sigh.
Mina’s gaze softens a little. “You are such a gross romantic, Eijirou. Not many meatheads have as soft a heart as you do.”
“Aw, tha-wait, meathead?”
Mina giggles, and he throws a napkin at her.
“Plus, do we really know that he likes me back? I mean…he’s my best bro! And he’s never said anything before!”
“Well, besides the photo, which, come on, obvious,” She waves her hand around and rolls her eyes, “Just wrack your brain, anything else stand out to you that he’s done that isn’t just normal friend stuff?”
“Well…it’s Katsuki, so…normal is kinda relative…” Eijirou replies.
Mina hums. “Good point…”
“Oh, there was Valentine’s day, I guess. Before that building collapse.”
Mina cocks her head, interest piqued.
“He gave me chocolates. Homemade ones, that he made.”
“He what!?” Mina shrieks, earning some disgruntled looks from the other coffee shop patrons.
Eijirou holds up his hands again in surrender and splutters, “He made it seem casual! ‘Cause like, we were working together non-stop on that gang stuff and he said he just wanted to be nice! I was gonna return the favour for White Day but then the hospital thing happened and I just kinda…forgot.”
“You didn’t think to mention this earlier!? Kirishima Eijirou! I love you, but you are an idiot sometimes!” Mina yells, stabbing her finger at his face with a flourish.
Eijirou rubs the back of his head with his hand, sheepish. “Well, I’ll tell him when I feel like I’m ready, alright?”
“Uugh!” Mina groans, rolling her eyes and dramatically collapsing across the table. “You two are hopeless, I swear!”
“Red, the fuck are you doin’ down there?” Katsuki says, stomping over through the wreckage of overturned tables and lab equipment to where Eijirou is lying flat on his back on the tiled floor.
Eijirou just sighs, closing his gritty eyes for a moment before answering. “Jus’ takin’ a rest, I’m fine.”
“Well, take it somewhere else, we have to get out of here.” Katsuki offers him a hand, and Eijirou grabs it, letting himself be pulled roughly to his feet. Eijirou sways slightly with a headrush when he’s finally standing, so Katsuki wraps a steadying arm around his waist. Neither of them is particularly injured besides a few scratches and bruises (mostly on Katsuki, due to the nature of Eijirou’s quirk), but both of them are beyond exhausted.
They’d been staking out this gang-run drug lab since the previous morning, and they’ve been awake for almost 40 hours now, waiting in hiding for the gang’s boss to return to the lab so they could bust him properly. It was no use just catching the lab grunts, after all.
The last of the gang members are being led out of the building in handcuffs as Eijirou and Katsuki make their way back outside. The police greet them with cursory thanks, but everyone is too busy for any more formalities.
Katsuki pulls his arm away from Eijirou’s waist when he’s steady enough on his feet again, and he immediately misses it.
“That slippery asshole really fucked you up, huh?” Katsuki snorts, pushing his mask up into his hair and smirking as they make their way slowly down the street.
Eijirou grumbles, embarrassed and a little ashamed, pulling off his own head piece and carrying it in his hand. “Just ‘cause I can’t fly like you can!”
The gang boss had had a quirk that made every connected object within a twenty-foot radius of where he touched completely frictionless. Eijirou hadn’t even been able to get close to him.
Katsuki’s teasing smirk quickly fades away and he looks at Eijirou with a furrowed brow.
“Eijirou, you took out the entire rest of the gang while I was dealing with slip’n’slide, don’t gimme that down-on-yourself bullshit,” Katsuki says, and Eijirou’s heart melts. He has the overwhelming urge to hug Katsuki, to pull his arm back around his waist again, maybe grab his face and pull him in for a kiss...
Being this tired around Katsuki is making him dangerously mushy. He beams at his friend instead, and Katsuki blushes a little and looks away.
They walk side by side for a little while in silence, until Eijirou’s stomach growls loudly. Katsuki notices immediately.
“Hey, let’s get some food. That ramen place you like is close to here.”
Eijirou smiles at him again. “Hell yes, dude! But uh…you sure you don’t want to just head home, though? You look as dead on your feet as I feel…”
Katsuki shrugs. “We both need to fuckin’ eat, I’m starving too, and this is less effort.”
“Okay then!”
Katsuki orders his usual extra-spicy monstrosity, Eijirou orders something normal in an extra-large size, and then they sit quietly together while they wait for their food, too tired to say much.
Katsuki closes his undoubtedly heavy eyelids and rests his chin in his hand, his smudged dark eyeliner making him look gaunt and worn. He’d definitely saved Eijirou’s ass today, as much as he was teasing him lightly about it earlier. Eijirou is suddenly overwhelmed by how lucky he is that this incredible fire-bomb of a person is his best friend. That he’s the person he finally fell for. Eijirou loves him so much, it feels like it's spilling out of his pores. He can’t contain it anymore.
“Hey, Katsuki.”
“Mmgh?” Katsuki blinks his eyes back open, furrowing his brow and peering sleepily at Eijirou.
“I like you.”
“Hah, yeah, I like you too, shithead,” Katsuki grunts, smirking a little before closing his eyes again.
“No, like…I like you. As in…I have, you know…feelings, for you…” Eijirou trails off at the end and looks down at his hands, suddenly afraid to meet Katsuki’s eyes, his heart pounding in his ears.
“What.” He sounds…angry? Why does he sound angry!?
“Shit, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…what am I thinking, we’re both exhausted, I ruined it, this is the worst timing I’m such a big dumb-”
“Jesus, shut up and calm down, holy shit. I like you too, you big, fucking, asshole,” Katsuki growls, still looking strangely angry.
“Wh-…you do…?” Eijirou stutters, his heart leaping back up into his throat from where it fell to his toes a second ago.
“Yes. Since like…fuckin’…years ago,” Katsuki mumbles, looking embarrassed now, his cheeks flushing red as he looks away.
“What? Why didn’t you say anything?!” Eijirou cries.
“’Cause I thought you weren’t interested! You probably don’t remember this, since you have hair instead of brains, but about two years ago, right around when I figured out my own fucking feelings… we were hanging out with the Idiots, and Bla– Mina- asked you about dating, or some shit, and you said, ‘I’m not really interested in relationships at all, I just want to hang out with my best friend’.” Katsuki levels him with a deadpan stare. “And I gave you fucking handmade chocolate on Valentine’s Day and you didn’t say shit about romance then, either, so the fuck else was I supposed to think, huh?” Katsuki growls irritably.
Eijirou flushes, a little ashamed of himself. He does sort of remember saying something like that, now that he thinks about it…
“Did you…tell anyone else about how you felt?” Eijirou asks, tentative.
“No,” Katsuki says quietly. “But I think Deku figured it out. He’s always been too damn observant...” He says this kind of fondly, now, albeit while still looking grumpy.
“Well, from what Mina told me, I think everyone else knew anyways, ages before I did at least,” Eijirou chuckles, and Katsuki makes a low, angry-cat noise in the back of his throat.
“Fuckin’ gossiping dicks….”
“So you…all this time…?” Eijirou feels a little spike of guilt.
“Yeah. Fuck.” He sighs. “It was fine though, since you really didn’t seem to want to date anyone else, we just got to keep hanging out like fucking normal and that was okay. I was fine with it like it was, as long as you were with me. But now you-fuck, Eijirou!” He throws his hands up in the air in frustration.
Eijirou laughs, feeling suddenly giddy. “Wow man, this is so not how I pictured this going down…”
“Fucking tell me about it,” Katsuki snaps.
“I really do like you though, I swear.” Eijirou says it seriously, calmly, his voice steady as he meets Katsuki’s gaze.
They’re saved from an awkward staring match by their food arriving. They both dig into their respective bowls like starving animals, partially because they’re both ravenously hungry, but also maybe a little bit so they can put off having to talk more about their feelings for a bit longer.
When they’re done eating, Katsuki says, “So, how long have you known about your-,” he flings his hands around in the air aggressively, “-this, then, huh?”
Eijirou looks off to the side and hums. “Uh…three weeks?”
“That’s it? What the fuck made you-…figure it out, then?”
“It was…something Mina said…at Denki’s party…and then I kinda realized that I’ve actually been in love with you since like second year at UA.” Eijirou sighs. “I really do have hair for brains, huh…?”
“Fucking obviously.” Katsuki crosses his arms with a huff, but then his face smooths out again into something gentler and apologetic when he meets Eijirou’s eyes. “Don’t feel guilty, shit, you’re the best fucking person I know, Eijirou. Don’t beat yourself up about this, feelings are the worst. I’m just glad you figured it out.” He looks away towards the end of his sentence, a blush slowly creeping onto his face again.
Eijirou beams at him and laughs happily.
“That was so nice, Katsuki, who even are you?” Eijirou whispers in amazement, a little teasing around the edges. Katsuki just flips him off and blushes a fresh shade of red.
A few seconds later, Katsuki flicks his gaze around the ramen shop quickly, and then stands up suddenly. “Stay here for a sec, I’m paying for our goddamn food, since this is apparently our first date, or whatever. Then we can get the hell out of here and go the fuck to sleep.”
Eijirou nods, feeling like his heart might overflow as it fills up with great bubbles of happiness.
They go back to Katsuki’s apartment, because it’s bigger and Eijirou basically lives there anyways.
This place has always felt like home to Eijirou, but now it feels different, somehow. Better.
As soon as they close the door behind them, Eijirou tentatively puts his hands on Katsuki’s shoulders and says, “Now that we’re here, can I, maybe…kiss you-”
“Thought you’d never fuckin’ ask,” Katsuki growls, whipping off his hero mask and grabbing Eijirou’s face, pushing their lips together in a surprisingly gentle kiss.
Eijirou is on fire, and he’s suddenly hyper aware of every part of Katsuki that he’s touching. His lips are chapped and warm. His hair is course and fluffy and puts up a valiant resistance as Eijirou gently winds his hands into it to deepen the kiss. He can feel Katsuki’s faint, scratchy stubble, usually invisible due to its blonde colour, and he marvels at it.
Katsuki’s hands are rough and sweaty, and he slides them down away from Eijirou’s face and onto his waist so he can pull them closer together.
They eventually break apart, breathless and grinning, and suddenly all of the excited energy drains out of Eijirou and his exhaustion hits him like a freight train. He yawns directly into Katsuki’s face.
“Ugh, m’sorry…”
“Fuck, okay I get it, let’s go to sleep,” Katsuki chuckles, yawning in return but smothering it in his hand instead.
“Mmhmm.” Eijirou closes his eyes and rests his forehead on the back of Katsuki’s shoulder, trusting him to lead them to the bathroom safely.
They take turns using the shower, everything familiar and yet completely new. Eijirou has been in this bathroom a hundred times, used this shower and this sink like his own. He’s even had to weave around Katsuki like this before while they get ready, but now every time they pass by each other, they reach out to touch, or kiss, or lean, and everything takes twice as long as it usually does.
While they brush their teeth, he bumps his shoulder into Katsuki’s playfully. Katsuki bumps him back and grins around his toothbrush, and Eijirou feels like he’s floating.
Eijirou grabs a pair of boxers and a shirt to sleep in from the little collection of clothes he always keeps at Katsuki’s, and they leave their hero costumes in a loose pile on the bathroom floor to deal with later. Then they collapse into bed together.
He and Katsuki face each other, their noses inches apart. Katsuki reaches out his hand and buries it in Eijirou’s clean, slightly damp hair, running his fingers through it slowly.
“Y’know, I actually like this colour…your hair…it’s not…fuckin’ shitty at all…” Katsuki whispers. Like it’s a secret he’s kept close to himself since their high school years.
“Hmm I know…now please keep doin’ that forever…” Eijirou hums, closing his eyes, overwhelmed with sensation.
“You’re so fuckin’ weird,” Katsuki chuckles quietly, but he keeps doing the hair thing, so Eijirou hardly hears him.
“M’sorry it took me so long t’get here, Ka’ski…” Eijirou slurs, barely clinging to consciousness.
“S’okay, Eiji…stop fuckin’ apologizing,” Katsuki sighs, kissing the tip of Eijirou’s nose.
Katsuki slides down and tucks himself against Eijirou’s chest. Eijirou wraps his arms around him, one under his head and one over his back, wondering whether he’s ever been more content in his life than he is right now.
Curled up around each other, dead to the world, they sleep for a solid twelve hours.
“Awww Uraraka that’s so sweet! I can’t believe you kept that ratty thing for this long, you’re so cute,” Kirishima teases, pointing at Ochako’s old, dirty All Might keychain that Deku had given her years ago. Ochako huffs and sticks her arms on her hips.
“At least I don’t keep a romantic beach photo of him in my hero s-” Ochako slaps her hands over her mouth as Bakugou’s head swivels aggressively in her direction, “Shit, I wasn’t supposed to say that, was I…?” Oops.
“How did you-?” Kirishima starts.
“Ahh, Deku found it in your hand when we pulled you out of that building collapse…so I kinda…saw it, before he slipped it back in your suit,” She says sheepishly.
Kirishima just laughs and waves it off. “It wasn’t a secret, really, I just haven’t gotten around to showing it to him yet.”
Bakugou crosses his arms and glares daggers at Kirishima, but his face is a distinct shade of red. Ochako notices immediately and teases him about it for the rest of their patrol walk.
“Here, you wanna see it?” Eijirou says to Katsuki later while they’re eating lunch alone together on their rooftop. He pulls out his photo and passes it to Katsuki. “It’s from that beach trip we took in third year. I’ve had it in my hero costume ever since.”
“Didn’t realize you did the same kinda lame shit as those two nerds,” Katsuki grumbles. He reaches into his bracer and pulls out his own photo, pink flush creeping up the back of his neck and onto his ears. “Guess I should probably show you mine too, then.”
“Oh, uh…I have a confession. I’ve actually…seen that, before,” Eijirou says self-consciously, telling Katsuki about the night he cleaned up his costume and found the photo in it.
“The fuck!? How come you never told me about that! Going through my shit, fuckin’ sneak…whatever,” Katsuki growls, but then his expression changes into something more mischievous as he passes Eijirou his photo.
“Wh- it’s different! Why is it this one, now!?” Eijirou splutters, and Katsuki snorts with laughter.
The photo is a selfie of both of them, clearly taken by Katsuki, with Eijirou fast asleep and obviously drooling onto Katsuki’s shirt. He has pillow creases on his cheek and his hair is a tangled red bird’s nest. They’re in Katsuki’s bed, and it looks like it was morning, judging by the lighting.
“Aw, man, this one’s so embarrassing!” Eijirou groans, “I look so stupid!”
“That’s why I like it,” Katsuki replies, smirking like he’s the funniest asshole in the world for thinking of this. Then Eijirou realizes-
“Wait, it’s from our first night together! Awww Katsuki, you sap!”
“Shut up! Fuck outta here with that mushy ass shit!” Katsuki roars, his face exploding into a blush.
Katsuki shoves him, and Eijirou cackles triumphantly. “You’re so romantic!”
“Fuck you, asshole!”
“At least I’m not a hypocrite!”
Katsuki growls and tackles him, and they tumble over together, laughing and shouting at each other under the midday sun.