Chapter Text
Bakugo was sick, and Eijirou wasn’t sure if he should be laughing or trying to herd his friend back to bed. “Dude, you really shouldn’t be up.” he said at length, watching as Bakugo swayed and shivered, his jaw set stubborn even as he sniffled in a vain attempt to keep his nose from running.
“We’ve got training, Shitty Hair.” he said thickly, and Eijirou let out a heavy sigh.
“I’ve got training.” he corrected, grabbing Bakugo by the arm. “You have bed rest.”
“Bullshit!” Bakugo tried to yank his arm free, but no amount of human muscle could overpower draconic strength. “I was fine yesterday.”
“Maybe.” he conceded, marching Bakugo back towards their tent.
“Let the old hag look at me, she’ll tell you I’m fine.” Bakugo insisted.
“Suuure.” Eijirou drawled. “You just sit tight in bed, and I’ll send her right over.”
“Fuck you.” Bakugo grumbled, crossing his arms with the least manly pout Eijirou had ever seen on his friend’s face. “I’m gonna kick your ass for making me miss warmups.”
“You’re welcome to try.” Eijirou grinned, giving Bakugo a little shove towards his bed. His friend stumbled, outright collapsing onto his palette of furs, and Eijirou shook his head. “I’ll make sure Shuzenji knows to check on you.”
Bakugo raised one hand to flip him off, and Eijirou chuckled to himself as he left their tent to find the tribe’s healer and her apprentices. It wasn’t hard, her tent was one of the larger ones as she often had to let injured warriors sleep there for a few nights after a raid while her healing magic did its work and he’d spent his fair share of time inside its felted walls from training accidents. Today, unsurprisingly, the palette-beds were filled with members of the tribe who’d fallen victim to the flu currently sweeping through the camp, mostly younger children and the elderly.
“Shouldn’t you be at training already?” a scratchy voice behind him made Eijirou jump, and he whirled to see Shuzenji kneeling by one of the elderly patients.
“Oh, uhm, yeah I’m kinda late but...” he trailed off, glancing at the tent full of sick people. Shuzenji already had her hands full with them, and Bakugo would surely pull though like he always did even without magical aid.
“It’s Bakugo, isn’t it?” she asked rhetorically, and he nodded.
“I’m worried he’ll try to come to training unless you tell him not to.” he admitted. Shuzenji sighed heavily.
“One of these days we’ll get it though his thick skull not to push himself so hard.” she shook her head and clicked her tongue disapprovingly. “Eri!”
“Yes, Ma’am?” the blonde popped to her feet from where she’d been crouched by a bed with another kid on it. Possibly her friend Kouta, but it was hard to tell with the way they were hunkered down in their furs.
“Watch the patients, I’ve got a little warrior to go knock over the head.” she huffed, and Eijirou quickly bent to pick up her cane and hand it to her.
“Thank you, Shuzenji.”
“It’s my job.” she waved him off, but he made sure to hold the door flap for her on the way out before heading off to the field where they’d been training since they made camp here.
“Where’s Bakugo?” Aizawa asked when he jogged up, glaring slightly more than usual.
“Waiting for Shuzenji to tell him he’s not sick.” he grinned, and Tetsutetsu snorted.
“He catch that bug too?”
“Big time.” Eijirou nodded.
“Well, then.” Aizawa turned his honestly-kinda-scary glare from Eijirou to the group as a whole. “Since we’re now down three members, we’ll be working on team-ups today. Fumikage, you’re with Eijirou.”
“But-”
“No buts.” Aizawa glared at the mimicrow shifter. “I know you and Fuan are dedicated partners, but if you’re separated or he’s downed during a raid you need to be able to work with others.”
“I suppose.” Fumikage grumbled, and Eijirou walked over to sling an arm around his shoulders.
“So, whattaya wanna practice?” he asked as Aizawa paired off the remaining young warriors.
“Flying, I suppose.” Fumikage’s frown remained firmly in place, and Eijirou let his smile fall.
“Worried about your brother?” he asked, and his friend nodded. “Well, you’re both tough as hell, so I’m sure he’ll be fine.” he smiled brightly and gave Fumikage a squeeze. “So, do you want to ride on my back first or want me on yours?”
“I’d prefer to remain at least mostly human.” Fumikage said softly, and Eijirou nodded. One really convenient thing about running super warm, he never had to worry about a shirt when he transformed. Just his shoes, which were easy enough to kick off, and his pants, which now laced all the way up the sides. He undid the knots at his hips, loosening the laces slightly, and shut his eyes as he exhaled slowly.
As he inhaled, he felt himself growing. Taller, broader, his skin toughening and teeth sharpening. He let out a pained, serpentine hiss as his skull began to shift and his spine extended into a tail, the bones of his limbs restructuring themselves as arms became forelegs and hands became clawed feet. The heat in his chest blazed hotter as his neck extended, horns sprouting from his skull as it finished shifting forms. He fell forward, landing on all fours and gritting his teeth as the final, most painful part of the transformation took place.
His wings, massive and batlike, burst from his back and flared up over him as they shot to full size, tail thrashing against the ground behind him as he swallowed a roar of pain. Fuck, that hurt. He hated shifting slowly, but Mina and Ojiro and both Tokoyami twins had said it was key to being able to change forms even faster, so he would bear it.
“You okay?” Fumikage asked, and Eijirou opened his eyes when his friend’s hand landed gently on his snout.
“Yeah.” he nodded, folding his wings against his back. “You ready?” he asked. Fumikage only nodded, and Eijirou crouched to let his friend jump up onto his back more easily. “Wow, dude, you’re so light!” he exclaimed as Fumikage settled in a crouch between his shoulder blades. “Wait, is that why you didn’t want to be the one flying?”
“Perhaps.” Fumikage muttered, and steam curled up from his nostrils when Eijirou snorted.
“Rude.” he muttered, shaking out his wings.
“In the wild, your bestial cousins would eat mine.” Fumikage retorted, and okay he kinda did have a point there. Mimicrows were smaller than dragons, and the difference between them in size, and thus weight, would only grow with time. Mimicrows matured much faster than dragons, after all.
“Let’s fly.” he smiled, and launched himself skyward with a mighty leap. His wingtips still clipped the ground on the first few downbeats, though.
“I don’t think you’re designed for a vertical liftoff.” Tokoyami grunted, crouching lower and gripping at the slight ridge of Eijirou’s spine with both hands to steady himself.
“It’s a work in progress.” he admitted, finally starting to gain altitude. “You wanna stand up?”
For a moment there was only the sound of his wings pumping, and then “No, I believe I am satisfied with my current position.”
Eijirou laughed. “Fumikage, are you scared?” he teased, angling his wings to head forward and into a gentle banking turn. The shifter on his back let out a distinctly avian squawk and crouched lower, hands tightening.
“No!” he denied, sounding very much scared.
“I can go lower if you want.” he offered, and winced as Fumikage’s fingers rapidly shifted into claws, digging under his scales.
“Higher.” Fumikage rasped after a moment. “Go higher, Kirishima.”
“Higher?” he frowned, craning his neck to look at the boy on his back. “But Tetsu-”
“I can fly too, you know.” Fumikage snapped. “But only if I’ve enough time to transform.”
Ooohhhhh. Yeah, that made sense. “Higher it is.” Eijirou looked up, angled his wings, and grinned as he remembered a trick he’d been working on with Bakugo the other day. “Hey, Fumikage, check this out.” he said, and spat out a fireball right in front of himself. Fumikage squawked in distress again, and Eijirou swept up over the flaming charge just a heartbeat before it detonated, filling the air under his wings with heat that billowed up and shot him higher.
“Warn me next time!” Fumikage squawked, and Eijirou laughed.
“Sorry, sorry. I’ll stop screwing around.” he tilted his wings, banking into a tight spiral as he kept gaining altitude. “Ready to try that balancing act you do with Fuan?”
“As I’ll ever be.” Fumikage muttered darkly.