Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Not much ever happened in Eijirou's life. He woke up in the morning when the warm southern sun filtered through his window, sat up and yawned as he chased away the last remnants of drowsiness, and listened to the birds chirping out of the open window.

… No. That wasn't right.

He frowned as he turned toward it, as if he could force reality to fix its obvious mistake just by looking at it, but no amount of glaring could change the facts: the window Eijirou knew was closed when he went to sleep was now wide open, and to make things worse, a dead pheasant was lying on the floor, half eaten.

Great…

Eijirou sighed. It wasn't the first time he woke up to unpleasant surprises like this one and he'd come to the conclusion that the cat was to blame long ago, but it didn't make it any less disgusting. Fat as he was, Rascal was an excellent hunter, and Eijirou would be impressed by the size of this trophy if he wasn't so annoyed. It'd been happening more and more often recently, and it was precisely why Eijirou had been sleeping with his window closed these past few weeks. How did the cat even manage to open the window from the outside? Did Eijirou open it by reflex when Rascal scratched in the middle of the night, too drowsy at the time to realize what he was doing or remember the event? How did the cat even go outside in the first place?

Eijirou shook his head. It didn't matter.

He got out of bed to get rid of the dead bird, and groaned when he saw that the sheets were full of pine needles and dirt. Just what he needed… He tried to clean it as well as he could before turning his attention back to the bird, repressing a shiver of disgust as he moved to touch it. What a great way to start the day, he thought with a sigh, running a hand through his bright red hair instead.

At least, the little bumps on his head that had refused to disappear for years now weren’t painful anymore. Maybe the day wouldn’t be too terrible after all.

Once the poor bird was safely disposed of and his hands clean, Eijirou got ready for the day, covering his head with a colorful bandana made from one of his mother's old skirts and adding a second one from an old shirt of his on top, deciding that it felt better. And since the day had started in such an exhausting way, he added several belts made from his family and friends’ old clothes for good luck.

Satisfied with his appearance, he walked out of the room to greet his mother and a few of his siblings with a warm smile. Rascal ran away as soon as he saw Eijirou. It was all he needed to confirm that the cat was guilty.

“That's right, run away, you little terror,” he muttered under his breath.

“Something wrong, sweetie?” his mother asked. “What did the cat do this time?”

“He left dead prey on my bedroom floor… again.”

“Eijirou, I keep telling you to close your window at night,” his mother chided with a disappointed look. “You know it’s not safe anymore, with that monster roaming in the region…”

“I know, mom, and I’ve been closing it. I don’t know what happened,” Eijirou said.

“Maybe it's a sign,” Shizuka chimed in. “Maybe it's time you leave this room to me, brother dear.”

“Sorry, but it's still not happening,” Eijirou smirked.

“But mom and dad were already married at your age! It's unfair that you're the only one with your own room, I'm tired of waiting,” she pouted.

“It's my eldest right, and I'm not giving up on it,” Eijirou said, ruffling her hair to annoy her.

“But I'm the eldest,” she muttered under her breath.

The room fell silent for a second that seemed to stretch for an eternity until their mother yelled, “Shizuka!”

Eijirou shrugged, fully aware that his sister didn't mean it in a bad way. Before his mother could reprimand Shizuka, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders to kiss her temple and gave his siblings an affectionate pat on the head before grabbing his lunch and taking his leave.

“Eijirou, dear,” his mother called before he walked out. “Can you check on the lemon grove on your way to work?”

“Sure, mom!” he nodded as he closed the door behind him.

Eijirou took a deep breath as soon as he was out, enjoying the sweet smell of flowers in the morning. Spring was coming fast and as he took the familiar path to his family’s orchard, Eijirou felt all his initial annoyance disappear like morning dew under the sun.

It didn’t take him long to reach the lemon grove, and he walked straight to the little patch of trees covered in beautiful, ripe fruits. Eijirou decided to grab a basket in the shed so he could pick the ripest ones as he checked on the trees for pests. Lemons were by far the least popular fruit they had among the local wildlife but sometimes, Eijirou found a bunch of wild boars that ran away as soon as they saw him approaching, or even stray cats and dogs. It was rare, but nothing out of the ordinary.

What Eijirou didn’t expect, though, was to find a blond man standing among the trees, arms full of lemons and oranges. In all the years he’d spent in this orchard, it was the first time Eijirou had ever seen a lemon thief.

Too shocked to say anything, Eijirou approached the man slowly. He didn’t exactly try to be stealthy, but the thief looked too absorbed by the lemon in his hand to notice his presence.

As he got closer, Eijirou realized that the stranger was definitely not from around here. Hair as pale as his was very uncommon in the region, and if it wasn’t enough, his dark clothes were definitely not adapted to the warm and sunny climate. The abundance of leather and furs gave the man an intimidating aura, and the fluffy white fur on his shoulders probably made him look a lot more built than he really was.

Where could he come from? The north? The mountains? Eijirou had seen many different people at the market, and the adventurers that sometimes stopped by at the forge came from all over the country and beyond, but they usually made an effort to wear more appropriate clothing. Sure, the air was still a little chilly, but the stranger must be dying under all this fur!

A gust of wind caught in the long, dark red cape the man was wearing, and Eijirou stopped dead in his tracks when the sun caught in the sword at his hip. Undisturbed, the thief—the heavily armed thief, Eijirou realized upon further investigation—kept staring at the lemon, his face scrunched up in a frown, his lower lip jutted in a pensive pout, looking like he was trying to pierce the fruit with his eyes alone.

He was beautiful, Eijirou noticed belatedly, surprised to find such fine features where he expected a rugged face. The stranger must be around his age, and Eijirou wondered idly if it might make him less likely to kill him when he finally noticed that he wasn’t alone.

Then, as if he’d come to a decision, the man slowly raised the fruit, carefully balancing the other ones in his arms, opened his mouth wide, and bit it like an apple.

The charm was instantly broken, and reality came crashing around Eijirou as the man’s entire face scrunched up like a crumpled piece of paper and he spat his mouthful of lemon, letting the other fruits in his arms drop on the ground.

“Hey!” Eijirou yelled before he could think any better, forgetting about the man's sword as his attention shifted entirely to the fruits the blond had probably damaged with his stupidity.

Seriously, who would eat a lemon like this? Had this guy never seen one in his life?

Surprised, the stranger started and stopped spitting on the ground like a furious cat to stare at him, eyes wide and mouth still open.

“You can’t be here!” Eijirou continued, feeling a lot bolder than before.

The stranger kept staring at him, frozen, like a child caught doing something bad. Eijirou took a step closer, hoping to make the intruder run away like the strays usually did, but instead, the man drew his sword and pointed it straight at Eijirou’s throat. Eijirou took a step back, arms raised in surrender. Everyone kept joking about his thick skin, but it wouldn’t protect him against a sharp blade for sure. The thief’s other arm was slightly raised too, his hand at hip level, and Eijirou’s eyes widened when he saw little flames and explosions dancing in his open palm.

An armed thief, and a fire mage. Talk about an overkill…

Eijirou stood there, frozen and trying to figure out how to talk his way out of trouble, but instead of going for the kill, the stranger simply spat, “Fuck you,” with what Eijirou vaguely recognized as a heavy Barbarian accent. He then turned around, sheathing his sword as he walked away, his cape moving dramatically behind him with each step, catching the wind in a way that made him look much bigger than he was.

Eijirou stood still until the man jumped above the fence in a graceful move and disappeared from his sight. As soon as he felt safe, Eijirou crumpled on the ground with a sigh of relief, his heart pounding in his chest. The discarded fruits were all that was left of the man’s presence, and Eijirou stared at them until he finally calmed down, trying to make sense of the events.

What the hell just happened?

.

“You’re late, Eijirou,” was all the greetings Eijirou got when he finally reached the forge. He’d almost have been worried too, had his fellow apprentice not been grinning. Yosetsu was definitely just happy not to have been the late one, for once.

“Sorry, Yosetsu,” he said with an apologetic smile. “I’ll make up for it later today?”

“I’m just teasing!” Yosetsu laughed. “The boss just arrived anyway. It looks like another calm day.”

“Oh, good!” Eijirou said. “Dude, you’ll never believe what happened to me this morning!”

“You can talk about it while getting the furnace ready, kid,” his master yelled from inside the workshop, a smile in his voice.

“Sure, boss!” Eijirou yelled back, stepping inside to get ready.

At this point, everything was just routine to him, including spiking his hair with the pine resin hair product he’d bought with Yosetsu, so he had no issue telling them all about his lemon thief encounter while he tended to the fire. Yosetsu and their master had a harder time staying focused when Eijirou reached the part where the dangerous stranger tried to eat the lemon, though, and it took them several minutes to recover from their fit of laughter when Eijirou explained how the man had postured a little and then walked away dramatically, wrapping himself in his old cape and whatever was left of his dignity. By the time he was done telling his story, Eijirou felt a lot lighter. Hearing his colleagues laugh with him about the event was just what he needed to forget the fright he'd felt when the stranger pointed his sword at him. 

The next few hours were fairly calm. Eijirou mostly tended to the fire and helped carry heavy loads around while Yosetsu and their master worked the metal. They were all working in silence, surrounded by the sounds of flames and metal hitting metal, and Eijirou found himself relaxing in the loud yet somehow peaceful atmosphere. The remnants of his unsavory encounter from the morning slowly melted in the heat of the furnace, and there was no tension left in him when Yasuko, the old lady who made the best sweets in the village, came to the forge.

“Eijirou, my dear,” she called from the entrance. “There’s someone waiting for you at the free gear shack.”

Eijirou put down his crate of steel blocks and blinked, surprised.

“Really? But no one’s come there in months,” he said.

“I know, sweetie, but this man has been very clear that he came for his free gear. He seems armed enough, if you ask me, and it pains me to send you to him when he’s been so rude to everyone so far, but you should probably go find him.”

“Uh… Sure?” Eijirou replied, turning to his master for his permission to leave.

His only answer was a nod and a grunt between two hammer strikes, but it was all he needed to rush outside of the workshop, curious to see this late adventurer for himself.

The “Free Equipment Program” was something their lord had started about two years ago, in reaction to a rise in monster sightings in the region. He'd sent them a few weapons and pieces of armor, gave Eijirou’s master money to forge some more, and declared that any adventurer ready to help rid the region of the monsters would receive one free piece of equipment.

Of course, Eijirou had wanted to jump on the occasion, eager to leave the nest and go on a real adventure. His parents had always used his lack of money and equipment as an excuse to keep him around, but with his job at the forge, he was in the best position to snatch a free sword and go!

Eijirou had been so excited back then, his mind already buzzing with thoughts of perilous fights and new friends in unfamiliar places. For years, he’d listened to stories from the adventurers who sometimes came to the forge to get some much needed repairs, and he’d been dreaming of becoming one since he was a kid.

Needless to say his disappointment was just as high as his previous excitement when his parents insisted he took on the job to distribute the free gear. As he should have expected, it was never about money or lack of proper equipment. His parents just wanted him to stay here, to “keep him safe”.

He’d fought against it with all he had and argued like never before, when his parents told him they’d negotiated with his master so he’d have this position. They said it’d be good for him, that it was an easy job that would let him earn a bit of extra money and give him the chance to talk to adventurers, but Eijirou knew the truth. They were never planning to let him go. Not with the way he was. Not when in a way, Eijirou was a monster himself.

He’d tried to tell them, back then, that he was as ready as he’d ever be. He hadn’t sprouted a horn or a scale since Shizuka was born, and his tough skin could easily be attributed to the earth magic he had affinities with. His bright red hair wasn’t that unusual, he hadn’t made a weird sound in years, and he was always careful not to show his teeth. No one would know, he’d argued.

But then, his mother had yelled that he was baring his teeth right now, and there was something dancing in his father’s eyes, something in the tightness of his mother’s mouth, that made him want to give up immediately. He didn’t like making his parents upset, so he'd stopped fighting and accepted the job.

Eijirou shook his head to chase the bad memories as he reached the place where whatever was left of the free gear was stored. Adventurers had swarmed the place the first few weeks, but the crowd had quickly dimmed as the place got emptier and emptier. No new gear or money had been sent in months and to be honest, Eijirou wasn’t sure if there was something left in there. He’d already done everything he could, even going as far as disassembling the stool he had to make clubs and a tiny shield, so unless he could find a stray nail in a corner, that guy would have to leave the place empty handed, and Eijirou would have to leave a note about the Free Equipment Program being discontinued.

… Maybe then, Eijirou could spend his hard earned money on a sword, and–

“Fucking finally,” a gravelly voice barked, interrupting his thoughts. “Took you long enough, asshole.”

Recognizing the strange accent, Eijirou looked up and stopped dead in his tracks, mouth gaping.

Right there, in front of him, stood the lemon thief in all his glory.

“Y-you?” Eijirou choked.

“What, me?” the lemon thief frowned.

“I- This morning… You…” Eijirou stammered.

Recognition flashed in the lemon thief’s eyes, and he whispered a small “Fuck, it’s you,” in disbelief, clearly remembering his humiliation from earlier. He huffed, crossed his arms, and said, “Whatever. I’m here for the free stuff.”

“Sure,” Eijirou said, trying to hide his amusement behind a friendly smile. “But let me warn you, the place is pretty empty. I guess the lord forgot about the program, so you probably won’t find much,” he explained as he unlocked the door.

It opened with an ominous creak, revealing the dark storage room. Eijirou reached for the lantern and flint he kept by the entrance, and realized that he’d given them away too. He was going to apologize for it, but the lemon thief pushed him aside roughly before he could say anything, creating a small fireball in his raised palm to light up the room.

Right, a fire mage, Eijirou remembered as he rubbed his sore shoulder with a glare.

“It’s fucking empty,” the lemon thief said.

“I warned you.”

The thief let out an animalistic snarl at the words. “What the fuck, Shitty Hair! I made a whole detour for this shit, and there’s fucking nothing?!”

“Don’t yell at me, it’s not my fault!” Eijirou protested. “I told you there wasn’t much left. And don’t you have enough weapons already?”

“Free shit never hurts,” he grumbled, inspecting the place in case something was left.

“Yeah, like free fruits?” Eijirou sneered, leaning on the doorframe.

The thief’s fireball flared, but Eijirou didn’t flinch. He wasn’t afraid of fire. It was one of the requirements to become a blacksmith apprentice, after all.

“Fuck you, Shitty Hair!” the thief yelled.

“Don’t call me that! Your hair is as spiky as mine!” Eijirou protested.

“Mine just does that, I don’t need to use some shit lotion or whatever to spike it,” the thief said, throwing his fireball dangerously close to the roof to light it up.

“Dude, stop!” Eijirou frowned. “You can see as well as me that there’s nothing here, it’s just you and me!”

Just…

“Shut up!” the thief snapped, but Eijirou wasn’t listening as realization dawned on him.

His job was to give any incoming adventurer something from the shack… Eijirou was technically in the shack…

“You can take me with you,” he blurted out before he could think any better.

“The fuck?” the thief said, stopping whatever he was doing to frown at him.

“You came here to get something, right? And you won’t leave until you do. So you can take me. I know the area. I’ll be useful,” Eijirou explained, feeling his confidence falter with every word but refusing to back down.

“I don’t need a fucking dead weight.”

“Excuse me? I’m the dead weight?” Eijirou huffed. “At least I know how to eat a lemon!”

The stranger’s palms exploded.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!" he roared as Eijirou snickered. “I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with your shitty fruits–”

But Eijirou wasn’t listening, still laughing at the memory of the thief’s face when he bit that lemon.

“I SAID SHUT UP!” the thief yelled, running at him with ignited palms.

Eijirou stepped back just in time, feeling the heat against his face. It wasn’t nearly as hot as the furnace back at the forge, he thought idly.

“Seriously? You’re gonna fight me just because you’re a little butthurt?” Eijirou frowned. He was starting to be fed up with this guy.

“You’re fucking provoking me!”

Right, Eijirou couldn’t deny this part…

“Fine, I’m sorry I made fun of you,” he said. “I’m sure there are things I wouldn’t know how to eat where you’re from.”

“Damn right,” the stranger spat. “You wouldn’t survive a day.”

“You’re still a rude thief who ruined perfectly good fruits. And you threatened me when I called you out!” Eijirou added with crossed arms.

“So what, you’re gonna fight me over a bunch of fruits?”

“Yeah! You can’t waste food like that, dude! You’re lucky I needed a good breakfast!”

The stranger’s eyes widened. “You seriously eat that shit?!”

“Of course! Lemons aren’t for the faint of heart, I’ll give you that, but oranges are awesome! You just gotta peel it first if you wanna eat it fresh, but you can also candy the rind, or make marmalade, or…”

“Yeah whatever, you’ve made your fucking point,” the stranger said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Rude…

“Can you stop being rude for one second?!” Eijirou heard himself exclaim before his mind could catch up with his mouth—which didn’t matter much, because his mind agreed wholeheartedly.

What his mind didn’t approve of, though, was Eijirou baring his teeth in a snarl.

He covered them immediately, but it was too late already: the rude thief’s face had gone from annoyed to shocked, and he was staring at Eijirou’s now closed lips intently, mouth slack. Eijirou gulped nervously, ready for a comment on how sharp and inhuman his teeth were, but the other recovered quickly from his surprise.

He unclasped his cape and dropped it on the ground under Eijirou’s curious gaze. Then, he lowered his stance, raising his heated, glowing palms, and grinned. Eijirou’s breath hitched as his heart tried to beat out of his chest. He’d done it this time, he thought. The stranger knew Eijirou wasn’t entirely human, and he was going to kill him for it.

He slowly got in his own fighting stance, ready to defend himself from an incoming attack, but his opponent didn’t move. Instead, he said, “So you want to travel with me, huh?”

Eijirou wasn’t sure about it anymore, but the other seemed to take his silence as an agreement. Or maybe Eijirou had nodded despite himself…

“Fucking fight me, then,” the lemon thief said, making his hands pop with tiny explosions. “Show me what you’re worth and maybe I’ll let you tag along.”

“Really?!” Eijirou asked. That… wasn’t what he was expecting at all.

“You fucking heard me. Now fight!”

Eijirou wasn’t sure how to react, and to his surprise, the lemon thief didn’t move. He looked as if he was waiting for a cue that Eijirou was agreeing to the fight, and as a pacifist, Eijirou could only do one thing.

He smiled, nodded, and braced himself for the impact when his opponent launched himself at him with frightening speed, palms alight.

If Eijirou’s thick skin wasn’t very effective against blades, it was perfectly heat resistant. He could stand in front of a furnace without any protection and even put his hand in a fire for a short period of time and come out unharmed. Many thought that it was the sign of an affinity with fire magic, but for some reason, Eijirou could only work with earth (and not that well, at that). Still, at that moment, Eijirou was very grateful for his grasp on magic, however weak, because when the stranger attacked him point blank, unleashing explosive flames on Eijirou’s skin, he came out without a scratch.

It tickled a lot, though… And not in a pleasant way.

His opponent whispered something in a language Eijirou assumed was Barbarian and attacked again with a grin, forcing Eijirou to stay on the defensive. It was hard to see anything or figure out a strategy in the middle of a barrage of explosions, but after a while, the stranger’s attacks slowed down and Eijirou saw his chance to strike back.

Or at least, he thought he saw his chance to strike back, but the other somehow slipped out of his grasp and disappeared from his sight. The next attack came from above, and Eijirou realized too late that the stranger had used his magic to launch himself in the air.

Seriously, how much fire mastery did it require to perform such an amazing move? Definitely more than Eijirou expected from a guy who didn’t know how to eat fruits, that was for sure.

Eijirou couldn’t tell how long their fight lasted, but looking back on it, it didn’t feel like it was that long. Still, that short amount of time was enough for him to notice a few things, such as the way the stranger never drew his sword even when Eijirou was about to get the upper hand, or how he never damaged the shack with his fire attacks. He was a fierce opponent, but there was some fairness in the way he fought. Eijirou found it manly as hell.

Then, just as he was about to land a blow, the other somehow managed to slip behind him and bring him to his knees, pinning him to the ground soon after and holding his face firmly in the dirt with a dangerous, heated palm.

“I win,” he said, sounding out of breath.

Eijirou tried to get away from his grasp, but it was no use.

“Yeah, you do,” he sighed. So much for getting a traveling companion… 

“I guess you’re not too useless,” the lemon thief commented.

“Yeah?”

“You’re sturdy,” he said, releasing his grip so Eijirou could sit up. “You could probably carry some of my stuff.”

Eijirou chuckled. “I guess I could do that, yeah. Carry a bunch of oranges and peel them for y-”

“Shut up! Don’t make me change my mind,” the other growled, putting a hand on Eijirou’s mouth.

“Sorry, dude. I’ll stop,” Eijirou smiled, moving away to avoid it. “But really? You’d let me come along?”

“You better bring your own stuff, and you’re paying for your shit,” the blond said.

“Of course,” Eijirou said. “I’m Kirishima Eijirou, by the way,” he added, figuring that if they were going to travel together, he couldn’t call his companion ‘the lemon thief’ forever.

“Bakugou Katsuki.”

“Bakugou, then,” Eijirou nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

He only got a growl as a reply, but this time, Eijirou decided that he didn’t mind that much. He got up, dusted his clothes, and held out a hand for his new friend to get back on his feet. Bakugou scoffed and didn’t take it, getting up on his own as Eijirou rolled his eyes.

“Get your shit ready, we’re leaving before dusk,” Bakugou said once he’d retrieved his cape.

Reality caught up with Eijirou.

He blinked. “Uh… you mean now?”

“Of course I mean now! Are you fucking stupid or what?”

“I mean, isn’t that a bit fast? I wasn’t planning to go anywhere until two minutes ago!”

“Then don’t say you’re coming along if you’re not fucking ready, Shitty Hair!”

“It’s Kirishima, and don’t make such unreasonable demands, dude! I can be ready tomorrow if I hurry, but not before.”

“Too fucking late,” Bakugou grumbled, ruffling the fur on his cape.

“You can spend the night at my place,” Eijirou offered. Bakugou stopped dead in his tracks, visibly interested. “You can stay for dinner too. I'll even let you have my bed,” he added, knowing he’d already won. When Bakugou still hesitated, he delivered the final blow. “It’s a really good bed, you know. Warm and cozy…”

“Okay fine, we’re leaving tomorrow at dawn,” Bakugou said. “But I’m not waiting any longer than that.”

“Sure! Thanks, Bakugou!”

“And that bed better be damn good!”

“You bet! My mom is a mean cook too, you’ll love it!” Eijirou grinned.

And thus, it was settled. After years of waiting, Eijirou’s journey was going to start!

…but first, he’d have to talk to his master and convince his family to let him go with a complete stranger. The first step was easy enough, but the second… well. It would be a fitting way to start the adventure of a lifetime!

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry, boss, but I quit!” Eijirou exclaimed, head bowed and eyes shut tight. He always got louder when he was nervous, and if he was honest with himself, he’d practically been yelling here.

His master didn’t react immediately, but Eijirou didn’t move from his half bowed position, holding his breath.

“What d’you mean you quit, kid?” he finally asked. “You mean the shack’s empty and you can’t keep going?”

Eijirou took a deep breath and finally looked up. “There’s that too, but it’s not what I mean.” He paused, feeling the words jamming in his throat. They all rushed out as soon as he opened his mouth. “I’mgoingonanadventure!”

His master’s mouth fell open and Yosetsu’s head peeked out from the workshop, a bright smile on his face. “You’re going? What happened?”

“I’ve found a travel companion.”

“The man that was waiting for you at the shack? Grandma Yasuko didn’t seem to like him.”

“Well, he’s a handful for sure,” Eijirou chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “But I have a good feeling about him. And he’s in a bit of a hurry, so…”

“The fuck are you doing, Shitty Hair? Quitting your job can’t take that fucking long!” Bakugou yelled behind him. Eijirou jumped and turned around to see the Barbarian stomping toward them.

“S’that your ‘travel companion’, Eijirou?” his master asked, crossing his arms with an unimpressed look.

“Yeah, that’s him,” Eijirou said. “Guys, meet Bakugou. Bakugou, this is my master and Yosetsu, the other apprentice.”

Both his master and Bakugou grunted in reply.

“Nice to meet–” Yosetsu gasped. “Wait a minute! Aren’t you the lemon thief Eijirou told us about this morning?”

Eijirou paled, and Bakugou raised a palm with a glare, looking ready for a fight.

“Yeah, that’s him,” Eijirou said, ready to catch Bakugou before he attacked his friend.

Yosetsu burst into laughter, and if Bakugou could control the fur on his shoulders, Eijirou was sure it would have puffed up in anger.

“Duuuuude, I can’t believe you,” Yosetsu cackled. “The guy tries to steal from your family and threatens you with a sword, and not half a day later, you’re ready to elope with him?”

“You don’t have to say it like that,” Eijirou grumbled.

“Seriously, I’ve always known you had a thing for adventurers, but I had no idea it was this bad,” Yosetsu said, wiping away a tear. “You really are something else, Ei.”

“It’s not like that!” Eijirou protested. “Ugh, anyway,” he huffed, deciding to ignore Yosetsu’s snickers for now. If Bakugou tried to attack him now, Eijirou wouldn’t stop him for sure. “Boss, we both know the forge won’t go to me when you retire. I’m good at standing heat for sure, but Yosetsu’s definitely the better future blacksmith here, and I’m not saying it to bring myself down or anything. And I bet you’ll find another apprentice in no time if you need one. So…”

His master sighed. “It’s okay, Eijirou,” he said. “I like having you around and we’re gonna miss you, but I’ve always known you weren’t gonna stay.”

“It’s not like I’m going forever,” Eijirou said weakly.

“We’ll see when you come back,” his master said with a knowing look. “And there’ll always be a place for you here. If you think it’s time for you to go, I’m not stopping you. Your parents, though…”

Eijirou winced, earning a sympathetic look from his master. He didn’t let it last. Puffing up his chest, Eijirou stood proudly and said with confidence he didn’t feel, “It’s okay! I’ll definitely convince them this time.”

“What, you need their opinion now?” Bakugou asked. “What are you, twelve? If you’re leaving, you’re fucking leaving, the fuck are they gonna do about it?”

Eijirou smiled as the words somehow turned the weak embers of his resolve into a strong furnace that could melt anything. He was starting to really like Bakugou. He was rude and quick to anger, but he sure knew how to make Eijirou’s manly spirit soar!

“... You’re not actually fucking twelve, right?” Bakugou asked suddenly.

“What? No, I’m an adult, I swear!” Eijirou laughed.

Bakugou nodded, his scowl softening just a little in what Eijirou supposed was relief.

“Well…” Eijirou said, turning back toward the others. “Bakugou’s in a hurry so I gotta pack up, I guess. You don’t need me here, right?”

“We’ll be fine, no worries,” his master said. “Go do your thing! And good luck in your travels!”

Eijirou nodded, swallowing his manly tears. “I’m gonna miss you guys,” he said.

“Be sure to come back and visit!” Yosetsu said with a grin. “Have fun!”

“Thanks!” Eijirou smiled.

“Are we fucking leaving now?” Bakugou asked.

“Yeah, I’m all set. Thanks for waiting!”

“Eijirou, wait!” Yosetsu said suddenly. He ran into the workshop and came back out with the wrist guards Eijirou had been working on as practice and their jar of hair gel. “Can’t go without your free gear, right?”

“How could I forget?” he chuckled. “Thanks, man!”

“No problem. Now go and make us proud,” Yosetsu said with a playful smile.

It took Bakugou groaning a third time for them to finally leave the place, after his master gave him a little bonus on his wage.

.

Eijirou's confidence faltered the second he started walking home, and he found himself scratching his arm absentmindedly—a habit he had whenever he was nervous. His parents were never going to let him go with a rude stranger who stole fruits, threatened Eijirou with a sword, and fought with him as soon as they met again, were they? To be honest, they'd probably be right too, but Eijirou wanted to trust Bakugou, despite their catastrophic first meeting. Maybe the guy had a hidden motive, but he was still strong and manly and surely, if he wanted to earn Eijirou's trust to lure him into a trap, he'd be a lot nicer than that. And if he wanted to kill him, he could have done it twice already. So really, there was no reason not to trust him!

Or maybe Eijirou just wanted to leave that badly.

“Shitty Hair, we're moving or what?” Bakugou asked suddenly, making Eijirou stop in his tracks. Bakugou turned around and yelled, “I said move, dumbass!”

“Sorry!” Eijirou said, rushing toward him. “I guess I'm a little out of it.”

“I'm not forcing you to do shit, you know. If you don't wanna leave, just tell me right now and stop making me waste my time!”

“No! I'm coming with you, and that's final!”

“So what's your fucking problem, then?”

Eijirou shook his head. “Nothing, I’m fine,” he said, putting a bright smile on his face.

Bakugou sent him a dubious look but didn’t question him, pushing him instead with a harsh, “Move, then! And stop slowing down, dammit.”

Had Eijirou slowed down? he wondered as he started walking again. Maybe he had… To say he was in no hurry to confront his parents would be a euphemism, and he still had no idea how he was going to tell them he was leaving.

“I said stop slowing the fuck down!” Bakugou yelled. “If that’s the fastest you can walk, I’m leaving your snail ass here.”

“No, it’s fine! Sorry, I’m just not sure what I’m gonna tell my parents, that’s all,” Eijirou explained.

“The fuck is there to tell? You’re just leaving, end of the story.”

“It’s not that simple, come on!” Eijirou said. “How would your parents react if you left without warning?”

Bakugou shrugged. “I got caught sneaking out, fought against my hag of a mother for the right to leave, won, and fucking left.”

“Oh, so that’s… literally how you did it, huh?” Eijirou said. He probably shouldn’t be surprised. It made a lot of sense, somehow. “And your parents just… let you go like that?”

“I said I had to fight. Now hurry the fuck up, you promised me food and a fucking bed.”

“Right, I did,” Eijirou chuckled. “So what kind of people are your parents? Wait, you’re a Barbarian, right?”

Bakugou hesitated for a second before nodding. He didn’t answer the other question, but now that he’d started, Eijirou couldn’t stop talking, asking questions about his new travel partner and telling him more about himself. It was what traveling together was all about after all, right? And maybe if he distracted himself enough, Eijirou could stop stalling. It was a flawless plan, really, if it wasn’t for the fact that Bakugou was a really tough nut to crack—if nuts also told people to shut up because they don’t give a shit about what they’re saying.

It didn’t stop Eijirou though, and soon enough, his house was in sight. It was still early so maybe his parents wouldn’t be home, he told himself as he opened the door and announced his arrival.

His mother greeted him from her seat near the window, shattering his hopes and dreams instantly.

“Hi, mom,” Eijirou greeted with a weak smile.

“Eijirou! You’re home early,” his mother said, looking up from the skirt she was mending. “And you brought a friend, I see.”

“Ah, yeah.” Eijirou walked in and stepped aside to let Bakugou in. “Mom, this is Bakugou. He’s… um…” Eijirou paused under his mother’s curious gaze, took a deep breath, and announced, “Can he spend the night here?”

No, wait, it wasn’t what he was going to say!

“Of course,” his mother said with a warm smile. “Is he an adventurer?”

“Something like that,” Eijirou said, turning to Bakugou for a confirmation he got in the form of a grunt.

“I see… Well, of course he’s free to stay for dinner,” his mother smiled. “And we can make room for him in the living room too.”

“Um… About that, I promised he could have my bed,” Eijirou said with a sheepish smile.

“Oh… alright, then,” his mother said, eyes narrowing for a second. “And where are you going to sleep, Eijirou?”

They were interrupted when the twins ran into the room as fast as their eight year old legs could carry them. They stopped dead in their tracks the second they noticed the stranger at Eijirou’s side. He managed to stall a little with the introductions, but he could tell his mother still had many questions that Eijirou wasn’t ready to answer. Luckily, the twins were faster. Sadly, it wasn’t much easier to give an honest answer when Maka asked how they met.

“We, um… crossed paths when I checked on the lemon grove,” Eijirou said with a forced smile. “And he came to the Shack later for free gear, but it turns out we don’t have anything left.”

“Your idiot son said I could ‘take him instead’ so I decided to take him up on his offer. He doesn’t seem too useless,” Bakugou said.

Eijirou’s mother gasped. The twins grinned and yelled in excitement. Rascal woke up from his nap near the stove and walked away with a hiss.

“You’re leaving with him?!” Sora asked.

“You’re getting married?!” Maka squealed at the same time.

“Oh, you mean as a travel companion!” his mother exclaimed with a sigh of relief. Then, she seemed to realize what it meant and said, “Eijirou! You’re not serious, right?”

“Um… Yeah?” Eijirou said, scratching the back of his head. “It didn’t seem fair to let him leave without anything, and you know I’ve always wanted to go, so…” Eijirou paused, took a grounding breath, and knocked his fists together the way a traveling earth mage once taught him as he declared more firmly, “We’re leaving tomorrow. That’s final.”

His mother’s eyes flashed with anger for a second, and Eijirou’s determination faltered under her glare. “Oh no, young man,” she hissed. “You’re not going anywhere, especially on such short notice.” She stopped for a second and continued more calmly, “What about your job at the forge?”

“I already said I was leaving. I have my master’s blessing.”

“And what about us? What about your life here? You can’t just leave!”

“Well… I know it’s short notice, but the opportunity came, and I know you wouldn’t want me to be on my own, and Bakugou’s been doing great by himself so far so I’m sure I’ll be fine! And it’s not like I’m leaving forever,” Eijirou tried to explain, scratching his suddenly very itchy wrist. He could tell his mother wasn’t listening, though. Her expression was neutral again, but it was obvious that she was putting on a mask for the sake of their guest.

“Let’s wait for your father,” she said with a cold smile. “How about you help me with dinner, since you’re here?”

“Sure,” he nodded.

“I’ll help too,” Bakugou said, dropping his bag and hanging his cape near the entrance before walking toward the kitchen area. “What do you need?”

Both Eijirou and his mother gasped.

“What?” Bakugou barked.

“Nothing!” Eijirou said. “It’s just…”

“You don’t have to help us, Bakugou, it’s okay. You’re our guest, just sit somewhere.”

Bakugou frowned. “I’ll help,” he insisted. “Just tell me what to do.”

Eijirou’s mother blinked, her face frozen in a polite smile. “Well, how about you two grab some food in the pantry? Do you like fish, Bakugou? Shizuka went fishing with the boys, I’m sure they’ll have something nice to bring back.”

Bakugou nodded, and Eijirou was too stunned by his sudden obedience to mention it. It was probably for the best.

Just like earlier, Bakugou stayed mostly silent while they cooked, barely answering Eijirou and his family’s attempts at conversation. However, he seemed very interested in the herbs and ingredients his mother was using, and it wasn’t long until she was sharing tips with him with a bright smile, happy to have found such an eager audience.

The way Bakugou’s face scrunched up when she took out preserved lemons didn’t escape Eijirou, and he struggled to repress a snort at his worried look when she added some to their food.

“I see you’re looking at the lemons. We grow them ourselves!”

“I know…” Bakugou mumbled while Eijirou snickered silently.

“Really? Oh, right, you met Eijirou near our lemon grove. You’ll see, they’re the best in the region!”

Bakugou grunted in reply.

“I don’t think he’ll be able to compare,” Eijirou smirked, earning a death glare from the blond.

“What do you mean?” his mother asked. “Don’t you have them at home?”

“No,” Bakugou gritted.

“Well, you have to try them! Sora, Maka, go make some lemonade for our guest! Oh, it’s such a shame I didn’t know you were coming sooner, I would have made some lemon cakes too!”

“It’s… fucking fine,” Bakugou said with a sour expression. It took everything Eijirou had not to burst into laughter. The irony was just too perfect.

“Don’t worry about it, Bakugou! We have plenty and I’m sure you’ll love it!” his mother said with a warm smile.

“Yeah, there’s nothing better than a good lemon, Bakugou,” Eijirou nodded, trying and failing to look serious. Bakugou’s hands started smoking, and Eijirou was surprised he didn’t get attacked for his comment.

All in all, Bakugou’s second experience with lemons went a lot better than the first. Lemonade was too sour for him, but he seemed fine with lemons as long as he couldn’t see them. Later, Eijirou’s mother walked Bakugou through their little herbs garden to tell him everything he needed to know about them, and it was the calmest Eijirou had seen him yet. He looked as focused as he was when they first met, and although he only grunted and nodded, it was obvious that he was listening with great interest.

Most of the food was ready by the time Shizuka and Shinra came back with a bucket full of fish, and everyone was promptly kicked out of the kitchen while their mother probably prepared one of her super secret recipes. Shizuka and Eijirou were discretely asked to keep Bakugou away in the form of a very insistent look, and they jumped on the occasion.

“I have some packing to do, right?” Eijirou said. “Bakugou, why don’t you come to my room so you can leave your stuff there and give me a hand?”

Bakugou seemed ready to retort something, but Shizuka helped drag him there with a happy, “Oh yes, tell me aaaaall about packing your things, brother dear! Make sure you take everything!”

“I’m not helping you carry extra stuff, Shitty Hair,” Bakugou warned.

“I won’t take everything,” Eijirou protested.

“But I need the wardrobe!” Shizuka whined.

“Just leave me a side or something, it’s not like you’re going to fill it,” Eijirou laughed.

“Maybe I will,” Shizuka said. “Maybe once I have my own room, I’ll turn into a clothes hoarder like you.”

“I’m not hoarding them, I just don’t like it when they go to waste,” Eijirou pouted.

“I know, I know,” Shizuka said with a mocking smile, making him huff.

“So clothes, huh,” Bakugou muttered, pensive.

“Hm?” Eijirou asked.

“Your hoard,” Bakugou said, looking strangely serious.

“Dude, that’s not a hoard!” Eijirou exclaimed, feeling himself blush. “I just like to keep things from people I like.”

“What do you hoard, then?”

“Nothing!”

Shizuka burst into laughter. “I like you, Bakugou,” she said with an attempted pat on the shoulder he avoided with a snarl. “I’m sure my brother and you will be the best travelling companions! Make sure you take your time while I enjoy his bedroom!” she concluded, falling on his bed and rubbing herself on it.

“Hey, watch it, you little monster! It’s not yours yet!” Eijirou protested, grabbing her arm to pull her out.

“But soon! I need to mark my territory!”

“It’s mine for tonight, so get off or fight me for it,” Bakugou said, arms crossed and looking perfectly serious. Eijirou had heard a lot about Barbarians fighting over pretty much everything, but he couldn’t be sure if it was cultural or if Bakugou was just like that.

Shizuka held Bakugou’s gaze for a moment, and finally got off the bed with a pout while Eijirou marveled at the efficiency of this strategy.

The next hour or so was filled with packing and light conversation between the three of them, and dinner started soon after his father came back. Eijirou gulped nervously as they sat around the table. He didn’t know what dinner would look like, but he didn’t feel ready.

As it turned out, he definitely wasn’t ready for dinner. Despite the twins’ obliviousness, Shizuka’s excellent mood, and his parents’ best attempt at pretending everything was fine, the tension was palpable. There was no way Eijirou’s mom hadn’t told his dad about his plans already, and by the look of it, he didn’t approve any more than she did.

The food was delicious and definitely way more than what they usually had, but although Eijirou could tell his mom had cooked all his favorite dishes—or the ones she had the ingredients for, at least—he only had half a mind to eat. Knowing his parents and their hospitality, there was no way they’d cause a scene in front of a guest, but they were definitely planning to have a long talk with Eijirou as soon as his siblings and Bakugou left for the night, and he wasn’t looking forward to it.

“So, Bakugou,” his dad asked. “What pushed you to travel on your own?”

“I’m looking for something,” Bakugou said, stabbing his slice of bread with his knife to eat it. It made his mother shiver with discomfort, and his dad swore quietly in his native language. Sure, using a knife like this wasn’t uncommon, but did Bakugou really have to stab everything like he owned the place?

“Like a hidden treasure?” Shinra asked with a grin.

“Sort of.”

Maka tried to copy Bakugou, stabbing a carrot in her stew instead of using her spoon, and their mom almost leapt above the table to stop her. She glared at her daughter and hissed that she shouldn’t do it, trying not to draw attention to them, but Bakugou still noticed. His eyes went from Maka’s knife to his, and he slowly put it down.

“If it’s not a treasure, what is it?” Shizuka asked to break the uncomfortable silence that had settled for a second too long.

“A dragon.”

“A… What? You mean dragons still exist?” Eijirou asked, surprised and thrilled at the idea.

Bakugou held his gaze for a moment, giving him that intense look he seemed to have whenever he was fully focused on something, and Eijirou shivered. “Of course, dumbass,” he finally said, his eyes never leaving him. “They’re just hiding too fucking well.”

“So you’re really planning to find one? That’s so cool! I really hope we do, I’ve always wanted to see a real dragon!” Eijirou grinned. His smile was so wide his teeth were almost visible, but he recovered fast enough to avoid it.

Bakugou kept staring at him with a frown, until he scoffed and said, “I’m not just planning to find one, Shitty Hair. I’m planning to fight one.”

“That’s dangerous!” Eijirou’s father exclaimed.

Bakugou only shrugged in response, but Eijirou could feel his parents’ disapproving eyes on him. This was going terribly wrong.

“Well, I guess you won’t be needing our Eijirou, then,” his mother said calmly. “There aren’t any dragons around here. The monster sightings in the region involve more human looking creatures.”

“Still worth looking,” Bakugou shrugged.

“Yeah, and the region’s pretty big. I’m sure I can be useful,” Eijirou added, holding his mother’s gaze and trying to ignore how itchy he felt.

He wouldn’t back down this time, he told himself. He’d told Bakugou he was going. His bag was already packed. There was no going back!

His parents stayed pretty cold for the rest of the meal, leaving the conversation to their children who accepted the role eagerly. Shizuka’s good mood was burning bright like a flame, perfectly unaffected by the freezing atmosphere, and Eijirou found himself hanging on to it like a lost traveler on a chilly night. In the end, the only times his parents intervened were when the younger kids tried to copy Bakugou’s truly horrendous table manners, like picking the best parts or grabbing more food without asking first, without mentioning the knife he was using for everything.

As the meal drew to an end, Bakugou started dozing off on his seat and Eijirou’s mother decided to send the kids to bed. Eijirou gave the Barbarian’s shoulder a light tap and told him he should go to sleep.

“M’not tired,” he mumbled.

“Come on, you can barely keep your eyes open,” Eijirou chuckled.

“Fight me.”

“I’m not fighting you on this. It’s your choice,” he shrugged.

Bakugou let out an annoyed “tch” and finally got up, mumbling goodnights before following Eijirou back to his room. His parents’ eyes didn’t leave him as they walked out, and he knew he’d have to come back as soon as Bakugou didn’t need him anymore.

Sadly, Bakugou didn’t need anything. He stepped into the room, ignored Eijirou’s questions, stripped to his underwear without an ounce of shame, climbed into bed, and immediately passed out.

Well… that was fast, Eijirou thought. Way too fast, actually. He’d hoped to stall a little, but it seemed that nothing stood between him and his parents anymore.

He really hoped they would give him their blessing without arguing too much, but he’d seen their looks all evening, without mentioning their reactions to Bakugou’s prickly personality and rough manners. Eijirou’s siblings seemed to love him, but there was no way his parents would agree to let him go with the Barbarian.

Eijirou made sure one last time that his makeshift bed on the floor was fine and that his bags were properly packed, and sighed when he realized that he was out of excuses. It was time to face his first hurdle, and he’d have to do it on his own.

Chapter Text

His parents were whispering to each other when Eijirou came back to the living room. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but there was too much nodding to leave any doubt on the fact that whatever they were talking about, there was no disagreement between them.

This was going to be hard. Eijirou could usually work things out when one of his parents was on his side, but if they were both against him… 

Eijirou shook his head. He couldn’t give up this time. He’d have to be strong! Firm and immovable, like a rock! He didn’t hesitate earlier when he told his master he was leaving. He didn’t hesitate when he called Bakugou out, even though he knew the Barbarian had a weapon. He could do this!

He knocked his fists together to ground himself, announced his presence, and sat down on the other side of the table, facing his parents.

“Eijirou,” his mother started, “your father and I have talked about it and we both agree that you shouldn’t leave.”

“We’re living in dangerous times, a’mmi , and you don’t have the right gear,” his father added.

“It’s spring, there’s no better time to leave,” Eijirou pointed out. “And Bakugou’s a…” He hesitated. He couldn’t really call him a ‘nice guy’ from what he’d seen, but… “He’s rough around the edges, but I trust him.”

“He’s a rude Barbarian whose dream is to fight a dragon, Eijirou,” his mother said. “We have no proof that they even exist, why would you go on such a foolish quest with him? You don’t even know him!”

“I’ve seen enough, mom,” Eijirou said, surprised by the absolute conviction he felt. “It’s gonna be fine. He’s been on his own this whole time, and he looks like he has experience. His main issue is that he doesn’t know the area, but I do. I’m sure we’ll be a good team!”

“He wanted to fight you over going to bed, Eijirou,” his father pointed out.

“He was half asleep, come on! Plus, I said no and he didn’t insist. He didn’t fight me earlier until I agreed on it too. He’s–”

“What do you mean ‘fight you earlier’?”

Damn, Eijirou shouldn’t have mentioned it… 

“Um… I mean…” he started, feeling his arms itch. “I think he wanted to make sure I was strong enough to travel with him? Which is a totally reasonable demand! We don’t know each other that well, and–”

“Exactly! Are you really planning to go with someone who tried to beat you up upon meeting you?”

“It’s not like that!” Eijirou protested. “He’s… I can’t explain it, but his manly spirit really shone through when we sparred!”

“And that’s it? That’s what you’re basing your whole judgement on?” his mother asked. “Eijirou, sweetie, you know you trust people too easily.”

Eijirou deflated. “Shizuka likes him,” he said weakly. He knew he wasn’t the best judge of character and he was easily fooled, but his sister’s instincts were rarely wrong in that regard.

“Your sister isn’t immune to deceit,” his mother said.

Eijirou snorted. “Deceit? Really?”

“Well… Or blind admiration”, she conceded.

“I don’t trust him,” his father added. “His manners show that he’s rude, selfish, and a terrible influence.”

“He looks like he was trying to do well, though,” Eijirou said. Sure, Bakugou never apologized for his behavior, but he seemed to stop misbehaving when he saw Eijirou’s siblings get reprimanded for copying him. “Maybe table manners aren’t the same for Barbarians?”

“He’s the worst guest we’ve ever had,” his father huffed.

“But he helped make dinner,” Eijirou said, sending a desperate look in his mother’s direction. “And he helped clear the table too!”

“And it put us in a very bad position. Guests aren’t supposed to help with anything, they’re guests !”

“But you can’t call him selfish for wanting to help! Dad, you said you were a terrible guest too, back when you didn’t know our customs! And mom, come on, you can’t tell me you didn’t like it when Bakugou asked you all these questions about your cooking!”

His mother sighed. “Fine, maybe you’re right about this, and maybe it is normal for Barbarians to give a hand even when they’re guests, but I still don’t think you should go with him. Honestly, I’d have preferred it if you left with this nice little group, with the blonde one and his black haired friend.”

“You said no back then, and now they’re gone,” Eijirou pointed out bitterly. “You said they were too inexperienced, and it would be dangerous to leave with them. And now I have a Barbarian who obviously knows how to fight and travel on his own, and you’re still finding excuses for me to stay. It’s not like the perfect person is just going to show up. You can’t keep me trapped here forever! It’s not fair!”

Eijirou hadn’t realized that he’d raised his voice until he noticed his parents flinching.

“Eijirou, you know we only want what’s best for you,” his mother said softly with that sad and disappointed tone he hated so much. It made his heart clench, like he’d done something terrible. She was right, he shouldn’t have yelled at them.

“I’m sorry, mom. I know,” he muttered. “But I still think…”

“It’s too dangerous, Eijirou. He’s looking for a fight against monsters, you know. If you lower your guard and he sees how you are…”

“He said he wanted to fight a dragon, specifically,” Eijirou said. “I’m not a dragon, just a… weird kind of human.”

“But how can you know for sure that he’ll be okay with what you are? That he won’t attack you or try to kill you if he finds out the truth?” his father asked.

“But it’s always going to be dangerous, then,” Eijirou retorted, feeling his throat clench as he realized mid-sentence the truth he’d been avoiding for so long. What he’d just said wasn’t a counter-argument, it was what his parents truly thought. It was the conclusion they’d wanted him to reach this whole time.

It was always going to be dangerous. Strangers were dangerous. The other villagers were dangerous. His own siblings were dangerous, if they ran their mouths. Only here was safe. Only his parents could know who he was. No one else was ever going to accept him. His parents never wanted him to leave the nest. Shizuka would never have his room, because more than an elder right, it was a way to isolate him.

He wouldn’t have much privacy with a travelling companion. He wouldn’t be able to hide it if he sprouted a few scales or growled in his sleep. And being on his own was out of the question. There was nowhere for him to go. He was trapped.

“Eijirou, we’re sorry,” his mother said, walking around the table to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “We know you really want to go, but this…”

“We love you, son, but you can’t go on a monster-hunting quest when you’re… well…”

“A monster,” Eijirou finished.

“No, Eijirou, no,” his mother said, as if it wasn’t exactly what they’d been saying this whole time. “You’re not a monster, don’t you ever think that! You’re just a little… different?”

“And what you’re saying is that people won’t make a difference,” Eijirou added bitterly.

“I’m sorry. But the world can be a cruel place.”

“You were a blessing, Eijirou,” his father said, like he always did whenever Eijirou felt down about himself. “You’ve made your mother and I very happy from the moment we found you, and we’re so glad we have you.”

Eijirou nodded in silence, willing his tears to go away.

That was it. He wasn’t going anywhere. Ever.

“I love you too,” he said, forcing a smile on his face.

He didn’t feel it, but his parents seemed to feel a lot better, at least.

“So you understand why you can’t leave with Bakugou tomorrow?” his mother asked softly.

“Yes, mom,” Eijirou said, barely feeling her arms around him or the gentle kiss she left on his temple.

“That’s good. I’m glad we could make you understand,” his father said with a satisfied nod.

“I’ll just… go to sleep now,” Eijirou said.

He kissed his parents goodnight and slowly walked to his room, feeling more exhausted than after a long day at work. He just wanted to sleep.

Hopefully, he’d feel better in the morning. Bakugou wouldn’t mind leaving without him. It wasn’t like he really wanted Eijirou to tag along anyway, he was just tolerating him. And his master would understand if he showed up at work tomorrow. He’d also have to unpack, and let Shizuka know that he was keeping the room after all, and…

His lower lip trembled and his eyes filled with tears as he reached his bedroom. Stuck in his own head, he reached for the–

“So you’re not going after all, huh?”

Eijirou jumped in surprise, looking up to find Shizuka leaning against the wall next to the door.

“What are you doing here?” he whispered. “Did you…?”

“I heard you guys,” Shizuka nodded, keeping her voice low. “I felt that something was wrong at dinner, and I couldn’t stop myself when I heard you yell.”

“I’m sorry. Did I wake up the others?” Eijirou paused. “Wait, how much did you hear?!” he asked, alarmed. Shizuka wasn’t supposed to know! She–

“Relax. I know the truth about you. That you’re not…” She paused, looking for a word. “Not exactly like us?”

“What? Since when?”

“I think I always sort of knew. I remember a few things from when I was really young, and then I heard mom and dad talk about you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I wasn’t supposed to know,” she shrugged. “I was mad at you, at first, but then I realized that it wasn’t your fault. And mom and dad denied everything when I tried to confront them about it.”

“I’m sorry…” Eijirou said weakly, deflating under her bitter look.

“I told you, it’s not your fault. I’m more pissed at them here.”

“You shouldn’t!” Eijirou protested. “They’re trying to protect me.”

Shizuka gave him a long and meaningful look Eijirou wasn’t sure how to understand, then shrugged and said, “I think you should leave.”

“But you’ve heard mom and dad. They’re right.”

“The world has always been a dangerous place, Ei, and it shouldn’t stop you from doing what you want,” Shizuka said. “It’s like how people won’t let me go fishing on my own because I might become the subject of a folks song. But you know what? Anything could always happen. You could get robbed on your way to the forge. The house could collapse. We could die in floods every year, but we still live here. So if you really want to leave, you should leave.”

“It’s not just about me, though,” Eijirou said. “How do you think people would react if they find out the truth about me? Everyone knows we’re not really related, but you could be next.”

“Bakugou doesn’t strike me as the type of person who’ll seek revenge. And if he does, I’m sure we can take him!”

“He might turn everyone against us,” Eijirou countered, repeating arguments he’d heard his whole life.

“You really think people will believe him over us? Let’s be real, Eijirou, it’s not about us here. It’s about you deciding if leaving is worth the risk of being found out. You’re the only one who can decide if you trust yourself not to slip up, and if you trust Bakugou not to hurt you if you do. Or if you think it’ll be worth trying even if it goes wrong.”

Eijirou sighed. How was his little sister so good at this? He wanted to believe her, he really did, but… 

“Do you trust him?” he asked.

“Yes,” she nodded, calm and confident, like the rock Eijirou didn’t feel like at the moment. “I could be wrong, but he doesn’t seem like a bad guy. He’s not exactly nice, but I don’t think he’ll hurt you. And you two seem to get along. If anyone can reveal the soft insides under his thick and sour rind, it’s you.”

Eijirou smiled.

“So,” Shizuka continued when he didn’t say anything, “you’re leaving?”

Eijirou shook his head. “I don’t know. I thought I was going to leave, but mom and dad’s arguments made sense so I wasn’t, and now…” He sighed. “This isn’t manly of me! I shouldn’t hesitate like this.”

“It’s okay to take some time to think.”

“I don’t have time, Bakugou’s leaving tomorrow!”

“You have the whole night,” Shizuka pointed out.

“Right…” Eijirou sighed.

He wanted to go. He wanted it more than anything. He hated how fast he was changing his mind, but… wasn’t it the same as pushing a boulder and thinking it was moving only for it to swing back in place? He felt a little like this. A boulder pushed on an edge, swinging back and forth, waiting for a little push to go one way or another.

A tiny smile appeared on his lips, and he asked, “You aren’t telling me all this just because you want my bedroom, are you?”

Shizuka stifled a laugh. “Maybe a little? But that’s not just it. I know how much you want to go. I hear it when you sneak out at night, you know?”

Eijirou blinked. “What? I don’t go anywhere.”

“You don’t have to lie to me,” she said, rolling her eyes. “No one else knows, I just wake up a lot at night. I thought it was a secret lover at first, but since it happens less than once a month with no improv–”

“No but really, Shizuka. I promise I’m not going anywhere,” Eijirou insisted, face paling at the idea of what could have been happening. Was a stranger sneaking around their house at night? That was concerning!

Shizuka looked at him, scrutinizing, like she was trying to determine how honest Eijirou was being. He stood her gaze, trying to ignore the urge to scratch his arms. Then, she laughed silently and said, “You really fell for it, huh? I was joking!”

“Oh, come on!” Eijirou said, relief flooding through him as the itching receded. “You can’t scare me like that in the middle of the night!”

“You really haven’t changed, Ei! Still so gullible!”

“You’re the worst,” he grumbled, pouting. She’d always been like this, learning the most terrifying ghost stories just to tell him right before bedtime so he was too scared to sleep alone. He could never switch beds with her because their parents wouldn’t allow it, but it never stopped her from trying. 

Once her shoulders stopped shaking, Shizuka straightened up, looking serious again, and said, “Seriously, though, I think mom and dad are wrong to keep you here like this. Maybe you won’t like being on the road, but it’s something you need to decide on your own and they have to respect your choice. You’re old enough to make your own decisions.”

“What are you, twelve?” Bakugou taunted him in his mind.

Eijirou sighed again. “I’ll think about it.”

“Good enough for me,” Shizuka nodded. She paused for a second, and added, “I don’t think I’ll be able to take over your room immediately, anyway. So if you don’t like the adventurer lifestyle after all, you can always come back.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Eijirou smiled. “Thank you, Shizuka.”

“I hope it helped,” she said, straightening herself up. “We should probably go to sleep now.”

“Yeah.”

“And Ei…” She bit her lower lip, hesitating. “I’m sorry about this morning. You’ll always be my brother. Bedroom or not.”

“Wow, apologies? Coming from you?” Eijirou asked, faking surprise. “I'm not gonna die, you know.”

“Shut up! I was just trying to be nice,” she huffed.

“Mom told you to, didn't she?”

“Maybe? But she's not here to check, so it still counts,” Shizuka pouted.

“It's okay,” Eijirou chuckled. “I know you didn't mean it like that.”

“Good,” she said with a small, nervous nod.

“We both know that being found in an orchard is much better than being delivered in a panic on a kitchen table anyway,” Eijirou added, ruffling her hair.

“At least mom and dad had months to get ready for me, unlike you, stray baby,” Shizuka retorted, swatting away his hand with an amused pout.

That was better, Eijirou decided.

“Goodnight, little monster,” he said, hand back on the door handle.

“Goodnight, big dumdum,” she smiled, punching his arm as she walked to the room she shared with the rest of their siblings.

Bakugou was snoring peacefully when Eijirou stepped into his bedroom, perfectly unaware of his roommate’s internal conflict.

“Goodnight, Bakugou,” he whispered to the sleeping Barbarian as he padded his way to his makeshift bed.

Sleep didn’t come easily that night.

Despite how exhausted he felt, arguments for and against leaving with Bakugou kept swirling in Eijirou’s mind, too loud to be ignored. Eyes trained on the man in his bed, his relaxed face gently basking in the moonlight, Eijirou wondered.

Was Bakugou even trustworthy? He seemed like the kind of person who was above lying and deceit, but that could be a mask. Maybe he pretended to be honest to the point of rudeness to hide his real, lying self? But people like that didn’t fool Shizuka, and Eijirou really had a good feeling about him. Plus, he'd never asked Eijirou to travel with him, so there was no reason for him to have bad intentions, right?

But even if he was completely honest and wasn’t planning to hurt Eijirou, would it still be true if he found out the truth? He was on a quest to fight monsters after all, and Eijirou had no doubt that Bakugou would at least try to fight him. Would he try to kill him? Would Eijirou be able to run away in time? He knew the area way better than the Barbarian, so he’d definitely be able to hide from him. Maybe he could scare him away with lemons or something… The thought made him snort, and he felt some of the tension leave him.

But if Eijirou left, he’d have to face his parents again in the morning… But if he stayed… If he left… Then Bakugou…

.

In his dream, Eijirou was roaming in the forest. He was walking on all four silently, a big and powerful hunter looking for a prey, knowing he was stronger than anything that lurked under the trees. The moon was shining on his sharp claws, his skin was a thick, impenetrable armor, and he felt like nothing could resist him. Even the earth couldn’t keep him trapped as he flapped his powerful wings to take flight and rise above the treeline, basking in the moonlight. Eijirou was a wild and fierce creature, and all had to bow to his will. He was the master of the forest, the master of the land, the master of the skies.

In his dreams, Eijirou was a monster, strong, and beautiful, and free.

Chapter Text

Katsuki dreamed about flying. He was harnessing the wind, creating updrafts and changing its direction at will to perform increasingly complex figures. A huge dragon the size of an island was gliding beside him, its back and flanks covered in houses and fields where children played loudly. The peaceful creature's surface was full of life, and Katsuki could see a small group of people flying together further ahead, showing off their skills.

Katsuki hurried to catch up and show them that he was the best flier, but no matter how fast he was going, he could never reach them. He could hear their laughter and joyful cries getting louder and louder, but they seemed so far away… 

Then, they were surrounding him, and they cheered as Katsuki showed them what he could do. His wings weren’t as good as the others, but the fire in his palms made up for it, and he flew and flew until he decided to land on the big dragon, exhausted. He patrolled in the fields for a while, until he reached the houses on the dragon’s flanks. One of them was his, he knew it. He just didn’t know which one, but he was going to find out. So Katsuki walked along the dragon’s flanks while the fliers’ laughter resonated in his ears, tempting him to join them again.

Everything was great. Everything was good and familiar. Katsuki was right where he belonged. He’d find his home soon, and then, everything would be perfect.

.

“Bakugou… Bakugou, wake up!”

Katsuki woke up in a surprisingly comfortable bed, to the sound of a stranger's voice and the feeling of a stranger’s hand on his shoulder, shaking him lightly. He threw a heated palm at the intruder’s face before he even opened his eyes, expecting them to fall back with a yelp of surprise or pain, depending on how fast they reacted. Instead, his palm was caught in a rough hand that somehow muffled his warning explosion.

Katsuki's eyes flew open.

“Shhh, Bakugou, not so loud. The others are sleeping,” whispered some guy Katsuki didn't recognize.

He knew the rough feeling of hardened skin on his hand though, he realized as memories from the day before slowly came back.

“Shitty Hair,” Katsuki muttered, his voice low and raspy from sleep.

“Yep, that's me,” he nodded with that weird, closed mouthed smile of his. “The sun’s gonna rise soon and I’m all set!”

“You didn’t have to wake me up so early,” Katsuki grumbled, falling back on the pillow and savoring the warm softness of the bed.

“I thought you were in a hurry,” Shitty Hair said. “We’ve gotta go, come on!”

Katsuki growled and sat up, glaring at him. “Fucking why?”

Shitty Hair flinched a little, gulped, and said, “Well, I’m awake, and you wanted to leave fast. And we should…” he hesitated, and finished in one breath, “we should leave now before it gets too hot!”

“It won’t be that hot and I don’t give a shit anyway,” Katsuki said, trying to wake himself up enough to understand why the idiot was acting so suspicious.

“Bakugou, come on! It’s time to go! I’ve never heard of an adventurer who sleeps in.”

“M’not sleeping in, I’m enjoying my prize,” Katsuki huffed. He prided himself in being able to sleep in rough conditions, but having a real bed was a rare opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

Shitty Hair bit his lower lip, glancing at the barely rising sun and then at the door. Definitely suspicious. “Bakugou, come on. Get ready and I’ll take care of your breakfast.”

Katsuki sighed and shook his head. “Fucking fine, but it better be good.”

“You got it!” Shitty Hair smiled. “Make sure not to make too much noise,” he added before leaving the room and closing the door silently.

Once he was gone, it was tempting for Katsuki to go back to sleep, but he knew there was no point. Shitty Hair’s behavior was way too suspicious, and he needed to get to the bottom of it.

He smiled when he noticed the small bucket of fresh water in the corner. Cleaning himself up a bit would be perfect to clear up his mind, he decided as he brought a piece of cloth and plunged his hand in the cold water to heat it up to an appropriate temperature. As a natural fire mage, he’d never understood how people could accept anything less than warm water.

It took until he was ready to join Shitty Hair for him to finally connect the dots. The early rising, the way he insisted on them being silent, the way his parents had looked at Katsuki with disapproval the night before, his mother’s initial reaction…

Shitty Hair was probably leaving against his family’s will.

Either way, it was none of Katsuki’s business. He didn’t care as long as they were leaving, he thought as he grabbed his stuff and joined him in the main room, jumping above the guardrail and creating a small updraft under himself to land silently. Whether or not they were trying to sneak out, he figured it was better not to wake everyone up. The last thing Katsuki wanted was to have to deal with a bunch of loud kids first thing in the morning.

He found Shitty Hair silently packing a bag on an empty table.

“Where’s breakfast?” he asked in a low voice, unamused.

“I packed it,” Shitty Hair whispered, brandishing his bag. “It’s so early, I thought we might as well get started and take a break later?”

Yep, they were definitely sneaking out. How Shitty Hair didn’t realize how suspicious he was acting was beyond Bakugou, though.

“So we’re leaving now?” he asked, matching the other’s volume.

“If you’re ready.”

“You’re not saying goodbye?”

Shitty Hair flinched like the worst liar in the world. Fuck, Katsuki hated liars, and it seemed that Shitty Hair was nothing but one big pile of stinky lies. How the fuck was he supposed to trust a guy like this?

“I… already did?” he said hesitantly before schooling his expression into something more confident.

Katsuki sighed, half-tempted to leave the asshole behind. “Whatever,” he said, walking to the door. “Let’s fucking go, then.”

Shitty Hair rushed before him so he could open the door silently, and Katsuki followed, taking his rightful place in front of him as soon as they were out.

The redhead stayed surprisingly silent for the first few minutes, and it further confirmed Katsuki’s suspicions. What he didn’t get was why that idiot seemed to think Katsuki cared whether or not he had his parents’ approval. It wasn’t like Katsuki hadn’t openly told him about the way he’d left his own family, after all.

If Shitty Hair felt the need to lie about something this small, what else could he be lying about? Something was definitely up with his teeth, but as eager as Katsuki was to figure out the truth about them, he was starting to question whether or not it was a good idea to travel with Shitty Hair, if he was going to have to second guess everything the asshole said.

As soon as they were out of earshot, his new travel companion started talking nonstop, and Katsuki shook his head, trying to get rid of his doubts. Shitty Hair had fought him fair and square the day before, and whatever Katsuki had seen in him back then, he’d made his decision. He wasn’t going to back down now.

“So,” Shitty Hair asked once they stopped for breakfast, “where are we going?”

Fuck, that was a good question…

“You’re the local here,” Katsuki grumbled as he looked through the contents of Shitty Hair’s bag and grabbed some bread and cheese. “Haven’t heard about monsters in the area?”

“Well… There’s this monster people have been talking about for the past few months, but I don’t know if the rumors are true. Everyone who’s seen it said it looked like a big dude with horns and a thick tail that growled at them and ran back into the forest. Some say it had weird things coming out of its shoulders too. But it all happened late at night, so they were probably drunk…”

“Why the fuck did your lord start this free weapons bullshit, then?”

“There used to be plenty of monsters, or at least people complained about it a lot. But it was years ago, and it kinda stopped after all those adventurers came.”

Bakugou groaned, biting his slice of bread and cheese angrily. “Fucking great…” he muttered under his breath as he munched it and swallowed with all the aggressiveness he could muster. “Next question: where the fuck are your weapons?”

“Oh, um… I don’t exactly have any?” Shitty Hair said with an embarrassed look as he reached for the food bag between them. “I wanted to get myself a sword a while ago, but they were the first to go when the program started, and they’re super hard to forge, so I couldn’t exactly make one.”

“So you’ve got what, your knife, those shitty braces you got yesterday, and that’s it?”

“I’m not gonna fight with my food knife!” Shitty Hair exclaimed, appalled. “I mean, I can use it if I have to, but…”

“So that’s what I said, you’ve got nothing.”

“Oh… But I can still fight!”

“You won’t be able to do shit if we meet thieves or some wild beast, what the fuck were you thinking?!” Katsuki yelled.

“Well, sorry! You made me leave super fast, where was I supposed to find a sword?”

“You said you’ve wanted to leave for ages! How did you not think about that?! You could at least have a damn dagger or some shit!”

“It’s not like there are dangerous animals around here! Usually, they just run away when you get too close, and I can use some magic.”

“So what, you think you’re good enough to rely on it alone?”

Shitty Hair hesitated. “Well… I can use it in a pinch? And I’ll buy a sword as soon as we can, I promise!”

Katsuki clicked his tongue, but calmed down a little. “You’ve got earth magic, right?” he asked, remembering the hardened skin that seemed impervious to his fire.

“Yeah! I’m not exactly good at it, though,” he said with a self-conscious look. “I can mostly just harden my skin a little…” He shook his head, and added with more confidence, “But I’ve been training! And I stood up to you yesterday, didn’t I?”

“Think you can stop a blade?”

“I’ve never really tried that,” he said with a weak laugh.

Katsuki grinned and took out a dagger. “Let’s find out!”

“You mean now?!” Shitty Hair squeaked.

“You’re done eating?”

“I just wanted to have an orange first and I’ll be good to go.”

Katsuki cringed at the memory of the tough-skinned fruit, and snarled when he noticed Shitty Hair’s amused look. The redhead took one out of his bag and started peeling it with his bare fingers, the thick skin coming off in chunks as it released its sour scent. Katsuki watched, both disgusted and fascinated as Shitty Hair revealed how the fruit consisted of several bits easy to split with his bare hands without getting them covered with sticky juice. Katsuki wondered if it was why his family didn’t seem to care about eating with their fingers.

“Do you want some?” Shitty Hair asked suddenly, offering him a slice.

Katsuki recoiled. “No fucking way, keep that shit away from me.”

Shitty Hair had the nerve to laugh to his face. “Dude, it’s just an orange! You shouldn’t stay on your first bad impression. It’s really good, I promise!”

“Fuck you,” Katsuki spat.

Shitty Hair shrugged and finished his fruit without insisting.

“So? You’re fucking ready now?” Katsuki asked once he was done and their food was back in the bag.

Shitty Hair looked at him with wide, anxious eyes. “Um… I’m not… What are you planning to do exactly?”

“Harden your skin and let’s see how tough you are,” Katsuki said with a smirk.

“What?!” Shitty Hair yelped. “You’re just gonna… cut me? What if I get hurt?!”

“I won’t stab you hard,” Katsuki shrugged. “And if you can’t take a little cut, you better go back to your parents, Shitty Hair.”

The redhead frowned at that. “I’m not going back,” he said, finally showing some fucking spine. “And my name’s Kirishima, don’t forget it!”

Ah, right. Kirishima.

“Show me how tough you are and maybe I’ll remember your stupid name,” Katsuki said.

Shitty Hair rolled up his sleeve and hardened his skin with a determined look.

“You’re on!”

When Katsuki poked the first time, his skin offered decent resistance.

“That’s so cool,” Shitty Hair whispered in awe, a smile on his lips. “Do it harder!”

Katsuki complied gladly. That was more like the tough guy he’d met the day before!

After a few more tries, they realized that if Katsuki cut or stabbed hard enough, he could graze Kirishima’s skin and leave some marks once he was unhardened. It looked more like he’d been grazed by brambles than pierced by a knife, though.

“Not bad,” Katsuki decided.

“Are you kidding? That’s awesome!” Shitty Hair laughed. “I’d never thought I could get that tough!”

“What, you’ve never fucking tried?”

“It’s not like I really needed it,” he shrugged. “I’ve trained a bit, but I didn’t think I’d come that far.”

“Why didn’t you train harder, then? You’d be fucking strong by now.”

“Well… I didn’t really have a teacher, you know,” Shitty Hair said with a weak laugh. “Some traveling mages came a couple of times and gave me a few lessons, but it wasn’t nearly enough.”

“You’ve learned?” Katsuki asked, surprised. “Why the fuck would you learn earth magic and never use it?”

“Oh, I could do a few things already, so I thought–”

“So you’re a natural.”

“Yeah?”

“Then you don’t need lessons.”

“What?” Shitty Hair asked, dumbfounded.

Katsuki stared at him for a moment, wondering if that guy was really that fucking dumb. Judging by his look of sincere confusion, he was. Katsuki sighed.

“You’re a natural earth mage,” he said. Shitty Hair nodded. “So you already have a bond with your element. You don’t need to be taught.”

“But it’s not like I have any idea what to do!”

“Did those earth mages teach you how to harden your skin?” Katsuki asked, knowing the answer already.

“No, I could already do that. They taught me more about stances and things like that.”

“That shit’s for learned mages,” Katsuki scoffed. “S’not bad, but it won’t help you get stronger.”

“It did! And what, are you gonna tell me you’ve learned your whole… fire hands thing by yourself?” Shitty Hair asked, waving his arms at the last part.

“Of course I did, dumbass! I learned how to heat up water and stuff like that, but no one taught me how to create explosions.”

“Oh…”

“It’s your element. Your bond. You wanna get better at it, you keep using it until it’s truly yours.”

Katsuki remembered, for a second, the old hag telling him those exact same words back when he was a snotty brat who’d just found out he could do cool shit with fire. Fuck her for being right.

Shitty Hair was staring at him like he’d said some truly groundbreaking shit, and Katsuki wondered how no one had ever told him that.

“I guess you’re right, huh… But I’m not sure where to start.”

“Were you always that tough against fire?” Katsuki asked, wondering where the fuck he was finding the patience to talk to this idiot. If it weren’t for those damn teeth and the secrets they could be holding, he would have dropped him here.

“Um… I don’t think so? But I’ve spent a lot of time at the forge, so I started improving after a while.”

Katsuki grinned, taking a few steps back to get into a fighting stance. “So if you wanna get tougher against other stuff, you just have to expose yourself to them.”

Shitty Hair jumped when he realized where Katsuki was going. “Dude, we’re fighting now?!”

“No time like the fucking present,” Katsuki nodded.

“You’re impossible,” Kirishima sighed, but he didn’t protest further and dropped his extra layers, getting in position.

Katsuki had expected him to refuse, and his respect for the idiot grew a little then. Grinning, he dropped his cape, and on second thought, Kirishima got rid of his shirt too.

This sparring session didn’t last very long, since they would have a lot of walking to do later, but Kirishima offered a decent fight, and with his entire upper body hardened, he was quite the sight! When Katsuki’s blade got near his cheek, Kirishima hardened just in time to deflect it, and Katsuki had the satisfaction of seeing his lips shrink to reveal those familiar sharp teeth once more—a welcome reminder of why Katsuki wanted to keep him around.

By the end of their sparring session, Kirishima only had a few red lines on his body that he wiped easily before putting his clothes back on.

“You gotta work on your stamina,” Katsuki said as he picked up his cape.

“I know but dude, you’re intense!” Kirishima panted. “And I’m not used to all this.”

“To what?”

“Sparring!”

“You’ve never had a sparring partner before?”

Kirishima shrugged, embarrassed. “Not really? It’s not like…” He shook his head. “Anyway, thanks for trying to help me!”

Katsuki grunted, grabbing his bag while Kirishima reached for his own.

“So, where are we going?” he asked again.

That damn question… But this time, Katsuki had a better idea of what to do. There was nothing like a good fight to clear his mind!

“You’ve got money, right?” he asked.

“Yeah!” Kirishima nodded.

“So we’re gonna get you a proper weapon first. Where’s the nearest town?”

“The one where my parents sell their fruits is a couple of hours from here,” Kirishima said. “But I don’t think we’ll have much choice, it’s not exactly big.”

“How far’s the nearest city then?”

“I’m not sure… Merchants say it’s around a week from here on foot, but they’re much slower than us. I think it’d take us three or four days to reach it, maybe?”

“Good enough,” Katsuki decided. “Let’s get you some gear, then.”

“Sounds good to me!” Kirishima nodded.

“We’ll probably stay there a couple of days too, in case we can catch some rumors.”

“Yeah, that’s great! Merchants talk a lot, it shouldn’t be hard,” Kirishima agreed enthusiastically. “This way, then!”

They went back on their way as Katsuki tried to mute whatever Kirishima was talking about. For someone who tried so hard to keep his secrets, he sure talked a lot…

But it was fine, Katsuki decided. The idiot would definitely be handy in a fight once he got better with his magic, and Katsuki could take advantage of the time it’d take them to reach the city to keep an eye on him and hopefully figure out what the fuck he was trying so hard to hide.

With all the efforts it was taking, if the truth wasn’t what Katsuki was hoping for, this asshole was fucking dead.

.

Eijirou’s first day as an adventurer felt more like a long walk than anything. It wasn’t exactly exciting, but it wasn’t bad either. The sky was clear, the sun was bright and not too hot, and Eijirou was making up for his companion’s stubborn silence with nonstop blabbering.

Maybe he was a little nervous…

Eijirou hadn’t exactly talked to his parents before leaving, and they’d probably noticed that he was gone by now. Were they looking for him? Did they understand Eijirou had left on his own volition? Did Shizuka tell them about their conversation from the night before?

Eijirou shook his head. There was no point in wondering. He’d made his decision, and there was no going back now. Plus, everything was going great so far! Bakugou couldn’t be too bad if he was so eager to help him learn more about his magic, and although the constant threat of unexpected fights was going to be exhausting in the long run, sparring with Bakugou helped him release some tension. Bakugou himself seemed a bit more relaxed too, even though his behavior hadn’t changed much.

“Aren’t you hot under all those layers?” Eijirou asked when the sun got high and he had to get rid of a layer of his own.

Bakugou shook his head and raised a hand. “I can dissipate heat with my hands. And it’s easier to get rid of extra heat than to create it.”

“Oh, that’s so cool! I had no idea fire magic could do that!”

“Don’t be stupid, that’s the basics.”

“I wish I could do it too,” Eijirou sighed. “It gets so hot around here in summer! I know I’m good at standing heat, but when there’s nowhere to escape, it’s terrible.”

Bakugou grunted.

“I used to think I could be a fire mage, you know? Since I’m good with heat and all. But it turns out it’s just earth magic after all.”

“You don’t like it?” Bakugou asked with a frown.

“Oh no, it’s great! Just… not as flashy as fire. And it’s not like I can control earth. I’ve tried, but it’s really not my thing.”

“Hardening your skin’s pretty badass. Especially once you’ve trained.”

Eijirou grinned. “Yeah! Thanks about that, by the way. I’ll make sure no blade can run through me in no time!”

“You better,” Bakugou said. His nonchalant tone made him sound like he had no doubt Eijirou could do it. So manly…

Eijirou had run out of conversation topics by the time they made a quick stop for lunch, and they spent most of the afternoon walking in silence while Eijirou tried to remember everything he was told about good places to rest and nearby rivers near the road. He wasn’t very efficient, though. He felt like his mind was running in circles as he struggled to keep his eyes open. He’d barely slept the night before, and he was starting to feel it.

“Don’t fucking fall asleep!” Bakugou snapped with a light shove, making him open his eyes with a start.

“I’m okay!” Eijirou said quickly.

“We’re not stopping anytime soon, don’t be a burden now.”

“I’m not! I was walking!”

“You’re supposed to guide me or some shit,” Bakugou sneered. “Can’t do that with your eyes closed.”

“Right… I’m sorry,” Eijirou said, shaking his head and drinking some water to wake himself up. Luckily, it was enough to shake off some of his drowsiness.

They still had a few hours of daylight when they reached the main road and the inn nearby, so when Eijirou offered to stop there and stay the night, Bakugou declared that they should go further.

“Keep your money for your weapon,” he said.

Eijirou shrugged and followed him, wondering if his companion was that eager to reach their destination or if he was just being stingy.

The sun was about to set by the time they reached the clearing Eijirou was told about. It was a pretty nice place, big enough to let a whole group of travelers settle down, and close to a river. It was empty when they arrived, and likely to stay so for the night, but the neatly made fire pit in the middle showed that the place was used fairly often.

“We’re here,” Eijirou announced proudly.

“I noticed, Shitty Hair,” Bakugou said, dropping his bag on the ground.

Eijirou sighed at the nickname. Being called by his actual name was nice while it lasted… He wondered if Bakugou would call him ‘Kirishima’ again if they sparred. Not that he was eager for it. He had good legs, but he was pretty beat after all this walking.

He noticed Bakugou looking at the sky and said with a smile, “It’s not gonna rain, trust me.”

Bakugou shrugged with a grunt, rummaged through his bag for a few seconds, and walked away without a word.

“Um… dude? What are you doing?” Eijirou asked, dropping his own bag on the other side of the fire pit.

“Water.”

“Oh, right,” Eijirou said, hesitant. “Um… Do you… Should I grab some firewood? What’s for dinner?”

“Do whatever, s’not my problem,” Bakugou said, not even stopping to reply.

“It is though. We’re supposed to be a team,” Eijirou frowned.

He let out an annoyed sigh when Bakugou ignored him, and decided to grab some wood. If Bakugou was taking care of the water, he couldn’t go wrong with it, he thought.

He realized that he’d been too optimistic when he came back to Bakugou already building a fire.

“I thought you were getting us water,” Eijirou said, dropping his wood on top of Bakugou’s.

“Found some wood too.”

“You have the water?”

“Of course I have the fucking water, who do you take me for?”

“Right…” Eijirou repressed an annoyed sigh, telling himself that they could never have too much wood anyway. “What do we do now?”

“Just make yourself useful.”

“I’m trying, dude, but I can’t be useful if you don’t tell me what to do!”

Finally, for the first time since they dropped their bags, Bakugou spared him a look.

“You don’t know how to do this shit,” he said.

“I do!” Eijirou protested. “I just don’t know how to do it with you . I’m fine with letting you take the lead but I can’t guess what you want.”

Bakugou stared at him for a moment, blinked, and said, “Go see if there’s some food. I’ll start setting up the tent.”

“Ok. Thanks,” Eijirou nodded.

Bakugou was all done by the time he came back mostly empty handed.

“No fish?” Bakugou asked.

“I can give it a try, but fishing isn’t really my thing,” Eijirou shrugged.

“I should’ve brought your damn sister instead, she’d have been more useful.”

“Trust me, she would have complained the whole time,” Eijirou laughed.

With everything set up, they didn’t have much left to do before sunset. Of course, Bakugou wanted to use this time to train him, and Eijirou tried to indulge him with whatever little energy he had left. It didn’t work well, though, and Bakugou wasn’t pleased with how sluggish Eijirou was after a whole day of walking on little sleep, so they gave up on the idea pretty fast.

Eijirou fell asleep while Bakugou was making dinner.

He was woken up later with a bowl of warm food and a harsh, “You’re standing guard first.”

Eijirou yawned and offered Bakugou a sleepy smile. “Sure. Thanks, Bakugou.”

His food was delicious. Eijirou had no idea what he was eating, but it was much better than anything he’d expected!

“Shut up, it’s just some food,” Bakugou grumbled when Eijirou told him so.

Eijirou shrugged and kept wolfing down his bowl. Once there was nothing left, he took out an orange from his bag. If he was going to stand guard, he’d need the boost.

Once more, Bakugou stared at him while he peeled it. Once more, he gave him a look of disgust when Eijirou offered him a slice. He wondered how long it’d take the Barbarian to get over his bad first experience.

In the meantime, it’d mean more orange for him! They were too big for him to bring too many, but despite how much room they took, he was glad he had them. They were nice and comforting. They tasted like home.

“What kind of food do you have where you live?” Eijirou asked to break the sluggish silence that had settled between them.

“Normal food,” Bakugou shrugged. Eijirou was going to protest, asking for more details, but before he could say anything, the Barbarian stood up, dusted his clothes, and mumbled, “I’m going to bed,” before disappearing inside the tent.

“Goodnight, Bakugou,” Eijirou said to the empty air.

He sighed. So no friendly conversation tonight either, huh…

Chapter Text

The two of them fell into a comfortable routine during the next couple of days. They still avoided inns, and Bakugou yelled at Eijirou when he offered to pay for a room for the both of them, so he supposed his companion was both stingy and too proud to admit he didn’t have much money. It was fine, though: the weather was nice and Eijirou was enjoying sleeping outside, especially now that he knew what to do.

Their days all followed the same pattern. They sparred a little in the morning before breaking camp, walked all day, set up camp near sunset, and sparred again before dinner. Bakugou cooked and Eijirou cleaned. Eijirou peeled an orange after dinner and Bakugou refused to eat the offered slices. Bakugou went to sleep and Eijirou joined him later, rinse and repeat.

Eijirou was proud of how fast they got used to working together, but when he brought up their progress, Bakugou just scoffed and said it was “normal shit”. His little smile didn’t escape Eijirou, though, and he’d already learned not to take his friend’s harsh words at face value. 

By the time they spent their last night outside before reaching the city, Eijirou was almost ready to brush off his parents’ warning words. There had been no major incident so far, and he felt like there wouldn’t be any.

Still, he’d caught Bakugou staring at him a couple of times, when he thought Eijirou wasn’t paying attention. The Barbarian was frowning in these moments, obviously focused and deep in thought, staring at Eijirou like he was a lemon and he was considering whether or not to take a bite. Whatever Bakugou was thinking about, however, he never did anything about it, so Eijirou had slowly learned to relax when he caught his friend’s intense gaze on him.

There was still one minor issue, though: Eijirou had started sprouting scales whenever he sparred with Bakugou. It was never many, and he was quick to hide them—quick enough that his sparring partner never seemed to notice them, at least—but the stronger his hardening was getting, the more of a problem it was becoming.

Just like Bakugou had said, training against a blade was enough to help Eijirou make huge progress, and he was now able to stop Bakugou’s dagger with his bare skin, which never ceased to amaze him. Bakugou had told him to keep the wrist guards, in case he couldn’t rely on his magic, but Eijirou could now block even strong swings, and these days, the only reason why Bakugou was holding back wasn’t out of concern for Eijirou’s safety, but because he didn’t want to ruin his blade. Eijirou would be lying if he said he wasn’t proud of his progress, and even the Barbarian seemed impressed.

“Told you it’d work! You should’ve done that years ago,” was the best compliment he’d gotten so far, but it was delivered with a proud grin so wide it almost made Eijirou reveal his own teeth to mirror it.

Still, it didn’t make the scales issue less concerning, even if Eijirou could tell his magic was to blame. His scaly skin felt much stronger, and he had a feeling that moving with it would be easier too. As strong as his normal, rough skin was, it made him lose a lot of mobility, and it was something they were trying to improve. However, as helpful as his bright red scales would be, Eijirou couldn’t let them show. He couldn’t let Bakugou see them, he reminded himself for the hundredth time as they set up camp, trying to ignore how much his skin itched.

Eijirou was setting up the tent while Bakugou was looking for firewood and whatever food he could forage. Much to Eijirou’s surprise, his friend had soon become better than him at finding wild herbs and other edible things, and he’d quickly mastered how to use them in his cooking too.

“Found some rosemary,” Bakugou said as he came back.

“Neat! I hope we can catch a few fishes, then,” Eijirou smiled.

Bakugou grunted as he started building the fire, only giving Eijirou’s work a quick visual check and a nod of approval that made his chest swell with pride. Bakugou’s tent was great, but it wasn’t the easiest to set up, despite how much its owner insisted otherwise.

“Ready to fight, Kirishima?” Bakugou asked once everything was ready, raising a sparking palm.

Eijirou smiled, knocking his hardened fists together. “Bring it!”

The plan was to spar until it was time to check on their traps and take care of dinner, and they quickly fell into their familiar rhythm where Eijirou’s mind was solely focused on choosing whether to block or to dodge Bakugou’s attacks and not sprout any scales, please not this time, Bakugou will see them for sure, so just don’t sprout scales.

On second thought, Eijirou probably should have focused on the fight instead of worrying. For the first time, instead of only using his blade, Bakugou threw an explosion with his left hand, blinding Eijirou for a few seconds.

“Focus!” he yelled.

Eijirou nodded and shifted his attention back to the fight as he tried to see through the small cloud of smoke Bakugou’s explosion had left behind. It lasted until he saw a flash of red scales on his left arm, and as he tried to hide them, he didn’t notice Bakugou’s blade going straight to his side in a powerful thrust. Eijirou hardened his skin on instinct, expecting the impact to hurt, but pain never came. Instead, he was only pushed back a little as he heard the distinctive sound of metal snapping.

They both froze. The smoke dissipated. Eijirou blinked.

Bakugou was still holding his dagger, or what was left of it. A good chunk of it was now lying on the ground, and Eijirou…

Oh no, his side was covered with scales!

He was the first to unfreeze, slapping a hand on it to hide the incriminating area. Bakugou’s eyes went from his broken blade to Eijirou, and he finally closed his mouth, straightening up as he yelled, “You fucking idiot! What the hell were you thinking?!”

“Sorry!” Eijirou yelped, still clinging to his scaly skin. “I got… overwhelmed.”

Bakugou’s eyes lowered to Eijirou’s hands, and he seemed to calm down a little. “You injured?” he asked. 

Eijirou gulped. “Nope! No, I’m fine!” he said quickly, trying to hide his nervousness. “Unlike your blade. Wow, would you look at that, it’s completely broken!”

“I saw red,” Bakugou insisted.

Eijirou took a sharp breath, focusing on turning his skin back to normal, and said more calmly, “I’m fine.”

Slowly, he parted his fingers, revealing smooth human skin underneath. With a sigh of relief, he let his hand fall back on his side, and his brain finally caught up with what just happened.

“Holy shit, did I break your blade?” he asked with a disbelieving smile.

“Sure did, asshole,” Bakugou nodded, examining his broken weapon. “I knew this dagger wasn’t worth shit, but I didn’t expect it to be so damn weak.” He shook his head and dropped it on the ground, adding, “You owe me one.”

“Yeah, sure,” Eijirou nodded. “Sorry.” Then, a second wave of realization hit him, and he yelled, “Hey, wait a minute! You almost killed me, man! What the hell?!”

“You were supposed to dodge, dumbass!”

“You hit me hard enough to break the blade! And you cheated too!”

“I fucking didn’t! I was trying to make you focus so this shit didn’t happen!”

“And you could have killed me !”

Bakugou’s posture got more defensive, but he refused to back down. “You can take this now! You’re fucking fine, aren’t you?”

“Not thanks to you!”

Bakugou let out a frustrated growl. A literal one. “I didn’t hit that hard. I was gonna slow down when I noticed you weren’t dodging, but I think the blade got brittle after hitting you so many times.”

Eijirou crossed his arms, still frowning. “Let me have a look,” he decided, crouching to grab both the broken blade and the handle on the ground. It didn’t take him long to realize that Bakugou wasn’t lying. Eijirou had learned to use his magic to scan metals at the forge, and this one had clearly been weakened by repeated uses. “Fine, I guess it’s my bad for being distracted. Sorry, man,” he said, putting them aside as he tried to ignore the vague twist of disappointment in his guts.

“You’re sad you couldn’t break it in one blow?” Bakugou asked with a smirk.

“Shut up, I’m still mad at you,” Eijirou pouted.

“You shouldn’t have been distracted, dumbass,” Bakugou snapped. “But fine, no more blade training for you.”

“What, really? But I was just getting good!”

“Yeah, and I don’t have an unlimited amount of blades.”

“Right…”

They decided to stop training for the night, and the uneasy tension from their fight slowly vanished as they fell back to their well-oiled routine. After dinner, Eijirou grabbed an orange from his bag, noticing with a pang of disappointment that it was the last one.

It was for the best, of course, since they wouldn’t stay fresh forever, but a part of him felt like by eating it, he was cutting off ties with home for good. He took it still, his other hand flying to his belts to feel the comforting fabric under his fingers.

He wouldn’t be completely isolated, he reminded himself. He still had many little bits from home with him.

As always, Bakugou was staring at him when he started peeling the fruit. He’d accepted a slice the night before, after Eijirou had attempted to make him try it every single night since he left home. He said the texture was weird and the taste was too sour, but he didn’t spit it out, so Eijirou counted it as a small victory.

When he looked up at the Barbarian after peeling his orange, he realized that he had the same expression as the night before: open, curious, a little envious… The same kind of face his younger siblings had right before they started begging him for a slice, Eijirou realized with a fond smile.

He held one out without a word. Bakugou looked up to meet his eyes, surprised, and Eijirou gave him an encouraging smile as he held it closer. Slowly, Bakugou plucked it from Eijirou’s hand like it was something delicate and potentially dangerous. Their fingers brushed, and Eijirou felt himself shivering at the contact. It made him miss home.

His eyes stayed glued on Bakugou as he gingerly put half the slice in his mouth and bit it. His nose scrunched up for a second, but he kept chewing, pensive.

“S’not that bad,” he said. “Still fucking sour. And so damn… juicy.”

“See? I told you it was good!” Eijirou smiled.

“I didn’t say that!” Bakugou huffed as he ate the second half of his slice.

Eijirou hummed around his own piece of fruit, savoring the tangy taste. This one was a bit sweeter than the others, he noticed, wondering if it was why Bakugou seemed more receptive this time.

Bakugou’s eyes were back on him when Eijirou took another slice, and he gave it away without a second thought. It felt natural, sharing his orange like this. It made him feel like home more than eating it on his own ever could.

This time too, Bakugou ate his slice carefully, as if it was going to attack any second. It reminded Eijirou of Rascal’s mother when Shizuka and he tried to tame her. She was always wary of the food they gave her, and they could never quite bring her inside. Eijirou wondered if Rascal was still bringing dead birds back inside the house. Had Shizuka found one already? Did she take over his room? What did she tell their siblings about him leaving? Had his parents stopped looking for him?

Eijirou shook his head as he bit his own slice, trying not to let his emotions overwhelm him. He’d spent the past few days avoiding thinking about home too much, but he really missed his family. Greeting his parents with a kiss in the morning, ruffling Shizuka’s hair to annoy her, hugging the twins…

He loved travelling with Bakugou, he really did, but in moments like these, when he realized that he hadn’t had a single human touch that wasn’t related to sparring in days, it felt so lonely… How could Bakugou stand it? How did he manage to do it for so long on his own, without anyone to even talk to?

He was brought back to reality when he noticed Bakugou’s outstretched hand from the corner of his eye. Surprised, Eijirou looked up and met Bakugou’s demanding stare. He smiled and put another slice in his hand, letting his fingers brush against his friend’s calloused palm on purpose. Bakugou quickly snatched the piece of fruit, not letting the contact linger. Eijirou could still feel it on the tip of his fingers, though. It made him want to cry. He ate another slice and tried to stop thinking about it.

“It’s too bad you’re only starting to like oranges now,” he said, his eyes on the fire, hoping that breaking the silence would help him get away from the loneliness resting heavy on his heart. “It’s the last one.”

“I didn’t say I liked them,” Bakugou said. Eijirou turned toward him then, but even as his eyes got used to the sudden change in brightness, he wasn’t sure how to interpret his expression. The ever changing light from the fire didn’t make it any easier.

“Then you won’t be taking another slice?” Eijirou asked, smiling as he dangled one in front of Bakugou’s face.

“Didn’t say that either,” Bakugou huffed, grabbing it in one swift motion, as if Eijirou would go back on his offer. “They’re not terrible.”

“I want to say they’re an acquired taste, but I don’t remember not liking oranges,” Eijirou said, closing his eyes to savor his own piece of fruit. “Lemons are another story, of course,” he added with a smirk, turning toward Bakugou again.

“Shut up,” he said, nose scrunching. “I don’t see how you can eat that shit.”

“You liked the lemonade. And the preserved lemons in your food,” Eijirou said.

“But you mean eating them raw, don’t you?”

Eijirou laughed. “To be honest, few people can eat lemons like this. But my siblings kept daring me to do it when we were kids, and I started enjoying it after a while. It shows that I’m tough!”

Bakugou scoffed.

“It still tastes terrible with the rind, though, I’ll give you that”

“You’re never gonna shut the fuck up about it, will you?” Bakugou growled, palms twitching.

“Nope,” Eijirou smirked, popping another piece of fruit in his mouth and handing one out for his friend.

Bakugou hesitated, clearly annoyed by Eijirou’s remark but obviously too tired to do anything about it. He was always a bit softer after dinner, as if he’d depleted all of his anger during the day. It didn’t make him any less prickly, but he was less likely to act on it.

“I’ll fight you tomorrow,” he announced, snatching the orange slice from Eijirou’s hand. “When I win, you’ll have to stop bringing that shit up.”

“What if I don’t want to fight you?”

“What? Too scared you’re gonna lose?”

“There’s nothing in it for me, dude. What do I get if I win?”

“You won’t win.”

“But what if I do?”

Bakugou frowned. “It’s a…” he paused for a second, muttering something in another language. Now that he was used to his accent, Eijirou often forgot that Plainspeak wasn’t his first language. “It’s a challenge. You can’t say no. It means you’re a coward.”

“Is that a Barbarian tradition?” Eijirou asked, curious.

Bakugou answered with a noncommittal grunt he decided to interpret as a yes.

“Well, it’s not how we do things around here,” Eijirou said, enjoying the situation way too much. “Plus, we already fight every day.”

“Just fucking… accept the challenge, dammit!”

Eijirou laughed. “You’re not used to being teased, are you?”

Bakugou rose to grab Eijirou by his shirt, his face so contorted in anger that he barely looked human under the fire’s light, especially with the way he was growling, low and threatening like an animal. “Forget about the fucking challenge. I’ll kick your ass right here and now!” he said, palm ignited.

It made Eijirou laugh even harder, much to the Barbarian’s annoyance. “Fine, dude,” he chuckled. “I’ll fight you tomorrow, and I’ll stop.”

Bakugou dropped him, seemingly appeased. “Good,” he nodded before sitting down again.

Eijirou let out a content sigh, still smiling. “I bet you don’t have siblings,” he said.

“No,” Bakugou said, still pouting, his eyes on the campfire.

“I knew it,” Eijirou nodded wisely.

“What’s it got to do with anything?”

“I still get teased by mine about things that happened ten years ago,” Eijirou shrugged with a fond smile.

“And you don’t make them stop?”

“Nah. Not seriously, at least. It’s not worth it,” Eijirou said. He paused, and snorted. “Besides, if I did that, I’d have to stop teasing them about their past mistakes, and life would be a lot more boring.”

“I don’t get it.”

“It’s just fun,” Eijirou shrugged, still smiling. “And as my mother always says, it’s important not to take yourself too seriously.”

“Sounds stupid,” Bakugou muttered.

“I think it makes sense.”

They stayed silent for a minute while Eijirou considered his last two pieces of orange, wondering when he’d be able to eat one again. He could probably get some more at the market, of course, but they could be pretty expensive and it wouldn’t be the same anyway.

He shook his head and split them, offering one piece to Bakugou as he realized that he wanted to enjoy the Barbarian’s company more than he wanted an extra mouthful of home. Bakugou took it, and Eijirou knew he’d made the right decision when he noticed some of the tension in his friend’s shoulders vanish.

He ate his last slice with a lot more confidence than before, and the sight warmed Eijirou’s heart. It felt like a huge step forward, somehow. As he considered his own orange slice, he also realized that Bakugou was sitting a lot closer to him than earlier. If Eijirou spread his legs just a bit more, their knees would touch. It was his chance to have a sliver of the human warmth he needed so badly tonight.

Slowly, his eyes glued on the small space between them, Eijirou made his move, hoping that Bakugou wouldn’t notice, or at least that he wouldn’t mind.

“We’ve got this plant, at home,” he said suddenly, almost making Eijirou jump in surprise. It was the first time Bakugou was speaking unprompted, he realized.

“Yeah?”

“Hmm, the seeds are spicy as fuck. They burn .”

“Sounds horrible,” Eijirou said with a wince.

“Yeah, I bet you couldn’t handle it,” Bakugou smirked.

“So that’s what this is about huh,” Eijirou smiled. “I can handle spice!”

“Like what? Mustard seeds? Black pepper?” Bakugou asked with a derisive sneer.

“Yeah?”

“Ha! I’ve tried those weak ass ‘spices’. They’re not worth shit compared to pirklbn ,” Bakugou scoffed, switching back to Barbarian at the last word so Eijirou wasn’t sure what he heard. He just knew it sounded like a distinctive lack of vowels.

He shrugged. “If you say so. I’ve never heard of it.”

“We put it in our food, it’s tasty as fuck. Like fire in your mouth,” Bakugou continued with a fond smile. “I ran out a while back, but it’d have made you cry .”

“Sure, if it makes you feel better,” Eijirou smiled. “I’ll just believe in your mysterious seed that’s so spicy and hard to eat.”

“Shut up,” Bakugou huffed with a hard shove that made Eijirou chuckle.

Bakugou went silent again, his attention back on the fire, and Eijirou did the same, slowly eating his very last piece of fruit. It gave him the strength he needed to close the space between Bakugou's knee and his in one smooth motion.

He tensed when he felt them knock against each other. He hadn’t planned to let Bakugou feel it. Still, Bakugou didn’t move. Their legs stayed pressed together lightly, and Eijirou could feel the faint warmth emanating from Bakugou’s thick leather pants through the light fabric of his own. It felt right, and much more meaningful than it should, for something so insignificant.

Did Bakugou even notice? Was he feeling the same? Was he craving the touch in the same way Eijirou did? Looking up, Eijirou was faced with the blank slate of Bakugou’s resting frown. He didn’t try to look further. Bakugou wasn’t tensing or rejecting him. It was enough, for now.

Eijirou relaxed, soaking in the comfortable silence and the offered warmth, smiling softly to himself.

Bakugou was probably going to leave soon, he realized with a twinge of sadness. Eijirou should figure out a way to make him stay. He didn’t want to be on his own just now.

“Maybe we can find some of your mystery spice in the city,” he said, hoping Bakugou would take the bait and stay by his side a bit longer.

“You think I didn’t look?”

“It’s a pretty big city. There will be things from everywhere, I’m sure.”

“You’ve ever been there?”

Eijirou shook his head. “I’ve only been to the small town we stopped at on our first day.”

“So what, you’ve never moved from your village your whole life?”

“Nope,” Eijirou said with a sad smile.

“Weird.”

“It’s not! Many people around here never leave. Are your people different?”

“Yeah, we’re always on the move. To find better hunting grounds, escape the cold and all that shit.”

“That must be nice,” Eijirou smiled.

Bakugou shrugged noncommittally.

The fire was still burning. Their knees were still touching. The faint taste of orange was still lingering in Eijirou’s mouth. He was farther from home than he’d ever been, the distance increasing every day, but right now, it didn’t feel as lonely as it did a few minutes ago.

.

Bakugou didn’t bring his challenge back up in the morning and Eijirou made sure it stayed that way. They reached the city just in time for lunch, and Eijirou insisted that they bought some food this time. He loved Bakugou’s cooking, of course, but he was dying to try some local specialties!

Contrary to what the merchants and passing adventurers had told him, there wasn’t a huge crowd waiting at the gates when they arrived. Bakugou huffed and said that obviously, it was because they’d come later. Crowds were for the morning, when the gates had just opened up. Eijirou supposed it made sense, and he knew that logically, not having to wait was better, but he still felt a little disappointed. He’d been dreaming about this moment for so long that he had a very specific image of what his first time in a big city would look like, and it involved a crowd at the gates.

His disappointment didn’t last very long, though, because excitement took over as soon as they stepped into the city.

Everything was huge! And all made of stone! The large main street was bustling with life, leading them directly to the biggest marketplace Eijirou had ever seen. It looked like there was everything! Fresh fruits and vegetables, spices, jewelry and various knick-knacks, clothes, swords, pots and pans, street food… Eijirou took in the sight with sparkling eyes, his grin so bright he caught himself exposing his teeth a few times.

“This is so cool!” he whispered, shaking Bakugou’s shoulder in excitement.

“I’ve seen better,” Bakugou shrugged.

Eijirou wasn’t sure anything could be bigger and grander than this, but he decided to trust his friend’s words. If they were true, he couldn’t wait to see it!

“So, what do we do?” Eijirou asked once he’d recovered a little from his awe.

“Get some food, find a place to sleep for tonight,” Bakugou said. “Then we can go look for your gear.”

“Sounds good to me,” Eijirou nodded. He paused for a second, racking his brain for potential recommendations, and added, “I think I know a place around here.”

“Know where to find it?”

“Nope, sorry. But I know the name and the general location, so I’m sure we can find it if we ask around. It’s supposed to be near the Southern Gate, so it can’t be far from here.”

“Fine, then. But it better not be too fancy.”

“Come on, Bakugou, don’t be like that! If we’re going to stay here for a couple of days, we should find a nice, safe place! Don’t you want to sleep in a bed?”

“You’re too spoiled,” Bakugou grumbled, crossing his arms. “But fine, I’ll give it a chance.”

“Great! Now let’s grab some food. I’m starving!”

“Hmm,” Bakugou nodded, still looking grumpy. “We’re sleeping somewhere else if I don’t like it.”

“Sure!” Eijirou said with a smile, already a few steps ahead to have a better look at the fresh pies offered at the first food stand. “I want meat,” he decided.

“We’ve been eating lots of meat already,” Bakugou pointed out, eyes set on a small pie that promised fresh vegetables.

“But it’s my first meal in a big city. It’s a special occasion! It calls for meat,” Eijirou insisted.

“Whatever, it’s your money,” Bakugou shrugged as he paid for his cheap pie.

Eijirou decided to go for a ground meat one, but he had no intention to stop there! He somehow managed to drag Bakugou further into the marketplace while they ate their first purchase. His friend said he wasn’t hungry after the first pie, but since Eijirou didn’t want to eat on his own, he made sure to buy some extra so they could share. Bakugou didn’t accept the offer easily, but he caved when Eijirou said it was to thank him for taking him along and training him. Plus, Bakugou seemed to be a master haggler, and it made Eijirou save a lot of money!

“You’re not supposed to spend that money on useless shit right away just because you saved it from something else, dumbass,” Bakugou grumbled when Eijirou explained his reasoning. He still accepted the extra cake Eijirou gave him.

They had a quick look at the various shops and stalls while they ate, and Eijirou took this time to ask where they could find the Leaping Frog inn Kaminari and Sero had told him about when they came to grab their free gear. It really wasn’t hard to find with the right instructions, and Eijirou fell in love with the place at first sight. The building was located in one of the small, tortuous streets near the main road, and although the exterior wasn’t much, the wooden interior and various plants hanging around really did it for Eijirou.

The woman behind the counter was friendly enough and Bakugou didn’t balk immediately at the prices, so Eijirou was very hopeful that they’d stay here. Or at least, he’d been hopeful until they were told that they couldn’t have separate single rooms.

“The fuck do you want your own room for?” Bakugou asked.

“So we can have some privacy?” Eijirou replied. There hadn’t been any issues with his body changing during the night, as far as he knew, but it was still a very real threat. He wanted to be able to relax about it once in a while, but he couldn’t exactly tell Bakugou about that.

Bakugou shook his head. “Anyway, that’s not an option, so now what?”

“Is there at least one single room left? I can pay for a double room just for myself,” Eijirou offered.

“That’s too damn expensive, dumbass! How much will you have left for your gear?”

“Ah, right…”

“We have double rooms with separate beds,” the woman offered with an uncertain look.

“We’re taking it,” Bakugou said.

“Hey! I never said–” Eijirou protested.

“It’s either this, or we’re sleeping in the tent again and there won’t be any fucking ‘privacy’ either. Your choice,” Bakugou said, crossing his arms.

Eijirou sighed. He didn’t even want to have his own room that bad, it was just old reflexes from before. He’d be fine, he told himself. He’d been doing great so far, after all. His parents were just too worried, and it was getting to him.

“Fine, let’s take a double room with two beds,” he said.

His disappointment only lasted until they reached said room. It was nothing special, really. Just a relatively spacious room—compared to what he was used to, at least—with two beds on the opposite sides, a table in the middle, and two chairs. There weren’t any plants there, but the curtains and the little carpet were cute. More importantly, though, it was a bedroom that he’d be sleeping in and that wasn’t his . Somehow, the idea was very exciting to Eijirou.

The woman explained a few things about food, rules, and where to find the closest baths before leaving them, and as soon as she was gone, Eijirou flopped on one of the beds and said with a grin, “I call dibs on this one!”

Bakugou stifled a laugh. “You’re way too excited about this, idiot.”

“But it’s exciting! I’ve only slept in an inn once in my whole life!”

“That’s once more than I expected, with how you’re acting.”

“It was a long time ago, with my mom. There was a storm on our way home from the town market so we had to stay the night.”

Bakugou didn’t answer as he put his bags in a corner next to his own bed, but Eijirou didn’t mind. He was getting used to it. Even if Bakugou wasn’t answering, Eijirou knew he was still listening.

“Don’t get too comfortable,” Bakugou grumbled when he realized Eijirou hadn’t moved from his spot. “If you’ve got nothing to do, we’re leaving.”

“Aw, already?” Eijirou whined. He knew he’d get bored fast if they stayed, but he wanted to enjoy his room for a bit longer.

“I’m not staying here longer than necessary. We’re getting your sword or whatever weapon you want today. Now, move.”

Eijirou complied with a sigh. Bakugou was right, but it didn’t mean he had to like it…

They quickly found their way back to the big marketplace, but with both of their expertise combined, they had a harder time than expected finding what they were looking for. Some merchants didn’t seem to know what they were talking about while others were obviously crooks whose claims of cheap and deadly weapons died in their throats as soon as they found out Eijirou could scan their goods. They were almost going to give up for the day until finally, in some remote corner of the market, they found what they were looking for.

The weapons didn’t look like much, but Bakugou was drawn to them instantly, and it didn’t take long for Eijirou to understand why. They weren’t outstanding masterpieces, but in terms of price and quality, they were exactly what Eijirou needed, and it didn’t hurt that the person selling them seemed to know her stuff.

“I like the two short swords here,” Eijirou said after examining his choices for several minutes, surprised that Bakugou hadn’t told him off for being so slow. “What do you think?”

“You think you can use them?” Bakugou asked.

“I’m not exactly a weapon specialist, but I think I’d be comfortable with them,” he shrugged, raising them to have a better look and feel their balance. “I was hoping for something like this, to be honest. There was a pair when the free gear program started and they were my favorites. I think they’d pair well with my magic too.”

“Go for it, then,” Bakugou shrugged.

“What kind of magic do you have?” the merchant asked politely.

“I can use earth magic to harden my skin,” Eijirou said, hardening his hand to show her.

“It’s a rare gift you have here,” she praised. “I’m not sure you’ll even need a weapon with it!”

“What kind of marketing strategy is this?” Eijirou laughed. “And anyway, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“You’re right, and I think they’ll work well for you. Unless, of course, you’re willing to pay a little more and stay a little longer so my wife can create something more personal?”

“Aaah, so that was your plan all along!” Eijirou chuckled, making her smile. “I don’t think I’ll have the time or money for it, though, so I’ll go for the swords.”

“As you wish,” the merchant said, bowing her head.

Bakugou tried to get her to lower her price, obviously, but before they could reach a conclusion, Eijirou remembered the broken dagger from the day before. He quickly took it out and asked, “By the way, do you think your wife could use this? The blade is beyond repair, but the steel is good quality and can definitely be reforged.”

“You kept it?” Bakugou asked, surprised.

“Sure! We buy a lot of broken tools at the forge. It’s cheap metal, and people don’t use them anyway,” Eijirou explained.

“Did you break it on your skin, traveler?” the merchant asked jokingly, examining it.

“Yeah!” Eijirou grinned, feeling a spark of pride at the reminder.

“Very impressive indeed.” She paused, thoughtful, and asked, “You’re adventurers, right? Are you looking for a quest, maybe?”

“What is it to you?” Bakugou frowned.

“I’ve heard rumors from the west,” the merchant said. “Most of our materials come from there, and there have been rumors about a monster terrorizing a village nearby.”

Now, Bakugou seemed interested. “What kind of monster?”

“They’re talking about a dragon.”

Bakugou’s eyes sparkled at the mention, and Eijirou quickly realized that they weren’t going to stay in this place for very long after all. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little disappointed. He’d really hoped to have at least a day to explore the place…

Chapter Text

“So, what’s the plan?” Eijirou asked as they left the market, not before he got himself a nice little block of scented soap that smelled a bit woodsy and super manly.

“We get back to the inn. Confirm directions. Take a bath. We’re leaving tomorrow.”

“So no sightseeing for us, huh,” Eijirou sighed.

“The fuck do you wanna see here anyway?” Bakugou frowned.

“I don’t know, we could have asked at the inn,” Eijirou shrugged.

“We’re not here for that.”

“I guess not, but it would have been nice…”

Bakugou stopped. “We’re gonna look for a whole ass dragon and you’re gonna whine about, what? Not seeing a pretty pile of stones or some shit?”

Eijirou shook his head. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he admitted, pouting. Knowing Bakugou was right didn’t make it less disappointing.

They reached the inn soon after and were greeted by the same woman as earlier. Bakugou immediately walked to her to confirm the location of the village they were looking for and ask about the bathhouse she’d mentioned.

“It’s open now, right?” he asked.

“Of course! You’ve probably seen it, the building is just across the street.”

Bakugou nodded.

“Are you going now?” she asked.

Bakugou turned toward Eijirou with a questioning look.

“Uh… Yeah? That sounds great!” Eijirou agreed. Bakugou and he cleaned themselves up in rivers whenever they could, but a hot bath sounded heavenly.

Bakugou turned back to her with a nod, and she took out two wooden blocks with a frog painted on them.

“Just give them to the owner and he’ll know there’s no need to charge you. There shouldn’t be many people at this hour, but the place is fairly popular in the early evening. Have fun!”

Eijirou blanched at the mention of other people, but by the time he realized his mistake, it was too late. Damn it. What was he going to do now?

He walked back to the bedroom he shared with Bakugou in silence, wondering if he could just tell his friend he’d changed his mind and didn’t want to take a bath after all.

But still… the innkeeper said there wouldn’t be many people, and Eijirou really wanted that bath. His father had been talking about the bathhouses in his home country his whole childhood. There was one in the small city near their village, and Eijirou had only been allowed to go once. He didn’t even get to stay for more than a few minutes because his father found a scale on his back and dragged him out immediately.

What if it happened again? If Eijirou didn’t notice the scale first or make it disappear in time, he was done for!

“Kirishima, you’re coming or what?” Bakugou barked, startling Eijirou who realized he’d been standing in the room long enough for his friend to get ready.

“Uh… I guess?”

“The fuck you mean, ‘you guess’? Don’t tell me you’re scared of a damn bathhouse!”

“What? No, of course not!” Eijirou said, offended. He realized a second later that he was lying. Of course he was scared! He’d been told horrible stories about what would happen if people saw him naked his whole childhood! It was a miracle already that nothing had happened yet, with how carelessly he bared his chest during their sparring sessions.

“Then fucking come,” Bakugou said, unaware of Eijirou’s inner conflict. “I don’t know when we’ll be able to take a warm bath next.”

“Maybe we’d have more opportunities if you let us stop at the inns on the road instead of making us sleep in a tent every night,” Eijirou huffed.

“Whatever. So you don’t wanna come? Not even to try your fancy soap?”

Eijirou gulped. The skin on his arms was itching like crazy. It was a bad idea. It was a really bad idea…

“You’re right, I’ll come,” he said, dropping his new purchases near his bed along with the bandanas and extra belts he was wearing. Once he was ready, he followed Bakugou outside, fancy soap in hand. The itch on his arms quickly receded, replaced with excitement at the prospect of trying something new.

He could do this, he told himself with a confidence he didn’t quite feel yet. The city had more than one bathhouse after all, and most people were still at work for now. He only sprouted scales when he needed to defend himself these days, and warm baths were known to be relaxing. Plus, the whole point of this adventure was to try new things he couldn’t do at home, right?

Like the innkeeper said, the bathhouse was located just across the street. The building didn’t look like much, and the tiny sign hanging at the front was plain enough that Eijirou hadn’t noticed it until now.

Bakugou and he were greeted by a bored-looking middle-aged man who offered them the most sluggish greetings Eijirou had ever heard. As Bakugou slapped the wooden blocks from the inn on the counter and asked for an entry for two, it hit Eijirou that those baths had to be really relaxing for this man to be like this. Maybe Bakugou would be in the same state once they were done, he thought with a poorly repressed snort.

Unperturbed, the man nodded slowly before taking out two wooden pails from behind the counter.

“Changing room’s on your left, leave everything there. Baths are ahead, the door on the right is just a closet. Clean up before you use the bath. No fire magic allowed for the bath water,” he recited in a bored voice. “Questions?”

“We’re good,” Bakugou said, grabbing his pail before marching toward the changing room.

Eijirou stayed behind a bit.

“Um… Are there a lot of people right now?” he asked hesitantly.

The man looked at him for a few seconds and blinked, looking remarkably like a cow on a hot summer day.

“Calm day. It’s just you two for now,” he finally said. “People usually come later.”

Eijirou nodded, feeling a little better, and walked toward the changing room after grabbing his own pail.

“No funny business,” the man deadpanned before he left. Eijirou hurried inside, pretending he didn’t hear anything.

When Eijirou stepped into the changing room, which was a bit warmer than the lobby, Bakugou was already naked. He’d left his stuff in one of the many compartments on the wall, and he was on his way to the bath, towel casually slung over his shoulder, shameless as ever.

Good , Eijirou thought. If he had the whole room to himself, he could make sure there was no scale on his body before stepping into the bathroom. He took off his clothes slowly and spent some time checking himself up, trying his best to feel his back and make sure there was nothing incriminating there either. Then, it hit him that someone could walk in at any moment, and he left the room quickly, towel firmly secured around his hips.

“Took you long enough,” Bakugou said when he saw him.

Eijirou shrugged.

Much like he remembered from his childhood, the common bathroom was warm and steamy. This one was also a lot darker than he imagined, with tiny windows high up the grey stone walls, barely providing any light. Yet another good thing for him, Eijirou thought with a smile.

Bakugou handed him his pail, full of warm water, and grabbed Eijirou’s empty one to fill it.

“Thanks, dude!” Eijirou smiled. “So, what are we supposed to do now? Are there any rules, or…?”

“Get clean,” Bakugou shrugged, and on this, he emptied the whole bucket of water on his head.

“Oh… okay,” Eijirou said with a nervous smile before copying him.

If Bakugou’s hair immediately went down, losing all of its volume and making him look like a wet cat, Eijirou struggled a bit more to get rid of the spikes he’d insisted on doing in the morning. He got so absorbed in the task that he didn’t realize until he was done that he was now completely fine with being naked around Bakugou. His friend wasn’t even looking at him anyway.

They stepped into the hot bath as soon as they were clean.

“Man, this is heaven,” Eijirou smiled as he relaxed in the water, letting the heat warm him to the core. To think he’d been kept from this for all these years…

Bakugou answered with a satisfied grunt, and a quick look in his direction confirmed that he seemed to be enjoying it as much as Eijirou. In the dim light of the room, he could see how his friend’s usual scowl was slowly getting replaced with the soft, neutral expression he only had when he was fast asleep.

As he felt the tension he’d accumulated for the past week dissolve in the hot water, Eijirou slowly realized how stiff his back was. Still sitting in the opposite corner of the bath, Bakugou was apparently coming to the same conclusion, bringing a hand around his shoulder to rub the area.

“You want some help with that?” Eijirou asked before he could stop himself, bringing up his hands to mimic rubbing his shoulders.

Bakugou put his hand down and glared at Eijirou, as if he didn’t expect to be noticed.

“You can do me when I’m done,” Eijirou offered. He was starting to know Bakugou enough to understand he was more likely to accept help if he could do something in return.

Eijirou knew it had worked when Bakugou didn’t refuse immediately. Slowly, he turned around in the water, grumbling, “If you’re bad at it, I’m not doing shit for you.”

Eijirou chuckled. “Don’t worry about that, I’m great! Just tell me if I’m too rough.”

“As if you could be too rough,” Bakugou scoffed.

With a smirk, Eijirou grabbed Bakugou’s shoulders and hardened his fingertips to give him a taste of what he could do.

“Holy shit!” Bakugou sputtered, surprised. “Not bad.”

“Thanks,” Eijirou smiled.

Only then did he register that he was currently touching Bakugou’s bare skin outside of a fight, and he paused for a second to enjoy the feeling, unsure when he’d get this kind of soft touch next. It was about as uncertain as their next warm bath, after all.

“You changed your mind or something?” Bakugou asked, sending him a quick glance over his shoulder.

“No, I’ll do it!” Eijirou said too fast, gripping Bakugou’s shoulders before his friend left.

To his surprise, it didn’t take him long to stop thinking about how good it felt to have some soft physical contact again and focus fully on Bakugou’s knots. Seriously, his back felt like the bag of pretty stones Maka was hiding under her bed!

“Dude, how are you so tense?” he couldn’t help but ask. “You’re stiffer than an oak table.”

Bakugou tensed, then shrugged. “Not many chances to get a back rub when you’re travelling alone.”

He didn’t seem to care when he said it, but Eijirou still felt a pang of sadness just thinking about how lonely Bakugou must have been before they met. “Well,” he said, forcing a smile on his face as he focused on a particularly tough knot on his friend’s shoulder, “good thing you have me now!”

“Don’t give yourself too much credit,” Bakugou scoffed, softer than usual.

Eijirou kept going, slowly working out the many, many knots on Bakugou’s muscular back. No one came to disturb them as he focused on hardening his fingers just enough to work more efficiently, the peaceful silence in the room only disturbed by soft water sounds. Eijirou could have kept going for hours—and he probably would have needed that much to get rid of all the knots on Bakugou’s back—but after a while, the hot, humid air started feeling suffocating.

“Get out of the water,” Bakugou said when he felt Eijirou falter, sounding unusually soft. “You’ve done enough.”

Eijirou nodded. He wanted to protest, but he was getting tired and his unhardened fingers were so pruned he felt like a raisin.

He let Bakugou step out of the bath first. His cheeks were red from the heat, and on them were wet tracks that looked suspiciously like tears. Eijirou pretended not to notice.

He expected his friend to get back to the changing room immediately, but instead, he flipped one of the pails and motioned for Eijirou to sit on it.

“I’m doing you,” he said, final.

Still uncomfortably hot and craving fresh air, Eijirou could only nod and sit down, accepting the offer.

Unlike Eijirou earlier, Bakugou got to work right away. Eijirou felt himself relax immediately. Bakugou’s hands were heavenly! Strong, warm, efficient, applying just enough pressure to feel good without being painful… Eijirou was used to his family’s back rubs, always too soft for him no matter how strong their hands were from years of manual labor, but Bakugou wasn’t holding back and the magical warmth of his palms made the contact feel ten times better.

It didn’t take long for Eijirou to melt completely under Bakugou’s deft hands. He got so relaxed, in fact, that his eyes closed on their own. He could have cried with how good he felt.

Then, Bakugou managed to work out the biggest knot on his shoulder, one that had refused to leave for months, and Eijirou noticed the bubbling pressure in his chest too late.

Looking back on it, it was stupid. He knew the feeling well. He knew how to suppress it. But here, in the soft darkness of the bathroom, perfectly content and peaceful for the first time in days, Eijirou let out a sound that was definitely not human.

A squeak. Of all the things he could have done, he had to be betrayed by a damn squeak.

It wasn’t… monstrous per say. The sound was between a chirp and dragging a finger on a wet surface. Not bad or threatening, but unnatural. Incriminating.

Eijirou tensed immediately, feeling like his parents were going to burst into the room any second to yell at him and drag him home.

As a kid, he used to make this sound a lot. Unlike his growls and hisses, it got better as he grew up. It’d been more than ten years since he last made it! Why did it have to come back now?

“That good, huh?” Bakugou chuckled behind him, unperturbed as he kept working his magic.

“It wasn’t me!” Eijirou exclaimed immediately. “Must have been… something outside.”

Bakugou’s grip on his shoulder increased for a second, but Eijirou didn’t let him say anything. He sprang up, fast enough to make the world spin for a second.

“We should leave, I think I hear people coming. And I’m feeling light headed, so…” he said, drying himself up as best as he could. He rushed to the exit without waiting for an answer, welcoming the gust of fresh air when he opened the door.

He was already half dressed, struggling to put on dry clothes on his still damp skin, when Bakugou joined him in the changing room.

“You forgot your stuff,” he said coldly, dropping Eijirou’s pail in front of him, along with his soap and washcloth, with a bit too much strength.

“Ah, thanks! Sorry.”

“S’not a big deal, you know.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Eijirou hissed, speaking so fast he wasn’t sure Bakugou understood.

“What, then? You’re that worried about people seeing you naked?”

“Haha, yeah, you got me,” Eijirou said with a nervous laugh.

Thankfully, he was fully dressed and ready to leave by the time new customers walked into the changing room. Bakugou followed soon after, his usual frown already back on his face. So much for the relaxing properties of hot baths…

“Thanks for earlier,” Eijirou said as they went back to the inn, hoping to ease the lingering tension.

Bakugou answered with a grunt.

“Maybe I should bring the oil I use for my dry skin next time. Or, well… I guess it’d be better to do it outside the bath.”

Bakugou just nodded, and Eijirou felt a new wave of anxiety creep in. Did Bakugou suspect something? Did he hate him now? Why hadn’t he attacked yet?

Damn, his parents were right all along. Eijirou should have never left home…

By the time they reached their bedroom, Eijirou was almost ready to pack his stuff and leave. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Bakugou slapped him on the back.

“Sorry!” he yelped, expecting the other to tell him he was in the way.

“Stop being so tense, dammit,” Bakugou said instead. “You’re gonna make me think my massage was shit, and I know it wasn’t. So don’t ruin my damn work.”

His tone was almost playful behind the usual roughness, and Eijirou’s tension left him then, in that painful way hunger leaves you when you finally eat after starving for hours. He knew there was no reason to worry after all, but his body hadn’t received the memo yet and he still felt ready to run away.

“Sorry,” he said again as the twinge of anxiety in his chest slowly receded, until it was drowned under a wave of exhaustion.

It took a lot of strength for him to get back down for dinner instead of going to sleep. Luckily, Bakugou seemed to be in the same mood and not even an hour later, they were both passed out in bed.

.

Eijirou woke up at dawn, feeling more rested than he’d been in days. The sky still had its pinkish hue, and the morning sun was gently filtering through the window, casting its light on a still sleeping Bakugou. With a sigh of content, Eijirou settled back in bed, determined to enjoy the soft linen and relatively comfy mattress for as long as he could. Now that he’d experienced sleeping outside for a week, he understood better why Bakugou was so reluctant to leave at the crack of dawn the day they left his place.

Thoughts of home started flooding his mind along with the memory of the morning they left, and once again, Eijirou wondered how things were going for his family. He hoped his parents weren’t too worried… He turned around, trying to think about something else, but it was too late. The thoughts were too loud, and the guilt too real. With an annoyed sigh, Eijirou sat up and shook his head. He couldn’t sleep anymore.

He looked around the room once more, taking in Bakugou’s side, still neat, bag barely touched, while the area around Eijirou’s bed was full of discarded clothes and various stuff from his bag, a mess he’d made back when he thought they were at least going to stay for a few days.

That settled it, then. Careful not to wake Bakugou up, Eijirou left his bed and got to work.

He was almost done when his friend finally woke up.

“I thought you didn’t wanna leave,” he said, voice still rough from sleep.

“I got bored,” Eijirou shrugged.

Bakugou got up on an elbow, took a moment to assess the situation, and settled back in bed with a sleepy, “Wake me up when you’re ready for breakfast.”

Eijirou accepted with a chuckle and got back to gathering his stuff as silently as possible.

The sun was shining bright by the time they left the inn after a hearty breakfast. They were joined by a merchant going in the same direction, and since Bakugou wasn’t very talkative in the morning—not that he ever was—Eijirou conversed with the man until they reached the western gate. He confirmed that they’d be able to reach the village they were looking for before dusk if they walked fast enough, and told them about a man from a foreign country he’d met the day before who had lost his precious mount in the area.

“I didn’t ask for details, but he seemed determined to get it back,” the merchant explained. “Maybe you can see if you find a stray horse while you’re at it?”

“We’ll keep an eye out,” Eijirou smiled.

“Did he mention a reward?” Bakugou asked gruffly, suddenly a lot more interested in the conversation.

“Bakugou, come on! We’ll be there anyway,” Eijirou frowned.

“How are we supposed to get money if we do shit for free, dumbass?” Bakugou grumbled.

“He did, actually,” the merchant intervened. “I don’t know how much, though.”

Bakugou nodded then, apparently satisfied with the answer, and went silent again.

They parted ways with the merchant as soon as they reached his caravan at the city gates, and once more, it was just the two of them.

.

Just like the merchant told them, they reached their destination in the late afternoon, when the sun was low on the horizon but not quite setting yet. It gave them just enough time to ask a few people coming back from the fields about dragon sightings in the area.

“We saw one for sure,” the woman they interrogated said with a nod. “It wasn’t a big dragon, per say. ‘bout the height of a donkey maybe? Much longer, though. But I saw it myself! It didn’t see me, thank the gods, but Old Gerou saw it up close.”

“Where does he live?” Bakugou asked.

“You’re here to get us rid of that thing?”

“Yeah, that’s the goal,” Eijirou answered with a smile.

“Good! The sooner we’re safe from that beast, the better,” the woman said with a satisfied nod, suddenly looking a lot nicer. “We’ve already lost two sheep. And who knows when it’ll start attacking us?”

“It won’t, ma’am, don’t worry!”

She led them to the old man with an offer to have dinner at her place later and a (sad) confirmation that there was no inn around. Eijirou couldn’t say he was surprised, though. The place could barely be called a village. It was just a bunch of farms built together near a road.

Much to Bakugou’s dismay, Gerou had a thick accent he just couldn’t understand, and Eijirou had to translate the whole conversation for him. The old man told them it was dusk when he encountered the dragon, but he still gave them a pretty good description. Golden-yellow scales, small legs with long claws, sharp teeth, thick brown wings… Looking pretty much like a lizard, all in all. There was definitely something wrong, Eijirou felt.

“You really think it’s a dragon?” he asked once they were done talking to the old man and on their way to dinner.

“Only one way to find out,” Bakugou shrugged. “What else could it be?”

“Hmm,” Eijirou said, pensive. It was true that there were no giant lizards in the region, but did it really mean that this one had to be an actual dragon? He wasn’t so sure. Plus, it didn’t seem that impressive. So much for a “terrible monster terrorizing the area”...

The comment made Bakugou snicker. He looked a little annoyed too, but it was their lot as adventurers, he said. Especially around here. “I don’t know what you guys’ deal is, but I haven’t heard a single rumor that wasn’t completely blown out of proportions so far,” he shrugged. “But I’ll take a tiny dragon over no damn dragon at all.”

Either way, it was too late to look for it tonight, so after dinner—which Eijirou had to spend subtly correcting Bakugou’s table manners again—they settled in the farm’s barn for the night.

It was pretty comfortable once Eijirou found a nice spot in the hay, but he missed sleeping in a bed already…

To Eijirou’s surprise, Bakugou made his bed right next to him instead of taking advantage of the ample space in the barn. They were almost close enough to touch, as if they were still sharing a cramped tent instead of a huge room. Still, it was oddly comforting, and Eijirou didn’t complain as he slowly fell asleep to the steady rhythm of Bakugou’s warm breath.

Chapter Text

They left the village in the morning. Everyone who had seen the dragon said they were pretty far from there when they encountered the beast, either in the forest or deep in the pastures, so Bakugou decided that it would be best if they didn't use the village as their base. Eijirou was going to miss the relative comfort of the barn and fresh food, but he didn't argue. At least, they got some really nice bread and cheese from the locals, a few vegetables Bakugou took eagerly, as well as the promise of a bounty if they could take care of the beast. It didn't seem to be much, at least by Bakugou's standards, but it was clear that these people didn't have a very high budget for monster hunting, and Eijirou was much too excited at the prospect of his first real quest to care anyway.

Their first day in the wild was mostly spent getting acquainted with the area: finding water, a nice clearing to set up camp, the shepherd's hut in the pastures in case it rained, setting up traps… Sadly, they didn't find any trace of the beast, but Bakugou didn't seem to mind for now.

When the sun started to set, they set up camp and trained as usual. Bakugou didn't seem too keen on losing another blade to Eijirou's hardened skin, so instead, they focused on getting him used to his new dual swords. Eijirou was pleased to find that he wasn’t doing too bad, although he still got his ass handed to him in the end. Bakugou was smiling by the time they were done, once Eijirou was too spent to keep going, so it had to be a good sign.

To Eijirou’s surprise, Bakugou didn’t sit on the other side of the fire while they ate. Instead, he settled right next to him again, just close enough that their knees bumped from time to time. Eijirou wasn’t sure what to make of it. Was Bakugou starting to trust him? Was the leg bumping three nights ago the reason for this sudden change, or was it the baths the day after? Whatever it was, Eijirou wasn’t going to question it. He had a feeling that Bakugou would stop if he made a big deal out of it, so he accepted the contact in silence, enjoying it while it lasted.

By the time they were done eating, Eijirou was exhausted. He wasn’t used to his swords yet, and despite the awesome massage he got two days before, he could tell that his muscles were going to be sore in the morning.

“Want me to pick up where we left off last time?” Bakugou asked when he saw him rub the back of his neck with a wince.

Eijirou stiffened. The prospect of another massage was very tempting to his sore muscles, but the memory of the stupid squeak he let out in the baths was still haunting him. He couldn’t let himself do it again. Bakugou might not be so forgiving twice.

“Nah, I’m fine,” he said, forcing a smile on his face as he shook his head. Bakugou frowned, surprised, so he added, “It’s not worth the hassle.”

“S’not a hassle,” Bakugou shrugged. “And I can use your oil. The skin on your back was pretty dry last time.”

“Oh… Well…” Eijirou said, on the verge of accepting. “No, really, that’s fine,” he decided. “Maybe another time.”

He wasn’t sure how he expected Bakugou to react from there. Maybe drop it and say he didn’t care, or maybe insist some more… But his friend did neither. Instead, he started pouting, lower lip jutted in annoyance. It wasn’t the first time Eijirou saw him do that, but he didn’t think he’d ever get over how endearingly childish it made the normally fierce Barbarian look. It was incredibly tempting to pinch that jutted lip and pull, and Eijirou would have done it already if he didn’t have to worry about being ditched on the spot.

“Fine, whatever you want,” Bakugou finally said, deflating.

For a second, Eijirou thought he was going to get up and leave, but Bakugou didn’t move from his spot next to him. Feeling particularly bold that evening, Eijirou bumped their shoulders together and stayed there. Bakugou accepted the contact and they sat like this for a while longer, staring at the fire until they were too tired to stay awake.

.

Their second day of research went pretty much the same way as the first—with the tiny but very noticeable difference that when Eijirou woke up that morning, Bakugou was plastered to his side. However, this time, after a few hours of research, Bakugou found something interesting hanging on a branch: a broken bridle.

“So I guess we’re gonna find that guy’s mount too, huh,” Bakugou said as he examined it. “That looks like a damn weird horse.”

“That’s not for a horse,” Eijirou announced, holding out a hand to have a closer look.

“You know what it’s for?” Bakugou asked as he handed it to him.

Frowning, Eijirou turned it in his hands. There was no doubt about it: it was a sahaleim bridle. And a beautiful one, too. The smooth brown leather had intricate engravings and more importantly, a couple of colorful tassels were hanging on the sides. The sturdy material still looked pristine, beside a broken buckle.

This bridle was clearly made for a beloved mount. Even Tuha, the sahaleim his father kept from his wandering merchant’s days, didn’t have one that good, and he was clearly spoiled compared to the donkeys that replaced him after he passed away from old age—and probably from how cold their winters were, compared to the southern desert he was originally from.

“It’s a sahaleim bridle,” Eijirou explained once he was done examining it. “They’re pretty common mounts on the other side of the Middle Sea. Since the guy we talked to said the owner was from a foreign country, I guess that’s how this one ended up here.”

“Will it be easy to catch?”

Eijirou shrugged. “Depends if it’s a male or a female, but they’re usually well trained. My dad had one when I was a kid, so I know basic commands.”

“Good. Now, what’s a sahaleim and is it likely to–”

Bakugou’s question was interrupted by a loud screech followed by the sound of animals running away.

They exchanged one look and both bolted toward the origin of the noise, only to be stopped in their tracks when they found a boar barreling straight toward them, barely trying to avoid the trees on its way. Eijirou tried to step away, but he found himself stuck in place as something awakened in him, deep and primal. Instead of making way to the terrified beast, he tried to jump at its throat and bite. The urge to kill was pulsing through his whole body, making his fingers twitch. His teeth ached to pierce the thick hide and draw blood. It would be so easy…

The impulse died with a yelp when Bakugou grabbed him by the collar and forced him to step back, letting the boar pass while a couple of deer avoided them gracefully, but just as fast.

Silence settled around them once the frightened animals were out of sight, not even disturbed by the sound of birds for the first few seconds. They started singing again, one by one, and only then did Eijirou finally come out of his trance and asked,

“What was that?”

He turned to Bakugou, who’d remained surprisingly silent the whole time, not even yelling at Eijirou for staying in the way. He found his friend grinning, palms twitching with excitement. “Sounded like a fucking dragon to me,” he said.

Eijirou didn’t doubt him, this time. This haunting screech was clearly not a sound he’d ever heard before. Sadly, the creature that made it was gone by the time they reached the place where the commotion started, judging by the messy boar tracks in the dirt.

They couldn’t find anything else that day, much to Bakugou’s annoyance.

By the time they found another nice clearing to settle in, Eijirou’s skin was itching like crazy and his shoulders hurt. So when he took off his shirt to rub some soothing oil on his dry skin, he was the one who asked Bakugou to help him with his back. His friend accepted wordlessly, getting up from his spot near the tent to grab the vial and sit behind him. His heated palms felt just as good as last time, maybe even better in the cold night air. It made Eijirou want to purr in the weird, clucking way he used to as a kid, but this time, he managed to contain it.

When they settled by the fire after a short training session and dinner, Bakugou sat right next to him once again, letting Eijirou talk about home and how his parents met at a local market where they had to share a booth. Bakugou didn’t say anything, but Eijirou could tell he was listening. Or at least, he was until he started dozing off, leaning dangerously close to Eijirou’s shoulder.

“You should go to sleep,” Eijirou chuckled when he felt Bakugou’s surprisingly soft spikes brush against his neck.

“You’re not finished,” Bakugou protested weakly.

“I can finish my story tomorrow,” Eijirou smiled, poking at Bakugou’s side playfully. “I won’t be long either, anyway. I’m beat.”

Bakugou swatted his hand away and got up with a yawn.

“Don’t forget to put out the fire,” he mumbled as he crawled inside the tent.

Eijirou nodded, and as he listened idly to the rustle of Bakugou getting ready to sleep, he took out the hastily repaired bridle they’d found earlier and wondered if the sahaleim they were looking for was anything like Tuha. Eijirou didn’t think a dragon would have eaten him, or any other local predator for that matter. So surely, this sahaleim had to still be alive and in the area. Eijirou really hoped they were going to find it.

.

The third and fourth days went pretty much like the previous two, for the most part. They walked in the forest, looking for footsteps or anything that could betray the presence of an unusual creature. Eijirou tried to initiate a conversation a few times, but Bakugou told him to shut up and listen instead. It was… 

Well, it was incredibly boring. Nothing like Eijirou expected his first mission as an adventurer to be. Enjoying the wilderness and the earthy smell of oaks and pine trees was only nice for so long. There was no action, no thrill… It sucked.

“Get used to it,” Bakugou grumbled when Eijirou complained about it. “If you can’t track your prey properly, go back home and hunt your stupid fruits instead.”

“Fine, fine,” Eijirou pouted as Bakugou examined an umpteenth set of footprints in the middle of the pine needles and shook his head as he realized it was another boar. This tracking thing wasn’t going great for them…

They kept searching until mid-afternoon on the fourth day when finally, they found what they were looking for. They’d just reached a clearing near a small cliff and there, basking in the sun, was the big golden lizard they’d been told about. Its scales, the color of sand, were standing out against the reddish rocks of the cliff. The beast didn’t seem to have noticed them, and they were careful to approach slowly, mindful of their every step.

They were still several meters away when it became obvious to Eijirou that this wasn’t a dragon.

Old Gerou told them that the creature had brown, leathery wings on its back, but once they reached the edge of the forest, standing just a stone’s throw away from the basking creature, it was impossible to ignore that the so-called “wings” were nothing more than heavy bags and a saddle.

Bakugou muttered something under his breath that Eijirou was pretty sure meant something like “What the hell?” in Barbarian.

“Well,” he whispered back, “we’ve found our missing mount.”

Bakugou’s head whipped toward him and he frowned, arms slightly raised to appear bigger, like he usually did when he was annoyed.

“This is a sahaleim,” Eijirou explained. He sent the lizard another look, and added, “A female, I think.”

“What the fuck…”

“Sorry, dude. There’s no dragon here,” Eijirou said, patting his shoulder gently.

Somehow, if the lizard didn’t react to their talk, the movement got her full attention. Her eyes snapped open and she was back on her feet in a second, head turned in their direction. She immediately faced them, standing at full eight, her chin raised in defiance. Then, she let out the same horrible screech they’d heard two days prior.

Surprised, Eijirou took a step back and raised his arms to show her that he wasn’t a threat. His father told him long ago that female sahaleims were much more aggressive than their male counterparts, but he didn’t expect this. Tuha had never made a sound like that!

Seemingly deciding that they weren’t threatening enough to warrant an attack, the lizard turned around and started running away while Eijirou racked his brain for the command that would (hopefully) make her stop.

“Shem!” he ordered, to no avail. She was almost in the woods when he remembered that the word would be different for a female, and tried again with “Shem’a!”

Too late.

Defeated, Eijirou let out a sigh. Or at least, he tried to, but it turned into a surprised yelp when Bakugou grabbed him by the arm and started running after her. He released his grip as soon as Eijirou started following him and put his arms behind him, creating small explosions to propel himself faster.

“Come back here, you shitty lizard!” he yelled as he disappeared in the forest.

“Careful Bakugou, females are super aggressive!” Eijirou shouted after him.

Sadly, Bakugou’s fire magic got tricky to use as they got further into the forest, and after a few minutes, it was obvious that they’d lost her.

“Fuck!”

“Sorry, dude,” Eijirou said with a friendly pat on the shoulder. “I’m sure we’ll get her next time. Maybe we should come back tomorrow, now we know she likes to bask in that spot.”

“You think it’ll come back?”

“Depends if she thinks it’s unsafe now, but if not, yeah. Tuha always basked in the same spot.”

Bakugou clicked his tongue, annoyed, and crossed his arms.

“Okay, so what the fuck is a sahaleim and what should we expect from this one?” he asked.

“Well… They're big lizards. Like I said, they’re popular mounts in the southern deserts. So they’re used to hot and dry climates, though according to my dad, the desert can be really cold at night too. They eat pretty much anything they can get their claws on. Oh, and more importantly, males are super chill, and females are kinda crazy.”

“And this one’s a female?”

“Yeah, I know that because she’s much taller. Males keep their bellies almost on the ground. Also, females are super hard to train compared to males, so that explains why her owner wanted her back so bad. She must have cost a fortune! Dad says they’re only used to carry valuable stuff, because they’re ready to defend it with their lives. So she’ll be harder to catch, but maybe she’ll be more likely to accept us since we have her bridle? She should recognize it.”

“You think we can use it? Like, drop it at her basking spot or something?”

“Well… that could work as a distraction, I guess. But my best bet would be using orders she’s familiar with.”

“Like that worked earlier,” Bakugou huffed.

“I didn’t use the right word,” Eijirou protested. “And she was already running away. I’ll make sure to remember them all for next time.”

“You can do that?”

Eijirou sighed. Tuha passed away more than ten years ago, and his father never made much of an effort to teach him his language. He realized his mistake after Shizuka was born and tried harder to speak Ilsurha to his other kids, but Eijirou was never really good at it. Still, he’d handled Tuha often enough during his childhood to know that the basic commands would come back if he tried to remember them.

“Yeah, I have this,” Eijirou nodded.

“Let’s track her down, then,” Bakugou decided. “If we don’t find her today, we’ll set up camp near that basking spot of hers.”

“Sounds good to me,” Eijirou smiled.

He was starting to know Bakugou enough to understand that he wasn’t just deciding things on his own, this time. His words didn’t sound like a question, but Eijirou could tell he was asking for his approval.

They couldn’t find the sahaleim before sunset, but they still found a pretty nice spot to set up camp. Nearby was a huge boulder Eijirou used to train his hardening while he tried to recall all the main commands for sahaleims. Hopefully, this one was raised by the same tribe as Tuha and would respond to the same words. If not, well…

It was better not to think about it. Bakugou trusted him to help, and Eijirou refused to disappoint him!

They were both lost in thoughts for most of the evening, and it could have been pretty uneventful if Bakugou hadn’t decided to cook the rest of the vegetables they were given, arguing that they were going to go bad if he didn’t.

“Why did you even accept so many? They’re heavy and they go bad fast,” Eijirou pouted.

“Then eat them and stop complaining, they won’t be heavy in your stomach,” Bakugou said, adding more carrots to his bowl.

“We could have just refused them.”

“First rule of adventuring is: never refuse free food,” Bakugou argued, waving his spoon in front of him menacingly. “Now stop being a baby and eat your greens or fight me,” he added with a smirk.

Eijirou maturely stuck out his tongue and went back to his bowl. To be fair, Bakugou’s cooking skills were good enough that the food didn’t taste as terrible as the list of ingredients made him expect. Still, vegetables were evil…

.

As Eijirou predicted, they found the sahaleim basking in the same spot the following afternoon. Much like last time, she didn’t notice them until they were right at the treeline. Once they were close enough, Eijirou took a deep breath, nervous. He was confident that he remembered all the right commands now, but he had to look strong and self-assured too. And he couldn’t mess up this time, because the creature might decide the place was unsafe after being disturbed in her basking two days in a row.

Slowly, Eijirou grabbed the bridle hanging from his bag and raised it in front of him. The clicking of metal caught the sahaleim’s attention, and she froze, probably recognizing the item.

“Taf’a,” he said, loud and commanding, asking her to come closer.

Her tail whipped behind her, but she didn’t move. Still, she didn’t seem as aggressive as the day before, and Eijirou knew he had her attention now.

“Taf’a,” he repeated, brandishing the bridle as he took a step closer.

The sahaleim took a step back.

“Shem’a!” Eijirou ordered.

She froze again.

She seemed to relax a little when Eijirou called her a good girl, and he took another step closer. This time, she didn’t move.

It took a bit more careful coaxing, but eventually, he managed to get close enough to reach her. Had she been a male, he would have tried petting her snout, or even scratching her chin and the soft skin under her neck. Here, though… he was a bit more hesitant. If he startled her, she probably wouldn’t hesitate to bite his arm off, and Eijirou wasn’t sure his hardened skin would be enough to protect him.

He stood there, unable to decide what to do next, the lizard’s eyes still trained on him. Then, she saw Bakugou move behind him and raised her head, going back to a defensive stance.

“Bakugou, wait!” Eijirou exclaimed.

Too late.

Standing tall in front of him, she hissed at Bakugou, looking ready to leave again or worse, to attack.

Panicking, still unsure what to do, Eijirou’s body reacted before his brain could catch up. Instead of grabbing her, or trying to protect Bakugou, or whatever rational thing he could have done… he hissed right back at her. Louder.

His mouth snapped shut as he realized what he’d done, and so did the sahaleim’s. Her attention went back to Eijirou and she stared at him with wide eyes before slowly lowering her head in submission.

Well… that did the trick, he guessed.

Slowly, Eijirou raised the bridle and secured it around her head. She didn’t protest, even going as far as letting out a pleased clicking sound. Her head snapped back up when Bakugou tried to come closer again, but this time, it only took one command for Eijirou to calm her down.

Once he was done fastening the bridle, reins firmly in hand, Eijirou turned around with a weak smile and trembling legs, hoping Bakugou wouldn’t comment on the decidedly inhuman sound he just let out.

“Looks like I did it!” he said.

To his surprise, Bakugou was grinning, that wide, feral smile Eijirou had learned to associate with excitement.

“Sure did, Kirishima!”

It made Eijirou smile wider, and he took a moment to bask in his victory until the sahaleim behind him started rubbing her head against his back affectionately.

She let out a weaker hiss when Bakugou tried to approach her again, but this time, Eijirou managed to contain his own.

Bakugou didn’t have such restraint.

Eijirou’s jaw almost dropped to the ground when his friend let out the most convincing hiss he’d ever heard, throwing his cape behind him like a cat puffing up to look bigger. It didn’t sound as… animalistic and inhuman as Eijirou’s previous one, and the sahaleim didn’t seem completely fooled. She looked more stunned than anything, but it worked well enough and she didn’t try attacking again.

“Where did you learn to do that?” Eijirou asked, astounded.

“Where did you learn to hiss like that?” Bakugou asked right back.

Eijirou didn’t reply, focusing on their catch of the day instead, and they both dropped the subject.

.

Now that their mission was over, all they had to do was to go back to the village and collect their bounty. It was too late to reach it before sunset, but they still managed to set up camp close enough to be there early the following morning.

As they quickly found out, their new companion only trusted them to a certain extent. She was pretty affectionate toward Eijirou and followed him willingly, but her relative compliance didn’t extend to Bakugou, whom she was merely tolerating at this point. And, as Eijirou should have expected, she wouldn’t let either of them anywhere near her bags.

It wasn’t surprising, really. From what Eijirou had heard, female sahaleims in the wild carried their eggs under their bellies, and domesticated ones were trained to see their cargo as their own offspring. Only their owners were allowed to touch it, and although this one seemed to see Eijirou as part of her pack or something, it didn’t mean he was allowed to touch her precious ‘eggs’.

“Too bad, it would have been nice to get back to the city on her back. They’re fast and super comfy,” Eijirou pouted as he secured her reins around a tree trunk near their camp, close enough to the fire that the heat would reach her if she was cold.

“Yeah, talk about useless,” Bakugou scoffed.

“I bet her owner would beg to differ,” Eijirou said. “She’s been on her own for what? Two weeks? And whatever she’s carrying seems to be intact. A horse or a donkey would have lost everything already.”

“Whatever,” Bakugou shrugged as he finished unpacking the tent. “Wanna spar?”

Eijirou smiled. “Sure, man!”

Sadly, it didn’t even take a minute for them to realize that it wouldn’t be possible with the lizard around. The second their blades clashed, she started going crazy, hissing and thrashing, almost snapping her reins.

Eijirou had to come comfort her, unsure what was wrong with her exactly, while Bakugou muttered insults under his breath.

With their main evening activity gone, there wasn’t much left for them to do, beside having dinner and watching the fire.

“So you said your dad had one of those things?” Bakugou asked suddenly, eyes still on the flames.

“Ah, yeah, when I was a kid,” Eijirou nodded. “You probably noticed, but my dad isn’t from here. He used to be a merchant, before he settled here with my mom and her family. Tuha is the only thing he kept from his old traveling days.”

“Was it as crazy as this one?”

Eijirou chuckled at the thought. “No way! He was the sweetest lizard on earth. Not a single mean bone in his body.” He let out a nostalgic sigh at the memory and added, “When I was a kid, I used to give him the vegetables I didn’t want.”

“So that’s always been a problem, huh,” Bakugou sneered.

“Some things don’t change,” Eijirou shrugged, unrepentant.

He didn’t think about their old sahaleim much these days, but having one dozing off on the other side of the fire made a lot of long-forgotten memories from his childhood resurface. His father putting him on Tuha’s back as they both went to the orchard, market days where the big lizard looked all funny, calmly basking in the middle of nervous oxen and other donkeys…

“I miss him,” Eijirou said, remembering fondly how he used to blame Tuha for most of the weird sounds he’d make. It didn’t always work, but it was still nice, being able to avoid being reprimanded from time to time. “My parents wouldn’t let me play with other kids often, so he was pretty much my best friend growing up,” he added. “He wasn’t exactly playful, but he let me get away with anything without complaining.”

“Sounds like the opposite of the one we have here.”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Eijirou chuckled, both fond and a little sad. He’d cried so hard when Tuha passed away… It was weird to think that he’d almost forgotten about the old lizard now. It made him wonder how long it would take him to forget about home. It wasn’t a nice thought.

He felt a gust of wind on his back then, soft and weirdly… localized. Just strong enough to blow up Bakugou’s long red cape and wrap it around Eijirou’s shoulders.

Surprised, Eijirou turned toward his friend who hadn’t moved one bit, eyes resolutely on the fire.

“Did you… do that?” Eijirou asked. He knew it probably wasn’t a good idea to bring it up, but he couldn’t help it.

“Do what?” Bakugou asked, as if his cape wasn’t still very much on Eijirou’s shoulders.

“You’re a wind mage? Why didn’t you tell me you were a wind mage?!”

“What, you didn’t notice?” Bakugou scoffed, finally turning toward him to give him a mocking look.

“No! Dude, is there anything you can’t do?”

“Water magic. Earth magic,” he shrugged. “And I’m not even that good at wind magic, it’s just that I had to learn as a kid. And it pairs well with fire.”

“What do you mean, you had to learn?”

“I grew up in a fucking… windy place. Damn high too. And steep. One wrong step and you’re falling. So you end up understanding wind whether you like it or not, I guess.”

“Sounds scary,” Eijirou said with a shiver, trying to imagine how terrifying it would be to grow up in a dangerous place like this. “Wait, is that how you’re so good with your jumps?”

“I don’t use it that much for fighting, but it helps,” Bakugou shrugged.

“That’s so cool,” Eijirou whispered with a grin. “Can you fly? Like, actually fly? I’ve heard some wind mages can.”

Bakugou snorted at his enthusiasm. “I told you I’m not that good. I don’t think I’d have gotten jackshit about wind if I didn’t spend time in a windy place, with plenty of wind mages to teach me so I didn’t die on their watch.”

“Oh, so you can’t?” Eijirou asked, a little disappointed.

“I didn’t say that,” Bakugou said with a smirk. “I can fly with fire magic. Wind just helps me stay in the air.”

“That’s amazing! Dude, how are you so cool? All I can do is–”

“Become fireproof and stop blades with your bare fucking skin?” Bakugou asked, challenging, as if he didn’t just admit he could use two types of magic and fly.

Still, he had a point, and Eijirou couldn’t help feeling a tinge of pride at the words, not only because his magic sounded pretty awesome, when Bakugou put it like this, but also because it meant Bakugou thought it was good.

“Fine,” he said with a smile. “I guess I’m pretty cool too.”

“Damn right,” Bakugou nodded, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Between this and the cape still loosely wrapped around his shoulders, Eijirou felt a warm, happy feeling slowly bloom in his chest, replacing the sadness from earlier. Maybe he should get a cape too… After all, wrapping himself in blankets had always been very comforting to him. He wondered if Bakugou had guessed or if it was the same for him… Unless he just wanted to show off his wind magic. It was hard to tell, with him.

“Thanks, Bakugou,” he said softly, unsure what he was thanking his friend for exactly, but certain that it needed to be said.

Bakugou didn’t say anything, but he didn’t move away until he finally decided that it was time to go to bed.

Chapter Text

As expected, they reached the village in the morning, just in time to catch people going to the fields. They both agreed on the way that showing up with the “dragon” in tow would probably be a bad idea, but Eijirou wasn’t sure he trusted Bakugou to tell people the news, and the sahaleim didn’t seem to like staying alone with the Barbarian.

Thankfully, they managed to find a solution where Bakugou stayed with her while Eijirou got the villagers’ attention and explained the situation without leaving her sight. It didn’t take long for Eijirou to convince people that the “beast” wasn’t dangerous and that they had her under control. What he didn’t expect was for them to try and not pay them just because she was domesticated.

That’s where Bakugou stepped in.

“Look, fuckers, we came all the way here, tracked down the beast and fucking caught her. And let me tell you, she’s a fucking nightmare to handle most of the time. Without us, you’d still be stuck with a shitty lizard slowly going feral, so you’re gonna pay the fuck up before I burn down your stupid village.”

“Bakugou!” Eijirou hissed between his teeth as the head of the village frowned, obviously displeased. “What he’s trying to say is that domesticated or not, we still did the job and she can be dangerous when not handled properly. Plus, you were already planning to–”

“Ha! Doesn’t seem dangerous to me,” a young man interrupted him as he walked closer to the sahaleim’s flank.

“Don’t–!” was all Eijirou managed to say before the lizard snapped, turning around with a loud screech, too fast for Bakugou to stop her.

Without missing a beat, Eijirou rushed between her and the young man, who’d already jumped back in fright. To Eijirou’s relief, she calmed down pretty fast once he was the only thing she could see. The villagers, though… not so much.

“See? That’s why you should pay us to get you rid of the damn lizard,” Bakugou said with a triumphant smirk.

The locals didn’t resist after that, and once they brought them the small satchel of coins they’d promised, Eijirou and Bakugou were back on their way, not even staying around for breakfast. There were barely any thanks and no gifts for them, this time…

“Ungrateful fuckers…” Bakugou muttered as he stomped his way on the dirt road to the city. “It’s not even that much, what the fuck is wrong with them?”

“Farmers don’t have a lot of money,” Eijirou shrugged.

“And we do?” Bakugou snapped. “Seriously, it’s always like that. They send us to do their dirty work and when we come back for the reward, they treat us like pests…”

“Well, at least they paid what they promised and we’ve completed two missions at once! Now, all we need to do is find the guy who’s lost his sahaleim and we’re good,” Eijirou said, trying to stay optimistic despite his disappointment. So much for the grand shows of gratitude he was expecting…

He was starting to find out that the tales of thrill and glory he’d been told about adventurers had been lying about many things. However, there was one truth that was becoming clearer every day: the most important part when planning to go see the world was to choose your companions well. And despite his many faults, Bakugou was the best partner Eijirou could have wished for.

.

The city was in sight by the end of the afternoon, leaving them ample time to reach the gates before they closed for the night. They crossed paths with a few travelers once they reached the main road, and much to Eijirou’s relief, the sahaleim stayed pretty calm as long as people didn’t come too close. They tended to give her a wide berth when she started hissing anyway.

They were alone on the road when they met a group of three travelers, a man and two women, going in the opposite direction. Given their outfits and the several weapons they carried, Eijirou immediately recognized them as fellow adventurers. One of the women, a brunette with a green cape, stopped her companions as she saw them approaching with their giant lizard.

They exchanged a few looks, whispered a couple of words between themselves, pointing at Eijirou’s group a few times, and nodded before they resumed walking.

“Hello, you two,” said the man, a tall guy with a mop of unruly black hair and a friendly smile. “That’s quite the beast you have here. Care to tell us where you found it?”

To Eijirou’s surprise, Bakugou tensed immediately. And before Eijirou could give an honest answer, his friend hissed, “None of your business, extras.”

“Bakugou, don’t be like this!” Eijirou snapped. “Sorry about him, guys. We found her around here, actually. We’re on–”

Eijirou was interrupted by a sharp jab in the ribs, and sent his friend an offended glare.

“That’s not very nice,” the man told Bakugou, crossing his arms. “You were saying?” he added, turning back to Eijirou.

“We have nothing to tell you,” Bakugou growled, voice dripping with venom. “Now get out of our way.”

Only then did Eijirou notice that the man’s two companions had spread out around him and were now blocking their path. Now, that was weird…

“I don’t think so,” the blonde woman said, unsettlingly cheerful despite her barely hidden threat.

“We’re on a mission to find someone’s missing sahaleim, you see,” the man added, still calm and friendly. “And what you have here is definitely what we’re looking for. So how about you hand it to us so we can give it back to its rightful owner?”

“And so you can get the reward we earned?” Bakugou said before Eijirou could accept the offer. “You think we’re stupid or what?”

“We just thought we’d take it off your hands, that’s all,” the man replied.

“Not happening. Now tell us where we can find that guy and scram.”

“As if we’d tell you. This is our job!” the blonde woman said defensively.

“And you’re coming too late.”

“Come on, guys, I’m sure we can find a peaceful solution?” Eijirou offered as the tension kept growing. Even the friendly man’s smile was starting to give him the creeps now.

“Of course!” he said. “You give us the lizard and we’ll both be on our way, unharmed. How about that?”

“So you’re threatening us now? Fucking pathetic,” Bakugou scoffed. “How about you extras get out of my sight instead?”

It was obviously not the right thing to say. The man’s friendly façade started slipping as he shook his head and said, “Well, that’s too bad. You really give us no choice.”

On this, he kneeled with one hand on the ground. Eijirou expected him to take out a weapon or something but instead, the ground started shaking around them.

Earth magic, he realized. And a powerful kind too.

Startled, Eijirou almost lost balance while the sahaleim thrashed behind him, panicking. In the confusion, Eijirou missed the way Bakugou immediately took off, only hearing the explosions from his palms. He didn’t get to see what his friend was doing, because just as he was hardening his legs to avoid falling, he noticed the blonde woman rushing toward them, intent on grabbing the sahaleim’s reins.

“Watch out!” Eijirou yelled, more concerned for her safety than his at this point. Too late.

As expected, the sahaleim didn’t like that. Already scared out of her mind, the lizard didn’t hesitate: she turned to her attacker, lightning fast, and bit her on the shoulder, making the blonde yelp.

“Stop!” Eijirou yelled, but the sahaleim was already out of control.

She shook her head once, twice, as the blonde woman yelled in pain. Then, the ground stopped shaking and the sahaleim finally released her, sending her flying to the bushes on the side of the road as her brown-haired companion yelled her name. He felt the lizard pull on her reins, probably intent on finishing the woman off, but Eijirou jumped between them before she could get closer, hardening just enough to take the impact without hurting the lizard.

“Hey, calm down!” he exclaimed, grabbing the side of the sahaleim’s face to force her to focus on him as he racked his brain for the words his father used on the rare times Tuha freaked out. He really regretted never having made more of an effort to learn the language… Luckily, the lizard calmed down on her own and Eijirou let her go with a sigh of relief before he turned around to assess the situation on his friend’s end.

The man was lying unconscious next to Bakugou, who had one foot on his back and a sword in hand, pointed directly at the brunette’s throat.

“Now, tell us who sent you and where to find him, and we’ll let you pathetic extras go,” Bakugou growled.

She nodded frantically and quickly told them everything they needed to know, her eyes fixed on her groaning friend trying to untangle herself from the bushes.

“I’m fine,” the blonde said, raising a hand to give her companion a thumb up. Then, she tried to move her other arm and winced. “I’m not that fine,” she amended.

The sahaleim started hissing in her direction, and Eijirou immediately tried to calm her down so she didn’t attack again. He wanted to go help the poor girl himself, but given what might happen if he left the lizard’s side, he really couldn’t.

“Kirishima, come,” Bakugou called once he got all the information they needed. “We’re leaving.”

“But… what about them?” Eijirou asked, worried, as the brunette rushed to her friend’s aid.

“They can handle themselves. I didn’t hit the asshole that hard.”

Still concerned, Eijirou sent a quick look in the two women’s direction.

“Just leave,” the blonde one said, shooing him with her valid hand. “The more distance there is between me and that thing, the better. And I’m sure You’s fine, he’s got a thick skull.”

Eijirou nodded slowly and walked away, carefully avoiding the passed out man before joining Bakugou, who was already on his way.

“That could have gone better…” Eijirou said once he caught up, still uneasy about what just happened. Walking away now didn’t feel very manly.

“These assholes, I swear,” Bakugou muttered, annoyed.

“Yeah, attacking us over a reward was pretty unmanly,” Eijirou nodded. “Still, I feel kind of bad for them. Maybe they thought we weren’t going to give the sahaleim back or something.”

“They attacked us. They had it coming,” Bakugou said, final.

They both stayed silent for a few minutes until Eijirou asked, hesitant, “Does it happen a lot?”

“Being attacked on the fucking road?”

“Fighting over a reward, I mean,” Eijirou said. If there was one thing he’d always believed in, it was the camaraderie that all adventurers shared. He expected rivalries here and there, but not this.

“It happens,” Bakugou shrugged.

“Oh…” Eijirou said, disappointed.

Bakugou sighed. “It doesn’t happen all the time. People usually have more honor than that. I guess these assholes just felt entitled to the reward or some shit.”

“Right… So we won’t have to fight every time we’re on our way to claim a reward?”

Bakugou snorted. “No way. Thank fuck.”

Eijirou nodded, feeling slightly better.

They reached the city gates in silence, nodding at the two guards standing on both sides of the heavy door.

According to the woman’s indications, the man they were looking for—apparently going by the name Al-Battim—was currently resting at an inn near the western gate, in a narrow street perpendicular to the main one. It didn’t take them long to find it: it was one of the biggest buildings in the alley, obviously a lot fancier than the Leaping Frog. 

“That guy must be loaded,” Bakugou smirked as he knocked on the door. “No wonder those extras were ready to fight for his money.”

To Eijirou’s surprise, the door stayed closed. Instead, a small hatch opened at eye level, revealing a row of metal bars and a pair of inquisitive eyes.

“What can I do for you?” the man at the door asked in a tone that was somewhere between pleasant and gruff, as if he didn’t know whether to treat them as valued guests or pests.

“Is there an Al-Battim here? Tell him we’ve got his lizard,” Bakugou said, unperturbed.

The man’s eyes flew to the sahaleim standing behind Eijirou and he nodded.

“I’ll go get him. Wait here,” he said, and closed the hatch with a snap.

It didn’t take long for Eijirou’s scaly companion to get agitated, and if he didn’t know sahaleim body language so well, he’d start worrying. Here, though, he could only smile at the way she tapped her feet rhythmically on the ground, her whole body undulating slightly. Tuha did the same thing every morning when his father came to greet him. She could smell, or maybe hear, that her owner was near, and she was excited to see him again.

Eijirou heard hurried footsteps as the clicking of the sahaleim’s feet on the paved ground grew more frantic, and this time, the door opened wide to reveal a middle-aged man with thick black curly hair, an impressive beard, and a skin darker than even Eijirou’s father. His dark eyes scanned the scene frantically and locked on the sahaleim, his haggard expression immediately turning into a bright smile.

“Shalima!” he exclaimed, running toward the lizard who immediately closed the distance between them, practically shoving Eijirou out of the way to rub her head against her owner’s chest. Eijirou heard him talk to her softly in Ilsurha, and although the dialect was slightly different from what he was used to, he still recognized words like “good girl,” and “I was so worried,” and “how are you, baby lizard?”

The man ignored them for a few more minutes, and only once he’d made sure that his precious mount was fine and happy did he finally seem to notice that he wasn’t alone.

“You’re not the people I expected,” he said with a quizzical look while Shalima kept rubbing herself against him.

“Ah, we just stumbled upon her while investigating rumors about a dragon,” Eijirou explained. “Turned out she was the dragon in question.”

“I see. And you brought her back, alive and unharmed. From the bottom of my heart, thank you,” he said, bowing lightly with a hand on his heart, the other still on Shalima’s snout.

“It was nothing! A merchant told us someone had lost a mount, so we knew what to do when we found her.”

“And you managed to catch her and bring her back here without any item from me, huh,” he said, sounding both impressed and curious. “How did you do that?”

“We found her bridle and I know a few commands,” Eijirou replied.

“Asserting dominance,” Bakugou said at the same time.

They exchanged a surprised look while Al-Battim chuckled. “Well, no matter what you did, I’m glad it worked. I was so worried the adventurers I sent would have to hurt her to bring her back to me. But I really couldn’t afford to lose her, or my bags.”

On this, he quickly went to check that everything was where it belonged and nodded happily.

“Excellent, it’s all here!” he exclaimed. Then, he turned back to his sahaleim and scratched her chin, congratulating her in his language for keeping it all safe even though she must have been so scared, out in the wild.

“I think the most scared ones were the local animals,” Eijirou chuckled.

“You speak Ilsurha?” the man asked curiously.

“Oh, um… my father,” Eijirou explained weakly, embarrassed for butting in.

“That’s fascinating, you’ll have to tell me all about it,” Al-Battim nodded. “But first, I need to get her to the stables. How about you two stay with me for the night, so we can talk over dinner? You must be dying for a warm bath!”

Bakugou opened his mouth, probably to protest, but the man immediately put his worries to rest.

“Let me pay for your room,” he said. “On top of your reward, of course. It’s the least I can do for bringing back my precious Shalima and taking such good care of her.”

“Thank you sir!” Eijirou exclaimed, certain now that Bakugou wouldn’t refuse. “It would be our pleasure.”

“Excellent, excellent,” the man smiled as he led his sahaleim to the stables, whose doors had just opened for them. “You two have no idea how much what you did means to me. She isn’t just carrying my clothes, you see. These bags also contain a year’s worth of notes. They don’t have much value on their own, but once I compile them into a proper book, I hope they’ll bring my peers some useful insight about this country’s culture. Oh, I was so worried when we got attacked and my beloved Shalima ran away!”

“Really? That’s fascinating! I’m so glad we could help you,” Eijirou exclaimed while Al-Battim took care of his mount and let her settle in the hay with a few blankets, so she didn’t feel abandoned.

Eijirou couldn’t tell that the staff at the inn welcomed Bakugou and him with open arms, but Al-Battim’s enthusiasm more than made up for their coldness, and they became a lot friendlier once he paid for their stay. Besides, nothing could ruin Eijirou’s good mood at the moment. This place was simply gorgeous!

The relatively dark hall quickly led to a quiet, lush inner court, and the bedroom he shared with Bakugou had the comfiest mattress and the thickest, softest carpets he’d ever felt. The private baths, all made in white marble, were grander and more beautiful than anything Eijirou could have imagined, and as he spent dinner telling the grateful scholar about his hometown and his father, Eijirou decided that being an adventurer had its perks, after all. Even Bakugou didn’t seem as reluctant to talk and tell the man a few things about life in the Barbarian mountains, with a warm dinner in his belly and the pleasant smell of soap and perfumed oils surrounding them.

.

The next day, Eijirou wanted nothing more than to roll around in bed all morning and bask in a life of luxury for at least one more day. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.

If Bakugou was just as eager to stay in bed until the sun was high, he was ready to leave and go rumor hunting again as soon as they were up. He was probably right, too. Al-Battim’s generosity wouldn’t extend past one night, and although the rewards they got would be more than enough for a couple more, they shouldn’t spend everything at once.

Curse them for being so reasonable, Eijirou thought as he rubbed himself on the soft sheets one last time, almost purring in content. He was going to miss this.

They found their benefactor in the stables, going through his notes while petting Shalima from time to time.

“My saviors! Good morning,” he greeted with a warm smile as they came closer. “Did you sleep well?”

“I’ve never slept better!” Eijirou said. “Thank you so much for this.”

“It’s the least I could do. I very much enjoyed your company last night.” Then, Al-Battim noticed the bags on their backs and asked, “Oh, you’re leaving? Already on to your next quest?”

Bakugou answered with a grunt while Eijirou said, “Well, we don’t have anything planned for now, we just thought we’d keep an ear out for something interesting.”

Al-Battim hummed thoughtfully. “Well… I was planning to find a caravan and continue my journey soon. They’re always looking for mercenaries to protect them against thieves, so if you’re interested, I can put in a good word for you two.”

Eijirou turned toward Bakugou, curious to see what his friend would decide and if he had any experience with it. He was a bit surprised to meet his companion’s inquisitive look, implicitly asking for his opinion before saying anything. Eijirou nodded slightly, and Bakugou said,

“Sounds good. But we won’t work for less than…” and here, Eijirou must have misheard, because the price he announced was worth pretty much a week of work at the forge and he wanted this per day.

Eijirou knew enough about retail not to let his disbelief show, but it was hard. He pretended to adjust the straps on his backpack to hide his face, hoping it would be enough, while Bakugou told Al-Battim about their (or more like his) qualifications. It was good to know this wouldn’t be his friend’s first gig, at least.

Once everything was decided and Eijirou insisted that they didn’t want to overstay their welcome, Bakugou and he went back to the Leaping Frog for the night.

“I wonder if they’ll give us the same room as last time. It was nice,” Eijirou said as they set out to the Southern gate.

Bakugou merely shrugged, but instead of letting Eijirou do most of the talking as usual, he asked, “What do you know about protecting caravans?”

“Uh…” Eijirou started, embarrassed. “Not much, really.”

“That’s what I thought,” Bakugou said, clicking his tongue, and spent the rest of the way telling him what to expect from the job if they ended up doing this.

Rumor hunting didn’t go well that day, and the bounties and other job offers at the City Hall either didn’t suit their skills, or didn’t interest them.

“No fucking dragon,” as Bakugou put it, disappointed.

Eijirou couldn’t say he was too sad about it, though. Going from the Western gate to the Leaping Frog to the City Hall and other places afterward gave him plenty of time to look around and enjoy the bubbling atmosphere of a big city. He couldn’t even be mad when Bakugou caught a guy trying to steal his money while he was staring at a particularly massive building that turned out to be a hospital.

Much to their surprise, they found Al-Battim waiting for them at the inn, nursing a drink.

“Good news: I’ve found us a ride for tomorrow,” he announced proudly. All they had to do was meet the person in charge of protecting the caravan and discuss the details with her, but she was ready to pay them what Bakugou asked for as long as they had the skills to match.

Since they had nothing else to do with their day, they left as soon as Al-Battim finished his glass. He then led them to a short yet muscular woman with tan skin and long, pale hair. She barely reached Eijirou’s shoulders and yet, she was undeniably intimidating with her crossed arms and her wide, confident stance. A dangerous grin appeared on her face when she saw them approach, and to Eijirou’s surprise, her eyes didn’t leave Bakugou even as Al-Battim introduced them.

Intrigued, he turned to his friend and found her fierce grin mirrored on his face.

“Bakugou, what makes you think I want your punk ass back in my caravan, huh?” she asked as soon as the scholar was done with the introductions. She had an accent too, Eijirou noticed. It wasn’t nearly as growly as Bakugou’s, but there were similarities.

“Because I’m the best and you fucking know it,” Bakugou answered in the same harsh tone.

The comment made her laugh, something loud and boisterous.

“You never change,” she said, obviously pleased with the reply. “We’ll see who’s best after I’ve kicked your ass a few times. Now, who’s this guy and what does he have to bring, huh?” she asked, turning toward Eijirou.

“Oh, uh…” he started, hesitant. Should he admit that he had no experience? Surely, that would be bad for them. Maybe they’d have to stay behind because of him, and–

“Show her what you can do, Kirishima,” Bakugou said then, lifting all his doubts.

Eijirou nodded, took off one of his wrist guards, and hardened his entire forearm.

“I broke a blade on his skin during a spar, once,” Bakugou announced proudly. “What d’you think of that?”

The woman, who’d introduced herself as Miruko, let out an appreciative hum as she stepped closer to have a better look. She had no hesitation when she took out a knife and slashed. The blade ripped on his skin without leaving so much as a scratch, and much to Eijirou’s relief, there was no scale to be seen this time.

“Very impressive,” she said. “Alright, you’re both hired! Don’t make me regret this.”

Much like earlier with Al-Battim, Eijirou stayed mostly silent while Bakugou negotiated the specific terms of their contract with the caravan. They would protect the back, survey the camping area for threats, help keep watch at night… All things Bakugou had told him about earlier.

“We’re leaving tomorrow morning. I want your asses at the southern gates at eight.”

“Got it! Thank you so much for taking us, ma’am,” Eijirou beamed, trying his best to keep his teeth hidden behind his wide grin.

“Ha! What a polite kid,” Miruko laughed. “Where did you find him, Bakugou? I thought you traveled alone.”

“None of your business. He’s just fucking useful.”

“I kind of insisted,” Eijirou added with a nervous chuckle.

He wasn’t sure how to interpret the way she looked at him then, long and pensive, before her eyes went back to Bakugou who snarled at her. Whatever she was thinking, she didn’t say anything. She shrugged and started talking about the job again.

“I count on you to tell your friend how I work, Bakugou,” she concluded before they left.

“Who do you think I am?” Bakugou scoffed as he grabbed Eijirou’s arm to leave.

“So, how do you know her?” Eijirou asked later as they walked back to the inn.

“I worked for her a couple of times. She thinks because we’re both from the same mountain she gets to put her nose in my damn business.”

“Oh, so she’s a Barbarian too?”

“She’s part of the Nation, yeah.”

“Ah, I thought your accents were similar! They’re not quite the same, though. She kinda drawls at the end of sentences and you don’t.”

“We’re not from the same tribe.”

“Oh, right,” Eijirou nodded.

Bakugou was telling him what he should expect while working for their new boss when they stepped back into the Leaping Frog. And apparently, they weren’t done meeting old acquaintances because there, laughing loudly at a table, were…

“Sero? Kaminari?!” Eijirou exclaimed, surprised. They were the ones who had told him about the inn, but he never expected to see them again here.

The two men stopped laughing immediately and turned around while the small woman sharing their table leaned forward to have a look.

“It’s me, Kirishima. The guy at the Free Gear Shack?” he said, hesitantly.

Their eyes flashed with recognition and the two men grinned. “Kirishima, of course we remember you!” Sero smiled. “What are you doing here? Come sit with us!”

Bakugou didn’t seem very enthusiastic at the prospect of company, but he followed Eijirou reluctantly while the three others made room for them at their table.

“Who’s that grump next to you?” Kaminari asked while Sero ordered them a drink.

“This is Bakugou. He’s travelling with me,” Eijirou said while Bakugou barely grunted in acknowledgement.

“Nice to meet you,” Kaminari said, unfazed. “I’m Kaminari, this is Sero, and the little lady right here is Jirou. We’re…” He paused there for a second, sent a quick glance in Eijirou’s direction, and finished, “We’re travelling entertainers.”

“Really?” Eijirou blurted out, loud enough to be heard even above the ruckus in the room. “So the adventuring life wasn’t for you after all, huh?”

“Eh, we had our fun, but our adventuring days are kind of behind us,” Kaminari shrugged.

“They sucked so I had to teach them a proper job,” Jirou intervened with a sarcastic smile.

“We didn’t suck, come on,” Kaminari whined.

“We kind of sucked though,” Sero laughed.

“You really sucked,” Jirou insisted, amused.

Bakugou didn’t stay with them for long, retreating to their room as soon as he had downed his drink, but Eijirou spent most of the evening with the three, catching up. From what he’d gathered, after Eijirou gave Sero and Kaminari their “gear” (a wooden club made from the last foot of his stool and a little flute someone had forgotten at the shack a while ago), they wandered for a few weeks and ran out of coin before they met Jirou, a fledgling bard who taught them the ropes of her job. Sero was back to being an acrobat, and Kaminari told people stories and did terrible magic tricks. They seemed to enjoy it.

By the time they split up and went to sleep, Eijirou knew pretty much everything they’d done since their last meeting. He was glad to see that they still got along, but more importantly, he was really, really glad that he left with Bakugou and not with them after all. He wasn’t much of an entertainer himself, so he would have probably gone home after they switched jobs, alone and disappointed, ready to give up on his dream forever.

“Finally done with the street clowns?” Bakugou asked gruffly from his bed when Eijirou opened the door.

“Yeah,” Eijirou nodded as he got ready for bed, glad to find that Bakugou had left some water for them. Then, he grinned and added, “And you’ll never believe this: they’re travelling with our caravan!”

The groan Bakugou let out at that was so loud and pained it made Eijirou burst out laughing. Still, he hoped they could all be friends. As much as he enjoyed Bakugou’s company, it would be great to be with other people for a while.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9: The Winds of Castelmorn

Eijirou settled near Bakugou’s small fire with a sigh of content. He couldn’t say that he liked being on watch duty in the middle of the night, but after spending weeks constantly surrounded with people, he’d learned to enjoy the couple of hours he got to spend alone with his friend in the dead of night.

“Nothing?” Bakugou asked roughly while tending to the flames.

“Not a soul,” Eijirou answered.

Bakugou clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Guess that damn rabbit was wrong, then…”

Eijirou chuckled at the remark. “Don’t tell me you’re disappointed that there aren’t any thieves waiting to attack us.”

“It’s fucking boring,” Bakugou grumbled. “We’ve been with this caravan for what? A month? And there hasn’t been any kind of action.”

“Isn’t that the point, though? To have us so no one dares attack the caravan?”

“Yeah, and that’s boring as hell. Usually, there’s at least one big attack.”

“I don’t get you, man,” Eijirou sighed, shaking his head. Sure, he wished he could do more than just patrol and give up on a few hours of sleep every night, but being able to keep everyone safe just by being here was nice too.

Besides, even though caravans like this one were really slow, travelling with it had its perks. It was predictable. Relaxing, even. Protecting people, going from town to town, staying for a couple of days, keeping an ear out for interesting rumors, training with Bakugou and sometimes Miruko and the other mercenaries in the evening, watching Bakugou and Miruko fight over petty stuff just because they could, joking around with Sero, Kaminari, and Jirou around the campfire, trying to get Bakugou to admit that he liked them too… 

Still, life would be a lot duller soon, with his three friends planning to leave them at the next town to join another caravan full of new people to entertain between two stops. Al-Battim left them a few towns ago as well, deciding that the weather was now warm enough for Shalima and him to go further north. But no matter what, Bakugou would still be here, and so would their nightly watch shifts, two peaceful hours spent telling each other stories with hushed voices while trying not to fall asleep.

Eijirou wasn’t sure what he would do if thieves attacked them anyway. Training was one thing, but fighting with the intent to hurt or even kill each other was another, and he didn’t know if he was ready for this.

As usual, Eijirou was the one who talked the most. Bakugou sometimes graced him with a few stories from the Golden Mountains—named after the color of the local stone in the sun and not after the presence of actual gold—but he usually preferred to let Eijirou tell him about home. He wondered what they would talk about, when he ran out of stories to tell… Hopefully, Bakugou would be more open about his own life, by then.

“I never told you how my parents got me, right?” Eijirou asked that night. He was a bit hesitant to tell Bakugou at first, but he was starting to trust him.

His friend shook his head no with a grunt, so Eijirou started talking.

“They found me in the orchard, actually. Right between the lemons and the oranges.”

“Yeah? Where did you come from?” Bakugou asked.

“No idea. My parents say they found me the morning after a big storm, bundled in a huge piece of fabric they made clothes from for years.” He chuckled then and added, “The wind probably erased the footprints, but they like to say I must have fallen from the sky.”

He turned toward Bakugou when he didn't hear a reaction. His friend didn't laugh, didn't ask questions, didn't even tease him about hitting his head too hard… Instead, he was frowning like he did when he looked at his first lemon, pensive, eyes lost in the forest on the other side of the fire.

“Bakugou?” Eijirou asked, confused.

“So you don't know where you come from, and neither do your parents,” he said then.

“Yeah, not the slightest idea,” Eijirou said, shaking his head. “I was just a baby and my parents have no idea who could have left me there. Not that they really looked, since they were desperate for a child back then.” Bakugou still didn't say anything, so Eijirou added with a chuckle, “I wonder if they'd have tried harder to find my birth parents, if they knew back then they'd end up with four kids after me.”

Bakugou stayed silent for a moment and asked suddenly, “D'you still have a belt or something made with that fabric?”

Eijirou would almost be offended that his friend didn't listen if he wasn't so surprised by the question.

“Uh…” he started, running a hand through his belts and headbands, looking for the once familiar feeling of the thick and dense fabric his parents said they found him bundled in. He wasn't surprised to find a piece of it in his hair. Even if he didn't pay much attention to what he was wearing these days, it was an important piece of his childhood and there was no way he’d let it all go so easily. “Here,” he said, untying it to let Bakugou have a look.

His friend took it and held it in the light of the fire, running his fingers along the thick yet somehow smooth fabric while muttering something in his language. Eijirou didn't expect a fond smile to slowly form on Bakugou's face. But least of all, he didn't expect the possessive growl bubbling in his own throat at the sight of Bakugou touching his piece of fabric. For a second, he had to fight against the urge to snatch it back. Then, Bakugou seemed to notice the growing tension in Eijirou's posture and froze. He didn't give the headband back immediately, but when he had one last look, it didn't feel like he was just fiddling with it. There was reverence in his movements, and even more so when he gave it back to Eijirou with both hands, head slightly bowed, and thanked him for trusting him with it.

It sounded weird coming from him. And it was definitely too much. However, the show of respect toward Eijirou's precious keepsake appeased the primal part of him that wanted to rip Bakugou's throat for handling what was his so carelessly. Eijirou put it back in his hair with a thankful nod. He expected the subject to be put to rest until Bakugou lifted a corner of his cape and handed it to him.

Surprised, Eijirou grabbed it, searching his friend’s face for an indication of what he was supposed to do with it. Should he wrap it around his shoulders like last time?

“Feel it, dumbass,” Bakugou said.

Eijirou complied, wondering what kind of point his friend was trying to make. He knew this cape already. These days, he sometimes found himself waking up under it when the nights were a little chilly, since it was big enough to cover the two of them. He never really took a closer look, but…

“It’s the same fabric,” Eijirou realized then, lifting it a little to see it better in the fire’s light.

Bakugou nodded. “It’s made to trap winds,” he explained. “So you can fall from great heights without hurting yourself. Some wind mages use it to fly.”

“You know where it’s from?” Eijirou asked eagerly. His parents said they’d never seen anything like it. He was never particularly curious to find out where he was really from, since he already had a great, loving family, but if Bakugou knew something…

“Could be from anywhere,” he shrugged. “But maybe–”

“You two can leave now, I’m taking over,” someone said suddenly, interrupting him. Eijirou turned around to find Miruko, a sleepy mercenary in tow.

“Oh, already?” Eijirou asked. He knew there wasn’t much time left when he came back from his patrol around the camp, but he didn’t think the end of their shift would come so soon.

“Yeah, you can go back to sleep,” Miruko nodded.

Bakugou grumbled something at her in Barbarian, sounding pretty mad that they were interrupted.

Miruko replied in the same tone, then crossed her arms and added something with a chuckle.

Bakugou tsked in annoyance and Miruko smirked.

Eijirou had no idea what the hell was happening. It was rare for the two not to talk in Plainspeak, even between themselves. Every time Eijirou heard them, he regretted never asking Bakugou to teach him Barbarian. However, something else hit him this time, even more so when Bakugou got up and growled something back at their boss: the way he was speaking now and the things he sometimes muttered under his breath didn’t sound like the same language.

Eijirou never really paid attention, since he always assumed that whatever Bakugou said that wasn't in Plainspeak had to be in Barbarian, but after hearing both almost back to back, the difference was clear as day. The Barbarian Rs were softer, there was a slight drawl at the end of some words, and although both languages sounded like “not enough vowels” to Eijirou’s untrained ears—as opposed to Plainspeak, the main language in the Kingdom of Yuuei, that sounded like ‘way too many fucking vowels’ according to Bakugou—there weren’t any words that seemed to be plain growls here.

Bakugou dragged Eijirou to their tent then, cutting his train of thought short and forcing him to leave the other two with a quick “Goodnight guys!” over his shoulder.

“Hey, Bakugou, I was wondering,” he said as they crossed the camp to hopefully catch a few more hours of sleep. “When you mutter things to yourself and when you talk to Miruko… It’s not the same language, is it?”

“Different tribe,” Bakugou shrugged, as always.

He seemed pretty tired, now that they were so close to their beds, so Eijirou didn’t insist and let him slip inside their tiny tent, following suit soon after.

.

The next morning was uneventful. Eijirou woke up to Bakugou shaking him, joined Sero and him for morning stretches, tried not to feel inadequate when he saw how flexible Sero was, tried not to laugh when Bakugou inevitably felt competitive about it, tried not to feel inadequate again when his friend proved to be at least twice as flexible as Eijirou despite not being able to beat Sero, had breakfast while Miruko briefed them on what they should expect from the day—crossing a bridge across a deep ravine and reaching the town of Castelmorn where they’d stop for a few days—helped break camp… Nothing out of the ordinary.

As usual, he and Bakugou guarded the back of the caravan, which mostly involved making sure no one was left behind and warning people ahead if a fast traveler needed to move past them. It wasn’t exactly eventful, especially when Miruko told them in the morning that the area was usually safe, but Eijirou didn’t mind as he walked at a leisurely pace and joked around with his friends. Kaminari was telling them about a pretty girl from Castelmorn who was totally into him last time while Jirou and Sero assured him that she definitely wasn’t, and even Bakugou seemed to be having fun behind his usual mask of irritation. All in all, it was a really nice day.

Things went south in the afternoon, when they reached the bridge. They expected the caravan to come to a halt so they could pay the usual toll, but it soon became obvious that something wasn’t right when concerned murmurs reached them.

“What’s going on? That’s not the usual price. Do we really have to pay that much?” people were asking each other, as if someone might have an answer.

“We’re going,” Bakugou said suddenly, grabbing him by the arm to drag him toward the front of the caravan.

“Hey! What about guarding the back? What if something happens?” Eijirou protested.

“That’s what the other extras are here for.”

Eijirou sighed, but didn’t protest further. After all, he was pretty curious to know what was going on too.

One thing was clear when they reached the front of the caravan: the people who were guarding the bridge didn’t look like they were paid by the town, or by anyone for that matter. They were a ragtag group of men who looked like they hadn’t had a good bath in a while, and their worn out clothes definitely needed some mending. Their leader was currently talking to the head of the caravan, and things didn’t seem to be going well. Standing next to him, Miruko looked like a coiled spring ready to snap any second.

She was the first to notice them, and as soon as she saw Bakugou approaching, she motioned for them not to come any closer. Eijirou stopped, trusting her judgement, but Bakugou didn’t seem to see it the same way.

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she turned around fully to hiss, “If you take one step closer, you’re fired.”

“You’re really gonna pay these assholes?” Bakugou growled, displeased.

“Boss orders, it’s not our decision.”

Bakugou rolled his eyes, annoyed. Eijirou didn’t know if he was going to disobey or not, so before his friend did something he might regret later, he wrapped an arm around his shoulders and whispered, “We can come back later. Or investigate in town, right?”

That seemed to calm him down a little.

“Now go back to your post and tell everyone about the new price to cross,” Miruko concluded.

“We’re not fucking paying,” Bakugou growled immediately.

She grinned. “Of course we aren’t. We’re just employees after all.”

That last remark seemed to restore some of Bakugou’s good mood, and he didn’t protest when Eijirou led him back to the rear of the caravan.

“I hope these guys don’t get too cocky,” Eijirou remarked once they were out of earshot. “Miruko looked ready to kick their asses.”

“She’s learned the hard way not to disobey her employers,” Bakugou shrugged.

“Oh… Like, she tried to attack when told not to and got people killed?”

Bakugou barked a laugh. “Ha! No way! She kicked everyone’s asses and her employer made her pay for all the damaged goods.”

“And she didn’t do anything?” Eijirou asked, surprised.

“Of course she fucking did! The city guards were called and she ended up in jail for a few days,” Bakugou shrugged. Then, he added in a mutter, “Doesn’t give her the right to tell me what the fuck to do…”

“Don’t be like that,” Eijirou said. “If these guys are really as sketchy as they look, I’m sure there’ll be a reward in town for getting rid of them. You’re the one who wanted some action, right?”

Bakugou grinned then, fierce and dark and manly.

His good mood was immediately ruined by Kaminari’s whines about having to pay so much to cross a stupid bridge.

“Don’t worry, dude! I’m sure we can get it back!” Eijirou grinned. He wasn’t sure if Bakugou and he would have the chance to make good on this promise, but it seemed to raise everyone’s spirits at least.

Once the crooks were satisfied, the caravan was finally allowed to keep going. The ravine wasn’t particularly large, but it only took one look for Eijirou to decide that he didn’t like it. Sure, the bridge itself couldn’t be more than fifty meters long, but it was just large enough to let two small carts cross each other, the stone railing wasn’t high enough for Eijirou’s liking and, more importantly, the ravine it was crossing was much deeper than he expected, with the bottom disappearing in the shadows. The view was amazing, there was no doubt about it: the mountain almost looked like it was split in two, and they could see the rolling hills and plains below for miles around. Still, it didn’t mean Eijirou had to enjoy it. In fact, he wasn’t planning to.

Bakugou glared at the crooks when he walked past them and stepped on the bridge, as if to make sure they knew he could kick their asses. It didn’t seem to do much, but at least no one attacked them, so there was that.

Things got a little better once Eijirou’s eyes focused on the bridge itself, made of solid stone, and not on what was below. But that was without counting on another unexpected hurdle: the wind.

The first gale took him by surprise, and Eijirou couldn’t even say there was a second one because it just wouldn’t stop. It was howling in his ears, slowing down for barely a second only to blow stronger the next, making people swing when it caught them by surprise, whirling and relentless and freezing in contrast to the relatively warm temperature from before.

Eijirou hated it.

He only looked up from his feet once, to see how close they were to the other side, and smiled when he realized they were almost there. His relief was short-lived, though, because that’s when the wind decided to be a real asshole and take one of his precious headbands away—the blue one from one of Shizuka’s old dresses.

Eijirou immediately tried to grab it, but the wind changed directions at the last second, putting it out of reach.

“No, shit, come back!” he yelled, one hand still reaching out and the other on his head to prevent further losses.

Desperate, Eijirou turned toward Bakugou, hoping his friend could maybe help. He was a wind mage after all. He said he wasn’t that good, but surely–

Something slapped Eijirou in the face then, obscuring his view. He grabbed it, sputtering while Bakugou and their friends cackled around him. Eijirou couldn’t be mad at them, though. Not when the thing that hit him was his blue headband.

Holding it tight, Eijirou looked back up. Bakugou didn’t meet his eyes, looking resolutely in front of him.

“Thanks, dude,” Eijirou smiled, so relieved he could have cried. “That was awesome!”

“You could have worked on the delivery, though,” Jirou chimed in.

“I mean, that’s Bakugou,” Sero said. “He probably did it on purpose.”

“Or did he?” Kaminari questioned. “I bet he just couldn’t do better.”

“Of course I could do better, Dunce Face! Who the fuck do you think I am?!” Bakugou barked.

Eijirou chuckled with the others, and they reached the other side without further incident.

.

They reached the town of Castelmorn a few hours after crossing the bridge. The first thing Eijirou noticed about it was how silent it was. It wasn’t exactly big, but even a town its size should be livelier than that. Yet, Castelmorn was quiet. There was a strange stillness in the air, as if everyone was constantly expecting a disaster to come.

“Is it always like this?” Eijirou asked Kaminari after a few minutes walking up the near empty main street.

“No, last time we came it was… well, just your usual small town.”

“That’s weird…”

“Could it be because of the thieves? They didn’t look that dangerous,” Sero remarked.

“You mean they looked weak as fuck,” Bakugou scoffed.

“I guess we’ll have to investigate,” Eijirou shrugged, unsure how he felt about it.

Jirou chuckled. “At least, Bakugou will finally have the action he’s been waiting for,” she said.

Eijirou turned to his friend and found him grinning again. It was nice to see that at least someone was happy about the situation.

As always, they followed their friends to the inn they picked, and Eijirou got to meet the girl who was “totally into Kaminari” last time. Of course, she really wasn’t, but she took his relentless flirting with a smile and it was fun to see them interact.

Eijirou had wondered, at first, why they never stayed with Miruko. After all, she was their boss, so it would be easier if the whole group assigned to the caravan’s protection stayed in one place. He changed his mind when Bakugou explained that she always picked the shadiest place in town, hoping to be part of a good old bar fight. Bakugou had followed her once, ignoring everyone's advice, and only managed to get some sleep after Miruko and he had literally beaten everyone’s asses unconscious. Never again, he said. Eijirou could understand.

Once their stuff was safely stored in a room, Bakugou and he started their investigation. Eijirou wanted to ask someone at the inn, but Bakugou told him that for something like this, a town guard would be their best pick. Protecting the bridge was supposed to be their job, after all. Plus, they seemed pretty nervous when they opened the gates for the caravan earlier. Now that Eijirou thought about it, it was weird that they were closed during the day in the first place.

It didn’t take long for them to go back to the Eastern gate and find one of the guards in charge of opening and closing the doors. For someone working in such a peaceful and remote area, he seemed incredibly on edge.

He jumped with a high pitched yelp when Eijirou called for his attention.

“What do you want?” he asked, only slightly more relaxed after realizing who they were.

“We have a few questions,” Eijirou said with a friendly smile.

“We want to know why the fuck you’re acting like you’re at war or some shit,” Bakugou said. “Don’t tell me you’re scared of the weak fuckers at the bridge.”

The man gulped.

“No,” he said. “Well, yes, but… no.” He shook his head. “It’s not them. But there’s… something out there. We can't go outside.” The last few words were almost whispered, as if he was worried someone might hear him.

“Is that why the gates are always closed?” Eijirou asked, concerned.

The man nodded.

“What kinda thing? You’ve seen it?” Bakugou asked, looking extremely interested all of a sudden. Sadly, his expression was more intimidating than excited, and it didn’t seem to put the already nervous guard at ease.

Still, he nodded again, looking almost ready to faint.

“A giant,” he whispered. “Taller than a tree. He’s come to town a few times. We can’t beat him. Our swords are useless, our arrows don’t even reach him, even the boiling water we tried throwing at him didn’t seem to do anything. We’ve managed to appease him with a few offerings, but we don’t know what he wants…”

Eijirou gasped. He was ready to scare away a couple of bandits, but not to fight a whole monster! No wonder these people were scared out of their minds!

“The fuck you mean, your arrows don’t reach him? Giants are just big humans, if you stab them hard enough they fucking die.”

“Not this one. I’ve seen it! Even the doors… If we try to close them when we see him, he manages to rush here faster than a horse. He can jump higher than our walls, he…”

“Did he hurt anyone?” Eijirou asked, alarmed.

The man shook his head. “We’ve managed to come out of our encounters unscathed, but we don’t know for how long… It’s a miracle your caravan came here safely.”

Eijirou turned to Bakugou, wondering what his friend would decide to do. Knowing him, he’d definitely be ecstatic about this new development and want to fight the giant immediately.

As expected, there was a mad grin on his face.

“Where can we find him?” he asked.

“We haven’t seen him in a week. But he usually comes from the Northern gate. Sometimes this one. So he must be staying somewhere in the north-east.”

“And what’s the reward?”

The man gasped and sent Bakugou a look between frightened and hopeful. “You’re going to fight him? I told you it was useless!”

“That’s for us to decide. How much?”

A tentative smile reached the man’s face before he shook his head, as if he wouldn't allow himself to hope. “Go to the station further down the road and ask the captain. He’ll be able to tell you more. You can’t miss the place, it’s right next to the town hall.”

“Good,” Bakugou said, and left.

“Bakugou, manners,” Eijirou hissed, and turned back to the guard with a smile. “Thank you, sir! Have a nice day!”

The man nodded, still looking like he couldn’t believe what they were planning to do, and went back to his post.

Eijirou jogged to catch up with Bakugou, who was marching toward the station like a man on a mission.

“Hey, dude, you’re sure about this?” Eijirou asked with a worried frown. He trusted Bakugou’s judgement, and if his friend was going to do it, there was no way Eijirou would let him go on his own, but he seemed strangely sure of himself even after the frightful tale from the guard.

“Tch, of course I’m fucking sure. What did I tell you about rumors around here?” Bakugou said.

“So what, you think it’s just a normal guy or something?”

“Oh no, he’s definitely a giant. But the biggest giants are never bigger than a fucking tree. Unless you compare them to a small damn tree.”

“Oh, really? How big are they, then?” Eijirou asked.

“The biggest, oldest ones are like… five meters tall. But that’d be a really old one who can barely walk anymore, so I’m gonna assume this one is between three and four meters max.”

“That’s still huge!”

“And damn small for a tree. So if that guy is exaggerating so much about the giant’s size, he’s definitely exaggerating about how invincible he is.”

“Oh, yeah. That makes sense,” Eijirou agreed.

They didn’t learn much more about the giant at the station, but the captain confirmed that the guard was barely exaggerating—which still made Bakugou scoff—and offered an absurdly high bounty for the giant’s head, or his capture, or at least just for driving him away; he didn’t care at this point. But he was going to need proof that the job was done, obviously.

More importantly, he provided them with a map of the surroundings. A few areas where the giant could be were marked on it. Now, that was good!

“So, what’s the plan now, Bakugou?” Eijirou asked when they left the place with the map and a few words of encouragement.

“We tell Miruko we’ll leave for a few days. We get ready to fight a giant. We’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

Eijirou sighed. “You never waste time, huh…”

“The fuck do you wanna do in that dead place anyway?”

“Right…”

When Miruko said with a frown that the caravan probably wouldn’t be staying in town for long, Eijirou worried that she wouldn’t let them go. Instead, she started moaning and complaining about not being able to follow them and kick a whole giant’s ass.

“I haven’t done that for years, they’re so fun to fight!” she pouted.

“You used to fight giants?!” Eijirou exclaimed. He knew he shouldn’t be surprised at this point, but it was still huge! Especially after what he’d heard today.

“Yeah, there’s a whole village of them in my tribe’s hunting grounds,” she said. “They’re pretty peaceful though, so it’s hard to get them to fight me with all they have. Aaaah, I miss it now… I’ll have to go home for a while when I’m done with this damn caravan. Anyway, you two have fun! And don’t forget to ask the boss for your pay before you go, in case we’re not here when you come back.”

Eijirou walked out of the shady inn in a haze, blindly following Bakugou.

“There are real giants in the Golden Mountains?” he asked, bewildered, once they were back on the main street. “You never told me that!”

“Yeah. Giants, harpies, shifters… That’s why your shitty kingdom never managed to invade our mountains.”

“Isn’t it dangerous?”

Bakugou shrugged. “Giants know it’s better to trade with us than fight us, unless it’s for fun. Shifters are just people who can turn into animals. Harpies live so high up the mountains we barely see them.”

“That’s so cool! I’ve only heard about giants in stories.”

“That’s because you assholes just kill everything that isn’t human,” Bakugou scoffed.

Eijirou stayed silent the rest of the way, pensive. It was good to know that Bakugou probably wouldn’t hate him for not being entirely human, but he was definitely not a giant, nor a harpy. Part of him was dying to tell him the truth, but the bigger, more reasonable part, the one that sounded like his parents, told him it wasn’t worth the risk. Hiding was a second nature to him by now, anyway.

“I think that giant’s a wind mage,” Bakugou said suddenly. “They’re usually better with earth magic, but a really good wind mage could do all the shit people told us this one did.”

“Oh. So they weren’t exaggerating after all.”

“Probably not, but there are ways to counter wind magic,” Bakugou said with a cocky grin.

As he remembered the way his friend had managed to reverse the strong winds at the bridge, Eijirou beamed. “Yeah, with you here, we can definitely do it!”

Chapter Text

They left Castelmorn at dawn, just Bakugou and him.

When they told Jirou, Kaminari, and Sero about their plan the previous evening, Kaminari was determined to follow them until Jirou reminded him that it was too dangerous and they’d probably be in Bakugou and Eijirou’s way. She could defend herself in a pinch but she wasn’t a fighter, Kaminari wasn’t the best at using his magic when other people were around, and Sero’s offensive abilities mostly relied on knife throwing, so it would be useless against a wind mage.

“But Jirouuuu,” Kaminari had whined. “It’s going to be an epic fight, imagine all the stories we could tell! And no one else would have heard them!”

Jirou sighed, and Sero said, “You sure you want to travel in a small group again? Without at least the comfort of being part of a caravan? Having to eat dry rations or hunt your own food?”

That was enough to convince Kaminari to let them go on their own, and Bakugou sealed it by grumbling that he never asked them to come anyway. Eijirou felt that it would be safer to face this foe with five people rather than two, but he didn’t argue. He didn’t want to put his friends in danger.

“We were planning to switch caravans here anyway, so we’ll just stay and wait for you,” Jirou had concluded.

“Yeah, so you better come back with an epic tale for us!” Kaminari had grinned.

And so, once again, it was just the two of them, alone in the middle of nowhere. They’d decided in which order they were going to visit the various places they were told about before leaving, and Bakugou was in charge of the map, since his friend was more used to traveling in unknown areas than him.

Now that Eijirou thought about it, he’d stopped being useful to Bakugou a long time ago. He wasn’t familiar with this region at all, and his knowledge was the only reason why his friend accepted to take him as a traveling companion, at first. Did Bakugou realize that, or did he forget somewhere along the way, like Eijirou until now?

They had already set up camp for the night when the realization hit him. As usual, Bakugou and he spent all of their extra energy for the day training. His body was aching in a pleasant way, and his mind, as always after a good spar, was just a little fuzzy so he couldn’t help but bring it up to his friend, knowing that there was no way Bakugou would kick him out now.

“You really thought I forgot? It doesn’t matter anymore, dumbass. You’re not half as useless as you used to be,” Bakugou scoffed as he used a rag to wipe sweat off his bare chest.

“You can just admit that we’re friends, you know,” Eijirou teased, relieved and more confident after his friend’s reply.

Bakugou answered with another scoff, but he didn’t deny it.

“Ha! I knew it!” Eijirou exclaimed with a grin.

Bakugou stopped wiping himself to look at him. To Eijirou’s surprise, his face split into a satisfied smile.

“There it is,” he said.

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“You’re smiling. You haven’t smiled in weeks.”

“What do you mean? I smile all the time,” Eijirou said, frowning in confusion.

Bakugou shook his head. “I don’t mean your half-assed smiles, dumbass. I mean the real ones.”

Eijirou’s frown deepened. “I don’t get–”

He stopped there as realization slowly dawned on him. He hadn’t noticed, but his expressions, his smiles, the way he behaved around Bakugou lately…

Oh, no.

“You mean I’m showing my teeth,” he said weakly, so nervous now he could feel his heart beating in his throat, as if trying to escape.

“Yeah, that,” Bakugou nodded. Then, he seemed to notice how pale Eijirou was, and his pleased expression faded. “What’s wrong with that? They’re badass.”

Eijirou’s lips twitched into an involuntary smile at the compliment, but it didn’t last. “I’m not supposed to… I can’t let anyone see them! How long have I been doing this?!”

Bakugou shrugged. “Sometime between leaving Tosola to find the lizard and traveling with the caravan. Then you fucking stopped.”

Right… Eijirou had been more on guard at first, since there were so many strangers, but he let himself relax around his new friends. Then, he smiled a bit too wide in front of Miruko, who made a comment about his teeth—she seemed to like them too, so maybe it was a Barbarian thing—and he’d forced himself to be more careful.

And now, he was back to his past careless ways after just one day alone with Bakugou. How stupid could he be?

Bakugou let out a frustrated sigh, deep enough that it almost sounded like a growl.

“You Plains people are fucking weird,” he grumbled. “What the fuck is your deal?”

“They look… They’re unnatural. They’re scary. I don’t want to scare people,” Eijirou said, repeating what he’d been told his whole childhood.

“If people freak out about stupid teeth, it’s their damn problem.”

“It’s not that simple,” Eijirou sighed. “Did I… Did other people notice?” ...besides Miruko.

“If they did, no one fucking mentioned it,” Bakugou shrugged.

Eijirou nodded, relieved. “Good. And, uh… Can you tell me, next time I do that?”

Bakugou clicked his tongue with an annoyed frown.

“Please?” Eijirou added.

Bakugou deflated. “Fine, but on one condition,” he eventually said.

“What?”

“Don’t hold back in front of me.”

“What? But…” What was the point, then?

“When it’s just us, dumbass,” Bakugou added. “I’ll tell you when there’s someone else, but if it’s just you and me, you better smile like you fucking mean it.”

Eijirou smiled softly, warmth blooming in his chest. “Thanks, dude. I’m really, really glad I’m travelling with you.”

“Shut up, you fucking sap,” Bakugou barked, throwing his dirty rag at him, and Eijirou laughed.

He laughed, loud and long, mouth open wide to reveal the sharp, sharp teeth he’d been told to hide at all costs since he was a kid, not making a single attempt to hide them. Bakugou’s reaction wasn’t even that funny, but it didn’t matter. Eijirou was laughing because he was relieved, and happy, and he felt like he was floating. A burden he didn’t know he was carrying had lifted from his shoulders, a chain had snapped, and for the first time in his life, he almost felt free.

“Thank you, Bakugou,” he said again once he finally calmed down, with a grin as wide as his mouth would let him.

Bakugou turned away and grumbled, “Just get clean while I make dinner.”

Eijirou nodded, feeling like he'd never be able to stop smiling now.

.

The first few places they checked on were empty. The giant wasn’t in the nearby shepherd or hunting refuge, nor anywhere in the forest. It wasn’t too surprising, since there was nowhere for him to find shelter around there. The roofs were pretty low even for Eijirou, so he couldn’t imagine what it would be like for a giant. Still, it meant the next few marks on the map were at least two days away from Castelmorn.

Why would the giant bother staying this far? Or rather, why would he bother coming all the way to town and not do anything except scare the locals and get a few things from them?

“If he can go ‘faster than a running horse’ it probably doesn’t take him that long to get there,” Bakugou shrugged.

“I guess so, but still,” Eijirou insisted. “Why bother? Isn’t it weird?”

Bakugou growled. “If you’re trying to say that maybe the guy isn’t bad or anything, I’m kicking your ass instead of his.”

“Fine, fine, I won’t say it,” Eijirou laughed. “I think your foot will break before my ass anyway.”

“Oh, you wanna fight now?” Bakugou asked with sparking palms and an excited grin.

“Later? I wanna find a good spot to set up camp for tonight, first. Maybe one of the small shelters at the base of the cliffs. I don’t like these clouds…”

Bakugou looked up at the dark clouds looming in the distance and nodded. As impatient as he was, he hated the rain even more than Eijirou.

By the time they reached their destination, high cliffs with a vast cave system accessible from entrances near the top, the sky was grey and the air smelled like rain already. They found the rock shelter marked on the map without trouble, waiting for them at the bottom. At its highest point, it was just high enough for Bakugou and him to stand, and it quickly became too small for them to even sit. Still, it did the job and was just big enough for them to set up camp without feeling too cramped. There was even an old fire pit and, thankfully, some leftover firewood wedged in the back corner of the cave.

It didn’t start raining until after sunset, once they’d trained and had dinner. It felt miserable, but Eijirou was glad they at least were dry. The temperature had quickly dropped once the rain started, and even Eijirou found himself wrapped up in a blanket. Meanwhile, Bakugou was staying as close to the fire as was physically possible without burning his clothes.

“Wanna share?” Eijirou asked without thinking, raising an arm.

Bakugou turned around to give him a blank look.

“I have my own damn blanket,” he said.

“I know, but you’re not using it.”

Bakugou stared at him longer, until his eyes fell on the spot under Eijirou’s raised arm.

“I was just offering, but suit yourself,” Eijirou shrugged then, lowering it.

“Fucking… fine,” Bakugou gritted, crawling closer. “If you insist.”

“You don’t have to, you know,” Eijirou chuckled as he made room for his friend. The blanket wasn’t quite big enough to fit the two of them, but the warmth emanating from Bakugou’s body was more than making up for the lost heat.

“Shut up,” Bakugou muttered as he made himself more comfortable against him.

All things considered, they could have just gone to sleep. There wasn’t anything for them to do after all, and they’d need all the rest they could get if they were going to climb those cliffs in the morning. But sharing a blanket like this was nice and comforting, so Eijirou certainly wasn’t going to bring it up.

A warm purring sound slowly formed in his chest, dripping in like honey, and maybe Eijirou let it out, just a little, quietly enough that it got lost in the pitter-patter from the rain and the crackling fire. If Bakugou heard anything, he didn’t mention it.

.

They slept late the following morning. The rain was now a small drizzle, but it meant the cliffs would be too slippery for them to climb.

“A fucking wasted day,” as Bakugou put it.

Eijirou could only agree. Their shelter was cramped and uncomfortable, and he was bored out of his mind. It was another aspect of adventuring he’d rather do without and for a moment, he envied his friends who were comfortably settled in a cozy inn. He wondered how they were doing.

“We better be able to climb tomorrow,” Bakugou grumbled when the rain stopped and the sun finally came out, wrapped in his own blanket in front of the fire.

Eijirou nodded. He was a bit nervous about climbing the cliffs, after seeing them for the past day and a half, but if Bakugou said it was possible and the local kids could do it, he had to believe in himself.

.

As it turned out, climbing cliffs was even harder than Eijirou expected. It got better once he realized he could use his hardening to claw his way up and make his own holds, and it became a lot less straining when Bakugou told him to use his legs more than his arms, but even with all this, it was hard. Bakugou was climbing up with the ease of a mountain goat, fast and fearless, using wind magic to skip a few steps altogether, while Eijirou was gracelessly stuck on the wall, going at a snail’s pace. They’d managed to take a small break on a ledge already, and he was really hoping this would be the last stretch. Especially when his friend grew impatient.

“Shut up! I’m trying not to fall, dammit!” he gritted as Bakugou goaded him from the second ledge. The rock above him was too brittle for him to claw his way up, and he couldn’t find anywhere to put his feet. He didn’t want to climb down, and although his position wasn’t too uncomfortable, his arms were starting to ache.

“Can’t you just harden so you don’t get hurt if you fall?”

“I don’t wanna find out! Plus, I’d have to do it all over again.”

“Ugh, fine…” Bakugou said, and before Eijirou could wonder what was going on, Bakugou threw down a rope.

Eijirou stared at it for a few seconds, dumbfounded.

“You’re using it or what?” Bakugou barked.

“You mean you had it all along and you didn’t think to use it?!” Eijirou yelled.

“Didn’t think you’d need it, but if you’re gonna be a crybaby…”

“Ugh, shut up! Not everyone grew up near cliffs!”

“I didn’t either,” Bakugou said.

“You’re the worst, you know that?” Eijirou grumbled as he grabbed the rope and pulled himself the rest of the way up.

He finally reached the ledge to find Bakugou looking at him with a stupid, smug smile. There was no cavern around.

“There’s more?!” he blurted, desperate.

“I’d say we’re halfway through,” Bakugou shrugged as he rolled the rope and secured it on his backpack. “Take a break, drink something. I’ll climb the rest of the way up and throw you the rope.”

Eijirou nodded between two gulps of water. He felt like he could climb normally once he’d rested for a bit, but it would be much faster this way.

With the help of the rope, the rest of the climb was fairly easy. Or at least, it was until Eijirou was almost at the top. Then, just a few meters from it, his foot slipped and he lost his balance. Eijirou gripped the rope as tight as he could and hit the cliff head first. He managed to harden his face just in time to avoid breaking it, but the shock made him lose his grip on the rope just a bit, and before he knew it…

Eijirou was gently floating up the cliff, carried by the wind, and landed gracefully on the ledge.

“Wow… thanks dude,” he smiled, heart beating wildly from the shock. “I really thought I was gonna fall here.

“I didn’t do that,” Bakugou gritted.

Eijirou blinked. “What? But–”

A booming laugh resonated up the cliffs.

“Hello, visitors! What brings you to my humble abode? You should have said you were visiting, I would have carried you up!”

Eijirou had just enough time to see Bakugou get in a fighting stance, palms ignited, before he whipped around, coming face to face with a giant man floating in the air a few meters from the cliff.

He was flying at eye level, a hulking form with a tattered black cape similar to Bakugou’s, standing tall with his arms crossed. From what Eijirou could see, the man was about twice his size, and Eijirou wasn’t a small man. Still, despite how intimidating he was, the stranger had a huge grin that… didn’t look exactly friendly paired with his intense gaze and furrowed brows, but after spending almost two months with Bakugou, Eijirou could tell the man—or, most probably, the giant—wasn’t trying to look menacing.

Maybe he was friendly after all. Maybe everyone in Castelmorn simply misjudged him and–

“DIE!” Bakugou screamed, launching himself in the air with a pair of explosions.

“Bakugou, wait!” Eijirou yelled, too late.

To his surprise, the giant didn’t seem to feel threatened, even when Bakugou tried to throw an explosion at his face.

“Oh, you want to fight me? You’re good! What’s your name?” he asked, still grinning as he used a strong gust to push Bakugou away and weaken his fire.

It wasn’t enough to stop the Barbarian. Using another series of explosions and his own wind magic—probably—he rushed at his opponent and flew right over his head to attack from behind. This time, the explosion hit, singeing the giant’s already threadbare cape.

“Hey, that’s a nice one! But please don’t destroy my clothes, they’re very hard to get!”

“I don’t give a shit, just fucking die already!” Bakugou raged.

“Man, stop! He’s not trying to hurt us!” Eijirou yelled, in vain.

Another gust of the giant’s wind made Bakugou lose balance, and he fell for a few meters before he regained control and flew right back up, taking Eijirou’s breath away. The giant clearly had more control over wind, managing to stay in the air and fight back without lifting a finger, but Bakugou’s acrobatics were entrancing.

Still… Bakugou didn’t seem to want a friendly fight like he did when Eijirou met him, and his fast, constant moves made it impossible to read his expression. The giant didn’t seem to be taking him too seriously, which was good in the sense that he wouldn’t escalate the fight (hopefully), but was also a sure way to enrage Bakugou further. And knowing him, his friend wouldn’t hesitate to one-sidedly escalate the situation until it reached the point of no return.

Eijirou couldn’t let it happen. He had to do something, but he didn’t know what. He couldn’t fly like these two. If he jumped, he’d have to either count on someone catching him, or fall all the way down and hope his earth magic would be strong enough to protect him. He was a lot better now than two months ago, sure, but was he strong enough? He didn’t want to find out.

Eijirou gulped. He had to do something, but his feet were glued to the ground.

When Bakugou launched another attack at his opponent, after confirming that his explosions would have to be delivered point blank if he wanted them to hit, the giant finally made a move and uncrossed his arms to push him back, letting his long, ragged black cape take the brunt of the explosion. Bakugou’s back hit the cliff’s face and he started falling… until he floated right back up.

“Sorry! Are you alright?!” the giant asked.

“That’s not your fucking problem, asshole!” Bakugou yelled right back, taking over the giant’s wind to start flying again on his own terms.

He tried to launch himself back at the giant, but seeing his friend get hurt, even by accident, was the trigger Eijirou needed.

“Bakugou just stop!” he yelled again, and finally, finally acted.

He still had no idea what to do, so he leaped toward his friend…

…and missed him. He only managed to grab the tip of his cape, and released it when he realized it would make them both fall to their deaths.

The next second felt… weird. Unnatural. The fall itself was scary, of course: Eijirou had never felt more powerless as his heart lurched in his throat. But more than that, it felt wrong, like Eijirou wasn’t supposed to be going down.

“Kirishima!” Bakugou yelled.

Eijirou saw him plunge toward him at full speed as the ground got closer and closer, but it was useless.

Eijirou was already floating, enveloped in the giant's gentle winds.

“You can’t fly?! If you wanted to play too, you should have said so!” the giant exclaimed, concerned.

“No one asked for your fucking opinion,” Bakugou growled. Eijirou could tell he was ready to attack again, so he grabbed his friend’s arm and muffled his explosion against a hardened palm.

“Bakugou, please. He obviously doesn’t mean harm. You can fight later if he wants to, but let’s talk first.”

Bakugou’s angry glare was intense enough that Eijirou could have caught fire, but he held it with all the determination he could muster. He wouldn’t budge on this one. If Bakugou was the kind of person to attack an innocent man just because of bad rumors, maybe Eijirou had misjudged him.

Finally, Bakugou gave in.

“Fucking… fine,” he gritted, and launched the two of them back up on the ledge, as Eijirou belatedly realized that the giant had been floating them up the whole time. The landing was a lot less graceful than earlier, Eijirou noted as he regained balance.

“Thank you,” he said with a sigh of relief, glad to be back on solid ground where he belonged.

Bakugou’s grumbled answer was blown away by the wind.

Chapter Text

“So, what did you two come here for?!” the giant asked, landing near them with barely a sound.

“Oh, hello! I’m sorry my friend attacked you, you took us by surprise,” Eijirou said with a sheepish smile. “I’m Kirishima Eijirou, by the way.”

The man’s eyes grew wide and for a second, Eijirou worried that he’d shown his teeth by accident again. But his lips were clearly closed, so…

“I apologize for my rudeness!!!” the giant yelled, bowing down so low that his face almost touched the ground. “I’m Yoarashi Inasa, nice to meet you! You can call me Inasa!”

“Nice to meet you too. And no need to apologize, we didn’t really give you a chance to introduce yourself,” Eijirou said with a nervous laugh, discreetly nudging Bakugou with his foot so his friend introduced himself as well.

Inasa looked back up and sat cross-legged on the ground to be closer to their height before he asked, looking at Bakugou, “I don’t think I caught your name! Gakugou?”

“Bakugou,” Bakugou grumbled.

“Nice to meet you! You’re a great fighter! I’ve never seen a fire mage use their magic like this! And your wind magic is awesome!” he exclaimed with an excited grin.

“You can’t fucking say that when you barely uncrossed your arms,” Bakugou grumbled, visibly displeased with how the fight went.

“But that’s why I think you’re so good! I almost never use my arms because I can’t always control my strength! It’s the first time in years I had to do this!”

“Next time, I’ll force you to fight me with all your strength!” Bakugou growled.

“I’m looking forward to it!” Inasa grinned. Then, he took a quick look inside the cavern, stood up, and asked, “Would you like to come inside? Then you can tell me what brings you here! I moved in recently but people have been really helpful so far!”

By the time he was done speaking, he was already inside the cave. Eijirou exchanged a look with Bakugou, shrugged, and followed him.

“Yeah, about that…” he started, worried, as he took in the sight of Inasa’s current place. There wasn’t much, but the giant was clearly making an effort to make the big cavern feel like home. It was filled with various carpets, mismatched cushions, and a pile of blankets in the corner. Inasa offered them cushions to sit on as he looked through what appeared to be a pantry, moving things around with wind magic only. Eijirou accepted with a smile, still unsure how to continue.

“They’re helpful because you scare the shit out of them,” Bakugou announced, direct as ever as he plopped down on a cushion next to Eijirou and made himself at home.

The floating food fell, and Inasa whipped around with wide eyes.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY’RE SCARED OF ME?!!” he yelled in disbelief, loud enough that Eijirou had to cover his ears. “Did they tell you that?! Is this why you’re here?!”

“You didn’t know that?” Eijirou asked, heart breaking a little.

“They tried to throw things at me at first, but they stopped when I explained the situation! Then they started giving me everything I asked for and didn’t even accept my money!”

“Oh, Inasa, I’m so sorry…” Eijirou said. “They sent us because they think you’re dangerous.”

“But I’m not! I offered to help them! I didn’t fight back when they attacked me!”

“Well, we know that, but it seems that people in Castelmorn were too scared to listen.”

“What are you even doing here?” Bakugou asked. “How did you come so deep in Yuuei territory without noticing people here are scared shitless of giants?”

“I grew up here!” Inasa explained. “My parents found me as a kid. They thought I was just tall for my age at first, but then I kept growing, and…” His smile slipped for a second, but it came back full force when Inasa concluded, “I couldn’t fit in the house lately, and people in the village weren’t very friendly, so I decided to try my luck somewhere else! And I thought people here were really welcoming and maybe if I tried hard enough, they’d let me settle here! And these caverns are a pretty good start too!”

“If you wanna find people who won’t try to kick your ass on sight, you should go to the Golden Mountains in the east,” Bakugou said. “There are other giants there, they’ll take you in.”

“Oh, that’s great! I’ve never met another giant!” Inasa beamed. “But you see… I really like it here! The winds are perfect for me, especially near the bridge! And I’m sure if you tell people I’m not trying to hurt them, they’ll listen this time!”

“Oh, sure! We can definitely try that,” Eijirou said. After hearing Inasa’s story, he wanted to help the giant more than ever. If he could make people in Castelmorn accept him, then maybe people back home would be ready to accept Eijirou, scales and all.

“They won’t,” Bakugou said, final. “The only reason you’re not dead yet is because you’re tough as shit and people are scared of you. But they’ll keep looking for a way to get rid of you until they get your empty head on a spike.”

Eyes trained on Inasa, he didn’t seem to notice how much his words broke Eijirou’s heart. But his friend was right, just like his parents. Eijirou should count himself lucky he was able to hide, or else he’d have died long ago…

“But I’m sure there’s a way! You can try, right?!” Inasa insisted.

“Yeah, Bakugou! It’s worth a try,” Eijirou agreed, turning toward his friend. Never in his life had he heard a story about giants that ended well for the giant, but there had to be a way. Inasa was a nice guy, he was ready to help, he… “The thieves at the bridge,” he realized.

“What about them?” Bakugou asked.

“People might not listen if we just give our word that Inasa is nice, but if he helps us get rid of the thieves at the bridge, maybe they will?”

At least, it was how it worked in stories. The only non-human talking creatures allowed to have a happy ending were the ones that helped the heroes in their quest. So maybe it would work in real life as well.

“I can give back what I took from them too!” Inasa exclaimed, bowing down. “I thought these things were given to me willingly but if not, I don’t want them! I can’t replace the food I already ate, but I can pay for it! Please!”

Bakugou’s gaze went from Eijirou to Inasa, then back to Eijirou… It lingered on him for a few seconds, as if testing his resolve, and landed on Inasa again.

“Fucking fine,” he said. “Here’s what we’re gonna do. We come back to Castelmorn with the shit you stole–”

“It was an accident!” Inasa interrupted.

“–we get our reward, we tell them you’re not dangerous and you want to stay. And we say you’re ready to get them rid of the thieves at the bridge to prove your good faith.”

“Thank you! That sounds perfect!” Inasa grinned.

“Yeah, I think it could work,” Eijirou agreed, relieved that his friend was finally on their side.

“I still think it’s fucking stupid. And if we don’t get the full reward, you’re paying for it, Baldy,” Bakugou said.

“I’m not bald!” Inasa protested, pointing at his incredibly short black hair.

“We can always keep the money from the thieves, if it comes to that,” Eijirou shrugged.

“Whatever,” Bakugou said. “Also, I have a condition.”

“Yes? Anything you want!” Inasa replied.

Bakugou’s face split into a fierce smile. “I want a rematch. And you better be serious, this time!”

“I was already serious!” Inasa protested.

“You can be serious without trying to kill the other person, you know,” Eijirou chimed in. “Look at us.”

“I’ll be as serious as possible without hurting you seriously!” Inasa announced.

“Good,” Bakugou nodded. “Let’s go then!”

“Now?!” Inasa and Eijirou asked in unison.

“Of course now. I came here for a damn fight and I’m gonna get it!”

“Sure, then!” Inasa replied in a heartbeat. “Let’s go!”

.

Bakugou and Inasa spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon sparring in the air, further away from the cliff than last time to give them more room. Meanwhile, Eijirou was watching them from the ledge, fascinated.

Now that he didn't have to worry about the two killing each other, he could truly enjoy the show. And what a show it was! Bakugou was more captivating than ever, fast and agile, always moving, his cape fluttering behind him like butterfly wings. He sometimes used it to catch a draft or slow down and take sharp turns, grabbing and releasing it as needed. As for Inasa, he was still a little static, but he'd started avoiding Bakugou's explosions more after taking a few bad ones at point blank. It was obvious that he wasn't used to moving so much, but once he got the hang of it, it truly looked like a dance in black and red, set to the music of howling winds, Inasa’s laughter, deafening explosions, and Bakugou’s outraged yells.

Bakugou seemed to be having so much fun… His explosions weren't as big as the ones he used against Eijirou these days, but he looked like he was made for these three-dimensional fights. Being mostly stuck on the ground with Eijirou must be so dull for him… 

Eijirou shook his head at the thought. This wasn’t about him. He should be happy for his friend and Inasa, instead of thinking about what it must feel like to be able to fight so easily high in the air, far above the trees.

Fine, maybe Eijirou was a little jealous. Or more precisely, he was feeling left out. It wasn’t just about them not paying any attention to him, he wanted to fly too! And sometimes, he even felt like he could. When Bakugou created an updraft to get around Inasa, when Inasa lost balance for a few meters before flying right back up, for a second, Eijirou felt like he could just leap off the cliff and join them. Then, he remembered how miserably he’d fallen earlier, and reminded himself that just because everyone around him made flying look easy didn’t mean that it was.

If only earth magic could do that…

Before Eijirou knew it, Bakugou and Inasa started flying back toward him.

“Kirishima! We just remembered about lunch! Sorry for making you wait!” Inasa announced as he landed. “Let me check what I have! Oh, and if you want to refresh yourselves later, there’s a little spring at the back of the cavern!”

Eijirou and Bakugou nodded, but before Eijirou could join the giant inside, his friend planted himself in front of him and said, “Don’t think I’m gonna let you slack off today. You’ve got some training to do.”

“Oh, um… You’re sure?” Eijirou asked with a shy smile. He didn’t want his friend to overexert himself, but he couldn’t help it: he was glad he hadn’t been forgotten.

“Of course I’m fucking sure,” Bakugou said.

“Yes! We don’t want you to feel left out!” Inasa chimed in as he joined them back out. “I want us to be friends too!”

“Aw, thanks!” Eijirou beamed.

“For the last time, Baldy, we’re not–”

“I’m not bald though, see?” Inasa interrupted lifting his hat to show his head again.

Bakugou ignored him and stomped his way into the cavern instead. “We eating or what?” he barked.

“Sure! Let me show you what I have!” Inasa said, running after him on surprisingly light footsteps, Eijirou following closely behind.

.

Inasa flew him down the cliff after lunch, slow and controlled, while Bakugou basically jumped down and used a couple of explosions and a last second updraft to cushion the fall.

“Your friend is a very dynamic fighter! And flyer!” Inasa commented as they slowly reached the ground. “It’s the first time I get to fight someone who can fly too, it was amazing!”

“You two were fascinating to watch, I was so excited! It almost felt like I could fly too,” Eijirou admitted with a laugh.

“Do you want me to give you a ride later?” Inasa asked eagerly as he landed them. “Flying is so fun, I love sharing it with my friends!”

“You’d do that? Thanks, dude! I always thought I belonged on the ground, but seeing you two really made me want to try!”

“You two idiots, stop babbling and start fighting now!” Bakugou barked.

“What? Us?” Eijirou asked, pointing at Inasa and him.

“Who else?”

“You can’t just decide that!” Eijirou protested.

“No, it’s fine!” Inasa said. “I’m very curious to see what you can do! Bakugou made it sound like you’d be a fun opponent!”

“You guys talked about me?”

“I said start fighting!” Bakugou barked over Inasa telling him that of course they did.

Inasa laughed and Eijirou shook his head with an amused smile before they both put themselves in position.

To say things quickly turned bad for Eijirou would be an understatement. To keep it fair, Inasa said he would stay on the ground, but it didn’t change much because Eijirou simply couldn’t touch him. Whenever he got too close, Inasa blew him back. Eijirou did his best to resist, but everytime he tried to take a step forward or rush toward his opponent, he lost balance and was blown away like a dry leaf. It was disheartening. And more than that, it was unacceptable! Eijirou was an earth mage, damn it! He wasn’t a great one for sure, but he wasn’t supposed to lose his footing so easily!

After another failed attempt, Eijirou decided to change strategy. Letting his frustration fuel his determination, he took off his tunic and boots, leaving them in Bakugou’s care, and went back to face Inasa on bare feet. He lowered his stance, feet wide apart to stay stable, like he’d been taught, and growled, “Again.”

He didn’t try to move immediately when Inasa’s wind blew against him. Instead, he checked his footing, testing his stability, and started walking slowly, making sure to keep both feet on the ground, hardened to make his body heavier.

Inasa’s wind blew stronger, making Eijirou lose some ground, but he stayed upright, strong and immovable, and hardened even more. It was so different from what he was used to…

To fight against Bakugou, Eijirou had to stay light on his feet. He always made sure to stay stable—or at least, so he thought until now—but staying immobile meant being at his friend’s mercy and he couldn’t afford it. Here, though, Eijirou would have to do the opposite. He’d have to make himself as heavy and tough as possible and anchor himself to the ground.

“You won’t go down. That’s what makes you strong,” Bakugou told him once—although maybe not in those exact terms. It was time to show his friend how strong he was, then!

Forcing himself to increase his hardening to the limit, Eijirou took one step forward, then two.

Inasa’s wind was now howling in his ears, and Eijirou was glad he’d taken off his headbands before the fight started, tying them securely around his belts to make sure they didn’t get blown away. He could barely keep his eyes open at this point, but he still stood strong.

He hardened even more and slowly, carefully, he took another step forward. Then another.

If his hardened skin didn’t make him fully insensitive to temperature changes, Eijirou would probably be freezing. He couldn’t see anything and the raging wind was the only sound that reached him, but he wouldn’t let it stop him.

Bakugou mentioned once that wind mages preferred to fight at a distance because they were like the eye of a storm: if you got close enough to them, their winds weakened. So Eijirou didn’t need to see or hear anything. When he was close enough to strike, he’d feel it.

Inasa’s wind grew even stronger somehow, but so did Eijirou’s hardening. His muscles were so contracted he couldn’t breathe, but it allowed him to take two more steps, until…

Scales.

His skin was itching like scales were going to come out. It was bad. It was very bad! He couldn’t let anyone see them!

In his panic, Eijirou’s skin softened for a second. It was enough to make him lose balance and get blown away like a leaf.

“Kirishima!” someone yelled, or maybe it was two voices. His body hit the ground, but even it wasn’t enough to stop him from tumbling away. He hardened immediately, just enough not to get hurt, until he finally came to a stop when he hit a tree.

Dizzy and disoriented, it took him a few seconds to regain his bearings.

“Kirishima, are you okay?! I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have gone that hard!” Inasa yelled, rushing toward him.

“I’m okay,” Eijirou wheezed as he tried to catch his breath and slowly rolled to his side to sit up. “Man, you didn’t pull your punches!” he added once he felt a little better, finally opening his eyes to find Inasa crouching at his side and Bakugou walking toward them.

Surprised, Eijirou looked behind his friend to find his boots lying at least ten meters away from them.

Inasa laughed. “You didn’t leave me much choice!” he said. “I didn’t expect our spar to turn into this, but you were amazing!”

“Ah, sorry,” Eijirou said with a sheepish smile. “It must have been so boring for you two.”

“No, no, it was thrilling! You were immovable for a moment, it was like fighting against a mountain!”

“Sucks that you lost focus at the end,” Bakugou said, cheeks red from the wind, as he handed him his shirt. “I wanted to see you punch Baldy in the dick.” 

Shit, the scales!

Panicking, Eijirou took a few seconds to check his body, and swallowed a sigh of relief when he didn’t find any.

When he focused on the two others again, quickly putting on his shirt, they were arguing about how mean Bakugou’s comment was. Choosing to ignore them, Eijirou slowly got back on his feet and stretched a bit, making sure he didn’t hurt himself.

He stopped when he heard Bakugou and Inasa go silent.

“Oh, no…” the giant whispered.

“What’s wrong?” Eijirou asked, intrigued.

“Look at the fucking trees,” Bakugou said, eyes sparkling with excitement.

Eijirou turned around and gasped as he realized where he’d landed. It wasn’t a tree trunk that stopped his fall. It was tree roots. Because, even as far as they were from the fight, a few trees behind Eijirou had been uprooted. And Eijirou, who was just at the right distance from Inasa, where the wind was at its strongest, stood strong and even managed to take a few steps forward.

Suddenly feeling very light, he let a wide smile creep on his face while Inasa started fussing about the trees, trying and failing to keep them upright.

“Teeth,” Bakugou whispered next to him before he went to tell Inasa that it was too late for the damn trees.

To make Inasa feel better, Eijirou offered to help him. He didn’t know if they were going to survive without proper care, but when his parents found out he had affinities with earth magic, they made sure he knew how to help them with uprooted trees. So he could at least keep them upright long enough to give them a chance to heal.

.

Eijirou couldn’t sleep. Despite how eventful the day had been, between rock climbing for the first time, his fight against Inasa and then Bakugou, and Inasa flying with him around the mountain while Bakugou followed them reluctantly, his mind refused to rest, no matter how exhausted his body was.

Inasa had told them a bit more about his past over dinner. How he used to have many friends growing up, how he learned wind magic because he kept being reprimanded for playing too rough… Much like Eijirou, everything had been going great for him… until he couldn’t hide his true nature anymore. Inasa’s parents insisted that he was just a tall and strong man when he reached two meters, but when he kept growing even more, even they couldn’t ignore the truth about who he was. A giant. An ogre. A fearsome monster, like those who used to roam the land, eating and destroying everything in their wake until they were driven away and eradicated—the “shameful cousins” of the peaceful, nature-loving giants in the Golden Mountains, as Bakugou called them.

Everything became harder for him from there. Once Inasa couldn’t fit in his parents’ house, everyone in the village turned their backs on him. His parents did their best to accommodate him at first, but when adventurers came to the village and tried to attack Inasa, putting them in danger as well, they told him that he couldn’t stay here anymore. So, barely a day later, Inasa left the village. He’d been on his own for a while, going from place to place, looking for a job, but he just wouldn’t stop growing and it became harder and harder for him to even trade with the people he came across.

Inasa didn’t sound sad, when he told them all of this around the fire, but Eijirou couldn’t stop thinking about it; about how hard it must have been to be driven away like this, to lose his loved ones, to be on his own, unable to fit anywhere…

It could have been him, Eijirou thought, again and again, heart clenching as he tossed and turned in his bedroll. It could be him, if he wasn’t careful. Bakugou had no problem with his teeth, but there were the scales, and the sounds, and as a kid, Eijirou sometimes grew horns and a tail. Even he didn’t know how far the transformation would go if he let it happen, or what he would look like as a result. He couldn’t risk losing his friends over this. He couldn’t risk being cast away and hunted down as a monster.

Like Bakugou said, the only things that had saved Inasa this whole time were the fear he inspired and his ability to fly away quickly if he had to. Eijirou had neither: he was just a scaly, sharp toothed freak who sometimes sounded like an animal. If he was found out, he’d be dead within a week.

He turned to his side and found himself face to face with Bakugou, who was sleeping soundly. Eijirou didn’t want to lose this. He didn’t want to lose him. And if the only way to keep this life was to hide, then so be it. It’s what he’d always done, after all. He could keep going forever.

As he forced himself to close his eyes, Eijirou repeated this like a mantra.

.

That night, Eijirou dreamed of flying. He dreamed of the wind in his hair and the ground far under him, with thick forests and barren cliffs, just like he’d seen that afternoon. But this time, Inasa wasn’t there to make him float, and Bakugou wasn’t reluctantly flying beside them, grumbling as he used his red cape like wings. Eijirou was alone and free. His hands were slowly getting covered with red scales and there was no one to see him. He was smiling as wide as he could, and nothing could–

“Eijirou, your teeth!” his mother screamed.

He woke up with a start.

Chapter Text

They set out to Castelmorn after breakfast. Since Inasa couldn’t fly both Eijirou, himself and all the things he’d mistakenly stolen, they had to settle for the next best thing: walking. They managed to reach the pastures before sunset and decided to spend the night in a shepherd’s refuge marked on the map where they could easily store everything. It seemed like a perfect plan, but as Eijirou soon found out, one problem remained.

“Inasa, you can’t even fit through the door, can you?” he asked.

Inasa took a moment to study the building, tried different approaches to squeeze his big body through the tiny door as if it wasn’t obvious already that he was never going to fit, and shook his head in defeat.

“Where are you going to sleep? You don’t look like you have a tent either,” Eijirou said, concerned.

Inasa laughed at the comment. “It’s okay, I knew it would happen! I’ll just fly back to the cliffs and meet you tomorrow morning! Goodnight you two!”

“Why the fuck did you come all the way with us then?!” Bakugou barked.

“To help you carry everything and know where you were going to spend the night?”

“You could’ve flown ahead and dropped everything at the lodge, dumbass.”

“And miss out on a chance to spend time with my new friends? No way!” Inasa grinned.

“For the last time…” Bakugou started, and Eijirou hurried to wrap an arm around his shoulders and cover his mouth with a hardened hand.

“Thanks, dude! We’re glad you came with us. Be careful on your way back!” he smiled as Bakugou struggled against his hold.

“Yeah, whatever, see you tomorrow Baldy,” the Barbarian grumbled as soon as he managed to free his mouth.

“Goodnight!” Eijirou added cheerfully.

Inasa flew away, waving excitedly, and Eijirou did the same until he couldn’t see the giant.

It was too late and too dark to train at that point, but being able to spend the night under an actual roof, however sparsely furnished, more than made up for it. Especially when Bakugou and he made themselves comfortable among the many carpets, cushions, blankets and duvets they were bringing back to the villagers. Rain poured again during the night, but instead of making them cold and miserable, it lulled them both to sleep.

.

They reached Castelmorn the next afternoon,spending most of the trip trying to convince  Inasa to stay away from the town while they returned the goods so that the townsfolk wouldn't get the wrong idea. It took until the walls were in sight for the giant to reluctantly agree to stay hidden and only come out when called, leaving Bakugou and Eijirou walking the rest of the way at a snail’s pace, a mountain of fabric and household goods precariously piled up in their arms.

As they approached the town in silence, Eijirou’s stomach started twisting in increasingly complex knots. He’d spent most of the last stretch trying to figure out what to say, what the best approach would be to make sure Inasa could stay in the area without being driven away by the locals, but nothing seemed good enough. And he couldn’t afford to mess up.

If Eijirou didn’t manage to convince the people of Castelmorn that Inasa wasn’t a threat, the giant would have to be on the road again. He’d have no support, and no guarantee that the next people he’d meet would give him enough time to explain himself before they tried to kill him or sent strong adventurers after him. Inasa would be forced to roam the land with nowhere to go, and if no one could accept a really big human, how would Eijirou ever be accepted for who he was?

“Stop panicking or I’m the one doing the talking,” Bakugou growled next to him as they reached the doors and asked to be let in.

“Nope, I’m fine!” Eijirou exclaimed. “I’m good, I can do it.”

Bakugou was good at many things and surprisingly confident in public, but speeches and negotiations weren’t his strong suits and his manners were unpredictable at best. After meeting Miruko, Eijirou started to suspect that at least part of the issue was due to cultural differences—after all, she also seemed to value straightforwardness and having the guts to say what you mean without sugar-coating it—but Bakugou wouldn’t act differently even after Eijirou tried to explain that this wasn’t how they did things in Yuuei.

He couldn’t let his friend do this for him. This time, Eijirou had to take the lead.

He took a deep breath when the doors opened and guards came to help them carry all the stolen goods to the station, relieving Eijirou of most of his load. He was surprised to see how many there were, but Jirou had explained before they left that being a relatively isolated town located on an important trade route, Castelmorn had a powerful local guard that almost rivaled with major cities and even had its own dedicated building, right next to the pompous town hall. And to think all of them had cowered in fear upon seeing Inasa…

It was probably for the best, though.

As they walked down the main street, the rumor that they’d defeated the giant spread like wildfire. Soon, people were outside, cheering them loudly, just like in Eijirou’s old fantasies. Only the roses were missing, but he suspected that people didn’t have time to find flowers to throw at them in so little time.

Meanwhile, the guards tried to ask how they did it and if they’d killed the monster. Bakugou ignored them. Eijirou could only gulp.

“We’ll explain at the station, when your captain is here,” he said with a confidence he didn’t feel. Too caught up in the general euphoria, no one seemed to notice.

“Of course, of course,” they replied with cheerful smiles. “We’re also going to call for the mayor, so he can thank you both personally.”

“Oh… good,” Eijirou said weakly. It was probably for the best if he wanted to negotiate letting Inasa stay, but for now, it only made him even more nervous. It would be the first time in his life he’d get to talk to someone important, and he still had no idea how he was going to breach the subject of Inasa being alive, well, and very much still in the area.

But Eijirou wouldn’t back down now. He couldn’t. Inasa was counting on him, and it’d be unmanly of him not to help.

Once they reached the station, the guards told them to drop the goods in the town hall so they could let the townspeople come and get them back. Then, they were led to the captain’s office once more and told to wait a moment for the mayor to join them. Eijirou could have used this extra time to figure out the right approach, but instead, it only made his anxiety rise to new levels. He was pretty sure the knots of worry in his guts were now the shape of a nice, tightly knit cardigan at that point.

“Don’t forget: first we get the reward, then you bring up Baldy’s request,” Bakugou whispered next to him before the captain of the guard joined them.

Eijirou nodded. It was a start. He could do this. He had to do this.

Oh, how he wished to have Kaminari and Sero with him… They were great at this. They’d know what to say for sure. Eijirou should have asked for them first. But now, it was too late.

It wasn’t long before the mayor arrived. Just long enough for Eijirou to feel like he was going to suffocate in the awkward atmosphere of the room, but soon enough for him to not actually drown in it. Sadly.

“So you are the two heroes who freed us from this terrible giant?” the mayor asked as soon as he stepped into the room. He was a rather corpulent man with a white jawline beard and a nervous spring in his steps that made him look surprisingly agile, for a man his weight.

“Uh… yeah…” Eijirou started. “About that…”

Bakugou pinched his side in warning. Eijirou didn’t even have to look at him to understand what it meant: “Wait until we get the reward, dumbass.”

“Um… Yeah, he won’t hurt you or steal from you anymore,” Eijirou said with more confidence, hanging on to the glimmers of truth like a drowning man in a storm. His family would know at a glance he was hiding something, but fortunately for him, these people didn’t know him. They didn’t have a lifetime to notice his many tells, like the way he was scratching his itching wrists.

“This is great news! Thank you so much for your help. We will see that you are fairly compensated for your bravery,” the mayor smiled.

“Yeah, no problem, man. Um… Sir,” Eijirou corrected nervously. This was going horribly, but no one was dead or in prison yet, so at least it was better than most of his worst case scenarios.

For now.

“Your reward is being prepared right now,” the guard captain, who had introduced himself earlier as Tsukauchi, announced. “But of course, we’re going to need proof that the giant is really gone. It would do us no good if he were to come back later.”

For a man as plain looking as him, his gaze was incredibly intense. Piercing, even. It was as if he could see straight into Eijirou’s soul and know he was lying.

Eijirou gulped. “Um… Yeah, sure. I mean…”

“We got your stuff back, didn’t we?” Bakugou intervened. Eijirou had never been more relieved to hear his friend ignore his pleas not to talk.

“Yes, and if you stole these items back from the giant without facing him, he will come back to our town, and he will be angry,” Tsukauchi said.

“We didn’t steal anything!” Eijirou protested, latching on his chance to say the truth like the same drowning man on a lifeline.

“And he sure was a pain in the ass to fight,” Bakugou grumbled.

“So tell us, heroes, how did you face this formidable foe?” the mayor asked, curious. “Surely, it must have been a fight worthy of legends!”

“Ah, you see…” Eijirou started. “About that reward…?”

Bakugou pinched him again, harder this time. That was it. Eijirou was going to ruin this for the both of them.

The awkward, tense silence that settled in the room while he was trying to find a different approach was interrupted by loud voices and footsteps coming from the other side of the door.

“Let us in! We’re traveling bards, we need to hear the story! For posterity! History! The heroes gave us exclusive rights already!” an approaching voice said. Kaminari, Eijirou recognized, so grateful for his friend’s unexpected arrival he could have cried.

“Sorry about him… Sorry… If you’d just step aside…” two other voices—Sero and Jirou—added, placating.

The door opened with a loud bang, revealing his friends and a few guards still trying to stop them.

“There you are!” Kaminari exclaimed with a grin. “So, how did it go? Tell us everything!”

Sero, Jirou, and the guards shoved into the room behind him. The first two gave Bakugou and him a friendly wave while the others apologized profusely for the interruption.

“Oh no, it’s fine. This way, we’ll only have to tell the story once, right?” Eijirou said, hoping his friends would be allowed to stay. If he could get them on Inasa’s side, he was sure they could convince the rest of the room. It would make things so much easier for him!

Next to him, Bakugou was pinching the bridge of his nose and muttering insults under his breath, while the mayor and the captain still recovered from their surprise and scolded the guards for letting strangers barge in like this.

“We’re still waiting for the damn reward,” Bakugou said then, loud enough to be heard above the commotion, arms crossed.

“We’re still waiting for your proof that the giant is gone for good,” the captain retorted, raising an eyebrow.

“Isn’t it enough that you got your stuff back and he won’t hurt you?” Eijirou asked then, exasperated. He couldn’t do this after all. He was going to ruin everything, but neither he nor Bakugou could lie anyway, so why pretend? “We talked to him, okay? We didn’t need to fight him because he’s a really nice guy and this was all a misunderstanding!”

A stunned silence settled in the room.

Kaminari was the first to recover. “You… talked to him?” he asked, hesitant.

“Yeah, his name is Inasa and he’s really not dangerous, I promise,” Eijirou said, hardening under his shirt so Bakugou would stop pinching him. His friend stomped on his foot when he realized his first tactic wouldn’t work, and Eijirou elbowed him in the ribs.

“And how can you be so sure about this?” the mayor asked with a glare, arms crossed.

“He didn’t attack us when we came to his place. He gave us food and shelter for a day. He offered himself to give back what he took when we explained that you gave him those items out of fear. He even helped us carry them all the way back here!”

“You mean he’s here right now?” the captain asked, suddenly alarmed.

“He shouldn’t be far, but we told him to stay away so he wouldn’t scare you,” Eijirou explained.

“You led him here,” the mayor hissed accusingly.

“We didn’t lead him anywhere, he already knew this place. That’s why you sent us to kick him out, remember?” Bakugou grumbled.

“Oh… right.”

“Anyway, I promise he’s not going to hurt anyone. He’s just trying to find somewhere to settle and he really likes it here,” Eijirou continued. “Actually, he wanted to know if maybe he could stay?”

His last words came out with a shy, tentative smile that vanished as soon as he saw the others’ faces.

“Never!” the mayor said immediately. “We don’t want a monster like him around. What if he decides to kill people?”

“It might be a ruse to lower our guard,” the captain agreed.

“If he wanted to hurt you, he’d have done it from the start,” Bakugou said.

“Yeah, you told us yourselves that you couldn’t stop him, so he wouldn’t need you to lower your guard. He could just attack now,” Eijirou pointed out.

That… probably wasn’t the right thing to say, judging by the way the captain’s expression soured.

“He also said he’s ready to help us get rid of the thieves by the bridge,” Eijirou added quickly.

“He’s doing it for free. We’re not,” Bakugou mentioned.

“We could get rid of those thieves ourselves, if it wasn’t for the ogre threatening us,” the captain retorted.

“He’s not threatening you!” Eijirou protested.

“He’s not an ogre, or you’d be dead already,” Bakugou grumbled.

“If you let the giant do this for you, you wouldn’t have to risk your men’s lives,” Kaminari remarked.

“And then what? We’d have to let him stay here? Where would he even live, with his size?” the mayor scoffed.

“Would the bridge be far enough?” Eijirou asked. “He said he liked it there, and he’s looking for a job. Maybe he could guard it for you.”

“And steal our tolls? No thank you.”

“But I’m telling you, he’s honest!”

“And if he’s the one collecting the tolls for you, no one will dare challenge him,” Sero pointed out.

The mayor crossed his arms. “And how are we going to get the money back if he decides to keep all of it for himself?”

“What would he do with it anyway, if he decided to keep it?” Eijirou asked, somber. “No one wants to trade with him. It’s useless to him.”

The more he thought about it, the worse he felt for Inasa. He had to help him. He had to find a way to convince these people that the giant meant no harm.

When he looked up, surprised by the sudden silence, he found everyone’s eyes on him, stunned and somewhat pained. Even the captain looked a little swayed, this time. The mayor, however, seemed unfazed.

“Look, why don’t you give him a chance?” Eijirou asked again. “Meet him and have a real talk, maybe? We can stay around if it makes you feel safer.”

“How would you know if you can protect us when you didn’t even fight him?” the captain retorted, his guarded expression back on his face.

“We did. I can take him,” Bakugou said.

“And it won’t be necessary anyway because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone,” Eijirou added, looking the captain in the eye as if daring him to find a lie.

“Ogres aren’t supposed to be smart,” Kaminari pointed out suddenly. “Wouldn’t it be much too elaborate for him, if it’s really just a twisted scheme to earn your trust and betray you later?”

“Yeah, I’ve never heard of a single story about giants or ogres doing that. They just… come, destroy everything, eat cattle and people… You know. They don’t need elaborate schemes to get what they want, that's why they're so easy to fool,” Jirou added.

“That's just ogres, giants don't do that,” Bakugou muttered, exasperated.

Tsukauchi sighed. “Fine. I’ll meet him and… reevaluate the threat.” He then turned toward the guards still in the room and said, “I want five men ready to come with me. Armed.”

They gulped, clearly not thrilled to be facing the ‘threat,’ but nodded and left the room.

“Wait,” Eijirou said. “We’ll lead you to him but first, you have to promise not to hurt him.”

Tsukauchi turned back toward him and held his gaze for a long time. Eijirou refused to flinch.

“You trust the giant that much?” he finally asked. “Can you guarantee that he isn’t going to attack us?”

“Yes,” Eijirou said, arms crossed, steady and immovable for the first time since he came back to Castelmorn.

“You’re ready to assume full responsibility for his actions?”

“Yes.”

Tsukauchi nodded. “Very well. If anything happens to me or my men, we’ll take your heads first.”

“You won’t have to,” Eijirou replied, surprised by how unfazed he was by the threat. He knew Inasa wasn’t going to do anything, and the guards would have to go through him before he let them hurt the giant.

Bakugou stayed silent next to him, but anger was radiating from him like heat from a blade fresh out of the furnace.

“You know what? I’ve never met a giant. I’ll come with you guys!” Kaminari exclaimed with a grin, cutting through the heavy tension in the room like butter.

“Yeah, it sounds fun,” Sero added.

“We need our story anyway,” Jirou shrugged.

“No one invited you,” Bakugou grumbled.

“I’ll accept it,” Tsukauchi said. “But know that my men won’t protect you if things go bad.”

“But they won’t, right Kirishima?” Sero asked with a smile.

“No way, dude! Inasa’s a really cool guy,” Eijirou grinned, relieved to at least have those three on his side.

Maybe they could do this, after all. Maybe they could help Inasa find the home he was looking for.

.

Eijirou was nervous. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Bakugou’s plan—in fact, he trusted his friend entirely and had absolute confidence that it was the best course of action—but… there was so much at stake, and what if Eijirou messed up?

The negotiations with Castelmorn’s officials about Inasa’s future had gone surprisingly well, considering Eijirou expected them to be a failure after seeing everyone’s initial reaction. They weren’t exactly pleasant, but after a long talk and loud apologies from Inasa, they had reached a compromise: once the thieves at the bridge were gone, Inasa would be allowed to come to Castelmorn to trade once in a while, as long as he stayed outside the walls and protected the town from attacks.

They wouldn’t help him settle or give him a job, however.

It seemed incredibly unfair to Eijirou, but Inasa had accepted the terms eagerly, much to his surprise. Kaminari, Sero, and Jirou seemed to feel the same way, but they all knew there wasn’t much else they could do. It had already taken all of their persuasion skills to reach this point.

When Eijirou asked, Inasa said he was confident that it was just the beginning and people would warm up to him eventually. Eijirou wished he could be so optimistic, but his parents’ voices kept nagging him, a constant reminder that no one accepted monsters around here and being silently cast out was the best you could hope for once you were found out.

Still, part of Eijirou wanted to believe the giant’s words. Inasa was a great guy, and any town would be lucky to have him. But if they didn’t manage to kick out the thieves tonight, all of their negotiations would have been for nothing and he’d never have a chance to prove himself.

Eijirou trusted Bakugou’s plan without question, but they couldn’t afford to fail. Both for the sake of Inasa, and for their reward.

“You’re doing the opposite of driving the giant away,” Tsukauchi had said. “So you can have part of the reward now, for bringing our stolen goods back, but the rest will have to wait until you defeat the bandits.”

Bakugou didn’t like that, especially when Eijirou pointed out that they’d have to share the rest with Inasa, but it was still good money and they were going to need it. Bakugou had told him enough times that there wasn’t much money to be made as an adventurer in winter.

The plan itself was relatively simple: let Inasa approach loudly to draw the thieves’ attention and scare away the weakest ones, then attack from another angle, where they wouldn’t expect two more opponents. Eijirou wasn’t worried about it not working, and he’d fought alongside Bakugou enough times that he trusted their teamwork. But the sun was setting, they didn’t know if any of their opponents could do magic or how many they were exactly, and what if Eijirou messed up? What if he froze in the face of real danger, like he used to? What if he had to kill someone because he wasn’t strong enough to subdue them? What if he got too caught up in the fight and ended up growling or something?

Eijirou’s gut-cardigan from earlier was just done unraveling, and it was already taking the shape of a long scarf that was also in knots.

He was brought back to reality by a sudden commotion near the camp. Inasa was approaching loudly, just according to plan. Soon, it would be their turn…

“Alright Shitty Hair, let’s kick their asses into next year,” Bakugou said with a grin as he drew his sword.

Eijirou gulped and nodded. “It’s Kirishima,” he reminded him out of habit.

“I’ll stop calling you Shitty Hair if you prove you can kick ass out there,” Bakugou said, challenging.

So manly…

Suddenly feeling energized, Eijirou knocked his hardened fists together and announced with a determined grin, “After tonight, you won’t want to call me that ever again!”

Bakugou’s answer came in the form of a vicious smirk, and with that, they were ready to go.

Since Inasa was attacking the little camp behind the toll house from the back, Bakugou opted to attack with Eijirou from the side. The first thing Eijirou noticed was a group of men running away in fear, but when he moved to go after them, Bakugou stopped him and motioned for them to keep going.

When they reached the camp, jumping above the low, hastily built wall surrounding the shabby tents, they were met with chaos. The thieves who didn’t run away were all trying to attack Inasa, and failing as miserably as Eijirou did two days ago. The ones attacking with swords, spikes and clubs had their weapons snatched away from their hands by Inasa’s wind and thrown into the ravine on the other side of the camp, while the men themselves were blown back like leaves. The ones with bows kept firing desperately, dipping the tip of their arrows in the fire next to them, but it was useless. Meanwhile, a man more richly dressed than the others, probably the leader, was screaming orders to no avail.

No one noticed Eijirou and Bakugou’s entrance in the confusion, and they easily took out a couple of men before they finally caught the attention of the rest.

“Fine, you useless bunch!” the leader yelled. “Take care of these two. Iwatetsu, focus on the giant.”

The man next to him nodded, and Eijirou finally noticed that he was pulling balls of solid dirt from the ground and throwing them at Inasa with enough strength to pierce right through the strong wind. The technique was raw and unrefined, the earth mage clearly lacking proper training, but it seemed efficient. Not that Eijirou could really see if the thrown rocks ever reached their target, because he suddenly had to defend himself against five or six angry men armed with makeshift weapons.

He hardened on instinct when one tried to stab him with a sharp stick. Eijirou punched him in the gut, leaving him curled up on the ground. Next to him, he heard Bakugou yell at the others to die as he jumped on them, the fire in his palms briefly lighting up his face and his manic grin, making him look like a death omen. The men who weren’t hit by the explosion froze, and as he remembered what Bakugou told him about the importance of intimidation when fighting small fry, Eijirou drew his swords. He had no intention of actually using them, too scared of seriously hurting his under-equipped opponents, but he still frowned as he adopted a fighting stance.

It was enough to make them run for their lives.

This time, Bakugou went after them himself, knocking down the few he could reach as he landed on them roughly, kicking them off balance while he grabbed the others by the collar. Then, as Bakugou went to attack the next group, Eijirou saw a volley of fire arrows rain on his friend and froze, unsure if his hardening would be able to stop them.

Unable to move, all he could do was yell, “Bakugou, watch out!”

The relief that washed over him when Bakugou threw himself out of the way with an explosion was nothing compared to the nauseating guilt filling his stomach like lead. He should have jumped. He should have at least tried.

He wasn’t supposed to be like this, damn it!

When a second volley came, Eijirou was ready. He didn’t pause to think as he jumped between Bakugou and the arrows, stopping them easily with his hardened skin. Without taking a breath, he ran toward the archers, upper body fully hardened. They froze for a second, then scrambled away as fast as they could.

They weren’t fast enough to escape Bakugou, who closed the gap loudly with a couple of explosions.

It only left them with the earth mage fighting Inasa, and the leader. Easy enough, Eijirou thought with a nod.

He changed his mind when said leader disappeared behind a bursting wall of flames.

“So just because you took out my useless underlings, you think you can take me?” he asked before bursting into laughter. “I think not! I’ll roast you two alive, and then I’ll do the same with the cowards who dared run away!”

“Are you fucking stupid? DIE!” Bakugou screamed as he launched himself in the air.

He was stopped by a barrage of sustained fire that was aimed too high for Eijirou to protect him. For a second, he thought that his help wouldn’t be needed, as Bakugou managed to deflect the worst of the fire. However, his efforts weren’t enough to completely douse the flames, and the fiery pillar kept following him in the air until he was forced to land.

“You fucker, stop that!” he yelled in frustration.

The only answer was a crazy laughter and even more flames.

For the first time, Eijirou saw Bakugou forced to stay on the defensive, using all of his power to keep the flames at bay.

Well, not on Eijirou’s watch. As an ex-blacksmith's apprentice, fire wasn’t going to stop him. He may not have any power over it, but once he hardened, fire didn’t have any power over him either.

He ran toward their opponent at full speed, hardened to the same level he’d reached against Inasa. He noticed, belatedly, that the wind wasn’t to blame for his inability to breathe back then. He’d probably have to work on that…

Just as the thought hit him, the man finally noticed Eijirou and focused all of his fire on him. Crossing his arms before himself, Eijirou kept running as he was engulfed in a torrent of flames.

They weren’t all that hot, to his surprise. Eijirou could never handle the heat of the furnace for long, but this was more to the level of a campfire.   Impressive, but not enough to hurt him. Even though Eijirou had focused on blades and blunt shocks for the past weeks, his resistance to fire had still improved dramatically since he’d started training seriously. Bakugou's explosions were much hotter than this. This was nothing.

The heat increased the closer he came to the source of the flames, but the feeling didn’t last long. Just as Eijirou felt his pants catch fire, the inferno surrounding him dissipated with the loud bang of Bakugou’s explosion, allowing him to quickly drop on the ground to douse the lingering flames on his clothes.

When he finally looked up, Eijirou found Bakugou tying up a passed out thief leader as Inasa walked toward them with a screaming earth mage gently floating in front of him.

“Good job you two!” the giant said with a beaming smile. “I think that’s all of them!”

“Thanks!” Eijirou replied with a smile of his own. “You did amazing too! We wouldn’t have done it without you.”

“Stop saying stupid shit, of course we’d have taken them. Useless fucking cowards,” Bakugou muttered as he finished securing the rope. He got up, looked at them, and announced, “I’m gonna tell the guards they can come and fetch those idiots. Don’t let them escape.”

“Sure!” Eijirou said.

“You can trust us!” Inasa added.

On this, Bakugou took off with a pair of explosions and soon turned into a flickering dot in the now dark sky. As he watched him disappear, Eijirou wondered if he used to travel like this, before they met.

Once Bakugou was gone, Eijirou turned back toward Inasa and his now silent, floating prisoner. That’s when it finally hit him: they’d done it. They’d won, and with no casualties or injuries on their side, at that! They did it!

“It went pretty well, huh,” he said with a giddy smile.

“Yes! This guy was a tough opponent, though. I’m glad I learned to dodge better from you two!”

“It must have been a manly fight. I wish I could have seen it,” Eijirou said while the still floating earth mage scoffed.

“Me too, I bet you two were amazing!” Inasa replied with an excited grin.

Eijirou jumped when he heard someone move on his right, and realized that the thieves they’d taken out earlier were getting back to their senses and had started running away.

“You stay right here!” he yelled as Inasa gently lifted the ones trying to get on their feet from the ground.

They were barely done tying up everyone and rounding them up by the time the guards showed up with Bakugou to collect them, and from there, it was truly over. Eijirou’s first real epic fight. It didn’t seem like much when he really thought about it; just a ragtag group of untrained, under-equipped men fighting two amazing mages and Eijirou, who was starting to see the results of his training.

The pride that warmed his slowly unravelling guts as Tsukauchi thanked them for their help told a different story, though.

[Desc: Wonderfully drawn schema of the battle]

Chapter Text

Eijirou was exhausted. A lot had happened today, and now that the worst was behind him, the whole town had decided to party and celebrate the end of their “days of terror”. In one evening, Castelmorn had completely transformed. Gone was the dreary, lifeless town with empty streets. Instead, the atmosphere was even more festive than when Bakugou and he came back earlier that day, with everyone outside talking, laughing, drinking, or even playing music in a joyful chaos, brimming with life and colors everywhere Eijirou’s eyes landed.

Once the guards had collected the thieves, Bakugou and he were immediately invited to join the celebrations all across town. Eijirou had almost accepted too, until he was reminded that Inasa wouldn’t be able to join them. As soon as the giant came too close to the town gates, the captain stopped him, smile dropping, and said, “Not you.”

That immediately dampened Eijirou’s good mood.

“I’m not coming either, then,” he’d said, standing next to his giant friend with crossed arms. “He did half the work, he should be able to celebrate with everyone.”

Once more, Kaminari and the others had come to the rescue.

“How about we celebrate outside?” Kaminari offered.

“Yeah, people have been trapped behind the walls long enough, it would be nice for them to come out,” Sero added.

A few locals came out shyly when they heard Jirou sing outside, and soon, there was a whole party at the gates as more and more people came out with barrels of beer and strong wine that tasted more like earth than alcohol. The trio earned quite a lot of money from their outside show, especially when Kaminari started telling everyone an embellished version of the fight against the thieves, captivating his audience with his theatrical effects while Jirou carried his words on her lute and Sero discretely went through the audience and asked for a few coins while people were too busy following the story to care about how much they were giving.

Eijirou didn't think he'd ever get tired of seeing his friends at work. Kaminari really was an awesome storyteller, making every scene play vividly in his mind. Eijirou even found himself holding his breath a few times, despite knowing how the story would go.

Still, it was embarrassing to know his friend was talking about him this time. It had always been a dream of his to become part of an epic story, but although part of him was proud, Eijirou didn't feel like he’d done that much. He didn't deserve it yet.

As for Inasa… People avoided him at first, but since Eijirou and Bakugou stayed by his side the whole time, they had no choice but to come closer if they wanted to congratulate the heroes. Eijirou made sure to remind everyone that the giant played an important role in this fight, and they seemed to warm up to him, at least a little. Or, well… they didn’t insult him or act like he was going to kill them any second, at least. It was a work in progress—probably. Kaminari's story must have done its part as well, because people were a lot less shy about approaching him after it.

Maybe everything would be fine after all, Eijirou caught himself thinking when Inasa managed to make someone smile. Maybe the giant was right and with time, he’d be able to become a full part of the town and not just a barely tolerated outsider.

Inasa eventually left for his temporary home, and the outdoor party dispersed quickly afterwards. Eijirou and his friends had worked their way through a few spontaneous celebrations in the streets, and found themselves back at the inn. Bakugou had gone to sleep immediately, but Eijirou wanted to stay and have fun with everyone for a bit longer. He couldn’t drink much, afraid of what might come out if he got too careless, but the excitement and exhaustion running through his veins still made him light headed.

Kaminari and Sero didn’t have any such reservations and were shamelessly exploiting Eijirou’s new fame for free drinks.

“What are you guys doing?” Eijirou asked curiously when he joined them after talking to a handful of people who wanted to thank him again for “saving their town”.

His two friends were currently sitting at a table near the corner, looking intently to their left while methodically tearing apart a small loaf of bread.

“Shhhh, come hither,” Kaminari yell-whispered as he pulled him into the seat next to him.

“Look to your left,” Sero said with a conspiring look as he imprecisely pointed toward the table against the next wall, where Jirou was talking to a local girl. “We think Jirou is trying to flirt.”

Eijirou tilted his head, confused, and looked harder to realize that she was twirling her short hair and laughing a bit louder than usual. Was that flirting? The other girl seemed to be doing pretty much the same.

“I guess so. Annnd…?” Eijirou asked, wondering what it had to do with the bread.

“So we’re throwing bread crumbs at her,” Kaminari explained while Sero nodded wisely.

“Is it supposed to help her?” Eijirou asked as Kaminari rolled a tiny ball of bread between his fingers and threw it in her direction.

“It's what friends do,” Sero said, deadly serious as they threw more bread at their friend, snickering to themselves.

“Yeah, she'd do the same for us,” Kaminari added.

One of the projectiles finally reached the table and Jirou’s head snapped toward them. Kaminari and Sero burst out laughing as she glared at them, her eyes as murderous as Bakugou on a bad day. Eijirou gave her thumbs up. She buried her head in her hands with a sigh and the girl sitting with her started laughing, bringing Jirou’s attention back to her.

Eijirou noticed a few people pointing at him while his two friends kept giggling, and he took it as his cue to leave. He didn’t have it in him to talk to more strangers, especially knowing that some of them would probably take all of their gratitude back if they found out who (or what) he was.

His friends had started devouring the rest of the bread, still giggling from time to time, when Eijirou said his goodbyes and quickly went upstairs to the room he shared with Bakugou.

His friend was already asleep, all spread out on the comfiest bed the inn had, hands and feet sticking out from under the thin blanket. There was a small basin on the table, full of warm water, and Eijirou smiled at Bakugou's gesture as he took off his shirt to freshen up a bit. He wasn't given any time to get rid of the soot and grime of the day before the festivities started, and now that the distractions were gone, he was starting to realize how much he needed it.

He wiped his face and body as silently as possible, marveling at how dark his washcloth was turning. Once satisfied, he tried to take off his headband, ready to slip under the blankets and pass out like a light. It fell into his hands at the first light tug, charred and so full of holes it was barely hanging together.

Eijirou's world shattered.

“No… No no no nononononono,” he whispered in disbelief, staring at the piece of fabric as if he could force it to fix itself if he looked hard enough. There was no way he could repair this. The deep green headband was more holes and black patches than fabric now, destroyed both by the fire from his opponent and, Eijirou supposed, by the spikes of his own hardened hair.

It couldn't be fixed. It couldn't be saved. It was one of his lucky headbands, made from a tunic that was passed down through all his siblings until the strip of fabric was the only undamaged part, and now it was gone. How did Eijirou not think about it? He'd gone to battle with it, saying with a laugh that the spirit of his family would protect him, and in the end, he was the one who couldn't save it. And now it was gone, and…

“Shit, shit, what the hell, fuck…” he kept muttering under his breath, tears quickly forming at the corners of his eyes even though he knew that it was nothing, that it was stupid of him to be so overly attached to a piece of fabric. But it was important to him and now it was gone!

Bakugou started mumbling something and Eijirou jumped, holding his breath. Did he wake up his friend?

“The fuck's wrong with you?” Bakugou asked groggily, voice rough from sleep.

Eijirou gulped.

“Bakugou? I'm sorry, it's nothing, just go back to sleep,” he said, trying to keep his cracking voice and barely contained hiccups under control.

“You're swearing like you're… me or other shit. You never swear like that. S'not nothing.”

“It is, I promise. I'm sorry I woke you up.”

Bakugou sat up to send him the most intense glare his bleary eyes could muster, which wasn't much but still made Eijirou cave.

“Fine…” he mumbled, eyes glued to the floor. “My green headband got burnt during the fight and I… It can't be saved.” He sighed. “See? It's nothing.”

When he looked up with a weak smile, he expected Bakugou to either get mad at him or go back to sleep immediately while muttering insults under his breath. Instead, he was met with his friend’s bewildered look, eyes wide and mouth slightly open in alarm.

“Shit, is it? I told you it could be dangerous! Let me fucking see,” he said as he scrambled out of bed to have a look.

“Bakugou, it's fine. It's nothing,” Eijirou assured him, wondering why his friend was acting like it was such a big deal as he ignored the fact that it was a big deal to him less than a minute ago. It still kind of was, if he was honest, but it wasn't the point.

“It's not ‘nothing’, you're crying,” Bakugou pointed out as he grabbed Eijirou's wrists to have a closer look, a serious scowl on his face. Damn, was Eijirou really crying? That was so unmanly… “Shit, it's not looking good…”

“Yeah… but I have plenty more, so I'll be fine. I'm just a bit emotional about it because almost everyone in my family wore it at some point, but it's not valuable or anything,” Eijirou said, sniffling a bit as he forced himself to smile.

“Of course it's important and fucking valuable,” Bakugou scoffed. “It's part of your treasure, right? … Your hoard, I mean.”

Eijirou huffed, embarrassed that Bakugou would bring the hoard back up at a time like this. How dared he tease him when he was down and vulnerable?

“Stop calling it a hoard, you… lemon biter,” he said, a small smile tugging at his lips.

“Hey, don't bring up the fucking lemons, I'm trying to be kind or whatever,” Bakugou growled.

“You started it,” Eijirou pointed out.

Bakugou clicked his tongue. “I don't get why you're so damn defensive about that shit…”

“It's just useless scraps of fabric,” Eijirou shrugged. “I shouldn't get so attached.”

“Stop lying, they're important to you,” Bakugou insisted. He looked up from the old headband for the first time and added, “I don't think we can save it, but it's good scraps. I bet you can mend clothes with it or something.”

Eijirou's heart jumped at the thought, suddenly filled with a glimmer of hope, but he forced himself to smother it and stifled a laugh. “Dude, we'd need a sewing kit. There's no point.”

“You don't have that?” Bakugou asked.

“You do?”

Bakugou rolled his eyes. “Of course I fucking do.”

“Man, you're so cheap,” Eijirou said with a fond chuckle.

“Fine, get your own damn sewing kit then,” Bakugou growled.

“Nooooo, I’m sorry,” Eijirou laughed. “I'm glad you're offering. It's just so… you.”

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It's a good thing,” Eijirou shrugged. “It's manly.”

Bakugou's shoulders relaxed a bit, and his eyes went back to the destroyed headband. Eijirou noticed for the first time how gently Bakugou's hands were cradling his, how nice the warm and calloused palms felt against his skin. After weeks of sharing a tent and huddling next to a campfire, it should be nothing, but this time felt different somehow. It reminded Eijirou how stupidly beautiful his friend was, when his face was relaxed. It made him want to step closer, close enough for their breaths to mingle and maybe…

“So, you're keeping it?” Bakugou asked, breaking the weird spell he got Eijirou under.

Eijirou smiled, and let himself admit for the first time since his friend woke up that the loss of this specific headband was a big deal, and he was sad about it, and he wasn't ready to let go of it just yet, even if he had plenty of other headbands to replace it.

“Yeah,” Eijirou whispered with a nod. “I'm keeping it. Thank you.”

Bakugou let go of his hands slowly and took a step back. “Let's go to sleep. We'll figure out the rest tomorrow.”

Eijirou nodded, a soft smile on his face. “Yeah.”

They turned off the lamp and walked to their respective beds. Eijirou was still feeling giddy from the interaction. It was the first time someone took his collection seriously, he realized. The first time someone told him it was fine to be sad about losing part of it, and that he could keep it and recycle it once more if he wasn't ready to let go. He liked that.

He could tell from Bakugou's breathing that his friend was either already asleep or on the verge of falling asleep, but he couldn't stop himself from saying,

“Thanks for taking me seriously, Bakugou. I needed that.”

.

Katsuki was done with that stupid fucking town.

When he’d accepted, on Kirishima’s insistence, to stay in Castelmorn with the Clown Trio until they found a caravan to take them someplace else, Katsuki thought they’d be gone in a couple of days at most. The shithole was pretty isolated, sure, but it was still located on a fairly busy trade route and it was supposed to be a popular stop for caravans, even if they just stayed the night.

Sadly, the news that there was a giant in the area must have spread, and it would probably take a few more days until the news that the route was safe again took over. Or, well… hopefully, it would take days. If he had to stay another week, Katsuki was going to drag Kirishima out of there by the scruff of his neck if he had to. It sucked, the people sucked, and Katsuki hated the way every local was looking at Kirishima and him with stars in their eyes or worse, the way they kept trying to talk to them. Usually, this kind of fame only lasted for a day or two, but with the Clown Trio involved, it wasn’t going anywhere. In fact, it sometimes felt like their new fame kept growing every day. After all, Dunce Face and Elbows loved the attention, and they did everything they could to make it last and enjoy the perks that came with being Kirishima’s friends.

So damn annoying… Katsuki thought as he walked down the inn’s stairs to join them. He’d learned to tolerate the three of them over the past couple of weeks, but if they didn’t stop soon, he was going to ditch their stupid asses.

Why the hell would he need them around anyway? Kirishima was already enough. He’d stopped being a burden long ago, especially now that he knew the ropes of traveling with him and had trained his hardening magic. In fact, he was damn impressive sometimes, like when he’d run straight into that shitty fire mage’s flames. But Katsuki was a loner, damn it! He didn’t need a travel companion, let alone four.

As always, the Clown Trio was easy to notice, loud as ever around the table they shared. Ears, the bard girl, was usually a lot quieter than the two others, but this time, Katsuki could hear her laughter the moment he stepped into the main room. To his surprise, he found Kirishima sitting at another table, surrounded by two local girls. He looked unusually stiff as the extras leaned toward him, talking about who-the-fuck-knows-what.

Katsuki walked straight toward him, considering whether or not he was going to drag Kirishima outside. It'd depend on his reaction, Katsuki supposed, but either way, he had to talk to him. He needed to get out of this shitty town for a while, and his companion had been very clear that if he was going somewhere without him, Katsuki should at least warn him beforehand. Katsuki couldn’t say he liked it, but although he was used to traveling on his own, he could admit that it made sense. They were in this together, and after looking for so long, there was no way he’d let Kirishima go so easily. So he could compromise a bit.

Before he could reach Kirishima’s table, Katsuki was intercepted by someone who grabbed his arm and pulled him into a chair.

“You’re going nowhere mister,” Elbows said with a grin that Katsuki tried to erase with a swat of his crackling hand and a snap of his teeth.

“The fuck do you want?” he grumbled as the others kept laughing.

“You should watch your language if you want us to keep selling you as a heroic guy,” Dunce Face said, taking advantage of the fact that he was out of swatting range and Katsuki couldn’t fire at him inside a wooden building. He looked so damn smug, that bastard.

“Good, because I don’t want that shit,” Katsuki retorted. He made to leave, but he was once again grabbed by the arm and pulled back into his seat.

“Nope, you stay right here,” Elbows repeated. “We know what you’re going to do, and we’re not letting you ruin poor Kirishima’s chance to get laid.”

Katsuki’s head snapped toward them. “The fuck you mean?”

As the others shook their heads, he realized that they were strategically seated to have the perfect view of Kirishima’s table.

“Look at those girls, they’re totally into him,” Dunce Face said, gesturing widely. “And Kirishima deserves it. I wonder which one he’ll pick, though… My bet is on the one with brown curls.”

“No way, dude, the one with black hair is so much prettier!” Elbows countered. “Sure, Curls has a nice cleavage, but her face is nothing special. And Black Hair is really giving it her all, look at the way she’s feeling up his arm.”

“Damn, I wish it were me…” Dunce Face sighed pathetically. “We’re the ones who gave him all that fame, why aren’t there any cute girls aggressively flirting with us?”

“Because you’re fucking useless,” Katsuki grumbled.

“I’m with Bakugou,” Ears chimed in with a smirk. “Women just feel those things.”

“How dare you!” Dunce Face said with an offended gasp. “I’m so unappreciated.”

Katsuki tuned them out as the three of them started their usual friendly banter. He’d gotten used to it over the weeks and he didn’t exactly hate it anymore, but he didn’t have time to waste with it. Instead, Katsuki focused his attention on Kirishima, wondering if he should really leave him to his own devices.

Now that he thought about it, it was interesting to see that despite all their yammering about how the mountain people were boorish and violent, people from the plains also valued strength and bravery in a partner. And those extras hadn’t even seen anything. They had no idea how powerful and dangerous Kirishima looked like when his body was hardened and he braved winds strong enough to uproot trees.

These two were annoying, though. Barbarian women would have taken this outside already, fighting to show off their skills and win over the guy. Instead, the extras were just flaunting and throwing themselves at Kirishima with less and less restraint as the poor idiot grew stiffer with each passing second.

“Damn, our man really isn’t good at flirting,” Elbows remarked, nudging Katsuki to get him back into the conversation. Katsuki elbowed his side to keep him away. Those three were becoming way too familiar with him…

“Yeah, he’s clearly not in his element here…” Ears said with a wince.

“And to think we’re doing everything in our power to help him,” Dunce Face sighed loudly. “We’re not even throwing stuff at him!”

“Oh, shut up,” Ears hissed with a murderous glare. “You two are still not forgiven for that one.”

“Argh, bullying! I’m being bullied,” Dunce Face yelped with a laugh when she started poking his sides.

“Come on, Jirou, it still ended up well for you,” Elbows snickered. Then, he turned back toward Kirishima with a more serious expression and added, “Unlike our Kirishima over there… You think we should help him? He’s really not doing great.”

“What do you want us to do? He needs to figure this out on his own,” Dunce Face shrugged.

Katsuki tuned them out again and turned back toward Kirishima. He’d never seen him so out of his depth. He looked tense and flustered, but not in a good way. It wasn’t the kind of flustered that made his cheeks bright red and his lips twitch in an attempt to repress a smile. It didn’t make his hands fly to scratch the back of his head and discretely fiddle with his headbands, searching for the comfort of his hoard.

Instead, Kirishima was more rigid than a slab of granite, his face so pale his tan almost looked grey as he forced a tense smile on his face. He was leaning away from the two extras, hands hidden below the table where he was probably scratching his arms nervously. It wasn’t a good sight, and once more, Katsuki was struck by how… human Kirishima was acting.

In a situation like this, Katsuki would have expected him to snap his teeth at the intruders, growl at them, or at least to puff up his chest and push them back, spreading his arms to reestablish his boundaries. Of course, Kirishima couldn’t spread out his wings in public, just like he couldn’t bare his teeth and snarl, but dragon shifters, even when they were trying to blend in, had their own body language that Kirishima just… lacked.

It was in moments like these that Katsuki almost doubted himself. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew what Kirishima was hiding. He’d caught glimpses of blood red scales, and felt the bumps of hidden wings on his back. He’d heard Kirishima squeak like a hatchling in the baths, seen him hiss at the sahaleim a while back, and felt his chest rumble in a purr under the rain. He’d seen the care Kirishima put in his precious “collection” of fabric and the way he relaxed when Katsuki wrapped his cape around his shoulders. But then, Kirishima did things like this, acted like a perfect human, even going as far as dismissing his own hoard, as if it truly meant nothing, and Katsuki was baffled all over again.

No self-respecting dragon shifter would ever call their own hoard, their treasure, “useless scraps of fabric,” let alone believe it. They’d never react like Kirishima did, telling themselves over and over that losing a part of it was nothing. But Kirishima did, and the worst part was that he meant it. He didn’t scratch himself or look away or trip on his words like he always did when he was lying. That couldn’t be right.

One of the girls came a bit too close to Kirishima’s face, almost making him fall from his chair as he leaned further and further back, his stiff, closed-lip smile plastered on his face, and Katsuki decided that he’d seen enough. This was a recipe for disaster, and after what happened to Baldy, Katsuki couldn’t even be mad at Kirishima for trying so hard—even harder than usual—to hide his sharp teeth.

He jumped to his feet, ignoring the protests from the Clown Trio, and walked straight to Kirishima’s table, idly wondering if his friend would have accepted one of those girls’ advances, had he not been so worried about hiding his true self. He didn’t dwell on the thought, though. It stirred something ugly in him. These two extras didn’t deserve Kirishima’s attention.

Katsuki knew he’d made the right decision when he saw the pleading look on his friend’s face slowly morph into pure relief when he realized Katsuki was coming closer. Ignoring the extras, he grabbed Kirishima by the arm and pulled him up.

“I’m out of here. You’re coming,” he said as he walked toward the exit. He didn’t even need to look back to picture the way Kirishima’s expression lightened up as he scrambled out of his chair to follow him, muttering vague excuses at the girls.

“Thanks, dude, I don’t know what I’d have done without you,” Kirishima whispered as soon as they were outside.

Katsuki answered with a vague grunt, walking resolutely toward the town’s gates.

“So, where are we going?” Kirishima asked, naturally falling into step beside him. A quick glance confirmed that his face had more colors than earlier, and the stiffness in his expression was gone, replaced with an easy smile. That was better.

“Out of here,” Katsuki repeated. “I can’t stand this shitty town anymore.”

“Oh, so we’re going for a walk? Sounds good, I’d love that! Maybe we can even train a bit before sunset.”

Katsuki nodded. That sounded like a nice plan. Not at all what he had in mind when he’d walked down the stairs earlier, but good nonetheless.

Kirishima didn’t truly relax until they were out of town, far enough that it was just the two of them again.

“Man, I’m so glad you came for me!” he exclaimed as they naturally headed toward the forest and the cliffs where Baldy still lived. There was no way they’d reach them before night, but it was a familiar path. “I had no idea what to do! These girls were being so aggressive and Kaminari and the others just kept giving me thumbs up instead of helping.”

“They said they wanted you to get laid. Didn’t want me to ‘ruin this for you’,” Katsuki huffed.

Kirishima barked a laugh at that. “Wow, seriously? Thank you so much for not listening to them. I mean, don’t make it a habit, but I don’t know what I’d have done without you.”

When Katsuki turned toward him, there was a huge smile on Kirishima’s face. A real one, teeth and all. It almost made the corners of Katsuki’s lips lift up as well. Coming from Kirishima, this was a major show of trust, and Katsuki appreciated it. It was proof that he was making progress.

Before they reached Castelmorn, he’d complained to Miruko about Kirishima’s constant lies. He could understand why, of course, and she’d made sure to remind him how little people in Yuuei thought of shifters and other non-human people, but it was still frustrating and he felt like he was stuck. She’d slapped the back of his head for it, but even she, for all her hot-blooded nature, told him he’d have to be patient. And from Katsuki’s experience, it seemed to be the better method, since Kirishima tended to clam up every time he suspected someone might be on to him.

Kirishima had seemed a bit warier ever since they met Baldy, and it was good to see that he hadn’t gone back on his promise to stop hiding his teeth. It had to be a good sign. And it was probably good for Kirishima, too. There was no way forcing himself to act human all the time, even going as far as denying himself his most basic, harmless instincts, could be healthy. Katsuki didn’t doubt that Kirishima found time to shift whenever he could, and Miruko had made sure to give him some privacy in the form of errands far from the camp, when Katsuki confirmed that he was a shifter like her, but there was no way whatever little time he spent in his other form was enough. Even Miruko, who’d mastered the art of half-shifting without being noticed—a rabbit tail here, longer incisors there, the occasional ears when she could get away with it—had to go back to her tribe in the Golden Mountains at least once a year to let go and shift as she pleased for a while. She said she’d go crazy if she didn’t. If Kirishima had never been able to do that…

“Hey, you wanna split for a while?” Katsuki asked suddenly.

Kirishima, who’d been walking beside him in silence, a relaxed smile on his lips as he enjoyed the scenery, snapped toward him with a worried look. “What? Did I do something wrong?”

“For today, dumbass,” Katsuki explained. “We’ve been around people for a while, so if you wanna be on your own, that’s fine.”

“Do you want to be on your own?” Kirishima asked with a frown.

Katsuki shrugged. He’d offered in case Kirishima needed time to shift, but he’d definitely clam up if Katsuki told him that. “I don’t care. Extras are annoying, but…”

“But I’m not ‘extras’?” Kirishima asked with a soft smile.

Katsuki felt himself tense as he realized how true it was. He’d been truly planning to spend time alone, but as much as he’d need it later, Kirishima was… fine.

His travel companion didn’t seem to need an actual answer. He chuckled at Katsuki’s reaction, making him tense more, and said, “You remind me of my sister.”

“The older one?”

“Shizuka, yeah,” Kirishima nodded. “She loves being around people and she’s always had lots of friends growing up. When we were kids, my parents were always torn between sending me to keep an eye on her and…” He paused, smile faltering, and shook his head. “Whatever. Keeping me around, you know. Anyway, she sometimes ends up in my room after a long day out with friends. She flops on my bed and goes ‘ugh, I can’t stand people right now!’ but every time I try to leave, she adds ‘…not you, you’re not people’.”

His smile was back by the time he stopped talking, soft and a little sad. Longing, like every time he talked about home. Home, with his human parents, and his human siblings, and…

Oh…

Katsuki’s thoughts clicked into place like puzzle pieces. Kirishima had no memory of his true home. His parents didn’t even know where he came from. He was raised like a human, made to act like a human…

Could it really be that after years of searching, Katsuki had managed to find the only dragon shifter who had no idea who he was?

That would make sense. It would explain so much, like how Kirishima still hadn’t picked up on Katsuki’s increasingly more obvious hints that he knew what was up, but if it was true, then what was he supposed to do now?

“Bakugou? Are you okay?” Kirishima asked then, concerned.

Katsuki answered with a grunt, still unsure what to think of this sudden revelation. It couldn’t be right, though. Maybe Kirishima didn’t know about his culture, but he at least had to know that he was a shifter. And what he was shifting into. There was no way he’d missed this.

“What about you, though? You don’t need to be alone?” Katsuki asked gruffly.

“Me? I’m good. I like spending time with you.”

“You do it all the time.”

“So it’s a good thing I enjoy it,” Kirishima answered with a smile.

Katsuki didn’t insist. Whether Kirishima had enough shifting time or not wasn’t his problem. He had to know what he was doing, at least a little. And Katsuki didn’t need him to know anything anyway, he just needed him to exist, and to trust him enough to finally confirm what Katsuki had known the second he saw his sharp teeth. If they managed to find another dragon shifter, one that would know about their culture enough to pick up on Katsuki’s hints, then fine. Maybe they could help Kirishima while they were at it. But in the meantime, Kirishima was enough, even if he was possibly the most useless shifter in existence. It wouldn’t interfere with his plans, and once Katsuki was back where he belonged, well… what happened to Kirishima afterward wouldn’t be his problem anymore, so. Why should he care?

Still, part of him hoped his friend would be able to reunite with his kind and find a home for himself as well; a place among people who knew who he was and embraced his nature instead of forcing him to hide it.

He deserved it.

Chapter Text

They left Castelmorn a few days later with the next caravan that came. The person in charge of its protection, a taciturn man who, surprisingly, didn’t grow up far from Eijirou’s village, was all too happy to hire new guards, especially given how highly everyone in town spoke of them. Kaminari, Jirou and Sero were easily accepted as well.

For the next few weeks, they traveled southwest toward Diees, one of the biggest ports of the southern coast. Eijirou couldn’t wait to reach it. He’d seen the sea a couple of times, most notably when Awase and his friends dragged him there for a trip that lasted a couple of days—what he thought would be his chance to prove he could travel long distances safely, but wasn't enough to sway his ever-worried parents—but the area was supposed to be completely different. Eijirou was used to rocks and small cliffs, with only small portions of sand. And from what he’d been told and what he’d seen for the past few days, the coast near Diees would be nothing like it.

The region they were currently crossing was near a large river, and the surrounding lands were mostly swamps and marshes. Eijirou couldn’t say he was a fan of humidity, but the general flatness of the region and the low vegetation made up for it. As someone who grew up near mountains and forests, seeing the horizon like this was new and exciting.

As they approached their destination, they joined a road that crossed the wetlands. And although the merchants kept complaining about the absence of major towns and the truly massive amount of mosquitoes and insects of all kinds, Eijirou was ecstatic. It was like nothing he’d seen before in his life. Every day, they saw herds of cows and horses running free in the marshes, and among the reeds Eijirou spotted birds he’d never seen before. Kaminari, who knew the region well, told them that the local cattle were mostly left to their own devices unless they were needed, which Eijirou found amazing. He also had a lot to say about the local birds, from the small ones with bright blue wings to the giant pink ones with crooked beaks that looked like herons and stood in big groups in the shallow waters of the marshes.

“I love flamingoes so much. Look at them, looking so distinguished even with their feet in the mud,” Kaminari said with a smile, wiping an invisible tear, when Eijirou pointed at them excitedly. He’d even grabbed Bakugou’s arm to make sure his friend was looking as well. No one seemed quite as amazed as he was, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. This place was awesome, and magical, and nothing could ruin this for him.

Besides, he got to see Bakugou smile the first time they saw the local fauna from up close. The image of his friend’s rare, soft smile was engraved in Eijirou’s mind even more deeply than the sight of wild horses galloping past them.

It was a good kind of smile. A new one, Eijirou realized. Hard to see, but full of emotion and restrained wonder.

Eijirou took a mental note to point out every herd that crossed their paths in the future, in the hope that it would trigger the same expression. It might not be much, but his friend had been pretty tense lately and he clearly needed the distraction.

Bakugou had seemed happy when they finally left Castelmorn. Relieved, even. Eijirou shared the sentiment. They’d stayed long enough, and if the caravan hadn’t come, he would have offered to just leave on their own, maybe inviting their friends to join them.

Bakugou’s good mood didn’t last more than a week or two, though, and Eijirou wasn’t sure why. His friend wasn’t in a bad mood exactly, but he looked lost in thought most of the time. Eijirou caught him staring a few times, long and pensive. It looked like the usual “lemon stare” but laced with something Eijirou couldn’t put his finger on.

At first, he thought it was related to all the extra hours they’d been pulling ever since they reached the marshes. Their current boss told them that the region was teeming with bandits, usually led by water mages who used the swamps to their advantage to attack unsuspecting travelers, so they had to be extra careful. Kaminari told them similar stories too, something about the local lord not really caring since there wasn’t much around here anyway.

They’d been in the area for a couple of days and hadn’t been attacked once, but maybe the nervous atmosphere and extra-long night shifts were what made Bakugou so tense? He didn’t like missing sleep after all, even with the promise of extra money.

That could have been it, but Bakugou usually had that expression when he was looking at Eijirou specifically. It was starting to worry him.

He gave in one night, while they were on guard duty, and asked, “Is there something on your mind? You’ve been tense lately.”

Bakugou looked at him for a moment with a piercing gaze, and went back to staring into the distance, eyes on the dark swamps. Mist was rising slowly, and Eijirou remembered Kaminari’s story from the night before, about the glowing white horse made out of fog that you could sometimes see on nights like these.

Eijirou wondered if he’d see it tonight.

“Are you really fine like this?” Bakugou asked suddenly.

Oh, right. Eijirou was waiting for an answer.

“Well… Yeah? It sucks that we can’t seem to find any dragon, but–”

“S’not what I mean,” Bakugou interrupted, looking at him again. “You haven’t been on your own for a while. You’re always with me, or the Clown Trio, or whoever’s asking for a service even though it’s not our damn job…”

“I just like helping,” Eijirou shrugged with a smile. “Besides, these people don’t send me on weird errands like Miruko did.”

Bakugou stared at him for a few seconds, frowning, and his eyes went back to the thickening fog.

“Doesn’t matter. Don’t you need to be on your own sometimes?”

Eijirou snorted at that. “Bakugou, I grew up with my parents and four siblings in a tiny house. I don’t even know what it means to really be on my own. I don’t know how you did it for so long.”

“I don’t like people,” Bakugou shrugged. “And I don’t fucking need them either.”

“Come oooon, you like me,” Eijirou said with a teasing smile, knocking their shoulders together. “And I know you’re starting to like Kaminari, Jirou, and Sero too, don’t lie.”

“Shut up,” Bakugou grumbled. Coming from him, it was as good as an agreement.

As Eijirou chuckled to himself, his friend stood up without warning.

“My legs are stiff. I’m going on a patrol,” he said. “I’ll be gone for a while, yell if you need something.”

Eijirou’s smile fell. “Oh… okay. See you later.”

Back to boring staring in the distance, then. The mist kept growing thicker and thicker, and Eijirou wondered if he should wake up his water mage colleague to dissipate it a little. He could still see reasonably far and he didn’t want to disturb her for nothing, but if this kept going, he might have to.

This was really a night for the white horse to come out, Eijirou thought with a yawn. He wondered if it would try to get him lost in the mist, to drown him, or to lead him to a treasure… Kaminari hadn’t been very clear on that point. Or rather, he went for the story where people got lost in the mist, but one of the merchants in their caravan argued that the version he heard—the real version—was the treasure one. It sparked a whole debate about it and other local variations until Kaminari gave up on his story for the night, letting Sero distract everyone with his acrobatics.

His friend later explained that where he was from, the horse took children away, and he was terrified of it as a kid. Eijirou laughed and told him about the big, hairy, man-shaped creature that was supposed to take kids away where he was from, and Bakugou made fun of both of them for being scared of stupid stuff like that. Adults apparently refused to tell him scary stories because they knew he’d try to fight the monsters. The others seemed skeptical, but Eijirou believed him. It was such a Bakugou thing. Eijirou couldn’t imagine his friend as anything other than a strong, fearless kid ready to take on the whole world.

He wondered what it would have been like to grow up with him. Would Eijirou have learned to be brave earlier at his contact? Would Bakugou have hated him for how weak and easily scared he was as a child?

Eijirou shook his head weakly, trying to clear his mind and focus, but his eyes kept getting lost in the mist and his thoughts wandered again to Kaminari’s stories about local creatures. His favorite so far was the one about the black bull made of pure darkness with a head covered in gold. According to Kaminari, he attacked everyone that tried to approach him, but disappeared as soon as he touched people, leaving them unharmed. Whoever managed to grab one of his golden ornaments without touching his body could keep the treasure, and of course, the story involved someone who once managed to grab all of them. It had to be one of their most popular stories, because the whole trio was involved in it, with Sero moving along to mimic the agility of the hero, while Jirou’s music accompanied it, gaining in intensity every time the bull charged.

“First the golden cap at the tip of his right horn,” Kaminari said in his mind while Sero danced in the air, so light on his feet it looked like they didn’t touch the ground. “Then the one on the left… The rings lower on the horns, the golden chain hanging between them… Over and over the bull charged at our hero, our Eijhero, our fearless Eijirou…”

“Kirishima, snap out of it!”

Eijirou’s reverie popped like a soap bubble at Bakugou’s shout, and he found himself standing in the middle of pure chaos. The mist had lifted, people were yelling, and… 

Oh, shit, they were under attack!

Eijirou’s head was pounding and he had no idea why he was already on his feet with hardened hands, but it didn’t matter. He couldn’t let these people get through him and hurt the caravan!

Someone, probably Bakugou, must have alerted the others, because Eijirou could see their water mage fighting an opponent who seemed to have the same kind of magic as her. Someone tried to attack Eijirou with a dagger, but he hardened just in time and knocked them out with a punch, almost by reflex. Without even thinking about drawing his swords, Eijirou took out another two with his bare, hardened fists, still not fully awake, before the rest ran away, leaving their injured behind.

“Fucking cowards,” Bakugou muttered as he walked toward him. “You’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Eijirou nodded. “I’m sorry, I must have fallen asleep or something…”

Bakugou frowned, pinning him under a stare even more intense than usual. “You were already fighting when I came back with the water extra,” he said.

“I was?” Eijirou asked, surprised and a little worried. “I don’t…”

He was interrupted by the other mercenaries coming to congratulate them for their quick thinking and efficient defense. Eijirou’s head was spinning. He was disoriented, remnants of sleep still clinging to him like pine sap, and through all of it, Bakugou was giving him the new kind of lemon stare, so long and intense that Eijirou finally understood what it meant.

The emotion that wasn’t there before wasn’t stress or annoyance after all. Bakugou was worried. Why was he worried?

“You’ve done enough for tonight,” someone said, patting Eijirou on the shoulder. “I was gonna take over soon, so I’ll take your shift now. No way I can go back to sleep after that. And I don’t think those guys will try to attack us again tonight.”

Eijirou nodded absently and opened his mouth to say something, but Bakugou reacted first. He accepted the offer for them, grabbed his arm, nodded at the others, and left while Eijirou tried to regain enough coordination to say goodnight.

“What the hell was that?” Bakugou hissed as soon as they were relatively out of earshot.

“I don’t know,” Eijirou answered with his own concerned frown. “I just… I think I fell asleep, and… You said I was fighting?”

Bakugou nodded and stopped walking abruptly, still holding Eijirou’s arm tightly enough that he couldn’t go anywhere. It took until his friend snuffed out the light of their small lantern for him to realize that they’d reached their tent.

“You should sleep,” Bakugou said. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

Eijirou nodded vaguely before he crawled under the tent, falling asleep almost instantly.

.

Kaminari and Sero were waiting for him outside the tent when he got up the next morning, eager to hear all about the events of the night from “the heroes themselves”. Eijirou groaned at their enthusiasm. It was too early for that kind of energy. He felt like he’d fallen off a cliff… But at least, he was more rested than the night before, his splitting headache nothing more than a dull pain now. The bumps on his head were back, though.

“I don’t know what to tell you guys. I feel like I was half asleep for most of the fight,” he said when Bakugou ignored them and walked straight to breakfast.

“Come on, don’t be so humble,” Sero replied with a grin, elbowing his side as they joined Bakugou.

“I’m not, I honestly don’t remember much,” Eijirou insisted.

“That could work,” Kaminari shrugged. “Our brave hero, fending off some of the most wanted bandits in the region half asleep,” he added dramatically, clenching a fist as he looked up to the sky.

Eijirou laughed. “It’s not like that!”

“Too late, it’s part of your legend now,” Kaminari grinned.

They miraculously managed to get more information from Bakugou once his stomach was less empty and he felt more awake. Apparently, he noticed the mist getting suspiciously thick on the way back from his patrol and decided to wake up their water mage so she’d dissipate it. He had just enough time to drag her out of her tent before they heard a fight near where Eijirou was, and the rest was history.

“Just ask that watery extra if you wanna know more and stop pestering me,” he concluded as he swallowed the last of his food and grabbed Eijirou by the arm to leave, forcing him to inhale the rest of his own breakfast on the way.

“Hey, don’t do that,” he protested weakly.

“Talk,” was all Bakugou said as they walked toward their tent to pack their stuff, getting ready to leave with the rest of the caravan.

“I don’t know what to tell you, man. All I remember is the fog and thinking about Kaminari’s story—the one about the bull made of darkness—and suddenly you were shouting at me and everyone was fighting.”

“You weren’t being yourself,” Bakugou said, sounding surprisingly calm as he put away their tent with the same methodical moves as every other morning. “You were like… a feral animal or something. Growling and snarling and shit. Scared the shit out of those assholes,” he concluded with a chuckle.

Eijirou didn’t share the feeling. He tried to smile and play it off as nothing, but he could feel himself going paler with every second.

“Uh… Yeah, I guess I wasn’t fully awake,” he said weakly. “Did… um… Did someone else here see me, you think?”

Bakugou stopped packing for a moment to look at him, pensive. Eijirou gulped.

“Don’t think so,” Bakugou shrugged, motioning for Eijirou to help him with the tent fabric. He complied absentmindedly, letting his hands do the work while he kept worrying about what his friend and maybe even strangers might have seen.

They worked in silence until Bakugou muttered, “You don’t have to keep hiding from me, you know.”

Eijirou dropped his side of the tent, all blood leaving his face. “What do you mean?” he croaked, throat so tight he could barely let out a sound.

Bakugou sighed and dropped his own side. “Yourself. You can let go when it’s just us. You know that, right?”

Eijirou gulped painfully. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Kirishima…”

“I’m already… I’m not hiding my teeth, am I?” Eijirou said quickly, jumping on the first excuse he could come up with. His brain was foggy and his entire body itched. When did his headache start again? Everything was fuzzy and he almost felt like he was falling as his skin erupted in cold sweat. How much did Bakugou know? How much did Eijirou let him see?

His parents were screaming in his head, telling him that he should have known he couldn’t hide, that he should come home, that Bakugou was going to tell everyone and get him killed…

“A-anyway. I… uh… I guess that’s what happens when you wake me up too roughly,” he continued, desperately hoping that Bakugou would let it slide. “You better be careful too!”

It sounded so fake… His voice, his smile, everything. There was no way Bakugou was going to believe him. And he wasn’t the kind of person to let go.

Bakugou stared at him for what felt like hours, frowning, shoulders squared and palms twitching like he was getting ready for a fight… and deflated.

“Grab the fucking tent back, we’re not done with it,” he muttered.

Eijirou nodded, relaxing slightly. Just enough to unfreeze and go through the motions, still waiting for a sign, any sign, that this wasn’t over.

“Hey, if you wanna… Go somewhere or whatever today. I’ll cover for you. Dunce Face said there’s no one for miles and bandits can just fuck off.”

Eijirou tensed again. It didn’t feel like Bakugou was trying to trick him into saying the truth, but… He had no idea what his friend was insinuating here.

“I’m not gonna slack off on my duties now,” he said with a weak, but not completely forced smile.

Bakugou flinched slightly, eyes going wide for a second as if he just had a revelation. A flash of something passed on his face, too fast for Eijirou to understand what it meant before it was gone. Bakugou gritted his teeth, clenched his fists again, and deflated completely. “Whatever.”

They finished packing in silence and joined their friends at their usual spot at the back of the caravan. Eijirou still wasn’t sure what happened, but Bakugou didn’t seem pissed at him or anything, so it had to be a good sign, right?

Still, he looked tenser than ever, and not even the majestic herd of horses grazing right at the side of the road was enough to distract him.

.

The fights started the day after, just before they reached their next stop.

Eijirou didn’t even know what the first one was about. According to Jirou, it was mostly Bakugou being an asshole to their boss for no reason. Eijirou was starting to understand his friend enough to know that there was always a reason for him to act like that, even if it wasn’t obvious to anyone who wasn’t him, but it sure didn’t feel like it when Eijirou tried to smooth things over so they didn’t get fired on the spot and Bakugou didn’t do anything to help.

“What the hell was that?” Eijirou hissed once he’d successfully dragged Bakugou away and back to their friends.

Bakugou slipped out of his grip with a shrug. “Whatever,” he grumbled like a petulant child.

“Hey, stop that,” Eijirou said, annoyed. “What happened?”

“Nothing important.”

“Dude, don’t be like that. We’re partners, and you almost got us fired. I have the right to know what you were trying to do.”

“Don’t fucking bother.”

Damn, Bakugou was so frustrating sometimes…

Eijirou didn’t get the chance to insist, though, because Kaminari and Sero quickly joined the conversation and changed the subject. Eijirou decided to drop it for now. Hopefully, it would be a one-time thing.

.

It wasn’t a one-time thing. Bakugou did it again and again, always finding an excuse to be an asshole to their boss, and he refused to tell Eijirou what his problem was. As he quickly discovered, the only way to avoid these fights was to keep Bakugou away from their employer altogether.

That proved as difficult as it was annoying, but they still managed to leave their last stop before Diees without getting fired. It was quite the feat, if you asked him.

Eijirou was going to get gray hair if this kept going. He already felt agitated after what happened with the thieves a few nights ago, his head was hurting more and more often, and his skin was getting so itchy no amount of oil could appease it. He thought it would get better now that they were out of the dangerous zone and the roads were safer, meaning that they could relax a little; and it did, at least for him. It didn’t seem to do anything to improve Bakugou’s mood, though.

It took two more days of constantly smoothing things over with whoever Bakugou decided to piss off—not only their boss, but also other mercenaries, merchants, the head of the whole damn caravan—for Eijirou to finally realize what was going on.

Bakugou was tired of being around people all the time.

It was obvious, now that he thought about it. Bakugou had spent days asking Eijirou if he was tired or people, if he wanted to leave, if he wanted to spend time alone, and Eijirou had taken it literally. He didn’t realize that his friend was subtly telling him that he wanted to leave and didn’t want Eijirou to feel forced or something!

So, since his friend obviously wasn’t going to admit it out loud, Eijirou decided to take things into his own hands and asked while they were on the road, “Hey, do you wanna leave the caravan when we reach Diees? It’s a big city, I bet there’ll be interesting rumors for us there!”

They were only a day and a half away from their destination now, and after the humid swamps, they were back on dryer grounds with a series of lagoons and the constant screams of cicadas at day, and crickets at night. In the wake of his revelation, Eijirou was almost feeling relaxed as he walked at the back of the caravan, trying to stay in the shade as much as he could to avoid the merciless summer sun of the early afternoon.

The way Bakugou’s shoulders relaxed when he nodded didn’t escape Eijirou. So it really was the reason for his recent behavior, huh… He could have said so from the start instead of being all cryptic and starting fights with everyone!

“Good! I guess we’ll talk to the boss tonight, then?” he asked with a smile. “Calmly, this time.”

Bakugou huffed a laugh at that, and Eijirou felt some of his tension leave him as well. Maybe he’d finally get some real rest now.

“Hey, did I hear something about you two leaving us?” Kaminari asked suddenly, inserting himself between them with a suspicious frown.

“Oh, uh…” Eijirou started.

“We’re tired of your mugs,” Bakugou said.

“Hey, that’s not true!” Eijirou protested.

“I can’t believe you’d leave us like that without even telling us,” Kaminari whined. “Kirishima, I thought we were friends!”

“We are!” Eijirou said. “It’s just…”

Damn, how was he going to explain that? Was it why Bakugou hadn’t asked himself? That seemed… surprisingly twisted coming from him. And not his style at all.

“It’s because he’s worried about Bakugou killing someone in the next few days, I bet,” Sero said with a smile.

“Well…” Eijirou started, embarrassed, while Bakugou objected loudly.

“It’s not like we didn’t know it was coming,” Jirou shrugged. “We were already going to split at Castelmorn, remember?”

“I know, but I got so used to traveling with them! They’re part of the group now. Even Blasty grew on me,” Kaminari said with a pout that quickly turned into a teasing smile. He jumped behind Eijirou when Bakugou swatted a fiery hand at him.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll see each other again,” Jirou said with a shrug. “They know where we usually stay, and people always remember dumbasses like you.”

“Charmers like me, you mean,” Kaminari retorted with a tip of his feathered hat.

“Suuuuure,” Jirou replied with a smirk.

“Anyway, we’ll miss you guys,” Sero said while the two others bickered. “So let’s make sure we enjoy the time we have left together! Right?”

“Yeah!” Eijirou exclaimed, pumped up.

Kaminari was right, though: it was a very sudden decision. Too much for Eijirou’s liking. He hadn’t thought about this when he offered Bakugou to leave, but he couldn’t ask Kaminari, Jirou, and Sero to come with them this time. It was better for his friends to travel as part of bigger groups. He couldn’t take it away from them.

Trying not to dwell on how much he was going to miss their company, he listened to Sero tell him about the local beaches near Diees and how the five of them should go for a swim as soon as they arrived.

By the time they were done planning, Eijirou was so excited he didn’t even remember to worry about scales. Besides, sea water was supposed to be good for health, including stress and skin problems, so maybe it’d do him some good!

Chapter Text

The night before they reached Diees, Bakugou asked, “What do you know about shifters?”

The sudden question startled Eijirou. They were sharing dinner around the fire with everyone, Kaminari loudly telling stories between two bites while Jirou reminded him to please calm down and wait until she’d tuned her lute, and Eijirou had been too engrossed in their shenanigans to pay attention to his friend. Bakugou was usually silent in the evening, only speaking when spoken to. For him to start a conversation was a rare thing.

“Shifters?” Eijirou repeated slowly.

Bakugou nodded.

Eijirou hummed as he chewed on his food. “Well… I know they’re humans who can turn into animals. There are plenty of stories about them, but I don’t know how true they are… Oh, and there are some in the Golden Mountains, you told me that!”

Bakugou frowned. “That’s it?”

“Uh… Yeah? Like I said, there are a bunch of stories, but I’m not very good at remembering them,” Eijirou said with a laugh. “I remember one about a woman who turned into a hen during the day, and there are those about curses, like people being turned into swans and all that, but I don’t know if they count as shifters… Oh, and there’s this story about a guy who befriends a talking cat who helps him get through trials because he saved it once, and it turns into a beautiful woman at the end and they get married!”

Bakugou didn’t seem very impressed by his knowledge. Eijirou could understand, if his friend grew up among shifters.

“How are they, where you’re from?” Eijirou asked. “Are they openly shifters? Do they have villages or something?”

Bakugou clicked his tongue, eyes trained on the fire and Sero contorting his body to the sound of Jirou’s lute.

“Those in the Golden Mountains aren’t hiding,” Bakugou said slowly. “They look human most of the time, but some of them find it more comfortable to stay partially shifted all the time.”

“They can do that?” Eijirou asked, curious.

Bakugou’s stare pinned him down like a rare butterfly, more piercing than ever. It stayed on Eijirou for a few seconds, long enough to make him gulp nervously, and finally left him.

“Of course they can,” he said.

Eijirou waited for Bakugou to elaborate, and when his friend didn’t, he asked, “So do they keep among themselves, or do you find them everywhere?”

“There’s almost no group with only shifters. But some tribes are known for having one or sometimes two major types of shifters among them.”

“Really? And what happens when a shifter and a human have kids?”

“Either the kid is a shifter, or they’re not,” Bakugou shrugged.

“So there’s no half-shifter or anything, huh…” Eijirou said, thoughtful. Part of him felt like Bakugou’s description so far sounded like him and his unruly scales, but… “Can they stay fully in one form or the other all the time?”

Bakugou shook his head and looked him in the eyes again, deadly serious. “No. They can prefer a form over the other, but they’ve got to shift sometimes.”

“What happens if they don’t?”

“No fucking idea. I’ve never met a shifter stupid enough to reject their true nature.”

So not like him after all, Eijirou thought. He didn't know what he would turn into anyway, with a body like his.

Bakugou’s gaze on him was intense, serious, scrutinizing… Fire was reflecting in his eyes, making their particular shade of red pop even more. It made Eijirou nervous. There was a line right between his friend’s pale eyebrows, and Eijirou forced himself to focus on how much he wanted to smooth it out, fearing that the heat of Bakugou’s stare would burn his eyes like the sun if he looked into them for too long.

“Hey, you two,” someone said gruffly behind them, making Eijirou jump as he turned toward the source of the voice. “You’re taking the second shift tonight. You should get some sleep while you can.”

They nodded and left soon after. As Eijirou led the way toward their tent, he almost felt like he was running away from Bakugou’s intense eyes and the fire they held, fearing the dark secrets their burning light might reveal.

.

They reached Diees in the morning. 

As expected, Kaminari, Jirou and Sero had been there several times, and knew exactly where to go. And since they’d been doing so great for the past few weeks, being the only source of entertainment for the whole caravan for days on end, they decided to take the day off and offer them a tour instead of working.

The city was like nothing Eijirou had ever seen.

Tosola was already big and beautiful and bustling with life, but although the architecture was similar, with buildings and pavements made from the same pale yellow stone, Diees was even more exciting. The city itself wasn’t all that big, but Eijirou had never seen people from so many places at once. As his friends dragged them through small, tortuous uphill streets to show them the view from up there, Eijirou heard people speaking all kinds of Ilsurha dialects, and even a few languages he’d never heard in his life. It felt like no two groups were wearing the same kinds of clothes, from colorful Yuuei garb to loose-fitting Ilsurhi robes to plain black or white clothes with gorgeous embroideries that he was pretty sure came from a country in the West.

There was so much for Eijirou to see that he didn’t notice they’d reached the top of the hill until Kaminari grabbed him by the chin and forced him to look forward. Eijirou's breath caught in his lungs. They’d reached a wide terrace, and from there, the whole city was lying at their feet.

It was a labyrinth of tiny houses built nearly on top of each other, and split from time to time by big alleys and wide squares. Further ahead was the port, full of ships of various sizes and what he supposed were huge piles of crates. It was too far to see, but Eijirou could easily imagine how lively it must be. The sun was reflecting in the bright blue sea, blinding, but Eijirou couldn’t take his eyes away from the view.

“Wow,” he whispered, speechless.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Sero asked as he stood next to him, sounding pretty proud of himself.

Eijirou nodded and turned toward Bakugou, curious to see his friend's reaction. It was supposed to be a quick glance, but the second Eijirou laid his eyes on him, he got stuck once more. Bakugou was looking at the view with the same soft expression and barely there smile as the first time they saw wild horses. Eijirou should have gotten used to it by now, but there was something about the view behind his friend, the sun reflecting on his face and in his hair, making the blond bangs look like the hottest flames, that took his breath away.

Bakugou was so handsome when he was calm and happy… Looking at him was as peaceful and softly blinding as staring at a clear summer sky.

Smiling, Eijirou turned back toward the view, wondering if it was the height, the city, or the glistening sea that his friend seemed to like so much.

“We’re staying around there,” Jirou explained then, pointing at a place at the base of the hill, a good distance from the port. “The nice beaches are all the way to the west, but they’re not too hard to reach on foot. And this,” she added, pointing at a massive building not far from the port, where all the major roads seemed to converge, “is the market hall. It’s famous in the whole country for its spices. They say you can find things from all over the known world there.”

“Oh, that’s amazing!” Eijirou grinned, looking away again to tell Bakugou, “Maybe we can find your spicy stuff there! Pirkublam, right?”

“Pirkublam,” Bakugou nodded, eyes glowing with barely contained excitement.

Eijirou’s chest filled with pride. He’d asked his friend to teach him Barbarian recently and he was terrible at it. He struggled with pronunciation and even hearing words correctly, he couldn’t remember them right most of the time, let alone form a sentence… so remembering at least this one word felt like a victory in itself.

“What’s that?” Jirou asked curiously.

“A spice we use in the Golden Mountains. Spicy as fuck,” Bakugou explained.

“Oooh, you mean danger flower?” Kaminari asked.

“The fuck is that?” Bakugou frowned.

“Orange flower, makes seeds that are super spicy, and if I’m not mistaken, you guys also eat the roots.”

“Sounds like pirkub, yeah,” Bakugou nodded.

“Not -lam?” Eijirou asked with a frown, wondering if he’d misunderstood after all.

“No, pirkub is the plant, lam means seed,” Bakugou explained. “And what kind of stupid ass name is ‘danger flower’?” he added, turning toward Kaminari.

“I guess it’s too spicy for us Plains people,” Kaminari shrugged. “Or maybe just for the person who gave it its Plainspeak name.”

“Anyway, if you want to find some, the spice market here is your best bet,” Jirou concluded. “Though I’m not sure how much we’re trading with the Golden Mountains.”

“Only one way to find out,” Sero shrugged. “Should we go? We can get our lunch there too, before we head for the beach.”

“Yeah, the beach!” Kaminari cheered. “Sounds great, let’s go!”

Eijirou kept his eyes on the view for as long as he could until he had to turn around and follow the others back down.

.

Bakugou looked like a child being offered a full platter of sweets when they reached the spice market. His eyes were glowing brighter than ever, and he was looking everywhere, a wide, irrepressible smile on his lips. Eijirou had never seen him happier.

The smells wafting from the various stands and mingling in the air were almost unbearable to Eijirou’s sensitive nose, but for his friend’s sake, he would stand it. He couldn’t get enough of the new Bakugou he was discovering, and he refused to miss it, even if it meant feeling a little dizzy!

After his initial wonder, his friend’s face quickly went back to a more serious expression, and Eijirou could tell from the way his eyes jumped critically from one stand to the other that he was calculating which place was the best to start from.

Eijirou eyed at the piles and piles of colorful spices that were offered—brown, yellow, red, orange, and even a rich purple in one case—not recognizing any of them. In Yuuei, spices were delicacies reserved for wealthy people, and Eijirou only ever experienced them already cooked into traditional treats during special celebrations. His family did just fine with the fragrant herbs growing in their garden and the occasional wild ones they sometimes stumbled upon.

Bakugou was different. It was obvious from the moment he approached his first merchant that he knew what he was talking about, even if he seemed to be struggling with technical Plainspeak words from time to time.

Eijirou wondered if those spices were normal in his culture or if he was somehow rich enough to afford them growing up. Seeing how cheap he was most of the time, he leaned toward the first option.

They couldn’t find what they were looking for even after talking to several merchants, but Eijirou had a feeling that pirkublam wasn’t the only thing his friend was interested in anymore. Bakugou hadn’t bought anything so far, but Eijirou could tell that he was thinking about it, observing everything and taking note of who sold the best products for the best price.

It didn’t surprise him too much that Bakugou was so into spices—Eijirou remembered how he was when his mother introduced him to their little herbs garden when they first met, an eternity ago, without talking about the way he insisted to dry and keep the wild herbs they found on their way—but the passion, the intensity his friend was showing here was beyond anything he could have expected.

After what felt like hours of critical exploration and harsh negotiations, Kaminari seemed ready to give up.

“Dude, please… We’ll never go anywhere at this rate. Can’t you come back later? Just get what you want and let’s leave,” he whined.

“Yeah, I’m with Kaminari,” Sero agreed while Jirou nodded. “You’re not going anywhere soon, so you can come back another day.”

Bakugou didn’t seem thrilled, but he agreed to try one last stand and leave.

“Danger flower? Of course I have that,” the next merchant they asked said with a grin. His clothes and general appearance didn't look out of place in Southern Yuuei, but his accent sounded suspiciously like Miruko’s, Eijirou realized.

Bakugou must have noticed as well, because he immediately switched to Barbarian to talk to the man, who seemed delighted to find someone from his country here.

He kindly offered to let the whole group sample his products, and, too eager to try out something new, Eijirou and his friends realized their mistake too late.

Bakugou wasn’t joking. Pirkublam was the spiciest thing Eijirou had ever experienced, setting his entire mouth on fire. Kaminari and Sero weren’t faring much better.

Bakugou and the merchant seemed to find their reactions hilarious. Jirou, who had been more careful than them, was laughing so hard at their red faces and teary eyes that she could barely breathe.

“Too much, huh?” the merchant said with a knowing smile. He took out a jug of milk and served them a glass. “Here, take this. It will make it better.”

“Yes please,” Kaminari panted with a grimace, desperately reaching for the offered milk. The man took it away and shook his head, holding up three fingers with a smirk. That bastard… He knew exactly what he was doing when he offered a free sample. And judging from Bakugou’s face, his friend had knowingly betrayed them.

Kaminari and Sero paid the three coins without hesitation, but Eijirou decided that he would be stronger than his burning tongue. His guts warmed up pleasantly when he saw Bakugou’s approving nod, almost making him forget the raging inferno in his mouth.

“I take back what I said earlier. I’m so glad I’m not going with you guys,” Kaminari said once he’d downed his glass of milk. “If Bakugou is in charge of cooking, you’re going to die, man.”

“As much as I love foreign food, I’m with Kaminari here. This thing is foul and my mouth hurts so much,” Sero complained.

Bakugou snickered. “So fucking weak.”

“Well, I’m glad I dodged this one,” Jirou smirked.

“Never again,” Kaminari winced.

“Why did you even try?” Jirou laughed. “You can’t even handle mustard!”

“I thought Bakugou was exaggerating! And you saw Sero, he held it together just long enough to make me think it wasn’t that bad!”

“I couldn’t suffer on my own!” Sero protested with a smile.

Jirou snorted. “You guys are idiots.”

Even as he paid for a small vial of spice, Bakugou grumbled that it wasn’t spicy enough. He didn't even seem to be lying, because the merchant nodded wisely and explained that most foreigners couldn't handle the really good stuff, so he didn't bother with it. Eijirou wondered how much spicier pirkublam was in the Barbarian lands. He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out.

.

Since everyone was eager to leave, Bakugou agreed to finish exploring the spice market another day. They grabbed some grilled fish at the market on the seafront and walked the rest of the way to what Sero kept calling the best beach in the country.

“You'll see, the sand is so soft it feels like silk under your toes!”

Eijirou only hoped it wouldn't be too white or there would be shade somewhere, so it wouldn’t make his weak but constant headache worse. He hoped there would be somewhere to hide while he got changed. He hoped he wouldn't pop out a scale in front of everyone.

Oh, no, what if he did pop out a scale and his friends saw it? Sure, a trip to the beach might help with his sensitive head and dry skin and general stress—at least according to Kaminari, who said some lords even had sea water carried all the way to their home for their noble bathrooms—but was it worth it if he blew his cover?

“Aaand… here we are!” Sero announced proudly, showing them a huge stretch of white sand with some low vegetation here and there. So much for the shade… And the dry vegetation, which reached Eijirou's waist at best, wouldn't provide much in terms of hiding spots either. “We even have the whole beach to ourselves, how awesome is that?”

It was a start, Eijirou guessed. A good start. He could do this!

… Hopefully.

“Last one in the water is a snake-horse!” Kaminari yelled, running toward the glistening blue sea and spilling his clothes everywhere.

“Hey, wait for us, you cheater!” Sero exclaimed, running after him.

“I'm not playing your stupid games. If you guys lose your stuff in the sand again, it'll be your own fault,” Jirou warned them, gathering their clothes into a pile before she started shedding her own.

Eijirou didn't dare move. He felt too exposed, too vulnerable. Even when he went on that trip with his friends back home years ago, he always made sure no one was looking before he joined them in the water. He couldn't do this. He couldn't–

He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and met Bakugou's piercing gaze. “Hurry up and get changed while they're distracted. I've got your back.”

Eijirou nodded dumbly, only now realizing that Bakugou was already naked with his clothes resting at their feet.

“You two are coming or what?” Kaminari yelled from the water.

Bakugou ran toward the others and took off with an explosion that made sand fly in all directions before he plunged into the water while their friends were screaming at him to be careful.

It took a lot of willpower for Eijirou to take his eyes off his friend, but he couldn’t let his efforts go to waste. Grateful for the distraction, he quickly shed his own clothes and ran to the water after him. By the time his friends’ attention went back to him, he was already waist-deep into the sea.

.

They played in the water for hours. They never went too far from their stuff, but the afternoon was entirely spent in petty swimming competitions—most of them won by Jirou, closely followed by a rusty but very competitive Bakugou—splashing each other, kicking Sero whenever he disappeared under the waves in an attempt to scare them, just floating around and talking…

Eijirou never wanted to leave. It felt like all his stress and worries had dissolved into the sea. The water was enough to hide most of his body, meaning he didn’t have to worry about scales and could easily play them off as a trick of light if needed, the cool water did wonders for his head, and Bakugou seemed to be having fun as well.

When he first joined them in the water, the others had teased him about not being able to use his explosions against them now that he was wet, and he’d immediately proved them wrong by drying up his hand with heat alone and throwing an explosion right at their faces. Needless to say their teasing didn’t last very long.

Eijirou couldn’t stop laughing at their reactions. They looked so shocked and betrayed… 'Never assume a wet Bakugou is harmless' was a lesson Eijirou had learned pretty early in their relationship.

He stopped when he felt the others’ eyes on him, glad that he’d kept the habit of hiding his mouth behind his hand whenever he laughed despite how often Bakugou told him not to. Kaminari and Sero looked scandalized. Eijirou wasn’t sure what Bakugou’s expression meant.

“What?” he defended himself, still snickering. “It’s not me, for once. Let me have this!”

Once their friends had learned not to underestimate him, Bakugou's mood improved drastically. He was all fierce grins and barked laughter, his wild hair barely flattened by the water and standing right back up the second he shook off the excess, shining like a halo in the summer sun.

Eijirou’s eyes kept wandering back to him all day, as if he had to make sure his friend was still enjoying himself too, only going back to the moment once he’d made sure that he was.

Once everyone had their fill and Kaminari started complaining about being cold, they walked out of the water, Eijirou staying behind just in case. He didn’t know if he wanted to run toward his stuff and get dressed as fast as possible or be more careful and risk being too slow. The dilemma was almost enough to ruin all the good his hours of fun in the water had done.

Eijirou’s anxiety peaked when Bakugou ran back toward him, but his friend just dropped his clothes at his feet, threw his towel at him, and turned around to get dressed, putting himself between Eijirou and the rest of the group as if to protect his modesty. He even went as far as wearing his cape and manipulating the winds around them to make it float just right to hide him.

Eijirou could have cried with how thankful he was. After their first bath in Tosola months ago, his friend seemed to have noticed that he didn’t like being seen naked, and not only was he not teasing him about it, he also did everything he could to make sure no one would look too closely, himself included.

It was basic courtesy for Eijirou to do the same for him, but with the way Bakugou didn’t make a single effort to get dressed until he’d gotten rid of every single drop of water and grain of sand on his muscular body, shameless as ever, smooth skin now bathed in gold after hours under the sun, it was hard to return the favor.

.

“You know why I wanna find a dragon?” Bakugou asked on their way back to the inn.

Eijirou turned toward him, surprised by the sudden question. They’d been walking in silence behind the three others, whose casual banter was a lot weaker than usual after hours of playing. Everyone seemed exhausted, and Bakugou was normally even less talkative when he was tired.

“To fight it, right?” Eijirou answered. “That’s what you said when we met.”

Bakugou nodded, staring at him with the same intent look as that day. Eijirou felt himself paling. Surely, Bakugou didn’t think he was a dragon, right? His friend was looking awfully like it, his eyes glinting like a hunting predator.

“And, uh… Is it a fight to the death, or…?” Eijirou asked nervously. “I mean, why do you wanna fight a dragon exactly?”

“To fight it,” Bakugou shrugged.

“A fight can be a lot of things,” Eijirou pointed out. “I wanna know what kind.”

“Not my fault you guys only have one word for that shit.”

“That's not true!” Eijirou protested. “There's sparring, and… and dueling, and… battling, and… uh…”

“I can tell you twelve words in Barbarian that translate as 'to fight' in Plainspeak just from the top of my head,” Bakugou smirked.

“Do you guys even need that many?” Eijirou asked, baffled.

Bakugou opened his mouth to answer, but he was interrupted by Kaminari who turned around and stopped walking to ask, “Oh? Are we talking about the subtleties of the Barbarian language when it comes to fights?”

“The what?” Eijirou asked.

Bakugou clicked his tongue. “We aren’t talking about shit, Dunce Face,” he growled.

“And by ‘we’, you mean nur, right? The ‘we’ that would include me?” Kaminari asked as he finished joining them, impervious to Bakugou’s rebuke.

“Yeah, so fuck off.”

“Since when do you speak Barbarian, dude?” Eijirou asked, curious.

“I don’t,” his friend shrugged. “Well, not really. I just remember a few words and fun facts, like how they don’t have any kind of formal etiquette but two words for ‘we’, which I think is really cool by the way.”

“Yeah, Bakugou told me about that,” Eijirou nodded with a smile. “We should practice together!”

“I’m not teaching him shit,” Bakugou grumbled.

“So mean…” Kaminari pouted. “Anyway, so if you’re not going to… wait, what’s the word when you fight to the death… mongeln?”

“Mornkeln,” Bakugou grumbled.

“Yeah, that. So if you don’t wanna mornkeln do you wanna barsumkeln maybe? Or cerkeln, whatever it means? I just remember the word.”

“No and no,” Bakugou said.

“What are those?” Eijirou asked.

“Fight for honor and fight to settle an argument,” Bakugou explained. “Why the fuck would I want to settle an argument with a random dragon, idiot?”

“Ooooh, right, it’s this one! And which one is it when you’re trying to impress a lover?”

“I’m not telling you,” Bakugou growled.

“Which one is it?” Eijirou asked.

“Lamdorkeln,” Bakugou replied immediately.

“Bakugou! What kind of blatant favoritism is this?” Kaminari said, pretending to be offended despite his smile.

“I’m teaching him, I’m not teaching you,” Bakugou shrugged. Only the slight twitch of his lips betrayed that he was amused.

“Unbelievable…” Kaminari huffed, shaking his head. “Anyway, so if it isn’t any of those, which is it?”

“He didn’t say it wasn’t the fight to impress a lover,” Jirou remarked above her shoulder, smirking.

Kaminari gasped. “Bakugou! Could it be? There’s a beautiful Barbarian woman back home you’re trying to impress?”

He was joking, of course. Eijirou knew he was joking, but he couldn’t help the twinge of hurt at the thought that Bakugou had a lover this whole time and never told him.

“Of course it’s not that, dumbass!” Bakugou barked, throwing an explosion at Kaminari’s face when he asked him what kind of girl she was.

“Okay, okay,” Kaminari laughed, safe now that he’d run behind Eijirou and had him walk between them. “It doesn’t have to be a girl, you know…”

Bakugou jumped past Eijirou to grab him, and Eijirou stopped him with a laugh.

“Kaminari, no more lover talk,” he chuckled. “And Bakugou, stop trying to smask him.”

“So you finally remembered a word, huh,” Bakugou said, looking a little proud of him behind the obvious teasing.

“And of course, it has to be about violence,” Kaminari pouted.

Before his friend could ruin his efforts to calm Bakugou down, Eijirou asked, “So what kind of fight was it when we met?”

The question was mostly thrown in an attempt to change the subject, but now that it was out, he was really curious about it.

To his surprise, Bakugou didn’t answer immediately. He stopped trying to hit Kaminari and started walking at Eijirou’s side again before saying anything.

“It would be felfarkeln, right?” Kaminari intervened. “A fight to become friends.”

To his surprise, Bakugou looked away with a click of his tongue; a sure sign that Kaminari was right and he was embarrassed about it.

“Aw, really? You wanted to be my friend?” Eijirou asked, touched. Then, something hit him. “Wait, why would you fight someone if you want to be their friend?”

“That’s how I made friends as a kid,” Sero intervened. “It worked well enough until I was like… eight.”

“You don’t wanna make friends with weaklings who can’t stand their ground. You want an equal. So you fight,” Bakugou explained.

“So you do this every time you want to make a friend?” Eijirou asked, baffled. “Wait, does it mean we were friends from the start and you never told me?!”

“Aw, is this why Blasty keeps trying to kick our asses?” Sero asked with a mocking smile “Because he wants us to be friends?”

“You know we don’t need to fight for that, Bakugou. You’re our friend whether you like it or not,” Jirou added.

“Shut up! I’m kicking your asses because you fucking deserve it,” Bakugou growled.

“Fine, fine,” Kaminari laughed.

He walked back to Sero and Jirou soon after, leaving them on their own.

“So you really fought me so we’d be friends, that day?” Eijirou asked softly.

Bakugou shook his head. “I fought you to see if you deserved to be my friend. Eventually. Maybe.”

“Oh… Well, I’m still honored,” Eijirou smiled. They were friends now. It was all that mattered.

Bakugou answered with a grunt, and they walked in silence for a little longer until Eijirou asked again,

“What about that dragon? What kind of fight are you looking for?”

“Shimnarkeln,” Bakugou said quietly. “It means to fight to earn respect.”

“So kind of flarfulkeln, then,” Eijirou pointed out.

“It’s felfarkeln, and no. It’s completely different.”

“How so?”

Bakugou frowned as he searched for words. “I don’t want a shitty bond or whatever. We're not gonna see each other more than we have to. I want just them to respect me enough to do what I fucking want.”

“Right,” Eijirou said, unconvinced. “You guys make it so complicated…”

“I don’t wanna hear shit from someone whose language has a different word for every kind of ruler, and a different way to address them too,” Bakugou scoffed.

“It’s important,” Eijirou protested half-heartedly.

The look Bakugou sent him told him he didn’t buy it.

“Anyway,” Eijirou said, “so it means you’re not going to hurt the dragon you find?”

“Not more than I have to,” Bakugou shrugged.

That was a relief! Not that it had anything to do with Eijirou, who definitely wasn’t a dragon anyway, but it was good to know.

“Why would you even need a dragon’s respect, though?” he asked.

“There’s something I need from them,” Bakugou said.

When he didn’t add more, Eijirou decided not to insist. Their inn was close and he wasn’t sure his friend would tell him more anyway.

“Well,” he said instead, “I guess I’ll find out what you want when we find that dragon.”

Chapter Text

“So, how did rumor hunting go, guys?” Sero asked as the five of them settled around a table for dinner.

“Not too well for now, but it’s just the beginning,” Eijirou shrugged, forcing himself to stay optimistic as Bakugou grumbled something he didn’t quite catch.

“So no one complained about dragons in the area?” Jirou asked, not sounding surprised in the least.

“There was nothing at the city hall, at least,” Eijirou replied. “We’ve found a few interesting quests, but…”

“It’s too early to bother with that shit,” Bakugou said.

“Yeah, we’ll come back and have a closer look if we really can’t find anything,” Eijirou agreed. “There are a few that seem great for us, though. And I think it’d be good for us to have our own adventures instead of just protecting caravans.”

“Oh, so you’re finally ready to write your own legend?” Kaminari smiled.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Eijirou chuckled. “But we haven’t done our own thing since Inasa and that one time we had to look for missing kids who got lost in the woods.”

“Neither of those turned out to be very epic or glamorous, huh…” Sero remarked.

Kaminari huffed. “Excuse you, I made these two stories extremely epic and glamorous.”

“You sure did,” Eijirou chuckled. “Anyway, how did the day go for you three?”

As everyone ate dinner, he learned that people in Diees seemed to enjoy the tale of the friendly giant, and that Kaminari fell in love about three times with people in the crowd. All in all, it was a very average day.

“Hey, Dunce Face, Ears,” Bakugou asked suddenly, breaking the lazy silence that had settled over their table once their plates were empty. “Do you have stories about shifters?”

“Shifters?” Jirou asked, surprised. “I know a few, yeah. Why?”

“Anything about dragons?” Bakugou asked again, ignoring her question.

“Wait, do you want shifters or dragons?” Sero asked, frowning.

“Why not both?”

“I don't know any story with both,” Kaminari said. “And it’s not like dragon shifters are a thing.”

Bakugou frowned.

“You believe in a stupid mist horse taking away kids but not in dragon shifters?” he growled.

“Okay so first of all, I don't believe in the Bruycabalu anymore,” Kaminari said. “And second, shifters are like… common animals. A wolf, a cat, I can get behind that, but a whole dragon? There’s no way they exist, they’d be way too strong.”

“Yeah, that’s too much magic in my magic, no thank you” Sero nodded.

“Suspension of disbelief only goes that far,” Kaminari added.

Eijirou wasn't sure what it meant, but he nodded along anyway. There was no way dragon shifters were a thing. Just thinking about it was scary.

Next to him, Bakugou was frowning, arms crossed. Eijirou wondered why he’d ask about shifters again. Did he have something in mind? He didn't really believe in dragon shifters, did he?

His friend clicked his tongue in annoyance and said, “So what do you have about other shifters?”

“Well… What are you looking for?” Jirou asked.

“Yeah, there are tons of stories,” Kaminari added. “Do you want something scary? A fairy tale? Maybe even… a little romance?”

He wiggled his eyebrows at that and Bakugou threatened to explode his face.

“I don’t fucking care,” Bakugou grumbled. “Just… something that shows what you think about them or whatever.”

Kaminari titled his head, surprised.

“That’s both really vague and really specific,” Sero pointed out, scratching his chin.

“Why the sudden interest?” Eijirou couldn’t help but ask.

He expected his friend to tell him to fuck off, or that it was none of his business, but instead, Bakugou turned toward him and said, “You don’t seem to know shit about them. So I wanna know if it’s a Plains people thing or not.”

“Oh, I see,” Kaminari said. “That narrows it down a little. Let’s see…”

“There’s the hen bride?” Jirou offered.

“Oh yeah, that’s a good one! Do you know it, Blasty?”

Bakugou shook his head, and Kaminari started.

“I heard this story from a friend, a long time ago…”

“I don’t give a shit about that,” Bakugou interrupted. “Make it fucking short.”

“Dude! I was getting into it!” Eijirou complained.

“It was just the first sentence,” Sero chuckled. “And don’t you know it already?”

“Yeah, but never told by Kaminari,” Eijirou pouted.

“Aw, you’re making me feel so loved,” Kaminari cooed. Then, he turned back toward Bakugou and said dryly, “Anyway, so that’s about a guy who finds a hen, and it insists on sleeping in the house with him instead of the chicken coop. And our dude notices that someone cleans his house every night. He thinks the hen is a shifter but he can’t prove it, so he tries to trick her into revealing her true form and once he succeeds, they get married. That’s short enough for you?”

“Why didn’t she say so from the start?” Bakugou asked immediately.

“I don’t know, maybe because shifters have a bad reputation around here? Tricksters and all that.”

“Are you guys talking about shifter stories?” someone asked behind them. Eijirou turned around to find a small woman with brown hair, plump, rosy cheeks, and the warmest brown eyes he’d ever seen. “I know a good one.”

“And who the fuck are you?” Bakugou spat.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Uraraka Ochako, nice to meet you two! I’m here because your friend said he’d buy me a drink earlier today,” she explained. She turned toward Kaminari and added with a smile, “and I’m not one to refuse free stuff, so here I am!”

Kaminari stayed comically frozen for a few seconds, as if he couldn’t believe someone actually took him up on his offer.

Sero shook him a little, startling him back to life. “That’s an honor!” he said loudly, still looking a little dazed. “Yes, of course, I’ll get you that drink! Especially if you came all the way here just to see me.”

“Oh, I’m just staying here and I saw you guys,” Uraraka shrugged.

“Well… That’s… That’s good,” Kaminari stammered. “Anyway, come sit with us,” he added, sliding a little on his bench to make room for her. “You said you had a story?”

“Yes. And a true one too,” she nodded. “Have you guys heard of the Beast of Gevaine?”

Eijirou and Bakugou shook their heads while the three others thought for a second.

“It’s that story from a while ago, right?” Jirou asked. “A terrible beast that attacked and killed dozens of people and no one could catch it.”

“Yes, that’s it! It happened in the mountains north from here,” Uraraka nodded. “That’s where I’m from.”

“Oh, right! But it all happened decades ago,” Kaminari pointed out as he raised a hand to order a drink. “Wasn’t it a wolf or something?”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Uraraka said. “Usually, monsters like this turn out to be nothing more than a rabid wolf—which is terrifying in its own way, I’ll admit—but not here. And they never really caught the beast either.”

“They didn’t?” Sero asked, surprised.

Uraraka shook her head. “They killed a few big wolves, but none of them really matched the description. My parents were there when it happened, you see. So everything I know, I heard directly from them,” she explained, lowering her voice as she leaned forward on the table. Eijirou couldn’t help but follow, so engrossed already that he almost jumped when someone put down a pint of ale next to her. The reaction made her smile.

“Cute and a great storyteller. Guys, I think it’s love for real this time,” Kaminari whispered with a dreamy sigh.

“Keep it short, Round Cheeks,” Bakugou grumbled.

“No Sir, not this time!” Kaminari protested. “I can already tell that this is going to be a great story and I’m not letting you ruin it!”

“If you’re not happy with how I’m telling the story, you can always leave,” Uraraka shrugged as she drank her first sip.

Bakugou leaned back with a huff, crossing his arms, but didn’t protest further.

Uraraka continued.

“My mother grew up on a farm in the area, almost an hour away from the village proper. People will tell you that the story began almost thirty years ago with the first attacks, but according to her, it really started more than twenty years before. You see, there was a small family not far from her childhood house. Just a couple and their son, who was about the same age as my mom and her siblings. They were a little strange, these people. The parents almost never let their child go out and play with everyone. Never let him help look after the cattle. Mom said that on the rare occasions when the kid played with them, he tended to bark and growl when he got too excited, just like a dog.”

“So you think it was a family of shifters?” Sero asked.

Uraraka shook her head. “Not a family. Just him. Mom said she and the others didn’t mind when the kid—let’s call him Ooka—acted like a dog. They found it funny. I mean, my dad told me his sister pretended to be a horse for years. That’s just how kids are. But his parents? Every time they caught their son acting strange, they’d come yelling and drag him home.”

Eijirou gulped. That… sounded a lot like his own parents. Not that they were always breathing down his neck when he was out with friends, but it took them so long to just trust Eijirou to be alone with other kids…

“And then?” he asked, eager to hear more.

“Well, his parents died eventually, and he got married. He stayed a little weird after that. A little withdrawn. But aside from being awkward around people, he was a pretty normal guy. And the best hunter in the region too. He could track a deer better than anyone. The attacks started when he was about thirty.”

She paused for a few seconds to drink, and Eijirou found himself holding his breath.

“If you’ve heard about the beast, you’ll know that people never said it was a wolf. It looked like a wolf, they said. Or a very big dog. But not quite. It had weirdly shaped legs, they said. It seemed to walk on two legs sometimes. It was smart, much smarter than a dog. It was malicious. It didn’t attack to eat. It didn’t fear humans or bulls, even after being wounded several times. And it had brown fur that looked red in the sun. Not much like a wolf… but a lot like Ooka.”

“I’m so taking notes right now,” Kaminari whispered with a giddy smile.

Uraraka smiled at her effect, took another deliberately slow sip of her drink, and continued.

“It lasted for three years. No one can really tell how many people were attacked and how many died, but everyone was scared. Parents wouldn’t let their children look after the cattle on their own, but even that wasn’t enough to deter the beast, who simply started attacking groups. It grew more and more fearless with time, more and more aggressive.”

“And Ooka?” Jirou asked. “Was he acting suspicious?”

Uraraka smiled. “Well… he was a hunter. It wasn’t unusual for him to disappear in the forest for days. There didn’t seem to be more attacks while he was away, but don’t you find it strange that a man alone in the very forest the beast roamed never got injured while the beast had started attacking entire groups of woodsmen?”

“That is suspicious, yeah,” Sero nodded.

“Mom got married around that time, because life goes on no matter what. She couldn’t really keep track of Ooka, and his wife didn’t seem to suspect anything. But here’s the thing. One day, she got attacked.”

“His wife?” Eijirou asked with wide eyes.

“Yes, her. And their baby. She was coming back from the village along with my mom and dad who didn’t want her to go on her own.”

“So your parents saw it?”

Uraraka nodded. “That’s why I believe the descriptions people gave. Dad said the beast looked a lot like a brown wolf, but more… human, somehow. Almost like…”

“Like a partially shifted wolf,” Bakugou completed.

“Yes, exactly!” Uraraka exclaimed, losing her mysterious tone and expression for a moment.

“How would you know? Are there any shifters in Gevaine?” Sero asked.

“No, but I go to the Golden Mountains every year and I asked one of the wolf shifters there to show me, once. It looked a lot like what my parents described. The weirdly shaped legs that look too long for its body, the strangely human eyes, the too thin tail that’s not entirely covered with fur yet…”

“The Golden Mountains, really?” Eijirou asked with a smile. “Bakugou is from there!”

Uraraka turned toward his friend and tilted her head curiously. “Really? Oh yeah, I see it, now that you mention it! But I wouldn’t have guessed. Your accent is different.”

“Fuck you, Round Cheeks,” Bakugou muttered, earning a discrete elbow on the side from Eijirou. “And keep going.”

“Ah, right, the story,” Uraraka nodded, unimpressed. “So the beast was there, standing in front of my parents and Ooka’s wife, growling, glaring, waiting for the best moment to attack… And that’s when something strange happened. Dad says he took out his axe—he’s a carpenter, you see, and he wouldn’t go out without it ever since the attacks started. He was ready to protect the others, but as soon as it saw Ooka’s wife, the beast froze. Dad barely had to wave his axe around to scare it away. Which is very strange since we’re talking about a beast who’d attacked people armed with bows and spears, and even a few adventurers with swords. It always ran away eventually, but it took more than just waving around and yelling to scare it.”

“So you think Ooka recognized his wife then?”

“That’s what my parents think, at least. They didn’t suspect it right away, of course, but that’s the last time the beast was seen. Other people claimed to have seen it later, but…” Uraraka sighed, and took another sip of her drink. “Mom told me she saw Ooka later that night. After the attack, she and dad decided to stay the night at my grandparents’ farm, too shaken to go back home. And while she was outside to close the chicken coop with her brother, she saw Ooka wandering alone outside, muttering to himself. They tried to call him and tell him to be careful, that the beast had struck near his home, and he ran away. His body was found at the bottom of a cliff a week later, and the attacks stopped around then. Hunters killed a few wolves and called the beast defeated, but everyone who knew Ooka, especially those who grew up with him, believe it was him. A lone wolf shifter hiding among humans.”

She leaned back and silence fell around the table, enveloping them like wool. Even the sounds of other people in the room seemed to come from far away as Uraraka sipped on her drink again, a smug smile on her lips.

Eijirou was speechless, questions swirling in his mind and his mouth full of lead.

“Wow… that’s quite the story,” Kaminari said eventually.

“How come no one ever heard about it?” Sero asked, coming out of his daze now that the heavy silence was broken.

“It’s not like anyone asked them,” Uraraka shrugged.

“What do you think happened?” Jirou asked. “Why would this man attack people he knew like that?”

“I don’t know…” she said sadly. “But I’ve met shifters ever since, and I think… maybe he repressed his true nature to the point where he lost his mind?”

“That’s possible?” Kaminari asked, baffled.

“I don’t know… But I know shifters feel antsy when they have to stay in one form for too long, so…”

“What happened to Ooka’s kid?” Eijirou asked, worried. Bakugou had told him that children from a mixed union were either full shifters or not shifters at all. If the kid grew up a shifter and was raised exactly like their dad, then…

“I’m not sure. Ooka’s wife left their old house soon after to be closer to the village and she eventually remarried. But last I heard, her son was fine.”

Eijirou let out a sigh of relief. “Good,” he said.

When he turned toward Bakugou to see what he was thinking, he found his friend’s eyes on him, more piercing and intense than ever. A lemon stare in its purest form. A lemon glare, even.

“So, Bakugou? Did it sate your hunger for shifter stories?” Sero asked.

Bakugou tapped his fingers on the table a few times, eyes still on Eijirou.

“I’ve learned that when you do have shifters, you repress the shit out of them until they go mad,” he said, jaw clenched.

“I guess his parents were scared of what might happen if people found out their son was a shifter. Especially if he was a wolf,” Kaminari said. “I admit that we’re not… the best in that regard.”

“Clearly not,” Bakugou snapped.

He looked livid, eyes brimming with cold anger in its purest form. Eijirou had never seen him like this and he wasn’t sure he liked it.

“I’m going to bed,” his friend announced suddenly, already up and leaving as he spoke, storming out of the room before anyone could react.

A stunned silence settled around the table once more.

“Is he… always like this?” Uraraka asked slowly.

“Angry and rude? Pretty much,” Kaminari shrugged. “But it’s the first time I've seen him act like that. He’s usually more… loud and vocal.”

“That’s strange…” Jirou nodded.

“Maybe he’s like this because he has shifter friends back home?” Eijirou ventured.

“Maybe…” Kaminari said slowly.

The awkward silence lasted until they changed the subject altogether. Eijirou tried to stay a little longer, but his heart wasn’t in it. He was worried about Bakugou.

He excused himself and rushed after his friend.

.

To Eijirou's surprise—and much to his delight—they saw a lot more of Uraraka after that evening. She was a young witch back from a trip to the East to find some rare herbs for her master, an old woman known as Recovery Girl by the locals. The caravan Uraraka was travelling with had dropped her at Diees and she was just waiting for a delivery from the West before she could go home, about three days of walk north from here.

Since she had nothing better to do until then, she hung out with them a lot. Eijirou saw her offer her services in town a few times, and she even accepted to give Kaminari and the others a hand during their shows, making items float around them with her innate wind magic. She was mostly just keeping herself busy, much like Bakugou and him.

Eijirou liked her. She was fun, and laid back, and as tough as Bakugou when it came to bargaining. She fit right into their little group.

“You know,” she told Bakugou and him a few days after they met her, “my delivery is supposed to come very soon and I'll be heading home. So if you two still can't find juicy rumors, you should come with me.”

“And why the hell would we do that?” Bakugou growled.

“Because my home is on the way to another major city, and I don't want to go alone,” she shrugged.

“You can't go with another caravan?” Eijirou asked.

She shook her head. “No. My master’s house may be on the way to a major city but it's not exactly on a major road.”

“So why the fuck would we go that way?” Bakugou barked. “You're gonna pay us for that?”

“No way! I don't have that kind of money,” Uraraka exclaimed. “But… my donkey can carry your stuff. And you'd be in the good graces of a powerful witch.”

“You're not a powerful witch,” Bakugou scoffed.

“Hey, don't be rude!” Eijirou snapped. “We've seen her work, she's good!”

“Good doesn't mean powerful.”

“Look, you're not wrong, Bakugou,” Uraraka said. “I might be a little green. I'm still an apprentice after all. But my master is the best healer in the country, and you'd be in her good graces too.”

“Yeah, and if Uraraka is learning from her, she's gonna be awesome too one day,” Eijirou added.

“Why the fuck are you siding with her?”

“Because she's our friend,” Eijirou said, crossing his arms. “I don't want anything to happen to her, especially if we don't have anything else to do. Since when are you fine with just doing odd jobs at the docks anyway? You're the one who keeps saying we should leave.”

He didn't understand why his friend was acting like this. Eijirou liked Diees and he didn't want to leave before his friends, especially if it was their best chance to find rumors about a dragon, but Bakugou had been insisting that they should be on their way almost right after they arrived. He didn't even know where to go, had no intention of joining another caravan or going on a single quest… Bakugou just wanted to leave, but now that a chance to do it was coming, he didn't even want to consider it?

His friend was acting more and more strangely, and Eijirou felt like he understood him less every day. He couldn't even get a straight answer out of him about why he left in such a hurry the night Uraraka told them Ooka’s story.

All Bakugou had said was “Are you really okay with that shit?” and pretty much nothing else after Eijirou asked him what he was talking about.

“I can survive just fine on my own, Kirishima,” Uraraka said softly. “But when I'm traveling alone, thieves think I'm easy prey and they keep trying to attack me or to trick me. It's exhausting. And I'm not joking when I said you want Recovery Girl on your side, especially if you're adventurers. So if you don't have anything better to do… The offer stands until I have to leave,” she concluded with a shrug.

“Thank you for that, Uraraka,” Eijirou smiled as Bakugou walked away. “I'll try to convince Bakugou. I don't know why he's being this grumpy.”

“Thank you, Kirishima! That's very sweet. I hope Bakugou’s mood improves soon.”

“Yeah, me too…”

.

Kaminari and the others were ready to leave barely a week after they’d arrived in Diees. Eijirou thought he was ready to part ways before, but as the day of their departure approached, he realized that he really, really wasn’t. He didn’t want to see them go. He didn’t want them to disappear from his life without a trace, as if they’d never been here.

Eijirou was going to miss them so much, and he wouldn’t even have a single thing to remember them by, like he did with his family and friends back home. He hated the idea, but he didn’t know how to solve the problem.

Logically, Eijirou knew that it didn’t matter. His friends weren’t going to forget him, and he certainly wasn’t going to forget them. He didn’t need a physical reminder. He’d get used to their absence the same way he got used to their presence.

But there was a part of him that wouldn’t let it go. Like a wild animal trapped in a too small cage, it was running in circles in a corner of his mind, antsy and restless. It was driving him insane.

They all went to the beach one last time, a day or so before the trio left, this time with Uraraka who was still waiting for her delivery to come. Maybe the day after, she said.

Eijirou found himself staring at the pile of clothes his three friends had discarded on the sand without a care in the world, wondering if they’d notice if something disappeared. A handkerchief, a ribbon, just a little something they wouldn’t really miss.

He shook his head and quickly got changed while the others were distracted. He couldn’t steal from his friends, he reminded himself. It wasn’t manly.

Their second day at the beach went even better than the first one. Since nothing bad happened last time and Eijirou knew Bakugou had his back, he didn’t have a single worry in the world as he enjoyed the water with everyone. Being with his friends, getting to know someone new, watching the way Kaminari constantly tried and failed to impress Uraraka… He wished it would never have to end.

Eijirou thought he was good at hiding how he felt, but as always, Bakugou was more observant than he expected.

“The fuck’s wrong with you?” his friend asked once they were back from the beach and alone in their room, ready to go to sleep.

“What do you mean?” Eijirou asked.

“You’re looking at the Clown Trio like they’re gonna die soon or some shit.”

“Oh, that,” Eijirou said. “I’m not worried about them or anything. It's just… I’m gonna miss them, you know.”

Bakugou opened his mouth to say something and closed it without a word. His eyes narrowed, and he said after a beat, “It’s not just that.”

An affirmation. As always. Eijirou sighed, defeated. Bakugou seemed determined to get the truth out of him, and although he could probably tell his friend to drop it… maybe talking to him would help? At the very least, if there was something Eijirou knew about Bakugou, it was that he never made fun of him for things that mattered. He was always the first to laugh at him when Eijirou said or did something stupid, but the memory of his destroyed headband was still fresh on his mind and he trusted Bakugou to take him seriously this time as well.

“I want something from them,” he said too quickly, forcing the words out before he could change his mind. “I mean… I don’t… need it or anything, but… you know how I keep little scraps of fabric from my family, right? I just… I wish I could keep something from them too. So I don’t miss them too much.”

He couldn’t even look at Bakugou by the time he was done with his explanation, shoulders hunched and eyes glued to the floor between them. He waited in tense silence for Bakugou’s reaction until he saw his friend’s posture relax from the corner of his eye. Eijirou looked up to meet one of Bakugou’s softer looks.

“So you want something for your hoard, huh,” he said.

Eijirou huffed a laugh. “It’s not a hoard,” he said with a tiny smile. He didn’t understand why his friend insisted on calling it that, especially since he wasn’t doing it to make fun of him. Hell, he even took it more seriously than Eijirou did, sometimes!

“If it’s not a hoard, then how the hell would you call it?” Bakugou asked, raising a challenging eyebrow.

“I don’t know. It’s just… a thing. Not really a collection. I just like it!”

“Is ‘treasure’ better?”

“No!” Eijirou laughed. “It’s even worse.”

“Then just call it a hoard if you don’t have a better word,” Bakugou concluded.

Eijirou shook his head and smiled, defeated. “Fine, then. It’s for my hoard.”

Bakugou nodded, satisfied, and Eijirou couldn’t help but add quickly,

“But don’t call it that in front of people!”

Maybe Bakugou was completely serious, but there was no way Kaminari and Sero wouldn’t laugh at him for that.

“Whatever. I think you should just fucking ask them.”

“Ask them what?” Eijirou frowned.

“To give you something you can keep.”

Eijirou sighed. “I can’t. That’s weird.”

“They’re all fucking weird,” Bakugou huffed.

Eijirou snorted at that. “You’ve got a point.”

“If they make fun of you, I’ll kick their asses,” Bakugou concluded, falling heavily on his bed.

“You just want an excuse to kick their asses, admit it,” Eijirou laughed.

“I’ll still do it.”

“Fine, then. I’ll ask,” Eijirou said, a small smile on his lips.

It was either this, stealing something, or letting his friends go and live with his regrets, anyway. Bakugou was right: he should go for the manlier option.

Chapter Text

“So, uh… Yeah. If you guys have something you could give me before you go, I’d… like that,” Eijirou explained the next day, even more embarrassed in front of his friends than he’d been with Bakugou the night before.

He’d almost been tempted to wait until the day they were leaving, but Bakugou had convinced him to do it before that, so they didn’t feel rushed. It didn’t make much difference anyway.

Jirou, Kaminari, and Sero had just come back to the inn after another day of entertaining crowds, and once more, Bakugou and Eijirou had learned nothing of importance all day. They got a few coins for helping out at the docks—enough to pay for another night or so of lodging—then Bakugou had dragged him for yet another trip to the spice market to get some of the purple spice they'd seen the first time. It was tart and not all that strong, but perfect with game meat, apparently.

When his friends said nothing after hearing his request, Eijirou looked up and found them staring behind him with wide eyes. Kaminari gulped.

Jirou was the first to speak. “Sure, Kirishima,” she said. “I don’t know what to give you, though…”

“Anything is fine. I mean, you’ve seen what I usually keep, it doesn’t have to be much,” Eijirou shrugged, still nervous.

She thought for a moment, hand flying to her chin and floating there for a second before it landed on her head, still covered with the old bandana she used to keep her hair out of her eyes while she played. Her eyes lit up for a second.

She took it off and asked, holding it up hesitantly, “Is this okay? I’ve been meaning to replace it for a while and I spotted a really cute one yesterday, so… Unless it’s too worn out and dirty, I mean. It’s really old, and the colors are all faded, and…”

“It’s perfect!” Eijirou exclaimed, fighting the urge to snatch it from her hands when he saw she was ready to take it back. “I don’t care if it’s all worn out and faded. It’s well-loved. It’s just what I need.”

“Oh, really?” she asked, surprised. “Well then, it’s all yours.”

She handed it to him with a smile, and Eijirou was so grateful he could have cried. He held it tight, feeling the particular softness that came with old, slightly worn-out fabric. He couldn’t believe she’d give him something so precious so easily.

“I can buy the replacement if you want,” Eijirou offered, throat tight with emotion.

“Oh no, it’s fine,” she assured him. “This old thing is barely good enough for scraps, I have to get a new one anyway.”

“But you’ve had it for years!” Eijirou protested. “And I have so many memories of you wearing it, you must have loved it.”

“And I’ll love the new one too,” Jirou shrugged. “It’s just a piece of fabric to me. So it’s better if it goes to someone who appreciates it, right?”

“So you’re more interested in the sentimental value of the item than the actual state of it, huh…” Sero said, pensive.

“Yeah, dude! I told you, half of my stuff comes from clothes that were barely holding together.”

“True, but I thought it was because you couldn’t get something better,” he shrugged. “Anyway, I can offer you… this!”

His hand plunged in his pocket and he took out an old, frayed yellow ribbon.

“I’m pretty sure I was still tying my hair with it when we first met,” he explained. “I think I got it from a girl a long time ago? I don’t even remember, I just really liked it. I was kinda keeping it for… well, I don’t even know at this point. It’s so worn-out I don’t think I can do anything with it. So if you want it…”

“I’ll take it!” Eijirou exclaimed with a beaming smile. He hadn’t seen Sero with this particular ribbon a lot, but it was the feeling that counted, and it looked like it had a long life. “Thanks, you two.”

That made two, and they were great ones! Eijirou couldn’t believe this was so easy. It was a little silly, but he felt like it was his birthday. He could already tell that these gifts were going to be very precious to him, especially in the coming weeks.

Holding both the bandana and the ribbon tight, he finally looked up at Kaminari, hoping his friend would also have something for him. He didn’t want to pressure him, but he’d be sad to have something from only two of his three friends.

“Hmm…” Kaminari said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I think I've got something. I'll be right back.”

On this, he rushed toward his room and came back a few minutes later with an old handkerchief.

“Here. One of my finest,” he smiled as he handed it to him. “A noble chick gave it to me years ago. They love doing that.”

“Which is very convenient since your noble, sensitive nose couldn't possibly handle rough commoner fabric,” Jirou said with a mocking smile.

“My nose and I merely enjoy the finest things in life,” Kaminari replied with a dignified tone.

“Can't believe chicks would give you shit,” Bakugou scoffed.

“Me neither, and yet…” Jirou shrugged, shaking her head.

“Hey! I'll have you know I'm very popular with the ladies!” Kaminari protested as the others laughed. “Anyway, I loved this one but it's ruined, no matter how much I wash it. It just makes me sad at this point, seeing it like this when it used to be so white and pristine, so if you want it…”

“You won't miss it?” Eijirou asked hesitantly, hands twitching with the need to take it.

“Don’t worry, I have lots of these,” Kaminari laughed.

Sero shook his head. “He’s got wealthy girls eating out of his hand, I don't know how he does it.”

“My natural charm,” Kaminari smiled.

“Of course, it changes once they get to know him,” Jirou snickered.

“Hey!”

Kaminari pouted as his friends made fun of him. He still held out his gift for Eijirou, but as he was going to take it, Bakugou asked,

“Did you even clean that shit?”

“Yes, I told you!” Kaminari exclaimed. “I used soap and everything. Smell it!”

“I'm not smelling your stinky shit!” Bakugou barked, stepping away from the piece of fabric Kaminari was dangling under his nose.

Eijirou laughed. “It's okay, bro, I believe you. And it's just what I need.”

“Thank you,” Kaminari huffed, leaving the once white handkerchief in his hands.

The softness of the fabric surprised him. Eijirou believed his friend when he said it came from a wealthy girl—especially if Sero and Jirou didn't say he was exaggerating—but he didn't expect something so refined. It felt like the calluses on his hands alone would be enough to rip it if he wasn’t careful. More unexpected yet was the fine embroidery at the corner, elegant initials so full of unnecessary curls they were almost illegible. That girl had to be really wealthy to have something so beautiful and afford to give it away to a stranger!

“Thanks, Kaminari,” he said with a soft smile, looking at the three items in his hands. The symbols of his bond with his friends. They were perfect.

As he rubbed his thumb against the fabric, Eijirou realized that for the first time in days, his inner panicked animal was at peace.

.

They stayed for two days after Jirou and the others left. Two days during which nothing happened besides Bakugou trying to ditch him over and over again. He kept sneaking out of their room in the mornings and going for long walks or to the spice market alone in the afternoons, all in the name of ‘giving him some privacy’.

Eijirou was having none of it. He'd been a lot more relaxed ever since they left the caravan, and he wouldn't let his friend stress him out again with his cryptic behavior!

Meanwhile, Uraraka was still waiting for her delivery to come. It was unusually late, according to her, and she was starting to fear that something had happened to the merchants carrying it.

Then, on the afternoon of the second day, she welcomed them from another fruitless day of rumor hunting and announced with a bright smile, “I have it!”

“Congrats! I'm so happy for you!” Eijirou smiled. “Do you know why it was late?”

“Yes, and guess what? That's good news for you two!” Uraraka grinned. “According to the merchant I talked to, they had to make a detour because the region they were crossing had a dragon issue!”

Bakugou immediately perked up at that.

“A dragon? Where? Are they sure?”

“Positive,” Uraraka nodded. “Many people have seen it. It hasn't attacked anyone yet, but people have lost cattle and no one can find it in the thick forest. You want me to introduce you to the girl who told me about it?”

“Yes, we're going right now,” Bakugou decided, grabbing her arm to drag her outside.

“Fine, fine,” she laughed. “You could ask politely at least.”

“Please introduce us, Uraraka!” Eijirou begged, realizing when he felt people’s eyes on him that he’d been a little too loud.

“You don't have to ask for him, Kirishima, but I'll take it. Follow me!”

She led them through the narrow streets around their inn in silence. Then, just as they reached a major road, Uraraka said, “You know… the dragon in question is to the northwest. I think about two weeks' journey from here? But the fastest way would go really near my place, so…”

“We'll fucking see about that, Cheeks,” Bakugou grumbled. “That shitty rumor better be true.”

“I guess you'll see,” she shrugged. “But in any case, I'm leaving tomorrow morning and you two are still invited if you want to join me.”

“Sure, Uraraka. It’s the least we can do to repay you for your help,” Eijirou smiled.

Bakugou clicked his tongue, annoyed. “I said we’ll fucking see.”

Eijirou rolled his eyes. He still didn’t get why his friend was being so stubborn, but there was no way he’d let them pass up on this chance to leave Diees with an actual purpose.

.

“I’m really glad you two are coming with me,” Uraraka said with a satisfied smile the next morning, as she finished attaching all of their packs on her tiny brown donkey.

Bakugou crossed his arms, pouting. He was forced to admit that Uraraka’s place was really on their way after consulting maps the night before and for some reason Eijirou didn’t understand, he was still grumpy about it.

“Are you sure it’s alright?” Eijirou asked when he saw the huge amount of things Uraraka’s poor donkey was carrying. “We can carry our own stuff, you know.”

“It’s okay, I promise,” she said. “Honeycomb is a strong boy and I can make his load float for a little bit if I see he’s struggling.”

“That’s a Barbarian donkey,” Bakugou commented. “It can carry more than that without breaking a sweat.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, they’re small but tough!” Uraraka said, flexing her arms.

“A lot like you, then,” Eijirou smiled.

He realized his mistake too late, when he saw Uraraka’s face fall.

“Kirishima! Are you comparing me to a donkey?!”

“No!” Eijirou exclaimed over Bakugou’s ugly cackles. “I mean, yes but I meant it in a good way, I promise!”

Uraraka’s offended expression morphed into an amused smile. “I’m joking! Of course I know that,” she chuckled. “But that’s really not something you should say to a girl.”

“Sorry…”

Eijirou lowered his head, ashamed, and she patted his arm gently.

“So, we leaving or what?” Bakugou asked then.

“I’m all good!” Uraraka announced.

They were mostly silent as they walked down the small, sinuous streets and then along the wide alleys leading to the city gates. As they left Diees behind them, two things became increasingly obvious to Eijirou: not carrying his pack was weird and made him feel like he’d forgotten his stuff, and he missed the constant background banter from Kaminari, Sero, and Jirou. Eijirou hoped they were okay… His hand naturally flew toward the things they gave him; even though he missed his friends more than ever, just having the little reminders was enough to ground him and make their absence a bit easier to bear.

Maybe they weren’t all together anymore, and maybe Bakugou still wasn’t very talkative, but that was no reason not to enjoy the present, Eijirou reminded himself.

“So, Uraraka,” he started, knowing she was his best chance at filling the silence that had settled between the three of them for the past hour or so. “You seem to have been to the Golden Mountains a lot. How come?”

“The mountains have tons of rare herbs you can’t find in Yuuei,” she explained. “Did you know their medicinal herbs are so potent even the local honey has unique healing properties?”

“Really? That’s amazing!” Eijirou exclaimed. “So you speak Barbarian, then?”

Uraraka let out a nervous chuckle. “Not as well as I’d like to,” she said. “I know enough to survive, but since I stay near the border and I only come for trade, most of the people I deal with understand Plainspeak.”

“Oh, good for you! Bakugou is trying to teach me.”

“Yeah? He doesn’t seem like the most patient teacher.”

“Shut up, Cheeks!” Bakugou barked, punctuating his sentence with a few explosions. “I’m the best fucking teacher!”

“Yeah, he’s great! His explanations are super manly. But I’m not the best student,” Eijirou explained, scratching the back of his neck. “I’m still stuck on stuff like… Tak numé Kirishima Eijirou and all that, you know.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty much the same,” Uraraka chuckled.

“Kirishima, for the last fucking time, you’re not supposed to give your full name right away!” Bakugou snapped.

“Oh, right. Sorry!”

“I forget that a lot too,” Uraraka said with a sympathetic smile.

“Yeah…” Eijirou sighed. Bakugou’s explanations about why you weren’t supposed to give your full name to strangers weren’t very clear, but it seemed important enough that he should remember by now. “Then I know stuff like greetings, thank you… and Bakugou won’t tell me how to say please because he says only cowards do that.”

“And it’s fucking true,” Bakugou said.

Uraraka shook her head and said with a teasing smile, “It explains a lot about Bakugou, don’t you think?”

To Eijirou’s surprise, Bakugou didn’t protest. The jab about his lack of manners seemed to have flown right above his head. Eijirou shared a look with Uraraka, and they both stifled a laugh behind their hands while Bakugou stayed perfectly oblivious to their antics.

Later on, Uraraka told him more about her trips to find all the herbs her master needed for her remedies but was too old to go get by herself. Most of the things she got from the Golden Mountains seemed to come from a young herbalist from a sedentary tribe, and Uraraka’s eyes lit up whenever she talked about him.

“Izuku is so good with plants! He’s even figured out how to have crops from the plains grow high in the mountains, isn’t it amazing?” she said.

“Wait…” Bakugou said as Eijirou opened his mouth to agree, “are you talking about fucking Deku?”

“Who?” Eijirou asked, curious.

“Mop of green hair, freckles, small, looks like a baby with muscles…”

“Yeah, that sounds a lot like Izuku!” Uraraka exclaimed. “Do you two know each other?”

Bakugou shrugged and stayed silent.

“Now that I think about it…” Uraraka started, leaving Honeycomb’s side to have a closer look at Bakugou, “Could you be Kacchan?”

The way Bakugou immediately tensed and bristled, snapping toward her to yell something with sparking hands, told Eijirou everything he needed to know.

“You are!” Uraraka laughed, delighted. “Izuku told me so much about you, I can’t believe we met here by chance!”

“Shut up, Cheeks! And if you call me that one more time, I’ll fucking explode you!” Bakugou barked.

“What’s wrong with that name?” Eijirou asked, laughing. “Could it be… an embarrassingly cute nickname?”

Eijirou had realized when Bakugou told him about Barbarian customs regarding names that he still hadn’t learned his friend’s first name. Bakugou didn’t tell him right away, but he’d caved after some prodding. And ‘Kacchan’ was close enough to ‘Katsuki’ that it could be it—not that Eijirou knew much about how Barbarian nicknames worked.

“That shit's for kids,” Bakugou grumbled. “And you and I didn’t grow up together, so fuck off.”

“Wait, but then…” Uraraka started. “Oh, I feel so silly now! Of course you’re the infamous Kacchan, you look exactly like the Queen!”

Bakugou tensed again, coiled like a spring… and exploded. He yelled something about how he told Uraraka not to call him that, among other things, but Eijirou wasn’t listening.

“What do you mean by ‘the Queen’?” he asked slowly.

Bakugou went quiet. “Don’t listen, it doesn’t fucking mean anything,” he mumbled.

“I mean Queen Mitsuki, his mother,” Uraraka explained. “She’s the queen of aaaaall the Barbarian tribes, you know? So she’s quite a big deal.”

Eijirou gasped. “Holy shit! Bakugou, you’re a prince?! When were you gonna tell me you’re a prince?!”

He snapped toward his friend who was now walking with hunched shoulders, pouting.

“Never,” he growled. “And it’s not a big deal, Cheeks. She’s just queen because stupid Yuuei and other countries won’t take us seriously if we don’t have a leader. And no one else wanted to do that shit, so she was elected by default because she married a guy from the plains.”

“It is quite a big deal,” Uraraka insisted while Eijirou was still trying to digest the information that he’d been traveling with a real life prince this whole time and had no idea. “Doesn’t she regularly have meetings with King Enji and everything?”

Eijirou nearly choked at the mention of their ruler.

“Yeah, so the title is more like a damn punishment if you ask me,” Bakugou scoffed.

“Bakugou, you’ve met the King?!! Really?” Eijirou exclaimed.

“The Hag deals with that shit, not me,” Bakugou grumbled.

“But aren’t you supposed to learn? You told me you don’t have siblings, so doesn’t it make you the… fuck, you’re the crown prince?!”

“I’m fucking not, you idiot!” Bakugou barked. “I told you, Barbarians don’t care about that royalty shit. It’s not because the Hag is queen now that I’m gonna be king after her, thank fuck.”

“Oh… Right.”

“I’m not even planning to go back to that shitty tribe, so stop running your mouth with that prince-y shit.”

Eijirou opened his mouth to protest, but seeing how hard Bakugou was sulking, lower lip jutted and brows so furrowed they were almost touching as he kicked rocks mercilessly down the path, he decided to let it go.

It was fine. Bakugou was still Bakugou, prince or not. And if the title really didn’t matter in his culture, it made sense that his friend never told him about it.

Still… he couldn’t believe he’d been traveling with a prince all along. Kaminari, Sero, and Jirou would have loved it!

...but knowing them, it was probably for the best that they weren’t here anymore. Otherwise, Bakugou would have never heard the end of it.

.

The landscape slowly changed again as they went further and further away from Diees. Gone were the hilly plains, the low, dry vegetation, and the brackish lagoons. They were now back on more mountainous land with wide green meadows and deep dark forests.

“Here!” Uraraka exclaimed near the end of their second day on the road. “This is my master’s house!”

She was pointing toward a relatively large building made out of grey stones overlooking a small village nearby.

“Oh, great! Just in time for dinner!” Eijirou smiled.

“Yeah, and you two can stay the night if you want. There’s no way my master will turn you down, we have plenty of rooms.”

“How come?”

“I’m not her first apprentice.” Uraraka explained. “She used to have lots of them! But now that she’s older, she doesn’t have the energy to train many people at once. There was another girl a while ago, but she’s finished her training, so it’s just the two of us for now. And the patients who are staying several days, but those are rare. So you two are more than welcome to stay!”

“Thank you! What do you think, Bakugou?” Eijirou asked. “Who knows when we’ll see a bed again after this, right?”

To his surprise, Bakugou didn’t seem that thrilled at the idea of having a free bed for the night. It was quite a shock, considering Eijirou had managed to bribe him with his so easily the first time they met. Pouting, Bakugou huffed and said, “Fine, but we’re leaving tomorrow at dawn.”

Eijirou shook his head. His friend had been like this ever since they found out about that dragon. First he forced them to leave Diees at the crack of dawn, then he forced them to walk faster and longer to the point where they reached their destination more than half a day earlier than expected…

Eijirou understood that this was their first lead in a while and Bakugou didn’t want to lose it, but this was pushing it. He hoped his friend would stop trying to rush them. They’d be in no shape to fight a dragon if they were exhausted from the trip. And maybe Bakugou wasn’t planning to kill it or even hurt it too much, but there was no guarantee that the beast would have the same reservations about them.

Eijirou couldn’t believe he’d let himself get involved in something this crazy, but at the same time… there was no way he’d let Bakugou risk his life alone. Eijirou didn’t know what his friend wanted to ask the dragon if he really managed to beat it, he had no idea how Bakugou would even make the beast understand what the fight meant, but he wasn’t going to let his friend down. Even if he just managed to protect Bakugou from one blow, he wanted to be there for him.

As they approached the house they found themselves walking faster when Honeycomb noticed how close to home they were and tried to run the rest of the way. They were welcomed by the smallest old lady Eijirou had ever seen. Hands resting on a thick cane, she greeted them with a sweet, kind smile, introduced herself, and thanked them warmly for escorting Uraraka.

Eijirou adored her instantly. He’d always had a soft spot for sweet old ladies, and they usually loved him just as much.

“Master, this is Kirishima and Bakugou. I met them in Diees,” Uraraka said.

The old woman turned toward Bakugou and gave him a long, thoughtful look. “Bakugou… That’s a familiar name.”

“Oh, you won’t believe this! He’s Queen Mitsuki’s son!” Uraraka exclaimed.

“Of course!” Recovery Girl smiled. “He’s her spitting image. You’ve grown up so much since the last time I saw you, boy.”

Bakugou crossed his arms. “The fuck?”

“Ah, you wouldn’t remember, you were so young. And you had such a high fever too, you kept muttering about the dancing dogs on the walls… Your mother was worried sick about you, she even sent for me just as I was leaving the Golden Mountains. She said she’d gouge my eyes out and make me eat them if I let anything happen to you,” she chuckled.

Eijirou’s eyes widened in horror. “That… She really said that?”

“That doesn’t seem like the right thing to say to the healer you just called…” Uraraka said, crossing her arms.

“That’s young mothers for you. You’ll learn that soon enough, Ochako,” Recovery Girl smiled. “Anyway, you must be exhausted. Come inside and have a drink while Ochako takes care of Honeycomb. Of course, you two are staying the night.”

At that, she turned around and led the way inside.

“Thank you, ma’am!” Eijirou grinned as he followed her. He’d known the old lady for barely a few minutes, but he felt at home already, like he was visiting a great aunt he hadn’t seen in years. “Do you need help with something?”

Eijirou ended up cutting wood outside for her while Bakugou helped out with dinner. As he chopped the last few logs, he took a second to breathe and enjoy the moment. The sun was setting already and a nice smell was wafting from inside the house. The air was quickly getting chilly, carrying the special crispness that came with the end of summer and always did wonders to clear his thoughts. He didn’t know if it was from the effort or the atmosphere of the house, but despite the cold, he still felt pleasantly warm. At peace.

He noticed that the bumps on his head were more prominent than ever when he wiped the sweat on his forehead, and even that wasn’t enough to faze him. It would be fine. He’d just have to cover them, and nobody would notice.

Eijirou knew it was only for a night, but he really loved it here.

Chapter Text

Kirishima was gone.

It was the first thing Katsuki noticed when he woke up, both disoriented and suspiciously alert. The window was open, letting in the night’s chill. Moonlight was pouring in to reveal Kirishima’s empty bed next to his.

Right. It was a noise that had woken him up, Katsuki remembered. And the window was closed when they went to bed. All remnants of sleep disappeared the second he pieced things together. Forcing himself to leave the warmth of his bed, Katsuki jumped to his feet to peer through the window.

It was too dark to see where Kirishima could have gone, but there was something that looked like a crater in the dirt just below him.

What the hell. If Kirishima wanted to leave quietly, he could have used the door like a normal person!

Katsuki sighed as he considered his options. It wasn’t the first time Kirishima left on his own in the middle of the night to shift in peace, and the two, maybe three times it happened, Katsuki had let his friend do his thing and went back to sleep. He could do that this time as well, but he had a feeling he’d be too restless for that. What if Cheeks or her master had heard him too?

Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to wait for Kirishima’s return outside. Maybe if he was caught red handed, his friend would finally tell him the truth about himself. Katsuki didn’t have much hope, given how he’d been treated so far, but…

Fuck it. He was doing this.

Moving as silently as he could, Katsuki put on some clothes and grabbed his cape for warmth. He used it and a small updraft to jump out of the window— silently, as opposed to Kirishima’s brutish landing—and evened out the ground to erase the crater his friend had left behind. He had no idea where Kirishima went, but the steps he could see in front of the house led somewhere to the right before they disappeared into the grass, away from both the house and the nearby village.

Kirishima could have waited another night, Katsuki thought as he sat on the bench next to the front door, determined not to move until the idiot was back. According to Cheeks, villages along the most direct road to their destination were few and far between, which would have been perfect for him. But between their trip with Cheeks, their long stay in Diees, and his stubbornness before they reached the city, Kirishima probably hadn’t had the chance to shift in a while. He must have really needed that break.

Wrapping his furred cape tightly around his shoulders, Katsuki used some of his magic to keep his body warm and hoped his friend wouldn’t be too long.

The night was peaceful and quiet, save from a few animal noises, and the air had hints of the crispness that reminded him of home. It was nice. It was boring as hell. And despite how familiar he was with silent watches in the dead of the night, Katsuki felt like something was missing. He’d gotten way too used to Kirishima and his constant chattering.

Who would have thought that in the span of a few months, not even a season and a half, this would become his new normal?

The door behind him opened with a gentle creak, and Katsuki almost jumped out of his skin.

Recovery Girl was standing on the doorstep, holding a small candle.

“You’re waiting for your friend?” she asked.

Katsuki hesitated. How did she know Kirishima was gone? Should he tell her? Lying was for extras, but…

“I saw him leave earlier,” the old woman continued. “Sleep doesn’t come that easy when you get old. Do you know where he went?”

“More or less,” Katsuki shrugged.

“Does he do that a lot?”

There was a hint of worry in the old woman’s voice, but the interrogation pissed him off.

“What’s it to you?” he snapped.

She sighed. “When I saw him through the window, he looked… strange. More like a feral animal than a man on a night stroll. This isn’t normal, even for a shifter.”

Katsuki frowned at the last comment. How did she know? He knew Kirishima had been very careful to hide his teeth all evening, and it was the only physical thing that could have betrayed him.

“He is a shifter, right?” she insisted. “My eyes could have deceived me, but I could have sworn I saw a pair of horns and patches of scales.”

Katsuki sighed. There was no point in hiding the truth if she knew already. Especially since the fact didn’t seem to bother her. He didn’t know how she’d learned about dragon shifters in a country where people didn’t even seem to believe in their existence, but he wasn’t going to question it. Maybe she’d learned more than just how to use herbs, during her trips to the Golden Mountains.

“He does that sometimes,” Katsuki admitted, idly wondering what it was about lonely, peaceful nights like these that made his tongue so loose as he continued, “I think he’s pushing himself too hard. He doesn’t trust me yet.”

“And you always wait for him like this?”

Katsuki shook his head. “I wanted to make sure you or Cheeks didn’t notice.”

The old woman smiled softly. “It’s good that he has a friend like you.”

Katsuki shrugged. If Kirishima thought so, he’d tell him the truth. If Katsuki was a good friend, he’d know how to help.

“I think maybe you should follow him, next time,” she added.

Katsuki frowned. “Why?”

“You’ve never seen him leave, have you?”

He hadn’t. Katsuki had felt him leave their tent at night, waking up in a panic and feeling like a wild animal had managed to slip in, only to remember that he wasn’t traveling alone anymore, but it was always too dark to see anything. He usually fell back asleep right after and when he woke up, Kirishima was here again and Katsuki scolded him for all the dirt he’d managed to bring back with him. Kirishima always said he didn’t know how it happened.

“S’not like it matters,” he shrugged.

“I think it does,” the old woman insisted, a worried crease in her brow. “You don’t have to follow him all night, but you should see for yourself that he’s really shifting safely. I know dragon shifters. I haven’t told Ochako about them yet, but I’ve met many of them during my career. I even had one of them as my apprentice, back in the days,” she recalled with a soft smile. “I’ve seen them in every stage of shifting, and I’ve seen them angry more than once. They never gave me chills the way seeing your friend earlier did.”

“Kirishima wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Katsuki replied immediately. The idiot apologized whenever he hurt someone during sparring. He was worried about bandits, not because he feared for his life, but because he genuinely cared about theirs. He was nothing to be scared of.

“He seems like a very nice kid,” the old woman nodded. “And I saw him go to the forest where there isn’t a human soul at this hour. I don’t think I felt this way because I thought he would hurt me. It just hit me that there was something wrong about him. Something very, very wrong.”

A cold chill ran up Katsuki’s spine as he remembered Cheeks’ story about the wolf shifter gone mad. He wasn’t scared easily, but the mere thought of someone as kind and caring as Kirishima turning into the man of her story filled him with dread.

He couldn’t let this happen. Kirishima didn’t deserve to live with this guilt.

“Please, look after him,” Recovery Girl said.

Katsuki huffed, forcing himself to cover his worries. The night was chilly and peaceful. He was with someone who understood. He would probably regret his words when the sun came out, but here, under the pale moonlight, he said, “As if I need you to tell me that.”

He'd been looking out for Kirishima for months now. He wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Especially now that he'd found himself caring about the distrustful dumbass.

Recovery Girl nodded. She went inside for a second and came back with a thick blanket and a cup of steaming liquid.

“Here, take these. You’ll be no help if you catch a cold out there.”

“I don’t need that,” Katsuki grumbled even as he grabbed the blanket. “M’a fire mage.”

“It’s still more comfortable like this, isn’t it?” the old woman smiled.

Katsuki shrugged and wrapped himself in the blanket, keeping it under his cape so it’d protect him from the wind. As much as he hated to admit it, the old woman was right. It was much better like this.

He thanked her through a nod when she handed him the warm cup.

The old healer looked at the horizon for a moment and said, “I think I’ll leave you now. It’s already hard enough to sleep at my age, I can’t stay up all night on top of it.”

“Do what you want.”

She chuckled. “Right. Goodnight, then. I hope your friend comes back soon.”

“Night.”

She closed the door behind her as she left, and once more, Katsuki was left alone, sitting more comfortably now that he had the thick blanket to keep him warm and offer some padding against the hard wood of the bench. He kept himself busy by trying to recognize what the old woman had put in his drink and resumed his boring waiting once he finished it.

…

Katsuki woke up when the first birds started singing, announcing the beginning of a new day. The sun was still barely peeking on the horizon, coloring the eastern part of the sky with the softest shades of pink. There was a heavy weight leaning against him.

Katsuki turned his head, and his vision filled with red.

Kirishima was sleeping peacefully, resting his head on Katsuki’s shoulder, a soft smile on his lips. Both his arms were clasped around Katsuki’s, and he’d wrapped himself up in Katsuki’s red cape to make up for his missing shirt. He looked so soft and vulnerable like this, with soft red hair framing his face and the low, warm purr vibrating in his chest… How could that stupid old woman think there was anything wrong and disturbing about him? A strand of red hair fell against his nose, and Katsuki finally snapped out of his trance when he found himself raising his free hand to brush it aside.

What the hell was he thinking? And more importantly, what the hell was Kirishima thinking, falling asleep like that? The idiot could have gone straight to bed and pretended he’d never left. Or better yet, he could have shaken Katsuki awake so they could both drag their asses back to their warm, comfortable beds, and maybe have a fucking conversation about what happened.

Instead of brushing the idiot’s hair aside or whatever stupid mushy thing he was about to do, Katsuki shook him.

“Hey, wake up, dumbass,” he whispered.

Kirishima’s eyes fluttered open. “Wh-what?” he slurred. “Bakugou? What’re we doin’ here?”

“You tell me,” Katsuki huffed. “I was up all night waiting for your dumb ass to come back. Why the fuck did you decide to fall asleep right here instead of waking me up, huh?”

“What? I didn’t go anywhere,” Kirishima said with a yawn. He disentangled himself from Katsuki to stretch his arms, making him shiver at the sudden lack of warmth, and only then did he seem to realize the situation he was in. He blinked a couple of times, confused.

Katsuki delivered the last blow.

“Then how the fuck do you explain being here? You think I dragged your ass out for fun or some shit?”

“What? No! I just… I don’t know, I just remember falling asleep in our room,” Kirishima explained with a frown.

He looked genuinely confused. And worried. It wasn’t the reaction Katsuki expected. He knew when Kirishima was lying, and this wasn’t it. Either he was a much better liar than Katsuki had thought… or he was telling the truth.

Fuck, could the old woman have been right after all? Did he really not remember anything? Was Kirishima seriously not aware that he was sometimes wandering off at night? But if he wasn’t shifting, then what the hell was he doing?

“I’m so sorry, man,” Kirishima said, eyes too full of remorse to be hiding anything else. “Do you know where I went? I hope I didn’t worry you too much. I must have, if you’ve been waiting for me like this…”

Katsuki shook his head, only now realizing how hard his heart was beating, pulsing up to his ears. “Let’s just go back to bed,” he decided.

“It’s almost dawn. We should get ready to leave,” Kirishima pointed out.

“I’ve spent half the night sleeping on a fucking bench, and you’ve been doing who the fuck knows what the whole time. We’re going back to bed.”

“Right…” Kirishima whispered with a forced, sad smile. “Sorry.”

“Stop saying that and let’s go,” Katsuki said, getting up and grabbing his empty cup before he went back inside, Kirishima following closely behind.

They went upstairs as silently as possible and collapsed on their respective beds.

“Sorry for ruining your plans,” Kirishima said again.

“I told you to fucking stop apologizing,” Katsuki growled.

“Right…”

A beat of silence.

“Hey,” Katsuki said. “Fucking… talk to me, next time.”

“I’m always talking to you,” Kirishima replied.

Deflecting… as always.

Katsuki let out a frustrated sigh and turned away from him, closing his eyes. He didn’t know if he’d be able to sleep in this state, but he didn’t know what else to do.

.

The sun was already high when Katsuki woke up again. Kirishima was still sleeping peacefully in his own bed. Good.

As he put on his clothes for the second time and went downstairs, the events of the night replayed in his mind. He should probably have a talk with Kirishima about what happened. Ever since the attack in the swamps near Diees, Katsuki had been suspecting that his friend didn’t know what he was doing as well as he’d initially thought. But this… this was really damn concerning.

It couldn’t keep going like this. He didn’t know if Kirishima had it as bad as that Ooka guy in Cheeks’ story, but Katsuki would cut off his own hands before he let his friend turn into this.

Problem was… would Kirishima even let him help? So far, every attempt at starting a conversation on Katsuki’s part had been met with reactions ranging from awkward dismissal to sheer panic. What the hell was he supposed to do?

Cheeks and her master were already in the main room when Katsuki stepped in, taking off their coats like they were just back from somewhere. The garden, judging by the basket on the table.

“Good morning, Bakugou! What happened to leaving at dawn?” Cheeks greeted him with a mocking smile.

“Slept like shit,” Katsuki shrugged.

“Is Kirishima still sleeping?” Recovery Girl asked.

“Yeah. I’ll go wake him up soon.”

“You two are welcome to stay a little longer if you want,” the old woman said. “It’s pretty late already, why don’t you leave after lunch?”

Katsuki took a moment to consider the offer. He wanted to reach the rumored dragon as fast as possible, but the real reason why he’d been so eager to leave early was because he wanted to make sure Kirishima could shift in peace soon. And that wasn’t necessary anymore, apparently. As much as Katsuki hated to admit it, losing a few hours wasn’t going to kill them. Especially since he wasn’t entirely convinced that the beast in the West was a real dragon yet.

“Do you need more wood cut or some shit?” he asked.

Both women smiled.

By the time Kirishima walked downstairs, Katsuki was helping in the kitchen again.

.

“Thanks again for coming here with me,” Cheeks said at the door before they left, half a day later than Katsuki had initially planned.

“You two ware welcome to come by any time. Now matter what shape you find yourselves in,” her old master added with a gentle smile and a look a little sharper when it landed on Katsuki. Meaningful.

Katsuki would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little grateful for it. Given how terrible a reputation shifters seemed to have in this shitty country, it was good to know they had an ally here. Cheeks had been right after all: even if they didn’t get any money from this little escort mission, it had been worth it.

As always, the allusion flew right above Kirishima’s head, but the words still made him smile as he thanked them for their hospitality.

“By the way, Kirishima,” Cheeks said before Katsuki could drag them away so they wouldn’t waste any more time. “I have a little something for you. I don’t know if you’ll want it, but…”

She paused as she searched through her apron’s deep pockets, and Katsuki could already tell he wasn’t going to like whatever came next.

“Here!” she said proudly as she handed him a small square of red fabric with a big, torn out hole at the center. “I must have torn it out while we were on our way here, and Kaminari told me about how you asked them for a little bit of fabric before they left. I could probably use it to patch up holes, but if you want it…”

Katsuki saw red. He didn’t move, didn’t let anything betray how he felt, but at that moment, he could have strangled Cheeks with that fucking kerchief or whatever the fuck it was.

She probably didn’t know what she was doing. If what her master said the night before was true, there was no way she could know how what she was doing was different from what the Clown Trio had done; how offering that piece of fabric herself didn’t have the same meaning as being asked for it.

But Katsuki knew, and it was driving him insane.

How dared stupid Cheeks offer something for Kirishima’s hoard? How dared she give something so fitting? How dared she initiate courting with him without even knowing what the fuck she was doing?!

Katsuki turned toward Kirishima to see his reaction, and it was everything he could have expected. The idiot was beaming as he accepted the gift without hesitation and thanked her for being so thoughtful. Katsuki couldn’t tell if Kirishima knew what she was doing. Or what he was doing, by accepting the gift. He didn’t seem flustered, and he didn’t do anything to show he was interested in being courted, so maybe he was just trying to be polite?

Katsuki forced himself to unclench his jaw and open his burning fists. Cheeks didn’t know, he told himself, over and over again. Kirishima didn’t owe him anything. It wasn’t because the idiot was a very desirable partner both by Barbarian and dragon shifter standards that Katsuki had to do anything about it. It wasn’t because Kirishima was brave and strong and loyal and caring to a fault that it had to affect Katsuki.

The thought didn’t do anything to calm the burning feeling in his guts, and the knowing little smile on the old hag’s face only poured more oil on the fire.

It was a good thing that they were leaving now.

.

“You don’t want something from me,” Katsuki said a few hours later. The sun was setting slowly and they were still on the road, looking for a nice place to stop for the night. Cheeks told them there would be one not too far.

“Something?” Kirishima asked, brows furrowed in confusion. “Like what?”

“For your hoard,” Katsuki clarified.

“Oh, that! Well…” Kirishima thought for a second. “I wouldn’t mind getting something from you. And just the thought of you throwing something away makes me…” There was a barely repressed snarl in his voice that almost made Katsuki smile. Kirishima shook his head. “I don’t like that. But I don’t need anything from you, because you’re right here. It would be different if you left, but until then, I’m good.”

“So the pieces of fabric are just a symbol,” Katsuki said thoughtfully. “You’re actually hoarding bonds.”

“I’m not hoarding anything!” Kirishima protested with a smile.

Katsuki ignored him as he kept thinking about the implications of what Kirishima had just said. There was no doubt about it: the other dragon shifters were going to love Kirishima.

“Or you consider that my shit is part of your hoard as long as I’m with you?” he kept musing out loud.

Kirishima jolted. Touché.

“Nooooo,” he still whined. “Stop being obsessed with that, it’s not important!”

“It is to you,” Katsuki pointed out.

Kirishima sighed, defeated. “Right, it is to me. But you don’t have to overthink it. I’m fine like this. I’ll want whatever rag you don’t want anymore, but I don’t need to have anything as long as you’re with me. Does that make sense?”

Katsuki nodded. Part of him was preening at the idea that he was already part of Kirishima’s hoard, in a sense. Part of him was mad that he didn’t have anything to give to one up Cheeks. Most of him wondered why the hell it mattered.

Maybe he cared so much because he was both the closest person to Kirishima and the only one who hadn’t given him anything yet? It’d make sense.

.

They reached the place Cheeks had told them about right before sunset and quickly set up camp. The weird itch that had plagued Katsuki ever since they said their goodbyes still hadn’t left him. He didn’t know what to do about it. It was fucking annoying.

He couldn’t just look through his stuff for scraps to give to Kirishima. It would be too damn obvious and more importantly, Katsuki knew what the gesture meant. He didn’t want to start courting Kirishima. He just wanted to reaffirm his position as… best friend or whatever.

There had to be something he could do. Something that wasn’t romantic, but would satisfy his urge to do better than stupid fucking Cheeks.

“Hey, we still have some time before it’s dark,” Kirishima said once they were settled for the night. “Do you wanna spar?”

An idea sprouted at the offer, and Katsuki smiled. He knew exactly what to do.

“We’re not gonna spar,” he said as he took off his cape and got into a fighting stance under Kirishima’s confused stare. “We’re gonna…” Fuck, calnumékeln. How the hell was he supposed to explain this? “I challenge you for your first name.”

It may not have been as clear as he’d thought, because Kirishima looked even more perplexed.

“You’re what? Like, you want to take my first name?”

“No, idiot! I wanna… calnumékeln, it means we fight for the right to use each other’s first name.”

Kirishima frowned in confusion. Blinked a few times. Blushed, Katsuki could have sworn.

He hadn’t blushed when Cheeks gave him her stupid kerchief, part of Katsuki pointed out smugly.

“Oh… I mean…” Kirishima stammered. “We don’t have to fight for that, dude! I’m… I’d be… I’d be happy to… be on… first name basis with you. I mean… Yeah, that’d be…”

Katsuki smiled. “So you accept the challenge?”

Kirishima jolted, but soon, his expression shifted. All traces of hesitation disappeared from his face as it turned into the confident smile and determined look he wore during their usual fights. He assumed his own fighting stance.

That was better.

“Yeah, let’s do this!” he said. Then paused. Faltered. “Um… are there rules or something?”

Katsuki hesitated at that. He really wasn’t sure. Calnumékeln wasn’t a very conventional type of fighting, and he’d never done it or even seen it done before. It was a… pretty grand gesture. Something that only happened in epics, or that very traditional people insisted on doing to ‘uphold the old ways’—as if there was ever a time when people did this every time.

Still, the only difference between most of the fights Katsuki knew of was the intent and how much you were willing to injure your opponent. Besides, there didn’t seem to be any kind of rules in the stories where the main characters did that.

“No,” Katsuki decided.

“So we just fight, and when we’re done, we can call each other by our first names?” Kirishima asked.

Fuck, it sounded stupid when he said it like that. But yeah, that was the idea. Except not really, because it was fucking calnumékeln, not just some random fight. Just that fact was badass as hell.

Barbarians fought to honor the gods, and calnumékeln meant calling their attention to show off the strength of your bond. It was like… a promise. The meaning of this kind of fight was so ingrained in Katsuki that the mere word was enough to express it. Tale after tale, epic after epic, the idea of calnumékeln had taken shape in his mind in a way he couldn’t explain with other words anymore. It was a powerful thing. The stuff of legend. The kind of fight people like Dunce Face would tell the crowds during special occasions for centuries to come.

It almost felt like a waste to do this with someone who had no idea what he’d just been offered, but Katsuki knew that there was no one else he’d ever do this with anyway. Maybe Kirishima would understand later. Maybe the fight itself would be enough to give him a sense of why it was important that they fought and didn’t simply agree to stop calling each other by their last name.

There was only one way to find out.

“Sort of,” Katsuki said. “Now shut up and fucking fight me.”

There was no trace of hesitation left in Kirishima’s stance when they started circling each other, waiting for the best moment to strike. After several months of sparring, they were starting to know each other too well. It made that first part longer, trickier. They both needed to wait for the perfect time to attack if they wanted to take the advantage and keep it.

Kirishima faltered for a split second when he stepped on a twig and Katsuki struck.

He was on Kirishima in an instant, but his friend had learned to react just as fast, hardening his skin to withstand the blast. He tried to strike back, fist flying right toward Katsuki’s guts, and Katsuki jumped out of reach with another explosion. Had he not known Kirishima so well by now, he wouldn’t have seen it coming.

Kirishima was good. The thought put a smile on Katsuki’s face.

They went back to circling each other. Two months ago, Katsuki would have been able to win simply by throwing explosion after explosion at his friend, but Kirishima’s endurance was now too much for him and his friend knew how to stay on the offensive even under pressure, when everything around him was loud and scorching and blinding.

In so little time, Kirishima had grown into an amazing fighter, capable of standing toe to toe with him. Far from making him jealous, the thought only filled Katsuki with pride and excitement. He couldn’t wait to see how much more Kirishima would grow; and being able to witness it, to play such a huge role in his growth, was exhilarating.

That was why Kirishima deserved to be his friend. His equal. That was why Katsuki wouldn’t simply accept his first name. He wanted to earn it, to conquer it, the same way he’d conquer his full trust soon.

They fought until the sun was low on the horizon. They fought until their campfire was their only source of light, save for Katsuki’s furious blasts. They fought until they were both too exhausted to use their magic, and even then, they kept on fighting with their bare hands, their bodies slippery with sweat as they wrestled fiercely. They fought until they couldn’t stand anymore and the only sounds they could hear were their ragged breaths and the wild beat of their hearts. They fought until they both collapsed on the ground side by side, unable to move.

There was no clear victor that night and for the first time in his life, Katsuki found that he didn’t care. It wasn’t the point. He’d given his all, and so had his opponent. It was all that mattered. It was what calnumékeln was for.

Katsuki had never felt closer to someone than in this instant.

“I think I get it now,” Eijirou said once they’d caught their breaths a little, their drenched bodies quickly cooling in the chill night air. “It’s about earning your name. Like, no matter what happens from now on, you can’t take that right away from me. Is that what it means, Katsuki?”

The sound of his name on Eijirou’s tongue made Katsuki shiver. He smiled, too exhausted and dizzy and euphoric to care about what he must look like. He turned his head toward Eijirou, admiring the way the flames made his expression shift and his eyes glimmer, and nodded.

“You got it, Eijirou,” he said, and oh, the sweetness of that name. How beautiful it sounded on his tongue, now that he’d fought for it; now that he’d shown Eijirou how precious it was to him and Eijirou had done the same.

Eijirou’s smile mirrored his, bright and giddy and full of the sharp, sharp teeth Katsuki admired so much; the very thing that had convinced him to give the redhead stranger a chance, in what now felt like a different life. Katsuki’s heart skipped a beat at the sight. He knew calnumékeln was supposed to be a powerful thing, but now that he’d done it himself, he found that stories didn’t do it justice.

A light breeze rustled the leaves above them and made them shiver, reminding them that they were still very much half naked and at risk of catching a cold.

“We should get dressed and eat something, Katsuki,” Eijirou said, like he couldn’t get enough of the name.

It was a good thing. Katsuki couldn’t get enough of hearing it in his friend’s voice either.

“Damn right, Eijirou,” Katsuki replied, and it tasted like victory on his tongue.

Chapter Text

Everything was just as before for the next few days. Eijirou and Katsuki walked toward their destination, and they quickly fell back into the familiar rhythm they’d established when they first started traveling together.

Everything was just as before, with Eijirou doing most of the talking while Katsuki listened and only showed he was interested with short sentences that could have been entire speeches.

Everything was just as before, with long sparring sessions in the evening and Katsuki trying to teach Eijirou his language over the campfire.

Everything was just as before, and yet, it all felt different because Katsuki was now Katsuki, and Eijirou was now Eijirou. That simple fact cast everything they did in a different light, opening a whole world of intimacy that sharing baths and bedrooms and a tiny tent for months somehow hadn’t.

Eijirou couldn’t get enough of it; couldn’t get enough of hearing his name on Katsuki’s lips, said with that accent he’d grown so used to, like ‘Eijirou’ was always meant to be said like this, drawled at the start to finish with a near growl; couldn’t get enough of saying “Katsuki this” and “Katsuki that” and “Katsuki, look at this pretty flower” and “don’t you think, Katsuki?” all day, enjoying his hard earned right. It was a good name, ‘Katsuki’, Eijirou decided after he got to say it for the first time. It was all hard letters and explosions, a sharp start and barely pronounced middle that ended with stretched lips and an open smile that showed all his teeth and felt like freedom.

Their usual routine had never felt more like home.

As they approached the area where the dragon rumors started, Katsuki’s mood improved gradually. His behavior had returned to normal after they left Recovery Girl and Uraraka, and the more they heard about that infamous dragon, the more convinced he seemed that the rumors were true this time.

“I don’t think it’s a real damn dragon,” he’d said after they left Diees. “The descriptions seem to fit, but how am I supposed to believe someone who’s only heard vague rumors and didn’t even go there?”

“Why are we going, then?” Eijirou had asked.

“Because it’s our best fucking chance.”

After Shalima and what Katsuki had told him about the other baseless leads he’d followed over the years, Eijirou agreed that they shouldn’t get their hopes up. But the rumors started gaining substance barely two days after they left Uraraka, and they hadn’t stopped ever since. At first, they encountered people who kept hearing new rumors. Then, they met someone who knew someone who had actually seen the dragon, describing a gigantic beast made of pure light with a wingspan larger than a house. And now, just a day or two from their destination, they’d even talked to a woman who had seen the beast from afar, saying it was larger than a horse with shiny silver scales.

Katsuki’s mood had really soared when he heard that description, and he’d made the woman retell her story over and over, asking for tiny details that she often couldn’t give. Still, Eijirou didn’t miss the way his friend’s eyes shone every time she could answer one of his questions.

“No doubt about it, it has to be a real fucking dragon this time!” Katsuki said with an excited grin the day they reached Cassiac, the biggest town in the area. It wasn’t much, obviously smaller than Castelmorn, but people from the neighboring villages had told them to go there if they wanted to get more details, consult local maps, and know more about the offered reward.

“What makes you think that?” Eijirou asked, glad to see his friend in such a good mood.

“The reliable descriptions we’ve heard so far all fit, and it has to be serious if there’s an official reward from the local administration.”

Eijirou smiled. He hadn’t thought about it this way, but Katsuki was right!

They were asked if they were here to fight the dragon almost as soon as they reached Cassiac, the second they asked where they could find the town hall. Given how small the town was—barely more than a village, really—it wasn’t hard to find: all they had to do was follow the main road, which only deserved this name because it was larger and better kept than the other dirt roads around.

They met another group of adventurers on their way, two men and two women, going in the opposite direction. Three of them were injured, leaning against each other as they limped away from the town hall.

“You’re here for the dragon too?” one of the men asked.

“Yes,” Eijirou nodded. He paused to take a good look at them, assessing the damages, and asked hesitantly, “Did it… do that?”

The man sighed. “Yeah, that’s the beast. We thought it’d be easy pickings, a single dragon against the four of us, and yet…”

“You shouldn’t go,” said the other man, the only uninjured person in the party. “That beast is dangerous. It’s not that big, but our blades kept ripping against its skin and it even felt like…” He paused. Shivered. “It felt like it was controlling them sometimes. You two won’t stand a chance against it.”

The others agreed weakly. They all looked exhausted.

Katsuki shrugged and made his hand spark with a smirk. “No blades, then.”

“That’s nice, but trust us, you don’t want to face it,” one of the women said. “And if you still decide to go… no matter what, don’t let it lure you under the sun.”

“What? Why the sun?” Eijirou frowned.

“It’ll blind you,” she said. “Its scales are like mirrors, and bright light makes it shine like the sun itself.”

“I never knew light could be so evil…” the first man said solemnly.

Eijirou shivered, taking in their tattered clothes, the impressive bruises on their bodies, their bandaged limbs… Could Katsuki and he really succeed where these four had failed? They looked like seasoned adventurers, and yet…

“I don’t need your fucking warnings, so get out of my way, extras,” Katsuki said, bringing Eijirou’s attention back to him.

All his doubts disappeared the second his eyes landed on his friend. He still looked as confident as before the conversation started, no trace of hesitation in his eyes as he stood proud before them, as if daring anyone to oppose him. Eijirou had no idea what his plan was, or if he even had one, but he knew this: if Katsuki thought they could win, then they would.

Still, if they were going to face the beast, they’d need as much information as they could get.

“Hey, are you gonna stay in town for a bit?” Eijirou asked the adventurers, putting a hand on Katsuki’s arm to make sure he didn’t leave—and pinching him while he was at it to remind him not to be rude.

The four others still looked pretty stunned by his friend’s brash declaration, but soon told them they’d stay the night at the Rolling Chestnut down the road.

“That’s great! How about we join you later and ask a few questions? We’re still going to try our luck, but anything you can tell us about the beast will help.”

The injured man huffed a laugh. “We did that too, and look where it led us… But fine. Come by later and we’ll tell you everything we can.”

“Thank you so much!” Eijirou grinned. “That would be really helpful. Now go rest, you guys look like you need it.”

.

“So, what do you think?” Eijirou asked later that day, after they’d talked to the town officials and the group of adventurers at the Rolling Chestnut. “You’re still sure it’s a dragon?”

Eijirou hadn’t heard that many stories about them, but he sure as hell had never heard about dragons that could reflect light and control metal! Still, given the way Katsuki hadn’t stopped grinning all day, the new information they learned hadn’t done anything to change his opinion.

“Of course it’s a fucking dragon,” he said. “Everyone’s giving the same description. So maybe it’s a weird fucking dragon, probably an earth mage who likes metal, but that won’t fucking stop us.”

“Dragons can use magic like us?” Eijirou asked, surprised. He knew they were inherently magic, of course, but that didn’t mean…

“How else are they supposed to use magic, dumbass?” Katsuki scoffed.

“So they have their own affinities and all that? Isn’t that a human thing?”

Katsuki clicked his tongue. “Not only do they use magic just like we do, but they’re damn good at it. And they’re all wind mages too, so be careful about that.”

“What?! All of them?!” Eijirou exclaimed.

“Haven’t met a single dragon who wasn’t one,” Katsuki shrugged. “Doesn’t mean this one’s gonna be good at it, especially if they’re a natural earth mage, but you should still keep that in mind.”

Eijirou opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to process what his friend had just said.

“Wait, you haven’t… What? Katsuki, you’ve met dragons?! But how? And if you know how to find them, why would you be looking for one here?”

Katsuki’s expression soured at the last question.

“I can’t count on these fuckers. I need another one,” he said quietly, eyes lowered, looking tamer than Eijirou had ever seen him. He shook it off before Eijirou could ask for more and said, “Anyway, we have to fucking hurry if we wanna reach that spot those extras at the town hall were talking about.”

Eijirou nodded and increased his pace, wondering what his friend really meant. He knew there was still a lot he had to learn about Katsuki, but between this and the fact that he was technically a prince…

He sent a quick look in Katsuki’s direction and found him staring resolutely at the path, shoulders hunched and brows furrowed. Eijirou sighed. It didn’t seem like the right time to ask questions.

.

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT! MOTHERFUCKERS!”

Katsuki’s curses echoed in the forest as startled birds flew away from the noise.

“Shit, Katsuki! Are you okay? Don’t move, I’ve got you!” Eijirou exclaimed, already rushing to his friend’s side.

“Don’t you fucking dare, you’ll get stung too, you idiot! Just… give me a fucking second.”

“Katsuki, don’t move! I’ll just harden. I’m coming,” Eijirou insisted.

When they started sparring that evening, after setting up camp near the area where the dragon was last seen, Eijirou didn’t expect the situation to take a turn like this.

They’d stopped for the night near a river, and neither of them had spotted the huge patch of nettles until Katsuki missed his landing and fell right in the middle of it, shirtless.

Eijirou hadn’t been stung ever since he’d learned to harden his skin properly, but the memory of the burn was still engraved in his mind. Nettles were no joke. He reached Katsuki in an instant, glad to see that his friend had listened and stopped moving.

Katsuki was a lot larger and heavier than the kids Eijirou usually rescued from nettle patches, but he still managed to throw his friend over his shoulder without making it worse, once he’d cleared the area around him. Katsuki hissed when his inflamed welts touched Eijirou’s hardened skin, but he gritted his teeth until they were both back on safe ground.

Eijirou put him down gently and knelt in front of him to assess the damage.

Katsuki looked terrible: his entire front and back, his arms, his hands, and even part of his neck and shoulders were now covered in tiny bumps and quickly getting redder. His face had thankfully been spared, and his leather pants and thick boots had protected the lower parts of his body, but Eijirou couldn’t help but wince in sympathy at the sight of his uncovered skin.

“Wow, they really did a number on you,” Eijirou said.

“You don’t fucking say…” Katsuki growled. “How the fuck did we miss those fuckers?”

“Sorry, dude… Um, do we have… vinegar or something?”

Katsuki clicked his tongue. “Do you really think we have enough room to carry fucking…” He paused. His eyes widened. “The pickles,” he whispered.

Eijirou’s face lit up and slowly split into a grin. They’d traded for some pickled vegetables just a few days earlier. Katsuki told him that it was too heavy and they didn’t fucking need that, but pickles were some of the only vegetables Eijirou liked, and he’d insisted that they could reuse the juice later for infinite pickles.

“I’m on it!” he exclaimed, running toward his stuff to find the jar and something he could use to apply the pickle juice. His eyes fell on the green headband he’d ruined back in Castelmorn and he smiled. It would be perfect.

“I can’t believe I’m gonna smell like fucking pickles…” Katsuki grumbled when Eijirou rushed back toward him and put some of the pickle juice on his old headband to softly dab his friend’s abused skin with it.

“You should be grateful for my pickles,” Eijirou said with a smug smile.

Katsuki huffed, but didn’t say anything as Eijirou focused on his left arm.

Katsuki was surprisingly compliant for once, calmly accepting Eijirou’s help without even grumbling about it. This would have been unthinkable even just a few weeks ago, especially for something as undignified as a nasty fall in the middle of a thick nettle patch. Eijirou wondered if it was another consequence of calnumékeln, or if Katsuki simply saw it as payback for all the times he’d helped Eijirou with the dry skin on his back.

Eijirou worked without a word, trying to be as fast and efficient as possible. Everything was quiet around them, the silence only interrupted from time to time by Katsuki huffing and swearing under his breath, obviously still mad at the nettles for ruining their sparring session. It was strange, seeing his friend like this after getting so used to his perfect, smooth skin. Even the scars that littered his arms and torso didn’t feel like imperfections in Eijirou’s eyes. All of them, including the thick, jagged one above his right hip, only highlighted how unfairly beautiful Katsuki was, and it made Eijirou feel… feel…

It was something he didn’t like to think about too often. Every time he let his eyes linger on his friend’s body, he felt like he was going to self-combust. But here… there was nothing attractive about the thousands of little bumps that currently covered Katsuki’s upper body. Gone was the unbearable heat simmering under his skin. Instead, all Eijirou could feel was unbridled affection, warming him pleasantly at his core.

“There, you’ll be fine now,” he said once he was done with his friend’s back. “It should get better soon.”

“And what the fuck are we supposed to do until then?” Katsuki grumbled.

“You wait here and tend to the fire if your hands are better,” Eijirou decided. “And I… will avenge you.”

Katsuki huffed a laugh. “And how the fuck are you planning to do that?”

“You’ll see,” Eijirou smiled as he got back up.

He came back a few minutes later with an armful of carefully selected young nettles he’d picked with hardened hands.

“Here, you can cook these,” he announced proudly. “I’ll just rinse them a bit and then they’re all yours.”

Katsuki’s scowl turned into a cruel smile.

“Fuck yeah. I’ll cook the shit out of those fuckers,” he said in a low, threatening voice.

Eijirou smiled at his reaction. He didn’t like nettles, but he’d eat them every day if it meant seeing Katsuki so happy.

.

The dragon was last seen near a locality known as the Split Oak: four houses, one road, a very old oak at the center, and pretty much nothing else. A quick talk with the locals confirmed that they’d seen the beast recently, just east of there, drinking in a nearby pond two days after the four adventurers they’d met attacked it. It was a woodsman who had spotted it, and he’d refused to go back to the forest ever since—not as long as there was a dragon roaming about.

“Fucking coward,” Katsuki scoffed when they left after interrogating everyone they could.

“Come on, dude,” Eijirou said. “It’s a whole dragon that has injured and maybe even killed lots of seasoned adventurers. Of course people are scared!”

Katsuki shrugged. “Whatever, let’s just go to that damn pond and see if we can find something.”

Eijirou followed with a skeptical, “Yeah, sure.”

The whole thing reminded him a lot of their quest to find Shalima, and as boring as the tracking part had been last time, Eijirou wasn’t all that eager to find the beast now. Not after seeing what it was capable of.

He really hoped that Katsuki knew what he was doing, because a few words spoken in the right language wouldn’t save them this time.

.

They set up camp again just out of sight from the pond. As the only source of water in the area, it was their best bet to find the dragon, and they could easily keep their stuff there and explore the area around their camp during the day.

Eijirou had gotten better at tracking since his first quest. Even though they rarely needed that skill, Katsuki had taught him how to hunt and track down wild animals whenever they had the chance, just in case. None of it really mattered at the moment, however, because Eijirou’s mind was wandering.

He was starting to know the forest by now. The pine trees, cork oaks, dry grass, and fragrant herbs from home were long gone, replaced with deciduous trees standing high above a lush carpet of loam and moss, but Eijirou had seen enough different landscapes that it didn’t intimidate him anymore. Still, he found himself jumping at every unfamiliar or sudden sound, expecting danger behind every tree. He’d seen several different kinds of forests during the past months, some much darker and thicker than this one, but none of them had ever hosted live, confirmed dragons.

“You’re nervous?” Katsuki asked, startling him.

“I’m okay,” Eijirou said quickly.

Katsuki smiled, amused. “You’re fucking nervous.”

“I’m not! I mean…” He paused and crossed his arms defensively. Katsuki was going to make fun of him if he admitted he was worried. It wasn’t manly of him to be like this when his friend was so confident. He sighed. “Let’s focus on the tracks.”

Katsuki shrugged and went back to searching.

Looking on the ground, Eijirou noticed more boar tracks, claws marks on a tree that could have been a lynx, or maybe a bear… Did bears mark trees like this, or did they just scratch their backs on them? He couldn’t remember.

“Hey, Katsuki, could this be a bear, you think?” he asked.

No answer.

Too absorbed in his musings, Eijirou hadn’t realized that his friend was gone. He looked around, frowning, and called again.

Nothing.

Damn it, where was he?

“Katsuki? Where are you?” he called, worry dripping in his guts like cold water. Did something happen to him? Could a dragon…

Something moved on his left. He turned toward the sound, hoping to find a small mammal or maybe a bird.

He didn’t notice the real threat coming from behind until it was too late.

Something jumped on his back. Eijirou screamed.

Katsuki burst into laughter.

“Gotcha, dumbass!” his friend exclaimed. He took a step back when Eijirou started thrashing, giggling so hard he couldn’t stand straight.

“Katsuki, what the hell! You scared me!” Eijirou frowned, heart still pounding in his chest.

“Yeah, I saw that,” his friend snickered. “Never thought I’d hear you scream like an offended harpy.”

“I didn’t!” Eijirou protested, a smile tugging at his lips at the sight of Katsuki’s glee, his usual frown replaced with a wide smile and crinkled eyes. “It was a manly scream.”

“Sure it was. Manliest harpy screech I've ever heard,” Katsuki snorted.

He wiped a tear at the corner of his eye, looked up, and laughed again when he saw Eijirou huffing above him with crossed arms, still fighting his own smile.

“You’re so mean,” Eijirou pouted.

Katsuki shook his head and finally calmed down, straightening up slowly.

“You know,” he said when his eyes landed on Eijirou, pensive, “maybe showing your scales like this isn’t a shitty idea.”

Eijirou tensed like a hot blade plunged into icy water, his whole body stiffening so hard he could have snapped.

“I… what?” he started hesitantly, slapping his hands against his cheeks to feel them. Oh, shit… Katsuki was right, there were a few scales under his fingers. “What are you talking about?” he continued weakly, focusing on making them go, hoping he could get away with it this time as well— please let him get away with it. “There are no scales here, see?”

He let his hands fall to reveal smooth skin and tried to smile, heart pounding hard and fast in his chest like the wild gallop of a startled horse. He saw red at the corner of his eye and his legs almost gave in when he realized that the back of his hands was also covered in incriminating, bright red scales. He hid them behind his back, shaking, and forced himself to look up.

Katsuki wasn’t smiling anymore.

“The fuck are you trying to do?” his friend growled, tone dark and threatening, brows furrowed once more. He looked furious, and for the first time since their first meeting, Eijirou found himself being truly scared of him. “I fucking saw that. You think you can keep hiding your shitty scales and pretend it didn’t happen?”

“Katsuki, I don’t know…”

“Shut up!” Katsuki yelled. Eijirou’s mouth snapped shut. “I’m tired of your shit! It’s been months, Shitty Hair! Months!”

Eijirou cowered at the words. Katsuki hadn’t called him that in so long… He didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t do anything. He wanted to run, but his feet were glued to the ground. He felt like a mouse trapped in a corner, and Katsuki was the cat. A very, very angry cat ready to gut him in one strike.

“What the hell is it gonna take for you to fucking trust me, ha? I let you travel with me! I shared my tent with you! I taught you how to fight! I gave you my fucking name! So when the fuck are you gonna stop lying to me, Eijirou?” Katsuki almost spit the last word, pouring in so much contempt it felt toxic, like a sick parody of his name. It hurt.

Eijirou’s mouth opened and closed again, so dry he couldn’t let out a sound.

“I don’t… I don’t…” he stammered, words caught in his throat.

“You don’t what?” Katsuki snapped. “Are you seriously gonna tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about? Now?” He spat on the ground. “You make me sick.”

Eijirou’s ears were ringing at this point, and everything felt like it was coming from far away. He could feel his lips moving, but he had no idea what he was trying to say. His vision was getting blurry. Was he crying, or was he too weak to focus? He couldn’t tell.

“You think I never saw your stupid scales? You think I don’t know what your teeth mean? You think I never heard you purr? For fuck’s sake, did you seriously think I was stupid enough to believe a normal human could hiss like you did?”

Crying, Eijirou noticed distantly. His cheeks were wet, and he could see Katsuki better now. It meant he was crying.

“All this time I’ve spent watching your back, making sure no one saw shit you didn’t want them to, and for what? I’m fucking…”

The ringing in Eijirou’s ears took over. Katsuki’s lips kept moving, but Eijirou couldn’t tell what he was saying. It didn’t matter. Eijirou’s own mouth kept opening and closing uselessly, trying to form words that never came out, his breathing turning more and more erratic until Katsuki turned around and left.

Eijirou fell to his knees.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he whispered around his clogged throat, tears dripping on the ground as he cradled his head in his hands and held his knees tight against his chest. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t know what you’re talking about I don’t…”

He repeated the sentence over and over, holding it in front of him like a last line of defense, as if there was still someone to hear him. He kept saying it until his breaths became too short and he couldn’t get enough air to let the words out. And even then, his lips kept moving uselessly.

Katsuki was gone.

Chapter Text

The sun was getting low on the horizon when Eijirou came back to his senses enough to move. His face was covered with tears and snot he washed away quickly in the pond. He felt exhausted. Empty.

He wanted to curl up on the ground and fall asleep, but he couldn’t. He had to make up with Katsuki, if he could. He had to talk to him. Tell him the truth.

His friend—if Eijirou still deserved to call him his friend now—was right. Eijirou had already shown too much, and denial was an insult at this point. Besides, when had Katsuki ever given him reasons to worry? He was always supportive when it mattered, he made it clear that his culture respected other sapient creatures, he got angry on their behalf, he’d done everything he could to help Eijirou hide who he was from their other friends, he told Eijirou repeatedly that he could talk to him… And all Eijirou had done, this whole time, was lying to him.

He couldn’t do this anymore. He owed Katsuki the truth. He owed him his trust.

Eijirou was relieved to find their little camp just the way they’d left it. The tent was still here, the fire pit was still cold… Katsuki wasn’t there, but at least he hadn’t packed up his things and left as Eijirou feared.

He didn’t know where his friend was now, but his best bet was to stay here and wait for his return. Then, he’d apologize. Then, he’d tell him the truth, or whatever he knew about himself, at least, and hope it was enough.

He couldn’t let things end here. He’d shared Katsuki’s tent and taught him how to open up to people. He’d fought for the right to travel with him, and for his given name. Eijirou had never let anyone get this close to him, not even his own family. Katsuki’s friendship was too precious to lose now, and Eijirou would earn his forgiveness, no matter what it took.

Full of his new resolve, Eijirou lit their fire and waited next to it until night fell, unmoving, preparing what he was going to say.

It was dark when Katsuki finally came back, light footsteps barely heard above the crackling of the fire. Eijirou jumped to his feet.

“Katsuki,” he said. “Look, I… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for not telling you the truth. I’ll…”

Katsuki shook his head. He wasn't scowling anymore. The cruel twist of his mouth was gone, and the tension in his shoulders had evaporated.

Katsuki didn’t look angry anymore. He looked exhausted.

“Don’t,” he said. “It’s fucking fine, I shouldn’t have rushed you. You tell me when you’re ready.”

Eijirou nodded dumbly and sat back down. Katsuki joined him in his usual spot, plopping down right next to him, their sides barely touching. Eijirou had never felt more grateful for his friend’s familiar heat beside him.

“You sure?” Eijirou croaked. “I can…”

Katsuki shook his head again. “Whenever you’re ready,” he repeated. Paused. “You know I’ll never hurt you for that, right?”

Eijirou’s vision got blurry again. “Yeah,” he whispered. “Yeah, I know that.”

Katsuki nodded. “Good.”

They didn’t say anything after that, sharing a light dinner that was mostly just bread and hard cheese, along with the last of Eijirou’s pickles. They were too exhausted to stay up long, both crawling under the tent and falling asleep almost immediately.

Tomorrow, Eijirou told himself. He’d tell Katsuki everything he knew tomorrow.

.

Eijirou woke up hugging one of Katsuki's arms, the other thrown over Eijirou haphazardly. His friend was scowling in his sleep, brows twitching ever so slightly; a sure sign that he would wake up soon.

Eijirou couldn't tell what time it was, but the sun was up and seemed fairly high already. Noon was still a while away, but they should probably get up soon.

Eijirou didn't want to move. He felt like he'd just crawled out of the ground after being buried in a landslide for days. His mouth was dry, his whole body hurt, and he was starving. That was a motivation to leave the relative comfort of his bedroll, he supposed… 

He slowly disentangled himself from his friend with a groan, forcing himself not to give up and simply go back to sleep when Katsuki trapped him under one of his legs. Eijirou got up on an elbow with a soft chuckle and slowly pushed the stray limb away, repressing the urge to gently brush blond hair out of Katsuki’s face when his friend whined at the lost heat. He was so cute like this, in the soft, dim light of the tent, with his hair in disarray and red marks on his cheek from his makeshift pillow…

“Katsuki,” Eijirou whispered, “wake up, we have a dragon to hunt.”

Katsuki mumbled something, voice rough from sleep and mouth too numb to form anything coherent. He groaned, stretched as much as the small tent allowed, and muttered, “M'awake.”

Eijirou chuckled, stealing one last glance at Katsuki's eyes fluttering open before he stepped out of the tent and stretched his arms as far as they would go, welcoming the sunlight pouring from between the leaves with a loud yawn.

Katsuki joined him not long after, muttering a soft, “Slept well?” as he dug up breakfast from their bags.

“Not long enough,” Eijirou shrugged with a soft smile. “You?”

“Hmm,” was all Katsuki said. “M’starving.”

Eijirou chuckled. “Yeah, me too.”

The events from the day before came back all at once when Katsuki left to fill his small pot with water at the pond and heat it up for the both of them. Eijirou was downing the rest of his waterskin and almost choked on his drink as he remembered his fight with his friend. 

Right. He had to talk to Katsuki, and he had to do it soon. Right now, in fact, he decided, getting up to join him near the pond. Or rather… Well, it could at least wait until Katsuki was back with their hot water. It would give Eijirou more time to figure out what to tell him exactly. Put some order in his jumbled thoughts.

To think he’d prepared his speech so carefully the night before, and he couldn’t even remember how it started now… 

Maybe he should give himself until lunch, after all. In his mind, his parents were still screaming at him not to do it, yelling that keeping who he was a secret was what kept him safe, but their voices were losing their strength, little by little. They were wrong , Eijirou thought for the first time in his life. Keeping who he was a secret was what almost cost him his friendship with Katsuki. It was what would eventually tear them apart if Eijirou didn’t tell him the truth.

“You can’t trust anyone,” his parents said, their words binding him like heavy chains, dragging him down. “Even your family. Even your siblings. If they find out, they might tell someone, and then…” they said with the same tone they used to tell him about the Nibeltos taking him away when he didn’t behave as a kid.

Eijirou almost listened, but the memory of his last conversation with his sister Shizuka snapped him out of it. She knew the truth about him already, or at least as much as Eijirou and their parents did. She’d known her whole life, and she’d kept it to herself. Kept his secret, to keep him safe.

“You know I’ll never hurt you for that, right?” Katsuki asked, just like the night before.

An offered hand. A key. A chance at freedom.

“Yeah,” Eijirou whispered for himself. “Yeah, I know that.”

And just like that, the chains vanished. Learning to show his teeth had been a nice first step, but it wasn’t enough anymore. This secret was no longer a shield to protect him from the world. It was nothing but a burden, and Eijirou would only wither under its weight if he didn’t drop it now, or share it with someone who wouldn't use it against him at least.

He got up to join Katsuki and tell him everything, the words almost burning his tongue as he marched toward the pond.

Eijirou was going to tell him. He was going to walk to Katsuki and say, “You’re right, I’m not human. I don’t know what I am, but–”

A scream, unmistakably Katsuki. An explosion. An inhuman roar.

Eijirou ran.

He reached the pond just in time to find Katsuki on the other side, pot forgotten, throwing himself at a huge, angry silver dragon. Eijirou cursed when he realized he wouldn’t be able to cross the pond in one jump like Katsuki had. He’d have to run all the way around it, and…

Damn it, why did his friend have to throw himself into harm’s way like that? Did he not realize how dangerous it was? The beast was clumsy, much more than Eijirou would have thought, and the sound of Katsuki’s explosions seemed to confuse it, but it was still fast and had teeth that looked the size of Eijirou’s hand. If it caught Katsuki once, it would be all over!

Katsuki was still as graceful and agile as ever as he danced around the dragon, throwing explosion after explosion to keep disorienting it. For a second, Eijirou found himself thinking that his friend might be able to do it, after all. But they were partners, and there was no way Eijirou would let him face this monster alone. His friend needed him.

He ran.

.

“Die, fucker!” Katsuki yelled as he launched another attack at the silver dragon.

The explosion drowned whatever the beast would have answered, and the smoke cleared up to reveal a shiny skin made of metal.

The fucker was tough, that was for sure—almost as much as Eijirou. But it didn’t matter. Katsuki could beat his friend, and a puny dragon wasn’t going to stop him!

Something was wrong with that metalhead, though. Katsuki had done everything right to show him that this wasn’t a fight with actual ill-intent, and yet the dragon still fought like his life was on the line. Metalhead’s teeth snapped near Katsuki’s middle and he threw himself back with an explosion that reached the dragon’s snout. Metalhead jumped back with an angry roar.

Pushing his advantage, Katsuki kept attacking, yelling at him to fucking yield already, dammit! The dragon didn’t listen and launched another attack, aiming at the same spot.

Something was really, really wrong.

Metalhead wasn’t fighting like any dragon Katsuki knew. There was no strategy behind his moves, he was simply reacting to Katsuki’s attacks and striking back desperately, almost like…

“Katsuki, I’m here!” Eijirou yelled behind the dragon.

Katsuki looked up to find his friend running in his direction.

Eijirou was mostly hardened already, rock-hard skin pulled back from his face to put his dangerous teeth on full display, white and sharp like the ridges of Katsuki’s native mountains. He roared as he charged the dragon head on and tried to push him out of balance.

It was a mistake.

The dragon snapped around, jaw open, ready to bite Eijirou’s head off.

“Watch out!” Katsuki yelled, throwing caution in the wind as he created bigger explosions in the hope that the dragon would leave his friend alone and focus on him again.

The bite never came.

The dragon stopped just before reaching Eijirou and jumped back with a flap of his wings, landing just out of reach.

“You’re a shifter like me!” the dragon exclaimed in rushed Draconic. “Tell your friend to stop attacking me!”

As Katsuki should have expected, Eijirou didn’t understand a word. Metalhead looked at Eijirou expectantly as he ran toward Katsuki, his now unhardened face full of concern.

Katsuki stopped him and stepped closer to the dragon, keeping his cape close to his body and his head slightly lowered to show he meant no harm—even if he was starting to suspect that it was pointless.

“He won’t understand you,” he said in Mixed Draconic. “You’ll have to talk to me.”

The dragon startled. “But… he’s a dragon shifter, I can smell it,” he said. “And you smell a bit like him, but I can tell you’re human. Why would you speak Draconic and not him?”

Katsuki sighed. “Long story. Now, are we fighting or what?”

“No!” the dragon exclaimed, huffing hot air in Katsuki’s face while his wings flared in frustration. “Why would we do that? I’m in no shape to fight!”

Katsuki tilted his head slightly, and his suspicions were confirmed as soon as he got a closer look at the dragon’s head. His eyes were fucked up, and he probably couldn’t see shit with how infected they were.

“The fuck happened to you?” Katsuki asked. “Is that why you’re not shifting back?”

“Yes! Finally! Yes, I’m stuck! I’ve been stuck like this for weeks, you guys have to help me!”

“S’just your eyes, though…” Katsuki pointed out.

The dragon sighed. “I messed up my wing earlier, and I was attacked by a group of hunters before it was done healing. They did this to my eyes before I got rid of them, and I don’t want to shift back if it’s gonna make it worse. Besides, I have no idea where the villages are. Even if I shifted back, I wouldn’t know where to go.”

Katsuki clicked his tongue at the explanation. This was really, really not how he expected this encounter to go. They were supposed to fight until the dragon yielded, then he would owe Katsuki a favor and Katsuki could ask him to take him home. And take Eijirou with them while he was at it.

“Katsuki, what’s going on?” Eijirou asked, concerned. “Are you… talking to the dragon?”

“Shit, he really doesn’t know?!” the dragon exclaimed.

Katsuki ignored him and turned toward his friend. “Yeah,” he said. “I’m talking to the dragon. He’s a shifter and he’s stuck in this form until we can find a way to heal his eyes, apparently.”

“A shifter ? Are you kidding me?”

Oh, fuck…

What the hell?

Katsuki hadn’t paid attention to his friend’s reaction when Elbows and Dunce Face had the gall to tell him that dragon shifters couldn’t be a thing, but… Did Eijirou seriously think they didn’t exist and wouldn’t even make a believable legend? But then, what the hell did that idiot think he was?!

Shit… Fuck… Okay, that was a whole barrel of worms he didn’t have time to open right now. First, they should focus on Metalhead, and as soon as they had time, Katsuki was going to have a serious conversation with his friend. Whether he liked it or not.

“Why would I fucking joke about that?” Katsuki asked, more annoyed now that he had another thing to worry about. And a major one, if what Cheeks and Recovery Girl said was true…

“I don’t know! It’s just… a lot to take in. That dragons can speak, and they can be shifters, and you understand them, and…”

“He can understand you too, apparently,” Katsuki replied.

“He can?!” Eijirou yelled. Froze. Thought for a second. And added, deflating, “Oh, wow…”

“How does he not know about that?” the dragon asked again with nervous growls and twitching wings, baffled.

“He was raised by humans,” Katsuki explained.

“Oh… Damn. And you didn’t tell him anything?”

“He doesn’t trust me yet,” Katsuki gritted. “And… Forget it, that’s none of your business, Metalhead.”

“I have a name! I’m Tetsutetsu of Kalir.”

“Never heard of that place… Oh wait, you mean the one where there’s the Spring Love Festival?”

“Yeah! Seriously, how do you know all that?”

“None of your business,” Katsuki repeated.

“What are you guys saying?” Eijirou asked shyly.

“His name is Tetsutetsu,” Katsuki summed up. It sounded like a stupid ass name once adapted to human speech, but since the idiot didn’t react, it was really his human name and Katsuki hadn’t messed up the translation.

“Oh, that’s cool. Um… I’m Kirishima,” his friend said, raising his hand hesitantly. “Nice to meet you?”

“Nice to meet you too,” Metalhead said, bowing his head respectfully.

The answer must have been clear enough, because Eijirou turned toward Katsuki with an excited look and a bright grin that said something like ‘Look, Katsuki! I’m talking to a dragon! Did you see?’

Damn, Katsuki loved that stupid, adorable look. It made him want to… pinch his friend’s stupidly soft cheeks or some shit.

“What’s your name, by the way, rude one?” Metalhead asked. “Katsuki, right?”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Katsuki hissed. “I’m Bakugou, and when was I rude, Metalhead?”

“Right now,” Metalhead huffed. “And when you attacked me without warning. I could have killed you!”

“Ha, as if!” Katsuki scoffed. “And I did fucking warn you, your dumb ass just didn’t see it.”

“Oh… right. My bad.” A pause. “Wait why the hell would you attack me anyway?!”

“Doesn’t matter anymore,” Katsuki said with a wave of his hand.

“So, what do we do now, Katsuki?” Eijirou asked. “He’s injured and needs our help, right?”

“Yeah… We should probably go back to Recovery Girl,” Katsuki said, ignoring Metalhead's protests.

“You think she’ll know what to do?” Eijirou frowned. “That’s a whole dragon, dude. She may be good, but…”

“You’re talking about the old healer on the mountainside east from here, right?” Metalhead asked, perking up.

“You know her?”

“Yeah! My mate’s city flies over her place every year. She’ll know what to do!”

“Metalhead says she can help,” Katsuki translated.

“Really? Wow, I wouldn’t have imagined. How does he even know her?”

“There’s a lot you don’t fucking imagine,” Katsuki muttered under his breath.

“What did you say?” Eijirou asked.

“Fucking nothing.”

“So… Are we going now? Just like that?”

Katsuki crossed his arms and thought for a moment. It probably wasn’t a good idea to just leave. If people in Cassiac didn’t hear back from them, they’d send more adventurers after Metalhead. It’d take at least two weeks for Eijirou and him to travel from here to the healer and back, without counting however long she’d need to prepare the medication, and there was no way Metalhead would be healed instantly either. The easiest way would be to bring the dragon with them, but they’d have to leave the forest and travel in the open for most of the way, so that was out of the question, even if they only traveled by night.

Fuck, a plain fight would have been so much easier than this shit.

“Katsuki, I can tell you’re reaching tons of conclusions right now and I think you should share them,” Eijirou pointed out.

Katsuki clicked his tongue, annoyed, but Eijirou was right.

“We can’t just leave, or Metalhead’ll have to fend off more people who’ll try to kill him,” he explained. “And we can’t take him with us either, it’s too dangerous. So we’ve gotta find a way to hide him until we come back, and make sure everyone thinks he’s dead already.”

“Oh… I guess you’re right,” Eijirou said.

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Metalhead grumbled. His tail slowly swayed from left to right as he thought. “I know there’s a pit with caves not too far,” he added after a moment. “I couldn’t hide there because of my eyes, but that's where I was staying before I got injured. If I can eat enough to last a couple of weeks, maybe I can hide there until you’re back with the medication?”

“Could work,” Katsuki nodded. “Any idea how much food you’re gonna need?”

“As much as you can get? I don’t know… I know I can eat a lot at once in this form and not have to feed myself for weeks in theory but I’ve never had to do that for real! Maybe like… two boars or something?”

“We can do that,” Katsuki nodded. Then, he turned toward Eijirou again and translated their conversation for him.

“That’s great! So all we have to do now is figure out how to make sure people think he’s dead, right?” Eijirou grinned.

Katsuki nodded, but even though his friend’s bright smile made his lips twitch to mirror him, he didn’t quite share his enthusiasm. Of course, they could fucking do that. They could do anything they wanted. Still, hunting that much, finding the caves, dropping Metalhead there safely, and making sure people thought the dragon was gone for good was a tall fucking order, and they’d have to work fast.

Chapter Text

Eijirou was exhausted, both physically and mentally. He was thrilled. He was worried. He was a little scared. He was stuck in a whirlwind of emotions he was too tired to even really feel, let alone process.

More importantly, he was flying high above the forest on the back of a mostly blind dragon.

That was a lot, but all he could do for now was roll with it. Both metaphorically and literally.

Hanging on for dear life on Tetsutetsu’s neck, Eijirou yelled in the general direction of the dragon’s ear, “You can land a little to the left!”

He still couldn’t believe the dragon understood him. He’d seen Katsuki talk to him and they’d even interacted personally a few times, since the dragon apparently had a solid grasp on Plainspeak— “but don’t use slang or anything too complicated, he says he’s just average” Katsuki said—but it was still a lot to take in.

Katsuki’s explosions resounded next to them and Eijirou let out a sigh of relief as his friend yelled instructions in a language he didn’t understand between each blast. One of them hit Tetsutetsu square on the chest and he fell. They both fell.

Eijirou screamed.

He knew Tetsutetsu wasn’t really injured and was still in control. He knew the dragon would cushion their fall if needed. He knew neither of them was really at risk, since they could both harden in their own ways and withstand the impact. Still, the freefall was terrifying.

Eijirou’s reaction wasn’t very manly, but at least if he yelled loud enough, it’d make the whole scene more realistic, right? After all, the aim was to make sure people saw them fight and didn’t ask too many questions later, when there was no body to back their claim that the dragon had been slain.

The landing was loud and messy. Eijirou protected himself as well as he could while still staying on the dragon’s back, unsure for a moment where was up. Dizzy and still disoriented, he let himself slide down, hitting the ground on wobbly feet. The world spun around him for a few seconds as he checked himself up, and wow. He couldn’t believe he’d survived that without even a scratch.

Katsuki landed after them in a flurry of explosions.

“DIE, YOU SHITTY LIZARD!” he yelled.

The dragon hissed something back, and Katsuki barked a laugh.

“Now you two go while I fucking wreck this place,” he added for Eijirou.

Eijirou nodded. Keeping a hand on Tetsutetsu’s shoulder, he carefully guided the dragon back toward the caves while Katsuki splattered blood from their hunt around, burning trees and pretending he was blowing the dragon to bits.

Eijirou gulped nervously. He really hoped it would work. It was almost night by now and he doubted they would be caught, but there was still so much that could go wrong… What if people didn’t believe them? What if Eijirou got lost? What if he missed the pit and fell? What if he failed at guiding Tetsutetsu to the cave and they both got hurt?

As they made their way through the forest, Eijirou found himself tracing the surprisingly warm scaly skin under his fingers. Despite everything, he still couldn't believe he was touching an actual dragon. Tetsutetsu's scales were larger and smoother than a sahaleim's. The skin seemed tougher. It didn't feel real. And yet… 

Eijirou couldn’t hold back a sigh of relief when they reached their destination. They walked carefully down the narrow, dangerous path down until they were at the mouth of the cave, nicely hidden behind foliage. The dragon growled something, looked at Eijirou expectantly for a few seconds, hissed something else, did something with his wings that looked a lot like a shrug, and walked inside, where the last deer Katsuki and Eijirou had hunted this afternoon was waiting for him.

Eijirou waited until he heard the two short growls that announced that everything was fine, and he walked back to the clearing where he’d left Katsuki, hoping no one would find Tetsutetsu there while they were gone.

.

Katsuki had done an excellent job at ruining that clearing. It reeked of burnt wood and bones, the smell assaulting Eijirou’s nostrils long before he even reached it. Entire trees were lying on the ground, some of them completely charred. There was barely a blade of grass still standing. The whole clearing was like a spot of greys and blacks in the middle of the lush green forest.

“What d’you think?” Katsuki asked as he finished dusting the ashes on his cape.

“Wow, that’s… impressive,” Eijirou said. “I’m amazed the whole forest didn’t catch fire.”

“First thing they teach you when you learn how to control fire is how to put it out,” Katsuki shrugged.

“I thought you’d learned everything by yourself,” Eijirou pointed out with a smile as Katsuki crouched to grab a handful of ashes on the ground.

“I learned to create explosions and control them on my own,” Katsuki explained as he sprinkled it on Eijirou’s hair, making him struggle to hold back a sneeze. The things he’d do to make their story more believable… “I was taught most of the other tricks. Especially how to stop fires.” He took a step back to appraise his work after rubbing some soot on Eijirou’s cheek and nodded, satisfied. “How’d it go with Metalhead?”

“He’s fine. So what’s the plan now?”

Katsuki looked up at the now dark sky, pensive, and decided, “We should head back to the camp. Maybe spend the night there.” He smiled, and added, “If we spar seriously before bed, it’ll add a few bruises.”

“I don’t think I have the energy to spar. I’m beat,” Eijirou admitted. They got lucky with hunting between the three of them, but finding that much food in so little time took a lot of energy. Going back to their tent and getting some sleep before they went back to the Split Oak sounded heavenly. Although… Eijirou paused for a few seconds as realization slowly dawned on him. Katsuki shrugged and walked away. “Wait,” Eijirou said as he jogged to catch up with him. “If we’re going to bed, then why would I need to be covered with soot? Aren’t we going to clean up anyway?”

Katsuki’s shit eating grin was his only answer.

“Why, you little…” Eijirou hissed at the confirmation he’d been pranked.

Katsuki jumped away when Eijirou tried to grab him and started running at Eijirou’s second attempt.

“Come back here, you asshole!” he yelled, barely able to contain his laughter as Katsuki’s cackles rang in the forest ahead of him.

They raced to the camp as if they didn’t spend the whole day roaming the forest, hunting and dragging heavy carcasses around. Eijirou managed to tackle Katsuki to the ground when they arrived, and they wrestled like kids, smearing dirt and leaves on each other’s faces until they were covered in it, their mad giggles echoing in the clearing and up the night sky.

“S’gonna take hours to clean up now,” Katsuki said once they calmed down.

Their fire wasn’t lit yet, and the sun had set for good, leaving them with so little light that Eijirou could barely make out Katsuki’s face next to his.

“Whose fault is that?” Eijirou asked, still smiling.

“Yours. I’m not the one who got pissed at a little soot,” Katsuki replied, amused.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have covered me with it in the first place,” Eijirou protested, unable to repress his chuckles.

Katsuki snorted. “Can’t believe you let me do that and didn’t even ask why.”

“Because I trusted you,” Eijirou whined. “And you betrayed me! How could you?”

“T’was too tempting,” Katsuki shrugged.

He sat back up a moment later and announced, “I’ll take care of the fire. You go clean up a bit and grab the food.”

Eijirou nodded and got up with a groan. They helped each other get rid of all the dirt and moss they were both covered in, ate a quick dinner, and fell asleep as soon as they crawled inside their tent.

.

Eijirou was still half asleep the next morning when they packed up camp and walked back toward the Split Oak. His whole body was as sore as the day after he’d calnumékeln- ed with Katsuki. It was probably for the best, if they wanted to look like they were back from an epic fight against a dragon.

Damn, they’d really met a dragon the day before…

The thought shook Eijirou awake a little, but not enough for him to gather his thoughts and ask Katsuki for answers. He had so many questions that he didn’t even know where to start. By the time he finally opened his mouth to ask Katsuki how he knew how to speak dragon, the Split Oak was already in view and it was too late.

Much like in Castelmorn, they were welcomed as heroes. There were thirty people at best in the whole locality, but their cheers were just as loud as back then when Katsuki announced that the dragon was defeated, proudly brandishing a fang he got from Tetsutetsu the day before—a loose one that was going to fall anyway, apparently.

Everyone wanted to go to Cassiac with them when they finished explaining how, after their epic fight in the sky, they managed to strike down the dragon and defeat it in a clearing nearby. They all walked back there, since it was more or less on the way, and people gasped when they saw the level of destruction there. Even Eijirou found it even more impressive in the morning sun than it had been at dusk the previous day.

No one questioned them when they explained that the dragon’s body had been completely annihilated and the fang was all they could retrieve, along with a few burnt scales—also loose ones Tetsutetsu gave them willingly.

Someone must have rushed ahead to Cassiac to tell everyone the good news, because the whole town seemed to know they were coming when they arrived late in the afternoon. The officials even welcomed them at the entrance themselves.

Eijirou would have felt bad about lying to them if the locals hadn’t been doing most of the talking from there. As soon as Katsuki and he shared a detail about their ‘fight’, someone from the Split Oak was there to blow it out of proportions.

Kaminari had told him once that true legends had a life of their own; that the entertainment value was more important than the facts. Eijirou could see it now, happening in real time. By the time they reached the small town hall to get their reward, people were saying the beast was powered by the sun and its skin got softer at night, praising their cunning for starting the fight at dusk. By the time they were done convincing everyone that they really couldn’t stay longer the next day, people were talking about how the beast kept regenerating and that was why its body had to be completely destroyed. By the time they left Cassiac, Eijirou heard a few people whisper about how true heroes like them never rested; how they must have been secretly sent by the king himself.

By the time Cassiac was far behind them and they were away from earshot, Eijirou’s head was full of questions again.

“So, Katsuki,” he started slowly, sending a quick look around to make sure they were truly alone. “Would you, um… would you mind telling me where you learned to speak dragon?”

Katsuki sent him a glance, looking almost surprised at the question. His eyes went back on the road as he said, “First of all, it’s called Draconic. And I only speak Mixed Draconic, the language of dragon shifters.”

Eijirou frowned. “Mixed?”

Katsuki clicked his tongue, visibly annoyed by his ignorance. Eijirou resisted the urge to remind him that this clearly wasn’t common knowledge.

“All dragons speak Draconic. That’s what Metalhead was speaking yesterday,” Katsuki explained. “But it’s full of sounds humans can’t make and it relies a lot on body language, including tail and wings, meaning shifters can’t use it in human form. So they adapted it into a language that works for humans.”

“Right…” Eijirou said slowly. He kicked a rock a few times on the road, and asked, pensive, “It’s the language you’ve been muttering under your breath this whole time, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

Eijirou nodded, unsure what to think. So it wasn’t a Barbarian dialect, huh… It seemed that Eijirou wasn’t the one hiding the biggest secrets, after all.

“So… Are you a shifter?” he asked, trying to keep his mind off the twinge of hurt he felt at the thought that his friend had kept so much hidden from him on purpose. … Or maybe it was Eijirou’s fault. Maybe Katsuki would have told him if he’d asked questions instead of trying to keep his own secrets buried.

Katsuki turned toward him like he'd just said something stupid, blinked once, and exclaimed with an annoyed frown, “Of course not, dumbass!”

Eijirou crossed his arms with a huff. “Come on, it’d make sense!” he pouted.

“No it doesn't! Have you ever seen me shift?”

“You could have hidden it well,” Eijirou pointed out.

Katsuki shook his head, his frown gone. “I wouldn’t hide that shit from you. Not now.”

Eijirou’s guts twisted with guilt at the reminder that he was still hiding himself from his friend, even after saying he’d tell him the truth. But he had more important questions at the moment.

“So how did you learn, then?” he asked. “And wait, I thought shifters lived among humans, so why do the dragon ones have their own language? Do they all do that?”

“No, it’s only dragon shifters. And they’re different from the others. They don’t live among humans anymore.”

“How come?”

Katsuki shrugged. “Dunno. It’s been a long, long time, so there are only legends. Something about humans and other sapients being scared and jealous of them, so the great dragon gods rose to the sky and offered them a home there. I don’t know how much of that is true.”

“Where do they live, then?”

“I told you. In the sky.”

The look Katsuki sent him told Eijirou that he was absolutely serious. It didn’t mean Eijirou was going to believe something that crazy.

“In the sky,” he repeated, and it sounded even more impossible now that he’d said it himself. “How?”

“Did you listen to a single word I fucking said?” Katsuki huffed. “They live on the great dragons, the Old Ones.”

“No, you see, I listened to every word you said, carefully, but they just don’t make sense when you put them together. So you’ll have to explain that a little better.”

Katsuki let out another annoyed sigh, but he seemed ready to make an effort as he explained, “So. Dragons, actual dragons—or the Old Ones, at least—never stop growing, and can live for millennia. And when they get really old, they just fly, constantly, and get big enough that you can build entire villages on their backs, with fields and everything. That’s where the dragon shifters live. The Old Ones give them a home, and in exchange, the shifters take care of them.”

“So you’re telling me they live on the back of gigantic dragons that are flying… what, around the world?”

“Yeah,” Katsuki said with a nod, like it was the most natural thing in the world and not the craziest statement Eijirou had ever heard.

Eijirou shook his head. “Dude, that’s just crazy. How am I supposed to believe that?”

“You let me smear ashes on your stupid face without complaining yesterday and now you’re questioning me?”

“See? You shouldn’t have betrayed my trust like that!” Eijirou said with a smile, trying to cover his confusion behind a layer of humor.

To his relief, Katsuki huffed a laugh at that, rolling his eyes. But when his friend looked at him again, his intense gaze was very, unmistakably serious.

“They hide in the clouds,” he said. “That’s why you never see them. Old Ones are the only beings who live long enough to master all kinds of magic, so they can keep the people on their backs warm and shelter them from the winds. And they fly so high that only a dragon or a trained shifter can reach them. Even harpies can’t go there.”

“So they’re isolated?”

“Not really,” Katsuki shrugged. “They travel between dragon cities when they fly close enough, and they come down to hunt and trade with people on the ground.”

“And that’s how you met them?”

Katsuki nodded. Paused. Hesitated. “There’s a dragon city that flies above the Golden Mountains every year. But I didn’t just meet them,” he admitted. “I grew up with them.”

“In a dragon city?”

“In a fucking dragon city,” he nodded.

“But you’re not a shifter yourself?”

Katsuki shook his head. “It’s a long story.”

When he didn’t say more, Eijirou frowned and said, “And…?”

“What, ‘and’?” Katsuki asked.

“You told me you grew up in the Golden Mountains,” Eijirou frowned. Had his friend been lying to him this whole time?

“I didn’t lie about that,” Katsuki said. “I just didn’t spend my whole childhood there. And you kept asking about the Golden Mountains, so I answered your questions.”

Right, just like Eijirou had asked to learn Barbarian specifically instead of the language his friend muttered under his breath from time to time…

“So…” Eijirou insisted when his friend still didn’t tell him more. “You’re not gonna tell me the rest? How did you end up spending part of your childhood there? Is that a tradition or something?”

Katsuki pouted. Thought for a few seconds. Sighed. “No one bothered telling me the details but it was some sort of punishment,” he finally explained. “For my parents. So from like… five to fifteen, I lived there.”

“A punishment?”

Katsuki nodded.

“Like… They took you away from your family?”

Nod.

Wow… That sounded incredibly cruel. Not only for Katsuki’s parents, but mostly for Katsuki himself , who probably had nothing to do with whatever his family needed to be punished for. How could they do that? And to a little kid, no less! That was… That was…

“That’s messed up,” Eijirou said, cursing his inability to find better words to express how sick the idea made him.

Katsuki shrugged. “I don’t care. I liked it there.”

“Yeah? They treated you well?”

“Sure. It’s not like I had anything to do with whatever my parents had done.”

“But they still took you away from them,” Eijirou pointed out. He couldn’t believe Katsuki didn’t find it as unfair as he did. Anger was burning in his chest like hot coal just thinking about what his friend went through, and Katsuki was just… shrugging like it was all perfectly normal!

“I guess that was fair,” his friend said, seemingly unbothered.

Eijirou’s anger was now coursing through his veins like melted steel.

“Anyway, that’s why I wanted to find a dragon,” Katsuki continued, blind to the rage oozing from Eijirou in thick waves. “I wanna go back.”

Eijirou almost tripped on his feet at the words, his unbridled wrath replaced with confusion all at once. “You wanna what?”

“Go back there,” Katsuki said. “Home.”

“Home,” Eijirou repeated slowly. “To the people who took you away from your family when you were five for the sake of revenge.”

“Stop focusing on that,” Katsuki snapped. “It doesn’t fucking matter. They had a deal, they fulfilled the deal, I don’t fucking care about that.”

“Okay but why go back?” Eijirou asked.

He wanted to understand, he really did, but he couldn’t. He wouldn’t have forgiven anyone who had tried to take him away from his family. Even if Eijirou’s real parents had shown up when he was five with proof that he was their son, he wouldn’t have accepted it. Why would Katsuki not only forgive the ones who did this to him, but want to go back to them?

“Look…” Katsuki started, visibly agitated with the way his mouth contorted and his hands twitched. “When I was five, the Hag took me aside and said ‘From now on, you’re gonna live with the dragon shifters in the sky, ain’t it fucking cool?’ and then I was sent the fuck away with no fucking explanation. And I made my home there. It was fucking hard to keep up when I had no wings and all kids were doing all day was flying, but I taught myself, and I had friends, and my entire fucking life was up there. And suddenly, I was taken aside again and told ‘Congratulations, you can now go back home’ and they fucking sent me back and I didn’t know these people anymore, okay? I didn’t even remember them! So I don’t fucking care about my tribe and all that shit, they can all die for all I care!”

Katsuki had grown more and more frustrated as his explanation went, sounding almost like a petulant child as his voice broke in places and he started stomping with each step. Eijirou had never seen him like this. He’d seen Katsuki annoyed and he’d seen him furious, but he’d never seen him this… hurt. Especially when his friend paused, took a deep breath, and added quietly, like something was broken deep inside him,

“I just wanna go home.”

Eijirou still couldn’t understand his reasoning, but he could tell how important it was for Katsuki; how painful it was for him to be away from the people he’d chosen as his family—no matter how undeserving they sounded to Eijirou. Katsuki’s eyes were glistening with tears, and Eijirou’s heart broke at the sight. He wanted to do something, anything to fix this and let his friend know he was here for him, but he had no idea how to help.

“And you can’t ask your old friends?” Eijirou asked softly, eyes brimming with sympathetic tears he knew his friend wouldn’t appreciate.

Katsuki shook his head, wiping his eyes angrily with an arm. “They act like they don’t fucking know me. The Hag must have threatened them or some shit.”

“I’m sorry,” Eijirou said, wondering if his friend would appreciate a hug right now. Eijirou really, really wanted that. Katsuki looked like he needed it too, with the way he tucked his cape tightly around himself.

Eijirou tentatively started walking closer, making their sides brush from time to time, but Katsuki took a step aside and he didn’t insist.

“They promised,” his friend muttered, not looking at him, like he was talking to himself. “When I said I didn’t wanna go back, they said to just give it a month and if I was still not happy, they’d take me back before Maito left the Golden Mountains. And then they told me to give it a year, and I fucking did. And after a whole fucking year, they…” His voice cracked and Katsuki bit his lower lip.

He was pouting like a child, but it wasn’t the cute expression Eijirou was used to. This one wasn’t melting his heart, it was crushing it.

“Well,” Eijirou started, still unsure what to do, “You’ve got Tetsutetsu now. I’m sure he’ll help you when he’s all healed. He’ll owe you that.”

He tried to conclude with an encouraging smile, but it fell the second he realized what his words implied. As soon as they healed Tetsutetsu, it would be over. Katsuki would go back home like he wanted, and so would Tetsutetsu. And Eijirou…

What was he going to do? Would he go back home? He didn’t even have a tent! Would Katsuki give him his? With his current experience, it probably wouldn’t be too hard for him to go back to Diees and find a caravan there that would take him home, too. If he could find one heading toward Tosola, he could drop it there and go home on his own. But did he want to go home? Sure, Eijirou missed his family and he was planning to go back, eventually, but… this was so soon! Fall was already here and he knew winter would be best spent home, helping his family, but then what? Was Eijirou’s adventuring life really going to end like this?

Would Katsuki want him to come along, maybe? Would Eijirou even say yes, if he was offered? Living on a dragon in the sky sounded exciting, but how long would Eijirou have to stay? Would he ever be able to go back home if he accepted?

He shook his head. Maybe he could try to find Kaminari, Sero, and Jirou, when Katsuki was gone. Stay with them for a bit, maybe find other people to go on adventures with come spring… But none of them would be Katsuki. Maybe they would joke around with him, but they wouldn’t build his confidence in his own abilities. Maybe they’d tell him stories about their past adventures unprompted, but they wouldn’t fight for his first name. And even if they did, even if Eijirou somehow managed to find people who helped him in subtle ways, accepted him just the way he was, and encouraged him to become a better version of himself every day… It just wouldn’t be the same.

Eijirou tried to swallow the lump in his throat and almost choked on it. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to smile, and asked with the cheeriest tone he could muster, “So, how’s life up there?”

He needed to think about something else. They both needed it, judging by the way Katsuki also seemed to be spiraling, looking sullenly at his feet as they walked in silence.

His friend looked up, and his eyes lightened up just a bit. “Packed,” he said hoarsely. “You’re never really on your own. Most houses are built on the dragon’s flanks and they’re tiny as fuck, so people stay outside most of the time. Kids are all raised together. Even meals are a community thing.”

“Yeah? That doesn’t sound like something you’d like,” Eijirou pointed out. Katsuki kept insisting that he didn’t need anyone and enjoyed being on his own, and this was the exact opposite.

His friend shrugged with a soft, wistful look. “It was life.”

Eijirou spent the day asking him about the dragon cities, determined to keep both their minds away from their worries for the time being. He learned about how every kid had to wear a little parachute until they were able to fly, how everyone had to be a more or less skilled wind mage to live there, how no one had expected Katsuki to be able to fly until he managed to combine his learned wind magic with his natural explosions and prove them all wrong… He learned about how important the dragon they lived on was for everyone, how special events were held on the dragon’s head so they’d feel included, how it was everyone’s duty to make sure they were well taken care of…

Eijirou learned a lot that day, and by the time they went to bed, he could tell his friend was feeling better.

Eijirou, though… he was still anxious. He thought he was ready to do anything for his friend, but would he really be fine if the price for Katsuki’s happiness was their friendship? Was it selfish of him to want things to keep going like this, just for a little longer?

He turned around to face his friend, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see anything in the darkness of the tent, and scratched his itchy wrist nervously. His head sort of hurt, he realized, wondering how long his worries had distracted him from the pain.

If Eijirou really focused, he could vaguely distinguish Katsuki’s pale face in the dark. He couldn’t tell if his friend looked relaxed, but at the very least, he looked asleep.

Eijirou thought again about how, soon, this would be over too. Sharing a tent with his friend, sparring in the evening, being by his side… He was going to miss Katsuki so much the mere thought of never seeing him again was unbearable. There was no way a bit of fabric was going to fill the hole his absence would leave in Eijirou’s heart.

Tears dripped along his nose and into his pillow, and Eijirou tried his best to sniffle silently, careful not to wake up his sleeping best friend. Katsuki’s hand twitched near his head. Feeling childish and a little stupid, Eijirou covered it with his own, holding his breath as he felt the surprisingly soft skin on the back of his friend’s hand under his fingers, and the unnatural warmth emanating from it.

Katsuki didn’t wake up, and Eijirou started breathing again. He knew it wouldn’t change anything, but he still relaxed at the contact, as if grabbing his friend’s hand and not letting it go would be enough to make him stay by his side.

Tears drying, Eijirou fell asleep to the sound of Katsuki’s peaceful breathing.

Chapter Text

Katsuki’s hand was cold. Eijirou was gone.

Fuck, how did he not feel him leaving? How long had Eijirou been gone? Was it too late to find him?

All remnants of sleep gone in an instant, Katsuki sat up and forced himself to breathe slower, quieter, so he could hear the sounds of the forest around him. There were footsteps in the distance, he realized. Eijirou couldn’t be far.

Palm on fire as soon as he was out of the tent, he took a quick look around and lit their fire again before he walked in the direction he’d heard the footsteps. Hopefully, with their campfire as a beacon, neither of them would get lost. Nights were getting chilly and having to wait for sunrise outside would definitely suck.

The air was crisp and humid. There was a growl on Katsuki’s left, too deep to be coming from a wolf. It had to be Eijirou.

Katsuki walked in that direction, trying to be as fast and silent as possible. He didn’t know what he was going to find, and he couldn’t let his friend notice him. The last thing Katsuki wanted was a repeat of their fight.

Hooves on dry leaves, a mad run straight ahead, a loud thump.

Katsuki ran.

There was blood on the ground when he found what he was looking for. There was blood on the trees. And right in the middle of it, kneeling above a dead doe with its head lying in his direction, its lifeless beady eyes staring at Katsuki and reflecting his flame, was Eijirou. Sick parodies of half-formed wings protruding from his shoulders and moving awkwardly behind him, the beginning of black horns on his head, mouth shiny with blood that dripped on his bare chest, mixing with the bright red of the scales littering his torso in uneven patches, he was tearing raw meat with hands turned into sharp talons and devouring it like a wild animal.

What the hell.

What the hell, what the hell, what the hell…

How did it come to this? Was this what Eijirou had been doing this whole time? Hunting, feeding, half-shifting like he didn’t know how to do it fully, letting go of his inner dragon without even realizing it?

Katsuki was an idiot. He was the biggest dumbass in the whole damn world for thinking he still had time and fucking forgetting to talk to his friend for the past few days.

There was a mad glint in the eyes of the beast that had taken over Eijirou’s body when he looked up at Katsuki and snarled, bloody teeth on full display. For a second, Katsuki wondered if Eijirou would attack him. If he would have to fight his best friend, not for fun or for training, but to make sure he didn’t do something he would regret.

Katsuki had promised. He’d sworn he wouldn’t let Eijirou turn into the monster of Cheeks’ story, not realizing how close his friend was already. How long had Ooka been satisfied with only animals? How long until Eijirou turned to humans?

He couldn’t let it happen.

Forcing himself out of his trance, Katsuki took a sharp breath and a step forward. He’d seen Eijirou like this in the past, he realized. That was what must have happened when they got attacked in the swamps. Hopefully, it’d be just as easy to wake up his friend this time.

“Eijirou, it’s me,” Katsuki said.

The beast froze.

Another step forward. The snap of a twig under his foot.

“Snap out of it!”

Eijirou jolted. He blinked a few times as reason slowly came back in his eyes. His talons shifted back into hands and he looked around himself like everything was just a dream.

“Katsuki,” he called slowly, voice shaking. “What am I…”

He looked around again, more conscious, and screamed in horror, spitting out the meat in his mouth as he jumped away from his kill.

“I don’t… Did I do that?” he stammered, his breath too quick and short to let more than one or two words out at a time, eyes quickly filling with tears. “Katsuki, I don’t… I don’t know what’s happening. I’m sorry, I… I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

He tried to wipe his eyes and threw his hand away when he realized that it was only smearing more blood on his face.

He looked up when Katsuki approached him slowly, walking around the carcass, and shielded himself behind his arms as if he expected to get hurt.

“I’m sorry,” he whimpered again. “I didn’t know, I didn’t know, I promise.”

Katsuki kneeled in front of him, ignoring the blood soaking up his cape, and held out a hand.

“M’not gonna hurt you,” he said quietly, voice still rough from sleep. “I told you, I’ll never fucking hurt you for that.”

Eijirou let his arms fall against his sides slowly, eyes still wide and shiny with tears, reflecting the fire burning steadily in Katsuki’s palm.

“Yeah,” he whispered weakly. “I know that.”

Katsuki opened his arms, unsure what else to do, and Eijirou threw himself at him so fast Katsuki got the wind knocked out of his lungs. His friend wrapped his arms around him like a frightened kid, and Katsuki let him, uncaring of all the blood his friend was smearing on him. It was only fair. He could have done something this whole time and he didn’t. He’d known for days that something was wrong and he should talk to Eijirou fast, and he got too wrapped up in other things like Metalhead and the bitter memories of the home that was taken away from him. Katsuki could have talked to him before that, even, but of course, he had to be a damn idiot and believe that just because they were calnuménar now, his friend was going to tell him the truth soon. What happened was as much his fault as it was Eijirou’s.

Katsuki snuffed out the flame to hug him back, making the frightful vision of the half-devoured doe disappear. Grabbing both sides of his cape, he wrapped them around his friend, hoping to mimic the comforting wings of a dragon parent. Eijirou had reacted well last time he did that. He hoped his friend would appreciate it now as well.

Eijirou’s half-formed wings twitched in front of Katsuki’s face as his friend started sobbing in his shirt. Katsuki’s heart broke.

He repositioned Eijirou slightly when the tip of his little horns stabbed his chin and held him as tight as he could, regretting that he couldn’t croon to calm him down, regretting that he hadn’t seen the signs earlier, regretting that he hadn’t done anything when he could.

He couldn’t believe he let things get this bad, but what the fuck was he supposed to have done? He tried being patient and it didn’t work. He tried gaining Eijirou’s trust, and it still led to nothing. He tried confronting his friend directly, and Eijirou panicked, and… Fuck!

“I’m sorry,” Eijirou sobbed again against his shoulder after a while. “I wanted to tell you after we fought, I promise, but then the dragon happened and…”

“S’okay. I fucked up too. I… I thought you knew what the fuck you were doing, and I refused to see how fucking bad it was when I realized you didn’t.”

“It’s not your fault. You’re not… You’re not responsible for me.”

Eijirou was right, Katsuki wasn’t. But Eijirou was his travel companion. His best friend. His calnuménar. Eijirou’s problems were his problems now.

“Doesn’t matter. I could’ve helped, I…”

“I wouldn’t have let you,” Eijirou said, slowly regaining control over his breathing. “I was so stupid… I was so scared you’d hate me if you knew…”

“You did a shit job at hiding it, though,” Katsuki pointed out without thinking.

Eijirou let out a wet chuckle. “I was told my whole life I’d be killed on the spot if I was ever found out, so I kept telling myself you just didn’t notice.”

Katsuki growled, dark anger coursing through his veins. “Who the fuck told you that?”

“My parents.”

“Those bastards…”

“Don’t say that!” Eijirou protested. “It’s Yuuei, Katsuki, you’ve seen what happened to Inasa. He couldn’t hide, and people… they…”

“And look what the fuck happened to you, with your parents spouting that bullshit. You think you’re supposed to go hunting like a beast at night?”

Eijirou tensed in his arms.

“I… Katsuki, did I… Do you think I… Like Ooka…” he stammered, shaking with horror.

“You didn’t hurt anyone,” Katsuki said firmly. “You always do that when there isn't anyone around.”

“But… that night at Uraraka’s house…” Eijirou whimpered.

“You went to the forest. You did nothing wrong.”

And even if he did, Katsuki thought, it wouldn’t matter.

“You’re sure?” Eijirou asked in a small voice.

“Yeah, I’m fucking sure. We can ask Cheeks and her master when we come back, yeah?”

Eijirou nodded weakly against him.

They stayed silent for a long time as Eijirou slowly calmed down, face still buried in Katsuki’s shoulder. Katsuki raised a hand to his friend's head and started stroking his hair. He still felt like he’d fucked up, but he couldn’t let himself dwell on it. All that mattered now was how they were going to move forward; how they’d get Eijirou to let his inner dragon out more until he stopped acting like a wild beast.

And for this, there was an obvious first step, swaying softly in front of his face right now.

“Eijirou,” he called softly when his friend stopped shaking. “You’ve gotta let out your wings.”

“My what?” Eijirou asked.

“Your wings. They’re half out, it can’t be good for you. You’ve gotta let them out fully, now.”

When Eijirou didn’t move, Katsuki slowly ran a finger up his shoulder blade and to the base of a protruding wing, still covered with human skin. Eijirou tensed.

“Feel that? It’s your wings,” Katsuki repeated.

“What the… I… I don’t know how to do that,” Eijirou said.

Katsuki sighed.

“You’ve never shifted fully.”

Eijirou shook his head. “I know how to make them go away but not–” 

“Don’t!” Katsuki interrupted. “Don’t fucking do that now. We’re in this mess because you’ve never let yourself shift. So let them out.”

With how soaked his shirt was already, Katsuki couldn’t be sure, but he could have sworn he felt a wave of fresh tears.

“I would if I could, but I don’t know how,” Eijirou repeated, frustrated.

Wracking his brain to remember what adults did to help the younglings, Katsuki let his hands rest just between Eijirou’s shoulder blades, at the base of his wings. 

There was a muscle, he remembered. A spot that would be tense under his fingers, and that needed to be released… right there!

“Here,” he said. “Just relax and let go, okay? You trust me?”

Eijirou nodded. Katsuki pressed his thumbs against the knots on his friend’s back, and Eijirou let out a pained gasp as finally, for what must have been the first time in his life, his wings tore themselves from his body. They deployed fully, wide and impressive as Eijirou tensed against him, before they fell limp behind his friend.

“There you go,” Katsuki said with a sigh of relief.

“They’re out?” Eijirou asked weakly.

“Yeah, all done.”

“… Will it hurt every time?”

Katsuki held him tighter.

“No, it won’t,” he said. “When you’re used to it, shifting’ll be as natural and painless as breathing.”

Eijirou nodded.

“You know,” he said after a beat of silence. “Even after all this, I’m still not sure what I am…”

Katsuki nearly choked. He’d started suspecting it a while ago, but to hear it from Eijirou, said with such nonchalance, was a different story. And to think he’d let himself believe that his friend had pieced things together, when he started asking all those questions about dragon shifters earlier… He should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

“Eijirou,” he started slowly. “You’re a dragon shifter.”

Eijirou tensed again. “What?”

“You’re a dragon shifter, like Metalhead,” he repeated.

“What, but…” He disentangled himself from Katsuki to face him and froze, surprised, when he noticed that everything was dark around them.

Katsuki lip up his palm again.

Eijirou continued. “But I… How can you be so sure?”

“I grew up around them, I know what a dragon shifter looks like,” Katsuki huffed.

“So… the fabric I have that’s like your cape…”

“Your baby parachute, I bet,” Katsuki nodded.

“So you mean I… really fell from the sky?” Eijirou asked with a disbelieving frown.

Katsuki huffed a laugh. “Yeah, you sure did.”

“Huh…”

With the renewed light, Katsuki took his first proper look at Eijirou’s face since he found him. His friend looked terrible. His eyes were puffy and red from crying, his runny nose was the same color as his scales, there was still blood around his mouth and on his chest… The only improvement was the presence of fully formed wings, but even they looked weak and almost sickly. They were still lying limp behind Eijirou, as if they didn’t belong to him.

Meanwhile, Katsuki’s shirt was probably in the same state as Eijirou’s skin, if not worse… They really needed to clean up.

Since he was now fully free from Eijirou’s grip, with his friend now sitting in front of him with a confused look, Katsuki got up and dusted himself before offering him a hand.

“C’mere, we’re going back to the camp and cleaning you up.”

Eijirou snapped out of his trance and seemed to realize the state he was in for the second time as he tried to spit out the taste of fresh blood again. He turned to the dead doe with a remorseful look, but Katsuki didn’t let him dwell on it.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s too late to keep it, but I’m sure plenty of creatures will be glad to find it when we’re gone.”

“Right…” Eijirou said with a wince.

Finally, he took Katsuki’s hand and let himself be pulled up to his feet.

“I don’t even know where the camp is…” Eijirou admitted with a sheepish look.

“I do,” Katsuki said with a confidence he didn’t feel. “Follow me.”

He only had a rough idea, but it would be enough if the fire was still lit. If not… Better not to think about it too much.

It took them some time, and Katsuki found that they’d strayed a little when he spotted their fire much further to his left than he’d expected, but they found it. Thank fuck. Holding a sustained flame like this really wasn’t Katsuki’s thing, Eijirou’s sensitive wings kept getting caught in branches, and they were both dead on their feet. Katsuki wanted nothing more than to crawl inside their tent and sleep, but…

“We’re not going in the tent like this,” he said, looking at the blood stains on both of them. “Go sit, I’m gonna grab the water.”

Taking off his cape and his already ruined shirt, Katsuki kneeled in front of his friend and gently wiped the blood off his skin in a scene oddly reminiscent of the nettle patch incident.

“I can do it myself, you know,” Eijirou pointed out with a weak smile.

“Doesn’t matter,” Katsuki said without stopping.

Doing this felt important somehow. Whether it was because he wanted to make sure Eijirou didn’t miss a spot and stain his tent with deer blood, or because grooming was also a comforting thing for dragons, he wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter.

Eijirou didn’t insist.

“So…” he started quietly after a while, “what now?”

“You let go,” Katsuki shrugged as he carefully wiped the blood on Eijirou’s hands. “Just let yourself shift however you want until you can do it completely. That’s how kids do it when they first learn.”

“But what if someone sees us?” Eijirou asked, concerned. “I can’t exactly hide those,” he added, pointing at his still limp wings.

“I’ll lend you my cape. There’s barely anyone on that road anyway. Or we’ll travel by night, if that doesn’t work.”

“Or I could just–”

“You’re not hiding again,” Katsuki said firmly. “Not until we’re sure it’s safe.”

“But Tetsutetsu–”

“He’ll be fine,” Katsuki snapped. “Right now, he’s in a better shape than you are, and he’s fucking blind and exhausted and probably sick.”

“And Recovery Girl? How are we gonna explain this?”

“She knows about you already,” Katsuki admitted, looking at his friend critically for blood he might have missed. “She saw you leave that night. Cheeks doesn’t know, but she was gonna find out anyway.”

“Oh… I see,” Eijirou said, eyes downcast as Katsuki wiped the last trace of blood on his cheek.

He ruffled his friend’s hair with his fist, mindful of his horns, and said, “Stop worrying about that shit. We’ll be fine. We’ll heal Metalhead, he’ll take us home, and you’ll learn to act like a proper shifter in no time. Maybe we can even find your real parents or some shit.”

“Yeah…” Eijirou said with a weak smile. “Right…” He paused for a second, and asked, “So you were always planning to take me home with you?”

“Of course, dumbass,” Katsuki huffed. “We’re calnuménar now, I’m not leaving you behind.”

Eijirou tried to smile again at Katsuki’s grin, but it didn’t last.

“Yeah, I… I guess I can’t really go back to my family now, huh…” he said with downcast eyes. He looked up again, smiled a little brighter, and said, “Thanks, Katsuki.”

Katsuki wasn’t sure what to make of it. Eijirou didn’t seem as thrilled about the idea of going home with him as he’d thought. It almost sounded like he’d actually wanted to go back to his asshole family who’d forced him to be someone he wasn’t his entire life. How could he prefer that shitty life over freedom and acceptance? How could he prefer the cage he grew up in over his own home?

He shook his head, too tired to debate over it. He didn’t have enough water to give his cape and shirt a good soak, so he left them outside for now. He tried to remember if there was a river or a pond or something nearby where he could wash them, but now that the emergency was over, his thoughts were muddled by sleep.

“Let’s just go to bed,” he said, struggling to keep his eyes open.

Eijirou nodded like he was dozing off already.

There was probably a lot more they needed to talk about, but that shit would have to wait.

Katsuki fell asleep the second his head hit his pillow.

.

Eijirou woke up in a panic as soon as the sun was up, thrashing wildly as his wings flapped against the sides of the tent. Having been half buried under him all night, Katsuki didn’t stay asleep long after him. It took him a few seconds to regain his bearings and realize that exploding everything would cause more problems than it would solve, and a few more to remember how they’d ended up like this. How much they’d struggled the night before to have Eijirou fit in the tent when he didn’t know how to tuck his wings. How they soon found out that the only viable position was Eijirou lying on his stomach in the middle of the tent with Katsuki awkwardly lying next to him, half under his friend and half under one of his wings.

It was a wonder, really, that they’d managed to get any sleep like this.

“Eijirou, calm the fuck down,” Katsuki hissed when his friend showed no sign of stopping thrashing like a fish out of the water.

“Katsuki, what’s going on?!” Eijirou asked, almost slapping Katsuki in his panic.

Katsuki wrapped his arms around him firmly so his friend would stop moving already. “It’s your wings, dumbass, remember?”

“W-Wings?” Eijirou froze. Katsuki couldn’t see his face in his position, but he could feel the moment his friend finally remembered what happened. “Oh, right,” he said, letting his wings fall limp beside him once more. “I have wings now.”

Katsuki let out a sigh of relief and released his friend, relaxing in his bedroll.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

“Yeah. Sorry about that…” Eijirou said, letting his head fall back on Katsuki’s collarbone.

He’d let his horns out fully during the night, Katsuki noticed. Where there were tiny stumps just a few hours ago now stood two dark horns, thankfully pointing toward the back of his head. Good. This way, he wouldn’t risk accidentally poking Katsuki’s eyes with them. Or not like this, at least.

“S’okay. They’re hard to get used to at first, I’ve heard,” he said.

He wondered if it would be as hard when Eijirou let out his tail.

“Yeah, they’re just so… big. And I don’t know how I’m supposed to move them,” Eijirou mumbled against him.

Katsuki raised a hand to scratch his friend’s head mindlessly. Eijirou must have liked that, considering the way he immediately started purring at the contact. Then stopped. Then started again. And stopped once more. Over and over, like a fire that wouldn’t start.

“You can purr,” Katsuki pointed out. “You should.”

“I know,” Eijirou said with a frustrated groan. “But I’m so used to repressing it, the second I hear it I just…”

He made another aborted attempt and Katsuki’s rage burned in his stomach like hot tar. Just thinking about how horribly Eijirou had been treated his whole life made him want to go back to his shitty village and burn it to the ground.

But revenge wouldn’t solve anything, he reminded himself. All that mattered was Eijirou, and how Katsuki could help him get used to the dragon side he’d rejected this whole time.

“It’ll come,” he said, still scratching Eijirou’s scalp. “But no more repressing shit now, okay?”

“Yeah,” Eijirou said with a nod that rubbed his rough horns on Katsuki’s skin.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, Katsuki savoring the feeling of Eijirou’s soft hair under his fingers while his friend’s hot breath tickled his chest. It wasn’t too bad, Katsuki decided. He could get used to it.

To think he'd grown so unaccustomed to physical touch after leaving his tribe and traveling on his own that the slightest contact that wasn’t fight-related used to be overwhelming…

Maybe it wasn’t just about him helping Eijirou, after all. Katsuki had been wondering for a while why he cared so much about his friend; why he wanted to be there for him so badly even when he’d proved to be useless for Katsuki’s plan. Maybe it was because part of him knew Eijirou had been saving him this whole time, just as much as Katsuki was trying to save his friend from his unhealthy shifting habits.

Katsuki resisted the urge to hold Eijirou closer. He wasn’t stupid. Or rather… he was done being stupid. He knew what these feelings meant. What happened the night before, seeing Eijirou at his weakest point and feeling nothing but the overwhelming urge to help him no matter what, was the last confirmation he needed.

Katsuki had really gone and caught feelings for his best friend, huh…

He felt like he should be mad about it, but he mostly just felt like an idiot for not admitting it sooner. It was bound to happen the second he decided Eijirou was worthy of being his travel companion, his fate sealed the day Eijirou almost managed to punch Baldy. Katsuki wasn’t the kind of idiot who dreamed about their future partner and what they’d be like, but Eijirou was pretty much everything he could have asked for. Katsuki might have imagined someone smarter and less oblivious, though… but he could work with that. And he wasn’t a coward, he wouldn’t mind doing something about those damn feelings, now that they were here, but…

Eijirou’s wings twitched a little in front of his eyes, looking much too dry and pale to be healthy.

… It just wasn’t the right time. Eijirou had a lot of shit to deal with at the moment, his life was already complicated enough as it was without adding stupid feelings to the mix.

“Hey,” Katsuki called softly, startling Eijirou who was clearly dozing off again… and had started drooling on him, if the wet feeling on his chest was anything to go by.

Disgusting , Katsuki thought much too fondly.

“Hmm?” Eijirou said.

“Think you can tuck your wings in now?”

“Dunno…” Eijirou mumbled. “Maybe if you help?”

Katsuki raised his free hand and held it just above the last juncture of his friend’s left wing. “Gonna touch them now,” he warned, aware of how sensitive they were the night before. “Ready?”

“Yeah.”

Eijirou tensed a little at first, but he soon relaxed as Katsuki gently pushed the wing toward his back. He released it tentatively, and it stayed in place.

Satisfied, he raised his other hand to take care of the right wing, and Eijirou whined when he stopped scratching his scalp. He relaxed again when Katsuki used his now free hand to resume the mindless petting while he was helping Eijirou tuck his wing.

He almost expected his friend to shift to a more comfortable position now that they had more room, but Eijirou didn’t move. Instead, he started purring again, sending vibrations through Katsuki’s whole body, so low he could barely hear it.

“I think I got this,” his friend mumbled.

“Yeah?”

“Hmm… I just have to be quiet enough to convince myself you can’t hear me.”

Katsuki chuckled and gave Eijirou’s head a good scratch. “Not bad.”

“Yeah. I’ll work on the volume later,” Eijirou mumbled.

“You better,” Katsuki said.

He’d missed this sound so much he could have cried. Memories of big hatchling cuddle piles flooded his brain, and Katsuki slowly stopped his mindless petting as Eijirou’s breaths evened out and his whole body went slack.

Katsuki could have stayed like that all morning, until all the blood left his arm and he couldn’t move it anymore. But as much as he wanted to lie down and think about the past and the future he hoped to give to his friend, now that they were done hiding stuff from each other, there was a lot he had to do.

He had clothes to wash, for one. And maybe a hearty meal to prepare.

Slowly, making sure not to wake up his sleeping best friend, Katsuki slipped out from under him and crawled awkwardly out of the tent, trying to avoid his wings. After the night he had, Eijirou deserved more sleep.

Chapter Text

Eijirou was alone in the tent when he woke up again. It took him almost a whole minute of sleepily patting the ground next to him to realize that and open his eyes, disgruntled. At least, this time went a lot better than when he woke up earlier and panicked because of his wings…

Groaning, Eijirou stretched his sleepy limbs and stopped himself before he tried to move his wings as well. He didn’t want a repeat from before, especially if he didn’t know where his friend was.

The ever-present voice of his parents told him that Katsuki was probably on his way to gather more people to hunt him down, or maybe even capture him and sell his body parts, but Eijirou brushed the thought away with a scoff. As if Katsuki would need help to take him down. Besides, Eijirou wasn’t sure what being calnuménar entailed exactly, but he was confident it involved being loyal to each other.

Moving carefully to avoid bumping his wings on anything, he maneuvered himself out of the tent and was instantly hit by the delicious smell coming from the pot hanging above the fire. Katsuki’s cape and shirt, now clean, were hanging on a nearby branch, and Katsuki himself was sitting next to the fire, hunched over an old, worn out shirt he seemed to be repairing.

A quick look at the sky confirmed what Eijirou was fearing: it must have been almost noon. Why didn’t his friend wake him up earlier?

“Morning, Katsuki,” he said.

His friend looked up from his needlework.

“Morning,” he replied, attention already back on his shirt. “Slept better this time?”

“Yeah! Sorry about earlier…”

“Don’t sweat it,” Katsuki shrugged. “I think the food’s ready. I found us some eggs. You can eat now, I’m almost done.”

“Oh, I can wait,” Eijirou said, and immediately regretted his words when his stomach made it known that he was, in fact, starving like he hadn’t eaten in days. And this food smelled really, really good… As did everything Katsuki cooked, really. Eijirou thought nothing could ever top his mother’s cooking, but Katsuki and his spices were beyond anything Eijirou had ever tasted. He even managed to make him enjoy the burn of pirkublam, despite his terrible first impression. And whatever was in this pot smelled amazing. 

Katsuki looked up and snorted when he saw Eijirou staring longingly at the food.

“Just eat, dumbass,” he said. “And get me some while you’re at it.”

Eijirou sighed and did as he was told, pointedly serving Katsuki first because starving or not, he still had manners.

“What are you doing, by the way?” he asked before he dug in.

“Making you a shirt you can wear with your wings,” Katsuki explained. He held up his work to give it a long, appraising look, revealing the two big slits at the back, the torn up bottom, and the frayed sleeves. Katsuki clicked his tongue critically. “I was keeping it for bandages, but it’s the best I could give you. And I wasn’t gonna use one of yours without asking, so…”

If Eijirou hadn’t been so hungry, he would have dropped his bowl. Katsuki… was making something for him? He was giving him one of his own shirts to wear?

It shouldn’t have been such a big deal, but Eijirou’s cheeks burnt at the thought, heart pounding in his chest. That shirt looked like it'd seen better days, especially with the hastily repaired holes at the elbows and the frayed sleeves, but it still felt like the most precious gift he’d ever received.

“So you’re… giving this to me?” he asked softly, food forgotten as he fought to hide his smile.

He expected Katsuki to scoff and say something like “Of course, dumbass, I just said so,” but instead, Katsuki’s head snapped toward him. He stared back at Eijirou with wide eyes, a blush creeping up his cheeks. There was a beat of silence as they both stared at each other, embarrassed.

Then, slowly, Katsuki’s face split into a smile, proud and confident.

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s all yours.”

No force on earth could have stopped the giddy smile that bloomed on Eijirou’s face at the words. He still had no idea why he was reacting like this, but if it hadn’t been for the food in his hands and the cooling bowl next to his friend, Eijirou would have jumped in Katsuki’s arms.

It wasn’t just that he’d received something for his ‘hoard’. It was the thought behind it, too, the acceptance of who he was. It didn’t matter if it was an old thing full of holes and missing quite a good chunk at the bottom. It was for him. And maybe, just maybe, it mattered that it was coming from Katsuki. He wasn’t really sure.

Something bloomed in his chest as he gave his new shirt a fond look, and before Eijirou could stop it, he squeaked.

Heat rushing to his cheeks, he slapped a hand against his mouth and sent Katsuki a sheepish look. His friend huffed a laugh.

“You like it that much, huh?” he said, amused.

“You said that last time too,” Eijirou pouted as he remembered what happened the first time they shared a bath. “What does that even mean?”

“It’s a baby sound. You’re not supposed to make it as an adult.”

Eijirou’s tentative smile fell. “Oh… so it’s bad?”

“Of course not, dumbass. It’s just…” Katsuki paused, gripping the shirt in his hands, and concluded, “It’s fucking cute, or whatever. Shows you’re relaxed and happy enough to lower your guard.”

“Oh,” Eijirou said, relieved. “I can live with that.”

Katsuki pointedly refused to meet his eyes as he set the shirt aside and grabbed his food.

The grin that wouldn’t leave Eijirou’s face the whole meal made it pretty hard to eat, but he was too happy to care. As terrible as it looked, this shirt was the perfect new addition to his– Wait.

“Hey, Katsuki?” he asked suddenly. “You said you knew what I was from the start, right?”

“Still had some doubts but pretty much, yeah,” his friend shrugged. “Why?”

“Is that why you kept insisting on me having a hoard? Is that… a normal dragon thing?”

Katsuki nodded. “Every dragon shifter has a hoard. It’s part of who they are.”

“I thought there wasn’t much space in dragon cities, though?”

“It doesn’t have to be a big hoard,” Katsuki pointed out. “Look at yours. Most shifters manage to keep theirs under control, it’s just important that they have one.”

“Right… So…” Eijirou said slowly, wondering if his next question was going to be stupid or not. “If you were raised by dragon shifters, do you have a hoard?”

Katsuki shrugged. “I don’t have the instinct to hoard.”

“Buuuuut?” Eijirou asked with a knowing smile.

From what Katsuki told him the day before, he’d always done his best to fit in. And given his vague answer, there was no way he didn’t at least try to have one.

“But yeah, I have one,” Katsuki admitted.

“Really? Do you still have it with you? What is it?” Eijirou asked with an excited grin.

“Yeah, and I’m not telling you.”

“But whyyyy?” Eijirou whined.

“Because that’s not how hoards work.”

“What, are they supposed to be a secret?” Eijirou asked, suddenly very concerned at the thought that he’d been doing hoards wrong his whole life, even though he didn’t even know he was supposed to have one until today.

“Not really, you can do whatever the fuck you want with it. But it’s personal. You’re not supposed to just say what it is, you have to let people guess.”

“Oh… So can I see it then?”

Katsuki thought for a moment, then smirked. “Nope.”

“But Katsukiiiiiii, you’ve seen mine,” Eijirou whined. “How am I supposed to know how to have a proper hoard without an example?”

“That’s why you wanna know?” Katsuki frowned. “You have a great fucking hoard, don’t worry about that.”

Eijirou felt himself blush at the words. He wondered if that was an instinct too…

“Oh… thanks,” he said with a giddy smile. “But I still wanna see yours! Come on, we’re calnuménar, right?”