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Eijirou isn’t really one to drink. He enjoys going out with his friends to bars after a long week of hero work. But oftentimes, he’ll have something light so he can make sure everyone gets home safely and no one destroys their career before it’s started. He doesn’t mind being the most sober by the end of the night. It means he can fall asleep with Katsuki knowing his friends are safe and had a good time. Eijirou also knows that Katsuki does not like to drink at all. He really can’t, his Quirk too dangerous with the weakened control that drinking makes people prone to. And Katsuki must be in control all the time, so Eijirou is willing to abstain so he can keep his boyfriend comfortable.
It had been a long hard week. Katsuki is out of the country on a month-long assignment that has reminded Eijirou just how far behind him he is. Their time zones don’t line up at all, so calls had been few and far between. Eijirou came home to an empty house and crawled into a cold bed at night. He doesn’t sleep well without Katsuki’s warmth, and oh god does he worry. All the time. He keeps up with world news and has his phone turned all the way up, super unprofessional but he needs to know if something happens to Katsuki. He hugs his boyfriend's pillow at night and pleads with his mind to shut up so he can sleep.
All in all, by the weekend he’s exhausted. Patrols had been long and he’d managed to get another damage claim filed against him after letting the stupid villain get away. So yeah, when Sero texts him asking if he wants to get drinks his answer is an immediate yes.
“Holy shit Kiri, you look, like, bad . Dude, are you okay?” Sero scoots over in the booth he’s procured in the back of the bar. It’s a little too close to the speakers belching out bass heavy music, but it’s dim and out of the way of wandering drunks trying to find the bathroom, so Eijirou doesn’t complain. He groans as he sits down. He caught a building earlier that day and his form had been off.
“Tired.” he grunts, reaching for the sticky menu that’s on the edge of the table. Sero eyes him.
“Yeah. I can see that.”
Eijirou looks up at him, he looks just as tired. Bags hanging dark and low below his eyes. His hair, usually tied back or brushed silky, is greasy at the roots and hanging limply on his shoulders. His elbows that are perched on the table are picked raw. Eijirou winces, “Hey.” he reaches out and puts a hand on Sero’s arm, “Are you okay?”
Sero lets out a shaking breath, dropping his forehead to his hand, his shoulders shake and Eijirou’s heart shatters. He knows Sero struggles. His Quirk, as amazing as it is, requires the assistance of another hero to create a safe and effective system of take down. Once the tape is deployed Sero is stuck, stationary to make sure the tape is well aimed and on target. His back is left open to attacks. It wasn’t always like that, but Sero had been hurt to near fatality and his agency refused to let him work without a partner. Over the years it had destroyed his mental health leading to the regression of his less than healthy habits. But then Todoroki had dropped the agency he had been at to team up with Sero. It was no surprise to anyone that a month after they announced their relationship.
“Yeah.” Sero mumbles wetly, “I’m okay.”
Eijirou tugs his friend into his side, rubbing a hand up and down his arms. “It’s tough. I know.”
“At least you’re still useful when Bakugou’s gone.” Sero mumbles. There’s a nasty touch of bitterness in his tone that bruises Eijirou to his core.
“Barely. Can’t fucking sleep. My concentration is shot to hell. Got another damage claim yesterday, one more and I’m suspended.”
“Shit. I’m sorry Kiri.” Sero rubs at his nose, Eijirou reaches for a napkin and hands it to him.
“It’s okay, but you’re crying. Is Todoroki okay?”
Sero sits up, blowing his nose as he nods, “Yeah. But I. I messed up Kirishima.” his hands are shaking. He rubs at the rounded skin on his elbows. Eijirou reaches for his hands, collecting them in his, squeezing them reassuringly. Though Eijirou’s mind immediately went to the loss of a civilian, a murdered villain, or a child being lost. Sero is shaking badly enough for it to be any of those.
“I’m here for you okay? Whatever it is, okay?”
Sero nods, biting at his lip. “I backed out of a mission.” he whispers. It’s strained, drenched in the same type of shame that Eijirou had fought tooth and nail against for most of his teenage years.
“Sero, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Sero turns angrily to him, “Yes there is! Do you know what that says about me? It says that I can’t handle myself without Shoto at my side. It says that I’m afraid to go without him!”
“Are you?” Eijirou demands. It catches Sero off guard, his mouth opening only to close again.
“I,” he pauses, eyes falling to the table. “I think I am.” His voice is quiet. Eijrou almost has to strain to hear it. “I think that’s worse.” a little self deprecating smile breaks across his face.
Eijrou can’t understand this to the capacity Sero is feeling, but he does know what it’s like dating a hero like Shoto. He’s dating fucking DynaMight for crying out loud. He’s sitting at the near bottom of the hero rankings and Katsuki broke top ten and kept rising a year and a half after they hit the pro hero scene. Eijirou is constantly compared to his partner. Constantly seen with eyes not judging his skill as a hero, but if he’s worthy of dating Katsuki. As if it’s talk show hosts' business to judge that.
Shoto is sitting at number eleventh and the public had accounted for his drop from fifth to Sero. The backlash of the announcement had been catastrophic. For both of them. PR teams had manipulated a lot of what Sero and Todoroki did in a desperate attempt to save reputation. It worked, Sero is sitting comfortably in fifteenth and people have not just grown comfortable but loved the relationship between the two heroes. But every fairytale has a darkside and now it’s Cellophane and Shoto. They’re packaged together now. In the public eye, in Sero’s mind, he isn’t anything without his other half. It makes Eijirou wonder why they torture themselves so much.
“It’s not worse. Sero, you’re a good hero with and without Todoroki. But it’s okay to feel unsure about working without someone you trust with your life.” He squeezes Sero’s hands again.
“Not if I turn down missions they need me for because I’m scared.” Sero sighs. Eijirou shakes his head.
“You’re wrong. Listen to me. You were hurt, you almost died. And you know what you did? You got up, you accepted help and you rose in the ranks. You remember that little boy you saved? Do you remember who did that? Or hell, don’t you remember when you saved Shoto? You’re a hero, but also a human.” He looks his friend dead in the eye, “I would be scared shitless too, you and Todoroki are a good team who protect and raise each other. It’s okay to be unsure, it’s only been a year.”
Sero’s lips parted, his eyes a little wet along the lash line. Then he laughs and pulls Eijirou into a hug. “I love you. How do you always know how to say the right shit? God, Kirishima.”
Eijirou hugs him back just as tightly. “I love you too bro. And I just say what I feel.”
Sero slugs him on the shoulder as he pulls away, wiping his eyes with his other hand, “You goddamned hero. If you aren’t in the top ten soon, I’mma do something drastic.”
Eijirou snorts, “ I’d have to do something drastic to get there in the first place. Come on though, let's not talk about the ranking. We both can’t handle it tonight.”
“Fuck you’re right.” Sero picks up the abandoned menu. “Lets order as much food as we can afford and forget this sucky week.”
And they do. Eijirou drinks to tipsy, then drinks to drunk. It’s uncomfortable, even to an Eijirou who can barely walk straight. He isn’t used to drinking so much, in letting himself abuse alcohol to make him forget the week or his empty bed at home. But he ignores his own body's protests and drinks until he and Sero are kicked out of the bar. Stumbling into the side of the building with a laughing Sero as they say goodbye is the last thing he really remembers.
He wakes up with a stranger in his bed. His bed that is supposed to be empty. Eijirou’s head is splitting but he’s aware of the other presence immediately. He looks stiffly over his shoulder.
“Oh.” he’s a very handsome boy. Eijirou bites hard into his lip, “Fuck!” The noise startles deep brown eyes open. Eijirou lets out a rattling breath. “Katsuki’s going to kill me.”
Katsuki comes home two and a half weeks later. Eijirou is running for the door as soon as he hears his boyfriend's key catch in the lock. He throws it open and puts himself in the way of Katsuki and their apartment.
“Katsuki!”
Katsuki smirks at him. He looks tired from his flight, dressed down in tight leggings and a custom made Red Riot hoodie. He drops his duffle bag on the floor and grabs Eijirou by the shirt. Katsuki kisses him like he hasn’t seen him in a month. Which is accurate. Wet and messy, desperate. Katsuki presses Eijirou against their door frame, tugging at his hair, pulling back his head to make their lips slide together in a more delicious angle.Eijirou is just about to let himself get swept away when he remembers.
He pushes at Katsuki’s shoulders, if anything it makes Katsuki cling to him more, pressing more urgently into him. “Mmm, Katsuki!” Eijirou gasps when Katsuki drops down to bite at his neck, dragging his teeth along his jaw, pulling Eijirou’s bottom lip through his bite.
“Wanna kiss you, baby.” Katsuki murmurs into Eijirou’s collarbone. Oh shit. Katsuki rarely calls Eijirou baby. It’s like a million dollars falling from his mouth. A rare gift that Eijirou usually has to beg for. It feels gross as soon as it felt sweet. Eijirou has been dodging and lying to Katsuki for days at this point. He doesn’t deserve to be showered in the affection he is right now.
“You smell so good.” Katsuki groans, pressing his nose right below Eijirou’s ear. His hands have wound their way into Eijirou’s hair again, stroking and scratching into his scalp. “God I missed you.”
Eijirou squeezes his eyes shut and forcefully pushes Katsuki off of him. His boyfriend looks confused, rightfully so. It’s not like Eijirou to end the affection that Katsuki gives him.
“What’s wrong? Did you not miss me?”
“God, of course I missed you! So much!”
An easy grin slides across Katsuki’s face, he seems to have only now noticed that Eijirou is blocking his path to get into his own home. “Did you burn up my oven?”
“N-no.”
“Is it cuz I was making out with you in the hall? We can go in.” he starts to push past Eijirou. He grabs Katsuki’s arm before he can get very far.
“No!”
Red eyes narrow, the grin is straining at this point. “No?”
Eijirou twists his shirt in his hands, “I-I need to tell you something.”
The grin falls, “Are you hurt?”
“No, Katsuki, stop worrying about me! I did something terrible while you were gone.” he bites hard on his lip. He tastes blood. Katsuki crosses his arms over his chest. He’s worried, it says so in the line of his shoulders and the crease to the left of his mouth. Now or never. “A few weeks ago, Sero asked me out for drinks. It had been a super shitty week,” Katsuki doesn’t know about the claim yet, “And we were both really upset and Sero was not in a good place. But uh, I let myself get super drunk.” Oh god. This is going to be the end isn’t it? “I-I didn’t really remember much that happened after I left the bar, but the next morning I woke up and-”
“No.” Katsuki snaps. Harsh and watery. Fuck. Eijirou messed up.
“A-and the bed was supposed to be empty but it wasn’t, and then I was so lonely, I let him stay and-”
Katsuki suddenly looks furious. Madder than he has in years. “He’s in my fucking apartment?!”
He tears past Eijirou too fast for him to catch, stamping into their apartment and going straight for the closed bedroom door.
“Kats! Wait! Please! I know I messed up, and I probably should have let him go that morning but-”
Katsuki spins on him, right before he reaches the door. Tears are streaking down his face, teeth grit together painfully. “Don’t Kats me, you bastard!”
“Baby, I know okay? I was wrong and I’m sorry!”
“Shut up. Just shut up, Kirishima!”
Oh. Oh. Eijirou’s own eyes fill with tears. They roll steadily down his face and he bows over his arms as he folds them over his stomach. He’s wearing one of Katsuki’s shirts. It had been a comfort to him this morning, but now it felt almost foreign on his body. He hasn’t been called Kirishima by Katsuki since first year in high school.
Katsuki scoffs meanly at his tears before throwing open the door, palms crackling.
The golden retriever on the bed sits up, wagging his tail and lulling his tongue happily as if he hadn’t caused this entire mess. Katsuki stares at him in silence, the dog yips at him, unable to get off the bed without Eijirou’s aid due to the cast that the vet had applied the morning after Eijirou woke up.
“I’m sorry.” he sobs, snorting grossly, choking on more sobs that try to climb up his throat.
See, this is what had happened. Eijirou had remembered bits and pieces after vomiting till his body ached and killing the headache with pain meds. The golden had been a stray that hung around the apartment complex. Eijirou had wanted to take the dog in since he had first seen it, he remembers grabbing Katsuki’s arm and pointing him out.
“Oh, Katsuki! Look at how cute he is! Poor guy. Who would leave him?”
“Ei. We are not having a dog in the apartment. Especially not a homeless street mutt.”
Katsuki had wrinkled his nose at the mere thought. Eijirou understood Katsuki’s need for things in his home to be clean and orderly so he hadn’t asked to take in the dog again. He still made sure it had water and food sometimes though. He’s a hero and well, he loves dogs. But he loves and respects Katsuki more.
Except apparently when he’s drunk as fuck. On his stumble home he’d heard the dog crying. The poor thing had been laying in the street, wet and cold, his front leg twisted in a bad way. Eijirou had scooped him up, taken him home, pillaged their stock of medical supplies to bandage the dog's leg, then tucked it into bed because it had been shivering. It didn’t register to him what he had done until that morning. The dog had been covered in mud and Eijirou had tucked it into Katsuki’s side of the bed. There was mud and dog drool all over Katsuki’s pillow and the sheets were brown and damp.
Eijirou had sworn to himself that he’d leave the dog at a shelter after he made sure it was given proper medical attention. But he just couldn’t leave him after the vet told him the dog wasn’t registered and the chance of adoption was low. So he took the dog home and got attached to his tail wags and floppy ears. And he hadn’t told Katsuki because he was afraid of something like this happening.
“Eijirou.” Katsuki’s voice is quiet. Calm. The dog barks when it recognizes his name. He thought it was only fair that the dog knew his name okay?
Eijirou sobs a little again, “I-I know. I haven’t named him, a-and I was gonna take him to a shelter. I swear. I’m so sorry.”
There are hands on his wrists, tugging his palms away from his face. Katsuki is watching him, a furrow between his brows even as they are risen. “Ei. Is this what you didn’t want me to see?”
Sniffling and averting his eyes, Eijirou nods. Whatever he was expecting to happen, it isn’t Katsuki to break into howling laughter and pull him into a crushing hug.
“Oh baby.” He says between peals of laughter, “Oh sweetness, I thought you had cheated on me.”
Eijirou chokes, scrambling out of Katsuki’s embrace to look at him, “I would have told you! A-and I would never!”
Katsuki laughs again, not his manic laugh, but deep from his chest and shoulder shaking. He reaches up and wipes away the tears that are still sliding across Eijirou’s skin.
“But you wouldn’t tell me you picked up our stray?”
“O-our stray? B-but,” Eijirou rubs furiously at his eyes, he can’t see Katsuki clearly because of how many tears are in his eyes. “I thought you didn’t want him?”
“I didn’t, but dammit Ei. I’m sorry, okay? I overreacted and I shouldn’t have told you to shut up, or uh, use your last name.” Katsuki shudders a little. “But baby, if you want him, and he helped you when you were lonely, by fuck you can have him.”
“I don’t understand.” Eijirou says weakly. “You’re mad.”
Katsuki lets go of his hands, walking back to the door he grabs his duffel bag, tossing it inside he closes the door. Then he reclaims Eijirou’s hands and sits them down on the couch.
“I’m, shit, Ei, stop crying . You’re okay.” Katsuki points to himself, “We’re okay. I’m not mad. I’m really fucking relieved actually.”
“I brought the dog in.”
“Yes you did.”
“You don’t think dogs should be inside.”
“Nope.”
Eijirou picks at the hangnail on his thumb, “You were angry.”
Katsuki lets out a long, labored sigh. “Eijirou, when you told me that one, you got drunk, two woke up with someone in bed, and three told me this someone was still in our house , I got pissed. You never said it was a dog. I thought he was a man.”
“Oh.” Eijirou mutters. Then he laughs too, burying his face in his hands when they inevitably turn into tears again. “I thought you were going to be so upset about the dog. I was being eaten by the guilt. I even called Sero and cried about it.”
“Was the dog with you while you called him?”
“Yeah.” Eijirou rasps. His throat is a mess.
Katsuki strokes at his cheek, “Did he help you feel better?”
“Marginally.”
Katsuki laughs softly, bringing Eijirou closer to press a kiss to his forehead. “For the record, I know you wouldn’t cheat on me. I think that’s why I was so upset. It felt like something completely out of the realm of possibility.”
“So this isn’t really about the dog is it?”
“No.” Katsuki sighs, it blows Eijirou’s hair off his forehead. “In fact, I was gonna let you see if you could keep the stupid thing.”
“Really?” Eijisou asks. It’s pathetically breathless.
Katsuki laughs softly again, “Yeah Ei. You aren’t subtle about the things you fall for. Never have been.”
“I way over reacted to this.” Eijirou bemoans.
“You did, but there is one thing I’m actually worried about. You don’t drink like that. So why this time?”
Eijirou frowns, sitting back against the couch and letting his fingers lace with Katsuki’s. “I can’t sleep when you aren’t here and I was constantly worried something was going to happen to you that I wasn’t going to be told about until it was too late. So I was tired and then I let a villain get away, and, ugh.” Katsuki squeezes his hands, “I got another claim.”
Katsuki lets out a low hiss, “You should have told me.”
“I know. I’m seeing now that I should have just told you a lot of things. I kind of ruined your homecoming.”
“We ruined it together.” Katsuki says simply, “Now finish your story.”
“Right. Well, I was super upset and then Sero texts me and asks if I want to get drinks with him and I thought why not. But he was really upset, Kats. Like after his injury, upset.”
Katsuki nods, “I know. Icy Hot was up till three in the fucking morning with him.”
Eijirou is glad to hear that. There is only so much a friend can say. Only so far Eijirou’s words of comfort will go. Sero needed his partner and the man who loves him. Eijirou is glad he was braver than he was.
“We got talking about it, and you know we kinda bagged on ourselves. Then we just drank. A shit ton. And then on my way home I saw the dog and he was hurt and yeah.”
“You should have told me.” Katsuki insists again, poking a gentle finger into the center of Eijirou’s head. “I would have answered the phone at any time if it was you. You know this.”
“I don’t want to bother you though. I felt like such a trivial thing in the long run. I wreck shit, I fail. Old news.”
Katsuki scowls at him before standing up and stomping into their room. Eijirou watches as he approaches the dog carefully. “I need you to help me with the thick skulled idiot in there, so don’t bite me.” The dog just wags his tail and let’s Katsuki scoop him up. Katsuki marches back out of the room, muttering something about dog drool, and deposits the animal into Eijirou’s lap. He’s careful with the injured leg arranging the dog in Eijirou’s lap so he’ll stay balanced even if Eijirou isn’t holding him. Eijirou holds him, letting warm dog kisses and fluffy fur sooth him.
“Isn’t he sweet?” Eijirou asks, pressing his cheek to the top of the dog's head. Katsuki leans back against the other side of the couch.
“He’s cute. Looks like you.”
Eijirou sputters, “I look like a dog?”
“No. Happy, and soft, you doof.”
“Oh.” turning his face into the dog’s fur, Eijirou lets out a sigh. “I’m tired.” Katsuki draws near. Arranging himself at Eijirou’s side, and pulling him out of dog hair onto his shoulder.
“Me too. What a mess this was. You’re so funny sometimes, Eijirou.”
“You love me.”
“A lot.”
The dog opens its mouth in a large yawn, flopping his head down onto Eijirou’s chest and looking up at him.
“We need to name him don’t we?” Katsuki asks. He reaches a tentative hand out to run it over soft golden fur. The dog flops it’s tail twice. It’s enough encouragement for Katsuki to scratch up to his head.
“Mm,” Eijirou hums. He’s so tired. And Katsuki is here, and he can keep the dog. He’s warm pressed against his boyfriend. “I wa’ thinkin, DynaRiot.”
“...like our hero names combined?”
“Ye.”
“Okay then. DynaRiot it is.”
Eijirou slaps at him clumsily, “You think it’s stoopid.”
“It’s dumb as hell Ei. So it’s perfect. And tomorrow we’ll go get him a collar with the name on it.”
Eijirou smiles, tucking his face into Katsuki’s neck. He feels a fuzzy bit of stupidity at his own actions regarding DynaRiot. The tiny situation had become a huge situation in the matter of a few skipped words. But he supposes it’s alright. With Katsuki and DynaRiot and the promise of them all being together tomorrow.