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“You’re an idiot, you know that?”
Crimson eyes met yours as a sheepish smile crossed your best friend’s face. This wasn’t the first time he had shown up at your door like this, and this was far from the first time you had called him an idiot. When he shrugged in response to your question, much like he always did, you rolled your eyes as you continued to use the washcloth in your hand to wipe at the dried blood on his cheek before moving to the cuts on his arm.
“I mean… yeah. I know. But I keep life interesting, don’t I?”
It was a joke, and you knew that you should laugh. However, every single time that he called you after a tough mission or showed up at your apartment covered in blood and bruises, you felt like the ground had fallen out from under you. The worry you felt for him was always there, always present, inside your mind, but seeing the aftermath with your own eyes never got easier.
“I don’t particularly care for this type of interesting, Kiri,” you sighed, your eyes focusing on the cuts that you were trying to clean instead of meeting his gaze again. You weren’t sure you could stand to see the sad, guilty look on his face that always appeared in these situations once he saw how worried you were about him. You knew that he felt bad putting you through this. Hurting you was never the intention.
“I know, I’m sorry.”
His voice was soft and you had to steady yourself with a deep breath to keep yourself from exploding. Your heart was still pounding from seeing the shape that he was in, and even though you knew that he was okay now, you couldn’t help but already worry about the next time. How many more times until he stopped showing up because things had gone in a direction your heart couldn’t even stand to imagine?
He hissed softly as you dabbed a bit of peroxide on one of his deeper cuts, but he didn’t complain. He was always a good patient, never whining about the sting or trying to hurry you up when you took longer than one might consider normal to properly dress his wounds. You were already doing him such a big favor, he knew better than to try and boss you around.
“Why do you always come here?” You asked, not even realizing the question had formed on the tip of your tongue until it was slipping past your lips. “Why don’t you go see one of the agency medics who’s more properly trained in healing?”
The silence that followed suddenly felt incredibly stifling, and that nervousness to meet his gaze was outweighed by your curiosity as you slowly lifted your head. Your breath caught in your throat when your eyes immediately met his, as his gaze was already locked on your face. He shifted in his spot on the countertop where he had perched himself when the two of you had entered your small bathroom, and you swore you saw his cheeks turn a light pink before he finally started speaking.
“I, uh, well,” he mumbled awkwardly as one of his hands lifted to rub the back of his neck nervously. “I guess because I trust you.” HIs words were sincere and you felt a fluttering in your stomach as you continued watching him. His cheeks were most definitely a darker shade of red now and only seemed to be darkening the longer you were looking at him. “And because I… well, you just always make me feel better, I guess.”
Your gaze quickly dropped back to where your fingers were gently wrapped around his wrist, holding his arm in place so that you could clean him up. You didn’t move, however, as you tried to process what he was saying. It made sense that your best friend would come to you in his time of need. So why were you reacting in this way? Why did his words sound as if there was some sort of hidden meaning behind them?
“I barely know what I’m doing,” you mumbled under your breath as you finally lifted the cloth to brush away some more of his dried blood. “I’m surprised you’re not covered in even more scars because of how novice I am at tending to these injuries.”
You were so caught up in your own head that you didn’t feel him move until his finger was pressing against the underside of your chin, tilting your head back so that your eyes were forced to meet his once more. There was a soft look on his face now as he held your head up so that you couldn’t turn and look away from him.
“I’m not just talking about the physical bandaging, though you really should give yourself more credit,” he smiled, his thumb now joining his other finger on your chin before it slowly brushed back along your jawline. “I meant internally, like, you’re the safe place I know I can always go, no matter what.”
You felt your skin heat up at his words, and while you tried to look away, his grip on your face was too strong to allow for any movement. You wanted to melt into the floor as he stared back at you, his gaze unwavering and his smile genuine as he waited for your reaction.
Though, how were you supposed to react? You could joke about how ‘that’s what best friends are for’, but that didn’t feel right this time. Your world suddenly felt like it had been tilted on its axis and for the first time in months, you felt like your eyes were truly opening.
“I’d do anything for you, Eijiro,” you whispered, your eyes watering and your voice shaking from the weight of the words as they slid from your tongue. His eyes widened and his smile receded momentarily before his entire face lit up, the radiance of it bringing a new wave of heat to your skin.
With his hold still steady on your jaw, he gently pulled you forward, closing the space between you until you were close enough your noses were brushing and you could feel his warm breath fan across your face.
“Would you kiss it and make it better?”
A swooping sensation filled your chest as he guided you in further, closing what little space there was left. His lips were warm and surprisingly soft and you sighed into the kiss as your body melted against his. You had secretly envisioned this moment numerous times before, but never in your wildest dreams did you ever think that it would be come a reality.
Eijiro Kirishima was kissing you. You couldn’t believe it.
That is, until you were pulling away and you were met with his familiar bright red irises and you knew that this wasn’t a dream. He was real. This was real. And you were going to see to it that it was a moment you were never going to forget.
“Don’t think that this means that you can go and get yourself injured just so that I’ll kiss you,” you murmured as you pressed one of your fingers into his chest in a mock threat. Eijiro’s smile grew as he nodded, his forehead coming to rest against your own.
“I’ll be on my best behavior, I promise.” It was your turn to smile, but just as you did, he leaned in and kissed you again, catching you by surprise.
You would always worry, and you would always hate seeing him in such a banged up state, no matter how many times it happened. But that only meant that you cared, and you had meant it when you said that you would do anything for him. He was your best friend, but now, he was so much more.
Your Eijiro. You quite liked the sound of that.