Work Text:
The ground is soft under Eijirou’s hooves as he’s led out of the trailer. It had taken soft encouragement and finally a honey grain bar to get him to shuffle out from the dusty confines of the horse trailer that had been his home for the last few hours. The sun blinds him, and he squeezes his eyes shut against it, tugging at the reins held tightly in his handlers, no Uraraka’s, grip.
“It’s okay to feel a little overwhelmed.” She says gently. “I know it’s been awhile since you saw the sun or green like this.”
Eijirou nods, wringing his hands together. “Is this the ranch?”
“Yup!” she says cheerfully. “I’m going to take you to the vet, don’t worry she’s really nice, and then I’ll help you get all settled in. Sound good?”
The vet does not sound very good. In fact it makes unease pool in Eijirou’s stomach. “If she doesn’t think I’m strong,” he murmurs slowly, “Will I be put down?”
Uraraka’s jaw clenches, “Of course not. We just need to make sure you’re healthy and nothing happened on the trip. If you don’t feel good, we’ll get you there.”
It was really hard to believe. But Eijirou has been shown nothing but kindness by Uraraka and Midoriya since they had rescued him from the factory. He’s eaten more in the last seventy two hours than he can remember in a long time. And he’d been allowed time to sleep. No one had tried to take the withered blanket draped over his back.
“Okay.” Eijirou says, “I’ll see the vet.”
His hooves are still tender from the thrush that had settled into the grooves and frog of his feet. But the grass is not the hard concrete that had made up the floor of the factory. The mountain air is sweet smelling, fresh and twinged with hits of pine that blow down from steep slopes. There are almost no fences, at least from what Eijirou can see.
“Where are the fences?”
“Oh, we have a few, mostly on the boundaries though to keep out unwanted people.” Uraraka tells him. “But this isn’t meant to be a prison for you and all of our centaurs are allowed to roam.”
Eijirou swallows, “Are there a lot?”
He is a big centaur. Bred to work, his Clydesdale blood only attractive for work. Because of his size and aggressive black coloring other stallions had a tendency to be territorial and mean. They would fight Eijirou almost as soon as he was unloaded into a new factory. Sometimes before, nipping, kicking and sneering through the slates of the trailer, sometimes going as far as to spit on his coat and skin. So Eijirou would rather not have to deal with other stallions bullying him away from food and injuring him in their fight for territory.
“Currently we have ten.”
“Oh. Maybe you should take me to a new place then. Other stallions don’t like me very much.”
Uraraka hums, “I don’t think you’ll need to worry about that. I can’t say that there won’t be any contention, but we have pretty strict policies when it comes to the herd.”
“Okay.” Eijirou says quietly. “Are there babies?” He likes fillies and colts, they make him feel calm and their milky scent is warm and comforting.
“We have a philly stallion pair.” Uraraka says. They've come to a white gate and ahead of them is a tall white barn. She opens it after typing an access number into a panel. “The stallion is named Shota Aizawa and his filly is called Eri. You shouldn’t have to worry about him. He’s older than almost all of the other centaurs.”
“Where is the mare?” Eijirou asks, stepping carefully along the path that is now rockier.
Uraraka hums, “I don’t know. Izuku handled their case and from what he did tell me it wasn’t nice.”
“Oh.”
Eijirou doesn’t ask anymore questions after that. Too nervous as they approach the two large doors that lead into the barn. It’s not what he expects it to be when Uraraka pulls them open. Instead of dark fly infested stalls, and waste filled corridors; it’s clean and looks like a human house. Windows let in washes of sunlight and the hardwood is clean and sparkling.
A pony is sitting on a rug in front of an impressive fireplace, cell phone in hand and a juice box hanging out of his mouth by the straw. Yellow eyes turn to stare at Eijirou, in a flurry of dainty hooves and flying blond hair the pony is bounding over to them.
“Wow! You are big! Oh my god, are you clydesdale? That’s super impressive!” Eijirou jumps when the pony smoothes a hand over his left flank. “I knew you would have to be big coming from a factory and all, but damn! Oh I'm Denki Kaminari by the way!”
A hand is thrust towards Eijirou. He stares at it, mind reeling from the rapid spiel of words that fell from the pony's mouth.
“Denki,” Uraraka says gently, pushing his hand down. “This is Eijirou Kirishima, he’s just come from a bad situation and is a little weary. Give him some space, yeah?”
“Right!” Denki hops back a few feet, tail swishing. “I’m an appaloosa by the way. If you couldn’t tell.” he says motioning to his back and the dappling of color. “I have a mouth issue. I have to get checked out every few weeks which is why I’m here.”
“Oh.” Eijirou says again, finding it hard to formulate any other words. “U-uhm, can you not eat?”
“No man, I can totally. But I was a show pony and the bit’s were a pain. Left some lasting damage .”
He says it so nonchalantly, like that isn’t super sad and makes Eijirou want to run away and hide under his blanket.
“In a circus or something?”
Denki nods enthusiastically. “Yeah! I was the best they had if I do say so myself.”
Eijirou frowns. Denki doesn’t seem sad, but maybe he’s hiding it. “Why are you here then?”
“Oh, well. The circus went out of business and I was sold. But no one wanted to buy me so I was put on the feedlot.” he laughs, reaching up to poke at Eijirou’s nose. “Don’t look so sad! It’s fine. Toshinori found me and bought me on the spot. Next thing I know I’m here, have a home and anything I could want!”
“That’s good.” Eijirou says softly. “I hope you feel better.”
Denki grins, “Do you have a phone?” he waves his own device in Eijirou’s face. “We can swap numbers in case we’re put in different stables!”
“I don’t have a phone. I’ve never had a phone.” Eijirou thinks maybe he wants a phone. It looks cool.
“No problem! If we are, I'll come find you.”
Eijirou smiles at him, “Are we friends?”
“Yeah!”
Uraraka, who had been very quiet while they talked, leaned in now. “I’m really glad you got to meet Denki first.” She says, “But now we need to get you checked out though.”
“Right, uh. Bye Denki, I’ll see you I guess.”
“Of course dude!”
Uraraka leads Eijirou through a door and into a large clean room with hospital equipment set in perfect order along the shelves and the floor. Eijirou bites his lip, shuffling nervously. He hates doctors. One time he’d slipped and twisted his ankle on the first week at a new factory. Instead of getting help he was told he was going to be put down, an injured leg meant a useless horse. The on site vet said he was bound for the glue factory by the end of the month. End of the month he was better but they still sold him to a bigger factory. Vet there shot him up with steroids and other stimulants to make him bigger and work harder.
All in all his experiences with veterinarians have not been good.
“She’s really nice.” Uraraka says again. “I promise. It’s going to be a quick check, nothing invasive and if you want her to stop she will.”
Eijirou can’t do anything but nod and worry. There’s a diagram on one of the walls that he reads over and over again to keep his mind off the impending arrival of the vet.
The first impression Eijirou gets of the vet is small. She barely comes up to his knee and he suddenly feels massive in her presence. She smiles sweetly at him, hopping into a chair and cranking it as high as it can go.
“Do you want me here, Kirishima?” Uraraka asks. “You’re allowed privacy, anything discussed here is between you and the doctor.”
“Uhm.” There is nothing this little old woman can do to him that he can’t immediately stop. “I can do it alone.”
Nodding Uraraka smiles at the vet and slips out of the room.
“So,” the vet says, “My name is Chiyo Shuzenji, but everyone calls me Recovery Girl. You’re more than welcome to call me that if you like.”
“Okay, I’m Eijirou Kirishima. It’s nice to meet you.”
She starts by asking him simple questions, how old he is. Where he was born, any preexisting conditions, how long has he been working. Eijirou answers to the best of his ability. He’s twenty one, and can't remember where he was born. He has a slight allergy to alfalfa, and he’s been working since he was seven.
"Can I feel your legs?” Recovery Girls asks, snapping a pair of latex gloves on. Eijirou nods, shuffling again. He tries to hold perfectly still as the vet feels up and down his legs. His breath hitches as her fingers brush against a sensitive swell of muscle. He probably pulled it at some point.
“For a clydesdale your feathering is cut very short. And your hooves are in very poor condition. As for wounds, you’re probably dealing with muscle fatigue, and have some poorly healed breaks and sprains.” she pats his knee, “But it’s nothing that some rest and medication can’t take care of.”
She checks his mouth, hands him a special toothpaste before she sends him on his way.
Uraraka is still there when he steps outside the office. She hops up from her chair and smiles. “You ready to head for the stables?”
“Sure.” he follows her back out of the large barn. There’s an orchard and rows of flowers that stretch out from the backyard until they blend into the green of the valley. Eijirou can see the far off shape of the buildings that are probably the stables.
“Do you want to ride me?” he asks, peering down at Uraraka. “It looks like it’s pretty far away and two legs are a lot slower than four.”
She laughs, “Oh no. That’s okay. Thank you for the offer though.”
Halfway there her cheeks are pink from the sun and she accepts Eijirou’s offer.
The stables again are a surprise. Clean and massive, each stall big enough not only to sleep but also to have a kitchen, laundry room, and a bathroom. Uraraka slides off Eijirou’s back handing him a key to his door that has a bright 309 painted on it.
“Here you go! If there’s anything you need or want, or you find that something isn’t working please let me know and I’ll get it sorted. Your neighbor is Katsuki Bakugou, he’s uh. Well, he’s a little wild. If you need to be moved don’t be afraid to tell me.”
The enormity of what is happening to Eijirou suddenly hits him. He’s not going to be forced into back and hoof breaking labor from dusk till dawn anymore. There are no screaming bosses or the sharp sting of crops. He can sleep and eat and heal at his own pace, in a beautiful place.
“Oh Eijirou, are you okay?”
He’s crying, sniffling, he smiles, reaching up to palm them off his cheeks. “I can’t believe this is happening to me. It’s like a dream. C-can I hug you?”
"Yes!”
Eijirou kneels and pulls Uraraka into a hug, “Thank you.”
“Of course.” She says quietly. “We’re here to help you."
His neighbor comes back while Eijirou is showering. The wall rattles with the force of the neighboring door being slammed shut. Eijirou holds very still, hands pausing in their efforts to comb hair growing shampoo into his bobbed tail. He can’t hear anything else from the other room, and he suddenly wonders if he managed to do anything to upset his neighbor already.
Hurrying the rest of his shower Eijirou is toweling off when three sharp raps ring against his door. He hesitates, it can’t be for more than a second, but the knocking starts up again rougher.
“Bout fucking time you prick.” Are the first words that come out of the strangers mouth when Eijirou opens his door.
The guy is a frankly beautiful palomino. Silky coat, long swishing tail that looks almost white. His face too, Eijirou feels like his brain is melting; his face is strong, sharp jawed and long nosed. His eyes are a deep garnet, piercing as they scrutinize Eijirou. His hair is almost as white as his tail, tinted just a little darker.
“Hello? You there fuck face?”
Eijirou jumps, “Yeah. Sorry. Uhm. Who are you?”
“Your neighbor, I’m here to set some ground rules.”
“Oh, you’re Bakugou! I’m Eijirou Kirishima.”
The other stallion pushes past him into his living room. “Turns out, I don’t care.”
Eijirou leaves the door open. This stallion is postering like he wants to fight, looking around Eijirou’s living room like he wants it. If he starts a fight, Eijirou has to be able to get out.
“That’s rude.” he says dryly, following the other stallion past his dining table. He watches with an odd mixture of bewilderment and amusement, as Bakugou opens his fridge, surveys the empty shelves before slamming the door and moving on. He inspects every part of Eijirou’s stall, tail swishing in disapproval at the single bar of soap and tiny bottle of shampoo Eijirou has in his shower.
“Okay dude,” Eijirou finally says when Bakugou paws through his blankets, fingering the worn out fabric of Eijirou’s comfort blanket. “What do you want? If it’s to fight, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“Oh. Why do you say that? Think you’re stronger?”
Eijirou raises a pointed eyebrow at him. “Yes. I’d smash you. I could smash you by accident, right now.”
Bakugou puffs out his chest. He’s wearing a graphic t-shirt with a faded anime character on it, and his hair is fluffy. There’s a smattering of sun spots along the bridge of his nose that kiss up to his temples. He’s honestly kind of adorable. Tiny hooves stamping at the ground.
“I could take you.” he huffs. Eijirou sighs, turning to gather his blanket into his arms.
“Stallions like you suck. Piss on the bed or whatever it is you do to mark your territory.” Then he turns and leaves. He hears the other stallion chuff in indignation, hooves clomping in a rhythmic pattern. It kinda sucks he’s going to have to move so soon and that Bakugou is an asshole. He really is pretty, Eijirou thinks that the ranch is such a perfect place to court someone.
In the middle of the stables there is a round common room. Eijirou drops his blanket onto a sitting mat and sinks onto it heavily. He’d been planning to go to sleep once he was out of the shower.
“Oh, hey man. Are you new?” A tall murgese is standing in the doorway. His smile is easy, dark shoulder length hair, matches his coat and long tail.
“Yeah, I’m Eijirou Kirishima. Got here this morning. You are?”
“Hanta Sero,” Hanta says, clomping forward and settling onto a sitting mat across from Eijirou. “I’ve been here for a few years.”
“Oh, they let you stay that long?”
Hanta shrugs, “Haven’t kicked me out yet.” then he grins, “Whatcha in for?”
“Um. I was in an abusive labor force for a long, long time. Got rescued and now here I am. You?”
Leaning back on one hand, Hanta mimes putting a blunt between his lips, “Drug addiction.”
Eijirou blinks dumbly at him, “Really?”
“Yeah dude. You think we’re impervious to drug abuse?”
“W-well no, but I’ve never met another centaur who struggled with it.”
Hanta hums, “If you came from a factory then you knew centaurs with drug addictions, we’re just really good at hiding them. I got really bad though, was gonna kill me if I didn’t get help.”
“I’m glad you did.”
“Thanks man,” Hanta beams. “You live here in the stables?”
The bad mood Bakugou had put him into is suddenly back, “Yeah. Room 309, but that might change.”
“Oof, right by Blasty. Fuck.” Hanta laughs.
“It's not funny?” Eijirou says, offended that Hanta is laughing at his situation.
“No, you’re right. I’m sorry.” the other stallion says. “Has he already antagonized you?”
Eijirou nods, tugging his blanket further over his back. “I was hoping I would get along with all of the stallions here, but it turns out I don’t get along with my neighbor. What are the odds.”
“Denks told me he’d met the new guy. I’m glad you met him first, he’s a spaz but also super friendly.”
“The complete opposite of Bakugou.” Eijirou mumbles. Hanta pats his shoulder in sympathy.
“I know he seems like a hard ass, but I swear he’s not so bad when you really get to know him.”
Eijirou frowns hard at him, “Well maybe but it’s fucked up when a strange stallion comes into your space and immediately wants to fight you. He’s probably already claimed the entire space.”
“Are we talking about the same Bakugou?” Hanta asks, “The only other stallion he ever tried to fight was Todoroki and it was because he wanted to court me.”
Eyes widening Eijirou scoots a little away from Hanta, “Are you and Bakugou courting?”
“Ha! No. Fuck no. Never in a million years. I’d rather walk through hell with my insides hanging out than court him.” Hanta pauses, face scrunching in disgust, “Anyways, no. Todoroki is courting me, and Bakugou got protective.”
Which makes even less sense. Eijirou stares at the clean rug that’s under the sitting mat. “I’m confused.”
“I’m Bakugou’s friend, so is Denki, and a mare named Mina, she’s really cool by the way. We’ve been friends for a really long time. Long enough that we’ve kind of made our own herd inside a herd. He’s the stallion.”
“I wasn’t trying to court any of you though! Why did he come posturing to me?”
“No idea.” Hanta gets to his feet, “Come on. Let's go talk to him and get this sorted. I’ll smack him if he needs.”
“I don’t really want to face him,” Eijirou admits quietly. “I hate stallions like that. And what if he did piss on my stuff?”
Hanta makes grabby hands at Eijirou, “I swear to you he didn’t. He’s not gross like that. An asshole for sure, but not a weird one.”
Bakugou did not in fact piss on Eijirou’s bed. Or his sitting mat or anywhere one should not take a piss. If anything he made Eijirou’s bed, and put food in his fridge, and is now standing at his stove stirring a pot.
“What are you doing.” Eijirou asks, coming up behind the smaller stallion to peer into the pot. He’s concocted a rich smelling soup, large pieces of potato floating to the top.
“There you are. You’re a coward.” Bakugou says, turning to look at Eijirou. “Oh, and tape face. What do you want?”
Hanta walks over and slaps a hand to Bakugou’s shoulder. Three centaurs in one kitchen is getting to be a squeeze and Eijirou backs himself into the furthest corner of the room. Wedging his wide backside against the little closet that holds his cleaning supplies.
“Why are you trying to fight my boy Eijirou over here?” Hanta says, “Come on dude. That isn’t cool. You don’t know his history.”
“I can guess.” Bakugou mutters, glancing at Eijirou out of the corner of his eye. “Work breed, skittish, refuses to fight. Has crop scars. You came from a factory.” this he says to Eijirou, mouth a hard line.
“I did, and I’m not a coward. But if I fought you, I would kill you. And even then, stallions fighting is just stupid. We’re not bulls.”
Bakugou’s eyes narrow before he turns away. He pulls a bowl out of a cabinet above Eijirou’s sink that he hadn’t even known was there, and fills it to the brim with hot soup. He shoves it onto Eijirou’s table, tossing a spoon next to it.
“I’m sorry, or whatever. I didn’t even want to fight you, jus wanted to come see your shit and the newbie. When you mentioned fighting I wanted to see if you were going to be a threat to my other stallions.”
The soup is a wonderful smelling olive branch. A peace offering that Eijirou is pretty okay with accepting.
“Thank you,” he smiles at the palomino. “Why don’t you two grab a bowl too? It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten with friends.”
He meets the rest of the herd throughout the week. Mina is a happy little strawberry roan who is a discarded rich girl's horse, sold after many years of little exercise and being locked in a large but empty stable. Eijirou loves her immediately and they spend a lot of time together, with and without the rest of Bakugou’s herd.
Iida is a strict and professional quarter horse. He’s a retired racer, an injury taking him out of the game early, but he speaks with pride of those days. He has an interesting and deep friendship with Midoriya and Uraraka, and oftentimes is seen helping the humans with their chores or laying in the orchards with them.
Momo and Jiro are courting, and Eijirou stumbles upon them by accident when he goes back for a medical check up. Momo is a tall fell, who used to be a noble lady's companion only to be sold with the rest of the estate when the old lady inevitably died. And beside her is Jiro, a morgan and short in stature, she’s not as talkative as some of the others but friendly enough. Eijirou never learns what had brought her to the ranch.
Eri and Aizawa actually come looking for him. Eijirou had not expected the man to be a friesian but look so worn out at the same time. The dark sleek coat and feathered hooves demand his attention and respect, but the slump to his shoulder and messy shoulder length hair cut an awkward contradiction between his two halves. A philly is clinging to his hand for dear life, peering out from around Aizawa’s front legs at Eijirou. She has to tip her head back in order to see his face. Aizawa introduces her as Eri, tells Eijirou she had been desperate to give him a homemade apple pie as a welcome to the ranch.
It’s the best apple pie he’s ever eaten.
Todoroki lingers around Bakugou’s little herd in the evenings when they migrate to the bend in the creek that’s shaded by two large poplars. He’s quiet and serious, except when he’s not. He’ll say something so hilarious and out of the blue it will have all of them rolling for minutes after. Watching him and Sero lean close, nip affectionately at each other and prance as one figure in the tall grass at the edge of the mountain, makes something soft coil is Eijirou.
“Aren’t you curious?” Bakugou asks one evening as they carry up fat loads of pitchy firewood to the big barn.
“About what?”
Bakugou huffs, tossing his wood onto the pile and brushing bits of bark off his jacket. “Why I’m here, dumbass. You never asked.”
“It’s not my place to ask.” Eijirou shrugged. “I never asked anyone else. They volunteered the information.”
Bakugou seems to consider this. Tucking his hands into the wool lined pockets of his hoodie. It’s getting cooler. The apples in the orchard are darkening into a pretty red, and the flowers have all died except the sunflowers that still reach for the last of the September sunlight. Bakugou glows in the dusk, his long tail blowing softly with the tops of yellowing grass and bleeding into one stream of golden white. With the tips of his ears and nose tinted pink, he looks soft.
“I was wild.”
Eijirou blinks, tearing his eyes from soft hair and blush to red eyes. They are harsh, and caught on the deep green redwoods that march in tall lines interspersed with patches of yellow apricot aspen clusters.
“Wild?”
Bakugou nods. “I ran with a wild herd in the Sonoran desert. My mom was the stallion and my family had been wild for generations.”
Wild centaurs are not unheard of, but now they are rare. Especially herds of them. Many have assimilated back into society, trying to live as wild horses is not the same in the tech heavy and human touched world. Hunters had poached them to extinction, and to governments trying to maintain land, they were no better than pests.
“What happened?”
A tendon in Bakugou’s neck jumps, and the cold wind rises, ruffling his hair into his face.
“My herd was killed, the unlucky were caught.” he cuts his gaze at Eijirou. “I was caught, and I refused to be tamed.”
Except here he is. Smelling like store bought shampoo and wearing a hoodie with One Punch Man on it. Here he is, sitting on a porch with Eijirou, food and a fire a few steps inside. A deep mourning fills Eijirou’s chest. Because the Bakugou he knows is beautiful and fierce. When he runs he sprints, kicks up his hooves, flinging dirt and laughter in his wake. He’s competitive and loud, unashamed of himself and the little herd he has made. But Eijirou wants to see him wild. Smelling like the desert, the flame in his eyes a fire, raging in defiance to everything. He wants to see Bakugou with a mane flowing down his back, uncut and caught with bracken.
“Eijirou?”
“Yes?” Eijirou says quietly. Bakugou reaches for his face, rubs soft thumbs over the tears that spill over the dam of his eyelashes.
“What are you crying about, you massive baby?”
Shaking his head, Eijirou turns away to wipe his wrists over his cheeks. “N-nothing.”
Bakugou leans against his side, close enough that this hair tickles the underside of Eijirou’s jaw. “I wasn’t even to the sad part.” he grumbles. “But I think you know how it ends. They got me in the end, broke my spirit, broke me. I still have the brand.”
“They branded you?!” Eijirou whips around to stare at Bakugou, pushing him away to search his face.
“Of course they did Eijirou. I was their property.” Bakugou is searching his face just as intently. “Do you want to see it?”
“I-I don’t know.” Eijirou admits quietly. “It makes me sad thinking about it.”
“Me too.” Bakugou admits. “It makes me very sad.” he hesitates for a moment before he reaches for the hem of his hoodie and pulls it over his head. Gooseflesh races up his pale arms and he shivers. Eijirou wraps an arm around him, pulling into the heat of his side. Bakugou shifts, lifts his left arm up to set it across the back of Eijirou’s neck. There on his rib cage, right below his armpit is a dark brand, the skin puckered permanently into the shape of a crude looking hand encasing an O which in turn encases an A. Eijirou hates it with everything in his body.
“I’m so sorry,” He whispers, placing a trembling hand on Bakugou’s warm waist. He nuzzles into the side of his neck, maybe a little too forward, but he needs to be close to the other stallion, to let him know how sorry he is. Bakugou nuzzles him back, making soft chuffing noises.
“It’s no worse than what’s happened to anyone else here. You have your own remnants of the abuse you faced.”
Bakugou runs a hand over a large scar that puckers ugly against the underside of Eijirou’s stomach. He can’t remember where he got it, just the excruciating pain that had plagued him for days after the fact. It isn’t his only scar, far from it, but it’s his most noticeable.
“I suppose. It doesn’t make me less sorry Bakugou.”
“Katsuki.” Bakugou says quietly, “I’m sick of you calling everyone by their names but me.”
Eijirou swallows nods, finding it suddenly very hard to look at Katsuki. “Okay. Okay Katsuki.”
Katsuki hums, letting his head fall onto Eijirou’s shoulder. His skin is still pebbled from the cold and Eijirou gathers his hoodie, ushering him into it.
“We should head back to the stables.” Eijirou says, standing and stepping off the porch in one quick movement so he didn’t smack his head against the low wooden beams. Katsuki follows him, stepping with lighter hooves and a swish of his tail. Eijirou isn’t entirely sure where they stand right now, but he holds out a hand in silent offering. Katsuki takes it.
In a month the harvest is in. The apples are ripe and fat and the sunflower stalks are turning brown, their heads heavy with sides and the once yellow petals shriveled. The harvest must be gathered before the first heavy frost, and before the window for the town farmers market closes.
“Good morning Eijirou.” Midoriya calls down from a ladder that’s perched against the side of an apple tree.
“Morning. Where are the baskets from yesterday?”
Midoriya peers out from the foliage, dropping an apple down to Eijirou. “Iida and Momo finished them. The new ones are stacked over there.”
“Oh, thank you.” Eijirou gathers a new basket and reaches up into the tree next to Midoriya’s. His height allows him to reach the furthest apples without having to worry about using the specially designed ladders for the centaurs. He’s a little too heavy for the wooden platforms as is.
“Hey Eijirou?” Midoriya asks, after an hour of nothing but the rhythmic thudding of plucked apples breaking the silence between them. “Do you want to go to the market one day to help run the stand?”
Eijirou knows that Denki and Mina had run it earlier that week. They’d come back with honey sticks and hand crafted wooden frogs that croaked when you run a stick along their ridged backs. Then Hanta and Todoroki had worked it together, and from what Eijirou had gathered it was a fun thing to do.
“Sure,” he says. It can’t be hard, and sure he hasn’t really interacted with humans in awhile, but he’ll be fine.
“Awesome!” Midoriya cheers, “I asked Bakugou yesterday and he agreed so you guys will be working together.”
Eijirou allows himself to feel childishly giddy about that.
Two days later Katsuki knocks on his door bright and early, he’s dressed warmly, saddle bags swung over his hips and brandishing another set for Eijirou.
“The truck with the apples and shit will come behind us.” Katsuki tells Eijirou as he helps him fit the bags. “But we get to walk to town.”
“Is it far?”
Katsuki shrugs, “Relatively.” he looks up at Eijirou, hands static on his chest, “Are your hooves okay?”
“Yeah. They haven’t hurt in a really long time.” he stomps his hooves to show how okay he is.
Katsuki smirks at him. “Good. That’s really good, I've been waiting for a long time.”
“For what?”
Grinning Katsuki sprints out of the stables, tail arcing and laughter trailing behind you. “Race me Ei!”
Eijirou lets out a hearty laugh and chases the palomino down the hill towards the road. He’s much faster than Eijirou, more agile and light on his feet, so he doesn’t win the race, but gets the pleasure of watching Katsuki strut in pride, nickering at Eijirou from the double pines he christened as the finish line.
“You’re very pretty.” Eijirou blurts, chest heaving from exertion. Red spreads over the bridge of Katsuki’s nose and the apples of his cheeks.
“Shut up.” he murmurs. Eijirou smiles at him, falling into step as they make their way leisurely down the trail. It wanders down by a river that flows lazy as its feeder streams freeze high in the mountains.
“I’m serious.” Eijirou tells him, just because there is no going back from it now, and really he doesn’t want to. “I thought you were pretty the first time I saw you.”
“You mean when you accused me of wanting to piss on your bed?” Katsuki snorts.
Eijirou laughs loudly, “Listen, what was I supposed to think? A random stallion barging into my space and hoofing through my things? I thought you wanted my room.”
“Stallions normally don’t piss on shit they want Eijirou. That’s just weird.”
“Well all the stallions I had the misfortune of coming in contact with did.” Though they had hated him immediately so maybe they were just being bullies. Katsuki doesn’t say anything. A horn honks from the road that runs up the little gulley the trail is in. Midoriya leans out the window to wave. Katsuki flips him off.
The town looks like something from a postcard. Jack-o-lanterns leer out shop windows that are decorated with crepe paper ghosts and bats. Pumpkins and scarecrows are piled with straw bales at street corners. Leaves crunch under their hooves as they walk through piles caught in crunchy puddles. Every color draping the town screams of fall time pleasantness.
“This place is beautiful!” Eijirou says, pointing to a park that’s awash with brown leaves, a pavilion sparkles with orangey red fairy lights.
“I guess so.” Katsuki says.”I think they take this Halloween bullshit way too far.” He's watching a woman set out her baked goods in a bakery window. The pies are cut with scary faces, and fat pastries are dusted with powdered sugar to look like ghosts.
Before they had left the ranch that morning, Eijirou had put some spending money into one of the pockets of his saddle bags. Looking at the pumpkin spiced muffins makes him hungry, he can almost taste the nutmeg and clove.
“I’m getting one,” he announces, breaking away from Katsuki to hurry across the road and to the bakery. It’s easy to forget, when you’ve lived in places that are majority centaur for a while, that your nether regions are abnormally large. And now he wishes he had remembered, because he doesn’t fit through the narrow door that leads into the bakery.
“I’m so sorry.” he tells the owner for the twentieth time as she sweeps up the pot of fall time flowers that Eijirou had shattered against the wall as he tried to squeeze himself into the bakery.
“It’s okay. I promise.” She tells him with a smile. “You’re from the rescue ranch aren’t you?”
“Y-yeah. Um. I can pay for your flowers? I feel so bad.”
She waves him away, “No, no. I’ve been trying to make my entrance more centaur friendly, but I just haven’t gotten around to it.”
Katsuki has come over now, frowning at the broken pot, and placing a hand on Eijirou’s shoulder, glaring the shop owner down.
“Is everything okay?”
Eijirou nods, backing off the steps and pulling all of his large hooves together to try to allow some room on the sidewalk for people trying to get by. “Yeah. I don’t fit through the door and I accidentally broke her flower pot.”
Katsuki laughs at him. “What did you want?”
“A pumpkin muffin.” Eijirou mumbles, feeling stupid especially as he still has the money in his hand. Katsuki plucks it from him and steps cleanly into the bakery. He comes out a few moments later, a muffin in his grasp and shoves it at Eijirou.
“Just ask me next time.”
It’s as good as it looked in the window. He splits it with Katsuki and he gets the palomino to admit that it tastes amazing, which he counts as the greatest win of the day so far.
Midoriya beat them to the farmers market by miles. And it doesn’t help that Eijirou pauses to look at as many stalls as he can before Katsuki yanks on his jacket and pulls him away. The stall for the ranch is simple, but well put together and matches the fall time theme perfectly. Baskets of apples make up the bulk of their products, but there are also baked and seasoned sunflower seeds, bundles of fragrant, dried flowers, and a pie or two from Aizawa’s kitchen.
“Okay you two,” Midoriya says, hands on his hips as he observes their stall. “If you need anything don’t hesitate to call me or Yagi. I’ll be back down here at closing with a few others to help us clean up.” he smiles at them, “Have a good day!”
Katsuki waves him away, stepping behind the table with the lockbox on it. “We’ve got it. Go see your little gelding.”
“Kacchan! You can’t call him that!”
Katsuki grins, “He ain't got no balls as far as I’m aware.”
Midoriya sputters, tosses his hands up and walks away muttering. Eijirou eases his way behind the table, staring pensively at the side of Katsuki’s face.
“Who were you talking about?”
Katsuki glances at him, “Oh. He’s a little pinto stallion that Deku saved a few years back.”
“So he isn’t a gelding?”
“No Ei. Of course not. It’s illegal to do that.” Katsuki turns to look at him, an eyebrow arching high in his forehead. “Shit, I’m sorry. It was a messed up joke to make.”
“It’s. Well. Maybe it’s not okay. I know it’s illegal but that didn’t stop bosses from doing it. Only reason they didn’t geld me was in case they wanted to make an Eijirou 2.0.”
“They wanted to geld you?”
Eijirou shifts uncomfortably. “Only a few. But they found out that a calm stallion sold for a lot more than a calm gelding. Can we not talk about it?”
“Fuck. Sure. Sorry.”
They stand in awkward silence until blessedly a child comes to stare at them and rub a hand over a shining apple at the stop of a basket. Katsuki glares down at him, arms folded over his chest before he reaches down, without breaking eye contact, and picks up the piece of fruit.
“You got money kid? For this apple?”
Eijirou laughs, reaching up to stifle it as the child’s eyes grow wide and his sticky, cotton candy stained mouth pops open in something akin to fear.
“If you only want one that’ll be twenty five cents,” Eijirou says happily. He digs around in his bag and pulls out a quarter. “They look like this.” he turns to Katsuki, takes the apple and drops the coin onto his palm. “Here you go!” He hands the fruit off to the kid. When he’s gone Katsuki tuts at him.
“You didn’t have to do that. I fucking hate kids, human kids especially.”
Eijirou taps the top of the lockbox, “I wanted to be the first to put something in there. And they aren’t so bad, he was adorable.”
“No.” Katsuki says dropping his one coin into the box. “They’re hideous.”
“They look just like foals, minus the horse parts.” Eijirou reasons, even though he knows first hand that attempting to argue something like this with Katsuki is useless. As he expected he gets waved away and they settle into a soft silence watching the market slowly but surely fill with shoppers.
It's not until Aizawa’s second pie has been sold that a thought occurs to Eijirou. “Do they buy from us because they want the products, or because we’re centaurs?”
Katsuki chuckles, laying out a new sack of burlap sacks that are acting as shopping bags. “I can’t believe you figured that out. I guess there is a brain somewhere between your ears.”
Eijirou pouts. “I have a brain. I was just wondering, everyone really seems to enjoy looking at us.”
“Yeah.” Katsuki says. “They do. Like we’re some kind of freak show.” he crosses his arms moodily across his chest, glaring at a scarecrow across the way that’s propped up against a stack of straw bales.
“I suppose.” Eijirou hums. He wants to think of these humans as regular shoppers coming to pick up fresh apples for the season's pie making. He doesn’t want to think that they’re only interested in the yield of the ranch and not the half horse half man creatures manning the booth.
“Oi.” Katsuki snaps his fingers under Eijirou’s nose. “Why do you look sad?”
“No reason.” Eijirou murmurs. He steps away from Katsuki’s scrutinizing glare to rearrange a few apples that had slipped down the pile.
“I don’t like seeing you sad.” Katsuki says out of nowhere. “It bothers me.”
That startles and flusters Eijirou enough that his back hooves shuffle awkwardly as his mind and heart war against each other. “It shouldn’t bother you. I’m the one being sad.”
“Yeah but you look so defeated and lost when you’re sad,” Katsuki murmurs. “It makes me feel useless, I don’t know how to make you feel better.”
“Awh. Katsuki, that's very sweet of you.” he rubs their shoulders together, “Just being here with you makes me feel better.”
Katsuki presses closer, “You’re a sap.”
“Sticky sweet, dripping down a tree. Pine spice, I’ll get you stuck on me!” Eijirou sings, swaying in time with his own out of tune singing. Bumping Katsuki with both sets of shoulders.
He gets shoved away, it barely moves him, but he reels away laughing.
“You suck, Eijirou, but that song sucks more.”
“Noo,” Eijirou laughs, “I made that up. You’re hurting my feelings.”
They shove each other back and forth laughing until more customers line up in front of their booth. Much to Eijirou’s surprise and delight, the third to last customer is in fact another centaur. Katsuki howls with laughter when the falabella gets up to the counter. He’s speckled black with a little round bobbed tail. His hair is dyed bright purple and he frowns at Katsuki who’s choking with laughter, hooves dancing where he stands.
Eijirou smacks at Katsuki’s flank and smiles down at the little centaur. “Hi, what can I get for you?”
“Nothing if you’re gonna be a bitches.” The universe has just frowned misfortune upon this creature's small stature. He has a lisp. Katsuki is in danger of suffocation at this point.
“Sorry about him. It’s been a long day. I like your hair by the way. Where’d you get it done?”
Eijirou’s sweet talk gets him the business card of the place the falabella gets his hair done, and two bags of apples sold. He turned to Katsuki who had walked away to catch his breath.
“That was mean, Katsuki. What the fuck?”
“I’m sorry, but he looked so funny. He looked like an ant compared to you.” Katsuki snickers taking the wad of cash Eijirou had gotten from the miniature and shoves it into the lockbox. “You have to admit he looked funny.”
“Don’t judge people by their looks.” Eijirou scolds, his tail flicking out in annoyance.
“I wasn’t judging him, I was judging his looks.”
“That’s the same thing.” Eijirou huffs. “Besides I’ve wanted to get my hair dyed for a long time and he knows a guy who does centaurs.”
Katsuki’s nostrils flare like he’s insulted by the mere idea. “Dye your hair? What color?”
“Red.” Eijirou says easily. “It reminds me of strength, and autumn.”
Katsuki’s eyes soften. “We’ll go together.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Everything goes smoothly until the last of the market goers meander out of the lot. The ranches booth had sold out completely, and Katsuki had said it was probably because Eijirou had been so nice. He’d preened under the praise, still feeling warm inside as he gathers the sign and stacks palettes.
“Hey.”
Eijirou looks up and over at the gruff voice that calls out. A large man with a cap pulled low over his eyes is looming in front of him, blocking out the sun.
“Hi, can I help you?”
The man has to toss his head back to look at Eijirou, the bottom half of his face is covered by a bandana. His eyes glint, everything in Eijirou screams danger. He stands as straight as he can, trying to use his height to his advantage and plants a large hoof forward.
“Fuck,” The man breaths a laugh that catches behind the bandana. “Would ya look at that?” reaching a large hairy hand out he strokes down the corded muscle of Eijirou’s front forearm.
Taking a step back Eijirou holds out his hands, “Please don’t touch me. Is there something I can help you with?”
“Heh. How about a fight?”
The man is just that. A man. A large one, but he is completely human, dwarfed by Eijirou’s clydesdale nether regions. It’s a ridiculous request, so Eijirou laughs.
“Yeah, sorry buddy. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I’ve downed stallions bigger than you.” The man sneers.
Katsuki is still gone, wandered off with little explanation to Eijirou earlier. There is no sign of the palomino now that Eijirou peers desperately around the nearly empty lot.
“Dude, you’re crazy! You’re just a guy. My hooves are the size of your head.”
He takes a threatening step towards Eijirou, “You think that scares me? You look strong, but so far your spirit has been weak, stallion.”
“Goading me is not going to get you what you want!” Eijirou backs over the pallets he just stacked, hooves slipping between the slats, wood cracking beneath his steps. It’s his first mistake.
The man charges him now that he’s no longer on solid ground. It catches him completely off guard, and the palette he’s on snaps in half sending him off balance. The man lands a punch into his stomach, hard enough that pumpkin spice comes back up his throat. Gasping for breath and his body now realizing he is in danger, he kicks out. Bucking under the man as he pushes hard against his left flank trying to force him to the ground. An arm wraps around his neck, pulling Eijirou’s head low, far enough down that pain ripples down his neck and spine.
“You’re already going down,” The man laughs in Eijirou’s ear, breath wet against his skin. Eijirou bucks again, but the man hadn’t been lying when he said he’d downed other stallions. He knows that he needs to not only focus on Eijirou’s nether region, but his human part as well. Forcing his head low reads confusion and frustration through Eijirou, making him spread his legs to find balance, making it difficult to kick.
It gets to the point that if Eijirou doesn’t go to his knees the bones in his neck will snap. The man won’t let up and Eijirou can’t budge him, no matter how much he pulls. He’s a fucking clydesdale and he can’t move a human. So he falls, rolls onto the ground and tosses his head back using the momentum to his advantage. It’s a race for time now, Eijirou needs to get up and run while the grip around his neck is loosened enough for him to break free.
Eijirou gets back to his knees, dragging the man with him and putting a hard fist into the man’s gut. He gets a grunt rough laugh for his efforts, but the arm loosens just a fraction more and Eijirou twists out of the man’s grasp, throwing him to the ground. A glint of silver shines in the man’s hand and it’s the only warning Eijirou gets before the cruel sting of hard steel sears into his flank. The knife is pushed into between his ribs, and the pain works to his attackers advantage and he manages to bowl Eijirou over again.
This is it. Eijirou thinks sadly, he should have kissed Katsuki that night when they shared such a quiet moment on the porch. Or he should have kissed him when they stood knee deep in the flower fields surrounded by lilac and poppies harvesting for the sale. But he hadn’t and now he was going to die at the hands of a stranger.
But then in a flurry of flying dirt and pounding hooves Katsuki is there. Hair shining like a fiery halo around his head, golden coat flashing and a yell falling from his mouth. He descends upon Eijirou’s attacker like an avenging angel. A single well controlled and powerful kick frees him from the sting of the bowie knife. Eijirou sits up, reaching to press a hand over the blood that’s pooling freely along his flank.
“Katsuki! Get away from him, he might still be armed!” Eijirou calls after the other stallion who’s stamping the ground in front of the man who’s laughing like a maniac, his call goes unheeded.
“Oh my god,” Midoriya is suddenly at his side. Pressing his own hands against the wound. “What happened?”
“Stop him.” Eijirou says, pushing the human away and towards Katsuki. “Please stop him, that guy is crazy.”
“Eijirou-”
“Fucking stop him Izuku!”
That gets the human up and moving, “Rody! Help him, and call the police!”
An unfamiliar face is suddenly blocking Eijirou’s view of Izuku and Katsuki. Large gray eyes smile and a lithe pinto body settles by Eijirou’s side.
“I’m gonna touch your injury but also call the police before Izuku gets himself killed.”
“Please,” Eijirou grasps at the pinto’s wrist. “Help me up.”
“No can do! You are actively bleeding, just stay on the ground.”
Desperation is pushing a knot into Eijirou’s throat, fear is turning his stomach. “I don't want them to be hurt.” he whimpers. “Let me help.”
“Nope. You can’t do anything if you’re bleeding out, besides Taishiro is here,” Rody moves slightly, pointing to a large fjord who has the man in handcuffs and a hand braced against Katsuki’s heaving chest.
“Oh.” Eijirou says, slumping back, sniffling. “Oh.”
Katsuki, Taishiro and Izuku come over after the breaths have stopped coming like a hurricane from Katsuki’s chest. The other stallion snorts at Rody, nipping at him until he surrenders his spot at Eijirou’s side.
“Are you okay?” Katsuki murmurs, pulling their foreheads together. Eijirou nods against him, sniffling against his stubborn tears, hands trembling as he cups Katsuki’s face. “How the hell did that happen?”
“I don’t know.” Eijirou whispers. “I’m sorry.”
Katsuki nips at his cheek, “Stupid stallion. Nothing for you to be sorry about.”
The affection that bleeds between them makes Eijirou shiver, he clings to Katsuki’s wrists, refusing to let go even when Taishiro kneels at his side and starts to tend the wound. Katsuki snorts at him, nostrils flaring out in warning.
“Calm down. I’m ‘elping yer stallion. Not gon hurt him.” Taishiro soothes Katsuki. Then he smiles around his shoulder at Eijirou. “Ya okay? The wound ain't too bad. Should probably head to the vet when you get back to the ranch.”
“I’m okay. Thank you for helping us.”
“I should be thanking you, we’ve been looking for Rappa. He’s been causing a lot of problems.” Standing Taishiro holds a hand out for Eijirou only for Katsuki to slap it away. He helps Eijirou up himself, and sends a glare around at the gathered crowd daring anyone to step forward and offer a hand.
“I’m okay Katsuki.” Eijirou says. “Don’t glare at them, they helped me out.”
“Whatever. Let’s just get the fuck out of here."
Eijirou is out of commission for a few weeks. He spends his days lounging in the stables, alternating between tv and learning the ins and outs of his new phone. Hanta and Denki come and bother him in the form of entertainment. Mina tosses out the business card the little falabella gave him, and dyes his hair in his bathroom. The red suits him well, and Mina even dyed the very tips of his tail.
Katsuki though is not around.
He’s in and out, walking past the nest of blankets and various forms of entertainment spread around the living room. Eijirou will try to call out to him, get him to watch Denki’s scratched DVD version of How to Train Your Dragon. Or to play a game of uno where all of the draw four cards are mysteriously missing. He’s ignored every time, and eventually Eijirou just has to accept that Katsuki has realized how weak he is. No one, especially not Katsuki, wants a stallion that can’t defend himself against one human.
It snows on the first day of December. Eijirou wakes up early and pulls on a coat and mittens. Many years have passed since he’s played in fresh snow and he’s excited to feel, taste and smell the clean cold air of the high mountains.
He tracks a path from the stable doors out across the perfect white expanse of the fields. Pine green peaks from between white satin covered boughs, raining white onto his shoulders as he passes beneath them. He finds himself, by accident, in a clearing. Celestial white and glistening in the sun that's started to peak over the very tops of the trees; teasing miniature rainbows out of the snow. Tipping his head up, Eijirou watches his breath wisp up into the sky. Crystalizing against clear blue.
“Eijirou.”
Katsuki is standing at the mouth of the clearing. Color high on his cheeks, a dark beanie pulled low over his hair, steam rising from his flanks. He’d sprinted here.
“It snowed.” he says dumbly like they aren’t standing up to their knees in it. A smile curls Katsuki’s mouth.
“I know.” Katsuki approaches him, using the footprints Eijirou’s large hooves had carved out of the snow. He comes close enough that they’re chest to chest, both of their gazes trailing along the curls of their breath. “Eijirou, listen I-”
Eijirou reaches up and pulls on a branch heavy with snow that was over Katsuki’s head. It showers white onto the other stallion, sending him spluttering, pushing his beanie all the way over his eyes. Eijirou laughs, satisfied at the disgruntled curses Katsuki is spitting. Then he reaches up and pushes the beanie back, brushing his hands over the snow on his shoulders.
“Yes, Katsuki?”
“What was that for? You got snow down my shirt you ass.”
Eijirou shrugs, “You’ve been ignoring me. I wanted to get your attention.”
“Stupid stallion.” Katsuki says gently. “You’ve had my attention from day one.”
“Really? Then why was I left all alone on my sick bed for these last few weeks?” He circles Katsuki, trying to hide his smile in the collar of his coat.
“I was fighting with myself,” Katsuki says, joining Eijirou in his circle. “Wondering how I could ask you to court me when I left you alone and you got hurt.”
Eijirou falters, pausing. “Wait. Really?”
“Again, from day one.”
“You should have told me sooner! I thought you didn’t want me because I was weak! I was preparing myself to spend the rest of my days moping in your presence.”
Katsuki’s eyes flare, “Weak? Weak? You? What the absolute apple fucking fuck Eijirou?!”
“What!? You literally started ignoring me the day after I got my ass beat by a human. You had to save me.”
“If I had been there it never would have happened!”
“I’m huge, Katsuki! It shouldn’t have happened whether or not you were there!”
“I want to protect you!”
“I want you to want me!”
Katsuki stops, chest heaving, snow in his eyelashes and melting rapidly on his pink, pink lips. He surges forward, grabbing Eijirou’s cheeks in both his hands and pulling his head down to crush their lips together. It’s hot in comparison to the raging cold around them. Katsuki’s mouth sears against Eijirou, snow falls between them, caught in the trap of their mouths and melting the taste of the mountain cold into their kiss.
“I want you.” Katsuki says when he pulls away. “I want to court you. Be my stallion Eijirou, and I’ll be yours.”
Eijirou nods, “Okay. Yes. Please.” he bends to kiss Katsuki again, giggling into his neck when he hisses about Eijirou’s cold nose. It takes two tugs to his hair before Eijirou draws back from the other stallion's neck. Katsuki canters back stepping away from the treeline they had backed into.
“Prance with me?”
Eijirou takes his offered hand and together they fall perfectly into step.