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“Whatcha making?” Kirishima leaned over his shoulder, and Katsuki chuckled as he leaned back into his dragon’s warmth. Even just one night sharing his bedroll with Kirishima again had settled quite a lot of the tension he’d forgotten he was carrying, but it would be weeks yet before he tired of his dragon’s constant presence.
“Breakfast.” he answered simply. It wasn’t anything fancy, some slices of road-bread fried in the drippings of a rabbit their snares had caught overnight, maybe berries if Shinsou came back with any.
“Smells great.” Kirishima’s chin rested on his shoulder, and Katsuki chuckled as he turned the spit.
“Sure you’re not just hungry?” he teased. “This shit’s not even seasoned.”
“I mean, it’s cooked.” Kirishima shrugged, and Katsuki paused, twisting to stare at his dragon. Kirishima met his eyes, guileless as ever, blinking in earnest confusion as Katsuki’s mouth fell open.
“You’ve been eating raw food?!” he squawked, loud enough it drew the attention of the scouts returning from the woods.
“I mean, as a dragon it can’t really hurt me.” Kiri chuckled. “And... I haven’t exactly been spending much time as a human, lately.”
“How long is lately?” Katsuki asked pointedly, and Kirishima averted his eyes, mouth pressing into a thin line as he thought. No, as he prepared to lie. Three years hadn’t changed him that much after all, aside from the obvious physical differences.
“A few months?” he hedged. Katsuki picked up a clod of dirt left over from ripping out the grass around their fire circle, and a burst of magic propelled it into the side of his idiot dragon’s head.
“The truth, this time.” he chided.
“Can’t get anything past you.” Kirishima huffed, pulling away and moving to sit next to Katsuki instead of leaning against his back. Part of him immediately mourned the loss of that warmth, the easy closeness of long familiarity not dulled one bit by the years they’d apparently both spent thinking the other dead, but he shoved that down with vicious force. Making sure Kirishima was healthy took priority over keeping him close for cuddles, and their elbows still brushed anyways.
“It’s been at least a year since you transformed into a human for longer than a few hours.” Amajiki said, making Kirishima’s head snap over to him. “I’m guessing to bathe, or sleep somewhere too small for your dragon form to fit.”
“Yeah.” Kirishima confirmed, looking poleaxed. “How’d you know?”
“Call it intuition.” he smirked. Katsuki picked up and blasted another dirt clod, but this one was batted aside before it found its mark in the chimera-shifter’s face. Whatever.
“Over a year?” he confirmed with Kirishima, who nodded as Amajiki knelt on the other side of the fire and began to sort what he’d foraged. “Oi, toss those mushrooms in the pan.” he said when he spotted them. “Whole, they’ll cook down well enough.”
“I thought we were having as quick a breakfast as possible.” Amajiki said, and Katsuki rolled his eyes.
“We were, but if this idiot hasn’t had proper food in over a year, like hell am I giving him anything less than the best road food I can muster, on our way home.” he slugged Kirishima in the shoulder, and his friend beamed.
“Aww, Kacchan, for li’l ol’ me?” he cooed, and Katsuki nearly snapped the stick he’d picked up to rearrange the logs in the fire.
“Kacchan?” Shinsou asked, from over by the horses.
“Fuck off.” Katsuki snapped at him, making both scouts laugh. “None of you idiots get to call me that.”
“And some random townie does?” Kirishima cocked his head slightly, a smirk playing around the edges of his mouth.
“Deku’s no random townie.” Katsuki huffed. “His mom is my mom’s best friend, I’ve known him as long as I can remember.”
“Wait, you have a mom?” Kirishima gaped at him, Amajiki’s face a similar mask of shock.
“I couldn’t’ve been born if I didn’t have a mom, dumbass.” Katsuki scoffed.
“Is she the one who taught you how to cook?” Amajiki asked, and Katsuki shook his head.
“That was all my dad. Mom’s a disaster in the kitchen, I swear that woman can burn tea.” he shook his head. “Auntie Inko’s better than either of them, though.”
“If you still have your parents... how come you came to us?” Amajiki asked, and Katsuki sighed as he pulled the rabbit off the fire. It should be done by now. People could be so stupid sometimes.
“I could hardly have defeated the Great Evil if I stayed in that dinky little nowhere town.” he explained, carving the rabbit into four roughly-equal pieces. “So I left.”
“Just like that.” Shinsou said, the words rippling with power but carefully not a question.
“Yep.” Katsuki nodded. “I was a stupid little shit back then, but eh.” he shrugged. “Who isn’t a dumb little shit at ten?” he scooped the fried bread and mushrooms out of the pan, portioning the food out onto plates. “And hey,” he smiled, holding their spare plate out to Kirishima. “If I hadn’t left, I would’ve never met you.”
Kirishima smiled back, and dug into his breakfast with gusto. They’d have to ride hard, if he wanted to make proper breakfasts and dinners and still make it back on time, but... maybe he could ride on Kirishima’s back? The horses wouldn’t be able to go at speed with any two of them doubling up, and Kirishima’s wings were better suited to long gliding flight than Amajiki’s. Plus, he’d missed the sky, these past three years. And now that his dragon was back, miraculously not dead, he wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to go flying.
He’d ask after breakfast.