Chapter Text
Sometimes the lives and minds of teenagers were surprisingly simple, even in a school where people strove towards the lofty goal of heroics. Where, if you happened to be stuck in the gravitational pull of the right people, you would repeatedly find yourself with a villain's metaphoric foot on the back of your neck. Even in a place like that, brimming with power and a tenuously tempered chaos, it could still be simple.
They were talking about cute people again. Denki and Sero and Mina, mostly, though the others chimed in every now and then as well. Mineta was in a somewhat merciful headlock and no longer allowed to contribute; in the penalty box, so to speak.
Eijirou didn't have a whole lot to say, as he'd always been notably blase about this particular topic, but he enjoyed listening nonetheless and piped up when it came time for friendly teasing.
“There's a ton of hot people in 1-B, though,” Denki huffed regretfully, turning about in his seat to gaze in the general direction of the other heroics classroom. Eijirou's stomach lightened unpleasant, and he was grateful to be at the other boy's back when heat crept into his cheeks.
“That's true. It's not fair.”
“Are you saying there's no “hot people” in here?” Tooru responded accusingly, probably brandishing a finger at the boys as they tried to cover for themselves with waving hands.
“No, no! It's just... weirder, y'know? Because we know each other so well,” Sero looked incredibly flustered as he stumbled over what could be taken as an apology. When the girls just laughed at his embarrassment, he was able to grin crookedly and brush it off.
“Besides, wouldn't it be the same situation if you were in that class instead?”
Eijirou stopped paying close attention then, his eyes trailing to the same wall that had preoccupied Denki a moment earlier. They were probably talking about people like Ibara and Sen, with soft faces and appealing personalities, and if that was the case there were definitely people in 1-A that could meet those standards. He knew exactly which people Denki was attracted too already, but he wasn't enough of an ass to point that out. Not when Denki had similar ammunition.
It wasn't hard to play it cool, even though his emotions tended to be on the unrestrained side. Feelings and emotions were different, right? Having feelings for someone didn't necessarily make you walk on clouds. It didn't always make you want to tell everyone about it. That's what he had to tell himself in order to keep the image of romantic neutrality, because, really, the need to bring up the object of his own budding affections was damn near constant.
“Don't you think we should try and be more friendly with them?” Ochako's tender voice added to the mix, no louder than anyone else but immediately drawing Eijirou's attention. “After what happened at the retreat and all, I think it would be nice if maybe we all hung out.”
“But they've got some irritating people too,” Sero muttered in protest, to some minor agreement. It was guaranteed that they were all referring to one person in particular.
“I think it's a good idea!”
Of course Midoriya did. The kid was a golden beam of sunshine pretty much 90% of the time. Iida's agreement came next, then Momo's and, finally, his own.
“There's some rivalry, but who says rivalry can't be friendly?” he spoke as casually as he normally did, and most of them didn't think twice about it. Most.
Slowly, Denki turned in his seat with a coy smile and steeply raised eyebrows, elbow coming to rest on the back of his chair and chin sliding snugly into his palm. Eijirou looked back at him with a smooth face, but the blush appeared despite his best efforts. It was tempting to just harden his skin and hide it completely, but if his endorsement of the group hang out hadn't sparked their suspicion, the sudden activation of his quirk definitely would.
“Ok, let's take a vote.”
~
It hadn't been as close of a call as Eijirou had expected. No one really said no, just that they were indifferent to hanging out in general. It wasn't hard to guess who those people were.
What had posed the biggest problems was deciding how to spend the impromptu bonding time and picking someone to go and make the invitation. They settled on staying at the dorm, and argued for the entire walk back to it over who would have to act as ambassador.
“Iida's the class president!”
“Yeah, and he's kind of... full-on.”
“Well, everyone likes Izuku.”
“I don't.”
Eijirou shot Katsuki one of his 'You amuse me but you're also exhausting' smiles, while everyone else shrugged off the grumbled statement and carried on like it hadn't been made. Everyone except Eijriou, who could never resist prodding.
“Not a lot of feeling in that one, bud, where's all your vigour?”
“Stuff it, Kirishima.”
Somehow, the simple saying of his name put him up for consideration. Eyes turned on him when Mina made an affirmative noise and pointed.
“Kirishima could.”
He'd managed to keep his head low this whole time, now it was on the chopping because Katsuki had to refer to him out loud. Bastard.
“Yeah, you're almost as cute as Midoriya, they wouldn't turn you down!”
With an insulted noise, he puffed himself up and glowered at the group as a whole. They were climbing the steps to the dorm, so it was more of an awkward shuffle than an indignant stride. “I'm not cute, why would you think that? Look at me, I'm-”
“Manly,” Katsuki cut him off with a sneer that was a bit softer than usual.
“Don't you forget it,” Eijirou was marching towards the doors, but from the way they were chattering about it now, it was clear that they'd made up their collective mind. That's what he got for operating with ulterior motives...
So, after changing from his school clothes and receiving a peptalk that helped him not at all, Eijirou was sent off to 1-B's dorm with a chest full of butterflies and a sour look. The rest of them couldn't guess why this was hard for him, when he was usually fiercely positive, but he was so nervous he felt like he might throw up. And that was just over the small possibility he'd see his crush, or hear him talking, or be anywhere in the general vicinity of him.
Their dorm was beside 1-A's, so he didn't have long enough to prepare himself. He dragged his feet a little, but was up their stairs in no time and ringing on the bell. Please, have someone he wasn't officially acquainted with answer the door... Even the asshole would be good.
It took a few minutes and another press of the button before the door finally opened, and Eijirou breathed out slowly through his nose. The butterflies immediately began to disperse.
“Oh. Uh... Kirishima, right?”
It only took him a moment to remember the girl's name, despite mostly referring to her as 'the nice one' or their dorm mother. Kendou.
“Yeah! Hey, um, this is probably gonna seem really weird,” he shuffled his feet and shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his pants, giving a wide grin and managing to look only marginally uncomfortable, “But we kinda had this idea about our class and your class hanging out. I dunno... Just, talking and maybe playing board games or something.”
She blinked pretty eyes a few times, then seemed to light up, “That's really nice! When?”
“You guys can come over this evening, if you want. If anyone wants to, I mean. Don't feel pressured.”
“I'll ask. I'm sure there will be some people up for it.”
“Cool,” he was already stepping down off the stairs, butterflies flying back into his gut like a balled up fist with the realization that they weren't just going to be blown off. From what he'd seen, the two of them were close. If SHE came—
“I'll see you later, definitely!” she beamed brightly down at him as he waved and started back for the safety of his own dorm at a faster pace. He didn't start jogging, but he was pretty close.
Now he was definitely going to have to prep himself. He'd have to find less shabby clothes and tidy up his hair and make sure there was lots of stuff to do, even though the girls had assured everyone that they would take care of it. He was going to have to sit in his room until they got there so he didn't get jittery and excited around other people and start talking too much.
The door closed behind him and he found most of them occupying the common area. The only one's missing were Todoroki, Sato, and Tooru. Oh, no, there she was.
“Well?”
“I mean, that Kendou chick is coming for sure. Said she'd ask everyone else.”
“Whaaat? Kirishima, you were supposed to go in an ask everyone! Now it seems like we're all 'whatever' about it!” Mina puffed her cheeks out at him and he had to resist squishing them as he joined her on the couch.
“She didn't exactly invite me in.”
“Well, whatever,” she turned to sit down properly and held pink hands out towards the games they'd all gathered while he was gone. There was a pile of movies, as well, and they'd already started putting together snacks. “Even if its just us, its gonna be fun!”
“And Sato's upstairs making a cake,” Jirou piped up with a purr of longing in her voice.
“Charades? Who brought Charades?” Katsuki was rifling through the board games, having moved over to where Eijirou was when he'd sat down. There was a small pang of affection in his chest, but he didn't bring it up for fear of ruining the blond's rare complacent mood. “Scrabble? Seriously?”
“Oh man, CHESS!” Eijirou joined in with a snicker, “You guys aren't pulling any punches!”
“Some people like chess,” Momo was growing pinker by the second, making it obvious that at least one of those had been her choice. Well, she probably wasn't wrong. Someone would enjoy it.
“Twister!” Ojiro spoke up, but unlike them he showed genuine excitement, “I-” they were all looking at him, and he dropped his voice to a mutter, “I'm really good at this one.”
The resulting laughter helped calm Kirishima's nerves, but they didn't quite go away. As they continued to grow their arsenal of night time activities, he found himself fidgeting anxiously and eventually excused himself to go shower. He almost set to running when he heard Sero wonder whether they'd end up sleeping over.
~
Despite feeling utterly unprepared, the wait was agonizing. He'd showered, changed clothes, then changed again into the most socially acceptable pajamas he had because he didn't want to seem like he was trying too hard. Now he was sprawled out on his bed with music playing and lovesick nausea biting at him relentlessly. How could feelings so perfectly mimic gross illness? How did anyone enjoy being this way?
With a loud huff, he rolled until he was sitting on the edge of the bed and toed at the dumbbells lying in the middle of the floor. The clock said it was just about seven. Was that too early or too late? Should they have been there by now?
For the fifth or sixth time, he scooped his phone up from the bed and unlocked it with a swipe of his finger. He'd been considering asking if he was coming since getting in the shower, drafting the texts over and over in his head but never having the nerve to actually type them out. He didn't want to seem like it was a THING. He had to be cool about it. Men played everything cool.
Though it was faint through the door, the doorbell was set up to ring on all floors. When it went off, Eijirou all but flew to his feet and scurried across the room, only pausing a moment to compose himself before stepping out into the hallway.
He didn't run into anyone on his way downstairs, and though he could tell that Katsuki was in his room when he passed, he didn't stop to bother him. The little firecracker would come down if and when he felt like it, no matter who knocked on his door.
Their voices rang through the first level as he stepped out of the elevator. More than he'd expected, but too far away for him to pick anyone out among the guests. He heard Iida above everyone else, getting people to take off their shoes and keep them neat by the door. Eijirou was evenly split between anxiety and eagerness, shuffling about in front of the elevator doors for a few long moments before he worked up the courage to go join them.
The level of calm that he maintained as he approached the group was impressive. One hand in his pocket, the other casually waving, just like he would normally do if all of his organs weren't doing simultaneous somersaults.
Kendou was there, as was the girl with the plant hair, the asshole, and quite a few others. It didn't take long for him to find the particular set of wide shoulders and the peculiar grey hair he was scoping for, but his legs felt more and more like they were made of play-do as he closed the distance and joined the substantial group milling about in front of the doors.
Should he say hi right away, or play it off like he hadn't immediately noticed him there? Denki said it was cool to act aloof, and that it always got people's interest. Jirou said that it was good to wait and see if they'd talk to you first. But what if he was thinking the same-
“Kirishima!”
It was loud and right by his side, a hard hand clapping down on his shoulder and making him jump. Tetsutetsu was grinning at him with all his large and razor-sharp teeth bared.
“Oh, hey! Hello!”
“Hi!”
“Hi.”
Tetsutetsu blinked, the grin relaxing only slightly as he greeted Kirishima again with added confusion. The blush was merciless this time, the close proximity and his humiliating half of the conversation socking him in the cheeks at the same time.
“This is gonna be fun!” Tetsu's gaze moved elsewhere, giving Eijirou some relief, but his hand stayed firmly in place. They'd gotten into the habit of these friendly physical displays while they'd worked together during field training, but he'd felt differently back then. Sure, he'd gotten some enjoyment out of the costume that showed off all the muscles in Tetsu's upper body, but he didn't get any of these stupid flutters and stirrings. Those had come with time, and now they made him feel like he was on fire as the boy he fawned after touched him like it was no big deal.
“Hope you guys like Twister and horror movies, because that's what we've got,” Eijirou was trying to make a joke out of it, but to his own ears his voice sounded strange. Tetsu didn't notice, but Tetsu didn't notice a whole lot. He liked the guy—more than he wanted to—but he couldn't ever pretend Tetsu was the most observant banana in the bunch.
When the 1-B boy leaned closer, moved his arm so it was looped around Eijirou's neck instead, he felt like he might pass out. Tetsu whispered in his ear, voice dropping low enough that it sounded like a growl and made Eijirou want to book it back to the elevator like a startled rabbit.
“Whenever I start losing at Twister I turn to steel and take everyone down with me.”
“Seriously?” Eijirou meant to chuckle, but damn if that wasn't the breathiest giggle he'd ever made.
“If you think that's bad, trying playing with Kendou,” he straightened, pulled his arm away, then made a flexing motion with his hands while giving Eijirou a meaningful look.
“Now I know your secrets, so just TRY and beat me.”
There, that was easier. All he had to do was crank up the competitiveness and he'd be able to act natural again. Focus on crushing Tetsu at every game they played, and he wouldn't have to think about how it would feel to be all wrapped up in his arms. Safe, probably. But he wasn't going to think about that.
“It's on! Whoever loses the most games, gets a punishment at the end of the night.”
Immediately, all of Eijirou's resolve fell away and he was left with sweaty palms and a thundering heart. Keep it together...
“Ha, you're gonna regret this!”
Eijirou wished he could slap the shit out of himself, but instead he stood there returning Tetsutetsu's toothy grin before being urged further into the building by the migrating group.
“Alright! Guests get first pick!” Denki announced, at the head of the group and making a beeline for the area they'd set up. Blankets and pillows had found their way downstairs, filling in for the lack of seating. Untouched food was laid out sporadically, and someone had volunteered the use of their speakers for music. Probably Jirou, and probably with the stipulation that she play DJ.
“What're we gonna play first?”