Chapter Text
Patrolling with Fat Gum and Tamaki was something Eijirou had missed greatly. The easy conversation, the cheerful stand owners beckoning them over for snacks (or in Fat's case, bountiful meals), the feeling of making a difference out on the streets.
It had only been a few months after the whole Overhaul ordeal, and Kirishima considered himself lucky he was able to get a patrolling gig with Fat even after the unanimously dubbed 'Rappa fight.'
He'd been on his best behaviour! No unnecessary rescue missions—if you didn't count the multiple times he'd butted into conversations to aid Bakugou's emotionally stunted ass—no classified cases, and no more breaking 201 bones at once! That was not fun, Eijirou thought simply. He was not going to break over 200 bones at once again (a fair limit), and he would not freeze up again. He knew he wouldn't.
His classmates had been worried when he'd announced Fat Gum's offer of patrolling Musutafu's streets twice a week—Midoriya, Uraraka and Asui even more than the rest, which was to be expected. They had all seen his 'Mummy' look after the internship, paired with the constant news coverage of Mirio Midoriya's fight with Overhaul and so on.
Aizawa too had been apprehensive to accept, but he trusted Fat Gum, and he trusted Eijirou to stay out of trouble and deal with low-level villains as he had done for his debut. Eijirou wouldn't break that trust; he was a man of his word.
His detailed thoughts were interrupted as yet another street vendor called Fat Gum over to try his 'special' okonomiyaki, and Eijirou followed without complaint.
They left five minutes later, with Eijirou having cleared two plates whilst Fat had finished his tenth.
The night air was calm, carrying over conversations of normalcy like waves lapsing over sand. Eijirou liked the feeling of normalcy, after all, he had felt like he'd been missing a lot of it ever since moving into the U.A. dorms. It had been one event after the other in school, barely leaving enough time to catch his breath before the next incident crashed over their unassuming class.
"Look's like nothin' interesting's gonna happen to night, ey Red?" Fat mused. A rhetorical question, nonetheless, the hero's easy Okasan accent and friendly dialect soothed what little doubt lingered in Eijirou's mind. Eijirou had quickly learnt uneventful meant good.
He nodded energetically. "Yeah. That's good!"
Tamaki agreed meekly, though his shoulders seemed less tense than last time. Success!
Fat had been right. Eijirou hadn't doubted it of course, but the full weight of relief settled on his shoulders as he entered the dorms unharmed. It had been a pleasantly uneventful patrol, but he was still exhausted from his quirk endurance training. (It was Bakugou's idea for him to use his hardening on patrol, in order to build up the length of time he could keep himself hardened. So manly.)
As Eijirou entered the dorm kitchen, a sweet and crisp smell that hit Eijirou like a physical blow. The only culprit could be gyudon! Eijirou loved gyudon (he also loved every single type of meat dish known to man, but that didn't dim his excitement as he hurried to the kitchen.)
He was met with a sharp glare from none other than Bakugou. The delicious scent contrasted the blond's sour expression. Of course, Bakugou was a michelin level chef—even if his attitude tended to hint the opposite.
"You stink." He deadpanned.
"Hey to you to bro!" He replied easily, leaning over Bakugou's shoulder to get a good look at the food. Bakugou made a point to swat him repeatedly with an oven mit before Eijirou raised his hands in surrender.
The commotion caused a few heads to swivel from the couch up front. Mina beamed.
"Kirishima! How was patrol?" She asked eagerly from her perched position on the communal couch.
"Awesome!"
Once his name was spoken, both Sero and Kaminari whip their heads around to face him and wave exaggeratedly as if he weren't a mere few feet away. Since Eijirou was Eijirou, he waved with just as much rigor, which garnered a scoff from Bakugou behind him. He could've sworn he heard an 'idiot' muttered under the blond's breath.
"Go take a shower, Shitty Hair. Then you can have some gyudon."
He could almost feel the sparkle in his eyes as he turned to face Bakugou. "Your gyudon? For me?" He exclaimed, pressing a melodramatic hand to his heart.
Bakugou vehemently flicked a wet onion slice at him, probably one of the poor soldiers that had fallen into the accumlated drain liquid. Gross, though it didn't ruin his mood.
"You haven't eaten yet?" He asked gruffly. Aw, the guy did care!
Eijirou considered telling him about the kind vendors, but he didn't want to slim his chances of eating Bakugou's exquisite cooking.
He shook his head once, a white lie once in a while never hurt anyone. Bakugou's scowl deepened.
"Tch. If you don't come back in ten minutes I'll eat it all myself!" It was obviously a lie, but Eijirou nodded along eagerly anyway.
Nine minutes and eleven seconds later (Eijirou had set a timer on his phone), Eijirou returned in casual wear and damp hair that clung to his cranium in soppy layers.
He childishly held out a plate, waving it under the taller boy's nose as if he were Lunch Rush. Eijirou thought he could see the other contemplating grabbing said plate, and smashing it over his head. Instead, Bakugou served him a hefty portion, grumbling half-hearted threats under his breath as Eijirou thanked him loudly.
He sandwiched himself inbetween Sero and Jirou, and she caught him up on what he'd missed from the movie the class was watching. (A pre-quirk movie he was embarassingly familiar with: Die Hard. Super manly.)
A pink hand snaked over his shoulder and grabbed some of the food off his plate. Eijirou swatted Mina's hand away lazily, with a grin that only invited more thieving hands.
Eijirou didn't know exactly when he had fallen asleep, but he was awoken to Kaminari kicking his shin.
"You're snoring!" He whisper-shouted at Eijirou, but the boy's eyes flashed back to the TV expectantly. Eijirou didn't comment on the fact that Kaminari had perfectly timed waking him up to see McClane outsmarting the villain, Eijirou's favourite scene (something all his friends knew).
Today had been a good day.