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paixão [n.] {portuguese} - passion, love, infatuation, flame, zeal
The distant sounds of the critters of the evening flow through the parted balcony doors, curtains softly rustling in the light breeze. The two teens lie in an uncharacteristically comfortable silence in the stillness of Eijirou’s room. Well, he supposes, maybe not so uncharacteristic anymore. At this point in their… friendship , Kastuki is actually starting to feel comfortable just being in Eijirou’s presence with no constant chatter to fill the silence between them. (Not that anyone would ever catch him saying that sappy shit out loud. Not over his dead body.) Something, however, is off tonight. A nearly undetectable tension thickens the air around them, despite no words falling from lips, no carmine meeting crimson.
Katsuki is not a man known for his patience.
He rolls closer to Ejirou, now on his back with his legs extended toward the ceiling and resting against the wall, as Eijirou shuffles around to account for the weight shift on the bed. Katsuki’s brow furrows as he tries to collect his thoughts.
“Kirishima.” The redhead immediately sets his phone down on his chest, sitting up straighter and giving the blond his full attention. Fuck, this man is going to be the death of him. When Katsuki only continues to stare into his red, red eyes in silence, Eijirou’s tiny red eyebrows furrow minutely.
“Bakubro?” Katsuki is pulled out of what was absolutely not daydreaming by that stupid goddamn nickname Eijirou still insisted on using, no matter how many disgustingly creative insults he slung at the redhead for it.
The blond frowns, decides against asking the question burning in the back of his mind.
“...Nevermind.”
Eijirou immediately pouts and says, “Oh, come on, dude, you know that means you have to tell me now!”
“Fu—fine.” Katsuki stumbles over his words which, Fuck, Katsuki, get it together! He definitely knows something is wrong now, fucking dipshit. The meathead opens his mouth, presumably to inquire about the blond’s odd behavior, but Katsuki abruptly sits up and hugs his knees before Ejirou can get anything out of his mouth.
“I was wondering if…—” “Huh? Man, you gotta speak up ‘cause I can’t hear a word you’re saying.” Of course he can’t hear what you’re saying Katsuki, maybe it’s because you’re a fucking coward. The normally explosive teen takes a breath, and tactlessly blurts out his long awaited question on the exhale out.
“Have you ever kissed anybody, you fuckhead!” Wow, he has never felt more romantic, really.
“Oh!” Ejirou exclaims. A light flush rises to the apples of his cheeks as he speaks his next words.
“Uhm, yeah, but not since like, middle school.” There is an awkward lull in conversation as the redhead gazes at Katsuki expectantly, and Katsuki stares right back, silent.
Finally, Katsuki finds himself and barks out a sharp, “what?”
“Well, what about you?” Eijirou asks.
Shit. Fuck. Katsuki can already feel the heat in his cheeks worsening.
“HAAH?! You think I haven’t kissed anyone?!” He growls and lifts his hands intimidatingly, full well knowing his intimidation tactics haven’t worked on Eijirou in years.
As expected, the younger man just stares back, gaze innocent and earnest. When Kastuki can stand the intensity of the redhead’s gaze no longer, he glances away, flustered. Despite turning away, the blond can still feel Eijirou’s gaze burning into the side of his face. Katsuki sighs quietly, and decides to just go for it. All this pussyfooting is getting on his nerves.
“How—” “Can I—” They speak over each other. Their eyes meet and wow, he feels like an absolute tomato.
Eijirou, in his endless selflessness, flings his hands up in an apologetic gesture and motions for Katsuki to speak first.
Katsuki brings a hand up to rub at the back of his neck, an unconscious gesture that has him slapping his hand back down to his side as soon as he realizes he’s doing it. When he speaks, it comes out shaky, uncertain.
“How do you…do it? When he glances up to see the younger boy’s eyes blown wide with surprise all he can think is Shit! Fuckity shit fuck abort mission abort mis—
“Katsuki,” the redhead lets out a nervous little laugh. “You don’t have a date or anything...right?”
I wish you would be my date, he thinks privately, and immediately regrets it when his palms grow completely slick with nervous and flustered sweat. He spins his head away from Eijirou so quickly his neck makes an audible pop and discreetly wipes his hands on his sweatpants before bringing one up to wave through the air, forcefully, and like a complete spaz. Fuck.
“Tch. As if anyone could handle dating me.” The statement, meant to sound confident and dismissive, comes out about an octave higher than intended. He runs his hands down his pants again.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Eijirou’s shoulders sag as he lets out a little breath. The tension in the air is now palpable.
“Ah, um, what’s got you curious, then?” The younger boy asks as he nervously tugs at a lock of fiery red hair.
Oh shit. He did not think ahead enough to have an answer that isn't just him professing his love for Eijirou on the spot. Think fast.
“Well…I just figured, um,” C’mon Katsuki, you can do this. Just come up with one little white lie, it’s not that difficult . “...That we’re already in third year, so now would be the time to, uh, get it over with.” He needs a deflection, and quick, since all his lying skills apparently go hurtling out of the window the second Eijirou is involved.
“Anyways,” No, his voice did not just crack like an eleven year old boy going through puberty. Really. It didn’t. “What were you going to say? Before I interrupted you.” Like an idiot, he adds in his head.
“Ah,” He seems to have been way too stuck in his own head for the last couple minutes, considering he had failed to notice that Eijirou’s face seemed to be currently doing its best impression of a fire engine. The redhead brings his pointer finger up to his cheek in a coy gesture and continues, “I was gonna ask if you maybe wanted me to...show yo—”
“Okay.” The redhead freezes, seemingly processing the overly eager response from his best friend.
“‘Okay’?” Eijirou repeats to himself quietly, still stunned.
“I mean—” Katsuki brings his hand up to his face, partially a nervous tic, and partially a pathetic attempt to hide his face, which he can tell is now rivaling Eijirou’s own shade of red.
“Just do it. Before I change my mind.” In all honesty, he would wait for Eijirou till the end of time if it meant being on the receiving end of his love. Over the past few months, he’s had to finally come to terms with the fact that he is completely and hopelessly in love with his best friend, Kirishima Eijirou. The discovery had come with copious amounts of denial, anger, and self-imposed isolation, but he’d had a brutal wake up call in the form of the realization that he’d been hurting Eijirou by pulling away and lashing out at him for weeks.
When Eijirou had come knocking at his dorm room way past eight thirty, which everyone in class 1-A knew was his bedtime, aka if-you-extras-even-think-about-bothering-me-right-now-
i-will-reach-into-your-ass-and-tear-your-small-intestine-out-with-my-own-bare-hands-time, he had been pissed to say the least. It felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured on his head when he had angrily thrown the door open only to be met with the image of a crying and crumpled Eijirou standing before him. Beautiful, radiant, bright-as-the-sun Eijirou. Eijirou with his hair down, bags under his eyes, tears streaming down his face, and chin quivering. Katsuki could only stare at him, stunned, as the younger boy sniffled and clenched his fists by his sides before his eyes hardened with determination. That night, Eijirou might as well have reached into Katsuki’s chest and torn his heart out himself. He talked. He talked all about how much he was hurting while the blond was too busy to even think about anybody but himself, think about anything other than his own problems. About how a best friend shouldn’t be treating him this way, about how he needs his Katsuki to come back to him. His Katsuki. Despite the immense guilt and regret he had felt that night, that expression had still made his heart pound in his chest.
But Katsuki, Katsuki had listened for once because if there was any fucker in the world he would change for, it would be Eijirou. It was always Eijirou. So he listened, and he looked, really looked at his best friend, and realized that he would do anything to make this boy before him happy. To make those gorgeous ruby reds light up with glee, to make him smile his stupidly beautiful shark-toothed smile.
That’s when Katsuki had vowed to himself to keep his feelings under tight lock and key for as long as Eijirou stuck around. It made him nauseous to even ponder the idea of losing the man he was in love with and his best friend in one fell swoop.
His plan had taken a slight...detour sometime around the end of second year, when Katsuki started to notice the redhead acting a certain very familiar and very flustered way when the blond was around. The explosive boy had counted his blessings, taken a leap, and set his Plan 2.0 into motion. Objective: Make Eijirou His Boyfriend.
Katsuki had tentatively dipped his toe in the water with some subtle flirting, a teasingly romantic remark here and there, maybe the occasional bad pickup line. The younger boy had responded stunningly well, even slinging back his own teasing quips once he had stopped spontaneously combusting every time Katsuki glanced in his general direction. And no, they did not make Katsuki flustered, he does not get flustered, thank you very much.
At this point in their little game, they were both very aware of how they had been dancing around each other’s feelings. It was up to one of them to make the first move, and every time it seemed as if their eternal dance would finally come to an end, one of them chickened out.
So if the older boy was starting to get a little impatient, could you really blame him? He had been in love with Eijirou for almost two years now, for fuck’s sake. Katsuki finally wanted to be able to show the redhead exactly how much he loved him, no matter how sappy it sounded.
Katsuki is finally pulled from his own thoughts when two warm and calloused hands grip the sides of his face firmly. The blond only has time to stutter out a pathetic, “wh—” before Eijirou’s chapped and bitten lips cover his own.
The older boy is only roused out of his stunned trance by the redhead’s lips tentatively moving against his own. A shock of heat runs through his body and suddenly Katsuki is surging forward, hands roaming anywhere on Eijirou’s body that he can reach. If this is a dream, he is damn well going to savor it.
Eijirou responds eagerly, one of his hands sliding back to through the fine hair at the nape of his neck, the other gliding down to rest firmly on Katsuki’s chest.
Eventually, they both pull back for air, panting, hands still roaming and exploring. When the blond finally tears his gaze away from Eijirou’s kiss-red lips and up to those eyes he could stare into for hours on end, he finds them already set on his own eyes. Katsuki breathes out once more, feels his lips twitch, and for once, lets the ridiculously fond grin take over his face. When Eijirou grins right back, twice as wide, the blond can’t resist stealing another peck before he breathes out a reverent,
“I’m fucking in love with you.” If possible, the younger boy’s smile widens even further, shining carmine eyes barely visible from the force of the grin.
“That is so crazy, you know,” The redhead begins breathlessly, “Because I’m fucking in love with you too, Katsuki.” And this adorable little fuck, he giggles, giggles, before tackling the blond to the bed in possibly the most satisfying hug Katsuki has ever received.
Eijirou and him may still have things to talk through, boundaries to set, and most of all, lots of love to give, but even if his future may be uncertain, as Katsuki squeezes his best friend back with as much love as possible, he knows one thing for sure: Eijirou will be there for it all.