Chapter Text
After a fresh shower, post rugby practice, Eijiro tied his slightly damp, red locks into a half ponytail. Then he quickly grabbed his backpack and threw it over his shoulder, “Ma, I’m headed out!” He called to her as he opened the door and stepped one foot out before he was stopped.
“Not so fast, Eijiro.” She stepped out of her room and scolded. “You know you can’t go to the Bakugos this week. Mitsuki told me Katsuki’s grounded for starting a fight with that Tetsutetsu boy.”
Eijiro rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to see Katsuki. I’m going to study with a different friend.”
She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. Unconvinced that he really was going somewhere else. She lightly sighed and asked a follow-up question.
“You’re going to study?” She asked sternly. He raised his right hand and crossed his heart.
“I’m going to study.” And he really was.
“Alright then. Don’t forget to eat something, okay?”
“Kay! Love you!” He grinned, and he was out the door before she could protest further.
Eijiro was definitely going to Katsuki’s.
The Kirishimas still lived in the same apartment complex as they did when Eijiro had moved that second time in 5th grade. Now that he was older, he could walk to Katsuki’s house. On weeks like this one, Eijiro knew how to get into Katsuki’s room without anyone seeing him. On occasion, Mr. Mic or Mr. Aizawa would catch him, but they just smiled, rolled their eyes, and said, “Ah… Youth.”
When Eijiro reached the house, he maneuvered his way up the side of the house to Katsuki’s second-floor window. He used the hose spigot to step onto the crisscrossed siding that acted as a holder for the vines to grow up the side of the house. It was also the perfect ladder. Eijiro softly tapped on the window. Within seconds, Katsuki’s grumpy face appeared as he opened the window, and Eijiro grinned.
“What are you doing here, Red?” Katsuki roughly whispered.
“I’m here to study!” Eijiro whispered back. Katsuki rolled his eyes and opened the window further so he could crawl inside. He took off his shoes, closed the window, and sat on Katsuki’s bed. “I’m also here to eat. Promised Mom I would.”
Katsuki roughly sat down across from him with a huff, “You show up unannounced, now you’re gonna make me go downstairs and get you food when you aren’t even supposed to be here in the first place? You’re gonna eat half the damn kitchen like you always do.”
Eijiro looked at him with puppy eyes and a pouty lip, “You want me to leave?”
“ Tch , no…” He folded his arms and leaned against the bed frame. “But you gotta be quiet, otherwise I’m gonna be in even more trouble.”
“Don’t worry, man, I’ll sweet-talk your mom like I always do. It’s me .”
Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Yeah, the golden child .”
Eijiro laughed, “Don’t say it like that, Kats, just keeping you in line. Speaking of which… I thought you weren’t going to pay Tetsu any attention anymore because he was “too beneath you”.”
“ Whatever, ” Katsuki rolled his eyes again, “Fucking asshole just fucking pisses me off.”
“Kats,” Eijiro whined, “I thought you were going to try . Since we’re on the rugby team with him, we have to get along with him for the sake of the team atmosphere.”
“You say that like it’s easy, Red.” Katsuki scowled deeply, “He corners me and doesn’t give me the chance to ignore him. It’s like he’s trying to get me kicked off the team. He doesn’t want me there, and it’s almost not worth it.”
“Come on, Kats, don’t say that.” Eijiro reached out and grabbed Katsuki’s wrist. “Let me help you next time, you know he’s not as rude around me.”
Katsuki sighed and rolled his eyes, “That’s just it Eij, he does the worst shit when you aren’t there. You’re too busy talkin’ to Deku and Dunce face to pay attention to me and Metal Brain.”
“Katsuki…” Eijiro rubbed his thumb across his wrist. “You know I always make time for you. You’re my best friend. Also, I thought you could handle yourself?”
“Yeah, well, that’s why I punched the shit outta him. Shitty Tetsu needed to be taught a lesson.” He grumbled, then looked down at Eijiro’s hand holding his wrist. He didn’t do anything to move away.
“Yeah, but it got you in trouble today, and you know I hate lying to Mom about where I am… Even though I think she already knows.”
“No one asked you to come here, Red.” He spoke softly as his gaze continued to linger on Eijiro’s touch.
Eijiro laughed as he pulled his hand away, “Yeah, but I know you secretly like it when I come over here when you’re grounded.”
Katsuki playfully shoved Eijiro on the shoulder, “No!”
“Shh! Thought you said we were supposed to be quiet!” He loudly whispered.
Katsuki grabbed Eijiro by the collar of his shirt and brought his smug face up to his angry one, “You get me in more trouble, your ass is the next one I beat. Got it?”
“Mmhm, got it,” Eijiro said smugly. He knew Katsuki would never do anything to actually hurt him, but it was funny to see him try and be intimidating. They knew each other for far too long and hung out far too much for anything to slip past Eijiro.
Katsuki grabbed his backpack and pulled out his notes, “If you’re here, we’re actually studying. What do you wanna start with?”
Eijiro grabbed his stomach and winced, “Oh, Kat, I dunno if I can study on an empty stomach. Could you go get us some food, pleaaaase?”
Katsuki scowled at him, “You serious?”
Eijiro gave his best pout face again and nodded, “It hurts, I might starve to death… I’d go get it myself, but I’m not supposed to be here.”
Katsuki rolled his eyes and stood up, “You’re so lucky I’m hungry too. Otherwise, I’d tell you to starve.”
Eijiro leaned against the lower bed frame and smiled in satisfaction, “Thank youuu!”
Katsuki didn’t say anything back as he exited the room. When he came back, he had his arms full of various snacks such as pretzels, meats, cheeses, yogurt cups, and two chocolate protein milks.
“You got my old man suspicious of why I’m drinking two protein milks by myself,” Katsuki grumbled as he laid the snacks out on the bed. Eijiro grinned as he bounced with excitement.
“You're the best! Don’t worry, your dad never comes up here.” He immediately opened one of the milks and downed half of it, then dug into a yogurt cup.
“Uh-huh,” he dismissed as he reached for the pretzels, “And what are you gonna do if he does?”
“Say hi?” Eijiro shrugged.
“ Okay ,” Kats scoffed, “And what will you do if I get into more trouble?”
“Get my ass beat?”
This caused Katsuki to shake his head and laugh, “You're a real piece of work, you know that?”
Eijiro shrugged, “They can’t stop us from seeing each other, Kats, what are they gonna do, bar your windows shut? Come on, we’ve never been caught before, and I don’t intend to. Now, can you please help me with English? I haven’t started the packet yet.”
Katsuki reached into his backpack and pulled out the reading book and the question packet, along with his notebook. “Well, how far are you in the book?”
“Chapter one…”
“Eijiro!” He scolded, “We started the book two weeks ago, you should be almost done by now!”
“I just figured you could tell me about it. You do a much better job of retelling the events. The voice in my head is so boring to listen to. Reading makes me fall asleep.”
“And what if I said I’m not sharing my notes with you this time, hm? You wanna fail English?”
“If I do, then I have to quit rugby, and right before the playoffs too… You wouldn’t want me to flunk out right before we have a chance to win the championship, would you?”
Katsuki groaned as he slapped his hands over his face and pulled them down, stretching his skin down with it, “Eijiro…”
“What!? I promise I’ll only ask for English! I’ll work on the other subjects!” He pleaded.
Katsuki stared at Eijiro for a few moments while Ei gave him the sad eyes again, “Fine. Only English.”
Eijiro smiled and nodded, “Yes, I promise!”
Katsuki sighed as he handed him the packet, “You know the drill.”
Eijiro had been copying Katsuki’s work for a while now. The questions in the packet were all the same, but he had to change up the wording slightly so their teacher didn’t think he was cheating.
“How are you doing in Aizawa’s class?” Katsuki asked.
“Um, okay, I guess. I gotta pass the test next week though, otherwise my grade will tank.” Eijiro blushed with embarrassment, he knew Katsuki was about to scold him.
“What do you mean it’s going to tank? How’d you do on the last test?”
“Um.. a C minus?”
“C MIN—” Katsuki stopped himself from yelling too loud, “The fuck you mean? We studied for two hours for that test, you had it down!”
“I know!” Eijiro whined as he threw his head back, “The science terms all get jumbled up! This isn’t like science with Ms. Midoriya, where we got to do fun experiments and walk around the science museum. This is hard. How am I supposed to know all the elements of the periodic table and what the heck all of the formulas mean, and now I’m supposed to balance them? There’s a lot of confusing math involved, and I can’t even use a calculator!”
Katsuki shook his head, buried it in his hands, and groaned, “What the hell am I gonna do with you?”
“Teach me?” Eijiro grinned.
“Apparently, that doesn’t work. Gimmie time to figure out a new tactic to help you remember, then we’ll study that. For now, just do your best at listening and taking good notes during class. This man saved your life for fucks sake. The least you can do is listen and pay attention. Write down the things that confuse you, and I’ll help you work them out, got it?”
That made sense to him, so he nodded. Of course, Eijiro wanted to do well in Aizawa’s class. After that day in the woods when Aizawa rescued him from his father, all he ever wanted to do was repay the gratitude he felt. The time or situation never arrived, but if doing well in his class meant even a little of that, then Eijiro had to try.
“I got it, Kats, thank you.” He stated genuinely. Katsuki only hummed and nodded back. Eijiro smiled as he continued answering the questions in the English packet. He counted himself lucky to have made an ally in Katsuki. He wondered if Katsuki would have eventually made another friend if he hadn’t come into his life, or if Eijiro was just special. He liked to think he was special, but he shrugged the thought away because he was happy that Katsuki had chosen him to be his best friend.
~~
Eijiro blinked his eyes open slowly, and he was still in Katsuki’s room. He wasn’t really sure how long he’d been sleeping. He felt a heavy weight on his shoulder, and Katsuki had fallen asleep too. He was sleeping peacefully with his arm resting across Eijiro’s thigh, with his palm down and a pen loosely in between his fingers.
Eijiro scrunched his eyebrows as he noticed the bruising on Katsuki’s knuckles. He hadn’t noticed those before, or maybe they just showed up. He figured they were from Katsuki’s encounter with Tetsutetsu. He took his hand in his and rubbed his thumb across the bruised knuckles. Katsuki didn’t stir, he never did; he was a very heavy sleeper.
As he inspected the bruises, he wondered what it was that Tetsu had said to him. To make him go back on his word and fight him. Eijiro remembered the feeling all too well of breaking Tetsu’s nose in 5th grade. To this day, he hadn’t intentionally punched another person, besides being a tad too rough in rugby. That was all just part of the game, though.
He turned his head to look at Katsuki again. His face was soft, unlike his usual scrunched, grouchy face. Eijiro couldn’t help but smile at the sight. He loved being able to see this side of Katsuki because it really did make him feel special that he would allow Eijiro to see the soft side of him. He lifted a hand and lightly grazed his hand over Katsuki’s soft, blonde spikes. He buried his nose in his hair and breathed in his charcoal-scented shampoo. It reminded Eijiro of a campfire.
He looked down at his nose and loved the way that Katsuki got the faintest freckles that speckled his nose and cheeks. They only showed up in the late summer and stayed into early fall, after lifeguarding outside all summer. Katsuki didn’t tan well like Eijiro did, he only freckled the tiniest bit. Eijiro thought it was cute, not that he’d ever tell Katsuki that, if he wanted to keep his head attached to his neck.
When Eijiro pulled out his phone, it was just after 1:00 am. He sighed softly at the thought of his mom worrying about where he was, but there was no text from her. He carefully maneuvered so Katsuki would lie on his pillow. Eijiro slowly got up, put all of the study material in the correct folders and backpacks. Then he moved to pick up the snack trash and put them in his backpack to throw away in a dumpster on his way home. Before he left out the window again, he pulled a blanket up to Katsuki’s shoulders and turned off the bedroom light. Eijiro quietly opened the window, slid out, closed the window softly, then jumped down onto the dirt below.
When he finally arrived home, and the snack trash evidence was disposed of, his mother was already sleeping. When he entered his room, he flopped down on his bed. He closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep, having not retained any of the information that was studied that night.