Chapter Text
Eijirou paces back and forth outside the room of his flyer, and best friend. He can hear things flying around in the room and swearing and muttering. He has known Katsuki since they were brought together as babies, a dragon shifter and his royal partner, and has never seen him like this since Katsuki was little and Eijirou almost lost an eye in a flying accident. Even then it wasn't to this degree.
He tries to think of the million different ways he can usually cheer Katsuki up when he gets into one of his terrible moods or rages. Usually it involves some form of violence: smashing something, blowing up something, chopping something... the list goes on. Katsuki has always been someone that needs to get his aggressions out physically. The hard part is -- this isn't about Katsuki feeling rage or aggression. This is something entirely different and new.
"Hey, Kat." he pauses at the door and wraps on it with his rough knuckles. "Want to go out to the archery range with me?"
"Fuck off, Shitty Hair." the gruff voice replies. Eijirou sighs.
"Can I at least come in? I haven't seen you in like two days." Eijirou whines. He feels withdrawal if he doesn't see his best bud every day. Before they went to this school, they spent almost every second together. He misses hearing the prince bitching about every little thing, telling Katsuki about all the girls in the kingdom that he has crushes on and of course, flying together.
"No. I said fuck off." Katsuki replies and Eijirou huffs.
"Fine, whatever, I'll be in the kitchen if you need me." There's no reply, and Eijirou sighs again and heads to the cozy kitchen to see if there's anything to eat. Dragon shifters burn incredible amounts of calories and he needs to eat constantly to maintain his strong physique in both forms. As a dragon, he prefers raw meat, but in human form, if it's food, he'll eat it.
Eijirou smiles when he sees his new friends, Denki and Mina already hanging out in the kitchen, with a wood slab covered in cheese and meats in front of them. He feels his cheeks warm as he admires the barbarian girl with her pink curls, cute helm with horns and short fur dress. She reminds him of the girls back in their kingdom, but is much more polite and friendly. Most of them are usually covered in filth and spend most of their time spitting on the ground and cussing each other out. Mina is always smiling, and always looks clean and pretty, even if she can control a magical axe like nobody he's seen.
"Ei!" she squeals, giving him a big hug. He feels his cheeks redden and rubs the back of his neck.
"Hey dude!" Denki exclaims, giving him a slap on the shoulder. If he couldn't be paired with Katsuki, he's happy that the sunny blonde is his magical ally for the year. The two of them get along so well, they share the same sense of humour and enjoy talking together about pretty girls, something Katsuki definitely doesn't enjoy.
"Hey, why the long face?" Denki asks, pulling back. Eijirou debates whether he should say anything or not. He is completely loyal to his prince and would never betray his trust, however, Katsuki hasn't actually told him anything to betray, so it's not exactly like he's breaking confidence.
"Well, it's about Midoriya." he says and the two smiling faces turn solemn. They are all worried about their classmate, although the healer has told them their friend should wake up any day now, everyone can't help but be concerned. Nobody wants to see a classmate pale of face and in a coma.
"Oh yeah, that really sucks, man. We're worried about him too." Denki says seriously and Mina nods in agreement.
"Well -- yeah, I am too. But that's not exactly what I mean." he pauses, wondering exactly what he should say. "It's more about Kat." He glances worriedly at the two of them, hoping they catch his meaning but he needn't have worried.
"Ohhhh! Right!" Mina nods knowingly and Denki smirks a little bit. "How's our resident grumpy boy taking it? I think he would have moved in to that recovery room if they'd let him."
Katsuki had sat on the little stool at Izuku's bedside for hours until they finally kicked him out of the room -- which led to his current tantrum.
"Not well. He won't even let me in to see him." Eijirou confides quietly. He doesn't want any of their other classmates hearing what he's saying -- Katsuki would kill him. He probably would even knowing he was talking to these two about it.
"So, has he admitted his feelings yet?" Mina swoons, no doubt thinking of romantic possibilities.
"Hah! Are you crazy? I don't think he even knows he has feelings at all, let alone for Midoriya."
"Oh, gods, it's so obvious." Mina laughs and rolls her eyes. Eijirou wonders for a minute if it's also obvious how he feels about Mina, but right now he is too worried about his friend to care about that.
"I know, but my Prince is an emotionally constipated baby who would never in a million years admit to liking anyone that way." The two of them giggle and Eijirou feels a little guilty, but he's happy to have people to confide in.
"Well, maybe this will help the dude figure out his feelings." Denki says thoughtfully. "Like how I feel about that scullery maid!" He gestures to the random young woman who is washing their wooden plates, who glares back at them.
"Piss off." she says with a scowl and the other two roar with laughter as Denki reddens.
"I'm sure that grouchy prince will figure this out soon enough." Mina says. "Maybe we can help things along once Izuku wakes up?"
Denki perks up at the idea of causing some sort of drama. "Oh yeah! We can set those two on some kind of romantic outing!"
"I don't know about that." Eijirou says. "It really doesn't seem like the kind of thing Kat would be into."
"Oh sure he is, he just doesn't know it yet." Mina grins. "Now, we're going to need you to do the flying --"
***
Three hours later, there's a shout of excitement coming from the common room.
"Izuku's awake!" Ochaco exclaims.
"Wow! Let's go see him!" "Wait for me!" The students all clamour to grab their things and rush to the healer's room. Eijirou decides he had better go inform Katsuki, who's still sulking in his room.
He bangs on the heavy oak door with more force this time. "Hey! Kat! Midoriya's awake!"
He hears some mad scrambling inside and his shirtless friend flings the door open. Eijirou's eyes widen a bit but he doesn't say anything. The blonde's hair is wildly messed up, as if he's been running his hands through it continuously, his eyes have black circles below them and there's objects all over the room.
"The fuck are you staring at, Shitty Hair?" he growls and Eijirou straightens himself and coughs.
"Ah -- nothing, man! So, you wanna go check on Midoriya or what?"
"Whatever." Katsuki grunts, but hastily grabs and dons his cloak, trying in vain to straighten his spiky locks. Eijirou's heart warms at the sight of his friend's rare display of nervousness but he doesn't let on that he notices anything.
The two of them head toward the healers' where they see Aizawa standing outside the door.
"Only two visitors at a time. Fifteen minutes max. Recovery Girl's orders." he grunts and Eijirou glances nervously at his friend.
"Want me to wait out here?" he asks. They can hear soft voices in the room and what sounds like crying.
"No, why would I?" Katsuki scowls, crossing his arms and refusing to look at his friend, cheeks pink.
"Aw, no reason! Just thought I'd ask!" Eijirou says cheerfully. He can read between the lines and see that Katsuki is nervous to see Midoriya again. He wishes Midoriya knew how Katsuki had cared for him and how worried he had been.
A few moments later, Ochaco comes out of the room, face streaked with tears, scrubbing at her cheeks. Tsuya is with her and nods solemnly to Katsuki. Eijirou knows they had bonded over the emergency situation they shared together. Katsuki nods back and storms straight ahead into the room, followed by Eijirou.
Recovery Girl is off to the side, crushing some herbs with her mortar and pestle and Midoriya lies in the small cot, shoulders and arms bare, with a thin blanket pulled up to his chest.
"Hey man." Eijirou says softly and takes the stool furthest away from the bed, leaving the closer one for Katsuki. "How are you feeling? You gave us all a scare, dude."
A pale freckled face smiles softly at Eijirou and he cringes a bit seeing the bandage wrapped around Midoriya's fluffy curls. His face and arms are littered with scratches, some of which are very deep and will certainly scar.
"I'm doing much better. H-how are you guys?" he asks in a small voice, turning to suddenly look at Katsuki, who despite storming into the room, stands awkwardly at the door.
"Kacchan!" he says, and suddenly fat tears start rolling down his cheeks. "Y-you found me."
Recovery Girl smiles at them from her place at the counter and says, "I told dear Izuku he wouldn't be here today were it not for you and Tsuya, young Bakugou. You two saved his life."
Eijirou feels his own eyes fill at these words and looks at his friend. Katsuki stands as still as a statue, face bright red and mouth in a little O shape, clutching at the edges of his cloak. That's too much for Eijirou and tears start to fall as well. "So manly." he sniffs, wiping his eyes.
"Sh-shut up, Shitty Hair." Katsuki says, snapping out of his reverie, turning back to Midoriya. He stomps over to the beside and plops down on the stool, glaring, cheeks burning.
"Why'd you go and do something dumb like go into the woods yourself anyway?" Katsuki blurts. "Y'know we're supposed to do stuff in pairs and shit."
Eijirou covers his mouth before he squeals and glances over at Recovery Girl, who shakes her head, almost imperceptibly. Seems like she's caught up in the moment, too.
"Kacchan is right." Midoriya says sadly, bowing his head a little. "I w-wanted to go get some herbs to practice our potion that's due this week, and I know Kacchan likes his rest, so I didn't want to bother you..."
"That's fucking stupid." Katsuki gruffs, and to Eijirou's complete shock, he takes Midoriya's small hand in his. "Don't be a fucking idiot." To Eijirou's ears, those are the most romantic words he has ever heard in his life and he's so proud of his best bro. Recovery Girl seems equally heart warmed by the interaction and doesn't even chastise Katsuki for his typically foul language.
"Kacchan!" Midoriya sniffles and looks down at the big hand holding his. "I'm s-sorry, that you had to come and find me, and that you got stuck with a magicless loser that you need to rescue a-and..."
"Shut up, you damn nerd." Katsuki says, and his face is on complete fire now as he takes the small hand and holds it against his burning cheek, and Eijirou is going to die right at this very minute. That's it, he's done. RIP Eijirou Kirishima, killed by adorable best friend behaviour.
Midoriya's green eyes flutter closed and he has a little smile on his face as he yawns and snuggles happily into his pillow.
"Time to go, Izuku needs his rest, and you've already been in here over the fifteen minute time limit." Recovery Girl says quietly. Katsuki gently places Midoriya's hand over his chest and stands up. Eijirou pats Midoriya gently on the arm and the two of them leave the room, avoiding the eyes of the others who stand around, waiting their turns to see their friend. Recovery Girl pokes her head out to tell them that Izuku has had enough for the day, and they can see him tomorrow. Their classmates grumble good-naturedly, but take their leaves.
Katsuki refuses to look at Eijirou as they walk down the hallway side by side. His shoulders are tense and he doesn't say anything.
As they approach Katsuki's door he turns to Eijirou and glares at his best friend. "Not a fuckin' word to anyone." is all he says, and Eijirou gulps and nods. He's smart enough to know a direct order from his Prince when he hears one, and even though it will be a huge struggle not to tell the others, he will keep Katsuki's confidence.
He's just so happy that his old friend was able to be so vulnerable in front of him. It was so brave. So.. so... "So manly!" he sobs again and then he has to retreat because Katsuki has a murderous look in his eyes and his hands are starting to spark.
"Later, dude!" he squeaks, and backs away, hands up in apology, running to his own room. He can't wait to get together with the others and plan some kind of romantic outing for his best bro. Even though he can't tell Mina and Denki about this small step forward, he wants the best for his Prince and now he's pretty sure Midoriya really is the best thing for Katsuki.