Fuselage

♡~♡ Chapter 25 ♡~♡

"That-!" Katsuki breathed as he tucked the helmet under his arm, turning back for Eijirou to follow, "was awesome!"

"Holy shit!" Eijirou landed roughly on his palms, rolling onto his shoulders, finally smacking the cement of the hangar back and ass last, laying sprawled out. "My knees won't work." He wheezed. "You're trying to fucking murder me!"

"I am not!" Katsuki rolled his eyes, "why would I murder my only copilot?"

"Y-your what?" Eijirou sat, propped on an elbow.

Katsuki rubbed his sweat damp hair, trying to cover. "I-I just mean-"

"Nuh-uh!" Eijirou's eyes narrowed, his smile sharp and cocky. "You don't get to take it back! You called me your copilot! Do you mean it?!" The edges faded as his grin widened, his cheeks puffing out to make his dimple really pop again.

"Goddamn it, Ei." Katsuki turned on his heel with a tsk, striding to hang his helmet, ignoring the beaming man behind him struggling to stand as he adjusted to gravity again. "Yes I fucking mean it!" Katsuki yanked open the fridge, patting Sakura. "Even Deku in his prime couldn't keep up with me..." Katsuki paused, looking over Eijirou grasping onto the wall to keep himself moving. "And while you're not quite there you're making progress." He slammed the fridge closed, ignoring the rattling of glass and plastic within.

"I'm your copilot!" The moron fell into a chair, glowing.

"Goddamnit, Ei. Fuck off." Katsuki slid a bottle of water across the table. "Aki! No!"

The brown dog looked over at Katsuki, slowly closing his mouth, dropping off the table at the command with a soft whine.

"Oh, hims just needs to play." Eijirou baby talked, running a hand through the mutts neck scruff.

"Just wait till I take you to a real airstrip with other pilots." Katsuki sneered, looking down at his hands, clenching one. "It's such a rush. They all fly safe, they don't push themselves. But you soar past them at an easy-" He cut off, feeling Eijirou's eyes. "Ei?" He chuckled, uneasy. "What?"

"Kat, I-" A hand ran through sunset red hair. "I'm going back to American at the end of Summer, remember."

Katsuki was quiet, struck silent by the realization. He'd forgotten. For a minute he'd let himself forget...

"Yeah." Katsuki was quiet. "But you'll be back, right?" Eyes peeked up to glance at his partner... his copilot, though Eijirou refused to look anywhere but at Aki. "After you graduate? You'll be back?"

"Aren't you moving as soon as the A7M is done?" Eijirou's voice carefully quiet, steady. Calm.

Katsuki wiped at the condensation on his bottle. "I... I don't have to move." He offered, heart racing. Eijirou's hand fisted in Aki's fur. Katsuki dropped his gaze again. Fuck this was harder than he thought it would be. "I could stay here."

"Kat." Ei's voice was hard, commanding. Look at me.

Katsuki obeyed, gaze moving up from hands wrapped around plastic to a tightly drawn face, flushed around a scar.

"Kat, what are you- What the fuck are you saying?"

"Ei." Katsuki's thumb swept over the ridges of the bottle.

"That you'd stay here?" A hand waved in the general area of the town, "Waiting for me?"

"For my copilot? Yeah." Katsuki shrugged, leaned back, took a drink. Let the chill fill him from the chest outward. I'm calm. I'm calm. This is fine. This is okay. "Do you know how rare it is to find someone with such an innate flying talent? It's been three days. Three days and you've already learned-"