Katsuki paced around the room while Izuku showered. He went up to the bathroom door and hesitated.. then walked away for a couple of more laps. Returning to the door he let himself ask whether he was okay in there.
"I'm fine!"
"Are you sure?"
"..."
".. Are you hungry?"
He heard the shower shut off and jumped in his skin when the door opened right after.
"A-are you ok?" an evidently not-okay Katsuki asked again.
Izuku looked at him curiously.
"Who are you and what did you do with Kacchan?"
*blink*
Izuku, dripping wet, squared up for a response.
Katsuki maintained eye contact til he exhaled, facing away. "Are we.. ok?"
"Oh, now we can talk?" Izuku inquired with a little more 'snap' than he had meant. He didn't expect Katsuki to reply Yes so quickly.
"How about over dinner?" Katsuki added.
Despite himself, a smile crept up the corner of his mouth. "Yes, feed me."
With Izuku dressed in his clothes, Katsuki reached for his hand so they could leave. Izuku took it naturally and was blooming with a full smile behind Katsuki when-
"You sure we can't get in a quickie before we-" Izuku push/turned him around to keep him walking.
"Okay, okay, we're going.." Damn.
***
Aki offered his car and time to helping Eijiro move. No longer needing Tamaki or Shoto, Eijiro started to send them an update while fumbling to unlock the apartment door.
"Whoa, this was a sweet spot too, why the move?" Aki asked as he followed him in.
Distracted, Eijiro mumbled something of an Oh.. yeah.
Aki frowned and tiptoed around him to stand in the middle of the living room, appreciating the space. "You weren't kidding about having the kitchen packed up, everything's ready to go."
Eijiro shoved his phone away and apologized. "Ah, so what do you think? Just a couple of trips, right? If that's okay.."
"No problem at all! Let's take the awkwardly shaped non-boxed stuffs first." I do like me some Tetris packing.
After a few visits to the car, their ups and downs staggered. At some point Aki was alone with only boxes left.
He saw one that was still open and meant to ask if there was anything else to put in it before closing it up.. a picture frame caught his curiosity.
They look.. good together.
"I think we can still fit in a box or two.. oh."
Aki fumbled with the frame at the sudden voice. "Sorry! It's just a, it's a really good photo!"
Eijiro walked over and retrieved it gently. "Thanks.." Placing it back into the box, he added "I'm just gonna finish filling this up.."
Aki seemed a bit frazzled through their drive back. "Actually.. would you mind if we just do this load tonight? I'm feeling tired all of a sudden.."
"For sure man, I appreciate any help at all. And I was thinking instead of a full dinner -since we ate out- how about I just make us some fresh mochi?"
"Mochi, huh? Are we celebrating something?"
Eijiro chewed on the thought. "I know Mochi is traditionally made for the new year.. but I make it often anyway."
"Mmm, yes, spoil me all you want before next week, then." Aki bounced in the driver's seat.
Eijiro couldn't help but watch in amusement as Aki's outward confidence slowly turned into embarrassed self awareness.
"What? Something on my face?"
Without skipping a beat, Eijiro countered with "Yeah, just a little bit of cute here and some sass there. Let me just-" he licked his thumb and aimed for Aki's cheek.
Aki flailed a stiff elbow, "You'll make us crash!" turning more and more red as Eijiro heartily laughed.
His laugh though..
After picking up fresh strawberries on their way, Eijiro arrived to his new, albeit temporary, home.. with his new, albeit temporary, roommate.
Aki showered first while Eijiro did the rest of the heavy lifting and got started on the mochi. When it needed to steam for a while, Eijiro took the time to hop in after Aki.
In turn, Aki finished moving Eijiro's things from the entryway to his room. I mean, I get why everything only made it this far, but still, I'm gonna get all sweaty again..
Bah, he whined til he thought of something.. Quickly standing near the bathroom door with a familiar box, he listened for running water. Hearing it shut off would give him time to hide his snooping.
Opening the box carefully, he remembered Eijiro's face when he got caught the first time. Gahh.. No.. I shouldn't.. He thought better of it.
Working on the mochi together was fun and easy.
"We make a good team." Aki noted.
"Who would've thought, all a pair of strangers needed to skip straight to besties was to have coinciding needs."
*Clank*
Aki dropped the metal bowl he was washing. "It slipped!"
Eijiro watched him carefully. Did I go too far? "..I know we just met and it's true that we're helping each other out, but.. Well I haven't made many new friends since high school. Sure, people at work are friendly, but we're always professional first, ya know?
..So today's been really nice. I hope we can actually become good friends."
Aki's heart thumped, glad he stopped himself from snooping but still feeling guilty. "How can that be? You're so likable!"
Because I focused all my energy onto the wrong 'friend'..
Aki could tell he prompted an unpleasant thought again. Sigh. "Uh, so.. where did you go to high school?"
"UA. Actually, I've been meaning to ask you-"
"Neito's my cousin!"
Eijiro couldn't help but cringe. Aki caught on and about died laughing. "Your face!" Hahaha! "Oh come on, he couldn't have been as bad at the school, could he?"
As bad? Eijiro gave him a flat-lipped side-eye.
Bahahaha! "You're really going to make me cry on your first night here?!"
Is it that funny? But then again, I suppose he'd have some good family stories.. Eijiro shook his head, refusing to bite. "I just thought with your quirk that you might be related."
"Oh! Here! Don't tell me what your quirk is, let me copy it and figure it out!"
Eijiro stepped back nervously, palms on the defense. He should have asked before even letting me in! and why does he look so excited?! "What if you destroy your home?!"
A twinkled-eyed Aki briefly thought about it, "Is it that flashy??"
*KO'ed*
He really had to hit me where it hurt. Looking at Aki's suddenly concerned face, he sighed and lent out his arm. "Just keep your hands from your face."
With a quick and gentle touch, Aki then stood still - wondering what and how to manifest. Ah! His chest hardened. Unable to fully see it under his shirt, he looked at Eijiro in slight panic.
"Oh, hope you don't mind your clothes getting torn.."
Aki looked at Eijiro and then immediately down between his own two legs.
"Oook how about I just tell you what my quirk is?" Eijiro turned away to finish shaping the mochi. "And let's find something to watch while we eat these, yeah?" He kept his eyes diverted.
"Uh, yeah! Find something to watch, and I'm just gonna.. just gonna be in my room for a minute!"
Eijiro had barely located the remote when he heard a thump from Aki's room, along with a matching shriek.
"What is it?!" Eijiro skidded to a halt just outside of the doorway.
Aki was in something of a bind with half his body hardened and ripping through his clothes as he tried taking them off.
"Let me help you.." Eijiro got Aki's shirt off without further tears, but accidentally brushing his thumb under a soft nipple caused a sharp inhale. When his hands hovered over a half-lowered waistband, a red Aki blurted out "Thanks! I can take care of the rest now!"
Eijiro stepped back. "Do you usually copy quirks without knowing what could happen?"
Aki, now doubly embarrassed, "I'm Sorry! I got excited since I don't do it often. People don't generally like being touched randomly or having their quirk copied.. I don't know how Neito can use others' quirks so readily.. I'm hoping the program I'm going to will help me out.."
"Right.."
Aki put on a baggy shirt, tugging it down when he asked, "So uh.. how long does this last?"
A confused Eijiro gave him a once over, patting his arms and back to figure out what he meant. Backing up from a flushed Aki, he held a snicker.. "That's uh.. that's not the quirk.."
***
