Chapter Text
Eijirou knew he shouldn’t even be up at this hour of the night, but it wasn’t his fault. He had been going to the kitchen for a late-night snack, he had his heart set on snagging a few of the pastries the girls had left on the dorm kitchen counter after returning from their monthly “girls day” outing.
He had just entered the common room and was halfway past the couch to the kitchen when he noticed the porch light was off. Katsuki was supposed to turn it on when he got back, and he had texted Eijirou that he was on his way over an hour ago.
Eijirou shrugged. Katsuki had probably just forgotten, which was fairly reasonable considering how long of a weekend he’d had. Eijirou understood, spending that much time in a confined space with your parents (or anyone for that matter) was bound to wear you out a bit. It was because of that, Eijirou didn’t really find it odd that Katsuki had gone straight to his dorm after making it home. It wasn’t very unusual for Katsuki to need alone time, especially after having to interact with other human beings for an extended period of time.
Eijirou turned the doorknob and peeked his head out of the door to look at the light while he flipped the light switch. There were four light switches next to the front door, Eijirou knew one of them was for the porch light and he had no idea what the rest were for. Eijirou could never remember which was which so whenever it was his turn to make sure the doors were locked and the porch light was on, he always had to go through the process of elimination to figure out which switch was the right one. On those nights Katsuki would usually hover next to the hallway, waiting for him to be finished and teasing him about it all the while.
Once Eijirou was sure he had flipped the right switch and the porch light was in fact on, he made a half-turn back towards the door before something caught his eye.
“Katsuki?” Eijirou called, turning back and stepping further out, trying to get a better look.
It was Katsuki. Eijirou would know that spiky ash-blonde hair anywhere.
“Katsuki, what are you still doing out here?” Eijirou asked, faced with no response.
He was down at the base of the stairs, sitting with his thighs pressed to his stomach and his head between his knees, chest wracked with sobs. He didn’t look like he was okay .
“Katsuki?” Eijirou skidded down the stairs, frantically skipping steps. “Kats, are you alright?”
As soon as Eijirou was close enough he dropped to his knees, so he would be relatively eye level with the other boy.
Katsuki’s chest was heaving .
Eijirou instinctively reached out to touch the other boy, before thinking better of it and retracting his hands, “Sweetheart, I need you to show me what’s wrong. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.”
Katsuki moved his head up from in between his knees, meeting Eijirou’s eyes for a moment before closing them and resituating himself slightly so he was leaning back with his face angled towards the other boy. Katsuki took in a shuddering breath before weakly making the sign for "VOICE-OFF."
He took another breath, moving to shake one hand at his side in a repetitive motion before placing the other on his chest to try and steady his breathing.
“Okay,” Eijirou said firmly. You could almost hear the cogs in his brain turning, trying to decipher the best possible course of action. Eijirou’s gaze remained steadily set on Katsuki’s left shoulder, steam pouring out of his ears, “Okay.”
“Katsuki, sweetie, baby, light of my life-” Eijirou said, earning a barked out half-laugh that quickly dissolved into more unsteady breathing.
Eijirou’s mouth quirked upwards slightly, “Is it okay if I touch you, sweetheart?”
Katsuki nodded, gasping for air through sobs while eyeliner mixed tears streamed down his face.
His breath hitched slightly as Eijirou gingerly placed a hand on his arm. As soon as Katsuki no longer looked on the verge of hyperventilating, Eijirou slung one arm across his back and the other under his knees, taking Katsuki into his arms princess style. Upon being lifted off the ground, Katsuki fisted a hand into the collar of Eijirou’s shirt and wrapped his other arm around Eijirou’s neck.
Eijirou periodically looked down at the boy in his arms as he carried him down the hall, being very careful not to jostle him. Once they reached his dorm room Eijirou leaned down and used his elbow to push the door open, kicking it shut behind him.
He set Katsuki on his bed and pressed a kiss to his cheek, before running to the front of the room and turning off the ceiling light, then back again and crawling underneath the desk to plug in the fairy lights. He stood up and looked around Katsuki’s room quickly, then grabbed his Bluetooth headphones off his desk and crawled onto the bed behind him before switching them on and sliding them over his ears. Eijirou pulled his phone out of his pocket, connecting it to the headphones and pressing play.
Katsuki took a shaky breath as the music began to play and leaned his back against the other boy’s chest. Eijirou wrapped his arms around Katsuki’s torso and rested his chin on his shoulder, content to wait as long as it took until Katsuki was ready.
They stayed like that for a few hours and a few more playlists before Katsuki’s breathing was even and his cheeks were dry.
Once he felt like he wouldn’t break down again if he spoke, Katsuki huffed and shuffled around slightly, peeking out from under the blanket that Eijirou had haphazardly thrown over them at some point. Katsuki wiggled his torso out of the blanket and sat up against the headboard, Eijirou’s arms remaining firmly clasped around his waist. He blinked slowly, letting his eyes adjust to the lights. There was a faint pounding in the back of his head and a sour taste in his mouth. Katsuki rubbed at his tear-stained cheeks with the sleeve of his hoodie, smudging some eyeliner on the cuffs.
Eijirou blinked up at him and Katsuki smiled softly. He patted the other boy’s hair gently, before shuffling back down underneath the covers with him. Katsuki buried his head in the crook of Eijirou’s neck and mumbled a barely audible, “Thank you”.
Eijirou’s heart turned to mush in his chest. He gave a wobbly smile and pressed a kiss to the blonde boy’s temple. Katsuki nuzzled against his chin, pressing a kiss to it and shooting a warm smile up at him.
“I love you. You know that right?” Eijirou threaded their fingers together and brought it up to his mouth, pressing light kisses to Katsuki’s knuckles.
Katsuki smiled, humming in response, “I know, Eiji. I love you too.”
Eijirou sprinkled kisses along his jaw, “Do you want to talk about what happened?”
“No,” Katsuki exhaled. “Not yet.” He adjusted himself and stretched up to press their lips together, “I just want to sit here for a minute, if that's okay.”
Eijirou smiled, “Okay.”
Katsuki melted . Never in his life had he felt more full .
Katsuki was beaming. Here he is, cuddled up in his boyfriend’s arms, at 1am on a Monday. Warm down to his toes, because he knows he is loved.
His mother was wrong . He is as strong as he is beautiful, and his imperfections are what make him whole .