Tabula Rasa (BakuDeku)

34

To Do Good

Eijirou's door rattles against the frame. It's really late, like midnight late, but his hands pat his desk blindly in search of his glasses anyway. The door rattles again. "I'm coming, just give me a second please!"

Shoving on a pair of black thick rimmed glasses that would put Iida's to shame, Eijirou eyes a pair of gym shorts across the room and yanks them off his chair. Looking down at his outfit, he frowns. Answer the door in just his underwear probably isn't smart...he gives his shorts a sniff. Eh, they'll do.

Eijirou decides to forgo a shirt and opens the door. It's Midoriya, "Oh hey-" but before he can get anything else out, Eijirou's slammed against the dorm wall and the greenette's lips are on his.

Eijirou shoves at his chest, "Whoa, wh-" But the lips are back and this time they're on his neck. "Midoriya what are you-?" The greenette slaps a hand over his mouth.

"Shut. Up." He growls into the red heads neck. But Eijirou shakes his head, this isn't right. Or manly.

So he licks the palm of Midoriya's scarred hand. The greenette rips it off, "The fuck was that for? Not sexy, Kirishima." And...Midoriya's back on his neck. This time, with a hardened hand, he pushes the Midoriya's face away from his neck.

"What?" He hisses. His lips and cheeks are a rosy red, chest heaving under his black sweatshirt.

Eijirou raises an eyebrow, "What yourself dude, what's gotten into you?" Midoriya's eyes widen, like he's just realized what he's done. Maybe he has.

"I-I don't-" Forest green eyes study Eijirou's face, searching. Midoriya's heavy hands grab the sides of Eijirou's shoulders desperately, "Help me feel something. Please. Anything." He shakes Eijirou desperately, like an 8 ball who gave him the wrong fortune. The red head blinks owlishly in shock.

Eijirou's eyebrows furrow, and he takes the time to properly rub the sleep out of his eyes. "Talk to me dude, come on." A conflicted look flashes across Izuku's face and he averts his eyes.

"I..."

Eijirou decides that maybe right in front of the door isn't the best place to have this conversation. He guides Midoriya to his bed with a hand on his back and the greenette follows him compliantly.

He tries again when they're sitting comfortably on his comforter, "Is this about earlier?" Midoriya nods. "Okay...um, how're you...feeling?" Eijirou isn't a therapist, okay? He's trying his best.

"Guilty...I think," Midoriya messes with the loose strings on his comforter, picking and literally ripping them out with frustration. If Eijirou didn't have another one on the way, he would've asked Midoriya to stop politely.

"About what you said?" He asks. Midoriya nods.

"I..." A pause, Eijirou waits, "I promised him I'd keep it a secret. And I didn't." The greenette sniffles, and Eijirou watches a dot darken the pale blue of his comforter. Is he...crying?

Carefully, the sleepy red head snakes a comforting arm around Midoriya and rubs his back. But he's isn't finished, "H-he...I know he's so uncomfortable with this kind of stuff...so why did I...?" Midoriya's grip around the mattress tightens, eyes squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again.

"It's not your fault," Eijirou says, "You wanted to tell your friends. Did you tell them to keep it a secret?" Midoriya nods, "Alright. So then it's definitely not your fault."

Midoriya shakes his head, inky green hair fluttering around the chubby frame of his face in a blur, "B-but I told them. I r-ruined everything the second I opened my big, fat mouth." His tone turns sour and frustrated, riddled with self-deprecation.

"Don't beat yourself up. You just...needed to tell someone, and they happened to have a blabber mouth. It's not the end of the world. No one's dying." He jokes to lighten the mood, but Midoriya seems anything but ecstatic at the thought of that.

Instead, he sobs even louder, lips wobbling and chest heaving, "H-he'll never talk to m-me eve-ever again!" He wails, and Eijirou's eyes widen in shock. Crap, what did he just do? Worried the whole floor can hear Midoriya's cries, including the boy next door, Eijirou shoves the greenette's head into his chest, rocking back and forth.

"Hey no, don't cry." Eijirou comforts, cringing inwardly. He's really, really not good at this. As cold tears splatter against his bare chest, Eijirou's heart aches for the other. It's torture listening to Midoriya's throat tearing wails, the pure pain and unfiltered emotion hurting his ears so much Eijirou thinks they might bleed. After a few minutes, the greenette seems to calm down, at least enough to talk.

Sniffling, Midoriya lifts his head from Eijirou's chest. And that's when he remembers.

'There is this one person. Who makes me feel...things.'

Of course! God, he's an idiot! Eijirou resist the urge to get excited when he puts the puzzle pieces together. "You...like him, don't you?" Midoriya's nails dig into his sheets so hard Eijirou worries they might rip, but he keeps his mouth shut. He's got his answer. "So why don't you tell him?"

Midoriya barks out a sad, nasally laugh, and dabs at his face with the corner of his sleeve, "If I did, he'd blow me up on the spot." Eijirou shrugs.

"I don't know about all that, Midoriya. I think you'd be surprised by what he's capable of...doing? Feeling? I dunno." Eijirou scratches the back of his head embarrassingly.

Midoriya shakes his head in a panic, "Kacchan's not capable of loving anyone but himself." He replies bitterly, glaring holes into the comforter like it did something to him. Eijirou bonks him on the back of the head.

"Hey, this is my friend you're talking about here." Midoriya flinches.

"Sorry," he sniffles.

Eijirou gives him a warm smile, "It's okay, just know that he has a heart too. He's human, after all." Eijirou wonders if it's a good idea to rat Katsuki out here and now, or if he should let Midoriya figure it out for himself. Frankly, he doesn't know what to do, it's not like his life is a movie and he can't just fast forwards to see how things work out.

(He eyes the corners of his room one more time, just to make sure there aren't any hidden cameras. Because, you never know.)

"Hey, Midoriya?" He breaks the short silence. Forest green eyes look at him through the messy mop of hair, "What would you do...if I said he liked you?"

Midoriya's wet eyelashes blink innocently, "...who?"

"Bakugou." Eijirou deadpans. Who else? All Might?

Midoriya looks back down at his lap, "I'd laugh in your face and tell you I don't believe you." Eijirou sighs, and pokes him in the back.

"Well he likes you," he spoils, "But I think you need to be the one who comes to him first."

Midoriya's green eyes stare into his, looking for any kind of insincerity or sign that he's joking. He's not. "Then, why..."

"Has he been a dick? I dunno. Not confessed? I dunno. We tried to get him too but he seems hellbent on taking this secret to the grave." Katsuki Bakugou makes zero sense, but also all the sense in the world.

Midoriya still seems unconvinced though, and Eijirou doesn't blame him. He would be, too, "At least go to talk to him to clear the air. You don't have to confess or anything, but...I think Bakugou's learnt his lesson by now."

As they sit in silence, Eijirou can hear the gears turning in Midoriya's brain.

"O-okay," he says after a while, "I'll go."

Eijirou's eyes widen, "You'll confess?"

"Maybe. But...I'll go talk to him, I guess."

Eijirou gives him a toothy smile and a great big thumbs up. Midoriya wanders over to the door to let himself out, and Eijirou catches himself staring at the spot the greenette was last. He grins to himself.

It feels good to do good.