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That’s not how Imaginary Friends are Supposed to Work!

This is a fic based on a comic by@franeridart which can be found here

This fic is also on ao3

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When Eijirou was really young, he had an imaginary friend. Most children do. Except he didn’t really make someone up like everyone else did.

Eijirou was in his family’s living room, sitting on the floor and leaning over the coffee table as he drew pictures with both hands at once and hummed a made-up tune.

But the tune he was humming was the only thing he made up in this experience.

Because one moment, Eijirou was drawing peacefully, and, the next, he was interrupted by shouting, the sound making Eijirou tense up.

“WHAT THE FU-” A man suddenly appeared, blurry at first, but he soon came into focus.

Eijirou relaxed slightly as he and the man started staring at each other. This gave Eijirou time to observe him.

He was big, or, at the very least, much bigger than Eijirou, and his bigness was accentuated by the huge red cape he wore that had a tattered edge and a furry collar. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, but he was wearing a bunch of necklaces and a pair of earrings that looked like teeth. He also had really spiky blond hair and red eyes.

As they continued staring at each other, Eijirou figured that if the man wanted to hurt him, he would have done so by now, so he was maybe, probably, trustworthy.

“Uhm,” Eijirou began, tilting his head to the side and bringing his hands closer to himself. “Who are you, Mister?”

The man’s eyes widened as he leaned a little bit away from Eijirou before answering.

“I’m Bakugou Katsuki, the Barbarian King!” Katsuki said very proudly, puffing his chest out as he said it.

“I’m Eijirou. It’s nice to meet you,” Eijirou wasn’t really supposed to talk to strangers, but this Katsuki guy didn’t seem all that bad. And he looked super cool! “And, um, if you don’t mind me askin’, how’d you get here?”

“Uh,” Katsuki seemed to be a bit at a loss for words, so Eijirou quickly tried to think of something.

“Here!” Eijirou handed over one of his crayons - the red one. “You could draw it out!”

“Smart idea,” Katsuki praised, and he took the crayon and started doodling on one of the papers Eijirou had.

Katsuki’s expression quickly changed from surprised to angry.

“I was fighting a mage with the powers of time and space,”

“Uh-huh,” Eijirou nodded, looking at the picture of Katsuki he drew. It was a drawing of what was definitely Katsuki with a depiction of the person who was probably the mage. “You have a sword!”

“It’s a cutlass,” Katsuki corrected. “But yeah, I do.”

“Where is it?” Eijirou asked excitedly, and Katsuki’s face turned sour.

“I dropped it what this nasty fucking bitch transported me to god knows where.”

“Gasp! Those are bad words, Mister!” Eijirou declared, and Katsuki let out a chuckle.

“And she’s a bad person, so it fits!”

“Ehhh! So you’re a hero!” Eijirou picked up the drawing Katsuki did, grinning at it and imagining what was surely an awesome battle in his head.

“Hah! You may say so, yeah!”

“So cool!” Eijirou praised.

“You bet!” Katsuki grinned before he turned more neutral, looking down towards the crayon he still held. “More importantly, what kind of charm was used to make this stick write red?”

“That’s a crayon!” Eijirou answered, very confused as to why Katsuki would ask a question like that.

“Crayon? What’s that?”

Before Eijirou could explain, Katsuki got all blurry again, and it seemed his words did so too, sounding almost garbled.

“Ah. Looks like I’m going b-” And then Katsuki was gone.

“...oh.” Eijirou said, feeling pretty sad and very surprised that his new friend had disappeared. It looked like Katsuki had dropped the crayon he was holding too. “Bye-bye then.”

Eijirou wasn’t all that sad for long, getting distracted easily enough. He started to draw out Katsuki and imagined adventures he went on.

After he finished doing that, he grinned at his work, picking up his favorite and going over to one of his moms.

“Mama! Mama!” Eijirou shouted out. “Look what I drew!”

“Oh!” Mama gasped. “It’s so nice! And who is this in the picture?”

“He’s the Beerbarian King!” Eijirou announced, and Mama tilted her head a bit.

“The Barbarian King?”

“Yeah! He’s a hero!”

“Oh yeah?” Mama smiled. “And Barbarian King is his hero name?”

“Uh-huh!” Eijirou confirmed. “He told me about how he was fighting a villain! And the villain could use time and space powers.”

“That’s some powerful quirk. And how did this fight go?”

“I think he’s still fighting it,” Eijirou answered. “He dropped his sword before he came here because of the villain’s quirk.”

“And what’s the Barbarian King’s quirk?” Mama asked. Eijirou thought for a moment, his face in deep concentration.

“I don’t know,” Eijirou finally said. “He didn’t tell me. He had to leave because he was still in battle.”

“And he didn’t want to harm you because you’re a civilian, right?”

“No, it’s cause he’s still being affected by the villain’s quirk.”

“I’m sure he’ll come out on top, no matter how powerful the villain is. Heroes always win after all.”

“Yeah!”

“What do you want for dinner, sweetie? I’m trying to decide between donburi and tonkatsu.”

“Tonkatsu! It’s got, um, katsu! For victory! And Katsuki!” Eijirou then brought his voice down to a whisper, or at least as much of a whisper as he could manage. “That was the Beerbarian King’s name.”

“Surely making tonkatsu will bring him victory, then!” Mama grinned. “Now, do you wanna help me?”

Eijirou nodded vigorously, and, when dinner was finished, Eijirou spoke about Katsuki for the duration of the meal.

Maybe making tonkatsu wasn’t necessary because Katsuki already had victory in his name, but Eijirou figured a little extra victory couldn’t hurt.

After that, Eijirou almost forgot about Katsuki, but especially when his quirk manifested, and he had to be rushed to the hospital.

It hurt a lot, but Eijirou got a cool scar from it, and heroes always had scars, so it was obviously a sign that he would become a great hero!

After his quirk came, Eijirou also started losing his baby teeth, which all came out pretty quickly as his adult teeth came in. And his adult teeth were cool! And sharp!

One day, while Eijirou was bundled up in a hoodie while playing games on his DS, he heard a familiar voice.

“-ack.”

Eijirou quickly turned his head towards the source of the noise, a smile already on his face.

“Gasp! Mister! You’re back!”

“Or not,” Katsuki had his body posed for a fight, but his stance relaxed as Eijirou jumped off the bed and approached him.

“I thought you had left forever!”

Katsuki kneeled down so that he was at eye level with Eijirou.

“Hey, Eijirou, how long was I gone?”

“How...long?” Eijirou’s grin dropped as he thought.

“Yeah, how long.”

“Uh...uhm…” Eijirou puffed his cheeks out before giving an answer. “...Three?”

“Three what?”

“...Maybe more than three?” Eijirou looked down in frustration.

“Y-yeah?” Katsuki snorted as he held back laughter.

“Hm…”

“More than three?”

“Hm-hm.”

“I-I see,” Katsuki was hiding his smile behind a hand, but he soon became blurry like last time. “Ah fuck, there I go again.”

“Aw, already?”

And Katsuki was gone. Eijirou frowned, but he did his best to rationalize that Katsuki probably couldn’t control when or where he went.

But Eijirou didn’t have to wait too long for Katsuki to appear again, with him showing up about a week later.

“Ah, I’m here again,” Katsuki spoke, and Eijirou grinned up at him.

“Yay!” Eijirou cheered. “Hopefully you can stay for longer this time.”

“Hopefully.”

“I wanna know more about you,” Eijirou said.

“Yeah? What do you wanna know?”

“Uhm…” Eijirou thought for a moment. He didn’t really prepare any questions beforehand. “What’s your quirk?”

“What’s a quirk?” Katsuki tilted his head slightly, as if analyzing the word.

“It’s like, um, a power that a person has,” Eijirou decided on. “Mine is hardening! See! I can make my body go all sharp and rocky!”

Eijirou did his best to demonstrate, but he couldn’t harden all that much.

“It’s not all that strong now, but if I train a lot it will be!” Eijirou declared, and Katsuki nodded in understanding.

“So like magic.”

“Sure!”

“I can summon explosions,” Katsuki explained, opening up his palm towards Eijirou and making small explosions.

“Woah! That’s so cool!”

“I can go bigger, but I don’t wanna hurt you.”

Eijirou frowned at that before grinning.

“I’ll just have to get good enough at hardening! Then you won’t be able to hurt me!”

“That’s the spirit!” Katsuki affectionately ruffled Eijirou’s hair before disappearing again.

“I’m gonna have to think of better questions,” Eijirou announced to himself.

Eijirou spent the next few minutes attempting to think up questions.

“Favorite color is always a good one! Or is it too boring? Hmmm...No, it’s a classic for a reason! And, um, favorite animal? Hobbies? Oh! I could ask about his sword! Like, is it special? He said something about magic...maybe I can ask about that? Obviously favorite number. His friends too! I gotta know about them!”

Soon enough, Eijirou got bored and started playing with his toys.

Katsuki doesn’t come back for a long time. For basically forever, to the point where the winter months were over. But he did show up, and Eijirou was prepared, more or less.

“Tell me about your friends!” Eijirou shouted as soon as he noticed Katsuki appear.

“Huh? I don’t got friends,” Katsuki responded.

“What!? What about your adventuring buddies?” Eijirou asked. “You have those, right?”

“I guess I do have a few travel companions. They’re all annoying though.”

“Tell me! Tell me about them!” Eijirou demanded, and Katsuki caved and sat down. They were surrounded by Eijirou’s action figures, so Katsuki picked one up to demonstrate.

“Obviously there’s me. I lead a group of five idiots right now.”

“That’s not a very nice thing to say.”

“I’ve only got one permanent companion,” Katsuki explained. “My lover and best friend.”

“I thought you said you didn’t have any friends.”

“Shut up.”

“Well, what’s she like?” Eijirou questioned, and Katsuki made a face at it.

“He’s a guy. And he’s super manly and strong, and he’s a dragon.”

“A dragon!?” Eijirou exclaimed, his eyes lighting up in excitement. “I wanna be a dragon! What’s he look like?”

“As a dragon?” Katsuki questioned, and he continued when he was met with a nod. “He’s huge. Bigger than a house, and he’s covered in red scales that are impervious to pretty much everything, and he can breathe fire.”

“Awesome!”

“He sure is!” Katsuki boasted.

“What about the others you’re traveling with?”

“Well, Sparky’s the whole reason why I have to travel with a bunch of idiots in the first place. He’s an envoy who’s supposed to deliver a message to the Kingdom of Endeavor, although he mostly flirts and plays the lute badly.”

“Is Sparky his actual name?”

“No, but he has lightning magic. With how powerful that kind of magic is though, I suspect he’s actually a runaway prince or something.”

“Ohhhh.”

“He brought along Ears, who’s a knight. She’s good at finding out information.”

“Why Ears?”

“Her magic manifests physically, so her earlobes are really long,” Katsuki answered. “Sparky also brought along Tape-Face and Black Eyes. Tape-Face was, like, the owner of some establishment, but he owed Sparky a favor, so he joined in on the trip, but he’s got some useful survival skills. Black Eyes was part of my kingdom - she’s another barbarian, which means she’s super strong, obviously. All barbarians are strong.”

“Why did she come with?”

“Overheard us talking about the trip in Tape-Face’s tavern, and she decided to come with for some reason.”

“Why do you got mean names for all of them?” Eijirou frowned. “You brag about them, but why are you mean to them?”

“I’ve got a reputation to uphold,” Katsuki said.

“Then change your reputation,” Eijirou advised, as if really was as simple as that.

“I’ve gotta act scary to protect those I care about,” Katsuki announced. “Scares away all the villains.”

Eijirou nodded in understanding but frowned.

“That’s sad. You should be able to scare off the villains and be friends with people.”

“It’s fine. I’ve got you.”

“I’m your friend?” Eijirou asked, pointing towards himself, and he grinned when Katsuki confirmed. “Yay!”

And Katsuki left, and, while Eijirou was still bummed about it, Katsuki managed to stay for much longer than usual, so Eijirou was pretty happy about that.

At dinner, Eijirou talked about what Katsuki told him.

“He’s got a buncha people traveling with him, but he calls them all mean names,” Eijirou spoke.

“Why does he call them mean names?” Mama inquired, looking somewhat concerned.

“Uhm, he said that he wants to scare away villains to protect people. I said that was sad and that he should make friends, but he said I was his friend, so I hope that will help him make more friends!”

“And you want him to have lots of friends?”

“Yeah! Heroes shouldn’t feel lonely because, um, because they save us, and they deserve to be happy.”

Eijirou continued to chatter away about the Barbarian King, and, sure enough, Katsuki would always appear again, sometimes after a month or more, sometimes after a few weeks, and sometimes even after just a few hours. The time he stayed varied too, although more frequent visits seemed to mean shorter visits as well, although he rarely stayed for more than half an hour.

“I wanna be a dragon!” Eijirou declared when Katsuki appeared one day. “Let’s play pretend! I’ll be a dragon protecting the castle, and you’ll be the king of the castle. We’re protecting the kingdom from villains!”

“Of course we’ll win! No one’s gonna even touch our kingdom!”

“Wait! Is your dragon husband a king too?” Kirishima asked, and Katsuki blushed.

“We aren’t married yet, so no.”

“Oh,” Kirishima frowned. “You should marry him cause then he’ll be a king, and being a king AND a dragon is awesome!”

“You’re right. If I marry him, he might even become cooler than me,” Katsuki smirked. “Tell you what, I’ll propose to him the next time I see him, yeah? Then he’ll become the coolest and manliest person in the world.”

“Yeah!” Eijirou cheered.

“Hmmm, and I’ll love him with all my heart and-” Katsuki started, but he was interrupted by Eijirou making a disgusted face.

“Gross!”

“What? You were the one just encouraging the marriage,” Katsuki pointed out.

“Yeah, but the mushy stuff is gross!”

“Even if I say something like I’m going to fight side by side with him for the rest of my life?”

“Mmmm, that’s fine,” Eijirou decided. “Because it’s fighting. And a dragon king is cool. But love is all mushy and gross.”

Katsuki laughed.

“Sure is.”

“Yeah, you should just duel him instead of kiss at the wedding.”

“Sounds good to me,” Katsuki was doing his best not to laugh hysterically, but he ultimately failed, and so Eijirou started laughing along with him.

Once they finished laughing, they managed to get in a few minutes of playing pretend before Katsuki blurred and left.

That night, while Eijirou was explaining his adventures with Katsuki to his moms, he found out exactly what other people thought of Katsuki - that he was imaginary.

Something about that didn’t sit right with Eijirou. Katsuki wasn’t imaginary. He was definitely real, and Eijirou was going to prove it.

So, the next time Katsuki showed up, Eijirou set his plan into action.

“Sit down,” Eijirou ordered, and Katsuki sat down as Eijirou climbed into his lap. See! If Eijirou could touch him and be above the ground while doing so, then Katsuki was real!

“What’s this for?” Katsuki asked, absentmindedly picking up an All Might figurine that was lying around.

“Mama says you’re my imaginary friend,” Eijirou announced, looking down at his own figurine - a Crimson Riot one.

“Does she now?”

“What’s imaginary mean?” Eijirou questioned, more to have something to say than through any actual curiosity.

“It means you got what it takes to be a bard, kid,” Katsuki answered, and Eijirou immediately protested.

“I don’t wanna be a beard! I wanna be a hero!”

“Oh yeah?” Katsuki let out a little laugh. “I think you’d make an amazing beard though.”

“I don’t care!” Eijirou declared.

“Too bad,” Katsuki mocked. “You’re a beard now, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Noooooo!” Eijirou dramatically whined. “I’m gonna be a hero! Like Crimson Riot!”

Eijirou brandished the toy he was holding towards Katsuki.

“Is that him?”

Eijirou nodded.

“He’s got a quirk like mine.”

“Sounds like you can be his successor.”

Eijirou’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah! That’d be so cool! I’ll be, um, uh…” Eijirou froze as he did his best to come up with a hero name. “Like, Crimson Riot Jr. or something.”

“How about Red Riot?” Katsuki suggested, and Eijirou grinned.

“Perfect! I’ll be Red Riot! And I’ll protect everyone!”

“Yeah, you will,” Katsuki’s voice got garbled near the end, and Eijirou found himself falling backward, and he landed on his back. It didn’t hurt a lot, but it was very clear that Katsuki had held him up away from the ground.

Eijirou had his proof that Katsuki was real.

Eijirou saw Katuki a few more times before he arrived for the last and final time. They played superheroes and played pretend and talked.

Eijirou found out Katuki’s favorite color was orange because it was the color of fire, his favorite animal was a wolf because they represented strength, his favorite number was one because he was going to be the best at everything. His second favorite number was four because it sounded like die.

Eijirou learned that Katsuki’s hobbies included fighting monsters and kicking ass, which he apparently also got paid to do. Eijirou found out that Katsuki’s cutlass was special and that he got it from saving his lover when they first met. Eijirou didn’t get to learn as much about Katsuki as he wanted to, but he was glad when Katsuki showed up.

But the last day Eijirou saw Katsuki was the day before Eijirou started primary school.

Eijirou was nervous and excited. Nervous because he’d be starting school and excited because he would meet new people. And, while he was in his room looking over the items he had to bring with him tomorrow, Katsuki showed up.

This time, Eijirou didn’t really greet him with open arms, so Katsuki crouched down to eye level.

“Hey, Eijirou. What’s wrong?” Katsuki asked, his voice much softer than Eijirou had ever heard it.

“I’m scared to start school tomorrow,” Eijirou admitted. “What if the other kids don’t like me? What if I don’t do well? What if I don’t understand anything!”

Eijirou couldn’t help but start crying.

“What? No, no, no, shh, it’s okay,” Katsuki blabbered. “It’ll be okay.”

“But what if it isn’t?” Eijirou cried as Katsuki held him in a hug.

“Then I’ll beat up whoever makes fun of you,” Katsuki announced, and Eijirou let out a burst of choked laughter.

“Th-that’s not nice.”

“Even if they’re villains?”

“Maybe,” Eijirou said, tears still going down his face and snot starting to run. “But what if I’m not good at school?”

“Then you work at it until you are good at it,” Katsuki answered. “Becoming the best takes time and effort.”

“Okay,” Eijirou paused for a bit. “Mama’s making tonkatsu tonight. It’s supposed to bring victory for school.”

“Then I’ll be a little extra victory for you, yeah?” Katsuki responded, and Eijirou nodded slightly.

“Thank you.”

After that, Eijirou and Katsuki were silent as Eijirou clung to Katsuki. Eventually, Eijirou relaxed and ended up falling asleep.

When Eijirou woke up, he was tucked into his bed, and the sun was going down.

Eijirou remembered Katsuki’s words as he ate the tonkatsu Mama made, and he thought of them again as he went off to school the next day. He would work real hard! Then he could show Katsuki how good he had gotten at school!

But Eijirou never saw Katsuki after that day.

It wasn’t too sad of a realization, as Eijirou soon forgot about Katsuki, only remembering him as an imaginary friend he had, likely conjured from being homeschooled for his preschool education and not really interacting with too many people his own age.

Now Eijirou was working hard to get into UA to become the hero he always wanted to be. Even if he didn’t move before he could think, he could train until he did do so.

And when Eijirou got his results back, he found that he was second in the practical exam, only behind a guy who got seventy-seven villain points and zero rescue points. The complete opposite of the guy who got zero villain points and sixty rescue points.

Eijirou dyed his hair red and spiked it up for the first day, promising himself that he would live his life with no regrets.

Eijirou found the large door of the 1-A classroom and walked in, and the very first thing he saw was something that was much, much too familiar.

What the fuck!

What Eijirou saw was an angry-looking guy with blond hair that was basically the spitting image of Eijirou’s imaginary friend.

That’s not how imaginary friends were supposed to work!

After Eijirou’s initial shock wore out, he figured that it was just a strange coincidence that the blond looked so similar to the Barbarian King. He was sure that it was only a physical similarity.

That was, until Eraserhead called up the man using the name ‘Bakugou Katsuki’, and Katsuki backed the ball he threw with an explosion.

It was the same name, and the same quirk, and Eijirou had to seriously wonder if his imaginary friend legitimately became real through the power of something he couldn’t control. Maybe it was a secondary quirk that Eijirou had, or maybe he ran into someone who could make imaginary friends real, but a quirk like that would probably only create temporary people, and this Katsuki was certainly not going away any time soon.

Not to mention that Eijirou was pretty sure that the Katsuki here was much younger than his imaginary friend. The Barbarian King had been an adult while Katsuki was his own age.

But it had to be a coincidence, right? Had to be. Absolutely had to be.

Maybe it was possible that Eijirou had met Katsuki or someone he was related to when he was young, and Eijirou ended up creating his imaginary friend based on that. Yeah. That made sense, right? That made more sense than anything else anyway.

Regardless of how strange it was that Katsuki looked and acted so much like the imaginary friend he had when he was young, Eijirou ended up befriending him.

And Katsuki was amazing! Smart! Manly! Strong! And, even if he was pretty rough around the edges, to the point where he was basically a cactus, he still had a good heart. Hell, Katuski even tutored Eijirou! And he enjoyed hanging out with their friend group, no matter how much he protested that he didn’t.

Katsuki loved them, and Eijirou could tell.

But there were occasional things that happened that reminded Eijirou so much of his imaginary friend that shook Eijirou to his core whenever they occurred.

“Sparky! Tape-Face! Get over here!” Katsuki shouted, and Eijirou suddenly remembered the rude nicknames that the Barbarian King gave his traveling companions. And, sure enough, Katsuki called Mina “Black Eyes” and Kyouka “Ears.”

Katsuki would tell Eijirou certain things, and Eijirou would get the sense that he already knew the information.

It was really weird, so, one day, Eijirou decided to tell Katsuki.

“Hey, Bakugou?” Eijirou called out, leaning away from the desk to look towards Katsuki, who was on the bed.

“What do you need help with now?” Katsuki questioned.

“Ah, it’s not really anything about the material,” Eijirou admitted.

“Then why say anything?” Katsuki scoffed.

“Cause I wanna tell you something weird!” Eijirou said. That seemed to get Katsuki’s attention.

“What kind of weird?”

“You know how kids tend to have imaginary friends? Like, making up a friend, which includes their appearance and personality and background and stuff?”

“What about it?”

“Well…” Eijirou laughed a little, suddenly very self-conscious about the topic. “I had an imaginary friend when I was really young.”

“Yeah? That’s not fucking weird, Shitty Hair,” Katsuki pointed out.

“That’s not the weird part!”

“Then get to the point.”

“My imaginary friend looked like you,” Eijirou stated.

“So?”

“No! Seriously, dude! I walked into class the first day, and I saw you, and I was shocked by how similar you looked! And then you had the exact same quirk as him, and I genuinely had the thought that I ran into someone with a quirk that makes people’s imaginary friends real! Even down to the names you call people - it’s completely unreal.”

Katsuki had an expression that was a mixture between confusion and disgust.

“What the fuck.”

“That’s what I thought!” Eijirou shouted. “It was so fucking weird! And-”

“Oh, this is new,” A new voice appeared, along with The Fucking Barbarin King. Just. Appearing. Into the room Eijioru was in. Just like Eijioru remembered happening as a kid.

“What the fuck!” Eijirou screeched, and it sounded like Katsuki had the same reaction. And, apparently, so did the Barbarian King.

“Why do you look like me?” The Barbarian King demanded. “Is this some kind of trick? I’m gonna kill that fucking witch!”

“Eh!?” Katsuki growled out. “I’m the only me there is, you shitty extra!”

“Hold on!” Eijirou shouted in an attempt to stop any sort of escalation. Both Katsukis turned towards him. “What the fuck is going on?”

“I was fighting a mage with space-time powers,” The Barbarian King answered.

“I know that!” Eijirou yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. “But I thought you didn’t exist! I thought you were just, just an imaginary friend I had! When I was a kid!”

“I thought we established that I was very much real,” The Barbarian King said.

“Okay, okay, hold up,” Katsuki got up and held up a very dangerous palm towards The Barbarian King. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Bakugou Katsuki, The Barbarian King.”

“Bullshit! I’m Bakugou Katsuki! And what the fuck is a Barbarian King? Some kind of title you gave yourself?”

“Of course not! I’ve trained my whole life to be a king!”

“Kirishima-” Katsuki was cut off suddenly.

“You don’t call each other by your first names?” The Barbarian King questioned, his eyes widening in surprise.

“What!?” Katsuki’s palms were popping, and his face was red. “Why would we do that?”

“Oh, okay, yeah,” The Barbarian King scowled. “You’re in that stage of your relationship. Got it. Good fucking luck dealing with this emotionally-constipated mess, Eijirou.”

“Don’t call me that, you-”

Someone was knocking at the door.

“I’ll get it!” Eijirou said, getting up to grab the door.

“Hey, dude, Sero and I were wondering if, uh,” Denki had just looked at the madness behind Eijirou. “You...wanted to come…play some video games…”

“Maybe later?” Eijirou grinned sheepishly as Denki took in the scene.

“Holy shit. The squad needs to see this,” Denki proclaimed before bolting before Eijirou could discourage him from doing so.

“Sparky’s here too?” The Barbarian King asked, and Katsuki seemed to get angrier.

“Hey! Only I get to call him that!”

“Awww, Bakugou! You do care about us!” Eijirou grinned, only for Katsuki to respond with a middle finger.

“God, I just want to get back to my own world already!” The Barbarian King groaned, leaning back and shoving his hands in his hair. “And finish beating the ass of that stupid fucking time-space witch! And then propose to Eijirou!”

“To me?” Eijirou asked, only to be met with a scoff.

“Not you Eijirou! My Eijirou! The fucking dragon I told you about when you were a kid!”

“You’re gonna propose to a fucking dragon?” Katsuki questioned.

“Yes! I’m gonna propose to a fucking dragon! Gonna marry him too if I have anything to say about it!”

“Older Bakugou is going to marry a dragon?” Denki asked. The door was open and behind Denki were Hanta, Mina, and Kyouka.

“That’s AWESOME!” Mina declared, barging into the room. Soon enough, the entirety of the bakusquad in addition to The Barbarian King were in Eijirou’s room.

“Are you even real?” Kyouka stared intensely at The Barbarian King, who scowled.

“Of course I’m real! Why the fuck wouldn’t I be!?”

“I’ll be honest,” Hanta commented. “I really didn’t expect there to be an older Bakugou here like Kami said, but I guess I stand corrected.”

“Dude!” Denki’s eyes were twinkling. “We should play some video games with older Bakugou.”

“What the hell is a video game?” The Barbarian King questioned, and Katsuki grinned manically.

“Something I’m going to kick your ass at!”

“Like hell!”

Soon enough, the Bakugou squad was playing video games, and, after explaining what video games were to The Barbarian King, he was kicking everyone’s asses in the games.

“How are you this good when you didn’t even know what video games were until like ten minutes ago!?” Hanta shouted as his character got absolutely obliterated.

“Because I’m the best, obviously,” The Barbarian King gloated.

“Fuck off! I’m the best!” Katsuki retorted.

“Yeah? Then beat me in this, coward!”

“Eh!? I ain’t a coward, you bitch!”

Katsuki plopped down on the couch, grabbed a controller, and starting beating The Barbarian King’s ass into the ground.

During their rematch, however, The Barbarian King blurred and disappeared in the middle of the game, leaving Katsuki to grumble.

“Couldn’t even handle a second beating, the bastard.”

“Nah, he just can’t control the jumps,” Eijirou interjected, a statement which caused the Bakusquad to look at him in confusion. “Okay, you’ve got to give me a minute to explain.”

Eijirou gave the basic rundown of how The Barbarian King was his imaginary friend when he was young and how he had just found out that his imaginary friend was actually real and existed.

“So let me get this straight,” Mina started. “This older Bakugou just kind of...showed up in your childhood, and you just passed it off as being an imaginary friend?”

“What else was I supposed to think!?” Eijirou exclaimed. “A random adult stranger just shows up sometimes and plays with a kid? Someone would have called the cops! It’s a miracle my moms never managed to see him!”

“You know, he does have a fair point,” Hanta pointed out. “It is pretty bonkers.”

“That just makes it weirder!” Mina proclaimed. “Why didn’t you think it was weird?”

“I was a kid!” Eijirou shouted. “How was I supposed to know that was real? As far as I knew, that was how all imaginary friends worked!”

“It’s really not,” Kyouka said, causing Eijirou to groan.

“Well, I know that now.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, imaginary friend stuff, blah, blah, but why the fuck was he an alternate version of me?” Katsuki questioned, and Eijirou shrugged.

“I don’t know, but apparently we’re getting married in that universe, so maybe that has something to do with it!”

“Wait! Kiri’s the dragon!?” Denki yelled. “Holy shit!”

“Awww, it’s true love!” Mina declared, only to get shut down by Katsuki.

“Shut up! True love ain’t shit!”

Kyouka nodded in agreement.

“Booo!” Mina whined. “You’re both terrible and hate love!”

“I don’t hate love!” Kyouka argued. “I just don’t think true love is a thing.”

“It totally is!” Mina countered.

“I’m gonna have to agree with Bakugou and Jirou on this one, Ashido,” Hanta admitted, a shy smile on his face. “Sorry.”

“What! Kami, Kiri, please tell me you two believe in true love! I can’t be alone in this!”

“Well,” Eijirou rubbed the back of his neck. “I like the idea of it, I guess, but isn’t it more appealing to be able to choose who to love and putting time and effort into that relationship no matter what?”

“Kiri!” Denki spoke, a tear in his eye. “That was so manly!”

“Ugh!” Mina groaned. “You’re all terrible!”

“Well, you’re never gonna find love if you don’t work for it, bitch,” Katsuki had a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Don’t tell me I’ll be all alone!” Mina complained. “I just want a nice guy or girl or whatever to love and smooch a little!”

“He didn’t say you’ll be all alone,” Kyouka interjected. “He said you have to put time and effort into a relationship like Kirishima described.”

“Awww, Bakugou! You do care!” Mina jumped up in an attempt to pull Katsuki in a hug, only to be rejected.

“Stay away from me, you witch!”

“Let me love you!” Mina shouted.

“NO!”

“Guys, Bakugou clearly needs our help,” Hanta said before grinning wide. “And you know what that means!”

“Group hug!” Denki launched himself towards Katuski and Mina, knocking both of them over in the process.

“Fuck! No! Get off of me!” Katsuki screamed as Hanta and Kyouka joined in on the hug, which was now less of a hug and more just trapping Katsuki on the floor.

“Nope. You deserve this,” Kyouka said.

“I would help you out, Bakugou…” Eijirou started before joining the hug. “But that would mean missing out on a great group hug!”

“You’re dead to me,” Katsuki said, the ire fading from his voice. “You’re all dead to me.”

“Shush, you love us!” Mina gleefully cheered.

“Like hell I would ever admit it!”

“But you DO love us!” Denki yelled.

“No, I don’t,” Katsuki denied.

“Sure, and that’s why you’re hugging back,” Hanta pointed out.

“I’m going to crush you all.”

“Feel free, bro!” Eijirou exclaimed as Katsuki began his attempt to squeeze the life out of all of them. It was a little bit difficult, but fuck if Katsuki wasn’t trying.

At some point, the hug ended, and the respective members of the Bakusquad started to return to their dorms.

Eijirou walked back with Katsuki because their rooms were right next to each other, but Katsuki stopped him before he entered.

“So,” Katsuki started. “That whole imaginary friend thing was fucking weird.”

“Yeah, it really was,” Eijirou responded. “But I doubt we’ll ever see him again.”

“What about what he said!?” Katsuki’s voice suddenly raised in volume, his cheeks tinting red.

“Which thing?”

“About...him and his world’s Kirishima and all that…”

“Ah, you don’t have to worry about that, Bakugou!” Eijirou claimed. He really didn’t know how to handle this conversation. Eijirou was usually really good at reading Katsuki, but, right now, Katsuki was revealing something that Eijirou had never seen from him. It was new territory.

“What if I wanna worry about it?” Katuski spoke in a rush.

“Wha? Bakugou-”

“Katsuki,” Katsuki corrected.

“Wh-what?” Eijirou stuttered, unsure if he had heard that right.

“I don’t give a shit about what that fucker in another dimension says, but, I guess, he was right about one thing. I like you, and I can’t fucking believe it’s taken me this long to tell you,” Katsuki looked Eijirou directly in the eyes, and Eijirou found that he couldn’t breathe. “So, call me Katsuki.”

“Okay,” Eijioru breathed out, not being able to say anything more.

“And I’m taking you out on a date on the weekend," Katsuki punctuated his statement by poking Eijirou in the chest.

“Okay,” Eijirou repeated, his words still stuck on the back of his tongue.

“And...I’m calling you Eijirou, alright?” Here, Katsuki got shy, his voice decrescendoing as he finished his statement.

“Okay,” Eijirou nodded. “Okay, yeah, yes. Okay.”

Eijirou took a deep breath before smiling wide.

“I like you too, Katsuki!”

“That much was obvious!” Katsuki responded, but he was still a little bashful.

“I’d love to go on a date with you!” Eijirou confirmed, now that he was finally able to get words out.

“Obviously,” Katsuki said with a wobbly voice. “Who wouldn’t want to go on a date with me? I’m great.”

“Of course you can call me, Eijirou, Katsuki.”

“Okay, Eijirou,” Katsuki said softly.

Eijirou couldn’t stop himself from grinning widely, and the brief moment of silence between the two of them was quickly interrupted as Katsuki suddenly raised his voice.

“Goodnight, Eijirou!” Katsuki pointed a finger up towards Eijirou, as if accusing him of something. “I’ll text you the details of our date!”

“Can’t wait! Goodnight, Katsuki!”

Then they parted ways, going to their respective rooms.

Once the door closed behind Eijirou, he found himself giggling and squealing to himself. He started jumping around the room as his heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest.

Katsuki had told Eijirou that he liked him! Katsuki wanted to be on a first-name basis! Katsuki had asked him on a date!

He couldn’t wait!

However, given that it was the start of the week, Eijirou had to wait for basically forever for the date. The days passed by like molasses, to the point where Eijirou felt like he might die of old age before the weekend.

But he didn’t. And, finally, finally, the day came, and Eijirou found himself frantically trying to find a good outfit to wear for his date.

“Kaminari!” Eijirou whined. “Please help me put together an outfit for my date! Please, please, please! I’ll owe you forever, dude!”

“Bro, you don’t need to do anything,” Denki insisted. “It’s basically in the bro code to help your bro with their date outfit.”

“Thank you so much!” Eijirou thanked, but he might have spoken too soon as Kaminari decimated his entire closet.

“Do you have anything in here that isn’t athletic-wear?”

“Uh, I think I have a suit in the back of the closet?”

“Too formal!” Denki cried. “Wait! There’s hope!”

Denki pulled out Eijirou’s Crimson Riot jacket.

“I mean, you’ll look like a huge jock wearing it, but I’m pretty sure that’s one of the few aesthetics that you won’t look super out of place in.”

“I can’t wear that!” Eijirou cried. “It’s limited edition!”

“Jackets are for wearing, Kirishima. You don’t have anything good. Please at least wear this jacket.”

Eijirou and Denki locked themselves in a staring contest that ended with Eijirou sighing in defeat.

“Thank god,” Denki then continued to rummage through Eijirou’s closet. “Please tell me you have jeans somewhere in here. Or just any long pants. I would lend you some of my own stuff, but, let’s be honest, you are way buffer than me and would probably rip everything.”

“That’s fair.”

“Although I’m sure Bakugou would go nuts over you ripping a shirt just by flexing, I’d rather the clothing you wear stay intact by the end of the date,” Denki turned from the closet to shoot Eijirou a flirtatious look. “Or maybe on the floor.”

“Shut up, Kami!” Eijirou shouted, a red flush on his face. “It’s only the first date!”

“Suit yourself,” Denki shrugged and went back to looking through Eijirou’s clothing.

After a long while, Denki managed to get Eijirou into a black graphic tee, the Crimson Riot jacket, a pair of baggy dark wash jeans kept up by a punk rock belt of Denki’s, and some combat boots.

“Holy shit,” Eijirou spoke once he saw himself in the mirror. “I look good.”

“Of course you look good!” Denki proclaimed. “I helped you with the outfit! Now, what do you think about having a little bit of eyeliner? Just to make your eyes pop.”

“I mean, I’ve trusted your judgment this far.”

“Perfect,” Denki took out some eyeliner and carefully held Eijirou’s eyelid down. “Don’t move your eyelid too much. And, there!”

“That was quick.”

“Hold still - I’ve still got to do the other eye,” Denki announced as he did the other eye. “And we’re done. What do you think? I, for one, think your date is going to end up lost in your eyes.”

“Maybe not that extreme,” Eijirou commented, a blush on his face. “But you’re right. It does look really good.”

“Hey, Kirishima, is Kami in here? I-” Mina walked into the room, and she suddenly zeroed in on Eijirou’s outfit. “Holy hell, Kiri, you’re looking fine.”

“Outfit curated by yours truly,” Denki took a dramatic bow.

“Kiri!” Mina gasped. “Are you going on a date?”

“He sure is!” Denki proclaimed.

“I can’t believe you asked Kaminari for outfit advice and not me,” Mina whined. “This is best friend erasure.”

“I can have more than one best friend!” Eijirou defended. “And, sorry, but I didn’t really trust you to put me in something that wasn’t crazy.”

“I’m not that bad!”

“Currently, you are wearing a pink leopard print tank top and leggings that are split in half so one side is space and the other side is purple tiger print,” Denki pointed out. “And how could I possibly forget your famous sequined flip flops.”

“Like you’re any better with your black sweatpants and t-shirt with a lightning pattern on it!” Mina countered.

“I have a brand!”

“Just because you have a lightning quirk doesn’t mean all your clothing has to have lightning bolts on it!”

“Not all of my clothing has lightning bolts on it!” Denki defended.

“Oh, yes, I forgot all your clothing with electric type pokemon on it.”

“Hey! Pikachu is a classic!”

“But you don’t need him on your ass!”

“Guys, guys,” Eijirou interjected. “We got to stop arguing about this.”

“He’s insulting my taste in fashion despite the fact that he has a Benjamin Franklin t-shirt, which he wears without an ounce of irony,” Mina argued.

“Well, yeah,” Eijirou sighed. “But he’s better at fashion than me, and his style is a little more tempered than yours, so.”

“Why couldn’t you have asked Bakugou then?” Mina questioned. “Aren’t his parents fashion designers or something like that?”

“It’d be a little weird to ask your date for advice on what to wear on the date,” Eijirou admitted.

“What!? You two finally got together!? When did this happen and why did you not tell me immediately?”

“I wanted to wait until I actually went on the date, but then I found I desperately needed help with my outfit, so I went to Kaminari,” Eijirou quickly explained. “Please understand.”

“Alright,” Mina sighed before giving Eijirou a hard look. “Those better not be the pants with Geodude on the ass.”

“They’re not!” Denki claimed, but he looked at Eijirou’s rear to check anyway. “Yeah, they’re not.”

“I hate the fact that you had to check,” Eijirou said.

“Wouldn’t you of all people notice if you had Geodude on your butt?” Mina inquired.

“I was just putting on whatever Kaminari handed me.”

“Fair enough,” Mina shrugged. “But you better ask me for help next time.”

“Yeah, I’ll just go one by one through my friend group asking for advice on what to wear on dates,” Eijirou said. “I’ve started with Kaminari, and then I’ll ask you, and then I’ll go to Jirou, then Sero, and then I’ll go over to Tetsutetsu, and, afterward, I’ll start asking other people in our class. Eventually, it will get to the point where I’ve asked every single person in the school what I should wear on a date.”

“Maybe by the end of that, you’ll have a sense of style,” Mina said, and both Eijirou and Denki reacted to the statement.

“Ohhh, sick burn,” Denki said.

“Harsh, but probably fair,” Eijirou stated.

“But seriously,” Denki interrupted. “You should get going. Have fun on your date!”

“Wait!” Mina shouted, leaving and coming back about two minutes later. “You’ll need this!”

“Oh thank God it’s just a rock,” Eijirou breathed out. “I thought it was going to be something else.”

“It’s rose quartz!” Mina explained. “It’s for luck in love! What else would I bring you?”

There was a silence in the room before Mina realized exactly what Eijirou and Denki thought she would bring for Eijirou to take on a date.

“Just! Go on your date!” Mina flushed as she shoved Eijirou out of the room.

“Let’s go,” Katsuki spoke the moment he saw Eijirou, grabbing hold of Eijirou’s wrist and pulling him along.

Eijirou frowned.

“Oi. What’s that face for?”

Eijirou opted not to speak and instead gently guided Katsuki’s hand to let go of his wrist and intertwine with his fingers.

“We’re on a date, right?” Eijirou said as a way of explanation, and he felt a rush of victory when he saw Katsuki blush.

“I guess,” Katsuki grumbled, looking away from Eijirou. Eijirou smiled and swung their arms slightly. He did have to harden his hand slightly so that the crackling of Katsuki’s palms wouldn’t hurt him, but knowing that Katsuki was so flustered around him made Eijirou all bubbly inside.

They weren’t really able to get permission to go off-campus on such short notice, so their date mostly consisted of walking around while holding hands before getting bored and going to work out at the gym.

If Eijirou had to say, it was an amazing date. And, he did have to admit, he was very happy that his imaginary friend wasn’t so imaginary.

After all, The Barbarian King helped Eijirou date and eventually marry the love of his life. Eijirou couldn’t be happier.

---

It was a little jarring to go from seeing Eijirou as a kid to seeing him as an adult, even if Katsuki did see him as a teenager at one point. And, the more Katsuki saw of him, the weirder it was.

Katsuki stayed for a little bit each time when Eijirou was a kid, and then once for a long time as a teenager. Now, he was watching Eijirou as an adult, but almost in snapshots.

One moment he saw Eijirou chatting with friends and the next he was watching his skin turn into stone as he got hit with a hundred swords.

It was like watching his life flash before his eyes, except that it wasn’t his memories, and it was happening in real-time. Eijirou fighting. Eijirou helping. Eijirou getting married.

Suddenly, everything stopped, and Katsuki found himself surrounded by a familiar emerald forest.

“Ah, I’m home,” Katsuki and Eijirou, his Eijirou, ran up to him with tears in his eyes.

“Katsuki! You’re back!” Eijirou cried, bringing Katsuki into a tight hug as he sobbed into Katsuki’s cape.

“Yeah, yeah. No need to be dramatic. It was just a few hours.”

“I missed you,” Eijirou mumbled, and Katsuki could feel the tears on his neck, so Katsuki pulled Eijirou into a more proper hug.

“...I missed you too,” Katsuki whispered, his voice as quiet as he could get it, but it still had Eijirou pulling away from the hug suddenly to look at Katsuki.

“You missed me!?” Eijirou’s eyes again filled with tears, which Katsuki did his best to wipe away.

“Yeah, now shut up and stop crying, Ei.”

“I’m so glad you’re back,” Eijirou gave Katsuki a watery smile, the ghost of tears still on his cheeks, and suddenly Katsuki was speaking before he could think.

“Marry me.”

“What!?” Eijirou’s eyes widened in surprise, but the surprise in his face soon faded as he was right back to crying, but he was smiling joyfully. “Yes! Yes! Of course I’ll marry you!”

Eijirou gleefully picked up Katsuki and spun around, laughing all the while.

“Put me down!” Katsuki demanded, but he was smiling as well.

Once Eijirou put Katsuki down, Katsuki spoke again.

“We’ll get married after this mission, okay?”

“Okay!” Eijirou agreed, and so they met back up with the rest of their traveling companions and finished the mission.

There were lots of ups and downs to it, and they left with plenty of scrapes and bruises, but, finally, Katsuki and Eijirou were able to have their wedding.

It would have been small, but Eijirou was excitable and insisted on inviting all the people they’d gone on adventures with over the years.

So it wasn’t small. But at least the majority of it was simple.

Katsuki and Eijirou’s outfits were the only things that weren't.

Katsuki was shirtless, as always, but he did not have sleeves, instead showing off his many tattoos, but, most importantly, the K on his shoulder that he received when he and Eijiorou started to travel together. He had a different cape on, still red, but one that had a finished edge and golden trim. His pants were simple and white, a little more tightly fitting than his usual garb, but he still wore his normal adventuring boots. His cutlass also rested on his waist.

Of course, Katsuki’s outfit would not have been complete if it weren’t for the array of necklaces he had, evidence of his conquests, along with bracelets that served to decorate his arms beyond his tattoos, not to mention his usual earrings, the ones he obtained from Eijirou himself. Finally, a crown sat atop his head, and his heart beat wildly at the thought of Eijirou receiving a matching one.

Eijirou wore armor, a red chest plate covered in designs. Runes of protection and love and good fortune adorned the armor, and the shoulder pads depicted dragon crests. Eijirou’s tattoos could be clearly seen on his arms. Like Katsuki, his pants were white, but Eijirou’s were baggier, and he had also worn his adventuring boots. Eijiou’s own weapons, his long knives, were also worn at the waist.

Eijirou’s accessories were a little more sparse than Katsuki’s, but he still wore charm bracelets on his wrists. They were decorated in offerings of goodwill. Eijirou’s hair was spiked in the usual stupid way, but it meant the earrings he wore were on clear display. They were orange to match Katsuki’s, and the way the light reflected off of them made it seem like Eijirou was glowing.

There were a few official people at the wedding - after all, this was as much a coronation as it was a wedding, and the crown that was meant to go on Kirishima’s head was resting on a soft pillow.

As the two of them reached the altar and were told to say their vows, Katsuki knew there was only one way to say them.

Katsuki moved to kick Eijirou’s leg. He made contact, and Eijirou began to fall but not before making a move that brought Katsuki down with him.

They spent about a minute freely wrestling on the ground and probably horrifying whoever made their outfits before they were questioned.

“What are you doing!?”

“Our vows, duh,” Katsuki answered as he and Eijirou continued to fight.

After another minute or so, Eijirou had Katsuki pinned, and Katsuki grinned up at Eijirou.

“We’re equals, got it?” Katsuki declared, and Eijirou responded with a megawatt grin.

“Of course!”

With that, the two of them got back up, a little dirty, and held hands at the altar. The ordainer awkwardly said that the two may now kiss, so Katsuki went in for the kill.

He couldn’t believe he was kissing his husband. Husband!

When they parted, Katsuki couldn’t help but go in for another kiss.

After the wedding ceremony, the coronation ceremony began, and Katsuki watched as his husband (!) kneeled down as someone listed off all the things a good king should do before the crown on the pillow was finally delicately placed atop Eijirou’s head.

Katsuki did have to laugh a little because the crown did somewhat mess with Eijirou’s hairstyle, but he had a hard time caring as Eijirou stood up and looked over to him.

Katsuki kissed him again. He would fight a million space-time mages for this man.

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