Kaminari had never been so terrified to find out that it was the Knight of Red Flowers that had stomped into his little shop of nicknacks. The man had come in practically spitting fire as he glared at anyone and everyone, face as red as the blood he was rumored to spill in his wake.
Thank the gods for Jirou, because no matter what she was feeling, she could hide it all behind a mask of indifferent competency and Kaminari preferred to hide behind Jirou.
"Can I help you?" Jirou asked. "You're scaring the other customers."
"WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?" the man bellowed, much to both Kaminari and Jirou's chagrin. The other customers immediately scampered off, leaving just the three of them alone. Kaminari wished he could go too. Despite his amiable title, the Knight of Red Flowers was anything but. His reputation as a violent and crass man was well known and no one dared cross him and Kaminari would like to keep his head attached to his neck, thank you very much.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jirou said, crossing her arms over her chest. "You just scared off my customers. I want you to leave."
If he was angry before, the man was now furious.
"TELL ME WHERE THAT RED BASTARD IS!"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Jirou repeated. "There's so many bastards in my life. Get out of my shop."
"IF YOU'RE HIDING HIM-"
"Did you mean Kirishima?"
Both Jirou and the Knight of Red Flowers looked at him. It took a beat for Kaminari to realize that the Knight was stomping towards him, a hand outstretched to grab the front of his apron. He was hauled up into the air by one strong hand and shaken like a cocktail drink. This close to the Knight, Kaminari could smell the keen scent of sweat and smoke and it was not something pleasant.
"What do you know?" the Knight asked, his tone dead serious as he glared, eyes boring into Kaminari's own.
"I don't! I don't know anything!" Kaminari manfully squealed as he struggled to get away. The Knight dropped him to the floor and then stepped onto his knee, putting a careful force of weight onto it.
"I don't believe you," the Knight said. He was quiet now, not shouting, and this was more terrifying than before. "Where the fuck is Kirishima?" He leaned on Kaminari's knee, hard, just enough to cause pain.
There was a loud bang as the front door slammed shut and the sound of a lock sliding shut and Kaminari knew that Jirou had left the shop and was probably off to alert the townsguard. That was good, Kaminari thought as he took in massive gulps of air.
He met the Knight's red eyes and let his quirk free. Lightning as powerful as the gods' exploded from his body, taking the Knight by surprise.
"Fucking fuck!"
Kaminari had never been so thankful for Aizawa and his quirk neutralizing abilities. The Knight-Bakugou, as Aizawa called him-was sitting in a cell with his hands tied around his back. He had been stripped of all his gear and was only wearing a tanktop and pants as he thrashed around in the chair he was placed on.
"So he said he was looking for Kirishima?" Aizawa's aide, Ashido asked. She was scribbling on a piece of paper, writing what looked to be an official statement, but Kaminari had never seen her do a lick of work before. She was probably just doodling his face.
"Yeah," answered Kaminari.
"You lying fucks! Where the hell did you hide him? I'll kill you! I'll kill you and find him! No, I'll beat the info out of you, find him, and then kill you!"
Aizawa tutted under his breath. "Expressive, aren't you."
That was when a stranger walked into the room looking sheepish and embarrassed, his dark hair an unruly mess. He was dressed as a traveler, but his mannerisms were polite and lordly.
"Excuse me, I'm so sorry about my companion, but do you think you could let him go? We need to find a missing person and it's of utmost haste."
"He was causing a ruckus and nearly injured my friend here," Ashido said, pointing at Kaminari. "Why not go to the detectives? They specialize in missing persons."
"Because they're stupid fucks that can't do anything-"
Aizawa had shoved a sock into Bakugou's mouth to shut him up.
If only looks could kill.
Kaminari shrank back, desperate to stay out of Bakugou's line of sight.
"Please," begged the stranger. "Every minute wasted could mean our friend dying or worse."
That gave Kaminari pause.
"Wait, Kirishima's in danger?"
Red Riot, or better known as Kirishima to those that knew him personally, was a man ready with a smile and even quicker with a laugh. He was Kaminari's best friend from childhood and he left their little provincial town to achieve his dreams, and as far as Kaminari knew, Kirishima had succeeded. His moniker was the Red Riot, red for the color of his hair, and riot for the uproar that he'd cause. Kirishima was a man that stood out, was generally well-liked, but being a steadfast knight, meant he had a plethora of enemies and had been missing for a week.
Naturally, that meant Kaminari had to go looking for him.
"Your woman would fare better on this journey than you, lightning bug," Bakugou sneered. "She's got more balls than you."
Kaminari had packed his essentials and raced out the door to meet up with Bakugou and Midoriya. Surprisingly, Ashido waited with them, a heavy pack slung over her back. She held the reins to a sable colored horse that stood next to them.
"He was my friend and if he's in trouble, then I have to help him," Kaminari mumbled, looking at the spot above Bakugou's head. "Also, don't talk about Jirou like that." He touched the part of his arm, hidden beneath his sleeves and a wrap, that housed her secret name. She held his name too, on the exact same spot on her arm.
Bakugou grunted. "The fuck do I care."
Midoriya politely interrupted with a pointed cough. "My intel says that Red Riot has been seen further north, heading back from the sea."
Bakugou turned on Midoriya, looking as if he was about to strangle the other man.
"WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU SAY SO IN THE FIRST PLACE FUCKFACE. I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN STUCK IN JAIL FOR THE PAST FOUR HOURS."
Finding someone as famous as Red Riot was turning out to be like finding a needle in a haystack. He wasn't in any of the little towns dotted along the coast and neither was he further inland in the bigger cities; Kaminari went and checked all the eateries and Ashido checked all the jailhouses. Bakugou, upon arriving to any new place, immediately went to check the hospitals.
It was difficult, especially at the end of the day with no news about Kirishima from anyone.
"We should go further north," Midoriya said. "His last known destination was Port Gravity. I think he went there to visit a mutual friend."
"He's always fucking visiting," Bakugou said, snide.
"Yeah, he's always visiting," Ashido echoed, though whether she caught onto the scorn behind his words, Kaminari didn't know. "Pity he never stays very long. He always has somewhere to be."
Something about her words got Bakugou to go quiet and still, his thoughts turning inward as his expression went unreadable. Kaminari had never seen Bakugou like this and not for the first time, he wondered why Bakugou was searching so desperately for Kirishima.
"So...the Knight of Red Flowers."
Kaminari choked on nothing as he overheard Ashido trying to make conversation with Bakugou. She was going to die.
"Don't ever say that to me again," Bakugou snarled.
"How did you get that name?" Ashido asked because she had a death wish. Kaminari was going to go back home lugging her charred carcass. He was going to have to inform her family how she died: mouthing off to the most dangerous man to ever exist since ever.
Bakugou turned to face her, but Ashido was all smiles. "I didn't say it!" she said. "So tell me, how did you get that title?"
"The dumbass poet at court hated the name I wanted to be known as," he said, which was more of an answer than Kaminari thought Ashido would ever get. "I got saddled with...that dumbass title. Fuck them."
"What did you want to be known as?" Ashido asked because she loved pushing her luck. Kaminari was trying to motion to her to stop asking questions, but she wasn't having any of it.
Bakugou must have been in a mellow mood because he entertained her question. He grinned, proud and without any sense of irony, answered: "King of Explodo-Kills."
Kaminari stared down at his hands, doing his best to not burst out laughing.
Ashido had no such qualms.
The north turned out to be a total bust; Kirishima hadn't been in that direction for months. The locals had been dismayed upon hearing of his disappearance and heartily took it upon themselves to help by supplying their motley crew of four with extra rations and an extra body to look after: a cheery girl that went by Uraraka.
Bakugou had been so upset he nearly threw himself onto Midoriya, fists at the ready, but Ashido had pointed out that if Kirishima meant to go to the sea, she could ask someone with connections to see if he actually made it.
"I don't fucking care if he 'meant' to go anywhere! I just want to know where the fuck he is!"
He had seemed so exasperated, so bothered, that it got Kaminari wondering.
Everyone on the quest knew Kirishima well; Kaminari and Ashido were his childhood friends, Midoriya and Uraraka had trained with him. Bakugou, on the other hand, wasn't a childhood friend, neither did he train with Kirishima nor had he been in Kirishima's squadron.
Bakugou was a mystery.
"Why is Bakugou looking for Kirishima?" Kaminari asked Midoriya because while he may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, his self preservation instincts were at the very least solid. There was no way he was going to ask Bakugou who was liable to take his head off-literally.
Midoriya gave him a blank look and then smiled. "Why don't you ask Bakugou?"
Kaminari stared back. "Do I want to die?"
Midoriya considered his point and with a pained look, replied: "if I told you, Bakugou might really kill me. I don't want to die either."
"Why are you talking about death?" Ashido interrupted.
Kaminari considered his friend and weighed his options. "I just wanted to know why Bakugou is looking for Kirishima," he admitted. "I was just asking Midoriya if he knew."
"Oh," said Ashido. "That's simple." She turned to Bakugou, who was stomping ahead of their group, and yelled with the full force of her lungs: "HEY, ANGRYFACE, WHY ARE YOU LOOKING FOR KIRISHIMA?"
Kaminari could not elbow her hard enough. He resorted to shocking her in little bits. She remained oblivious, though she did swat his fingers away.
Bakugou's head swivelled around to glare at them, his bloodshot eyes making him all the more crazed looking. He was going to kill them, blast them all to bits with his exploding quirk, and no one will ever find the bodies because they'll all be scattered to the four winds, charred beyond recognition. Kaminari would never get to go home and see Jirou again.
"Because he owes me something," Bakugou said, voice surprisingly normal and without malice. He turned back around and continued to make his way down the path, glower firmly in place.
"There's your answer," Ashido said with a flourish and a grin.
"I hate you so much," Kaminari replied.
"He can't just disappear," Uraraka said; it was the fifth night on the road with her, the seventh night on the road for Kaminari and Ashido, and gods know how long for Midoriya and Bakugou. They were sat around a campfire just after dinner, each wondering if the search was fruitless. Everywhere they went, every lead they've followed, seemed to turn up a dead end.
Speaking of dead ends.
Kaminari hoped his friend wasn't dead. It wasn't uncommon for knights to die, but still; Kirishima was too big of a man to just...die. Everywhere they've gone, people had seemed concerned. He was well-loved by many and Kaminari didn't want to see what would happen if they found out he was dead.
He didn't want to find Kirishima dead.
"You're right; the fucker didn't disappear," Bakugou scowled, glaring into the fire as if that would summon Kirishima to them. "He's lost somewhere, I bet. Probably stopped on his way home to help some goddamned old lady that lives in a forest and couldn't find his way back out again."
"That's it."
It was Midoriya that spoke and all eyes turned to him.
"We've been asking the wrong question this whole time. Who was he helping before he went missing? It's the only reason he'd have put off getting home."
"You don't think I already tried finding out?" Bakugou growled. "Of course he'd go and help anyone that asks, that fucking bleeding heart, leaving me behind to find out that he's fucking gone. Of all the useless shit you spout, this has got to be the-"
"Then, it's not a who asked for his help," Midoriya said simply. "But what."
It took Kaminari a moment to process what Midoriya was claiming. "Are you talking about the merfolk?" he asked. Ashido, sitting next to him, smacked him across the back of his head.
"He means the faeries," Ashido said.
"No, you stupid fucks, he means the beastkin," Bakugou snapped. "He was coming back from the sea and faeries only like beautiful people. He's being held by the beastkin; they've got territory carved out right near the route he was taking to get back home. Gods, now that I've met the two of you, I know why he's such a fucking dumbass."
Getting into beastkin territory was easier said than done. They were notoriously private and easy to anger, much like Bakugou, now that Kaminari thought about it. Was Bakugou related to beastkin? He certainly seemed beastly enough.
They hired a halfbreed-a man who was half man and half lion-as their guide. ("Can't we use Ashido?" "I'm a sixteenth beastkin and I've never set foot in their territory before.") Still, Kaminari had a sinking feeling that all was not well when they entered the forest that would inevitably lead to one of the beastkin dwellings.
He had been shockingly surprised when Ojiro led them into a dense metropolitan area guarded on all sides by high walls and mean looking soldiers, each brandishing a weapon more deadly looking than the last. On the streets of the city, Kaminari had never seen so many beastkin wandering about in one place; they laughed with one another, smiled, waved-just like humans. The only difference was that they wore nothing but the fur that some of them naturally sported. Others were...just nude.
"I've exchanged names!" he wailed as another set of mammary glands bounced within his line of sight.
"Is that all it takes to get you going?" Ashido asked, wrinkling her nose. "Poor Jirou."
"Like you're one to talk, I see you oggling...that over there," Kaminari waved in the general direction of a very hung beastman who was enjoying a time out with his friends in front of a restaurant. Actually, they were all very hung and it was making Kaminari feel inadequate.
Ashido licked her lips slowly and lasciviously.
"I hate you so much," Kaminari mumbled as he touched the spot on his arm that held Jirou's name. He resolved to himself that his eyes wouldn't wander.
"Fuckmunch one and fuckmunch two, we're leaving you behind!" Bakugou roared from further up the street.
They quickly hurried after the rest of the group and Ojiro led them into the city center; few other humans were there and everyone garnered odd looks for being so overdressed.
"Meet back here in four hours," Ojiro said, "I have to escort you back out or else the guards won't let you leave."
Maybe that was what happened, Kaminari thought; Kirishima came here, didn't meet up with his guide, and couldn't leave.
Bakugou must have had the same thought because he went raring off in the direction of the local jail and Kaminari said a mental prayer for whichever poor soul had to deal with his explosive brand of concern. Midoriya trailed after him with a sigh.
The problem was, the city was huge. It was sprawling and Kaminari didn't know how this could have been hidden in the dead center of a forest, but it was. The urbanization was close to human cities and the fact that it was so busy boggled his mind. With the towns and little boroughs that they've been checking, there hadn't been that many places that Kirishima could have hidden.
Here, though, it would take more than a day to locate Kirishima. If he was even here.
"Don't look so overwhelmed," Ashido said, patting him on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go ask around if anyone's seen Red Riot. He's different enough that people should remember him."
"Sure," Kaminari said as he followed Ashido through the crowd, doing his best to ignore the nakedness of everyone around him.
As it turned out, after an excruciating afternoon of asking around the high roads, Red Riot had been in the city. No one could recall why he was there, but multiple eyewitnesses had claimed they saw a red headed man speaking with a beastkin in the form of a bird. He had left the city several days ago and Kaminari's heart soared at the news.
Several days ago.
That meant Kirishima was still alive.
"Why the fuck would he come out here?" Bakugou growled, flinging twigs and branches out of the way. As he was at the front of the group, it meant everyone else was dodging what he threw back at them. Midoriya, being immediately behind Bakugou, was taking the flora abuse in stride.
"At the request of someone else, at least that's what Tokoyami said," Ashido said as a branch nearly collided with her face. "Hey! Watch it!"
"What the fuck could he possibly be doing that could take a whole month?!"
Had he been searching for Kirishima for a month? Kaminari couldn't imagine the faith it took to continue for that long; he had only been on the journey for a week and a half and he had already began despairing that Kirishima was dead and that he was on a quest to find a corpse. Whatever it was that Kirishima owed Bakugou, it must have been important.
"Whatever it was, he wandered into the Endless," Uraraka said, voice grave. She was holding onto a map that marked out all the possible routes that Kirishima could have gone. There was only one now: the most impossible of paths.
Kaminari was going to give Kirishima a throttling after all this was over. He had to leave Jirou behind to find Kirishima's missing ass, deal with Bakugou's murderous rage, and see naked beastkin. He knew more about their anatomy than he ever wanted to learn.
"It just means that we'll have to bring him back," Midoriya said.
Of the things that Kaminari learned on this journey, it was that soft-spoken Midoriya had a well of ingenuity and confidence that belied his appearance. He never said anything that he didn't intend.
Uraraka giggled and put the map away. "We haven't changed at all," she said. "Even after all these years. Every single one of us, always charging off on our own without backup."
Midoriya gestured around, a small smile on his face. "At least we're learning now."
The Endless was a bedtime tale told to children; monsters roamed the Endless as far as the eye could see and it was freezing during the nights and boiling during the day. Evil enchantresses gathered in their lairs, casting curses upon anyone that dared disturb them. It was the place that children were taken to by imps should they misbehave. Kaminari had been told the story about the Endless enough by his mother that he was certain that it wasn't true.
What the Endless looked like was this: dead trees everywhere, gnarled bushes with thorns barring the path, and large crystal formations shooting up from the ground.
"The stories aren't true, you know," Ashido said, even though she was looking just as petrified as Kaminari.
"The only monster around here is Bakugou," Uraraka commented.
"I fucking heard that."
Kaminari laughed nervously and looked around at anything except Bakugou when his gaze landed on the blackened stump of a dead tree. There, cleanly marked over the charred bark, was a large 'X'. Following that, Kaminari went to the next one after that and saw another 'X' on another tree.
It kept going, he realized, and before he knew what he was doing, he was running through the forest to find where the trees were leading. He heard shouts from behind him, but he couldn't stop; his gut was telling him that if he stopped now, if he stopped now-
The marks on the trees led him to a clearing and what seemed to be a small camp. Cantrips hung in the air, warding off evil spirits that might venture close, and a thin, broken wire trap was flung off to the side. A red tent, still set up as if awaiting an occupant, stood eerily still in the center of it all.
The rest of the group rushed over, nearly toppling Kaminari as they came to an abrupt stop behind him. Silence descended upon them, no one knowing what to say.
Bakugou shoved Kaminari out of the way, stepping into the campsite, eyes darting to and fro as he inspected everything with an intensity that Kaminari had never seen before.
"This was...Kirishima's, wasn't it?" Uraraka asked, breaking the stillness.
"OF COURSE IT FUCKING WAS."
Bakugou looked livid. He was tearing through the camp, and for a moment Kaminari thought he was demolishing everything, but he wasn't. He was just very angrily neatening things up, in particularly the haphazardly placed eating utensils that rested next to an extinguished campfire.
"FUCKING FUCKER CAN'T EVEN PICK UP AFTER HIMSELF."
Kaminari looked around, but there didn't seem to be any more marked trees.
Kirishima was nearby, he had to be. His stuff was all here. It didn't look like he intended to be away for too long, and yet...he wasn't here. It had been days since he's been at camp, if the state of the ground was any indication.
Ashido, bless her, was of the exact same mindset.
"We have to go find him," she said. "He has to be nearby."
"For being so fucking heavy, he's light on his feet when he wants to be," Bakugou growled. "He didn't leave any tracks behind."
"Let me try something," Uraraka said.
She tied herself up with rope from the camp and handed the end to Midoriya with strict instructions to not let go. Kaminari had no idea what she was planning when suddenly, she began floating into the air, going higher and higher.
"She's part of the search and rescue disaster squad," Midoriya explained. Kaminari was probably looking like a gaping fool, so he shut his mouth with an audible click.
"Why does she live in a tiny little port town? Her quirk would be much more useful in the big cities, I'd imagine," Ashido commented.
Midoriya smiled, eyes twinkling as he spoke. "Her family's there. Isn't that reason enough?"
Ashido grinned back and Kaminari wondered how could they even smile at a time like this. Maybe because it was at a time like this; they were so close to completing their goal.
Then, Midoriya was pulling Uraraka back down, letting her settle gently against his shoulder when she reached the ground. She was looking oddly green in the face as she clutched at her chest.
"There's a cavern over there," she panted, pointing deeper into the Endless. "It's the only landmark around here that he could have gone to."
Bakugou didn't wait a beat before rushing off in the direction Uraraka pointed.
"He's such an idiot!" Ashido wailed, running after him. "Who goes in with no backup?!"
"I'll go with them," Kaminari said, following after Ashido. "You guys wait here!"
"Be careful!" Midoriya yelled after him.
Kaminari was going to die.
The cavern that Uraraka had pointed out was actually an illusion; it was the entrance to the lair of a wicked looking crone that was hellbent on turning them all to crystal. That explained why there were large slabs of it rising out of the ground randomly throughout the Endless.
"Die!" she cackled, bolts of magic flying from her fingers.
"I don't wanna die!" Kaminari screeched as he dodged behind a large piece of protruding crystal. Her whole lair was made of crystal and it was doing funky things to his vision.
Ashido was busy trying to melt the crystals that encapsulated Bakugou's hands so that meant Kaminari was the distraction.
He screamed as the crone flew after him. Her face was going to haunt his nightmares, he was certain of that.
He dodged around the crystals that came up out of the ground, running as far as he could get when a flash of red caught his eye.
Oh gods, he thought, mind reeling as it did a double take; Kirishima was here.
He laying on his side looking deathly pale in between three pillars of crystals. If Kaminari hadn't come this way, he probably wouldn't have even seen him.
And it was in this moment, he knew that it was up to him to do something.
Kirishima, who looked to be at death's door, was here, downed and unmoving, and there was an angry, evil witchy crone that was out for blood and with Bakugou and Ashido distracted, it was up to him.
He had never done something like this before. He had always been hiding behind Kirishima and Ashido as kids and when he could, hid behind Jirou in his adult life.
Bakugou was right when he said that Jirou had bigger balls than he did. He was a coward.
"Just fucking take her!" Bakugou screamed. "Or are you that fucking useless?!"
Kaminari was terrified; the crone wouldn't stop throwing bolts of magic at him and Kirishima was lying so, so still.
Kirishima couldn't be dead. His best friend couldn't be dead.
He had to save him.
Kaminari skidded to a halt, taking a hit to his shoulder, and charged at the crone, screaming all the while. He collided into her and the moment he felt himself hit something solid, let his quirk go, unloading all the lightning that he could out of his body, funnelling it into her's.
He heard her screech, the sound deafening in his ear.
She fell and he fell too, rolling on the ground before coming to a stop near a crystal pillar.
He had never used that much lightning in his life before, he didn't even think he had it in him to release so much, but he was so scared and the adrenaline pumping through his body had amped his quirk up to a level he didn't know he could produce.
The crone groaned and twitched. She was only stunned.
"I found him," Kaminari rasped, somehow finding his tongue, though the sounds that escaped his mouth was debatable at best. He had to try. At the very least, Bakugou and Ashido could carry Kirishima out of there while the crone was immobile. "I found him!"
Bakugou was there in an instant, one hand free of the crystals the crone had placed them in. He was blasting away at the crystals that Kirishima was hiding behind, tearing at them in anger, though the pillars were thick and strong. A disabled Bakugou was nothing to them.
Ashido gasped and bent down next to Kaminari.
"Your shoulder," she said and from her expression, it didn't look good.
All Kaminari could do was give her a smile and a thumbs up before passing out.
It was Midoriya that saved them.
Gods bless Midoriya, who was stronger and more competent than he looked. He came charging in, eyes ablaze with righteous fury and destroyed the crone, who turned out to be made of dust, and single-handedly pulverized the crystals that surrounded Kirishima, dragging his limp body out.
Kaminari was leaning heavily against Ashido through it all, his legs more wobbly than he ever remembered them being.
She was a good friend. One of the best, really.
"Is he dead?" Ashido asked.
"No," Midoriya answered, brows scrunched up as he thought. "I think he's been enchanted."
"What the fuck," said Bakugou.
"Yeah," slurred Kaminari, on the brink of passing out. "Fuck."
They went back to Kirishima's camp, laying out their own gear and feed for the one horse that Ashido brought with her. They've essentially taken it over, but the atmosphere was heavy. No one spoke and no one dared to break the silence.
Kaminari was in and out of consciousness, feeling too drained to really focus his thoughts properly, but he saw and he knew that the state they found Kirishima in was not ideal. He didn't have enough of his mental faculties to dwell on it and instead, chose the option of returning to sleep.
When he fully came to, it was late at night and everyone was dozing. A healthy fire crackled near him. Someone had patched up his injured shoulder, but it still stung something fierce whenever he moved.
"Go back to sleep."
Kaminari looked up to see Bakugou by the fire, the dancing light casting shadows over his face.
Bakugou seemed...tired. Drained.
Kaminari couldn't blame him.
But he couldn't just leave Bakugou like that, so he crawled out of the blankets he had been wrapped in and made his way over to the fire. The night air was chilly, but not freezing, as the stories had claimed.
He caught sight of Kirishima laid out next to Bakugou, layers of blankets piled on top of him. Kirishima wasn't moving a muscle and Kaminari couldn't stand to look at his friend being so still. All he could remember for some reason was how active Kirishima had been, how vivacious and full of life.
"What does he owe you?" Kaminari asked.
He remembered Bakugou's answer from all those weeks ago, that Kirishima owed him something. It was something so big that Bakugou had been searching for the man for a month, holding onto the hope he was still alive.
If it was any other person, Kaminari would have said that they'd long since passed in the wilderness. A month without hearing from someone was as good as death.
It was a long time before Bakugou spoke.
"He owes me his name," Bakugou said. "I owe him an answer. And mine."
Kaminari squinted into the darkness and only realized now that Bakugou was holding onto Kirishima's limp hand as if for dear life.
Kaminari had nothing to say and wondered if it was Jirou that went missing, if he would search to the ends of the earth to find her.
He would, he thought, he'd search high and low, across the sea and everywhere under the stars. He'd call in every favor owed to him and more.
Oh.
Kaminari looked from Bakugou to the sleeping form of Midoriya. That explained why they were traveling together despite the fact they got on like water and oil. And that explained why Uraraka had dropped her duties to come on this quest with them. It also explained why Ashido was here; Aizawa couldn't be here himself and sent his aide instead.
How desperate Bakugou must have been. Kaminari didn't realize it till now.
It wasn't until Bakugou gave him an odd look did Kaminari notice that tears had begun streaming down his cheeks in rivulets, dripping down his chin to stain his palms.
"Why the fuck are you crying?"
"Because it's all so sad. Aren't you sad?"
The Bakugou that Kaminari had come to know would have raged against those words, would have cursed him out for that. How dare he insinuate that things have come to an end, how dare he say it was sad. They've succeeded in their mission, they've found Kirishima, and everyone was mostly intact.
But this odd, melancholy Bakugou turned away from Kaminari to face Kirishima.
"Fucktard's crying," Bakugou said, sneer in his voice. "Because it's so sad. Wake up and deal with him."
Kirishima did nothing, Bakugou's voice falling on deaf ears.
"I saw your parents and met these asswipes that you grew up with. Gods, just meeting these idiots explain so much about you. I'm even here with fucking Useless and Round Face. I went begging to that fucking Four Eyes about any information about you. I fucking fought off a witch for you." Bakugou paused, his hand shaking visibly. "I searched a month for you. If you think for a second that this stupid enchantment will take you away from me, you don't fucking know me. So wake the fuck up, Hedgehog Head."
Silence and stillness was his only response. Enchantments by witches were not so easily broken by simple words. Kaminari was doing his best to wipe away his tears, but more kept coming, welling up and overflowing as soon as he brushed his sleeve over his face.
He touched the spot on his arm where Jirou's name was written.
Kyouka, it said.
On her arm, mirroring his, was written Denki. He knew this fact intimately, had traced his name with his finger, his tongue on her skin. Had looked upon the ink and thought 'beautiful.'
"Fuck," said Bakugou. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."
Despite all the cursing and all the pleading, Kirishima didn't wake up.
Kirishima was brought to the finest de-speller money could afford. Well, money and connections, because despite his terrible attitude, Bakugou had a myriad of connections.
"Can you cure him?" Uraraka asked the de-speller, Yaoyorozu. She was a busty black haired woman with sharp eyes and had ushered them all into her home despite the fact they were all scruffy and smelled.
"He's been under this enchantment for a while," Yaoyorozu said, holding an odd metallic contraption over Kirishima's body. "Why didn't you bring him in to a de-speller right away? His spirit's gotten weak after being stuck in the shadow plane for so long. If his willpower wanes even a little, the magic will overtake him. He'd be dead before nightfall."
"Aren't you the best?" Bakugou hissed. "Fix him."
Yaoyorozu huffed, cheeks going red. "I'll have to do a bit of research first," she said. "Meanwhile, talk to him. It might be the thing that's keeping his spirit anchored. If you need anything, just ask the servants. I'll have them draw you all a bath. I'll be in the library."
Kaminari was a man that loved baths, but after Yaoyorozu's little revelation, the the simple joy of enjoying a bath disappeared. He got into the water, scrubbed the best he could to get the dirt off his skin, and was out and dressed before he knew it. He made a beeline to Kirishima's temporary room to find Bakugou sitting in a chair next to him, recounting an old memory of theirs.
"-bastard didn't know what hit him. That was the first time we worked together and I thought you were some showy fuckmunch that just wanted glory. And then you kept showing up in my life like a persistent cockroach, even when I told you to leave. What the fuck, you red headed limpet, it's like you don't have any ears." Bakugou sighed, the sound a small and lonely one in the room that Yaoyorozu had put Kirishima in. "I just want you to wake up. Wake up, Kirishima. You're the one that told me you loved me. So now...now you're stuck with me. Fucking wake up, you red headed bastard."
Kaminari didn't want to witness this.
He walked away, finding an empty room to rest his head.
"I have it!" Yaoyorozu shouted as she burst into the room.
Everyone had gathered around Kirishima's bed and Ashido was in the middle of regaling Kirishima-and by proxy, everyone else-of gossip from the girls back in the day about him. They all ranged from 'what a nice boy' to 'holy hell, look at that bod' and Kaminari was certain that Bakugou was going to snap any minute from jealousy.
Although a quick look in Bakugou's direction revealed that he wasn't even listening to Ashido's recounting of gossip; he had just been staring at Kirishima, uncharacteristically quiet.
"What do we need to do?" Midoriya asked.
"I can call him back," she said. "But I'll need his name. It's the only thing that has power in the shadow plane."
"It's Kirishima."
"No, his...his name. "
"Oh."
There was a strange stillness in the room that took Kaminari a moment to decipher. It was the odd fidgeting that Midoriya was doing that gave it away.
"If it's to save him, I say we do it," Kaminari said. "We all know his name, I bet. He's the most open person I know."
Bakugou made some sort of aborted choking sound.
"His name's Eijirou."
Yaoyorozu nodded. "His name won't leave this room," she promised. She pulled out the odd metal device from before and held it over Kirishima's body. It made a loud screeching noise before quieting down and Yaoyorozu cleared her throat and closed her eyes.
"Eijirou," she said and for a moment, it was as if the winds of winter themselves had blown through the room. The corners of the room seemed to stretch and go dark, like the shadow plane was clawing its way into reality, bit by bit through unseen crevices and cracks. "Eijirou. Can you hear me?"
The metal device screeched again and suddenly, Kirishima's voice was coming from the thing. His mouth wasn't moving, his eyes were still closed, but somehow, he was speaking through Yaoyorozu's device.
"Who are you?"
"WAKE UP YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Bakugou screamed.
Silence and for a moment, Kaminari thought that Kirishima was lost to them all.
"I don't understand."
"You need to listen to my voice," Yaoyorozu said before Bakugou could interrupt her again. "Follow my voice. You can do it."
"It's so dark...I can't move really well."
"That's right. You need to overcome that, then you can come back home. Your friends are waiting for you. They're worried. You need to come back. Fight against the darkness."
For a long moment, nothing happened; Yaoyorozu's eyes were still closed and Kirishima didn't communicate at all. Then, quieter than before and sounding far away, Kirishima's voice sounded from the device: "who was the other person?"
Bakugou seized upon the chance, leaning over the metal device to yell down into it.
"IT'S ME."
Kaminari had never been more tempted to sock Bakugou in the face.
"I don't know," Kirishima said, his voice coming out in a rush. "I don't know. I don't understand. It's too much." He was sounding more and more diminished as he spoke and Kaminari couldn't stand the thought of losing his friend.
"It's Denki!" he shouted. "The older kids used to beat us up, remember? And then we got our quirks and when they tried, we beat them! You told me your name the only time we ever got our revenge! I told you mine too! Remember that? You have to wake up!"
"I knew a Denki," Kirishima said, though he sounded confused. "Yeah, I knew him."
"This is Mina!" Ashido yelled. "Eijirou, you broke my heart when you left to become a knight. But you told me your name anyway because even though you didn't feel the same way, you thought I was someone special. I told you my name too, because I knew that I'd get over you. Wake up, Eijirou, wake up so we can laugh together again!"
"I remember that," Kirishima said and this time, he was louder. "Behind the water tower. I broke her heart, but she smiled...I can't remember how she looked like, but I know she smiled."
"Keep calling to him," Yaoyorozu instructed.
Next went Midoriya, who exchanged names with Kirishima on the most depressed night of his life, when he thought he was unable to become a knight. Kirishima had been there and listened to him and was the shoulder for him to cry on.
Uraraka went after. Her and Kirishima had both worked in the save and rescue squad and after a mission that resulted in more bodies than they both would have liked, they leaned on each other for support. He told her his name and she told him her's.
All eyes turned to Bakugou. He was wearing the nastiest scowl while sporting the ruddiest cheeks ever.
"Your turn," Yaoyorozu prompted.
"We never exchanged names," Bakugou said, glaring down at Kirishima's face. "You never told me and I don't tell just anyone my name. I never figured out why you liked me or even tried to be my friend in the first place. You need to wake up, right now, or I will punch you in the face."
Uraraka actually reached out and smacked Bakugou in the back of the head.
"You touch me again, I will rip your hand off your arm," he threatened.
"He's not talking, which means you've confused him," she hissed. "Tell him something solid. Something he remembers. And stop making threats. What if he doesn't come back?"
That seemed to get through to him and he stopped, pursed his lips as he thought, choosing his words carefully.
"Are you important to me?" came Kirishima's voice, sounding further away than ever. It was as if all their work coaxing Kirishima to come out of the darkness had been for naught and if they lose him like this, because Bakugou was too constipated to say what he needed to say, then Kaminari was going to shock him for all he was worth.
"Do you remember what the instructors kept saying? 'A knight has to be well-rounded in all things.' You were the worst student in the program when it came to your letters and numbers. You were failing your studies and of all people, you came to me asking for help. To this day, I still don't know how you goaded me into helping you, but you were a terrible learner. You couldn't sit still. You couldn't concentrate. You didn't like the silence. But for some reason, you continued to ask me for help and I stuck by you. Slowly, but surely, we got your grades up.
You need help again now, so I'm here to help you. I don't know how important I am to you, since you have so many other people that you entrust your name to, but you're important to me. You matter to me and I need to tell you that. So, fucking hell, wake up. Fight the darkness and wake up."
There was silence. Just silence.
"Please," said Bakugou and if he sounded just a bit broken, Kaminari pretended not to hear it. "Wake up. My name is Katsuki and you need to come back to me."
The device started to screech again and Yaoyorozu opened her eyes and moved it away and the noise cut off abruptly. The shadows that had been creeping forward the whole time receded, returning the room to normal. Kaminari shivered, relishing the warmth that returned with the disappearance of the shadow plane.
"What? What does that mean?" Ashido cried.
"He's back," Yaoyorozu said, a small, tired smile upon her lips. "He's just sleeping now."
Kaminari woke up to the sound of hushed talking. He opened one eye to spot Kirishima sitting up in bed and Bakugou perched next to him, the both of them looking far too serious for the time of night it was. A quick glance around the room confirmed that everyone else was either faking sleep or actually asleep very quietly; there was no snores that Kaminari had become accustomed to from this group of people.
"-fuck were you in the Endless? Do you know how fucking hard it was to track you down?"
"Sorry."
Kirishima even had the gall to sound sheepish and Kaminari would have piped up too because he wanted to know the exact reason why the man disappeared for a month only to turn up in the Endless, practically dead and would have died if Bakugou and them hadn't rescued him.
But this wasn't the time nor the place for Kaminari and his worries. He could ask later, when he wasn't pretending to eavesdrop.
"Also, how many people did you fucking tell your name to?" Bakugou demanded to know.
"To everyone that needed to know," Kirishima replied. He smiled then, and brought their foreheads together despite the angry scowl Bakugou was wearing. It was like everyone that Kaminari knew wasn't actually terrified of Bakugou and his violent, man-killing ways. "My name's Eijirou," said Kirishima, his eyes soft as he gazed up at Bakugou.
Kaminari had never seen his best friend look at anyone like that before and he felt like he was intruding on an intensely private moment, but he couldn't look away without alerting them that he was awake.
"Katsuki," Bakugou said and then dug his hands into Kirishima's hair, pulling their faces together into a kiss. It was long and slow, almost chaste even, and so filled with care that it made Kaminari turn red watching. "You scared me, you fucker. Don't do this again or I'll kill you for real."
"You know, I heard everybody when I was in the shadow plane," Kirishima whispered. "But I heard you most of all, telling me to wake up and come back. So I did. I came back for you."
From this angle, Kaminari couldn't really see Bakugou's grin; he just knew that the Knight of Red Flowers was grinning ear to ear at that because his next words were simple and so cocky of him that Kaminari almost laughed and gave himself away.
"Damn straight. You never could resist me."
End