A/N: Hey guys! So I've been out of the fanfic scene for awhile now. Trying to get back into it.
So I discovered BNHA about 6 months ago and I love it. I like the story, the characters, everything.
I'm having withdrawals since I caught up with the anime and manga both and decided to write my own story with the characters. I hope I can entertain some of y'all as well.
Obviously, I'm a big fan of Kirishima. I feel I can really relate to him because he is full of self-doubt about whether or not he can become a hero. I think the manga chapter(s?) with him in middle school were my favorite. And not just because Mina was in them.
Anyway, I wanted to write a story where Kirishima is faced with a life changing problem that he can't just punch away. And explore his relationship with Mina and the others.
I really really appreciate reviews (who doesn't) because they indicate to me I am doing a good job OR they contain feedback that can give me ideas for the story or to help me grow. Please read and enjoy and review!
Chapter 1: This? This is nothing!
"-and then this girl pulls off her own head, right?"
Denki Kaminari pulled the collar of his loose fitting black and yellow Henley up to past his forehead to give the appearance of a headless ghoul. He raised his arms and shuffled towards his classmate Mineta Minoru, raising a hollow moan before he ruined the illusion by tripping over his own too big pajama bottoms and going ass-over-teakettle.
Laughter enveloped the room as an undaunted Kaminari continued his story as if he had not just taken an embarrassing tumble in front of his best buds.
"And Mina, oh my god guys, Mina loses her shit so hard that she actually grabs hold of my boy Grape Nuts over here."
He jerked his thumb at Mineta, who had a million-dollar grin on his face, his fingers laced together behind his head. Izuku Midoriya scratched his head.
"Was that due to her Quirk or something? The girl pulling off her head?"
"I dunno man; we went to the haunted house, remember? I think she was a…zombie? I couldn't really tell." Kaminari. He opened his mouth to continue but was cut off.
"She pressed her boobs right into my face without me having to ask! Pretty much the best day of my life!"
"BUT that wasn't the best part! She totally gets stuck to his Quirk, right? So, she's over the zombie-girl by now and I guess her rational side came back and- "
"-and she told me she would melt my whole head if I didn't let her go! What's Ashido's problem anyway?"
"Mineta!" Class Rep Tenya Iida. "How could you use your Quirk in such a shameful manner? It sounds like you got off easy."
Iida's stern face lightened somewhat; he smirked at his smaller purple classmate.
"Although I wish I could have seen the look Ashido bestowed on you. From what Kaminari says, it was quite frightening."
"Duuuuuude it was terrifying. I was pretty sure Mineta was going to pee his pants. Even the zombie-girl backed off. Anyway, she grabbed Hagakure and stormed off ahead. When we got out of there, they were gone."
"You think that's why she's not replying to my texts?"
Kaminari, back on his feet at this point, sauntered over to the speaker, Eijiro Kirishima, and ruffled his hair and draped his arm around the other boy's shoulders. He used his free hand to gesture around the packed dorm room.
"Man, who the fuck cares? Don't worry about it; she'll text ya sooner or later. Besides, Mineta didn't do it on purpose- "Mineta frantically nodded his head, his purple and black hair bobbing with the movement. "-and he even apologized. Well, he shouted "SORRY you pushed your boobs in my face!" as they took off. But for him, that's progress."
Kaminari took a breath.
"So, how's about you put the phone away and you and I join up with Mineta and Sero and beat those losers in the next room?"
The group of first years, including Izuku Midoriya, Tenya Iida, Denki Kaminari, Eijiro Kirishima, Mineta Minoru, and Fumikage Tokoyami, were squeezed into the room of their classmate Hanta Sero on the 5th floor of their dorm on the UA campus. Tokoyami was lounging in Sero's hammock while the rest of the boys where crowded together on one side of the room; Iida, Midoriya, and Kaminari had taken over Sero's bed as their makeshift couch while the other three boys flopped down in bean bag chairs. Sero began to pass out controllers to Mineta, Kirishima, and Kaminari. He grabbed the fourth controller and, after a moment of thought, tossed it to Midoriya who, surprised as he was, snatched it out of the air. The green haired youth looked shocked before raising his eyebrow at Sero.
"H-H-Hey what are you doing, Sero? I've never played this game before."
Sero groaned. Dammit, Midoriya.
"You'll catch on fast, man. Besides, it's all good fun. Who cares if we win?"
"You shut your filthy whore mouth, Sero!" Kamanari. "I actually want to beat Bakugo this time."
Sero rounded on him.
"Not so loud, du- "
"WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST HEAR? YOU LOSERS AIN'T GOT SHIT ON US!" The shout echoed from the next room.
"-ude." Finished Sero lamely, his head slumping to look at the ground.
Across from Team Sero was a 60-inch OLED television, which normally was one of several scattered around the first floor of the dorm but had been relocated, along with one of its fellows, to sit before the group of young men. Sero himself had supplied the gleaming black Xbox One S that sat to the side. Although they couldn't see it, an identical television and game console, this one belonging to Midoriya, was set up in the room on the other side of the wall. Todoroki's room.
In truth, Shouto Todoroki was none too fussed about having five other guys crammed into his room but he also was very aware of the fact that it had been absolute ages since the boys of class 1-A had done anything like this together. Sure, they had bonded over training, classwork, that time the League of Villains had shown up, personal injuries, that other time the League of Villains had shown up, the time the Yakuza had shown up, and finally, the challenge of the Cultural Festival.
But they had never just…hung out and done guy stuff. Like staying up super late and playing video games.
It had been Ojiro Mashirao who had suggested this particular game to the rest of them; apparently someone at his gym had a brother in America and they played it together nearly every night. It hadn't taken much convincing to get the rest of the boys on board, apart from Katsuki Bakugo, not that anyone was surprised when the explosive blond immediately dismissed their idea as "fucking stupid". However, Bakugo was getting predictable, as one well-placed barb from Kaminari was enough to get him to do a complete 180 and announce "I'MA DESTROY YOU NERDS! ESPECIALLY YOU, DEKU!"
("What did I do?" squeaked an exasperated looking Midoriya.)
The game of the night was Halo 2: Anniversary Edition. A cable trailed along the floor, running under both Sero's and Todoroki's doors, and linking the two systems. The LAN party had gotten a relatively late start of 2300 as setting up the systems and moving the televisions had to wait until the Cultural Festival was over. Saying their goodnights to the girls, many of whom rolled their eyes and mouthed 'boys' to each other, the men of class 1-A had met up to decide on teams. Kouda Koji had opted out, much to the protest of his classmates, but they eventually relented as they knew he had a pet to take care of.
Still going strong at 0132, the boys found themselves about to start the fourth match of what had turned out to be a well-matched night of gaming; no one group was clearly dominating the other. In fact, the leader in terms of kill/death ratio turned out to be Mineta of all people, who was surprisingly good at forming strategies, followed closely by Mezo Shoji; the third-place spot was held by Sero. Much to his dismay and fury, Bakugo was middle of the pack as his fiery temper was apparently not a good match for the shooter.
Team Todoroki ("It's my room, Bakugo." "SCREW YOU, ICY HOT!") had barely scrapped a win in the last game; the group had previously agreed that the winning team could select the next map to play on. Yuga Aoyama suggested Warlord and the game begun in earnest. Aside from Bakugo (FUCK OFF I WANT THE SWORD! I'LL KILL YOU!), the microphone chat was mostly lighthearted as most of the boys exchanged good-natured barbs or casual chitchat; that was until Mineta dropped a bombshell.
"So, who do you think has the best rack in our class?"
There was a deafening silence from both groups as Mineta's comment hung on the air. In Sero's room, Iida dropped his soda can in shock; he glared over the top of his glasses at his classmate. His coming lecture was cut off as each of the players with a microphone begin to chime in.
"Momo." Todoroki.
"Momo." Ojiro
"Ashido." Kirishima.
"Momo." Kaminari.
"Tsuyu." Mineta.
"Ashido." Shoji.
"Uraraka." Midoriya.
"Uraraka." Sato.
…
"How could you all say that about our classmates?" Iida.
"Sorry, dudes. Iida grabbed my headset." Kaminari. They could hear him speaking in the background to Iida. 'It's just guy talk, man. Loosen up.'
"So, it looks like Momo wins, huh?" Mineta, before…
"Why are you guys encouraging him?" Iida. In the background.
The banter continued, adding background to the noises emanating from the television and the boys sharing the small room.
Kirishima began to feel a pressure building on his temples; the voices in the room started to blend together. The red-haired Hero ground his pointy teeth and shut his eyes against the suddenly blinding light in the room. As the pounding in his head began to increase in rhythm from a simple cadence to a complicated tattoo, he placed his controller on the ground and pressed both hands to the areas behind his ears.
Around him, the banter continued.
"- all I'm saying is that costume doesn't leave much to the imagination." Mineta.
"Yeah, but it's practical for her Quirk, isn't it?" Todoroki.
"Hey what grade did you guys get on Mike's test the other day?" Shoji.
"I thought I bombed it but when it came back it turned out a major bombed it." Sato.
"Speaking of bombs how DO YOU LIKE A STICKY BOMB?" Mineta.
"Hey who isn't moving? We're gonna lose" Midoriya.
"…Kirishima, are you ok, man?" Kaminari.
"What's going on?" Todoroki.
"He's holding his head and, like, grimacing. Hold on, guys." Kaminari.
"What's happening?" Shoji.
"He's stumbling his way to the bathroom. Pffff he just ran into a wall. Are you drunk, dude?" Mineta.
"Guys, I think he's throwing up." Kaminari.
"Should we tell someone?" Ojiro.
Kirishima took a sip of water, swished it around, and spat it into back the sink. He fumbled for the door handle and turned the lights out as he exited the bathroom. He found himself face to face with Kaminari. The blond looked at his friend with a worried expression in his eyes.
"Kiri, are you ok?"
Kirishima braced himself and grinned, his pointy teeth exposed. He pointed a thumb back over his shoulder.
"You mean this? It's nothing. I think I ate some bad food or something. I really need to learn how to cook." He added with a grin, hoping for a few laughs. When none came, he let his smile drop.
"Sorry about this, but I'm going to jet. I haven't been sleeping well lately and for some reason I'm so tired all the time. Night, guys. Kick Bakugo's ass."
"KIRISHIMA!"
Kirishima winced and turned his back on the group. He opened Sero's door and stepped out in the hallway at exactly the same moment as class 1-A's resident hothead. Bakugo walked right up to him.
"Don't lie to me, Kirishima! Are you sick or not?"
"Nah, it's just a bug – "
"THEN go the FUCK to bed, idiot!"
Wincing slightly, Kirishima nodded his goodnight and turned and padded towards the elevators at the end of the hall. Behind him, Bakugo watched his friend stagger down the hall, his face a cross of concern and anger. Kirishima reached the elevators and, after several tries, pushed the 'down' arrow. As the elevator began to rise, his right arm gave a slight jerk, followed by several more.
The doors opened and Kirishima all but stumbled into the lift; he took a deep breath and pushed the button for '4' one his first try. He silently hoped that no one was wandering around as the last thing he wanted was anyone to see him trip over his own feet or anything else less than manly.
Thankfully, the fourth floor was as empty as his stomach now was after his unexpected purging. Kirishima threw his door open harder than he meant to and closed it almost as forcefully. He quickly entered his own bathroom and brushed his teeth to get rid of the taste of sick that still lingered in his mouth.
He kicked off his slippers before removing his shirt. As he always did before bed, he stepped onto the scale that was next to this bathroom door. The number that flashed up was not what he had been expecting.
"Hmm that's another kilo lost. I guess I need to step it up in the gym!"
Still trying to ignore his pounding headache, Kirishima removed his cell phone to double check his alarm was set for the following morning. Even though it was Saturday, he liked to get up early and go for a run with Bakugo or Midoriya.
Kirishima frowned at the screen. A notification on the screen told him he had a text message. He quickly unlocked the phone to see who it was from.
Mina Ashido.
Feeling his heart skip a beat, Kirishima opened the message.
Hey, horn buddy! How was the obstacle course? Did you manage to beat Bakugo? Mineta totally peeved on me at the haunted house and I think I made him pee his pants! Have fun with whatever you guys are doing tonight!
XOXO Mina
Knowing Mina always signed her texts that way, Kirishima smiled to himself before attempting to set his cell phone down on his bedside table. Suddenly, his vision blurred, and his legs gave out, slamming his head into said bedside table before he slipped sideways onto his unmade bed. His head felt like it had burst open as he saw a flash of white light which slowly faded to black.