Warnings
Friendship

Notes
Please let me know what you think! It means to world from me to hear from you all.


Izuku gently pushed in the door to the back of Club UA after typing the pin code into the door. He stepped into a dark corridor as the door swung shut behind him, waiting a moment for the automatic lights to switch on. They burst into existence all at once making Izuku squint at the bright lights, letting out a small hiss between his teeth.

Club UA was to the public eye a host and hostess club, however the rules here were made by the host's themselves, if they wanted to sell their bodies, that was up to them. The owner of the club, Toshinori Yagi, would rather his boys and girls do things like that where he could keep an eye on them and protect them. He knew only to well that if he didn't give them a safe place to do it they would just do it elsewhere and end up hurt. Izuku didn't sleep with any of his clients except for one, and even then it was just to get his hands on the next high.

He had been working at the club for well over a year now, since wandering in here one night after a one of Kaachan's more horrible games. He had been looking for a place to drink and Club UA were having an open casting night for potential new hosts. Drinks were on the house if you were interesting enough and Izuku was broke so he put on his best smile and fake confidence. Within an hour he had found himself sat with Toshinori Yagi or 'All Might' as everyone in the club called him.

All Might was intrigued by the boy in front of him, he could see beyond the fake smile and knew there was much more depth to Izuku than he was letting on. He also thought the green haired boy was outstandingly beautiful, witty and very easy to talk to. He had offered Izuku a job on the spot, shocked Izuku had agreed and here he was so many months later.

Izuku stumbled through the messy corridor, tripping slightly over the large boxes of bottles and cans. He cursed loudly when he knocked another box and it went toppling off of the pile it was on but thankfully it only had napkins in it. As he made his way further into the building he glanced into the offices and storage rooms that lined the corridor, not spotting anyone at all and feeling very relieved. He'd been dreading seeing someone before he'd had the chance to shower and change his clothes. He was overly conscious of the dried blood on his arm, matted hair and damp clothing, he knew if anyone saw him like this they would have a lot of questions.

Hurrying along the rest of the corridor he found the entrance to the staff changing room and pushed inside, noting as he did that he could hear the distant thud thud of music from the front of house, Present Mic was clearly here already but he knew the man wouldn't come down in the middle of his practice.

The door clicked shut behind him and Izuku lent against it to catch his breath. He hadn't realised he'd be panting, but the thought of getting caught in this state had sent his anxiety skyrocketing. He briefly closed his eyes, taking long steadying breaths before pushing away from the door and unconsciously tiptoeing to his locker.

Each host at UA had their own double lockers. They were floor to ceiling and big enough for a large amount of clothes, shoes, accessories and more. Izuku kept quite a few changes of clothes here and grinned at his organisation skills when he opened his locker. Without hesitation he slipped his jacket off then ripped off his shirt, wanting to get the smell of Kaachan and blood off of him as soon as possible. He discarded the shirt in the bottom of his locker with the other detritus that lived there, shivering at the sight of the blood on the shirt and his arm.

Izuku froze when get caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror hanging on the inside of one of the locker doors. 'I'm so pale' he mused to himself before taking in his many injuries. His torso was littered with bruises ranging from light red to green and purple. Numerous cuts and scrapes also covered him, along with the large gash in his forearm, which to Izuku's horror, he saw was still bleeding very slightly. Biting his lip he screwed his eyes up trying not to cry again 'It's just like Kaachan says, I'm pathetic and useless…' his thoughts trailed off as he opened his eyes again, taking in his own appearance, scars, bruises, cuts and scrapes, it definitely painted a picture, but not one Izuku wanted to examine any longer. Grabbing his wash bag he slammed his locker shut, trembling with anger, anger at himself for being such a waste of space.

He stalked into the shower room and grabbed some clean towels before picking a cubicle, locking himself in. He was doing everything he could to keep his mind occupied, trying not to analyse his feelings or current physical state, Instead he thought 'I wonder how much money I have stashed in my locker. I definitely have enough to buy a new phone. I should really pull it all out and count it up.' his mind rambling away to itself as he turned the shower on and waited for it to warm up. 'I know I'm good at this job, all the men here love me, they tell me I'm beautiful and funny, but they don't see how truly weak and pathetic I…' he cut himself off from the self destructive chain of thought as he pulled his pants off and hung them up over the door to the cubicle. 'Stupid Deku, don't think about that' he tried to change the subject of his internal dialogue shaking his head. 'I make decent tips here, really decent, I must have enough money to get a new phone. But I don't want something too fancy, Kaachan might break it again out of spite, I'd deserve it though…'

No matter what Izuku did his thoughts kept turning on him, making him miserable. In the end he just gave in to the despair clawing at the edges of his mind, wrapping his arms around himself tightly as he let the water beat down on his body.

Completely lost In his own head and focusing on the sound of the water rushing past his ears, he didn't notice as someone else entered the shower room and jumped with a slight yelp when they spoke right outside the cubicle.

"Hayy, who's in here?" the cheery voice spoke, Izuku recognised it immediately.

"Hay Kirishima, it's Deku In here," he spoke in a slightly strained voice having not spoken aloud for hours. Deku had become his stage name while working the club, preferring not to give his real name away m. He heard an intake of breath followed by a barking laugh.

"Deku bro! Welcome back, welcome back! I didn't know you were back tonight, glad you are though" Kirishima babbled as he entered the cubicle next to Izuku, turning the water on.

"hehe.. Thanks…" Izuku chuckled weakly at Kirishima's enthusiasm.

"Oh you've missed out on so much drama man! So. Much. Drama!" the redhead carried on at full speed and launched into a story about how one of the new hostesses Uraraka had been groped by a couple of the customers and Aizawa, one of the clubs senior bouncers, had kicked the hell out of them before throwing them out onto the streets.

Izuku closed his eyes as he let the water cascade over his body while rubbing at his skin till it was red raw. He was nodding along absentmindedly to Kirishima's story, adding yeah's and oh wow's at appropriate points but not really paying full attention. Instead he was now scratching at his skin, trying so hard to remove the smell and feel of Kaachan's touch. He was so engrossed in the task he jumped when Kirishima shut the water off and spoke "Come on, get out I've got so much more to tell you bro!" Izuku looked down at his hands in dismay clenching them into shaking fists and fighting back tears. 'Weak,' he thought again 'Weak and pathetic.'

Shutting off the water Izuku grabbed his towels and stopped dead. 'Shit' he thought to himself. 'What am I going to do?' he began to panic internally as he realised he hadn't brought a top in with him, only his pants and they were still damp from the rain. He cursed under his breath.

"Come oooonnn bro I'm waiting," Kirishima drawled out side the cubicle and lightly wrapped on the door trying to hurry Izuku along. 'I'm just going to have to wing it, I'll try and hide everything from him with the towels as I get dressed' Izuku thought, heart pounding in his ears. He wrapped one of the towels under his arms and threw the other over his head, drawing it in under his chin trying to cover up his neck. Kirishima carried on banging on the door until Izuku opened it up and stepped out. Kirishima's face broke out into a huge grin before bursting out. laughing. The redhead had his towel wrapped around his waist, chiseled chest on show and hair dripping down his shoulders. He threw his arm around Izuku's shoulders and guided him back to their lockers which were side by side. "Are you trying to be a nun now?" Kirishima continued to laugh and Izuku's cheeks flamed at the comment but didn't say anything in response.

When they got back to their lockers Kirishima wasted no time in launching back Into his retellings of the recent drama, apparently Midnight, one of the more mature hostesses had sent three men home crying after she had treated them to her speciality. But Izuku couldn't concentrate on the story his friend was relaying, instead focusing on every action he was making, first he carefully pulled on some clean boxers under the towel he was wearing and then some pants on over those. Kneeling he pulled some socks on and slipped on his comfy red high tops before standing again, drawing the towel tightly around him.

Kirishima had no shame and was butt naked behind Izuku, but Izuku had his back to the other boy as he concentrated on dressing. He quickly rummaged in his locker finding a black slim fitting shirt that he pulled out and carefully he dropped the towel under his arms to the floor and twisted to put the shirt on.

"You should have seen what All Might did next! I nearly died Deku! It was insane, he…" Kirishima broke off just as the towel from Izuku's head hit the floor, it had slipped as he had twisted to put the shirt on leaving his back completely exposed to the other boy. Kirishima drew in a sharp breath and without thinking Izuku turned to look at him revealing his chest and arms. Kirishima clasped his hands over his mouth eyes wide, locked on Izuku's chest.

"...What the Fuck…" Kirishima let out in a breathy whisper as he took in the green and purple skin covered in scratches. Izuku's face burnt with shame and embarrassment as he hastily pulled the shirt on while trying to turn his back on the other boy again, but Kirishima was too quick for him. He grabbed Izuku's wrist pulling him back round and earning a yelp of pain from the green haired boy. Kirishima pulled his hand away from Izuku as if he'd been burned and Izuku used the opportunity to button up his shirt, eyes down cast with shame.

Silence stretched between the two boys as Izuku finished buttoning his shirt, trembling fingers causing him to slip over the buttons. He felt so ashamed, 'Kirishima won't want to talk to me now, he'll be so disgusted by my body. Damnit I should have been more careful, idiot, idiot, idiot..' Izuku thought to himself over and over.

"Bro…" he spoke in a gentle voice, much to izuku's surprise. The green haired boy looked up at Kirishima with wide eyes and saw concern etched across his face.

"Who did this to you?" he said in a slow whisper. Izuku's mouth dropped open a little in surprise. 'He's not running away?' Izuku marveled at the boy in front of him for a moment still shocked by his reaction and then blinked. Before he could stop himself he threw up his walls, putting his hand on the back of his head and laughing awkwardly "It's nothing Kirishima! I just fell, that's it haha.." he fidgeted on the spot not making eye contact with his friend, trying to feign ignorance.

"Bullshit." Kirishima spat at Izuku making the smaller boy flinch, "That's the oldest line in the book Bro. Tell me what happened."

Izuku continued to fidget on the spot, dropping his hand back to his side and staring at the floor. His mouth had gone dry and he knew there was no way he could lie himself out of this.

"Come on Bro…" Kirishima whispered, stepping closer to Izuku and resting a hand on his shoulder for comfort. But Izuku couldn't speak, all of his voice had left him and he just stood there trembling while staring at the floor, eyes hidden in the shadow of his hair.

"Was it that boyfriend of yours, the blonde kid?" Izuku's head shot up and he stared at Kirishima in horror, how did he know about Kaachan?

"He came here once, remember? Looking for you, said you'd been missing for days…" Kirishima trailed off, at the dawning compression growing over Izuku's face.

"Kaachan isn't my boyfriend…" Izuku muttered, pulling away from Kirishima and twisting his hands in the hem of his shirt. 'he's definitely not my boyfriend, if anything he's my owner…' Izuku thought bitterly. "And he didn't do anything wrong." Izuku's voice grew more confident as he spoke, knowing his words to be the truth. "I'd hurt him. I'd been stupid and idiotic. I hadn't done what he'd told me to and I lied to him. I deserved it." Izuku finished with a glare at Kirishima, as if the other boy had been accusing him of something. The redhead frowned and shook his head.

"Izuku… You don't deserve to be treated like a punching bag no matter what you did," he said with pity in his words.

Izuku felt something inside him snap and he spat out "I never asked for your opinion Kirishima." Izuku turned on his heels and walked across the staff room before stopping and snapping once more "What I do is none of your business, got it?" without waiting for an answer Izuku swung the door open and stormed out of the room, door slamming behind him.

Kirishima stared at the door, flabbergasted at the the turn the conversation had taken. He stood there for a long moment before running his hand through his hair, while letting out a long breath he hadn't realised he was holding. "Bottling up your problems and not letting your friends help… So Unmanly dude…" Kirishima sighed, and vowed to himself he'd be there for Izuku when he inevitably needed someone.