Trigger Warning for physical/emotional abuse, although it's only hinted at in this chapter.
Kirishima POV
I guess you could say I'm a happy guy. I've got a good, easy life, even though I don't try as hard as I should in school.
However, I've managed to keep my grades from slipping below C's because I try just hard enough to keep them that way. That's not what makes my life relatively pleasant and easygoing. The people I hang out with and spend literally all my time with are who make it all worthwhile.
Especially my best friend Denki Kaminari. He calls me Kiri, I call him Kami. I've only known him for as long as I've been going to U.A. but even then, we clicked together really well because we're a lot alike. We both like video games, we both manage to keep our grades at C's and no lower, and we just have similar personalities. We are literally the definition of fast friends, because I felt like I'd known him all my life by the end of the first day of school.
Now, I've got a stoneskin quirk, which means I can harden my entire body, making myself impervious to most (if not all) physical attacks. It's impossible to batter me down with brute strength, and I'm immune to any kind of force you hit me with. But that's only if I manage to harden my skin in time, so if you catch me off guard, you might have a shot at beating me.
I'm not the strongest, most powerful, unique guy at the school, and my quirk certainly isn't anything the world hasn't already seen many times over. But I really don't mind. I'm pretty confident with who I am, even if I'm not the sparkliest banana in the bunch (is that even an expression?).
Now that we've finished with all the boring introductions, I'd like to provide some backstory for how this little misadventure of mine came to be.
Kaminari is... Well, he's gay. And that's fine, I don't mind at all. He's dating this kid named Katsuki Bakugou. Now, Bakugou isn't the best person in the world. He's hot-headed, prideful, has the quickest and most explosive temper I've ever seen in my life, and he always radiates bad vibes. And yet Kaminari really, really likes him. They somehow ended up together. I didn't have a problem with it, even though something told me Bakugou wasn't the kind of person I wanted my best friend to be around.
But I started having a problem with it once Kaminari started showing up at my place or in class with bruises. He isn't the kind of guy who bruises easily. Sometimes we end up with painful marks after particularly rough training days, but he had way too many that showed up way too frequently for all of it to be blamed on training.
I noticed right away, and made sure to start asking the important questions more frequently because I had a pretty good idea where those marks were coming from. Generic questions like, "Are you doing okay?" "How are things between you and Bakugou going?" and "Is there anything you want to talk about?"
Kaminari is such a stubborn person. He always tells me that he's fine, that everything with Bakugou is absolutely great, and that he doesn't want to talk about anything in particular because nothing's going on.
I'm smarter than that. I know something is seriously wrong.
I just wish he felt comfortable enough to tell me. After all, I know he trusts me more than he trusts anyone else. Hell, I outrank Bakugou even when it comes to trust. And yet he won't just admit that Bakugou's been hitting him.
That's exactly what's going on.
Before you accuse me of jumping to conclusions, consider the evidence that's staring you in the face.
One, Kaminari always blames his bruises on something stupid, like falling or walking into a wall or something to that effect. He isn't a clumsy person at all. I can understand falling or walking into a wall every so often, but he uses the same excuses so often that it's really suspicious. He usually moves with a smooth, fluid grace, and is generally aware of his surroundings. So it's physically impossible that he's falling or walking into things as often as he says he is.
Two, all these bruises didn't start showing up until after he started dating Bakugou, who is a known aggressive, violent person that often goes way too far when he's angry. And he's always angry. Bakugou is also notorious for resorting to physical violence simply because he's a lot stronger than most of the students in class 1A, so he could easily overpower Kaminari if he wanted to. He's also just generally the type of person to take advantage of those smaller and weaker than him.
Three, and this is something I didn't mention before, but Kaminari started acting strange. Really strange. He's usually a super easygoing, chill guy who's totally okay with physical contact. He's given me hugs before. But after he started dating Bakugou, all that suddenly stopped and was replaced by a genuine fear of being touched. And I noticed that the fastest. Kaminari started flinching whenever anyone touches him, even if it's accidental, like brushing his shoulder with an arm while trying to walk past him in a crowded hallway. He also started acting extremely uneasy whenever someone touches him, like he's afraid they're gonna hurt him. That really bothers me, because I know something's seriously wrong.
I can't help him until he admits what's really going on. But he's stubborn and young, so he probably still thinks Bakugou loves him and that physical abuse is normal.
The thing about domestic violence is the victim often gets into the mindset that it's fine, that it's normal, that they deserve it. But it's never okay to hit your partner, no matter how many mistakes they make. Kaminari isn't a bad person, he deserves so much better than that. But I can't figure out how to save him so long as he doesn't want to be saved.
"Kiri!"
My head shot up at the sound of a familiar voice, and I realized I must've nodded off in the middle of class... Again.
Kaminari sits in front of me in all my classes, so now he was twisted around in his seat so he could look at me, an amused, playful grin on his face. He really was a good-looking guy, I thought to myself.
"Did you enjoy your nap, sleeping beauty?" he asked, teasingly.
I reached out to bat at his head in retaliation, he dodged my hand with ease. "Oh, shut up, Kami. What time is it? And why didn't you wake me up sooner?" I grumbled.
"You fell asleep in the last two minutes of class, baka, and somehow slept through the bell. We're the only ones left in here, everyone else went back to their dorms for the day. Tch. Dumbass." he explained with a snicker.
"Fair enough." I grinned and pulled my head off the desk. Man, I was sleepy. I needed to break the bad habit of falling asleep in the last class of the day. The teacher, Mr. Aizawa, was starting to get really annoyed with me. "Hey, do you wanna come back to my place and play Call of Duty for a bit?" I offered, as I learned down to gather my books into my backpack.
"Yeah, sure. I don't have plans for tonight anyway, you know me." Kaminari shrugged and stretched his arms above his head before slinging his backpack over one shoulder and standing up.
"You don't? I thought you were going out with Bakugou. Did he cancel again?" I asked, zipping up my backpack before standing up beside him.
"Yeah. Yeah he did." the smaller boy made a face and looked down at the floor, suddenly unable to meet my gaze. I had a feeling he didn't want me to see how disappointed he was. "But it's pretty normal so I don't mind. A night playing video games sounds fun anyways."
"You sure? Hey, man, if he's treating you like shit just tell me and I'll have a serious bro-to-bro talk with this guy. You know I'm here for you, right?" I put a friendly hand on his shoulder.
He immediately flinched and shrugged out of my grasp before letting out a shaky breath, as if he'd been afraid I was going to hurt him. "I know. You've told me. Repeatedly." he mumbled, shuffling his feet. "But you don't have to worry so much. Everything is fine."
Something about the way he said the word "fine" really bothered me, but I didn't mention it because prying for answers wouldn't get me anywhere. I just sighed and shook my head sadly.
"Okay, I trust you. Let's get out of here." I slipped past him and hurried out of the classroom, eager to escape the tense conversation.
Kaminari followed me without another word. He was only a couple inches shorter than me, with yellow-blonde hair that had a positively adorable black lightning bolt dyed horizontally across the left side. He had honey-golden eyes that always sparkled with childlike youth and wonder, and milky-pale skin that faintly reflected the dim light of the empty hallway. He had sharply defined facial features, like his slanted eyes and sharp jawline. Overall, he had a really thin frame. He was a very skinny guy, but I still found him extremely attractive, if I'm to be completely honest with myself.
I'm demisexual, not many people know that about me. Kami knows, of course he knows. He just doesn't know that I've got feelings for him. After all, I can only fall for someone who I have a really close bond with. Someone I trust with my life. And he's the only person in my life right now that fits those requirements. Because he's so wrapped up with Bakugou, he never even considered the fact that he's my closest friend so it's highly likely of me to develop feelings for him.
I glanced over my shoulder at him, and frowned when I noticed the dark mark just barely visible beneath the collar of his beige school uniform. A new bruise. It had only been two days since the last new bruise. It was happening more often. And that didn't sit well with me at all.
I made a mental note to ask him about it later, and turned my eyes forward, paying attention to where I was going rather than focusing on the bruise.
"Kiri?" his familiar voice called out, voice soft and tentative, as if he were afraid to speak.
"Yes, Kami?"
"Thank you for... Ya know... Being so concerned for me and stuff. It really means a lot to me, and it's super nice to know that you care enough to ask so many nosy questions." he let out a laugh that was somewhere between nervous and amused.
"Yeah, anytime, bud. Like I've said many times before, I'm always here if you ever need to talk to someone. Just give me a call if you ever need anything at all, okay?" I reminded him, even though I was sure he hadn't forgotten. I just wanted him to know he could talk to me about what was obviously going on.
The fact he was thanking me for being so worried was a huge victory in my opinion. It meant he was one step closer to admitting that his boyfriend was abusing him. And the evidence was cruelly painted onto his pale skin.
When we got to my dorm, Kaminari pushed past me with a smirk and opened the door on his own. We both had keys to each other's dorms, that's how much we trusted each other.
"Glad to see you haven't changed the locks yet, means I'm not nearly as annoying as Aizawa thinks I am." he remarked with a chuckle.
"No offense but Aizawa's a grumpy bitch. You shouldn't waste your time with him." I laughed.
"Aight, I'm gonna go change." he stepped inside and fished a change of clothes out of his backpack before scampering off into the bathroom to change into them. "I'll be right back, don't set anything on fire while I'm gone."
"No promises." I shot back, as he closed the door behind him.
I changed out of my school uniform as quickly as possible and put it back in my closet before changing into gray sweats and a red T-shirt the same color as my hair. I always moved fast when it came to changing clothes because I didn't want Kaminari to walk in on me by accident. No matter how close we were, that would be extremely awkward.
Only a few moments later, when I was sitting on the floor in front of my TV setting up the console controllers, the bathroom door opened and Kaminari stepped out. He was clad in ripped black jeans and a dark gray shirt with a cartoon lightning bolt on the front. It suited him, I thought to myself. The fresh bruise on his neck was a lot more obvious now, although I could tell right away that he'd tried to hide it.
"Hey." I greeted, trying not to stare at the swollen mark on his neck.
It was too large and too dark to be a hickey, I thought to myself, and it was in too weird a place for it to be caused by falling or walking into something. I knew right away that I wasn't gonna buy any of his excuses for how it had happened.
"Hey, Kiri. Which game are we playing?" Kaminari practically glided into the room and sat down cross-legged beside me.
"Is black ops two okay?" I asked, turning on the TV and getting the game set up.
"Oh, yeah, definitely. That's my favorite." he clapped his hands like an excited child, grinning like a bright little sunbeam.
His smile was contagious. I found myself smiling a little as well, even though I was currently contemplating all the ways I was going to kill Bakugou for daring to hurt sweet, precious little Kami like this.
The thought suddenly crossed my mind that Kaminari wasn't telling me what was going on because he was scared. Bakugou might've threatened him in some way.
"Hey, before we get started, do you want something to eat?" I stood up and wandered into my little kitchen to fix up some snacks for the both of us.
"Oh hell yeah." Kaminari replied.
I brought in a bowl of pretzels for us to share, and as I bent over to set it down, I pretended to notice the bruise on his neck for the first time.
"Oh... What's this?" I tugged lightly at the collar of his shirt, revealing more of the nasty mark. It was a lot bigger than I thought, it covered some of his shoulder as well.
"It's nothing." His eyes widened slightly and he nudged me away so he could cover the bruise with one hand. "I tripped and fell on my way into class today. But I'm fine, don't worry." I grimaced at that. I knew he was lying, we had walked to class together and he hadn't fallen on our way there.
"In any case, that's one hell of a nasty bruise. Do you want some ice or something for it? Looks like it hurts." I offered, brow furrowed with worry.
"It does kinda hurt but don't worry about it. I'll take some ibuprofen or something when I get home." he shrugged, trying to make it seem like it wasn't that big of a deal. I knew otherwise.
"Promise?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah, sure. I promise."
Satisfied, I sat down again and we started to play. I couldn't really focus on the game, though. All I could think about was the swollen black-and-blue mark on my best friend's neck and shoulder. I knew, I just knew that Bakugou was hurting him. There was no other logical explanation. But I could think of no good way to get Kami to confess it, either. I was seriously tempted to sit him down and tell him that I knew exactly what was going on and I wasn't going to tolerate it any longer. Then I'd storm off and beat Bakugou senseless.
That wasn't the right way to do it. Kami would hate me if I just forced it out of him like that. And I didn't want to ruin our precious friendship like that.
"Focus up, Kiri! You keep dying!" Kaminari suddenly exclaimed, and I realized I had zoned out just thinking about it. I was currently losing the game by six kill points.
"Oh shit, sorry." I scrambled to start playing again.
In the end, Kami still won the game by twenty-one points because he's really good at gaming. Give him an inch and he takes a yard. I laughed off the defeat because he and I both understand that it's just a game. There was some friendly back-and-forth banter about how I wasn't paying enough attention which led to my downfall, but it was all good-natured. That's what I really like about Kami. He doesn't take things too seriously.
An awkward silence followed our post-game goofing off. We were sitting on the floor, doing literally nothing at all. Kaminari was staring at the ground, and I was staring at Kaminari, wishing I knew how to break the silence correctly.
I'm such a bad conversation-starter.
Fortunately, Kaminari took care of that himself. "Kiri?" he whispered, as he slowly looked up to meet my gaze.
My expression contorted into one of concern when I realized his eyes were wide and glassy, filled with tears. Tears that would never fall, because he quickly blinked them away.
"Yes, Kami?" I replied.
"You asked if there was anything I wanted to talk about, and... Well... This sounds so stupid, but..." he was suddenly stammering, as if afraid. He started fidgeting anxiously, and dropped his gaze to the floor once again.
I reached out and put my hand over his. He flinched, but didn't pull away. "Kami. Nothing sounds stupid, just tell me what's going on." I said, trying to reassure him.
He continued to wring his hands in silence for a moment longer. I waited patiently, knowing that all of this was really hard to talk about for him. I was hoping he was about to tell me what was going on with Bakugou. It really felt like he was.
"S-Sometimes I feel like Bakugou doesn't love me." He finally choked out, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Oh no... Could you tell me why, if you don't mind my asking?" I asked, as gently as possible.
He just shook his head and buried his face in his hands, refusing to say anything else on the matter. I didn't ask again. The fact he had told me that much was a huge victory, and I was extremely glad he did, even if he couldn't explain himself to me. He didn't have to, because I already knew. But at the same time, I couldn't do anything to help him until he confirmed the fact that he was being hurt. Violently hurt. Because he was denying it so much, I had a feeling that he couldn't tell me what was going on for fear of his own safety.
"Hey, it's okay." I told him, after a long moment of silence. He was still hiding his face, but now he peeked up at me from between his fingers. I could see hints of his sparkling golden eyes between the pale digits. "You know you can tell me anything. I've got your back. And if you ever feel unsafe or anything like that, my door's always open, okay? And if something bad is happening, do your best to call me and I'll come get you. Okay?"
He nodded slightly. "O-Okay..."
There was another long silence. I waited patiently for him to say something because I didn't want to disturb the quiet. Something told me he really needed the peace right now.
Finally, he took his hands away from his face and looked at me for a moment before quietly asking, "C-Can I give you a hug? I really need one right now."
"Of course." I scooted closer so I could slip my arms around him and pull him close.
He didn't flinch this time because he was expecting it and he wanted it. He buried his face in my shoulder and wrapped his arms around me in return, letting go a breath I hadn't known he was holding. It was like all the tension went out of his body right then and there, and it was a beautiful thing.
"Thank you, Kiri. I don't know what I'd do without you." he pulled away and stood up. "But I should probably get going now. Bakugou will be wondering where I went." I saw a hint of fear in his eyes as he spoke.
"Okay. Remember what I said. If anything happens at all, I'm here for you." I reminded him, just in case.
"Alright, thanks. I'll see you tomorrow." he smiled as he gathered up his things and started out the door.
I watched him go, feeling extremely satisfied with how today had gone. Kaminari had finally opened up just a little bit, but that little bit was all I needed to help him. To prove that I was gonna support him no matter what. He was finally starting to talk to me and tell me what he needed. That was extremely good.
I sighed as I stood up and turned off my TV. Maybe things would start getting better after all.
Kaminari POV
I was panicking.
This was bad. This was really, really bad.
"Bakugou's gonna kill me..." I whispered under my breath, as I reached my dorm room and fumbled with my keys, trying to unlock the door.
Why was I so upset?
Because my boyfriend Bakugou had canceled our date, so I stayed at Kirishima's place and played video games with him for awhile instead. But I lost track of time, and ended up staying there way later than I meant to. Which meant Bakugou would be angry with me.
...Which meant he was probably going to hit me again.
To be continued...
Ah yes, cliffhangers lol. Everyone's favorite. Anyway I hoped you enjoyed :) I'll see you guys next chapter, much love! Byeee!!! (Sorry for the short note, I just am really tired it's 12:40 in the morning lol...)
-UltimatexAdmin