I recommend listening to Lauren Babic's cover of Everytime We Touch By Cascada for the car scene :D Enjoy!

Jiro talked to him the entire way to the Cheesecake Factory but he didn't hear any of it. He didn't hear what everyone ordered. He moved his mouth until it felt like a smile while they sang happy birthday. He ate from a slice of New York-style cheesecake but he barely tasted it.

He was in the abyss again.

"You okay, man?" Kiri asked.

Sero frowned. "You don't look very good."

His friends did a good job of pulling him up out of his darkness. But when he'd reached the point of no return there was only one thing that provided release from it.

And it involved a razor.

The urge to do it was suddenly overwhelming.

But a soft, warm hand on top of his did the impossible. The light returned to his eyes. Sound came back, if only for a moment. He turned to his right and looked at the girl who listened to him gush about his favorite anime.

"Let's go for a drive," she said.

"Ooooo a driiiiiive," Kiri and Sero jeered, giggling as the sugar from their desserts took full effect.

"She wants to go on a driiiiive."

"I bet it's a special drive - "

"What was that? You'll pay the check? Aaaw, thank you, guys. You're the best," Jiro smirked, pulling Kaminari to his feet and walking out of the restaurant.

"WAIT! I DIDN'T SAY THAT!"

"JIRO!"

"JIRO WE DIDN'T BRING THAT MUCH MONEY!"

"JIROO!"

~.~

The second Kaminair buckled in, Jiro started the car and turned up the volume on her stereo. "I need your help with something."

Kaminari looked at her with surprise. "You do?"

"Yeah." She slid a CD into the disk tray and pressed play. "I'm working on an alternative cover for a Cascada song. But it's a duet."

"Which song?"

"Every time we touch. Do you know it?"

Kaminari nodded quietly. "Yeah, I do."

"Would you sing it with me?"

He flushed red in the darkness. "I don't think I'm that good."

"You don't have to be," Jiro encouraged. "That's not the point. It doesn't need to be good. It just needs to be real."

Kaminari shrugged, hugging his chest. "I can try."

"I'll point at you when I want you to sing. Okay?"

He nodded. "Kay."

An instrumental track started playing and Jiro began singing.

I stiiiiiill hear your vooooice wheeeen you sleep next to meeee

I stiiiill feel your touch in my dreeeeeams

Forgiiiiive me my weakness but I don't know whyyyyy

Without you, it's hard to surviiiiiiiive

Cuz everytime we touch, I get this feeelinnnng -

She pointed at him.

"- And everytime we kiss, I swear I can flyyyy," he sang.

Can't you feel my heartbeat faaaast,

I want this to laaaaast,

Neeeeeed you by my siiiiide.

"CUZ EVERYTIME WE TOUCH, I FEEEEL THE STAAAATIIIIC!" Kaminari sang, actually getting into it.

And every time we kiss, I reach for the skyyyy!

"Can't you hear my heartbeat so, I can't let you gooooo!"

Both: WANT YOU IN MY LIIIIIIFE!

As the verses continued, Kaminari's singing turned into more of a roar. A scream. A deep growly sound he didn't know he'd been capable of making. He didn't realize it, but at a point, Jiro stopped singing. He kept going, singing at the top of his lungs. Somewhere in the middle of it he'd closed his eyes. The drums. The guitar. All of it reverberated through him. He felt it leaving his chest. Down his arms out of his hands. The music acted like a flood of water, washing away the blockage in his mind until it flowed through him in a steady stream. He didn't stop until the song finished.

When the music ended, he was breathing hard. Sweat dripped down his neck. But he didn't want to cut himself anymore.

He turned and looked at Jiro. Her eyes shone with an emotion he didn't have a name for. But he'd seen it on people when they met their idols or accomplished something impossible.

"Where have you been all my life?" she whispered brokenly, taking his face in her hands and kissing him.

It was the closest he'd ever felt to pure joy. For once, he didn't feel weighed down by sorrow. He'd forgotten all about the conversation with his parents. About everything. Jiro's kisses were tender and sweet. The best medicine. Healing his heart, one kiss at a time. Breathing life into a person who'd been born dead.

He didn't know for sure how long they kissed, but it was long enough to get through an entire album. The stereo clicked after it got done playing the CD's last song.

Finally, she pulled away. Jiro had flushed cheeks. Glistening eyes, shiny with unshed tears. "You'd make a great musician," she whispered.

"You think so?" he asked, slightly dazed.

She nodded. "You don't just have passion. You have pain."

Kaminari stared at her with wide eyes. Without saying a word, this girl had seen into his soul. And she didn't run away from the darkness. She took its hand and walked with it, leading it down the path of light.

"Pain can be beautiful," she said, kissing Kaminari's lightning bolt. "Like yours. Don't try to hide it. Let it out."

"I can't," he said, shaking his head. "I'd scare everyone."

"Then share it with me," she urged, hugging him close. "I'm not afraid."

In the darkness of her car, as he laid his head on her shoulder, he told her everything. About his parents' ultimatum. The cloud that had hung over him all his life with all the weight of a cinder block. And above all, how much he wanted it all to end.

She drove him back home. As quietly as possible, he snuck her in by the hand and together they packed what they could fit into two suitcases and a backpack. Within two hours, he'd moved in with her.

He never saw his parents again.

~.~

One week later...

Jiro showed Kaminari all of the closing procedures for Hot Topic. As they were leaving, Kaminari caught sight of the black-haired store manager of Spencers who he met just that morning.

"Love?" she asked him, tugging gently on the sleeve of his hoodie. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just uh...I wanna talk to him quick."

"Dabi?" Jiro asked, raising an eyebrow. "Okay. I'll wait in the car."

Kaminari waited until Jiro walked outside. Then he briskly made his way over to Keigo and Dabi.

"Hi, guys," he said shyly.

"Ayyyeee," Keigo said with a grin and a wave. "Amoretto Kiss, right? How was your first day?"

Kaminari smiled. Genuinely, this time. "It went great. Everyone's really nice. Even Bakugo."

Keigo snickered. "You're dating Jiro. Of course, he was nice to you."

Dabi shot Keigo a look.

He got the message. "I'll uh...I'll meet you in the parking lot, Dabs."

The mall was still and quiet after the echoes of the closing entrance door dissipated.

Dabi sat down on a bench, facing him. "What's up, Kid?"

Kaminari swallowed nervously. "You were the one in the parking lot the other night."

"Yes, I was," Dabi answered honestly.

The young blonde shifted his weight a few times before talking again. "How did you know? That...that I'm like you?" he asked quietly.

He didn't hesitate. "The hoodie was a dead giveaway. You also do this thing where you put on a smile when you realize someone's looking at you. I used to do that too."

He flushed awkwardly. "But you're better. Right?"

Dabi shrugged. "For me it was easy. All I had to do was move out of my parents' house. Everything got better after that. I fell in with a rough crowd for a while but in their own twisted way, they took care of me. Then I moved here. Started a new life. But I don't think your depression can be treated that easily."

Kaminari blinked. "Depression?"

Dabi blinked back. "What did you think you have?"

"I...I don't know, I just...my parents said - "

" - Are either of your parents professional psychologists?"

Kaminari shook his head. "My mom's a teacher and my dad works at a Firm - "

" - Then fuck your parents," Dabi said softly. A darkness fell over his face. "Whatever bullshit they fed you...calling you lazy. Stupid. Useless. Claiming it was all in your head. None of it was true."

Kaminari teared up. "How...how - "

" - because my father told me the same thing. But the truth is the only people who understand what this feels like are people who have been through it. Like you. And me. Your parents are the ones who were lazy. And stupid. And useless. They saw your pain and ignored it. They didn't make an effort to understand you or your condition. If it's all in your head then it allows them to escape responsibility. But none of this is your fault."

Kaminari slowly sunk until he'd fallen to his knees. Despite his best efforts to hold them back, tears flowed down his face. But for once they weren't out of pain. An overwhelming, immeasurable wave of relief washed over him. Finally. Finally. Someone put it into words. Finally, his fears and his suffering had been validated. Acknowledged. He wasn't alone.

"I…" Kaminari gasped out with his eyes closed, "I n-need help."

In a rare display of tenderness, Dabi placed his hand on top of Kaminari's head, patting it gently. "Don't worry, Kid. We'll do what we need to do to get you better."

Dabi gave him his number. Secretly they scheduled a meeting with a nearby Psychiatrist. After an hour of talking, Kaminari was formally diagnosed with chronic depression. Dabi drove him to Walgreens for his prescription pick-up and to all of his appointments after that.

"Dabi, can you promise me something?" Kaminari asked one night as Dabi drove him home.

"What is it?"

"Don't tell anyone about this. Please."

Dabi sighed. "I don't make a habit of blabbing people's business. But...you're not even gonna tell your own girlfriend?"

Kaminari smiled. "She decided she's gonna help me with school. Get my G.E.D. and enroll in classes at the community college. If Kyoka knows I have this...maybe she won't push me as hard. But when she says she believes in me and knows I can do something...she makes me believe it myself. I don't want to ruin that. I want to be the person she thinks I am."

Dabi shook his head. "I get that line of thinking. Really, I do. But she's gonna find out eventually. Especially if you're living together."

"I want to get better," he said with determination. "Then I won't have to tell her. I can just be a normal guy who makes his girlfriend happy."

I'll do it for her, he thought. I'll do it for Jiro.