The Dark Side of the Sun

by Spacepeeps

Kaminari was once one of the most skilled killers in history: a notorious assassin forced to murder for his villainous parents and their friends. At 13, he managed to escape that life. At 15, he enrolls in UA and finds the family he deserves. Everything's the same except Kami's secretly a BAMF Or: All the times 1-A got a hint about Kaminari's past and the one time they found out.

15. Meet-Up

HINT #14- The time Hawks came into town

The following two weeks went by much faster than Kaminari would've liked.

For as helpful as Nezu had been dropping the bombshell of the top heroes coming to stay at their school for a little while in advance, that still hadn't given Kaminari nearly enough time to figure out what the fuck he was going to do when he saw Keigo again.

Keigo Takami, or Hawks, as he was known to the general public, had always been unpredictable, even back in the day before he'd come anywhere near a professional hero. The man was about as spontaneous as they came, and with that, Kaminari had always had a hard time reading situations involving him, whether it be predicting his next move or examining his facial expressions.

Even when they were kids, when they had been the best of friends along with Himiko and Touya, Hawks had still been an outlier. Between all of their childish antics and the games they played, it was never really clear where he stood, whether his allegiance to them would overrule his devotion to the people that controlled him and his need to always make things a little more 'exciting.'

Kaminari could only hope it wasn't the latter. Logically, it wouldn't make sense for Hawks to expose him now in front of everyone when he'd known his secret longer than pretty much anyone, but that didn't quell the anxiety that had been bubbling under Kaminari's skin for the past fourteen or so days. He was a wildcard, morally ambiguous, and while inherently good (he was a pro hero, after all), he had about as dark of a part of the rest of them, shackled away by the confines of the black market and made to do things that would send shivers up a normal person's spine.

But out of the four of them, him, Touya, Himiko, and Kaminari himself, he had done the least amount of damage. He was...better than the rest of them, and in all his arrogant beauty, he had never been afraid to flaunt that.

All in good fun. Four dirty, bloodied up children, holed up in some dark alleyway, laughing and comparing victims for the week in a feeble attempt to pretend that, if given the opportunity, they wouldn't end themselves to get away from this torture right then and there. That had been their reality for years. The reality they had been forced to endure.

But they'd made it. Hawks had gotten out (somehow) and become a professional hero. He had always had an affinity for justice despite his conflicting views and hatred for the hero commission, which was why (to Kaminari's knowledge, thanks to some intel from Touya), he'd taken on the role of a double agent, working for both sides but at the same time working for neither.

Speaking of both sides, Himiko and Touya had gone in the opposite direction. They were far from evil, very far from it, but in their eyes, the heroes had failed them. Dabi's entire backstory was linked to his father being an absolute asshole, and Himiko, based on Kaminari's knowledge, had just needed stability in her life. Like the rest of them, she had been desensitized to it all. She didn't care who or how she killed. If someone ordered her to do it in exchange for something that would benefit her, they would be dead in less than a day.

And then there was Kaminari. Himself. The assassin with the highest body count in history laying low and training to become a professional hero because he'd never been a bad person despite everything he'd been through, and he would rather die than go back to slaughtering people for his parents only to come home to hours of abuse, starvation, and dehydration, all courtesy of the people who were supposed to love him more than anyone.

His parents, who hadn't even bothered to give him a name until Kaminari had come up with it himself, and even then the only time they used it was to taunt, taunt, and taunt him, venom dripping from their voices as they mocked his screams and shouts and pleas for help as they tested the limits of his pain tolerance with every device imaginable.

Hawks had known about that. Hawks had known, still knew, what he'd been through.

In short, Kaminari had no idea how this thing was gonna go.

"Bro?" Kirishima snapped his fingers in Kaminari's face, making him startle. "How're you not, like, freaking out about this. We're going to practically live with some of the top heroes in Japan! Is that not insane?"

"Oh. Yeah." Years of masking his emotions plastered a smile on Kaminari's face before he could even register the words out of his friend's mouth. "Honestly, I'm more excited to see how Midoriya'll react. That little nerd will probably piss his pants if they get within twenty feet of us."

"Nerd?"

"Affectionately. I'm not Bakugou." Kaminari flashed his canines, eyes crinkling as he bumped his head with Kirishima's. Their class had been walking for a while now, presumably towards the training grounds where all of their esteemed 'guests' would be waiting. "Although I'm pretty sure Sparky'll be shitting his pants too. That guy geeks out almost as much as Mido."

"What, and you won't?" Kirishima slapped him goodnaturedly on the back. "C'mon, Denks. Don't act all hard on me now."

"Why would I be hard right now? Ohmygod, are you hard right now?"

"No, wha-" Kirishima pushed Kamianri forward, sending him stumbling in a bit of loud laughter. "Shut the fuck up, you pervert. You know what I mean. We're going to meet heroes. Like, ones in the Big Leagues. That's fuckin' huge, dude."

"I dunno." Sero came up from behind them, slinging one arm around each of their shoulders and knocking his skull against theirs. "We literally have All Might as a teacher. And, like, half of us have internships with some of these heroes. Just doesn't seem that special, to be honest."

"Yeah, cuz you're stoned, dude." Kirishima pushed him off with a grin, eyes sparkling with mirth. Kaminari just watched as Sero fell into step with the two of them, the latter regaining his balance fairly quickly and joining the duo to muss up Kirishima's hair. "If you don't think this is dope as hell, then you're high out of your mind, bro."

"No, bro, I'm just not a fanboy like you. And I'm not Kaminari."

"I've literally never smoked weed in my life." He deadpanned, zapping Sero's fingers in retaliation, but he couldn't fake the laugh bubbling in his throat. He actually hadn't, to be fair. He'd only ever been drugged by his shithole parent, not taken any, whether it be swallowed or inhaled or otherwise.

"Yeah, and neither have I." Sero thwacked the blond with a bit of his tape, making him yelp. He just grinned, leaving his spot at Kirishima's side to go to Kaminari's, hooking his arm around his shoulder and giving him a big, exaggerated smooch on the cheek. Kaminari made a gagging sound, but he didn't turn away. One thing about having been touch and, well, affection deprived for years on end made any kind of physical fondness very addicting. The fact that his friends were so tactile was pretty much a blessing from heaven itself. "No, but really, bro. Lighten up a little. You've been quiet all day."

Huh. So the visible stress of this whole thing had been affecting him more than he thought. If it had gotten to the point where his classmates had noticed even the slightest change in his normal behavior (a facade, really, but they didn't know that), then he really must be losing it.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry about that." Kaminari smiled in return, one for each of them and then one for Bakugou for good measure, who had been walking a few feet ahead of them and had turned back to look at the conversation when Sero had caused his commotion. The blond just huffed and turned back straight. "Just got butterflies in my stomach, you know? First impressions are everything, especially if I want one of them to stick around long enough to see my kick-ass moves and consider me for a sidekick role."

Solid explanation. Good job, me.

"Yeah, I get you." Kirishima just sighed and shook his head forlornly. "Some of these guys are, like, the epitome of manliness. They're basically everything I want to be in life but with worse hair. It would be great if they could teach me some things."

"Well, look at you!" Kaminari slapped Kirishima's chest, grinning gleefully. "You're all studious today, aren't you! Who would've thought Ejirou Kirishima would be so excited about school!"

Kirishima just rolled his eyes. "You're so annoy-"

The collection of figures that finally materialized in their line of vision stole the words straight from Kirishima's mouth and the smile directly from Kaminari's lips.

"Holy shit." Uraraka breathed from behind the trio. They were just a speck in the distance, a few colorful blobs among the green of the training field a few hundred meters ahead, but the lineup was unmistakable. Endeavor's pompous ass had opted out of this assignment, thank god, (if Touya had come over to speak to Hawks and caught sight of his dad, that would've made things real awkward), but the rest of the top ten heroes were there and in the flesh.

Best Jeanist. Edgeshot. Mirko. Kamui Woods. Wash. Yoroi Musha. Ryukyu. Shishido. And, inevitably, Hawks.

All familiar faces, yet no less incredible than the last time they'd seen them.

All familiar faces, yet one in particular made Kaminari's stomach plunge.

It wasn't like he had never turned on a news station or television before, because he had. He kind of had to since he had a bounty on his head, and any potential villain sightings close to the school could mean the inevitable doom of either him or his classmates. He'd seen Hawks before since he'd escaped the underground. He was practically everywhere, on billboards, on tv screens, on the occasional magazine cover, you name it. He was pretty much on every mainstream form of media, and, given his recent rise in hero status (and his good looks), the Hero Commission had practically been using him as propaganda.

Realistically, Kaminari knew he should've prepared himself for seeing his friend in person for the first time because it was propaganda. It wasn't the actual Hawks. It was the picture-perfect image of him the Hero Commission had plastered on every unmarked product they could find in an attempt to influence the general public into thinking they weren't just as fucked up as the villains in the underground, that their morals weren't just as twisted.

It was everything Hawks didn't stand for. Kaminari knew that. He'd known that even before he'd been informed that his old colleague would be visiting him on his own home turf. Even during the fights he'd seen on tv, which were much more raw and nitty-gritty than the fake, colorful stuff the media portrayed, he'd never seen Hawks as bone-chillingly serious as he was now.

Not while they'd been lonely kids forced to kill to survive in the black market. Not while he'd wrap bandages around Kaminari's bullet wounds and convince him to keep fighting. Not even while being forced to work with Endeavor for the first time (which Kaminari had no doubt he, Touya, and Himiko had all seen broadcasted on National Television) and pretend like he didn't want to punch his lights out for putting one of his childhood best friends through hell. Never.

Kaminari swallowed thickly. Like he said, Hawks was a wild card. His chilling demeanor wasn't something he'd expected from the normally dry-humored, sarcastic hero. Maybe a dead gaze, perhaps a disinterested look, but never a straight-up stare down.

"Bro!" Kirishima elbowed him in the ribs. Kaminari jerked, ripping his gaze away from Keigo before he could even process what was going on. "What's wrong with you? You're freakin' starstruck, bro."

"Am not," Kaminari mumbled. He wasn't too worried about the initial visit since he'd be surrounded by his starry-eyed classmates. Instead, it was what would (or wouldn't) come after that would cause all the tension. "Look at Midoriya, bro. I'm not starstruck."

"Yeah, okay." Sero barged in between the two, bouncing on the ball of his feet and smile so wide Kaminari would be surprised if it didn't hurt his cheeks. "Can you two losers get going? We have some of the most powerful heroes in the world a few hundred meters away from us, and you're just standing there!"

Kaminari huffed a laugh. And he'd said he wasn't excited. Liar.

True to Sero's word, the rest of their class had already crossed about half the distance from where their little trio was and the heroes. Kaminari just rolled his eyes before running to catch up with the others, Sero and Kirishima right on his heels.

When they reached most of their class at the meeting site, Sero and Kirishima immediately delved into the group, joining them in barraging the poor men and women with questions about pretty much every aspect of their job. Midoriya, no surprise, was the loudest, followed by Bakugou. Uraraka's voice could be heard rising in volume a little here and there amongst the others, but besides those three, it was pretty much a tangled mess of shouting and yelling.

Kaminari just stood there. Silent.

Almost automatically, golden eyes locked with yellow ones.

And then the cloud lifted. Almost like magic, whatever malicious aura that had been surrounding Hawks before vanished, replaced by his signature cheeky smile and crinkled eyes. He tilted his head in greeting, going so far as to raise up a hand and wave, to which Kamianri matched with equal levels of friendliness and confusion.

In the back of his mind, Kaminari noticed his mannerisms were still the same. He didn't know why that made him so sad all of a sudden.

"Children!" Best Jeanist clapped his hands together loudly, immediately silencing the overlapping voices of his classmates. It was almost funny the power these heroes had over his friends. It took Aizawa at least five threats to get them all to shut the fuck up for once, and that was on a good day. "Thank you. Now, I assume your school has told you what we're here to do today."

No one answered. No one was sure if they were allowed to.

"Well. That wasn't supposed to be a rhetorical question, but for the sake of this exercise, let's suppose it was." He smoothed back his hair, eyes scanning the crowd from under his hero costume. "There will be no fighting, training, or sparring of any kind today. We are here for a while, and that opportunity will come later." He gestures grandiosely to the crowd. "Hawks? Would you care to explain what we're doing today?"

"Sure. I guess." Hawks nodded nonchalantly. "It's good to see some familiar faces here in this crowd. Tokoyami, my intern, it's nice to see you. Baku-something-or-other, I remember you freaking out at the Sports Festival. Funny stuff. And Denks, good to see you're doing well."

That little shit.

"Yep." Kaminari just rolled his eyes and smiled tightly. Not even five minutes in, and this man was already tip-toeing the line between being actually helpful and making his classmates pry even more into his past, which he did not want. "Good as always."

"Dude." Kirishima whisper shouted as he moved on to the instruction for the day. He punched him in the shoulder. "Denks? Are you guys friends or something? How the hell do you know him?!"

Kaminari shook his head, painfully aware of the five other pairs of eyes on him, most likely from more of his stupidly nerdy, stupidly curious, and stupidly wonderful classmates. Oh, this was gonna be a painful visit. "Later. Just listen to what he's explaining."

"Anyway." Hawks locked eyes with Kaminari as he turned back into the conversation. He smiled, head bobbing the tiniest bit forwards, before moving on to scan the crowd. "Today is just your regular question and answer session. Sorry to get any of your hopes up by having to come way out here, but essentially what today is is you guys can go around and ask us any question you'd like about our jobs. We've talked it over, and we're pretty much open to answering anything that's not strictly confidential or guarded by the state. So, you all have unrestricted access to probe our minds."

He smiled lightly as a rumble went through the wave of students. He let the chatter rise for a moment before continuing on.

"The only thing we ask is that not all of you swarm one hero. There's plenty of us to go around, and there's plenty of you. If we do this right, each hero should be answering at least one question at all times. That sound clear? Any objections?" When no one spoke, he smiling brightly and clapped his hands together. "Then off you go, little children."

Everyone dispersed within seconds, the entire class of twenty scattered and positively bombarding whichever hero was closest to them with questions.

Whereas Kaminari, in all his paranoid glory, made a fucking beeline straight towards Keigo.

"What the hell, man?" Kaminari hissed under his breath. "Dude, you can't just drop the bombshell that you know me and expect people not to ask questions. I'm trying to stay undercover here."

"Really? I hadn't gathered." Hawks crossed his arms and leaned back against a nearby tree. "Lighten up, Denki." His voice was low. Despite his little outburst from earlier, to his credit, he did seem reasonably cautious of Kaminari's classmates overhearing their conversation. That was good. That was very good. "It's fine. They're not gonna come to the conclusion that you're an assassin or something."

"They might." Kaminari bit out. "I'm around them all day, every day. They already know that I know Himiko. Shouto knows that I know Touya. They've seen my scars. There have been too many weird coincidences, and someone is going to piece everything together."

"Oh?" Hawks raised an eyebrow. "Hot damn. You told Todoroki you know his presumably dead brother? How the hell did you fuck that up."

"The scar thing wasn't my fault, and neither was my classmates finding out I'm friends with Himiko. The Touya thing was the only one I really fucked upon."

"You better be more careful, Sparks."

"Can you please try and be at least a little bit serious? This is my life at stake here." Then, much quieter. "I'm happy here, Keigo. I'm not going back down there."

"I don't expect you to." His voice suddenly adopted a much smoother, more sophisticated tone. "And I don't want you to. I'm not here to fuck up whatever good thing you've got going in this place. I care about you, Kami. You know that. I'm not some evil guy."

Kaminari gave a half-hearted shrug. "I guess. Yeah."

Hawks sighed, muttering someone under his breath before looking up and planting his hands on his hips. "Look. If anyone asks, I'll just say I was someone who helped you with your abusive parent situation." A pause. "They know about that, right? I mean, I can't really think of any other explanation for all your scars-"

"Yes, they know."

"Oh. Okay." Hawks blinked. "Good. I'll just tell them that then diverge the conversation. You say the same. Now I suggest you enjoy yourself here while you can and stop talking to me so your dear old classmates don't get all suspicious. There's a reason they're leaving us two alone here."

That...was actually a pretty good point. As the number two hero and the highest-ranking present, Hawks should be swarmed with people, not just Kaminari visibly having a very intimate conversation with him.

He supposed he ought to silently thank his classmates for their empathy. A small conversation with his old friend now was better than making random eye contact throughout the day and then talking through it at night after everyone was asleep.

"Hey."

Kaminari peered up at him.

"I'll talk to you tonight, okay? At the meeting place. It'll be nice to have us four back together again, y'know? Like old times."

"I hate old times."

Hawks barked a laugh. "Yeah. I know. I do too."

He reached over to flick a tiny piece of hair out of Kaminari's face, a gesture so subtle that to anyone else, it would've looked like some sort of sleight of hand, but to Kaminari, the sudden burst of familiarity sent tingled throughout his body.

Despite his moral ambiguity, despite playing for both sides and neither at all while down in the depths of the black market, Keigo had always, always played with Kaminari's hair. It didn't matter what had happened that day, it didn't matter whether they'd gotten into a fight about good vs. evil a few hours before, it didn't matter how bloody and bruised he was, Hawks would always pull the young boy into his lap and weave his fingers through the tangles in his matted, golden hair as carefully as he would if he were preening his own feathers.

"Hey." His voice was soft now. "Don't go blowing your cover now, okay? We can talk about everything tonight."

Kaminari just nodded thickly. His composure was intact on the outside, but on the inside, the blockade that usually stood in between him and his feelings was slowly crumbling to nothing.

Hawks just had a thing about him. He knew which spots were vulnerable. He knew how to break down his defenses with a flick of a finger. He always knew the right thing to say, despite being a reckless fuck more than half the time.

God, Kaminari had missed him.

xxx

All in all, the q and a went on quite well.

Despite Hawks so shamelessly shouting Kaminari's name earlier, there were no other disruptions or indications that the blond, humorous hero might have any connections to the classes resident other blond, humorous hero.

It had seemed that a few students had asked about how he knew Kaminari, to which Hawks, to his word, had simply stated that they knew each other from childhood. Luckily (as Kaminari had eavesdropped from a few feet away), his classmates had expressed their sympathies and looked over at him in worry but hadn't dug any deeper. That was good. Hawks was about as skilled at fabricating stories as Kaminari was, but to lie, they needed their stories to match. They couldn't very well do that if someone had wanted to pry further into the twisted past between the two.

But luckily, his wonderful, amazing, oh so lovely classmates understood boundaries, so they let the situation be.

Kaminari loved those idiots. All nineteen on them.

After the three-hour questionnaire period had ended, Kaminari had gotten off pretty Scott-free. His first real-life interaction with Keigo since he'd escaped his home had gone much, much better than expected, which did wonders for his nerves about their actual meet-up later.

That was gonna be the hard part. It was one thing for Kaminari to sneak out of the dorms and pass the school's high-grade security system alone, but Hawks as well? And on top of that, Himiko and Dabi were going to be just around the corner, so any prying eyes or wondering faculty that just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time would incriminate both him and Hawks, as well as get Toga and Touya captured once and for all.

But that was fine. It was fine. He could handle it. They could handle it. It was all fine.

"Bro." Bakugou's voice at his door brought Kaminari out of his trace. His head snapped up, quickly slipping the knife he'd been toying with under his mattress before the doorknob could even start turning. "You awake, dumbass? Can I come in?"

"Uh. Sure." It had been hours since the gathering at the field by now, and the general consensus had been that Bakugou had tired himself out from geeking too much over all the heroes. He'd gone straight to his room right after they'd gotten back, and his serving of dinner had gone cold while the rest of them gave up on waiting and starting eating without him. What the great Katsuki Bakugou could possibly want from him right now was beyond him. "Just close the door behind you."

"Okay." The door swung open, and the blond stepped through the threshold. His hair was damp, and his pajama pants were on, but he looked more alert than ever. "Are you not going to bed soon?"

"Nah." Kaminari shrugged, looking down at his day-attire. "I mean, like yeah, but not soon soon like you. I'll probably get in my PJs in like an hour or so. Or I'll just pass out in my clothes. Who knows."

"Yeah."

The room settled into an uncomfortable silence.

"Bro?" Kaminari raised an eyebrow. "You okay? You're being awfully quiet for someone so loud."

"Shut up," Bakugou muttered, but it had no heat. "Just...I've been thinking about some stuff."

"Okay?" Kaminari waited for him to elaborate. When he didn't, he just cocked his head in question. "What kind of stuff?"

"Just like...you. And Hawks. And...that crazy psycho girl."

Oh. Well. That was an unprecedented turn of events.

"Oh yeah?" Kaminari's spine reflexively straightened. "What about?"

"I mean..." He shifted, clearly uncomfortable. "How do you...I really don't mean for this to come off too strange because I know this is a delicate situation, and I'm usually not a very delicate person, but...I might be overthinking this, but how is it possible that someone who works for the League and the number two pro hero both played parts in your childhood?"

"In my childhood." Kaminari deadpanned. Deflection. "You know my childhood, Bakugou."

"Yeah! I do!" Bakugou stumbled over his words, very clearly trying to be empathetic about the situation and even more clearly worried he'd stepped over some invisible boundary. "It's just...those are two very different people who ended up going very different ways. Please don't take this the wrong way, but it doesn't exactly line up...?"

He phrased the last sentence more like a question than a statement.

Kaminari, however, just smiled gracefully. "I get it, Bakubro. It's confusing."

Bakugou just nodded.

"And I appreciate you being so...not brash about it. It was really just a matter of coincidence, to be honest. Himiko didn't really have a home. She was always just kinda there. And I always liked to be out of the home because..." He gestured up and down his body. Bakugou visibly winced. "You know. One day we just crossed paths, and we became friends. She was good company. She made it easier to stay out of the house." There was a pause. "She's not...an inherently bad person, Bakugou. The world wronged her. She doesn't kill without a motive, and that motive is never to hurt innocent people. I don't...agree with her methods or her career choice, but at the end of the day, that's my story with her, so..."

He trailed off. That explanation had come off a lot more real than intended, but it seemed to do the job for Bakugou. He nodded in understanding, still looking a little uncomfortable about the situation he'd put himself in but more sure of himself than he'd been when he walked into the room.

"And Hawks was just your natural do-gooder." Kaminari continued on. "I was out and about one day, and I ran into him. He took one look at little child me, who was adorable, by the way, and decided to help me. He slowly helped me integrate out of my parent's house. He couldn't officially do anything because he wasn't a real hero yet, and he only knew my parents were mildly abusive, not abusive to the extent that they really were."

"Oh," Bakugou said after a few moments. His eyes were glued to his shoes. "I'm...sorry, Kaminari. I'm not good with all of that kind of stuff. Like...emotions and feelings. It was probably really insensitive of me to just barge in here and make up open up about the worst parts of your childhood."

"It's okay," Kaminari responded. He just smiled at Bakugou's hunched-over figure. "You had genuine questions. No harm done."

"Yeah." Bakugou paused for a beat before getting up from the seat he'd taken on Kaminari's bed. "I'm, y'know, I'm always here if you need to talk or anything, Sparky. I know I talk a lot of shit, but I do care. A lot. We all do."

Warmth bubbled up in Kaminari's stomach, but he pushed it down with a polite smile and a nod of thanks. "I appreciate that, Bakugou. Really."

"Yeah."

And then he was gone, the shutting of the door reverbing back at Kaminari in the small room. The blond just laughed to himself and got comfortable.

Thirty minutes later, all noise in the hallway ceased.

Twenty-five more minutes later, the common room lights turned off.

Forty-five more minutes later, the last light switch clicked off, casting the hallway outside of his room into darkness.

Showtime.

xxx

As he always did, he snuck out easily. Much easier than usual, actually. Since the school was packed full of even more pro heroes than usual, security must've taken some sort of night off.

That was good. That was really good.

Kaminari approached the decided meeting place with ease, almost shadow-like as he slunk across the grounds without making a sound amongst the fallen leaves and hordes of grass. Vaguely, hidden under the designated patch of trees on the outskirts of his school, he could see three shadowy figures all huddled together, blanketed by the starless sky.

His face broke into a grin, unable to conceal the sudden burst of giddiness the sight brought him. All four of them in the same place, at the same time. Of course, there had been two of them, sometimes even three, but they hadn't been four in...well, in ages. Since forever ago, really.

"Keigo!" He called out once he was in range. Despite being on the outskirts, the forest was still far enough away from the dorms and any place a person would be in the middle of the night that he could scream without danger of someone hearing him. Convenient when meeting up with enemies of the nation who also happened to be some of your best friends. "You asshole! Bakugou's asking questions now because of you! If I wasn't so amazing, your little bit of 'teasing' would've seriously gotten me in some deep shi-"

His excited babbling was cut short as a warm body engulfed him.

"You have no idea." Hawks breathed after a moment, curling his wings around Kaminari and shielding him from view. "How long I've been waiting to do that."

Whatever words Kaminari had been about to say melted away on his lips.

"Yeah, and some of us still haven't gotten to." Dabi, in all his scarred glory, shoved his way through Keigo's wings and snatched him into his own embrace. Kaminari, flustered but certainly not objecting, returned the hug with vigor. Dabi just smiled and ruffled his hair. "I've missed you, kid. It's been too long." Then, softer. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine!" The giddiness he'd felt running over here had tripled all within a matter of seconds. If he had been any weaker, he surely would've burst into tears by now. The sudden overwhelming affection, the care in the voices of people who the public thought shouldn't have the capability to care at all, just everything rushing back to him that he'd bottled up since the day he'd run away. "I'm great! How are you!?"

"Amazing now that you're here, Denkaroo." Himiko took that as her cue to plant an exaggerated smooch on Kaminari's cheek, giggling to herself when he tried to wipe it off. "I've missed you, cutie. Unfortunately, the only person I get to hang out with is Toy-Toy over here, and he's nowhere near as sweet as you."

Kaminari laughed. He probably sounded a little hysterical.

"God, I've missed this."

"Ohmygod, don't cry, Jesus Christ." Hawks tugged at his hair. "It's...bro, Kami, it's okay."

"You moron." Kaminari sniffled and little and straightened himself, trying to regain what little composure he had left. "This is the first time we've been all together in forever. How do you think it felt only seeing you three on news reports since I found out you all were still alive?!"

"Yeah, well." Touya smiled pathetically, eyes turning sour. "Imagine how that's been for us, kid. Your class is on the news all the time. You're getting more and more attention drawn to you."

Kaminari scoffed halfheartedly, pointedly ignoring the pinprick of discomfort tingling at the back of his neck. He'd known this visit wasn't just going to be some sappy reunion between three traumatized kids and one slightly less traumatized adult, but he'd expected the pleasantries to last at least a little bit longer than a solid ten seconds before getting to the hard and heavy stuff.

Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers. He'd been through enough to understand that much.

"It's fine!" He said after realizing the statement wasn't exactly rhetorical. "No one knows I'm me. Anyone who knows who I really am is either dead or too powerful to be bothered to do anything but send a bunch of confused henchmen after me."

"Yeah, for now." Toga chirped. Despite the somber mood, her eyes hadn't lost their shine, too ramped up on the exhilaration of the reunion to sound anything less than delighted about the details she was about to share. "Denki, I don't know if you've forgotten, but your parents know you're here."

Parents. As if she could even call them that.

"And?" He made a face. "Obviously. They have a fucking bounty on my head, for christ's sake. That's why your shitty organization keeps going after me and my class."

And wow, how was that for a mood change.

Dabi grimaced. "Don't do that. You know we don't have a choice, Kaminari."

"Well, you seem pretty keen on staying with them despite their motives."

"That's not fair."

"Like hell it's not! Look, I ignore it, but you're working for a psychopath who knows who I am and is in very close contact with my parents. Now, I don't know about you, but I like being able to eat three meals a day, talk to my friends, and not get fucking stabbed every time I so much as breathe too loud! Is that too much to fucking ask for or something?! Do you all hate me so fucking much that you want to condemn me to a fate worse than death for another however many fucking years and ruin the only good thing I've had going ever?!"

Silence, other than the rining of Kaminari's venom-soaked words in everyone's ears.

Well. How was that for a happy reunion.

"We help you escape," Toga murmured after a moment. She sounded hesitant, as if unsure if she should speak up after such a display, but her words were steadfast. "We saw everything you went through. We know what they did to you. And as much as I smile and talk so casually about it, I hate it. I know you, and I know blood, and you did not ever deserve that much blood to be spilled from your body."

"They've been protecting you." Hawks interjected. He smiled apologetically at Kaminari. "I don't know if it'll help, but they've deterred more missions and crusades against your class than I can count."

Kaminari sighed. He was suddenly very, very tired. Tired of pointless arguing, tired of fighting, and tired of trying to sort through all the moral ambiguities of his situation and decide where to draw the time between friend and foe.

"And you know things are different out there," Dabi said gently. His eyes were soft, illuminated by the moonlight coloring his scars. "We think differently. Himiko and I have different values than you and Keigo. Out on the battlefield, we're enemies. If it comes down to it, you'll side with your class, we'll side with the League, and Hawks will side with whichever side benefits him the best."

Kaminari ran his hand through his hair. "I know."

"I know you do."

"I respect it."

"I know you do."

A longer silence, much too quiet to be comfortable.

Obviously, there were sides. Like he'd explained before, whereas Class 1-A was like a family to him, in their own twisted way, Himiko and Touya thought the same way about the League. And that was fine. It had always been fine, and he'd always known it. From the point he'd first discovered his friend's alliance with the League, then Toga's a while after, it had been regarded as some unspoken, untouchable thing.

For it to be said aloud, to be cemented in the foundations of their relationship, was another thing altogether.

"So." Hawks clapped his hands together, shuffling awkwardly as three pairs of eyes turned to stare at him. "That got heavy real fast, but, uh, can we talk about what we actually came here to talk about?"

"What?" Now this was news to Kaminari. "Did you guys plan this or something? I just thought we were gonna have some sort of crying session in the middle of the woods and reminisce or something."

"Uh?" Himiko looked to Dabi for confirmation. "Yes and no? We got your message about Keigo coming into town and the meet-up details like normal, but the day after, bird-brain showed up for his weekly hookup or whatever he does with Dabi all panicky and shouting."

"Okay?" Kaminari made a face, decidedly ignoring his slowly increasing heart rate. "What happened then?"

Hawks took a deep breath.

"I found out The Hero Commission's onto you. I didn't know where else to go, so I took advantage of the fact that Touya and I had a meeting that day to tell him."

Kaminari's blood went cold.

"What?" He hissed. Like a switch was flipped, he walked over and jammed his finger in Keigo's chest, eyes dangerous. "Don't tell me you snitched on me, Takami. Are you fucking kidding?!"

"Relax, kid. I was just as surprised about it as you were." Keigo didn't even try to back away, simply meeting Kaminari's eyes with a sympathetic smile. "I was there late at night after a day of double-agenting. I probably wasn't supposed to be, but I needed to grab something from headquarters. I flew through the window and overheard a bunch of executives talking in one of the offices." His face darkened. "They're dangerous, Denki. Much more dangerous than you think."

"Well what the fuck did they say?" Kaminari dropped his hand and move to drum his fingers on his thigh in rapid succession, trying and failing to ignore the panic rising in his stomach. This was bad. This was really, really, really bad. "Don't fucking dance around it!"

Hawks sighed and rubbed his temples, but the concern didn't leave his face. Clearly, he'd been holding onto that secret for a while now, and the severity of it was just now starting to catch up to him. "I'm honestly not sure. All I know is I heard your name, your alias, and the name of that green-haired kid in your class, and it didn't sound like they were just having a friendly conversation."

Midoriya. One For All. The Hero Commission. His identity. It was all too much-

How could they have figured it out? Even if they hadn't connected all the dots, the names 'Golden' and 'Denki Kaminari' should never be in the same sentence, not unless the executives had found out something that possibly linked the two.

But how was that possible? He was flawless. In all his years of assassinating, he'd left no tracks. None. Zero. He was a ghost. Any witness, any bystander, any pedestrian who had been an accidental witness to his work was long dead by order of his parents. Any villain who knew about his real identity was too dangerous to have anything that came out of their mouth taken seriously by the hero executives, and even if a henchman or other had decided to spill the beans and someone had believed it, it was him.

He'd perfected his mask of a naive, weak school student that was just barely powerful enough to attend UA. He wasn't known by the public like Bakugou or Todoroki, and he wasn't getting into trouble or attempting heroic feats like Midoriya every other weak. The one time he'd been in the public eye was on television during the sports festival, and even then, he'd made a point to purposely fry himself and lose within literal seconds of getting on the platform.

He was a nobody.

Unless Nezu...

Fuck.

"Kaminari." Dabi snapped his fingers. His face was deadly serious. "Do you know anyone who might've told someone something? Anyone at all?"

"Nezu." Kaminari twisted his fingers together, eyes darting between Keigo, Himiko, and Touya. It felt like cotton was stuck in the back of his throat. "Nezu. I told principal Nezu. But that doesn't make sense; I mean he said he always knew- He can't have, it doesn't add up, what the fuck-"

"Denki, these are dangerous people." Hawks didn't even try to offer any form of consolation. His eyes were instead trained on Kaminari, gaze unusually serious for someone ordinarily so carefree. "The Hero Commission used people. They exploit them until there's nothing left. They seem all shiny and good and post propaganda worldwide, but deep down, they're just as dark and twisted as the black market is. They're worse."

"I know." Kaminari worried at his bottom lip. He practically radiated anxiety. There was no point in masking it, not when these three people around him knew full well how severe this situation was. How threatening. "You've told me a million times. But how do they know-"

"It wouldn't surprise me if they had some other kind of double agent like our boy Takami here." Despite her lighthearted choice of words, Toga's voice was chillingly cold. "But at the same time, that wouldn't make sense. All the heroes are known to the public eye. Any villain who knows your identity would fucking scram if they saw any kind of professional hero in their vicinity. They're all too dangerous. The least powerful villain that knows you're you is me, for fuck's sake. We looked into it when Keigo told us, and everyone who knows your identity is accounted for as well, so we know no one was tortured into revealing."

"At the end of the day, they're all just too damn greedy to reveal your identity and give someone else the chance of the massive bounty on your head." Dabi finished. He folded his hands together. "But you said you told Nezu."

"I told Nezu," Kaminari repeated quietly. He felt dizzy. Disassociated. Like it was fucking dreaming. He had trusted someone, had an adult there for him who understood him for once in his life, and he'd been stabbed in the fucking back. "Fuck. Fuck. But he said he already knew, I... that doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't he turn me in earlier?! I don't understa-"

"You think the commission doesn't know about Nezu's assassin status?"

Kaminari whirled around, eyes as big as saucers. Hawks just scoffed.

"I don't know what he told you, but the hero commission? They know. Do you think he would be the principal at the best hero school in Japan if they didn't know everything about him? His quirk is fucking intelligence, for christ's sake. Do you think they would let someone with a non-strength quirk be in charge of everything at this facility, including protecting his students, if they didn't know how powerful he was from past experience?"

"But-" Kaminari sputtered uselessly. "He knew before-"

"Intelligence," Himiko stressed from the sidelines. "He probably had a suspicion. You just confirmed it."

"But it doesn't make sense-"

"KAMINARI." Dabi grabbed him by the shoulders, fingers digging into his shoulder blades hard enough to draw blood. Kaminari just stared at him, wide-eyed and composure shattering around him. "They're fucking monsters. They're the reason I'm in this fuck-hole of a life instead of studying at some shitty hero school like you or Shouto. If the Commission really figured out who you are, they'll stop at nothing to get you. Nothing. They'll murder your entire fucking class if that's what it takes to get you in their grasp. And they won't even be doing it for 'justice,' whatever the fuck that means nowadays. They'll exploit you, they'll treat you just like the pet your parents thought you were, and you'll wish you were dead-"

"Touya."

Toga's voice was borderline icy.

"That's enough. Don't fucking scare him."

In the back of his mind, he noted that she said scare, not exaggerate.

Then, to Kaminari-

"This is your warning. Touya got a little too into it but things are heating up. Both sides know at least something about you. The underground is obsessed with your class, even if it's because of Izuku or Bakugou and not you. Your parents have been radio silent for weeks. People are going to come after you. So get fucking ready because the next time I see you, I'd rather it be under casual circumstances, not you bleeding to death or becoming a puppet for those corporate freaks."

Kaminari swallowed thickly. "So-"

"So something big has been coming for a long time now." Toga's gaze was hard as steel. "Be ready for whatever anyone throws at you."

Kaminari exhaled shakily.

He flexed his hands.

Clenched his jawline.

Composed himself, expertly shoving down his growing distress and letting his arms hand at his sides.

"Okay."

Hawks just smiled sadly, practically wilting at Kaminari's near-instant acceptance.

"I'm sorry, kid. I'm so, so sorry."

xxx

"So, how was the meet-up?"

Kaminari didn't answer. He silently closed the window behind him, hyperaware of the marsupial perched on the edge of his bed, teacup in hand.

"Not good then, I presume?" Nezu hopped off of the covers and walked over behind Kaminari, smile devastatingly kind. "I'm sorry. I know it must come as a bit of a shock for your principal to be in your room, but I decided it would be a good idea to come check up on you."

"How did you know I snuck out?" Kaminari's voice was quiet, eyes looking everywhere but his teacher.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, you do it every night." Nezu cocked his head, voice almost sickeningly sweet to Kaminari's ears. "To do your training and whatnot. And, low and behold, Hawks wasn't in his quarters tonight. I just assumed." He set down his tea on the dresser and folded his paws in front of him. "I'm sorry if I startled you."

"It's fine," Kaminari replied. He smiled lightly. Nezu smiled back. "Just caught me a little off guard."

"Ah, well." He smoothed down one of his ears. "Glad to hear I didn't scare you too much." His expression fell a little. "Kaminari, you know you don't have to sneak off campus to vent your troubles, right? My office is always right down the hall from your classroom if you ever need anything. I know having to keep up a secret identity for months on end is strenuous work, even for someone like you."

Kaminari just nodded silently. His smile stayed plastered on his face. "I know. Don't worry about it; I'll talk to you when I need to."

"Good." Nezu grabbed his teacup after realizing he wasn't going to say anymore. "Get some rest, Kaminari. You deserve it."

"Goodnight, Nezu." He responded. He watched from beside the window as his principal reached up to grab the door handle, casting one last comforting, understanding smile over his shoulder before closing it behind him and making his way down the hall.

Kaminari waited until he heard the front door close to promptly dart over to his trashcan and throw up.

Because for all his years upon years of reading facial expressions, analyzing everyone he came in contact with, and predicting with one-hundred percent accuracy which people meant him harm and which wanted to help, Nezu was a blank fucking slate.

For the first time in his life, he couldn't distinguish a friend from an enemy.

And with everything he'd learned earlier that night, that terrified him.