HINT #2- The time Kaminari's classmates caught him sneaking back from a job.

Kaminari was dead tired. UA was the most prestigious hero school in the entire country, but as Kaminari probably should've expected, it wasn't free. He knew some of his other classmates were poor, far too poor to afford the fee for the school and the supplies they needed, but their families compensated for that by volunteering at UA whenever they could and helping out with various activities and things around the campus.

The thing was, Kaminari neither had a family that could help out nor money at the moment. Still, he'd be damned if something as little as being broke robbed him of the ability to stay at the only safe place he'd ever known.

So, he resorted to desperate measures.

Kaminari chose his assassinations carefully. He knew his way around the black market like the back of his hand, a fact that he knew was admittedly useful but one that he hated nonetheless.

Kaminari eventually took the job of assassinating a man by the name of Hisoka, who was actively involved in the child sex trafficking ring and had over one hundred thirty different charges of rape against him.

He registered under his usual codename: Golden. After all, his reputation of being one of the most skilled (not to mention feared) assassins the world had to offer definitely tipped the odds of him getting the job in his favor.

Though he didn't particularly enjoy it, Kaminari never lost any sleep at night over killing people that took advantage of innocent others, especially children. They were the scum of the earth as far as he was concerned, and he'd be damned if he didn't do anything about it.

xxx

It took Kaminari four days to find Hisoka, but once he did, it was almost embarrassingly easy to kill him. He didn't even have to engage in any physical combat. All he had to do was wait until the man was alone and put a bullet in the back of his head. Honestly, Kaminari could help but think that if other assassins assigned to the job had had trouble killing this man, then they might as well find another line of work.

After showing proof of the body to his employer, Kaminari received 37,595,075 yen for his troubles. The man then asked if Kaminari would be interested in taking up another job offer since he had handled Hisoka so easily, but the blond had politely declined since the yen he'd received was more than enough to get him through the three full years at UA.

With his needs satisfied and bank account full of money, the blond promptly headed back to UA, before sunrise, for the first time in four days.

His brief return to the world of crime and assassination had been a one-time thing. He'd had to do it, if not for his own sake, then for the sake of his classmates. Plus, he hadn't really done anything inherently wrong. Hisoka deserved to be killed for all the things he'd done, that was something he was sure of.

The one thing Kaminari hadn't counted on, however, was his entire class being awake by the time he snuck back into the dorms at three in the morning.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Bakugou's voice was unmistakable.

Kaminari whirled around with a squeak, coming face to face with the nineteen very disappointed (but also very worried) faces.

"What the hell are you guys doing up?!"

"We could ask you the same thing." Kirishima's eyes raked over Kaminari's appearance, taking in the mask covering his mouth and admittedly suspicious all black clothing. "Why the hell are you sneaking back into the dorms at three in the morning!?"

Okay. Kirishima was pissed. That was not a good sign.

Kaminari blinked. Well, this was an unexpected hurdle. It was going to be hard to explain this one, and he knew it.

Stalling is the best option right now.

"How'd you guys even notice I was missing?" That was Kaminari's biggest concern right now. He'd been positive that no one had seen him drop from his balcony and sprint across the campus. Or maybe they could've, and he just hadn't noticed? He may be a trained assassin, but anyone's senses tended to get a little dull after barely sleeping more than three hours over the span of four days.

"Coincidence," Todoroki said flatly, eyes boring holes into his skull.

Bakugou rolled his eyes. "What he means is, the power went out and THIS idiot," He jammed a finger over at Midoriya, who smiled sheepishly. "Was still awake studying for a test or some shit and went to find you to charge his phone. When he found your room empty and the balcony doors open, he panicked."

"And when was this?" Kaminari asked weakly. He only hoped they hadn't gone through his stuff when they discovered he was missing. All of the knives, guns, explosives, training clothes, gloves, blood-stained towels, and countless documents on his parents and the underground villainy circuit would be hard to explain.

"Two hours ago." Sero glared daggers at Kaminari. "Seriously, dude! Where the hell were you?! You freaked us the fuck out!"

Kaminari gave a watery chuckle. "I'm sorry. I didn't even know any of you would notice I was missing." He held up his hands in surrender. "I'm fine. I swear. You don't have to worry about me."

"Wrong answer." Bakugou scowled at the blond, crimson eyes raking over his body, searching for injuries. "We don't want any of that bullshit. Where. Were. You."

Kaminari's grin faltered. This was new. He'd never been in this situation before. He'd never had a group of people care about him enough to question where he had been all night. He'd never had a group of people that were willing to stay up in the cold, dead hours of the morning just to ensure that he got home safe.

This had never happened before.

It was both scary and endearing.

"Look." Kaminari's tone was soft. "I just had to go and take care of some personal business, alright?"

"AT THREE IN THE MORNING?!" Mina's voice was shrill, making Kaminari wince before continuing.

"Yes, at three in the morning." He said gently, subtly tightening his hoodie around him so his classmates couldn't see the knife and gun he was concealing. "It was just some stupid stuff that I was able to handle quickly."

"And what stuff would that be." Uraraka asked, phrasing it more like a statement than a question.

"Family stuff," Kaminari said quickly, making a point to make direct eye contact with the brunette. "It was stupid, and it was over quickly. Don't worry."

It wasn't exactly the truth, but it wasn't a lie, either. The assassination was over quickly, yes, and assassinations were technically a family business, yes, but his parents weren't aware of his current endeavors. Still, telling his friends a half-truth was better than telling them a full-blown lie.

A tense silence filled the common room as everyone absorbed Kaminari's answer.

"If you didn't show up by class time, we would've told Mr. Aizawa that you'd disappeared." Kirishima's voice was quiet. Kirishima was never quiet. "Kaminari, bro, we were worried." His voice broke on the last syllable. "Midoriya was practically in tears, man. I had to stop Todoroki and Sero from leaping out the balcony to try and find you. Jirou was an absolute mess. Uraraka had to stop Iida from punching a hole in the wall. Iida, Kaminari. Bakugou was more worried than I'd ever seen him. He said he'd kill anyone who put so much as a scratch on you. He meant it, too. And me..."

Kirishima choked out a laugh. Kaminari's heart constricted. "I was out of my mind, Kami. I didn't know where you were, I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what was going on, I mean hell, bro! I didn't even know if you were okay! Do you have any idea how many possibilities ran through my head when I figured out you were missing?!"

"Kirishima-" Kaminari didn't know what to say.

Kirishima ignored him completely. "Kaminari, for all we knew, you could've been dying in a ditch! You could've never come back and left the rest of us wondering what the hell happened to you! Do you have even the slightest idea of what we'd do in that situation?! Do you have any idea how much we care about you?! Don't you DARE tell us not to worry about you if we find you missing in the middle of the night. It's selfish of you not even to CONSIDER how we felt when we heard Midoriya scream your name because I can assure you that I felt terror like I never have before." Kirishima took a deep breath. "If you think that every single person in this room wouldn't die for you in a second, then you've got another thing coming, Kaminari!"

And with that, Kirishima launched from his position on the couch to wrap Kaminari in a bone-crushing hug, sobbing openly into his shoulder.

"Kiri..." Kaminari was at a loss for words. All he could do was wrap his arms around his friend's shoulders and rub small, soothing circles on his back. He scanned his remaining classmates over Kirishima's shoulder, taking in their pained expressions and worried eyes. "Everyone..."

"Are you okay, Kaminari?" Midoriya's voice was scratchy and quiet, but it was there. Kaminari's fond gaze met the boy's earnest green eyes.

"Yes. I swear it. Everything's fine."

Kirishima carefully unlatched himself from Kaminari's shirt at those words, red eyes locking with golden ones as they searched for any hint of dishonestly.

"Can you please just tell us what you were doing?" Kirishima's voice was uncharacteristically shaky, his hands digging into Kaminari's shoulders like he was afraid that if he let go, Kaminari would disappear again.

"Don't worry about it." He paused as Sero shot him a glare, carefully reevaluating his words. "What I mean is, it was a one-time thing. This will never happen again, I promise. There's no use worrying about it if it's over and done with. Besides," He scoffed, thinking back to exactly how easy the mission had been. "Everything went smoothly. It's not as if I was in any danger or anything, and I am so, so sorry for making you guys think I was. I was just talking some stuff out with my family, that's all. I swear."

That was his first outright lie of the night.

xxx

It took a full five minutes for Kaminari to convince everyone that nothing was wrong and that they should catch up on as much sleep as they could for classes tomorrow, and another ten for him to persuade Kirishima to let go of his shoulders and follow the others back to the dorms, but not before planting a kiss on his cheek and reassuring his red-haired friend that he was, in fact, okay.

Kaminari had always been an overly affectionate person when it came to his friends. He suspected it was because he'd never received any affection of his own when he was a child. It was addicting, to some degree. Kissing Kirishima's cheek was nothing new, but it seemed to reassure the redhead to some degree that Kaminari was here standing with him, and not bleeding out in a back ally like he'd previously imagined.

Everyone but Bakugou eventually cleared out of the common room, leaving Kaminari and his explosive friend alone.

"Don't you ever fucking do that again." Bakugou's voice was barely audible, but it reached Kaminari's trained ears with ease.

"Sneak out?" Kaminari shuffled over to the couch and took the seat next to his friend. "I honestly didn't think you'd be that mad about it."

Bakugou shot him an annoyed look. "Why'd you think that, Sparky?"

Kaminari shrugged. "I dunno. I guess you just don't seem like the type to freak out without a good reason."

"I think finding your room empty and your window open is a damn good reason to freak the fuck out," Bakugou muttered, letting his head fall back. He paused, seemingly contemplating his next words.

"Look," He began, keeping his eyes trained on the ceiling. "I know I don't say this as much as I fucking should. Or ever, for that matter. Whether I like it or not, I care about your fucking dumb ass. And I can't have anything happen to you. I just...I can't." Bakugou let out a frustrated breath. "You're not allowed to get hurt, Dunce Face. Because, for whatever reason, I wouldn't be able to fucking handle it. It stupid fucking shit, and I don't know fucking why, but it's the truth so. Yeah."

There was a beat of shocked silence.

"Well?" Bakugou grumbled, peeking at Kaminari out of the corner of his eye. "Say something, fucker."

"OHMYGOD BAKUBRO THAT WAS SO FUCKING SWEET! I LOVE YOU TOO!"

"THE FUCK?! WHEN DID I SAY I LOVED YOU, YOU DROOLY BASTARD?!"

"DON'T FREAK OUT, BAKUGOU! I KNOW YOU MEAN OUR PLATONIC, BOSS-ASS, BEST FRIEND LOVE THAT FUELS OUR UNDEFEFATABLE BROMANCE."

"YOU KNOW WHAT, NEVER MIND! DIE, YOU BASTARD!"