Hint #3- The time the boys unintentionally forced Kaminari to show his scars.
"My abs are WAY more defined than yours, bro."
"No way! The first step to being manly is to have a kick-ass six-pack! Mine's obviously better!"
"I mean, it's definitely there, mine is just...more, you know?"
"ARE YOU BLIND? I'M SO MUCH MORE RIPPED THAN YOU!"
Kaminari rolled his eyes. Fights about muscle mass, brute strength, and six-packs were frequent in the boy's locker room. Bakugou had set it off by insisting that someone compare his and Midoriya's ab muscles to see who was stronger during the first week of school. During the second week of school, Iida and Sero had gotten into a fight about what kind of muscles were superior. Sero had insisted arms since he used them to swing around with his quirk, and Iida had declared legs (for obvious reasons). It all just kind of spiraled from there.
So far, every boy in Class 1-A had partaken in some kind of muscle comparison or competition against another.
That is, everyone except Kaminari.
Kaminari thought he was the only one who noticed his lack of participation in the locker room shenanigans.
But apparently, he'd been wrong.
"What about Kaminari?"
"Hm?" The blond perked up at the sound of Kirishima's voice. He was still in his gym clothes, rummaging uselessly around in his locker as he waited for his classmates to leave before he started the process of changing. "What about me?"
"I mean your muscles, bro!" Kirishima bounded up to Kaminari and slung an arm across his shoulder. "You've never shown them."
"That's a good point," Midoriya said, chirpy as ever. "I don't think I've ever seen you with your shirt so much as off."
Todoroki nodded in silent confirmation. "I'd have to agree. You even opted out of the pool exercise earlier this year."
Kaminari put a hand up. "Nah, that was just because electricity and water don't mix well, you know?" He let out a laugh. "And have you guys really never seen me without a shirt on? That's weird, bros..." He trailed off, pretending to think. In reality, he'd deliberately done everything he could to avoid showing any more skin than absolutely necessary to his peers.
It was for a good reason, too.
"Well, let's see it then!"
Kaminari blinked. Were they serious? "See what?"
"Your chest, bro!" Kirishima squeezed Kaminari's cheek playfully. "Let's show everyone that beautiful, sexy body of yours."
Kaminari rolled his eyes at the teasing. "Yeah, no. I'd rather not."
"Why not?" It was Bakugou's turn to speak now. "You self conscious or something?"
Kaminari half shrugged. "No, I just don't wanna take my shirt off right now."
"Come on, Kami!" Sero trotted up to them. "No reason to be insecure, bro. I'm positive that you have the body of a god."
Usually, Kaminari would laugh at Sero's ridiculous implications. Now, his face just darkened. "I'm serious, guys. I don't want to take my shirt off."
"Then we'll do it for you!" Before he could even react, Kirishima grabbed the hem of Kaminari's gym shirt and yanked it over his head in one fluid motion before throwing it to the floor.
Everyone froze.
Horrible scars painted Kaminari's pale skin. They were everywhere. Whether it was trailing down his spine, below his shoulder blades, above his collar bone, down his biceps, or across his stomach, countless knife wounds and injuries covered every surface imaginable, from Kaminari's back to his front. The worst part was, there wasn't enough room for all of them. They overlapped each other.
Whip marks were lashed over stab wounds.
Lichtenberg burns clashed violently with permanently purple skin.
Burn marks covered bullet wounds.
And that wasn't even half of it. On Kaminari's back, there where hundreds of slash marks, red welts, discolored skin, fleshy marks, bumpy scars, searing burns, deep cuts, and countless other injuries from the bouts of torture the blond had suffered over the years.
Kaminari hated them. They represented nothing more than pain, depression, hate, and death.
"What. The. FUCK." Bakugou hissed, his eyes tracing over the marred skin. His voice was dangerous and low. "Explain. Now." He was absolutely seething.
Kaminari ignored Bakugou completely, opting instead to grab his shirt, snarl menacingly at Kirishima, and yank the fabric back over his head. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?!"
"Kaminari.." Sero reached toward the boy with a tentative hand. Kaminari glared at him and slapped it away.
"SERIOUSLY! HAVE YOU GUYS EVER HEARD OF CONSENT?! NO MEANS NO, YOU GOT THAT?! AND I. TOLD. YOU. NO!"
No one dared to move, all eyes trained on the panting, scowling, furious blond in the middle of the room. Everyone had been watching when Kirishima had taken Kaminari's shirt off. Everyone had gotten an eye full of the atrocious scars and burns that permanently marked his skin.
Everyone was horrified.
"I-I had no idea, I swear! I never meant...I'm so sorry! I-" Kirishima was visibly shaking, looking and feeling more scared than he'd ever been in his life. Kaminari almost felt bad for him.
Almost.
"It's fine." He said roughly, indicating that it clearly wasn't just fine, but he didn't want to talk about it. "At least you finally got to see what my abs looks like, right?" His words were dripping with venomous sarcasm. Kaminari always made a point never to show his angry side to his friends. A smile was plastered on his face at all times, his posture always perfect, and his eyes always sparkling with happiness.
But they had crossed the line this time.
They deserved every ounce of anger they got.
"Who did that to you?" Midoriya's voice was hurried and panicked, staring at Kaminari as if he were a fragile piece of glass and not a hardened assassin that had endured thirteen years of torture.
Kaminari visibly bristled. For all of Midoriya's impressive observational skills, he sure was lousy at reading the room.
"Drop it."
Midoriya pressed on. "I'm serious!" His voice was bordering on hysterical. "Kaminari, there were way too many injuries for all of those to just be accidents or injuries from villains!"
"I said, drop it." Kaminari's ordered, ice seeping into his voice. "I'm serious."
"No."
Kaminari whirled around on Todoroki. "What?"
"I only got a brief look, but from what I could tell, you have lightning burns, bullet wounds, stab wounds, freezer burns, regular burns, whipping scars, knife wounds, and that was only what I could see from the back." Kaminari frowned at Todoroki's shaky tone. Todoroki was never shaky. He was always cold, calm, and absolute. But looking at him right now, Kaminari could see that he was anything but. His eyes were unfocused and wide, and he looked like he was physically struggling to breathe.
Kaminari frowned further, though the anger was still there. His scars made most people run away screaming, but Todoroki just looked straight up worried.
"What's happened to you?" Iida's voice was uncharacteristically quiet. "What are those? Where did they come from? Who made them?" With every question, Iida's shoulders began to tremble more and more. Kaminari's heart broke a little. "Why have you been trying to hide them, Kaminari?"
Kaminari froze, his glare letting up the tiniest bit before he groaned and ran a hand down his face. Whelp, there was no getting out of this one.
"Look." He paused, racking his brain for every possible answer before settling on the one closest to the truth. "My parents weren't exactly...the nicest people."
The way his classmate's faces morphed from worry to horror was almost comical. If it had been any other, less personal, situation, Kaminari was sure he probably would've laughed.
Now, he just averted his gaze.
"Your...your parents did all that to you?" Shoji nearly choked on the word. "They...they hurt you like that?"
Kaminari nodded dumbly. All he could do was pray that none of his classmates had been quick enough to catch a glimpse of the small black X with a line down the middle burned into the space between his collarbone and his shoulder.
That would raise even more unwanted questions, like why the hell are you branded with an assassin's insignia Kaminari?
"Why?" Sero choked on his words, tears threatening to spill over. "Why you? You're just so...you." His eyes scanned over Kaminari's clothed body, trying and failing to catch a glimpse of the scars that littered underneath once again. "What would make your parents want to hurt you so badly?"
Kaminari shrugged. He'd have to choose his words carefully, or his classmates would undoubtedly try to take matters into their own hands.
"They never really needed a reason, I guess." Kaminari scratched the back of his head. "I think they just hated me. That's all."
Midoriya let out a strangled cry.
Kaminari suddenly became hyper-aware of the tears spilling out of those green orbs.
"You don't-you don't deserve...Kaminari, how are you so happy? You went through hell, and you still smile and joke every day. I never would've...I'm so so sorry I-" The greenette's voice broke violently, and with that, all of Kaminari's anger dissipated in an instant. God, his classmates were scared for him, worried for him, wanting to help him instead of run away from his grotesque body.
Kaminari swore right then and there that he'd do everything in his power to keep his classmates from figuring out what really happened during his childhood. If they thought some old scars and abusive parents were considered hell, the blond didn't even want to think about their reaction to finding out what he really went through.
"Hey, shhh, it's okay." Kaminari offered Midoriya a small smile. A real one, not one of the sickly sweet fake ones he put on for show. "I'm okay. I swear. All of what you saw was old." Okay, that wasn't necessarily true. Kaminari still had to cut himself regularly to make sure his body maintained its pain tolerance up, but his classmates didn't need to know that particular detail. "I'm fine. I promise. It's all over and done with, I swear."
That wasn't necessarily true either. When his parents finally found him (after all, even he couldn't run from two of the most notorious crime lords in the country for long), they would mark up his skin until it was barely recognizable. But, once again, his classmates didn't need to know that.
"Don't comfort me." Midoriya pulled Kaminari into a hug, the blond's eyebrow shooting up at the sudden contact. "I should be comforting you! What you went through...I couldn't even imagine...hell, Kaminari, you're so fucking strong, so fucking selfless, I-" Midoriya broke into another round of fresh sobs, holding him for a minute before pulling away. Whether it was because the greenette was hesitant about hurting him or because he didn't want to get his shirt wet, Kaminari didn't know.
"Do you still live with them?" Everyone in the locker room could hear Bakugou's growl. His expression practically screamed murderous; eyes narrowed into nothing but slits full of rage and face arranged into a vicious snarl.
"No." He answered truthfully, shaking his head. "I live with a foster family now." That last part was a lie, but a necessary one to ease everyone's minds.
"Good." Bakugou stalked towards Kaminari, leering down at him in a way that would've traumatized most children. "Give me their names and address so I can fuck them up."
Kaminari's breath caught in his throat before shaking his head violently. This was precisely what he'd been trying to avoid. "No, Bakubro. Don't worry about it."
"Shut the FUCK up." Bakugou hissed. "Shitty excuses for parents that think they can abuse you on my watch don't deserve to LIVE, Dunce Face. Do you hear me?! SO TELL ME THEIR FUCKING NAMES AND FUCKING ADDRESS SO I CAN PUT THEIR SORRY ASSES ON BLAST!"
"They're dead," Kaminari said quickly, making Bakugou's eyes widen at the sudden confession. It wasn't technically a lie, as far as he was aware. For all Kaminari knew, his parents very well could've been murdered in cold blood by any number of the villains they worked with or heroes they attacked. The blond didn't particularly care either way, but he used this simple possibility to force truth into his words. "That's why I was put in foster care. Not because of the abuse." He wrung out his hands, feigning uncomfortableness. "Actually, you guys are the first ever to find out."
Kaminari hated lying to his friends, but he did not doubt that Bakugou had been dead serious about hurting his parents beyond recognition for the stuff they'd done to him. Of course, Kaminari wasn't at all opposed to that idea, but he was opposed to his friends going on a suicide mission to accomplish that task.
It was a necessary lie. Guilt inducing, but necessary.
"Kaminari, I'm so sorry!" Now it was Kirishima's turn to throw his arms around Kaminari's shoulders, tears soaking through his gym uniform. "I was just teasing! I never meant to make you uncomfortable or expose something as serious as this before you were ready! I should've listened to you...I..crap..." Kirishima's sniffed violently. "I can't even fathom why they did that to you or why they thought you deserved it, BUT YOU DON'T! You're amazing, incredible, fantastic, kind, my best friend, and so so so strong, Kaminari. I mean...hell. I don't know what they did to you, but you're a wonderful human being, Kami. Don't you ever forget that, bro."
Kaminari blinked at the sudden barrage of emotions. Well, this was new. Then again, Kirishima was notorious for wearing his heart on his sleeve.
"I won't," He whispered finally.
"Good."
Kaminari smiled softly. That was...actually pretty nice to hear. Yes, his parents had said horrible, vile, awful things to him, and even though the honest, kind words from Kirishima, Bakugou's insistence to protect, and the genuine love and worry his friends were showing him wasn't enough to even attempt to erase all of the things his parents had called him, it...helped.
It helped a lot.
