Work Text:
“Get down! Now!”
Nanao grabbed Taishi and Ichiro and slammed them both onto the ground, narrowly dodging the burst of flame that spat at them. The fire spread out across the school oval, licking up the grass. Ichiro coughed out a mouth full of dirt and squirmed in Nanao’s arms.
“Nanao-senpai! What do we do?” Ichiro asked.
Nanao glanced behind them and his eyes widened. With a sudden burst of strength, the blonde grabbed the two boys and rolled them over, avoiding a spew of plasma.
“Are you boys alright?” Nanao asked, getting to his feet.
“We’re fine, Wakura-senpai."
“Yeah…” Ichiro accepted Taishi’s hand and the two of them stood up. Taishi stared at the glowing figure, still screaming endlessly.
“Damn it, he’s not listening to reason. We really need to stop him.”
“How? He’s stronger than any monster than we’ve faced before,” Ichiro frowned. “And I… I… I don’t want to hurt him. It’s not his fault he’s like this.”
“I think we have to worry about us getting hurt over him, Ichiro-kun,” Nanao sighed. “Ryouma-kun’s a big boy. He can handle a little rough-housing from us, even if we tag-team on him.”
“Do you really have to do that now?” Taishi scowled.
“Do what?” Ichiro asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Nanao said quickly.
“Ryouma-senpai…”
Nanao couldn’t blame Ichiro for being apprehensive. He was as well, even though he knew he couldn’t show it in front of the little ones. It was hard to believe the sobbing mess of glowing, ionised flesh was Ryouma. Even though they were a good thirty meters away, Nanao could still feel the heat radiating off the younger man’s body. Ryouma’s flesh dripped off his body like ice cream melting on a hot day, revealing not bone but something black and tar-like that crackled with lightning-like streaks of white and blue. The black substance and the flesh mixed together as a hideous sludge, bloating in almost random spots, but mostly retaining a vaguely humanoid shape over a purple heart. Ryouma’s face was mostly intact though. His eyes were a solid blue, without irises and pupils, glittering with white dots that could have been stars. It would have been pretty if Ryouma wasn’t in pain, milky purple tears streaming down his face.
“Get away! Please! I can’t control it!” Ryouma cried.
“We’re not leaving you, Kirishima-senpai!” Taishi yelled. “You have to fight it! Come on!”
“You can do it, Ryouma-senpai!”
“It’s me. I can’t. It’s all me,” Ryouma sobbed. “I’m It. I can’t… I can’t…”
“It’s not you, Ryouma-kun. There’s no way that you can be a star god literally on the other side of the universe,” Nanao shouted. “Ryouma-kun, you can do it. We believe in you. Control it.”
“Get away! I’m a monster! Get away!”
Ryouma screeched again and a wave of energy burst out around him in a circle. The trio tried to fly out of the way but they were blasted with the electricity, sending them crashing into the ground.
“I’m getting bored of this game. Being knocked around isn’t my idea of fun,” Nanao grumbled.
“Ow! Ow! Ow!” Ichiro scrambled up. “I see what you guys meant. I thought we were supposed to be tougher when we were in our kiss forms.”
“Yeah… Kirishima-senpai isn’t in his kiss form either. This star god thing is strong.”
“It’s Ryouma-kun. He’s still Ryouma-kun, Taishi, not a star god. I refuse to believe Ryouma-kun has always been this thing. Please treat him with respect. He’s still our friend.”
Ryouma lifted his arms but Nanao leaped forward and pointed his Happy Stick at him. A swirl of green energy blasted straight at Ryouma. Ryouma cried out as it hit his gut, knocking him back.
“Do you make a habit of doing that to friends?”
“Depends how close we are.”
“…Remind me to stay away from Wakura-senpai, Ichiro.”
“Why? He’s amazing! He just did such a powerful attack.”
“Don’t congratulate me just yet,” Nanao warned as he continued to keep his eye on Ryouma. It was hard to with the billowing smoke from the park around them but Nanao could see Ryouma getting up. “Does anyone have any better ideas?”
“Like I said, we have to calm him down. The more anxious and scared he is, the more out of control he gets.”
“Ryouma-senpai… he’s always anxious. This is gonna be impossible.”
“Not really. You just need to know how to deal with him,” Came a sleepy voice from behind them. Nanao turned around, smiling as he saw their fearless leader.
“What took you so long, Kyotaro-kun?”
“Ryo-chin destabilised time in the club room, remember? I was trapped. It was tiring.” Kyotaro stared at the screaming mass. “… Ryo-chin… he’s not taking the news well.”
“How do you expect a guy would take the news?” Taishi frowned. “We all heard it when the star god talked through Kirishima-senpai. When he was six, Kirishima-senpai absorbed all that malignant energy from the Vepper theatre and now apparently that energy has eaten Kirishima-senpai’s consciousness and assimilated him. What would you do if you found out you’re some sort of extension of a primordial entity outside of time?”
“I’d take a nap.”
“Of course you would,” Ichiro sighed.
“… I’ll go bring him back,” Kyotaro said. “I know Ryo-chin.”
“Wait, Kyotaro-kun. It’s dangerous. We tried to get close and the heat even melted Taishi’s ice powers. You need to keep your distance.” Nanao frowned and grabbed Kyotaro’s shoulder. Kyotaro looked at the blonde and sighed.
“Ryo-chin is scared of hurting you guys and telling you to stay away, right?” Kyotaro asked.
“Yeah…”
“He’s scared and alone, guys. Even if you won’t leave him, he doesn’t think that he belongs with us. It’s troubling. So troubling.”
“What are you doing?” Kyotaro pulled Nanao’s hand off and flew towards the sobbing man. “Kyotaro-kun!”
Kyotaro grimaced as he flew towards his best friend. As he grew nearer, it got hotter and hotter. Even though being Fiore Kiss shielded him from most of the heat, it was still unbearably hot. Kyotaro felt like he was melting.
“Oh no… Kyotaro. I can’t hurt you too.” Ryouma gasped as another heatwave threw itself at Kyotaro. The man lazily dodged.
“You won’t, Ryo-chin. You’re not going to hurt me.”
“I don’t have a choice. This thing… me…I’m a monster. Kyotaro, you don’t understand. Please… It is so angry. It doesn’t want to be in this world. ”
“You’re not going to die before me, Ryo-chin. I need you to look after me.” Kyotaro stepped forward and Ryouma screamed again as more heat bellowed out. The man braced himself but then stepped forward again despite the sweltering heat.
“Go! Go! Go!” The others cheered from the outside.
"No!"
“Ryo-chin, I know you’re scared and confused. I don’t fully know what’s going on either. But just because we don’t know what’s going on doesn’t mean that we can’t figure it out. Star god or not, I’m here and the others are too. And we make the choice of being here for you through these confusing times.”
“But I’ll hurt you.”
“That’s okay. Because you’ll heal me back up, Ryo-chin. You always do. Don’t be scared of us. We’re here to help you through the pain.”
“Kyotaro…”
Electricity flew. Ionised energy and flesh spat and circled around Ryouma. Kyotaro was sweating and practically cooking in his own skin from being so close. But the man held his hand out for Ryouma to take. Kyotaro smiled.
“Trust me, Ryo-chin. If you’re some segment of some star, so what? You’re still Ryo-chin.”
Ryouma stared at the hand quietly before he slowly reached out. However, as soon as his black fingers touched Kyotaro’s skin, Kyotaro hissed. It was like touching an open flame. Ryouma pulled his hand back immediately and sobbed harder as he saw the cooked skin through Kyotaro's glove.
“I can’t even touch you, Kyotaro. I’m sorry. I’m not even completely human. I don’t know who or what I am besides some hurtful creature.”
Ryouma tried to turn and run but Kyotaro grabbed him again. The gloves Kyotaro were wearing melted under the intense heat, burning Kyotaro’s skin. Kyotaro grimaced but he pulled Ryouma back towards him.
“Kyotaro!” Ryouma yelled. Nanao also yelled from where he was watching with the little ones but Kyotaro hugged Ryouma tightly. The smell of burning fabric and cooking flesh filled the air between them and Ryouma froze up in shock.
“You're Ryo-chin. We’ll figure out who you are together. Trust me, Ryo-chin. Let’s do it together. Relax. I’m here.”
Ryouma stared at Kyotaro’s face. Even though he couldn’t physically see it, he could feel that Kyotaro was smiling that same, calm, kind smile he had given him during the school culture festival and was reassuring him that the situation wasn’t embarrassing and everything was okay. Everything would be okay. Everything would be better.
It was confused. It didn’t understand why it felt like this. It didn’t know of love and friendship. It didn’t recoil from it but it eased back, wary and cautious. It gave Ryouma enough control over his shared body to pull himself together. Literally. The heat began to die down and the flesh and muscles pulled back onto Ryouma’s frame, returning him to a human shape, clothes and all.
“Kyotaro…” Ryouma pulled himself out of the hug. Kyotaro gave a weak smile and deactivated his magic. Ryouma gasped. Even though Karls’ magic restored everything usually, hideous red burns were all over Kyotaro’s front. Anywhere that had been touching Ryouma was bright red, as if having second-degree burns.
“It’s fine…”
“You mean it doesn’t hurt?” Ichiro asked as he ran over. The other three magical boys ran over to Ryouma and Kyotaro. Kyotaro gave a lazy smile.
“Huh? No… Everything hurts… But it’s okay… I’ll sleep it off.”
“You better stay with us, Shuzenji-senpai,” Taishi scowled, using his powers to put something cold on Kyotaro’s entire body.
“My, my, my. You kids really know how to tire me out,” Nanao shook his head. “That was so stupid, Kyotaro. Stupid, but effective at least.”
“I’m glad everything is better,” Ichiro said.
“For now… I can’t see how I’m going to keep control guys… I know this is going to happen again and I’m going to lose it,” Ryouma murmured. The other four boys looked at him. “But… I think we can manage what I am. Right?”
“Definitely. We’ll look into whatever monster you are, Ryouma-kun. Find you a cure or a way to tame it,” Nanao smiled. “Trust us.”
“Of course.”
“That’s all sweet and all, but can we get Shuzenji-senpai to a hospital? I can manage some of these burns but he probably needs professional help,” Taishi frowned.
“Ah! Yeah! Right! We should call them! And Kyotaro! Ah, if they ask, tell them I spilled hot water on you!” Ryouma exclaimed. Nanao rolled his eyes and petted Ryouma’s cheek.
“Calm down, Ryouma-kun. You’re melting your fingers off.”
“What?” Ryouma exclaimed. He looked at his hands. "Ah!"
“It looks like you have ice cream stuck to your hands, Ryouma-senpai,” Ichiro laughed.
“Deep breaths, Ryouma-senpai.”
“Ryo-chin, relax.”
“Right… thanks, guys…”