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Before Ejriou’s momma met his mother, they used to live with his father.
His momma and father were married for a long time. They had Ejirou young enough that his momma had to stop taking her college classes to focus on raising him while his father worked.
Ejirou believes he was three when he remembers his father hitting his momma.
He wouldn’t stop crying because he was three and feeling new emotions. His father had gotten home not too long before and was shouting at her to stop his crying. She was trying her best to wipe his tears and calm him down.
His father had stomped over and slapped her, blaming her for raising his son “like a girl.”
When Ejirou was six and was learning to control his quirk, his father turned his hand onto him. This happened for many reasons, like him crying and doing more damage to his father than he would do to Ejirou.
The worst nights were when Ejirou would be dragged to the hallway closet. A punishment reserved for when the young child would break something or fuss over having to eat vegetables.
Ejirou would sit there for hours and hours, plunged into darkness. His mind would conjure up scary things, monsters his friends would tell him about or something he saw on the TV. His little heart would shake his ribcage, and he wouldn’t be able to move from the fetal position he curled in.
That closet was a core memory for Ejirou.
His momma leaving his father was another one.
Despite that and how caring his momma and mother were, he couldn't sleep in the dark. Even as he got older, Ejirou needed a light or some safety net for him to fall into.
The dorms were a scary idea for Ejirou. The first night, Tenya knocked on the door to inform Ejirou that he needed to sleep and to turn his light off. The second night, Monoma and Denki joined forces to blow the fusebox. It left Ejirou on the phone with his mom, huddled around a candle with tears in his eyes.
It got better. He got a nightlight - a duck that lit up when you pressed on its head - and permission from Aizawa to keep his light on for the worst of nights.
Except on nights like these; a storm raged outside, wind howling through the cracks of his balcony door. The harsh weather caused the power to be tripped, leaving Ejirou and his slowly dying light duck to cower under his desk.
He probably has batteries somewhere, but his limbs were locked in fear.
“God damnit…” He mumbles to himself, setting his face in the crook of his drawn-up knees, “I’m supposed to be a hero…” He shamefully admits into the dark, squeezing his eyes shut as his heart beats out of his chest.
His door creaking open causes him to instinctively harden his skin and swing his arm, breaking the duck light and scratching one of his table legs. His labored breathing is the only sound in the room.
It’s then when he sees some kind of light emitting in a slight Kaminari shape.
“Kirishima?” Kaminari calls out, “Bro? You in here?” When the boy steps fully into the room and shuts the door, he is fully illuminating the room with a dim light that’s coming off of his body. The light flickers in certain spots, as if traveling around his body.
When the blonde spots Ejirou, he lights up, literally; it becomes brighter for a second as he comes to sit next to him. It dims down again as Kaminari rocks back and forth, smiling at him.
“How are you doing that?” Ejirou’s meek voice calls out, making him flinch, but it goes unnoticed as Kaminari tilts his head.
“Doing what?” He asks. Even his eyes are emanating a small glow, small lines of light shooting around his pupils.
Ejirou makes a motion towards him, “Your glowing…?” He says, confused as ever as the other boy laughs, a slight pink to his cheeks.
“Awh, thank you, I tried a new face wash -”
“No, Kami, dude, you are literally glowing.” Ejriou grabs him by his shoulders and shakes him, watching the light disappear under his hands.
“Huh?” Kaminari looks down at his hands before jumping to himself, “Oh! Yeah, sorry, it’s totally normal for me. I forgot other people don’t know that.”
When Ejriou still looks confused, Kaminari continues, “Okay, so you know how electricity creates light?” Ejriou nods, watching the light grow stronger as Kaminari talks. “Since I hold a lot of electricity, it’s just sitting inside of me and gives me a natural glow, especially where it flows naturally!”
Kaminari opens the door and shoves his sleeve up, showing the way the electricity lines his veins, causing this dull light to emit from it. As his heart pumps, there’s a small surge of light.
It’s comforting. The biggest light is from his hair, strands reflecting a warm yellow light like the sun is shooting through colored glass. It illuminates the right parts of his room, showing him there was nothing there that he didn't set down himself.
“What did you, uh… come in here for?” Ejirou asks, feeling the fear melt off his bones from the newfound light.
“Just bored.” He shrugs, sitting back on his hands. “I’m a little wired from training early and don’t think I can sleep early like Jirou’s doing.”
“Same, same.” Ejirou looks away, letting his eyes wander around the room as if he’s memorizing everything. He sits straight up, attempting to shake his nerves out. Kaminari tilts his head again, wide eyes boring into him as if he knows.
“What were you doing before, Kiri?” He asks, almost uncharacteristically softly.
Shame fills his body. He knows fears aren't rational, that there’s so much behind this simple fear that he can’t control or change. He still feels ridiculous that he was hiding under a table; he feels angry that his father hasn't talked to him in years, and yet he still shakes in the dark.
There’s a hum that causes Ejirou to snap his head to Kaminari, who has a smile on his face. “Hey, we don’t have to talk about it!” The blonde squeezes under the table with him, pulling out his phone and tapping in his password, “Let’s just scroll through reels for a bit, actually, there’s one Kouda sent me -”
Kaminari’s voice filters out as he slumps against Kirishima. His light fills the small area of the desk, shooting out into his room, but he can still see. When he looks down to see a video of a bunny doing ASMR with Mirkou theming, he forgets the fear from earlier.
In its place is a warm, tingly feeling he always gets from Kaminari. From the electricity, he assumes.