FUCK IM SO SORRY I SWORE I WAS GONNA PUBLISH THIS AND THEN I FORGOT😭😭
anywhoo, this is the last chapter - ty to anyone who's read this far!!
}{
“I still sometimes don’t get it,” Kirishima whispered.
“Don’t get what?” Midoriya responded. Bakugo was back at his house for the moment, having wanted to visit his father, and Kirishima and Midoriya had decided that they wanted to spend some time with each other (and Midoriya hadn’t wanted to have to make his own dinner), so they were staying together at Kirishima’s house.
“Why you didn’t tell me,” Kirishima mumbled.
“About, ya’know, this?” Midoriya gestured to his thighs, seeing that that’s where Kirishima seemed to be staring. Kirishima nodded. He understood in some ways how it must’ve been scary for Midoriya, but at the same time, he was upset that Midoriya never felt safe enough to come to him. Hell, he didn’t even find out because he had been told, he found out because Midoriya forgot he had scars when he was wearing only boxers in front of Kirishima.
“Yeah… About that.”
“It’s… It’s a bit hard to explain, cause,” Midoriya paused, “I’m not sure even I know all of why I didn’t.” There was a moment of silence as Midoriya thought to himself. “Kacchan has self-harmed,” Midoriya began saying, “And so have I… I guess I thought if you knew I did it, after Kacchan did it for so long, you would end up doing it too.”
“That’s what Kats thought too… I want you to know, I wouldn’t ever do that,” Kirishima responded.
“I know, just, the illogical side of my brain won’t stop saying what if you did, just, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. I don’t know if I could take it, and I know Kacchan definitely couldn’t. He already blames himself so much for me doing this…” He was breathing heavily as he began hyperventilating, frantically wiping the tears from his face, just trying to make them stop.
“Izu, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Kirishima repeated, holding Midoriya’s hand tight until he calmed down.
“I didn’t want you to ever have to find out… I just did it impulsively twice but… they scarred a lot I guess. There’s not much hiding this.. Mess.” Midoriya looked down at his own legs, overcome with an overwhelming feeling of regret.
“Hey, no part of you is a ‘mess’, except for maybe your hair,” Kirishima said, lifting a hand up to ruffle Midoriya’s hair. “Nothings wrong with having scars - nothing’s wrong with your scars,” Kirishima’s hand laid gently over Midoriya’s thigh. “I just wish you had felt more comfortable sharing these with me.”
“God, I hate having these scars,” Midoriya mumbled. “I can’t even look at my own legs without feeling horrible about all this. Actually doing it, hiding it from you, and when Kacchan had to come take care of me.”
“He took care of you because he cares about you, Izu. Look at me,” Kirishima tilted Midoriya’s face up towards him. “Nothing is wrong with your scars. I’m not gonna say they’re beautiful or any of that bullcrap, but they’re not ugly either. They’re just a part of you, and I love all of you, scars or no scars.”
Midoriya nodded to Kirishima, mumbling out a thank you. “I know you don’t judge my scars, but what if I… What if I really don’t want them?”
“Then that’s okay too. I have some scar cream I use for training injuries if you wanted to try using that. I don’t know if it will get rid of them fully,” Kirishima glanced down to the deep-pink scars. It definitely won’t get rid of all of them. “But maybe it’ll help you be more comfortable with yourself.” Midoriya nodded again.
Kirishima got up, went to his bathroom, and returned two minutes later, holding a bottle of scar cream. “You can keep this, if you want,” Kirishima said, placing the bottle of cream right in front of Midoriya and then sitting back down right next to him.
“Do I just put some on and leave it?” Midoriya asked, holding the bottle in front of his face and reading the label.
“It worked better for me when I massaged it in. Do you want me to show you?”
Midoriya nodded, passing the bottle over to Kirishima. There was a moment of silence, as Kirishima held a glob of the cream in-between his hands, waiting for it to warm up before he applied it to Midoriya’s thighs. His hands were gentle, working their way over the pale skin of Midoriya’s thighs, focusing particularly on the raised pink bumps. He was careful as he massaged into Midoriya’s thighs, and Midoriya let out a sigh with the comforting warmth of his boyfriend’s hands.
“It’s weird, how Kacchan and I feel so differently about the same thing,” Midoriya said, as Kirishima continued massaging the cream into Midoriya’s thighs. The cream was probably already fully rubbed in, but Kirishima still continued, likely just from liking how much closer it made him feel to his boyfriend.
“What do you mean by that?” Kirishima asked.
“About the scars. I hate mine, but Kacchan, he can’t stand the thought of not having his. He gets real freaked out whenever his start fading. It’s also why he always refuses to get healed by recovery girl.”
“I guess everyone does react differently.” Kirishima placed a quick kiss on Midoriya’s forehead and stood up from the bed. “You should put some pants on sometime soon,” he said, “I don’t know how my mom would feel if you showed up to dinner in your boxers.” Midoriya’s face was overcome with blush as he quickly pulled on the nearest pair of pants that he saw.
}{
Bakugo was spending the week at Kirishima’s, and it was getting close to time to go to bed.
“Eijiro,” Bakugo whispered, “Can you finish telling that story?”
Bakugo and Kirishima laid in bed together, facing each other, legs entangled and faces so close they could feel each other's breath.
“Which story, querido?” Kirishima whispered back.
“The one… from before we were together… when we called in the middle of the night, and then again at the park with ‘Zuku.”
“Are you feeling okay? It gets a lot darker from where we left off, and I don’t want it to… affect you or anything.”
“Yeah, I am. I just wanna know what happens.” Bakugo scooted closer to Kirishima, wrapping his arms around Kirishima’s torso and pressing his face into his boyfriend’s chest.
“So, we’re starting right after Abe died, I’m pretty sure.” Bakugo nodded in agreement.
All the time he spent so utterly alone, everyone he ever cared about dead and buried, Raymond couldn’t stop thinking. When he returned to the cabin, he immediately headed straight for where they stored their hunting supplies, grabbing the rifle and two bullets. First, he found Edmund. Before he even had a chance to say anything about what he had done to Abe, he was on the ground, dead. Raymond still had the respect to bury his own father, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let anyone remember his name. Soon after the dirt had been patted down and the blank stone marker had been placed, Ray too laid on the ground, over his father’s grave, rifle fallen beside him, and blood seeping into the dirt.
“Holy shit was it originally planned to be that dark?” Bakugo asked, pulling himself up to a half sitting position.
“Pretty much, but it’s not quite over yet, Kats. Lay back down.”
When Raymond finished telling the story - the story of his life, yet also the story of his death - Myrrh had tears running down their face. ‘I’m ready to play now, if you are,’ Ray whispered, lifting the violin off the floor. Myrrh nodded, sitting at the piano, and played the first note. When Raymond joined in, playing the bittersweet notes on his violin, it felt as though there was a montage playing before them. A montage of all the time they had spent together, yet also a montage of Raymond’s whole life. People say that as you are dying, your life flashes before your eyes, but in the moments before Raymond’s death, he saw nothing. Now though, he saw everything. He saw himself, sitting with Bessie and Abe as his mother and grandmother played their duet. He saw himself learning the violin, and practicing whenever he could with Harriet. He saw Bessy and Abe listening intently to his own stories just before their bedtime. He saw himself taking beatings from Edmund so his siblings wouldn’t have to. He saw Harriet taking her last breaths, and then Bessie taking hers too. He saw his own hands, blistered and bleeding, sitting on the ground just in front of two new mounds of dirt, each marked with a gravestone. He saw Abe, sobbing each and every night, missing the mother he never had, missing his grandmother and sister, praying he had any other father than the one he was stuck with. He saw Abe’s bloodied bruised body limp on the forest floor, still living, yet with no will left to live. He saw the life leave his little brother’s eyes. He saw his father’s body, his father’s blood covering his hands, and then, finally, he saw his own body, just as lifeless as the rest of them. There was a bright light, and he barely even noticed he was playing the violin anymore. He couldn’t even tell if the light was moving closer to him, or if he was stepping closer to it. As it got nearer, Raymond could see through to the other side.
Glancing over to Raymond, Myrrh could see him fading away, yet he looked happy.
On the other side, there sat Bessy, sitting in Caitlin’s lap, laughing and smiling with the mother she barely got to know in life. Next to Bessy and Caitlin stood Harriet. And then, there was Abe. He was pristine. His skin was free of bruises, no blood anywhere in sight. The deep eye bags were gone, and his eyes seemed to have regained life to them, despite it being in death. Abe held out a hand, and this time, Raymond was positive he was the one to step forward, Grabbing Abe’s small hand in his own. The last note of the song was played, the violin clattered to the floor, and Raymond was nowhere to be seen.
“Thanks for finishing the story, Eijiro,” Bakugo whispered. Kirishima didn’t say anything in response. Instead, he just smiled as Bakugo cuddled closer to him.
}{
“Why are you fuckers acting so weird?” Bakugo yelled. Midoriya and Kirishima glanced suspiciously back and forth between each other.
“You’ll find out soon,” Midoriya said with a giggle.
“Well can I at least go get a snack then?”
“No!” Midoriya and Kirishima quickly yelled in unison. Bakugo flopped back onto Midoriya’s bed with a sigh.
Close to ten minutes later, a buzz came from Midoriya’s phone and he jumped up, telling Bakugo that they could go now.
When he stepped out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, a look of confusion crossed his face. There were… People there? Inko was there, as expected, considering it was her house, but so was Kirishima’s mother, Aizawa, and even his own father, Masaru.
“Surprise, kid,” Aizawa said.
“We wanted to have a little celebration for you,” Inko said, giving him a soft smile.
“What the hell are we celebrating for?” Bakugo asked.
“You’re six months clean, kiddo. Your boyfriends set up the whole thing,” Masaru said, walking over to Bakugo and pulling him into a large hug.
There was Bakugo’s favorite dinner, which everyone else struggled to eat from the amount of hot peppers that had been added. Inko had made Katsuki a cake to celebrate (spicy chocolate with raspberries) that he had at least two large slices of.
They all sat in the living room together, Bakugo sitting between Midoriya and his father. Midoriya leaned over, whispering into Bakugo’s ear, “You should put on a movie and I’ll go grab some board games, okay?”
Everybody - Kirishima, Midoriya, Bakugo, Aizawa, Masaru, Inko, and Ms. Kirishima - played card games together. Bakugo had turned on some ghibli movies in the background. Once they reached the third movie, everyone had begun to get a bit too tired to continue playing games. Bakugo returned from sitting on the floor to sitting back on the sofa, between his father and Kirishima this time, with Midoriya sitting on the other side of Kirishima. As the movie continued playing, Bakugo began dozing off, falling onto his father’s shoulder, and napping there until the movie finished.
“Katsuki, I need to go home soon,” Masaru whispered, not wanting to wake the boy but also not wanting to leave without saying goodbye. Bakugo grumbled in response, nowhere near awake but still not fully sleeping. “I’m proud of you, Katsuki,” He whispered, saying a quick ‘I love you’ and ‘goodbye’.
“Bye dad. Love you,” Bakugo mumbled back, rolling over from leaning on his father to leaning on Kirishima instead.
Once everyone had left, the three boys returned to Midoriya’s bedroom.
“Katsuki…” Kirishima whispered, holding both Bakugo’s hands in his. “We’re so incredibly proud of you. You’ve come so far, and I know it’s been hard for you, but we’re both so proud.” He leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss onto Bakugo’s lips, and for once, there was no whines of ‘no fair’ coming from Midoriya. When he pulled away, Bakugo was quickly wrapped in a giant hug by Midoriya, who was repeatedly whispering how proud he was of Bakugo. Gently kissing the boy as well, Midoriya pulled away for just half a second, just inches between their faces and arms still wrapped around each other's necks.
“You’re so strong,” Midoriya whispered, his breath tickling Bakugo’s face.
“Thank you,” He whispered back. Tears ran down his face, but for once, they weren't bad ones of sadness or insecurity. For once, they were tears of happiness. And for once, Bakugo believed him. He was strong.
}{
wc: 2300
tyy for reading :))
if anyone wants to read more crap like this I mainly post on ao3 under the username @lalunenix