Work it Out - KiriKami

9 ~ Private Talk

Eijirou reached the doorway of the teacher's lounge and stopped. He was scared.‬
‪If he did this, there was the possibility Denki would never trust him again. He could lose his boyfriend forever. Was it worth it?‬

‪"Kirishima? Shouldn't you be eating lunch?"‬

‪Eijirou turned around and saw Aizawa standing behind him in the hall, "Yes... But... I need to do something."‬

‪"Does it have anything to do with your little outburst yesterday?"‬

‪Eijirou nodded, "You said if anything happened I needed to tell someone."‬

‪"Do you want to talk somewhere private?"‬

‪"Please.."‬

‪Aizawa nodded, "Okay, come with me." he started walking down the hall.‬

‪Kirishima followed, "I didn't think this was a good idea but Bakugou convinced me it's the right thing to do."‬

‪"Does it have anything to do with Kaminari?"‬

‪"Yes, it has everything to do with him."‬

‪They reached a private room and Aizawa let Eijirou inside, closing the door behind him, "I can excuse you from English class today, take all the time you need to explain."‬

‪Eijirou nodded, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of a small table. Aizawa sat down on the other side.‬

‪It was silent for a few minutes, then Eijirou spoke, "Sorry, I wasn't ready for this. It was a spur of the moment decision. I need to make sure I word things well."

‪"It's okay, take your time."‬

‪Eijirou thought for another moment before speaking again, "Someone hurt Denki when he was younger. He doesn't want to tell anyone about it but I think he needs to. I think he has some sort of PTSD from it."‬

‪"I'm assuming it's something that's still affecting him now, right? That's why you feel the need to tell someone?"‬

‪Eijirou nodded, "Yes. He said he doesn't remember most of it. I guess it was traumatic enough his brain repressed the memories."‬

‪"Did he tell you the parts he does remember?"‬

‪Eijirou nodded again, "Yes. He didn't remember them until recently. The memories have been coming back up the past couple days," he looked down, "It's my fault, I triggered him."‬

‪"What do you mean?"‬

‪"Well, I suppose it's better to start with what he told me. The trigger will make more sense that way."‬

‪"Okay."‬

‪Eijirou started to tear up, "He won't trust me again after this. I promised I wouldn't tell anyone."‬

‪"Kirishima, his trust isn't the priority here. What matters most is that he's safe."‬

‪"He is safe. The people who hurt him aren't in his life anymore. It's just... He still needs help. Like, therapy or some shit... Oh, sorry for swearing."‬

‪"Don't worry about the swearing. Just tell me what happened."‬

‪Eijirou looked back up, "Okay," he paused, "He didn't tell me any specifics but I think he was abused by his mom's boyfriends growing up. One man in particular. He said he can't remember if he hurt him though."‬

‪"What makes you think he hurt him?"‬

‪"Well, he said he did very bad things. He described one thing as 'appauling' and it's bad enough that he doesn't want to even try to remember the details of that thing. Honestly, I don't think I want to know what it is either."‬

‪"Okay. Is there anything more specific he told you?"‬

‪Eijirou nodded, "Yes, apparently this guy was pretty homophobic. Things got bad when he found out Denki is bi. I don't know if you know Denki and I are dating, we're public but don't show it much. ‪Denki is terrified of showing PDA because of this guy. He drilled it into Denki's head that he can't be a hero if he dates other boys. Denki shuts down any time there's a chance of someone seeing us being intimate with each other. It's a subconscious fear, he didn't remember why ‪he's scared until two days ago. He didn't remember anything about this guy, he was completely wiped from his memory. Whatever method this guy used to instil this fear in Denki was traumatic enough that he's blocked it out"‬

‪"What happened two days ago to bring his memories back?"‬

‪Eijirou started tearing up again‬, "I, uh, I told him I love him for the first time. I knew it was too soon, I knew it would put pressure on him, but I did it anyway. He said he felt like a good-for-nothing boyfriend because he can't even hold my hand in public. ‪I didnt know what to do to convince him that that's not true. I didnt know how to convince him I love him despite the PDA issue other than just telling him I love him. But it freaked him out. He started acting all weird. He moved away from me and sat there silent for 20 minutes."‬

‪"What did you do during this time?"‬

‪"I just sat there. I thought it was best to leave him alone. But he ended up getting stuck in his head and going into a not so safe mental state. When he finally spoke it was... weird. ‪He felt so distant. He was in my arms but felt like he was a million worlds away. He was so deep in his mind it was like he wasn't here anymore, that's what brought his memories back. He went deep enough to pull them out."‬

‪"When he did finally speak what did he tell you?"‬

‪"He said someone had told him two boys being together was wrong but he couldn't remember who it was. It wasn't until this morning that he remembered enough to tell me that it was his mom's boyfriend."‬

‪"Okay," Aizawa took a deep breath, "Is there anything else?"‬

‪Eijirou shook his head, "He let himself remember just enough to explain to me why he's afraid of PDA so we can work past that. But now he wants to push his memories back down. He doesn't want to work through those."‬

‪"Well, this is a very sensitive issue..." Aizawa thought for a moment, "I'll talk to him after classes let's out for the day," he looked at the time, "Lunch isn't over yet. You should go eat."‬

‪Eijirou frowned, "Should I do anything to help him?"‬

‪Aizawa shook his head, "No, just let me talk to him. You've done your part by bringing this to my attention. Don't tell him you told me. It'll just upset him. Just go back to normal. I'll handle the rest of this."‬

‪"I feel like I should be doing more for him."‬

‪"Don't. You've done all you can. Now just be there to support him while he works through this."‬

‪A tear rolled down Eijirou's cheek, "He's going to hate me..."‬

‪"No, he won't. He'll definitely be upset. It'll probably take him a while to forgive you, but he won't hate you."‬

‪Eijirou wiped his tear away, "Just... Promise me you'll help him."‬

‪"Of course. I'll do everything I can to get him the help he needs. Now, go get something to eat."‬

‪Eijirou nodded and took a deep breath, "Okay."‬

‪Aizawa stood and opened the door, holding it open for him.‬

‪Eijirou left the room and started walking down the hall. Now he had to face Denki. He had to pretend he hadn't just betrayed him. Could he do it?‬