Purple Band-Aids (ShinKami)

Chapter Thirteen

Once again he's being woken up by loud knocking.

It's not a good day.

What's new?

He slowly gets out of bed.

He remembers the Band-Aids, probably barely hanging on, and decides that talking through the door is enough.

Walking up to it, he stops and stares at it as the knocking continues. He really isn't feeling today.

"Yeah?" He answers quietly.

"Are you alright, man? Aren't you almost ready for today? School starts soon."

Sero.

"I asked for today off. Aizawa said it was fine."

He should put more effort into this. He shouldn't be an asshole.

"Can you open up? I can't really hear you."

He sounds kind of stressed. Kaminari doesn't want to open the door, but starts taking off the Band-Aids.

None of them fell off, so he holds all seven in his hand, crushing them with more force than necessary. He doesn't really like any of those things about himself today. Can't even pretend to do that.

He opens the door after what seemed like forever, revealing a surprised Sero.

"I thought you had just ignored me and went back to bed," he half laughs.

Kaminari laughs too, trying to grasp onto something other than dread and hopelessness. Even if it was fake, it was better than the empty feeling of today.

"What's up?"

"Not feeling well. Also going home again to help out," the blond says, not with a lot of eagerness.

He slowly gets back into bed, butt still hurting, but surprisingly less so, as he snuggles into his mountain of blankets. It's comforting.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

His face is hidden in the blankets, so Sero can't see his face, but he still has to play it off. He's fine.

He laughs. "The only reason I'm not is because you woke me up and I'm not even going to class."

Sero sighs, sitting on the bed next to the mountain that is Kaminari.

"You didn't show up when we were supposed to hang out and then texted us way later about it. Also, what was that in class yesterday? You didn't seem okay then."

The blond is silent for a while after that. He got called out, and he feels so slow right now, so no excuses are coming to mind. What can he even say? Everything, except the truth, will be unacceptable. Why would you go and ditch your friends without reason?

Same thing for class. What made him walk out like that? After he froze, too.

"We're just worried, man. That's all."

"It's nothing. I'm tired right now. Could you tell the others I'm sorry? Same goes for you, though. I'm really sorry I've been so flakey. Give me a bit of time to get my shit together, will you?"

Sero looks at him with the upmost uncertainty, but Kaminari would tell him eventually. They're all best friends. Even though Kaminari rarely ever got like this, usually he would finally come out and tell them. 

It seems a bit different this time for some reason, but Sero can't really say for sure until Kaminari finally tells them all what's up. 

"Don't worry about us right now, okay? We can all tell you're having a hard time with whatever it is. You don't have to tell us if you don't want to, at all. Just don't push us away, alright?"