(Completed) Press Play {Kiribaku YouTuber AU}

1

"Okay...camera's up, lights are set, and....perfect!" Eijiro Kirishima stepped back from his recording setup with a huge, toothy grin, admiring his handiwork.

He'd just bought a new camera, and had finally gotten the chance to set it up. His life was pretty hectic, between managing his part-time job and his growing YouTube channel, and he rarely had the time or energy to do anything that wasn't a part of his usual regular routine.

Today, however, was special. He'd came home from work, ready to set up his new camera and record more videos to edit later. But then his phone started blowing up, and as soon as he checked it he knew he had to make a video about what was going on.

Ground Zero, the YouTuber who had originally inspired Kirishima to start his own channel, had gotten his identity leaked. His real name was apparently Katsuki Bakugo, and the person who'd found it had spread it to every corner of the internet.

Ground Zero had always been different from the usual happy-go-lucky YouTubers. He cussed, screamed, raged, and made it a point to never smile, especially on camera. At every interview he went to, he acted the same he did in his videos; standoffish and snarky, and maybe that would seem rude to most people, but to his fans, it was just the way he was. But when his haters found out that those same aggressive tendencies had gotten him into huge trouble when he was younger, they immediately jumped on the chance to call him out about it.

Kirishima had read all the articles and he knew what people had found, but he wanted to explain on camera why he was still going to support his idol. So as soon as he had gotten everything set up, he sat down, making sure he was camera ready first, and pressed the record button.

"Hey, guys!" He grinned and waved cheerfully, doing his normal introduction before getting into the serious stuff. "So...today's video is gonna be different. I'm sure you've all heard about what happened with the bigger YouTuber, Ground Zero. Now, some of you longtime viewers of mine probably know that Ground Zero is the one who inspired me to start making videos, and because of that I'll always really admire him. But I want to talk about this stuff, and tell you guys why I'm gonna continue to support him."

He pulled out his phone then and tapped on the original Tweet that had set the internet ablaze, holding it up to the camera for it to focus. "Katsuki Bakugo, AKA, Ground Zero, was apparently arrested when he was fifteen years old. Now, I've got no way of knowing if this is all true or not since I'm just going off of what I've seen online. But he was evidently arrested on aggravated assault charges because he got into a fight with a classmate and the guy had to be hospitalized. Which, to be clear, is not okay, and I'm not trying to condone stuff like that, believe me. And from what I've seen, he was sentenced to six months of juvie and then did community service too? All I'm saying is...well, it's in the past, you know? God knows everybody makes mistakes, and some people just make bigger mistakes than others, I guess. But it's also not okay for people to judge someone because of something that happened ten years ago. I'm sure he's grown up a lot since then, and probably severely regrets whatever it was that happened."

Kirishima sighed, glancing away from the camera lens. "Anyways, this video wasn't meant to be particularly long, so I think I'll end it here, but...well, just think about that, okay, guys? Alright...bye, guys, I'll see you next time!"

He reached over and pressed the button to stop recording, then leaned back in his chair with a dramatic sigh. "I'm probably gonna lose a bunch of subscribers for this..." He mumbled, then shook his head. "But it doesn't matter, because this is way more important than my numbers!"

He sat up and immediately set to work editing the footage. He made a quick and easy thumbnail and uploaded the video to his channel. Since it was a short video, it only took a few minutes to upload. Almost instantly, his phone began to buzz consistently, telling him people were posting comments on his latest upload.

But it was incredibly late, and Kirishima was utterly exhausted. So he decided to turn his phone on silent before setting it face down and collapsing on his stomach in bed. He was asleep mere minutes after his head hit the pillow.

The next morning, Kirishima woke up to his alarm like usual, and reached over to grab his phone and look through his notifications. He swiped aside all notifications from people commenting on last night's video, instead focusing on other stuff.

But then he came across a Twitter DM he'd received a few hours before. At first glance, he didn't think it was anything special, until he saw the username of the sender.

ground_zero
@kingexplosion

We should talk about that video you did.

"Oh my God." Kirishima's pulse erupted in his ears, and he threw off the covers with a grin to jump around his room excitedly. "Oh my God, Ground Zero messaged me, oh my God!"

After he'd gotten over his little fanboy outburst, he composed himself enough to send a simple response.

You mean the video about your leak?

Shockingly, the reply came nearly immediately.

No shit, Sherlock. I wanted to thank you, I guess. You're the first person I've seen who hasn't thought I need to go to a fucking prison cell for the rest of my miserable life.

Kirishima frowned. Was that true? Was he really the first one to say he still supported him? Even if I was the first to say it publicly, I'm sure there are others who feel the same. This isn't going to ruin your entire career.

I beg to differ, but that's not why I messaged you. I want to meet up with you.

Kirishima's heart skipped a beat. You mean, like, in person?

Damn, are you stupid or something? Of course I mean in person, dumbass! I want to give you the whole story about what happened. I saw your video and what you said about me being your inspiration, and I can't have that kind of shit on my conscience.

So he just wanted to give him the details so he wouldn't feel guilty? Kirishima supposed that made sense, but he couldn't deny that he was still excited. How could he not be? This was his idol he was talking about, the one who had dragged him out of his depressed state of mind back when he'd been in middle school. Ground Zero had always been there for him if he was feeling particularly low. He had saved his life.

Alright, I'd be glad to meet up with you sometime. Do you have a place in mind?

That depends, where do you live? I live in Musutafu.

Dude, same! What a coincidence, huh?

Kirishima could practically see his signature eye roll with his next reply. Yeah, sure, cool. There's this small cafe that's ran by someone I know. We can meet there. Does today work for you?

Yeah, today's good since it's my day off! Just send me the address and time and I'll be there.

Good. We'll meet there at noon today. And then he sent the address before logging off.

Kirishima couldn't wipe the grin off of his face. He set his phone down and flipped nack on the bed, smiling into his covers. Ground Zero had just asked to meet him. He was going to meet Ground Zero today.

"I've gotta be freaking dreaming." He mumbled to himself.

***Uhhhhhhh, surprise? I really wanted to make a full book for Kiribaku, not just oneshots, and this is what I came up with. It's loosely inspired by another Kiribaku YouTuber AU I read, but the plot will be totally different. Anyways, this was a lot of fun to write, so I hope whoever happens to read this enjoys it! See ya next time, bye!!***