Monster (xMale!Reader | FIC)

Chapter Eighteen: The Amalgamation of Tsukishima Kei and Yaku Morisuke (pt.1)

Isogai glanced at Bakugou's back as he stormed out, bored. Kirishima realized that he looked just as tired as Kaminari, if not more. His lack of energy seemed prolonged as if he hadn't slept decently in a week.

"Looks like someone isn't great at juggling lives, huh?" Isogai asked. Kirishima finally spoke up, anxious.

"I agree with Bakugou, dude. What's been up with you lately? You look like death."

"Thanks." Kaminari sighed and directed his attention to Isogai. Kirishima tasted a foul sourness on his tongue. "I uh...ran into Akabane and Shiota yesterday. I don't know what happened, maybe I was tired, but I swear something grabbed me."

Isogai looked unsure for a moment, then saddened, then neutral and decided. "That was just Nagisa; nothing grabbed you. He just...does that to people. It's scary, but not enough to scare someone too much anymore—he's got that under control. Why do you look so tired?"

"I'm only admitting this because I know I shouldn't have, but I fucked up." Kaminari was trying not to cry. Isogai felt panic rise in him.

"What are you guys even talking about? I'm sick of not being involved in all of this."

Isogai glared at him. "Sorry, Kirishima, but can you please screw off for a few minutes? We can talk about whatever you want, but what Kaminari just said is a little important."

"This is 'whatever I want to talk about,' you asshole. I'm not oblivious. Why's everyone been so weird?"

"This doesn't concern you, Kirishima," Kaminari added.

"If it doesn't involve me, why do either of you matter?"

"In case you haven't noticed, your friend here is this thing called an informant," Isogai said in a falsely teaching voice. The similarities to his old teacher stuck out to him as he spoke. "That means that he gets involved in stuff that you don't. What I do is just none of your business."

Kirishima hit first and thought second. Who does this guy think he is? Isogai stumbled back a few steps before standing up straight. He wiped at his nose, a heated look taking over at he looked back at Kirishima. Kaminari had never known Kirishima to be that violent right off the bat. "What the fuck was that—are you retarded? Why'd you hit him? He's right."

"Seriously? Maybe if your friend knew how to talk to people I'd have backed off. I'm not three."

"Is this how you react to taunting? You act real big, like it's just a joke when we're messing with other people. You wanna be involved with this crap so bad, but you can't even handle talking from this guy?"

Isogai couldn't find it in him to take offense. He could get fired for this. If his boss thought he was fighting, they'd fire him on the spot. Worse, he couldn't get a job like this, either. How was he going to provide for his family if he got fired? He snarked, "Hey Kaminari, learn to control your dog, will you? I could get fired just on speculation, and I'm poor."

"Who cares about you being poor?"

"My sick mom and my hungry siblings." Kirishima shut up at that. Kaminari sighed, tired.

"Can you just go? This is already hard enough without you making things worse. Bakugou doesn't understand what's going on, but you should know your place."

Kirishima stared at them, the look wedged between a glare and heavy regret. Talk about a rock and a hard place. He didn't budge. Isogai calling him a dog rung in his ears. Who does he think he is? He shouldn't be so upset, Kirishima thought—he can heal just like the rest of us. It'll be gone by the end of the day.