"You look happier."

Mina tells Kirishima and the redhead stops humming for a moment, creasing his brow in confusion before he finally smiles and nods in agreement.

"I am."

"Something happened?"

Mina asks as he sits down besides Kirishima. The redhead tries to think about the past few days, the past few weeks—oh, he thinks about the past few months before he realized what happened.

Thing is, nothing happened—rather, nothing is happening anymore. No more waking up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare. No more ghosts from the past which he's too scared to look back on. Nothing. Nothing's happening for the past few months.

And it all started after that one short conversation with Bakugou after he told him about the black-haired boy, too scared and frozen to even reach his arms out to help his friends. The black-haired boy he long since wish he could forget.

And to his surprise Bakugou told him—

"See. You're strong."

He felt a little annoyed, thinking that his friend was only saying that to pacify him.

"Bakugou, I was the black-haired boy. I /am/ weak."

"You're not and you weren't. If you're weak, you wouldn't have pushed yourself to be better. You wouldn't have continued trying to be a hero. You wouldn't have /become/ a hero. But you're a hero now, aren't you?"

"You're not weak because you faced an obstacle. You're strong because you managed to overcome what happened to you before and now you're here."

Kirishima remained quiet, letting the words simmer into his mind no matter how hard it felt like.

"You're strong."

Bakugou told him once again before he messed Kirishima's hair and left the room to go back to his own. Kirishima stayed there, stunned and close to tears as he felt like he's finally free. Like something has been finally lifted off his shoulders.

Years. After years and years of denying himself of this, finally let himself accept the one thing that he never thought would cross his mind—

The fact that he is strong.

Kirishima can't help the small smile on his lips as he looks at Mina still waiting for his answer. He shakes his head lightly and heaves a sigh of relief.

"Nothing happened. Just a few realizations here and there."

And he's not gonna let anything else come between him and the strength now carved deeply into his heart.

(today, a certain someone told me that i look happier. he reminded me about how i kept on saying months ago that i'm weak because i kept on having several breakdowns because of work and stress and all other shits)

(but i changed my work, shifted to a healthier environment, and then he told me that i look happier. and he told me once again that i'm not weak. as a matter of fact, i'm strong because i managed to overcome that toxic environment and now i'm in a much better place)

(and so this thread came. i just really want to pour out all these emotions. i just feel so happy because i realized that he's right, maybe i'm not weak after all. and somehow, just somehow, it makes me look forward to tomorrow even more)

(and if any of you are reading this short thread, i hope bakugou's reminders to kirishima sticks with you too. you are strong. you are. you may not believe it for now, but someday you'll realize it too.

have a great day ahead )