Chapter Text
“Wait, okay, slow down!” Mina laughed, being dragged by an excited Denki into Kyoka’s dorm room. He let go of her hand and shot into his room like a bat out of hell, suddenly whooping and yelling like a crazed coyote on cocaine. Kyoka, who was pleasantly strumming on her acoustic guitar before the disruption, jolted from the bed in alarm, almost dropping her instrument in a slight panic.
“IT FINALLY HAPPENED!” Denki shouted, arms in the air as he launched himself onto Kyoka’s bed without regard for her belongings that were scattered along it. Mina jogged into the room, shutting the door behind her as she gave Kyoka a confused smile.
“Sorry, he’s been acting like a lunatic for like, the past ten minutes and won’t explain what the hell is happening.”
“Yeah, apparently,” Kyoka said, setting her guitar down gently before smacking his back. Kaminari yelped in surprise, before turning over and pouting at her.
“Why’d you go and do that?” He whined. She pointed irritably at the loose leaf paper that was previously crumpled beneath him.
“I was writing a song, asshat. What’d you do, fry your brain before you came in and decided to hop on top of my afternoon’s work?”
Denki hurriedly grabbed the sheets of paper to fix them as Mina sat on the floor, promptly laying herself on her stomach instead as she pulled out her phone and sent a text with a smile.
Kyoka snatched the papers out of his hands. “Will you just tell me what the hell you barged in here for before I kick your ass for messing these up? This song was supposed to be a surprise for Momo!”
Denki’s eyes lit up, and he sat upright once again, suddenly overflowing with an overwhelming aura of utter joy. “Funny you mention your soulmate; because I just got all three of mine.”
Mina and Kyoka dropped their jaws in shock.
“No way ! Oh, no fair! ” Mina exclaimed, clamoring onto the bed and playfully smacking Denki in celebration. “Oh my god, is it the Boys? Is it exactly who I called it to be? Was I right?”
He smiled, putting his arms up in defense to his friend’s attack. “Yep. Katsuki, Eijirou, and Sero.”
“Wow, godspeed, dude,” Kyoka barked, doubling over with laughter. “Kirishima and Hanta are alright, but Bakugo? Your lifespan just shortened by like, half a century.”
He rolled his eyes as Mina giggled along with her. He laid back down, starry eyed and thumbing over his bare wrist in awe. “Yeah, well, guess that’s just how it goes. Plus, he’s getting better at not beating the shit out of people, so he’s not perfect, but…”
“Please don’t tell me you’re excusing the fact he beats the shit out of people,” Kyoka deadpanned. Mina nodded in agreement.
“Yeah don’t do that, because yikes. ”
“Not excusing,” Denki agreed, before laughing suddenly. Mina and Kyoka exchanged looks.
“It was actually because he started a fight with someone that this happened, huh?” Mina asked. Denki nodded, still laughing in disbelief as he covered his eyes in embarrassment, his cheeks turning red.
“It was--ha, sorry, sorry! It just--it was over defending us three that he got into a fight in the first place,” He finished, his chuckles trailing off. “Just some rando on the street calling us names because we were purposefully trying to piss of Katsuki by hanging all over him, kinda like babytalking him and stuff. Just the usual antics that get him riled up. Random guy decided to be homophobic when we weren’t even being affectionate romantically, really.”
Kyoka grimaced. “It will never stop to surprise me how all this time, people will still give honest-to-god soulmates shit for being gay when there’s literally no changing who their soulmates can be.”
“Yeah, well, thank the people that still claim the Scripts are bad for being devil magic or someshit. Some people just want to live unhappy if their unhappiness doesn’t fit their small-minded box. Gets tiring as shit when they take it out on others, though,” Mina sighed, rubbing Denki on the back in comfort as he waved her off, despite reveling in the attention. “I’m usually not one to shit on like, a whole religion, but that batshit cult really did a number on society for a bit, didn’t it?”
Kyoka nodded, rolling her eyes as she put her chin in her hands. “Yeah, I feel that. Anyways, Denki, go ahead.”
“Well, that’s basically it, honestly. Katsuki shoved us off his back and crossed the street, in front of actual traffic, in order to like, tell this guy off about how he’s a dumbass and probably Scriptless to want to shit on other people for having soulmates that weren’t heteronormative. Guy was shouting back nonsense about how Scripts used to always be hetero until now, blah blah, same bullshit as always. Surprisingly, though,” Denki said, beginning to smile again. “ Before socking a grown man square in the jaw, Katsuki said something pretty articulate for being on the brink of berserker mode. He told that dude, ‘People always go along with whatever lies their oppressors tell them to pretend to be so they don’t fucking die, shit for brains! Just because you lie in textbooks doesn’t mean it’s fucking true!’ And then he promptly uppercutted that dude so hard he fell into someone’s food cart, out cold.”
Mina laughed as Kyoka smiled, impressed.
“That’s surprisingly well-said for someone who used to wail on someone innocent like Izuku for looking at him the wrong way when we first met him.”
Denki frowned slightly, before closing his eyes and shrugging. “Yeah. He has grown since then, though.”
Kyoka scoffed. “Sure, he went from beating the living daylights out of him to telling him he wants to be better than him because he feels inferior to him. What an apology.”
Mina squirmed in her spot, sensing the tension rise between the two.
Denki pursed his lips. “I’m not defending him, dude, lay off me.”
“I didn’t say you were defending him? Don’t get defensive because I’m pointing out your soulmate has some major flaws, man.”
Denki looked at her in disbelief. “Do you hear yourself right now? You’d be pissed out of your mind if I started talking shit about Yaoyorozu.”
“I’m not talking shit . I’m pointing out actual things that he did.”
“And things he’s learning from.”
“Maybe he should have already been a point where he’s a decent fucking person, you know?” Kyoka snapped, irked. “Instead of relying on other people to teach him how to function properly.”
“Well maybe you should consider the fact that he’s all fucked up because he’s had no one take him down a peg for doing that shit, so he’s unlearning the idea that that means he’s allowed to act that way!”
“He shouldn’t have gotten to this point anyways, Kaminari! He’s shitty because instead of thinking about the consequences, he just kept doing awful shit anyways!”
Denki sat up suddenly, looking ready to bolt out out of the room in a rage, when Mina put a hand on his chest, looking at him with a soft smile.
“Hey dude, hold on, okay?” She said tenderly. He shrank slightly, even if still obviously fuming.
“...Fine.”
Mina sighed slightly in relief, glanced at Kyoka.
“You wanna start over and phrase that shit differently?”
Kyoka pursed her lips and looked away, crossing her arms. Denki frowned and crossed his arms as well, mirroring her unintentionally. The three sat in a tension-filled silence for what seemed like an eternity.
“ Kyoka ,” Mina deadpanned.
Kyoka growled and threw up her arms in defeat.
“Okay, basically, I’m just saying that I don’t want you to get hurt because in all honesty, Bakugo may have grown, but he’s still a shithead, and if that prick ever did anything to hurt you, I’d blow his goddamn head off with a sonic wave in an instant, you understand me? I just don’t want you to get all stuck in an abusive situation by you defending him if he ever did something fucking awful to you.”
Denki looked at her in surprise, jaw dropped as she flushed in frustration, sinking into the pillows on her bed as she looked away in embarrassment.
“There, I fucking said it. You wanna apologize to me now?”
“Yeesh, okay,” Denki sighed. “I’m sorry for not letting you get your point across. But my point still stands; Katsuki seems to be changing, even if it’s painfully slow. Kiri has definitely been getting to him the most, since trust-wise they’re the closest, but I think I’ll be able to help him grow, and I think he might even be able to do the same for me too, ya know? Like, call me stupid all you want, but that idiot will fight to the death for anyone he cares about.”
“I will call you stupid actually, thanks,” Kyoka snarked. Mina barked out laugh, unable to stifle her laughter in time. Denki rolled his eyes and laid down on the bed, content once again.
“Whatever, headphones. But...about Midoriya.”
Mina and Kyoka glanced at each other suddenly, exchanging looks of concern.
“...Yeah?” Kyoka said cautiously.
“I...don’t think he deserve any of what Katsuki did to him, and--well, don’t let this leave thise room okay? Promise?”
Kyoka shot a look at Mina, suddenly very worried about what they were about to hear, and Mina simply shrugged and nodded.
“We promise.”
Denki shifted, suddenly anxious. “Katsuki had a talk with us one night. He was pretty broken up after his fight with Midoriya, even if he didn’t show it to everyone else. He said...he knows he should have been better, but he doesn’t want to apologize for what he did.”
Kyoka frowned as Mina furrowed her brows in confusion. Neither said a word to interject. Denki continued.
“I asked him about it while Kiri and Sero were trying to make sense of what he was saying because Jesus, he was crying harder than I’d ever seen him, and he said that he couldn’t apologize because that would mean he’d want Midoriya to forgive him, and he doesn’t think he should, ‘make the bastard do anything else for him.’ He said he was tired of kicking the shit out of him to make him feel superior, so the last thing he needed was to ask him to make him feel better.”
Mina hummed in awe.
“That’s the closest I’ve ever heard Bakugo to apologizing about anything, no less to Midoriya.”
Kyoka smacked her teeth, closing her eyes as she rested her head against the wall.
“Even though I think more than one apology is in order...I think the prick’s right. Last thing Midoriya needs right now is to figure out whether or not he should forgive his childhood abuser, practically.”
Denki winced at Kyoka’s phrasing, but slowly nodded in agreement. “I think he’s in the right about that, at least.”
Mina smiled. “For once. Now,” She chirped, patting the space next to her for Denki to sit. “Tell me about Kiri and Hanta. They’re not as problematic, and I want to know ALL about your two new boyfriends.”
Kyoka grinned mischievously, sitting up with eager ears. “Yeah, do tell how you managed to get three boys to confess all at once to you, playboy.”
Denki laughed as his cheeks turned red. “Okay, so we were trying to break into Katsuki’s room, right? And then…”