Chapter Text
"A lightning bolt!"
“So,” Shinsou coughed.
“A lightning bolt, huh?” He said, moving over to the cabinet and opening a bottom drawer.
Denki nodded his head. “Yep. Not one of those weird Word clip-art ones though.” Denki shuddered dramatically. Shinsou snorted, pulling out a black iPad from the drawer and tapping it a few times.
“Alright then-" Shinsou looked at him with a steady gaze, his eyes twinkling with something like mirth. "What kind of lightning bolt are we talking here, Mr. McQueen?”
Okay, so he’s perfect.
After Denki's mouth decided to catch up with his brain, the pair spent a good 15 minutes discussing the design. It was kind of hard to flirt when you were deciding what to permanently ink on your skin though. Shinsou was asking him all kinds of questions-
"What style," Hmmm...Minimalist, I think. Simple things can be pretty, too. How about just the outline?
"What size," Well, you said it can't be bigger than my thumb, right? Half a thumb is good.
"Placement," Ooh, on my wrist would be nice. Then I could see it all the time!
Sadly, none of the bazillion questions were about what Denki would be doing later.
Shinsou sketched something quickly, and after Denki’s approval, he printed the design through a fancy machine in the corner of the room. Well, it was fancy for Denki at least. His experience with printers was limited to Kirishima’s (because he was a fully functioning 20-something with a printer) and a decrepit fax machine stuffed into the corner of the tower. Shinsou was pretty much entirely silent as he did so, which was only like, 2% disappointing.
I mean the closest thing I have to a tattoo artist is Takeyama, and we talk about everything under the sun. It wouldn’t hurt to have a little conversation, would it?
Then again, that was his hairdresser- and they were coloring his hair, not his skin. It was also how she acted with anyone and everyone at any given moment, so Denki really didn't have much to go off of.
Shinsou didn't look like much of a talker anyway, as he moved quietly around the room, getting out the supplies he would need.
Maybe he just doesn’t know how to start the conversation...Ask how his day is! Or how he got so hot! SOMETHING, DENKI!
"Do you mind if I turn the radio on?" Shinsou mumbled, walking over to the door. His voice was barely above a whisper, but it still managed to jostle Denki out of his thoughts.
"Huh? Oh, yeah sure dude, sounds good. Whatever's clever." Denki managed, giving a haphazard thumbs up. He swore that a ghost of a smile passed over Shinsou’s lips as he walked over to the wall next to the door. Inlaid in the wall was a small radio; It reminded Denki of the overhead system from elementary school. Shinsou flicked it on before walking out the door.
“I’ll be right back, I’m going to wash my hands.” He said, leaving the room.
Denki waited until Shinsou was out of earshot to exhale heavily. exhaled as he left the room.
Today really wasn’t going like he thought it would.
A tattoo, Denki? Really? He could hear Jirou berating him already.
Okay, this may or may not be one of the stupidest things you’ve done for a guy. Imaginary-Sero said.
But I want it. Denki thought to himself, his fingers tightening their grip on the edge of the chair. It’s not for a guy, not really. It might be because of it; But am I really such a disaster that I would get a tattoo for the first attractive person I see?
He had to believe that he had higher standards than that.
Luckily, at that moment the radio buzzed to life, tearing him away from his thoughts.
“GOOOOOOODDD AFTERNOON, LISTENERS!”
His eyes widened as he let out a gasp, his attention flicking over to the radio in the wall.
"Welcome back to 109.7, The Present Mic! I'm your host, Mic, here to bring you all your favorite hits from 9-5, 24/7!"
"Now, whether you're a trucker on the road, an exhausted teacher in the breakroom, or trying to distract yourself from the tattoo artist jabbing several needles into you, I've got you covered!"
Mic's voice filtered through the speakers, reciting his daily introductions. Every day it was a new ‘type of person’ that was listening- He had a feeling that they were people Mic would see on the way to work, or that he was around often.
Denki just huffed at the irony.
Shinsou walked into the room a few minutes later, and Denki barely noticed, entirely focused on the show. He watched the radio intently, as if he could see Mic sitting in the studio, talking about his day. He barely noticed Shinsou.
But like, barely.
Just barely.
Okay, okay, so maybe Denki was also focused on Shinsou’s presence so much that he knew exactly where he was and every step he made, but that's his business.
Shinsou's snort cut through the radio’s sound, interrupting an absolutely riveting story about Mic's husband expelling someone due to a 'Pineapple Incident' . Denki's head tilted to Shinsou in question.
"Oh, I- Just heard the story before." Denki's eyebrows raised slightly. He’d never heard Mic repeat a story on air, for all he listened to him.
"Really? Dang, you must listen to it a lot."
Shinsou shrugged in response, sitting up straighter and showing off his shirt. Denki's monkey brain had managed to register the bold yellow ‘THE PRESENT MIC-109.7 - ALL DAY RADIO’ earlier, but he was a little distracted by Shinsou’s everything to fully grasp what it meant.
"Woahh, I didn't know they made merch!" Denki said, his eyes wide. Shinsou chuckled quietly, tugging a pair of black medical gloves on before sitting on his stool.
"I've got some connections."Shinsou responded. "Ah, it's nice to meet someone that listens to it too." He said, semi-wistfully. Shinsou looked at him, cocking an eyebrow in an extremely-definitely-not-attractive-way.
Denki startled a little when he noticed Shinsou’s eyes on him. He ran a hand through his hair absentmindedly. "Eheh, well...I'm a lifeguard down at Nori Beach, and we get some slow days like everyone else. We can't really watch shows or anything -especially not in the tower- so to keep us from dying of boredom I usually just pop the radio on." Denki paused.
“I don’t only listen to him then, though.”
Shinsou took out a few alcohol wipes and quietly took Denki's hand, turning it over so the inside of his wrist faced up. Denki felt his face heat up as he attempted to focus on Literally Anything Else. Shinsou hmm-ed , briefly looking up from Denki's hand.
"When else do you listen to him?" His voice was calm and quiet, but it was deep at the same time. A little gruff, like he hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before. It had reminded Denki of coffee when they first met, but now he thought about the ocean. The gentle lap of waves, and the crackling of sea foam.
"AH-Ah, ha, eh..." Denki laughed nervously, willing away his apparent obsession with this dude’s voice. Shinsou took one of the wipes and gently rubbed Denki’s wrist with it.
Denki immediately lost all hope.
"Well, I-I listen to him in the car a lot, especially in the mornings. I have to get into work pretty early, and honestly, he's so loud it helps me wake up."
Shinsou snorts, and by god, Denki has never seen anything so beautiful- His shoulders scrunch up a little, and his face twists in mirth, his eyes crinkling a little at the edges.
Denki smiles too, encouraged by Shinsou's semi-laughter. He has a feeling that when he really makes Shinsou laugh (and he will), it’s going to be amazing.
Shinsou gently removed the plastic layer of the stencil before hovering over his wrist. "You can keep talking; Just don't move." He said quietly, fully concentrated on placing the stencil onto Denki's skin.
Denki went to nod, but thought better of it and just continued like Shinsou had said.
"I listen sometimes when I get home. If I'm being honest, though, my cat listens to him more than me." Shinsou stilled in his placement of the stencil before quirking a single violet eyebrow at Denki.
Denki felt a small tidal wave of embarrassment wash over him.
"...I keep it on so she won't get lonely."
There is no way in hell he’s looking at Shinsou right now. Nope. No way.
...But he’s going to keep talking, of course.
"Y'know, I start early, end late, only really have the weekends with her and I don't have another cat, or lizard, or fish, or anything that COULD keep her company. Look, Parmesan is a very outgoing cat, and she loves people which is kind of weird, but she-"
"Parmesan?"
Denki stopped and looked at Shinsou.
"Yeah? Why, do you have a problem with my naming abilities?"
And in the moment that Denki thought he’d be laughed at, or thrown out (Because it could happen) something completely different occurred.
Shinsou's grin stretched far and wide, his eyes sparkling under low-lids.
"Not at all. I have a cat named Mayo."
They would have a spring wedding, with lavender and daffodils. Kirishima would be his best man. His aunt would cry, probably, and Jirou too. They’d train the cats to be the ring bearers, and honeymoon on a Disney cruise.
( If Denki were 2% more unhinged, he would've told Shinsou all of this as soon as he thought it. But alas, he had some friends who were well rounded and functioning members of society. They had probably rubbed off on him, the bastards. )
Denki’s eyes lit up. "Really?! Dude, oh my GOD!"
Denki’s reaction must not have been what Shinsou expected, because the artist seemed to backtrack a bit. His bright grin began to school itself back into a straight line. "I mean, my sister was really the one that picked it-"
"That's the best name EVER!!"
Shinsou stopped and looked at Denki. His cheeks darkened with a rosy blush, spreading over the bridge of his nose and the tips of his ears.
"Huh?"
Denki grinned, looking right at Shinsou.
"Hell yeah! God, do you know how long it took me to come up with Parmesan? Well actually, it didn't take too long because I had been at the grocery store before I got her, and I walked into the store thinking that I was gonna get like- 10 different things? But then this lady was giving out samples of this parmesan, right, and it was sooo expensive, but it was literally the best cheese I've ever had! So I got it -which was probably a shitty decision- but now that I have an actual job I can-"
Denki's Polar Express of thought came to a screeching halt.
...I didn't mean to say that.
Not a lot of people knew about Denki's life before the beach. Before he had a job, or a house, or his friends. That was a friendship level 13 story, and as much as he loved this quiet purple man, he would need to unlock Denki's friendship levels just like everyone else.
Play it cool, Denki, just play it cool.
"Ah- Anyway. That's how she got her name." He laughed nervously. "Uh- What about you? Do you have any other pets?"
Shinsou looked at him for a second before hmm-ing quietly. "Well, that depends if you're talking about my family too." Denki watched as Shinsou peeled the paper stencil off of his skin, a small lightning bolt design left in its place.
Shinsou locked eyes with him again. "I'll tell you about them, if you'd like. But you're going to have to stay still, okay?" Shinsou finished, picking up his tattoo gun and flipping a small switch on his machine.
Oh. This is happening. He's getting a tattoo.
...and he's not as nervous as he was before.
Maybe I got into this because of him, but I don’t regret a thing.
Denki nodded his head dutifully, bracing a bit for the pain that was to come. "Yessir."
Shinsou gently rested his fingers on Denki's forearm. It was a soft pressure; Comforting.
"Relax. It won't hurt as bad as you think it will. I promise."
If Shinsou had told him that the nuclear codes were 1234, he would have believed him.
Denki exhaled softly as the needle came down on his skin, and-
Oh.
...Well, that's not bad at all.
Denki subtly looked over to check and make sure that the needle was in fact touching his skin.
...Yup.
"Yannow, I know you said it wouldn't hurt bad, but I didn't think that meant I wouldn't feel it at all." Denki said, equal parts confused and amused. A small smile crossed Shinsou's lips.
"That's good. Maybe you'll be ready for that sleeve soon, then."
Now it was Denki's turn to blush.
"I'll pay for a whole damn sleeve if it means you're touching me for the next 2 hours."
Denki laughed instead of getting entirely embarrassed. "Maybe~"
"So,” He continued. He wanted to hear as much about Shinsou as he could, especially after they managed to get an actual conversation started. “Other pets, huh?"
Shinsou's violet eyes flicked up to his own. A small smile still rested on his lips.
God, he’s pretty. "You still wanna hear about that?"
Denki nodded, but not too hard, because he was damned if he wasn't staying as still as a fucking statue right now.
Shinsou chuckled. "Alright then. Well, I got Mayo for my 21st birthday-"
The conversation soared from there. It turned out that Shinsou Hitoshi had several pets, if you were counting his family's as well. Shinsou and his fathers had adopted Sriracha and Pickles on his 16th birthday; Coincidentally, that was also the day that he had been officially adopted ( “They’d fostered me since I was 10. It was a pretty big day for all of us” ). His Dad had an absolutely ancient cat named Eraser- His Papa had named him that, after noticing a little pink spot on his nose.
His younger sister Eri was the first to break the Holy Cat Cycle after pleading with her parents to adopt a dog ( "Lemillion is his name, and protecting Eri is his game" ). A friendly golden retriever for her 6th birthday- Shinsou lamented that his family didn't need "another loud blonde" .
They talked for what could've been an eon.
Denki told him about wanting to get a friend for Parmesan, and how he loved dogs just as much as cats (“Dog people act like cats killed their families, so I just say I like both”) . He told him how he was Riot's favorite whenever he went over to Kirishima’s. A big, brassy red retriever that Denki loved to bits. He told him how he had volunteered at a shelter in his senior year of high school, and that's how he first met Parmesan (“The only kitten in the whole place that wouldn’t meow. But I gave her enough hugs and pets that she’s the loudest damn cat in the county”) . Denki didn't delve too far down that road though. His life before the beach was...rough, to put it mildly. He had adopted Parmesan and gotten out of dodge as quickly as possible.
But again. That was a level 13 story. 15 if you wanted all the details.
The conversation divulged into their coworkers, and weird stories about their friends.
"Ochako had managed to get the goat out of the room before our boss came in, but still." "Sero still won't go into a KFC without at least a full bottle of pepper spray." "I swear to god we thought Katsuki had died, but the next day he walked into the shop like it was a normal day at work!" "Jesus, I think Tsuyu still has a grudge on Kirishima for the Great Pool Noodle Incident" "- And that's why Ashido's not allowed in Target anymore."
It was amazing.
"So; An old boba shop, huh?" He said, and Shinsou rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, why? Holding a grudge for replacing a beloved hallmark of health hazards?" Denki laughed at the sarcastic response. “How could you?! Biggie’s Boba was my respite from the drudgery of monotonous life.” Denki sighed dramatically. Shinsou chuckled. “I have a feeling your life is anything but monotonous.”
Denki laughed. “You’ve got me there- But seriously, a boba shop?”
Shinsou leaned away from Denki’s wrist and absentmindedly scratched his chin. “Well… I never really planned on having my own shop. I’ve been tattooing seriously since I was 18; I was lucky for getting an apprenticeship so early. But I was at my apprentice shop for five years, and it wasn’t treating me well- Or anyone else for that matter.”
He leaned back down to Denki’s wrist, a feather-light and ever gentle touch.
“That shop was holding people back- It was like everyone that worked there had accepted that they’d never be the best, or anything close to it. It was comfortable in the way that monotony is comfortable. Same customers, same bachelorette party, same designs. I never did anything different.”
“I got sick of it pretty fast.” He continued before laughing. “Jesus, Katsuki was probably sick of it the most. He’s always wanted to be the best.”
“Is he?” Denki smiled mischievously at him. Shinsou chuckled. “I think he’s definitely one of them. We all have things we’re good at, and things we struggle in.”
“I mean, his coloring could kick you into a third dimension, and my lines are probably my strongest asset. Neither of us are too good at… well, bedside manners.” Shinsou finished.
“You seem more than fine to me.” Denki said before his brain could catch up with his mouth .
Shinsou’s face went through 5 shades of red.
“Thanks.”
Denki just smiled at him and willed away the awkwardness.
“Well,” Shinsou started. “It looks like you’re all good here. Want to take a look?” He said, looking at Denki and moving his hands away. He turned around slightly to turn off the machine before looking back.
Denki’s eyes grew wide. He’d been so caught up in talking to Shinsou that-
I’d almost forgotten I was getting a tattoo.
“Really?” He said, like a kid on Christmas. Shinsou chuckled. “It’s your body.”
Denki’s eyes flitted to his wrist and he lifted his arm closer to his face.
“Wow.”
It was...amazing.
Every last nerve he had had completely washed away.
It was on the inside of his wrist, closer to the right side of it, just like they’d discussed. No bigger than half a thumb. Six clean black lines, connecting to form the outline of a lightning bolt. No more, no less.
And it was beautiful.
“Holy shit, this is- This is just- Dude.”
He looked up at Shinsou, and sure his eyes might be a little wet, but who’s to say.
“Thank you.”
Shinsou’s eyes widened a bit before he looked at Denki with an emotion he couldn’t place.
It was a lot like the face Jirou would make after he did something stupid to cheer her up. Or the one Sero made when Denki brought him chicken soup and the Fellowship of the Rings DVDs when he got the flu. The face Kirishima made when he watched Riot the weekend Kirishima’s mom had to go to the hospital.
But it was... different, in a way.
Shinsou scratched the back of his head, his gravity-defying hair shifting slightly as he did.
“It’s no problem. Do you-” Shinsou cut himself off, hesitating before starting again. “Do you like it?”
Denki gave him that smile again, but had grown. Like someone had given him a new light bulb, bumping it up to 2000 Watts.
“Like it?” He said, looking at Shinsou. “I love it!”
Shinsou chuckled.
“I’m glad.”
After Denki had finished ogling his tattoo and gently touching it, Shinsou cleaned it once more and applied a special plastic covering to it, standing up to do so.
“You might have to stay in the lifeguard tower for a little while with this- Try to avoid swimming too, okay?”
“Uh-huh.” Denki said, standing incredibly close to the man gently wrapping his wrist. Shinsou’s touch was gentle as it had been the entire time. Not treating Denki like he would break in a second, but more like he didn’t want him to get hurt.
“Remove this after 24 hours, okay? After you remove it, wash it with soap and water. I can give you an antibacterial ointment for it, but you can use vaseline as well.”
Denki nodded, watching Shinsou’s lips as he talked. He smelled good this close; Like lavender and sweet deodorant.
“I’ll give you a packet that’ll tell you everything again, just in case. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to come here- You can even call the shop if you want. If I’m not up front, any of the others will know what to do.”
Shinsou looked at him, and Denki felt a crackle of electricity when their eyes met. Charged static in the air, making Denki’s hair stand up on end.
“Kaminari.”
“Yeah?”
Shinsou hesitated for a moment, his eyes dropping to the tattooed wrist held between them before snapping back up to Denki’s.
“Be gentle with yourself, okay?”
Shinsou went on to explain how his skin had just gotten stabbed a couple billion times by a series of needles, and how he needed to be really careful and gentle with his skin.
But Denki was now redder than Sero after forgetting his sunscreen.
Which is to say, really fucking red.
Jesus, does this guy even know what he’s saying?!
...Actually, I hope for the sake of the both of us that he doesn’t. Maybe just so he can say it again.
After finishing his lengthy instructions, Shinsou led him to the front of the store. He handed him a small bottle of antibacterial gel and a thick packet of instructions on healing tattoos (“Since it’s your first, it’s best to be prepared”).
It had been around three hours since he and Kirishima had walked into Plus Ultra (Denki, coincidentally, had only just learned the name of this shop. A true testament to his one-track mind). He had no idea such a small tattoo could take so long. In fact, he was fairly sure it wasn’t supposed to. He had seen enough episodes of Ink Master to know that much; Maybe Shinsou knew he’d be bored without anything else to do.
Maybe he wanted to talk to Denki.
Or maybe Denki’s skin was just super tough and he’s had a superpower his entire life and only realized it now. Really, who knows for sure?
“Alright. Kirishima should be out soon; Their session today is only supposed to go until 7, and it's 6:45 right now.” Shinsou said, looking at the time on his phone before his eyes met Denki’s once more.
“If you want, you can go see him back there. Or you could just hang out here. If you went to grab some food I wouldn’t tell on you.” Shinsou said, shrugging before he leaned his tall form on the side of the counter.
Denki’s eyes flitted to the wall he had seen before, remembering how he had wanted to look at it closer.. “Is that your Hall of Fame or something? It’s really cool.” He walked a few steps closer to it, putting his hands in his pockets. “Hm?” Shinsou followed his line of sight before chuckling.
“Yeah, I guess it is. It’s kind of a motivation thing, I guess. For me, at least.” He said, gazing at the art from the counter.
Denki quirked his brow.
“Well,” Shinsou started, moving out from behind the counter to stand near Denki. “We all put the work we like the best on here. It doesn’t have to be the best client, or the best experience, or even done on an actual human being yet- But it’s what we like. I just kind of see it and want to do more of it.”
Denki’s eyes scanned the numerous works of art, one after the other. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason where each one went- A highly realistic crow next to a cartoon slushie, a beautiful watercolor woman next to a grenade with thick lines. He saw the microphone that mirrored the tattoo on Shinsou’s arm. There were traditional cherry blossoms and colorful, cute rainbows. Calligraphy and morse code sat next to highly rendered drawings of geodes, skeletons, and flowers.
Denki’s eyes fell upon a smaller piece. A semi-cartoony violet colored brain, streaks of purple lightning coming out at all different angles. “Did you do this one?” He asked, pointing to the piece. Even if it wasn’t what Denki usually went for, it was badass as hell.
The tips of Shinsou’s ears colored. “Yeah. I have a few up there, but most are Katsuki, Ochako, and Ashido’s.”
The words tumbled out before Denki could stop them.
“Can I see some of yours?”
Shinsou’s eyes snapped to him, looking down at Denki in a little bit of shock (God, he's taller than me too?) .
“You...some of mine?” Denki smiled, looking at him. “Yeah- Is that okay?”
Shinsou nodded mutely before beelining back behind the counter, Denki following not too far behind. There was a white door behind the cash register, and Shinsou opened it to reveal a new space.
“I- This is kind of my office. It’s also the breakroom, although not by my choice. Everyone comes in here anyway.” Shinsou said begrudgingly, but there was no venom in his voice. Looking around, Denki could see a few cabinets like the one in Shinsou’s workroom, a couch, a desk, some file cabinets, and an arcade-style PACMAN machine. Other than that, the room was sparse.
Shinsou walked quickly over to the file cabinets, talking as he did. “We haven’t fully finished moving in yet. Come back in a week and this place’ll look like a tornado ran through it.” He seemed to find what he was looking for, fishing out a large black notebook from the top drawer.
“This is just one of my reference books. I bring it out when clients want to see more of my original work.” He said, opening the notebook and handing it to Denki.
He flipped the pages gingerly, one after the other. “Woah, this one’s amazing!” He said, pointing to picture after picture. Shinsou would just hum in agreement, quietly watching over Denki’s shoulder.
Flipping through that notebook, It looked like Shinsou could draw anything. Denki saw more microphones, a billion cats, eyes, several Godzillas, cute characters, superheroes, supervillains, song lyrics; There was so much.
After about 15 minutes, Denki had managed to find an absolute gem of a Waffle House tattoo. Before he could ask Shinsou where he had been all his damn life, the door opened to reveal a young woman. She was short, with bouncy chestnut-colored hair and what looked like 50 ear piercings. Her eyes widened when she saw Shinsou and Denki, her face filling with a mischievous sort of glee.
“Ohoho, what do we have here?”
Denki heard Shinsou sigh as he looked at the girl quizzically.
“This is-” Shinsou started as the girl bounded up to Denki, sticking her hand out. “Uraraka Ochako! I’m one of the artists here, with a specialty in piercings. You must be Kaminari!”
Denki’s eyes widened. He didn’t think he was that popular.
.. .Okay so maybe a lot of people knew him as “That One Blonde Lifeguard That *Insert Denki Story Here* ” but seriously.
At his look of confusion, Uraraka waved a hand in the air as if to shoo his worries away. “We haven’t met before, but your friend Kirishima is all done with his session! He was wondering where you went, so I came to tell you.” She finished, smiling.
“Oh! Thank you!” He said. He cast a quick look to Shinsou who simply nodded. “I’ll come check you out in a moment if Katsuki’s feeling stubborn; Let me just put this away.”
Denki grinned, turning around to follow the path Uraraka had taken- He didn’t see her when he stepped into the open room, but he did see-
“DENKS!!”
“EIJI!”
Denki bolted out from behind the counter and into the lobby; They pointed to their arms in glee.
“LOOK!” They said in unison.
Kirishima’s tattoo was fucking awesome .
It might not have been done completely, but the outline laid perfectly on his large shoulder. It was a side profile of a dragon, it’s mouth open wide and showing all of its sharp teeth. It was only down to the neck before cutting off, but spotted around the dragon in seemingly random order were impeccably detailed scales.
“Dude.” Denki breathed out in awe.
Kirishima grinned back at him. “DUDE!”
They high-fived, as all best bros do. “I’ll have to come back for another session later this week.” He said, smiling big and toothy."But I love it already.”
“Oi!” Bakugou yelled at them from the counter. Denki had no idea when he had gotten there, but here he was. “Quit high fiving and pay! I don’t do this shit for free ya know!” He finished, shouting at them.
Denki turned to smile sheepishly at the angry blonde. “Sorry, dude! Just admiring the work!” Bakugou’s growl miraculously turned into a feral smile. “Damn right!” He said. Denki realized then that it would probably be a joint wedding- Judging mostly by the way Kirishima laughed freely and walked over to his future husband Bakugo without fear.
Speaking of weddings, Shinsou reappeared in the doorframe, walking over to stand next to Denki.
“Thank you so much for this man- I fucking love it, and I know Kirishima does too.” Denki said, grinning. Shinsou shrugged nonchalantly, but Denki could see the happiness in his eyes.
“It’s what I do.” He paused. “But you’re welcome. It was fun, anyway.”
Denki’s grin stretched even wider. “Oo! And thanks for showing me your other work too! God, you’re really talented, huh?” He said, chuckling.
Shinsou’s eyes widened, his face growing redder. “I, uh-”
He doesn’t even know how good he is, does he?
Denki rolled his eyes. “Don’t even try to tell me you aren’t; I’ve seen proof!” Denki's eyes flickered back to the cash register to see Kirishima fully done with paying, and now leaning on the counter most definitely flirting with Bakugou.
Denki sighed. “Urgh, I should probably get him out of here; He’s got a big, red, adorable dog waiting for him at home.”
He turned to Shinsou and looked him in the eyes. It was like a breath of fresh air. A sip of warm coffee in the winter. Cannonball-ing into the cool pool in the summer.
He could think of a million metaphors for what it felt like. But instead, all he said was-
“You know, If you ever want to stop by the tower, you should. I think the others would really like you.”
And so do I.
Denki smiled at him before reaching over and squeezing his forearm lightly. “Say hi to Mayo for me.”
Denki turned around and walked over to Kirishima, grabbing his non-tattoo bearing arm and leading him out the door, waving goodbye to the employees of Plus Ultra as he did.
“Thank you guys so much! See you later!” He yelped, looking back at the room of artists and potential new friends.
Uraraka waved back happily, her earrings clinking together. Bakugou grunted with a halfhearted wiggle of his fingers. Shinsou stared at him, his eyes wide- But still, a hand waved quietly at him, soft and slow.
He and Kirishima popped out into the dark pavilion, the warm glow of street lamps lighting their way. Kirishima whined that he was “Talking to Bakugou” and how “ Riot would be fine for a couple more minutes” But there was no heat behind his words.
Denki just smiled, tugging him to the parking lot, both of their hearts soaring in their chests.
He had a feeling that they’d be back soon enough.
.
Hitoshi stared blankly out the door that the love of his life Kaminari had just walked out of.
It had been...a day. Truly.
He never opened up to clients like that. In fact, many of his clients had complained that he was too quiet .
...But looking at Kaminari and his open eyes made him want to shell out every detail of himself.
Scrape the barrel of information clean-Tell him everything. All about Mayo, his dads, Eri. How alone he had felt for the first 10 years of his life. What it was like meeting Katsuki and Ochako and Ashido. The feeling of walking into Plus Ultra on their first day of opening. How he had seen Kaminari before, walking out of the water with the sun hitting his golden hair. He wanted to tell him all this while they laid in bed; Kaminari threading his long, pretty fingers through Hitoshi’s hair.
And Hitoshi wanted to listen just as badly.
He wanted to hear about the beach, what it was like saving lives every day. He wanted to hear that golden ichor voice, sweet and electric, filled with unbridled energy. Hitoshi wanted Kaminari to tell him what it was like listening to Papa’s show and not knowing who he really was. What it was like when he didn’t have a job, and buying a block of parmesan cleared his bank account. He wanted to hear his jokes-His laugh, his full chest laugh that made the sun come out of hiding.
It was too early for Hitoshi to feel all of these things.
But he couldn’t help it.
He heard Katsuki come around to the front of the counter and lean back on it, mimicking Hitoshi’s position of staring out at the glass. If he focused enough, he could see Kaminari’s blonde hair, shining in the warm golden wash of the street lights.
Katsuki’s voice broke the silence.
“That was easily a five-minute tattoo.”
“The dragon?” Hitoshi replied, just to be a little bit of a smartass.
“You literally turned it into a three-hour tattoo.” Katsuki replied, a rare mischievous grin adorning his wild features.
“He would’ve been bored with no one to talk to- I didn’t have any other appointments, so I stayed with him.” Hitoshi reasoned.
“You know he could’ve easily come into see shitty hair. That’s why he came here in the first place anyway, dumbass.” Katsuki grumbled, crossing his arms.
“Shitty hair was nervous as fuck without him in the beginning, even if he wasn’t showing it.”
Hitoshi hmm-ed. “Well, he seemed to do fine with just you.” He said, giving Katsuki a shit-eating grin.
Katsuki grumbled, but the tips of his ears turned a bright red.
“You’re a fucking disaster.” He said.
“ You’re a disaster.” Hitoshi replied.
“You’re both disasters and I’m hungry! Let’s close up you two, and we can eat and pine and yearn after that.” Ochako interjected, patting their backs and surprising both of them from behind. She just smiled as Katsuki cursed at her.
Hitoshi chuckled, sparing a final glance into the quiet night before looking back at his friends.
At least he wasn’t an entirely lonely disaster.
