Chapter Text
September
6 months later
“How are you doing Denki?” Ochako asks, her voice as soft and airy as she held the cup of coffee against her lips.
Kaminari gripped the ceramic mug in his hands, his eyes following the steam coming from the coffee as it swirled “I’m fine. I’ve had a lot more missions and talk show interviews these days. Mt. Lady is really putting my ass to work. But I’ve had some breaks in between, Mina and Sero took me to karaoke the other day.”
“Did you sing Careless Whisper again?” Ochako asked with a smile.
“Actually it was Total Eclipse Of The Heart.” He pointed out a matter of factly.
“Dang it should have guessed that.” She mockingly pouted, taking a sip of her coffee once more.
“What about you?” Denki inquired, still keeping his attention on the steaming cup in his hands.
Ochako hummed and leaned back into her seat “Good, all things considering.” The brunette bit her lip nervously “I think…I’m going to quit hero work.” She admits.
“What?” He sputters out, his eyes finally locking with hers.
It had become a regular thing for Kaminari and Ochako, once the search for Hitoshi and Deku began the two found solace in each other, both understanding what each other was going through.
Denki tried to tell her that he felt nowhere near what she did. Hitoshi wasn't his husband like Izuku was to her yet Ochako never let him believe his feelings were any less valid.
Thus began their bi weekly coffee meet ups. It was Ochako’s idea to allow for the two to seek comfort from someone who understands. They shared about their good days and shared about their bad days. It was something they’ve both looked forward to every two weeks for the past six months.
He found it easy to talk with Ochako and began seeing her as the sister he never had.
Ochako shrugged her shoulders “I don’t think I can be in that world anymore. Everything sort of reminds me of him and what he stood for. It’s not a bad thing but.” She set her coffee cup down “I’m slowly beginning to accept reality and I don’t want those constant reminders of him. I still want to help people but I think I can do that other ways.”
Kaminari understood where she came from, really he did so he would support his friend no matter what.
“What are you going to do?” He asked curiously, his hands still on the mug in front of him.
“There’s an opening for a teaching position at UA, for the hero course.” The short haired woman smiled fondly “Aizawa already said the position was mine if I wanted it.”
Kaminari couldn’t help but smile “That’s amazing Ochako! Shit you should definitely accept it.”
Ochako’s brows furrowed in “You don’t think it’s dumb or weak of me to quit being a hero? We worked so hard to get our licenses and I don’t want to seem ungrateful for any opportunities I was given.” She trailed off looking guilty.
Denki shook his head “No dude. I think we’ve all earned the right to do whatever the fuck we want after what we went through in school.” He says “If teaching a hero course is what you want to do then fuck everyone else, you do it. I know if Mido was here he’d say the same thing.”
Ochako nodded her head and fiddled with her wedding ring, the action made his hand fly up to the golden necklace around his neck - he had given in and returned to wearing it a month after the search began “Yeah you’re right. I umm think I should make a phone call.” She giggled while scooting out of the booth.
Kaminari followed her with a chuckle of his own “Go on and get out of here! I expect to hear more about this job in two weeks!”
The short haired woman giggled once more and pulled him into a hug “Thanks Kami, really.” She stepped back with a grin before snapping her fingers “Oh before I forget! I brought treats for my favorite food boy!” She reached into her bag and revealed a pack of cat treats “Deliver these to Mango would you?”
Kaminari chuckled and nodded “I’m sure his highness will appreciate the gift.”
Mango was the newest addition to his home. Three months ago after feeling entirely too lonely in the almost too large apartment, Denki decided to adopt a cat. He hadn’t been too sure about it at first, pets were a big responsibility, but after that large, fluffy, ginger Persian peered up at him with innocent green eyes, he was a goner.
“I’ll see you around Denks!” Ochako waved goodbye while pulling her phone up to her ear.
Kaminari walked out of the coffee shop tugging his coat just a little closer to him. Fall was making its appearance and the weather was getting noticeably cooler. He’s always loved the fall time and the change it brought.
He was even more fond of the month of September.
It would have been a year of him and Hitoshi rooming together. He tried not to think about where they would be now if he had never left. Would they be in a relationship? Would they have been happy?
He’d like to think so.
He chided himself for looking at things as if Hitoshi were gone but as the days and weeks went on, his hope was slowly dwindling. It’s been six months since Deku and Mindjack were declared missing - after 3 months of looking, most of the pro heroes except for Bakugo and Shoto have given up their search completely. He didn’t blame them for that.
It seemed to be dead end after dead end.
Still Kaminari kept some of that hope, after all Bakugo reminded him time and time again not to lose faith in him.
The damn cocky bastard was still believing he’d be the one to find the missing heroes.
With a grumbling stomach - Kaminari hadn’t even touched his coffee resulting in intense hunger - he paid a visit to the local ramen shop that was near his apartment opting for some take out.
The sun was setting when it finally trudged his way up to his apartment, cat treats in one hand, take out in the other.
He momentarily thought of what he’d do tonight, it was his first day off in weeks and he planned to relax as much as possible. Maybe even binge watch the newest season of the Bachelor.
Denki unlocked the front door with ease, priding himself to be able to do it with full hands and entered his apartment. His brows drew in at the missing fur ball who usually waited for him by the door begging for attention.
“Mango I’m home! I have a gift from Aunt Ochako for you!” He called carelessly removing his shoes, failing to notice the familiar black boots in their usual spot “And your dad got himself some good ass ramen.”
Still nothing.
Maybe the brat got himself locked in the bathroom again. It’s happened on more than one occasion resulting in Denki having to buy brand new towels and shower curtains.
He turned the corner into the living room and felt the bags of takeout crash to the floor as he took in the sight before him.
Hitoshi stood in the center of the living room, holding Mango in his arms with a sheepish smile on his face. “Hey Kitten.”
“Hitoshi.” Denki breathed out, unable to believe that he was right in front of him.
Wait but is this the real one? It certainly looked like Hitoshi - he had the usual Eyebags and wild hair, his shoulders appeared to be much more broad than before he left. There were two white bandages that covered both sides of his jaw and another smaller bandage above his left brow bone. Maybe it is him, a little voice in the back of his head says.
Another reminds him that It could be a trick and standing in front of him was some kind of fake. And this fake was holding his precious baby.
Oh hell no!
His eyes wandered looking for something until they landed on the pillow that rested against the couch. His eyes narrowed as he lifted the pillow holding his back ready to throw it “How do I know you’re the real Hitoshi?”
Hitoshi bit back a smile, set Mango down and held his hands up in surrender “Denki, it’s me. I promise.”
Kaminari hummed suspiciously before chucking the pillow at the taller man’s chest and watched it plop on the floor “I really don’t think that was necessary Kitten.” He deadpans with a raised brow.
“Hitoshi?” Denki gaped, realizing that it really was him.
The man merely nodded and held his arms open for Denki, that real smile on his face revealing his dimple.
Not bothering to bite back the sob, Denki jumped over the couch and flung himself into Hitoshi’s arms. His shoulders were shaking from his intense crying.
The familiar scent of lavender and sandalwood filled his senses. It smelled like home.
“You’re here.” He cried against the other's chest, his fingers clutching his black t-shirt tightly.
“I’m here Baby.” Hitoshi murmured, burying his head into golden locks. Denki could hear the tears in his voice as well “Fuck Denki I missed you so much.”
Denki lifted his head up and placed a hand on Hitoshi’s cheek “I missed you too Toshi.”
Hitoshi gave him a watery smile “Damn I thought I’d never get to hear you call me that again.”
Kaminari could help but laugh and lay his head against his broad chest “I thought I’d never get to say it again.”
Hitoshi pulled back and lifted Denki’s chin, his eyes held longing and guilt “I’m so sorry I kept you waiting Denki.” He ran a finger across his freckled cheek, memorizing each one as if it was the last time.
“I’ll always wait for you Toshi.” Kaminari beams up at him.
Hitoshi chuckled lowly before inching himself closer “Can I kiss you?”
“Yes please.” Denki breathed looking up at him with desperate amber eyes.
Histoshi didn’t wait another moment before pulling him in for a toe curling kiss, much like their first. His large callused hands gripped the back of his neck and pulled Denki closer.
The blonde merely hummed happily, finally getting to taste the lips of the man he’d been missing for the past year and a half.
Hitoshi didn’t bother to pull away, only tilting his head to deepen the kiss, his tongue hesitantly flicked against Denki's, making him open his mouth in surprise. The former wasted no time in plunging his tongue into his mouth, allowing the two appendages to battle against each other.
Denki moaned against his mouth and it was like something snapped in Hitoshi. He quickly reached down and lifted the shorter man into his arms, his hands supporting him by gripping the back of his thighs tightly.
Denki was unaware that they were moving until he was laid against his bed and Histoshi finally moved back but still hovered closely.
“God Denki, you’re fucking beautiful.” Hitoshi murmured looking down at him with so much adoration he felt mind spin.
The purple haired man leaned over and pressed a kiss against his neck, traveling from the base to his collarbone, biting and nipping as he went. His hands wandered beneath his shirt, cautiously touching tanned freckled skin as if it was going to disappear at any moment. Denki could only pant and mewl at his ministrations.
“Is this okay?” Purple eyes looked up at him once again, the lingering question was there.
How far do you want this to go?
Denki nodded his head, tangling his hands in soft lavender hair. “It’s perfect.”
Hitoshi smiled, showing that cute as fuck dimple before swooping down and kissing Denki once more.
They spent the rest of the night tangled in cheetah print sheets, exploring one another and succumbing to the throes of passion.
——-
Denki woke up when the early light of morning hit his eyes. He cursed forgetting to shut his curtains, the sun always hit his room first resulting in way to early wake up calls.
He huffed quietly knowing he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep and attempted to get out of bed only to feel a large arm tighten against his waist.
With a gasp he whirled around to see a sleeping Histoshi facing towards him in deep sleep. His mouth was parted open slightly and his brows were set softly instead of the usual furrow he often sported. One hand laid under his face slightly pressing against his cheek while the other held Denki tightly against him.
He looked so beautiful.
It wasn’t a dream.
Denki could feel the tears coming once again at the sight of Hitoshi. After so long apart, he was here - he was home.
He also felt himself blush at their current lack of dress - it didn’t help that he took a peek at Toshi’s pale toned chest - as the memories of their previous night activities flooded his brain.
Holy fuck.
He was sure he was going to short circuit at any moment if he didn’t get up.
With reluctance - the bed suddenly seemed way more comfortable - he maneuvered himself out of Hitoshi’s embrace and redressed quickly. He didn’t have it in him to wake Hitoshi up, this must have been the first real sleep he’s gotten in months.
The soft growls of his stomach reminded him that he hadn’t eaten and would most likely have a mess to clean up from the take out he had dropped last night.
Tip toeing into the kitchen Denki cleaned up the mess from his precious ramen - he was so going to make Hitoshi buy him some more - and began to make some coffee and breakfast.
It didn’t take long for the scent of brewed coffee and French toast filled the air. Denki was in the middle of flipping the cinnamon covered bread when he felt two arms wrap around his waist and a body press against his back “You weren’t there when I woke up.” Hitoshi murmured against his hair. He could hear the pout in his voice.
It was almost too cute for Kaminari to handle.
The blonde spun around to face him “I’m sorry. You looked so peaceful and I got hungry - I didn’t have dinner last night.” He blushed and looked away in embarrassment.
Hitoshi chuckled deeply and hugged him close. “Sorry.” He didn’t really sound sorry. “I should have thought about that before immediately taking you to bed.” He kissed Denki’s neck softly, earning a soft humm for the shorter man.
“It’s fine. You didn’t hear me complaining did you?” He raised a single brow elicting a laugh from Hitoshi.
“No I suppose not.” There was amusement in his voice before he hugged Denki closer.
Denki sighed in contentment as Hitoshi held him close.
He was happy.
So so happy.
After months of sadness, worry and anxiety, he couldn’t help but revel in the peace he suddenly felt wash over him.,
Is this what true happiness feels like?
“Baby?” Hitoshi asks, pulling back to cup his face “Are you okay?“
“Yes?” Denki answered but it came out more like a question “Sorry, yes. I’m still just in shock. I think. It’s been a rough year and half.”
Hitoshi smiled fondly and nodded “I think I can agree with that.” His thumbs caressed his cheeks. “If it’s any consolation, it’s been a rough year and a half for me as well.”
Denki let out a laugh that made Hitoshi’s heart constrict almost painfully in his chest “I believe that. Why don’t you go sit while I finish this? We can eat and talk.”
Hitoshi nodded and pressed one final kiss to his forehead.
10 minutes later the two found themselves sitting at the dining table. Denki chewed his food slowly as he watched Hitoshi hungrily eat his food. He briefly wondered when the last time he had a decent meal was. The thought made his stomach churn in an unpleasant way.
The idea of Hitoshi being mistreated physically hurt him.
“Denks?” Hitoshi asked, breaking him from his thoughts.
Amethyst eyes watched him curiously “Are you alright?”
Denki nodded his head quickly “Sorry. I kinda got lost in thought.”
“You have questions.” Hitoshi states. His voice was expressionless but didn’t appear hostile. Like he had prepared for this.
Hesitantly Denki nodded again “I do.” He confirms slowly “But you don’t need to tell me. Not until you’re ready. You just got back and I’m sure the last thing you want to talk about is-“
“Baby. It’s fine.” Hitoshi cuts in with a sigh “I want to tell you. Let’s…move to the couch okay? I’m going to need to hold you if I’m going to get through this.”
Denki could only nod once more, words really weren’t his thing today and stood to his feet holding his hand out for Hitoshi to take.
They migrated to the couch, Hitoshi pulling Denk into his lap and wrapping an arm around him, holding him flushed against his chest.
Denki was glad to be facing away from the man not wanting him to see how incredibly red his face was.
They sat in silence for a while, Denki didn’t dare to break it knowing it was taking Hitoshi time to try to formulate the words in his mind.
“The day of the raid didn’t go exactly as planned.” Hitoshi began startling Denki slightly “Monoma and I had gained the trust of the gang fairly quickly and climbed their ranks with ease - he was charming yet deadly while I was…me - brooding and silent. They seemed to appreciate that about us. Everything was going to plan, we had the trust, we had the location and we had the man power. Neito and I were so sure everything was perfect and nothing could go wrong. That was our mistake.
The compound had too many eyes, too many ears and eventually the boss caught on to what we were up to but played it out until the end. It was during the raid that he revealed who we were. That’s when shit hit the fan - most of that night was blur but I made sure Monoma and the other heroes were able to get out before the boss could seriously harm anyone. I was willing to sacrifice myself.” He tightened his grip on Denki with a humorless laugh “Of course Midoriya had to show up and try to one up me. They ended up sedating us both in the middle of battle - a cheap shot really.
I don’t remember much after that or what the traveling process was like. Next thing I knew I was waking up inside a dingy basement in a fucking muzzle.”
Denki’s mouth drew downwards and he twisted around to press his fingers gently against the bandages on his face. “Is that where these came from?”
Hitoshi nodded “I had it on for the entirety of those six months. Seems like those assholes were more afraid of me than they let on but I had it easy - Midoriya on the other hand.” He trailed off sadly “He was sedated most of the time except during questioning when they lowered the dosage just enough to make him lucid. He was really the only one they could question but he refused to speak. They did a lot of shit to him but he never broke. I was only sedated when it came time to eat, I never remembered what I was given or how much of it. I think they really only fed us enough to keep us alive. We were weak but never frail luckily.”
Denki did notice that Hitoshi was much thinner than usual, his muscular build had gotten smaller as a result of being captured.
“What happened? How did you even escape?” Denki asked running his hand through Hitoshi’s hair the way he liked.
Hitoshi frowned “When it appeared that we weren’t going to give up any information they decided it was time to dispose of us. We had both accepted the reality that there was a high chance of us dying in that basement so it wasn’t a surprise when we were told this information.” He clenched his jaw “They should have been done with that and killed us when they had the change but the bastards thought one last round of taunting and threatening us was the way to go. Except this time they went too far.” His eyes darkened angrily, making Denki’s heart race in fear.
Never in the years of knowing Hitoshi had Denki ever seen such an angry and hatred filled look on his face. It almost scared him.
“They threatened Ochako.” Hitoshi grits out “They called her by name, even reciting the name of the agency she worked at and the address she lived at. It was a stupid move on their part because that set something off in Midoriya. Little had I known even during his lucid state, Midoriya - the little shit - had been exercising his quirk. It wasn’t noticeable since he was using his finger to do it but he managed to use one of his moves and broke open the muzzle allowing me to take down the guards that were tasked to kill us.
It took awhile for Izuku to regain some sort of consciousness so I had to be the one to get us out of that mansion. Without the muzzle it was easier than I had expected, they weren’t prepared for a fight with a pro hero and there weren’t many guards.”
Denki’s mouth dropped open at Hitoshi’s story. What the actual fuck?
Was Midoriya even human at this point?
“Once we made it out of the mansion it didn’t take me long to figure out where the hell we were.” His lips quirked up “I’d have to thank you for that.”
“Me?” Denki asked incredulously “Why me?”
“If you hadn’t made me watch those god awful American reality shows, especially the one about the housewives, what is it called again?” Hitoshi asked teasingly.
“Real housewives of Beverly Hills.” Denki huffs “It’s a great show!”
Hitoshi grinned against his neck “Yes that one. I was able to figure out we were in America, Los Angeles California to be exact.”
“Holy shit. You guys were all the way out there?” Denki exclaimed “No wonder the pros couldn’t find you, they were searching in Japan.”
Hitoshi nodded his head “Yeah. We figured that much afterwards.” He spoke once more “After that I was able to locate a hero Agency. We got the help we needed, the Yakuza’s mansion was raided, the boss arrested, and we were able to contact Aizawa for help. Bakugo was the one to pick us up believe it or not.”
Denki could believe that. He made a mental note to thank Bakugo later.
“It took us two days to get to Japan and another two to get through debriefing and getting medical help. I’m sorry I didn’t come back quick enough.” Hitoshi continued his voice soft and unsure.
Denki whirled around in his arms, straddling his legs, cupping his apologetic face tightly “Don’t apologize, I’m just glad you’re back Toshi. It sounds like you went through hell and I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
Hitoshi leaned into his palm, “I told you I’d come back to you.”
Denki smiled softly, “I knew you would.”
“You were my motivation to keep going, Denki. Even when they told me they were going to kill me, I still never gave up knowing that you were still waiting for me.” Hitoshi said with all seriousness “I couldn’t live with the thought of not being with you. I thought about you everyday and every night. There wasn’t one moment where I didn’t think about you.” He swallowed thickly and leaned his forehead against Denki’s “I realized something in my time away. Something important.”
“What?” Denki murmured, his voice full of emotion and a traitorous tear trailed down his face.
Hitoshi smiled and gently wiped the tears away “I realized how much I love you. I counted down the days until I’d be able to tell you that in person - to tell you that I am utterly and completely in love with you Denki Kaminari.”
Denki laughed breathlessly between his tears “How am I supposed to compete with that?” He squeezed his eyes shut keeping his head pressed against Hitoshi’s.
“Simply saying it back is enough for me. If you feel the same, that is.” He quickly adds in nervously.
Denki pulled back with a frown “Are you an idiot? Of course I love you back!”
Hitoshi merely smiled and ran his hands up Denki’s back “Say it again.” He whispered, bringing their heads close once more.
“I love you.” Denki whispered back “I love you Hitoshi.”
“Would it be too much to ask you to say that for the rest of our lives?”
“Considering I was planning on doing that anyways, no.” Denki then leaned up and pressed his lips against Hitoshi’s.
All was good in his world once again. He had the one he loved most in his arms and he couldn’t be happier. They weren’t completely healed, that would take time but they’d do it together .
To think, this all started with a wedding.