Chapter Text
A sudden burst of thunder shook the building. In the common area was Ashido and Hagakure chatting together, Tokoyami sitting with his eyes closed, Kaminari playing on his phone and Sero reading a book. They each stopped what they were doing to look around at the room and at one another, surprised by the sudden noise.
“What was that? Is a storm starting?” Ashido finally spoke up. Kaminari sighed and sat up, nodding his head.
“Yeah, I can feel it. Just look,” he told them, raising his arms in front of himself so the others could see the small sparks of lightning bouncing off of his skin. Ashido stared at his arms wide-eyed, grinning at the spectacle.
Sero fidgeted nervously in his seat. The sudden loud noise had scared him, and he was relieved it seemed that no one had noticed. He tried to return his focus to his book, tense eyes scanning over the pages to find where he had left off.
Almost in competition with the crash of thunder, a huge, crackling strike of lightening illuminated the common area through the large windows. Kaminari tsked and shrugged his shoulders in a “See?” motion.
“Whoa, that was so cool!” Hagakure gushed, the sleeves of her shirt waving in the air excitedly. Ashido passionately nodded her head and hummed in agreement.
Another tandem of thunder and lightning shook the building, stronger than before. Without warning, all the lights inside went out, the electricity units ceasing all action. The downpour of rain could be heard colliding with the walls and ceiling in a steady rhythm that was starting to pick up pace.
“What a mad banquet of darkness…” Tokoyami commented, the usual saying pertaining more appropriately to the situation than intended.
Sero’s book had long been forgotten, lying on the floor where it had been dropped in panic moments before. He swallowed and tried to calm himself down. It was just a storm after all, there was nothing to worry about. The cold, dim lighting of the room was merely an inconvenience; despite these efforts, however, Sero felt no more relaxed than before.
“I’m sure someone will fix the lights soon, right?” Hagakure supplied hopefully. “Until then, we can sit by the window and watch the storm!”
A strike of lightning lit up the room once again. Although it was only for a fleeting moment, it was long enough for Kaminari to finally catch a glance of Sero. The raven-haired boy had been slightly grateful for the darkness that had overcast the room if only for the fact that it concealed his current situation, but the storm had yet again broken through another wall and taken that remaining shred of safety from him.
His expression confused Kaminari. At first, he couldn’t quite place what he had seen. Sero looked...concerned? Was it doubt? Dread? No, maybe...fear? None of these words seemed to do justice to the stressed look he had caught a flash of. There was a layer of panic, wariness laced with adrenaline.
In the moment of silence, Sero stood up jarringly. “I-I’m...I n-need to go,” he said, straining to keep his voice even. Ashido cocked her head and gave him a sympathetic pout.
“Is everything okay?” she asked him calmly. Sero nodded his head quickly before briskly leaving the common area. Ashido sighed and slumped against Hagakure.
“You think he’s alright?” Hagakure questioned to the group. Kaminari stood up and stretched his arms as he answered.
“I’ll go check on him. I’m sure he’s alright, he’s a strong guy.”
Calling him a strong guy was an understatement in Kaminari’s eyes, though. He admired Sero in almost every aspect. He was tough, brave, quick to take action, smart, skilled in everything he did--excluding classical Japanese, but Kaminari overlooked that without thought--confident, handsome, has really toned muscles that his costume really emphasizes, and his hair looked really soft and shone in the sun sometimes, and-
Maybe Kaminari liked him more than he let on. He himself didn’t even realize it, however. He cluelessly let his mind wander, dismissing it all as a passionate admiration for a boy who deserved it.
Sero nearly tripped several times as he ran up the stairs to his room. He swung the door open and stumbled inside as it closed behind him. Pausing in the middle of the room, he took a moment to catch his breath. Everything was still and silent, apart from the ragged breaths that grew slower and slower.
As such a moment of euphoria would be, the instant was short-lived. A sudden crash of lightening followed by a resounding boom of thunder gave life to the building once again, the lights flickering before losing their life once more. Sero gasped and threw himself towards his bed, missing the top of the mattress and slumping against its side. He willed himself to keep his eyes open and his body calm and still, but he betrayed himself on all accounts, squeezing his eyes shut and wrapping his arms around his tense, shaking self.
Kaminari’s bare footsteps pattered down the hall. The storm to him, if anything, was nothing more than an inconvenience. The heightened static electricity in the air messed with his quirk, leaving him with a subtle buzz under his skin and the occasional sparks dancing around him.
The pattern of the storm had grown constant. It was a recurring cycle of lightning and thunder, each varying in intensity, but all of them loud and blinding nonetheless. The rain rattled against the building alongside them, the sporadic hail mixed in adding to the downfall.
Kaminari stopped in front of Sero’s door and knocked against it a few times, one hand remaining in his pocket. He waited for a few moments, but heard nothing in response. He knocked again, louder this time in case the noise had gotten mixed in with the storm.
“Sero? You in there?” he called through the door. Once again he was greeted with no response. He was about to turn away to look elsewhere when he heard a quiet voice drifting after him, nearly inaudible over the whirling storm outside.
“I-I’m not- AAH!” Sero was cut off mid-sentence by a strikingly apparent roar of thunder. Kaminari frowned and lightly pushed a hand against the door, surprised to find it unlocked. He opened it carefully and peered inside. When his eyes locked onto Sero, he stopped and could only stare.
The raven-haired boy was curled up on the floor, his legs tucked into his chest with an arm holding them firmly. His other hand was clutching onto the blanket atop his bed, having pulled it down a few inches to reach him but had froze mid-motion. His head was cast down, but Kaminari could see his face clearly--his eyes were closed shut with streams of tears falling down his cheeks, his expression tense, afraid, and panicked. Everything about him radiated his terror-stricken state.
Another flash of lightning, thunder responding almost immediately after. Sero cried out again, holding himself tighter and tucking his head further down. Kaminari snapped back to reality and rushed over to him, falling onto his knees. This was not what he had expected, and seeing Sero crumbled down to this made his heart and chest tighten.
“Sero! A-Are you okay?! Shit, of course you’re not-! Is there something I can do? You’re- it’s alright, everything’s fine!” Kaminari stumbled over his words. He didn’t know what to say or how to help, but had to do something. There was no way he could just sit there and watch.
Sero tried to say something, but his words jumbled together and came out as nothing more than a soft, sharp noise. He sniffed and let out a shaky breath.
BOOM!
Sero’s breath hitched and he all but flung himself at Kaminari, clutching onto the electric boy as though his life depended on it. He tucked his head against Kaminari’s chest, wrapping his arms around him and sobbing quietly. His body was trembling and cold.
Kaminari held his breath, taken by surprise. Almost instinctively, though, his arms found themselves reaching down to hold Sero close to him, one hand stroking his hair gently--his hypothesis was proven correct, Sero’s hair was incredibly soft--and the other cradling him warmly.
“Hey, it’s okay, don’t worry. It’s just a thunderstorm, you’re going to be alright. Everything’s alright. I’m here,” came the soothing words. Kaminari’s voice was hushed and intimate, yet to Sero they seemed to drown out the storm. He used all his energy to focus on Kaminari’s comforting presence and reassuring words.
Slowly yet surely, Sero began to calm down. His shaking stopped and his crying turned to occasional sniffs and soft exhales. Kaminari smiled contently, gazing at Sero with half-lidded eyes. He looked so beautiful and felt so smooth and muscular, his hair smelling faintly of cocoa butter. He was so mesmerizing that Kaminari could practically kiss him.
Wait, what?
Kaminari’s face heated up and flushed bright red. What was he thinking? He didn’t like Sero like that, did he? Sero was his friend, one of his best buddies. He was someone he looked up to, someone wanted to be like and looked forward to seeing every day. Whenever he was around, life felt so much better, and his laugh lit up the room like no one else’s. He was someone that Kaminari wouldn’t mind living with, being on a hero team with, spending their lives together when they were older, sharing their lives as one.
“...Oh.”
Kaminari suffered from a mental relapse for a solid minute, double and triple checking his thoughts, which undeniably confirmed that he had it bad for the raven-haired boy that was falling asleep in his lap.
Thankfully for both of them, the storm was beginning to die down. As Kaminari thought about this new revelation more and more, the less crazy it seemed to him. He felt a little embarrassed that he hadn’t realized it sooner, but right now, all that mattered to him was that Sero was alright.
As he looked out the window, he decided that it would probably be a good idea for Sero to rest in his bed instead of on the hard ground. He looks back down at the boy in his arms and smiles, his chest feeling warm and fluttery.
Kaminari carefully lifted Sero into his arms and set him down on the bed. He looked so peaceful now, content and asleep; however, he had not let go of Kaminari since he had first latched onto him, render the blonde boy incapable of leaving. He panicked for a few moments, not wanting to wake Sero up yet also feeling awkward about staying.
The storm had calmed down some, but it was still ongoing. He would hate for Sero to wake up alone and become scared again with the assumption that Kaminari had left him. On top of that, he was growing rather tired himself, and Sero’s bed looked surprisingly comfortable. Sighing, he cautiously sat down on the bed next to Sero and laid down. In a matter of moments, he had fallen fast asleep to the gentle rhythm of Sero’s steady breath.