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“Hey, babe, you done ordering our drinks yet?” Shinsou jumped at the sudden voice. He wouldn't have thought it was directed at him, had it not been for the forceful way the other man grabbed his arm.
“Wha-”
“I asked if you ordered our drinks yet!” the man said, cutting him off. Shinsou went to yank his arm away, but stopped when he looked up to see the look on the person’s face. His body language appeared casual enough (despite the way his fingernails were beginning to dig into his arm, even through his sweatshirt), but his mouth was pulled into a clearly forced smile, and his eyes were desperate and panicked. Shinsou looked over his shoulder and saw a muscled middle-aged man giving him a nasty look. Looking from the man clinging to him for dear life to the guy sitting across the bar, he was able to put enough pieces together to know what to do.
“Ah, no, I was waiting for the bartender to come over here. What did you want again, honey?” He made sure to say loud enough for the older man to hear. The line wasn't in character for Shinsou, especially the “honey” part (it’s not really his first choice of pet name, just the first he thought of), but nobody in here knew that. Shinsou knew he couldn't take the older man in a fight, but he guessed that- if the looks he got from the freshman on campus were anything to go by -he looked just intimidating enough to be a safe choice for a fake boyfriend. He gestured for the man to sit next to him at the counter.
The man looked relieved as he sat down. He was shorter than Shinsou and had a bit of a baby face, but if Shinsou had to guess, he'd say that he's around the same age has him. He's got yellow hair with a black streak one on side in the shape of… a lightning bolt? That's definitely not natural, although Shinsou isn't one to talk considering his hair’s purple and stands straight up if not pinned down. He's wearing a loose, acid-washed, open jean jacket with various patches on it. There seemed to be a general electricity and lightning motif to him. The man seemed the tiniest bit familiar, like maybe he's seen him once or twice before, but he can't think of where it might've been right now.
“Just a margarita! Nothing too much, I'm pretty tired so I'll be ready to head back home after this,” he replied, his smile still forced but a little less so. He also loosened his death grip on Shinsou’s arm. Shinsou leaned in towards him and spoke softly, just enough to be barely heard over the bar’s music.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked. The man leaned in a bit as well as he replied in just above a whisper.
“Order two drinks, one for me and one for yourself. I'll pay you back after. Pretend that we’ve been going steady for a while; talk to me like you would any significant other. Then walk out of this place with me so I can get the hell away from that creep,” he made a slight gesture towards the older man. “Call me Denki.”
“Got it,” he said in his normal voice, turning towards the bartender, “one margarita and one beer, please.” He got a nod in response as the bartender started making their drinks. He turned back and smiled sweetly at the man, whose name he now knows. “So, how was your day, Denki?”
It was surprisingly easy to start up a fake conversation with the guy. He seemed nice enough, and everything flowed pretty naturally. None of this dialogue was natural for Shinsou, but he guessed that this was the conversation and body language that lovey-dovey couples would have, and if Denki’s responses were anything to go by, he assumed he was doing things right. Shinsou noted that he had very pretty eyes, so he complimented him during their talking and the man blushed a bit in response, which he thought was pretty cute. Denki actually seemed to be enjoying their interaction after while.
-
When their drinks were done, they got up to leave from the bar. Shinsou grabbed Denki’s hand and held it for emotional support, since the older guy was still staring at them. Denki seemed to appreciate the sentiment since he gave him a small genuine smile as they exited the building. They were quiet for a few seconds before Denki spoke.
“Dude, I can't thank you enough for what you did back there. That guy was being a total pushy creep and I was starting to get really scared. Sorry I basically forced you to do that out of nowhere though… I don't even know your name,” he looked guilty as he rambled a bit.
“It's no problem at all, Denki. I wouldn't want you to be stuck in an unsafe situation. It was just the right thing to do. And my name is Shinsou Hitoshi.”
“Shinsou… that's a nice name!” He looked to the dark, starry sky as he swung their interlocked hands back and forth, much like a child would. Shinsou guessed that he was the easily excited type, which isn't a bad thing. It might've helped a little bit that Denki looked incredibly cute. “My name’s Kaminari Denki, though I've technically already given you permission to call me by my first name,” he said, laughing a bit. Shinsou smiled, glad that he didn't seem to be worried anymore.
“I'm assuming you'd rather me call you Kaminari?”
“Hm,” he put his finger to his chin in thought, looking up at the stars once more, “I'll let you keep calling me Denki if I can call you Hitoshi.”
“Sounds fair,” Shinsou answered.
“It's a deal then,” they nodded at each other, Shinsou smirking and Kaminari looking genuinely pleased.
“So, Hitoshi, are you a student too?” Kaminari asked.
“Mhm.”
“Where at?”
“U.A.” Kaminari gasped at that.
“For real? Me too! That's so cool dude!” He said excitedly. Shinsou now realized that's why he feels like he's seen Kaminari before. He was going to reply, when he heard the door to the bar close. They weren't walking particularly fast now that they were actually talking, so they weren't too far from the establishment yet. He discreetly turned back and saw that the older man was looking around, spotted them, and was slowly walking behind them at a distance. It gave him a terrible feeling in his stomach.
“Do you live on campus?” He spoke quietly, gripping Kaminari’s hand a bit harder than before. “The guy from before is following us, and it'd probably be best to get you home quickly. I know U.A. is only a short walk away from here.”
“Oh shit, he hasn't given up yet? I hoped that showing him my boyfriend would get him off my ass,” he tensely sighed. “I live in the apartment complex right next to the campus.”
“Okay, good, it won't be long then.” Shinsou said. They picked up the pace, but not enough to appear out of the ordinary. The walk to Kaminari’s apartment complex was short. Shinsou hoped that the guy would stop trailing them, but to no avail. As Shinsou began to climb the stairs, Kaminari stopped him.
“Wait, fuck, I don't want him knowing which one’s mine,” he spoke, giving Shinsou an anxious look, “what if he tries to break in after you leave or something?”
“Fuck, you’re right. Hm,” Shinsou thought for a second. “One of my best friends lives in this same complex, we can go to his apartment.”
“I don't want to rope someone else into this though, especially if the guy does decide to get violent.”
“Don't worry, after seeing him through the doorway, he'll run off. My friend’s built like a brick shithouse, and it'll be even better if his boyfriend’s there. The guy looks like he could will explosions into being if he tried hard enough.”
“I think I know someone like that, too,” he gave a small laugh, even though he still looked nervous.
“Don't worry,” Shinsou said, smiling reassuringly, “it'll be alright.”
“Okay. I trust you,” He replied.
Shinsou led him up the stairs, hand in hand, and knocked on a door. When it opened, they were met with bright red hair and unnaturally sharp teeth.
“Kirishima???” Kaminari gasped.
“Woah! Two bros I never expected to see together, much less holding h-” Shinsou made a hand gesture and cut him off.
“Don't be so loud, Eijirou! There's a guy following us. He's been harassing Denki and we don't want him to know where he lives.” Kirishima peered down and saw the older man. He frowned.
“I hate guys like that, I'm sorry you had to deal with him, Kami,” he moved over, clearing the way into his apartment, “come in!”
Shinsou gently ushered Kaminari inside, and closed the door behind them. Once safely in Kirishima’s apartment, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Kirishima motioned for them to sit in the living room.
“Thanks for the refuge, Kiri,” said Kaminari
“No problem dude, it's the least I could do. I'm sorry I wasn't there with you to start with.”
“It's alright, Hitoshi was there for me,” he removed his hand from Shinsou’s and place it on his shoulder instead. Shinsou nodded in agreement with his statement.
“Off topic but, I'm hurt,” Kirishima said as he dramatically put his hand over his heart, “‘Denki’? ‘Hitoshi’? You're on first name basis already and I didn't even know you two were dating?!” Shinsou and Kaminari both turned red.
“We’re not actually together, Eijirou, we actually just met today. Denki just asked me to pretend to be his boyfriend in hopes that the creep would go away,” Shinsou explained, since Kaminari looked like he might combust at any moment, “and on the way here we decided we could still call each other by first names.”
“Oh, that makes more sense!”
“What's that supposed to mean?” Kaminari squeaked.
“Well, you two just seem to have really conflicting personalities is all. I don't know if I could really see you together. Plus, I'd hope that if you started dating for real that I'd be the first one to know about it!”
“Huh?! I'll have you know that Hitoshi and I actually really hit it off well and he has a good personality that flows with mine aND NOT TO MENTION he's fucking attractive and I'm very bi. Fuck you Kiri I'd date the hell out of him.” Kaminari, in all his red-faced glory, concluded his rambling with a dramatic cross of the arms, and it was now Shinsou's turn to look about ready to combust. Kirishima just looked amused, with a hint of determination in his eyes as he looked from Kaminari to Shinsou and back again.
“A-ANYWAY… speaking of boyfriends, where’s yours, Eijirou?” Shinsou asked, looking anywhere but at Kaminari.
“Katsuki? You know he goes to sleep way early like some old man! I was doing my night exercises right before heading to bed when you came over, actually.”
“Oh, yeah, that sounds about right when I actually think about it,” Shinsou laughed a bit, he and Kaminari finally cooling down. “Hey, I'm gonna go look outside and see if that creep left yet,” he said, getting up and walking to the door. He peered outside and came back. “Ok, he's gone back down the road towards the bar. He's almost out of sight,” he said as Kaminari breathed another sigh of relief.
“That's good. I wish he would've left earlier, but at least he's gone now. Thank you again, Hitoshi! And thank you too, Kiri!”
“Again, it’s no problem at all,” Shinsou waved his hands.
“It's the least I could do!” replied Kirishima.
-
“Well, I should probably get going,” Shinsou said after awhile, “it's getting pretty late and I have an 8 o’clock tomorrow.”
“Ah, you're right, I should probably get going too!” Kaminari said, walking to the door with Shinsou. They said their goodbyes to Kirishima and walked out.
Kirishima walked behind them, going to close the door after, but stopped partway to watch them go, just in case. He observed them stop in front of the complex together, looking a little awkward while they both tried to internally decide whether to go for just leaving, doing a handshake, or doing a hug. They seemed to both decided on hug, and shared a final wave goodbye as they parted ways, Shinsou to the dorms on campus and Kaminari back up the stairs to his apartment a floor below Kirishima’s.
Seeing their interactions tonight, especially while leaving, and seeing the way they both looked back at each other at different times with smiles on their faces, he smirked. As he walked back into his apartment and closed the door behind him, he thought to himself that maybe he could see them together after all.