Chapter Text
Years had passed. Years has passed since graduation, since finals, since provisional exams, since villain attacks, since they came into the school on the very first day. Years had passed and they had all grown. They had all changed into the new heroes they were now, made new friends, and unfortunately lost some others.
Throughout the entire years at Yuuei, and beyond, there was always one thing that Kaminari Denki would notice about himself. It was slow and gradual and it really freaked him out, but he was attracted to guys. He would always make jokes about females and their bodies, but they never actually excited him. Not to the point he felt it now. Whenever he would see muscular, sweaty and glistening abs or biceps, he could feel his stomach clench up and his heart race. A gorgeous, handsome face could make his eyes go wide and face flush bright red, just as red as a certain someone's hair.
A certain someone that made him go crazy anytime he did something friendly. It could just be as simple as a ‘hey bro!’ and a sharp toothed grin, and Denki wanted to leap into his arms. He could just wrap an arm around his shoulder, and Denki wanted to kiss him. It could be as simple as a fist bump and Denki wanted to hold his hand.
It was killing him, these raging feelings. It made blood speed to places he had begged the blood not to go, it made his hands clammy and his voice catch in his throat. But he wasn’t going to let anyone know. Not Mina, not Sero, and especially not—
“Hey, bro!” a cheerful but perfectly deep voice called, a voice with just the rasp to make Denki swoon.
“U-uh, Kirishima!” the yellow-blonde scrambled up, sitting upright on his bed.
“Hey dude,” the tall redhead smiled, taking his shoes off by the door.
Kirishima was 24 going on 25 and he looked like a God. He had gotten a couple small scars from other fights, one noticeable line across his nose, and the same scar over his left eye. His hair had grown out, now reaching just at his shoulders. He usually kept it in a spiky ponytail, the front and sides left down to cascade over his face. The redhead had been growing accustomed to makeup, preferably eyeliner and mascara, even though he had unnaturally long eyelashes in the first place. Denki couldn’t help but find the muscular but gorgeous male perfect to him, which left him with pent up emotions and a lack of sleep.
“Were you asleep, dude? Sorry,” Kirishima chuckled softly, and Denki’s heart jumped.
“No I wasn’t, I’m fine,” the blonde hair, his own hair still the same, though his bangs had grown longer, He scratched his hair, feeling his fingers crackle with electricity in it. His bright yellow eyes glanced away from Kirishima, who had stretched and set down his backpack, cracking his back.
“Damn, morning classes are so hard, bro!” he sighed.
“They are, which is why I still don’t know why you’re taking them.”
“I gotta be up and early, bro! Just in time for class, its a manly thing to do!” he gave a lopsided smile and Denki could’ve passed out then and there.
“It’s not necessarily as manly as it is damaging,” the yellow blonde chuckled. “I mean, I wouldn’t remember anything.”
“That’s just 'cuz you’d fall asleep, dude,” Kirishima laughed, dipping his head back slightly.
God, Kaminari loved it when he laughed. It was an inviting sound that brought warmth and comfort, it was a sound that someone could never get tired of, especially not him. He longed to make Kirishima laugh like that everyday; it was so perfect Kaminari could almost trick himself into thinking his love was requited.
“I-I guess I would,” Kaminari laughed, scratching the back of his hair. “Are you done for the day, dude?”
“Yup! Tetsutetsu and I are gonna head to the gym, so he’ll be over soon. After I’m free, but you’d be in your afternoon classes,” he said.
“Yeah, I would…” Kaminari nodded, looking at the time.
11:23 pm, it read. He’d have to go now or he’d be late. “I’m going to get ready to go.”
“Be back at 5, right?” Kirishima beamed.
Kaminari choked on his words, leaving him only to nod at his friend, who gave a thumbs up. The redhead then crossed the apartment room to the bathroom, closing the door behind himself. At that point, Kaminari could breathe. He let out a sigh he had been holding, eyebrows furrowing in confusion and annoyance at his own feelings. The more he acted like this, the sooner Kirishima was going to notice something was wrong. He had already tried to force his feelings away, but they always returned, stronger than before.
It was no wonder he was in love with Kirishima. The redhead was one of the most supportive and nice friends he had ever had. He was caring and selfless, and would go to great lengths to help people he cares about. Sometimes, Kaminari wanted to be Kirishima. He wanted to be able to so flawlessly talk to people and have such amazing motives. He adored people like that. He adored Kirishima.
And speak of the devil, the red headed male walked out from the bathroom, a towel wrapped low around his waist. His abs, his biceps, and his legs were slick with lotion, hair down and dripping with water. He ran a hand through the wet locks, pushing them back and looking like a model for a nude photoshoot, his other hand jutting a thumb back towards the shower.
“Bath’s open, bro,” he said, giving a smile, his lips parted to show sharp teeth.
Kaminari could only nod. He had quickly turned to his dresser, scrambling to get out boxers to wear, then passing Kirishima quickly. He ignored the other’s rose-eyed gaze following him, closing the bathroom door behind himself hard, hearing it rattle slightly. Kaminari locked the door and sighed out weakly, slinking to the floor. He sat on the cool tile, his heart racing in his chest, his face flushed bright red. He took deep breaths, clutching his head with a groan. Yeah. If he didn’t get this under control soon, it would not be good for him in the long run.
・‥…━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━…‥・
Kaminari had finished his two first classes, and now had a hour to relax until his last one. The blonde sighed, his bag slung over his shoulder as he walked through the sunny campus of the hero college, the breeze combing through the trees softly. He gave an exhausted sigh and stretched, lifting his arms high above his head. He squeezed his eyes shut, just to feel a jab in his stomach.
“A-ac-k..!” he choked out, hunching forward quickly, wrapping arms around his injured stomach.
A laugh sounded in front of him and he looked up, seeing Kyoka Jiro smirking down at him.
“Hey, Kaminari,” she said.
The blonde gave a stupid smile. “Heyy—”
Jiro put a hand to her mouth and snorted out a giggle, watching Kaminari groan and make idiotic sounds.
“Why’d you do that?” he whined, rubbing his stomach and standing straight, much taller then the purple haired girl.
“You gave me an open target with all that stretching. So I went for it.”
Kaminari laughed quietly. “Hm, yeah… still rude though.”
Jirou nodded, before looking at the bright blonde closely. “Hey, have you been okay lately?”
Kaminari looked up. “What…?”
“In class, you seem so… tired. And distracted. Have you been getting enough sleep?” she asked.
“I, um…” he cleared his throat, backing up. “I’m fine! Not tired, it might just look like that but I’m not tired.”
“You fell asleep in class twice, stupid… and I doubt you’re going to go back to get the notes.”
Kaminari gulped. He knew that he was losing sleep, and it was over his own feelings, but as stupid as it sounded, it really did affect him. Apparently, Jirou could see the hesitation and worry on his face, and her own gaze softened.
“Kaminari?” she asked. “Are you really okay…?”
“I’m fine, dude! I promise, I totally promise,” he gave a thumbs up, stumbling backwards and scrambling to pick up a textbook he had dropped.
“Denki,” she said his first name. “You really don’t have to run from me, we can talk—”
He had no choice. Turning quickly on the heel of his Adidas, the blonde rushed away, heading for the campus General Studies building, not turning back. He couldn’t tell anyone about this. That would include having to tell them that he was gay, and he didn’t even know if that was true himself. But if it wasn’t, why was he thinking of his best friend so… romantically? The idea gave him a headache and he groaned, putting a hand to his head. He continued to rush forward, bumping into people and muttering out ‘sorry’s. Kaminari scrambled into the nearest men's bathroom, closing himself in one of the stalls with a shaky sigh, trying to calm his nerves. Jiro could see it. That he was restless and distant. But she didn’t know why. Kaminari dropped his things, pacing the tiny area frantically, clutching to his hair. He let out harsh breaths, trying to calm himself down. Once his nerves took a breather, he lifted up his things, slinging them over his shoulder. He sulked from the bathroom, looking around the corners to make sure no one was there and rushed out, making a b-line for the library. A place he never went.
・‥…━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━…‥・
Kaminari spent the entire hour he had there trying to figure out how to use the library book system to put back a book he accidentally dropped, evidently leaving it on the shelf for the librarians to take care of.
As he sat in class, he felt distant and silent, staring at the board as the teacher wrote on it. He sighed, his mind drifting to a certain redhead, filling his heart and making his face swell with red. He couldn’t stop thinking about Kirishima’s body. Why the hell did he have to be half naked?
It’s because he’s straight, Kaminari thought. He doesn’t know he riles me up like he actually does.
He dropped his head in his hand, yellow bangs cascading over the side of his face as he blushed furiously, staring at his paper. He tapped his foot quietly, the English words on the paper looking like odd bunches of words. Why did he need to learn English anyways? He wasn’t going to do hero work in America. Well… he did have to consider he’d be anywhere. He sighed, looking at the work in confusion. He’d need help. And while Bakugo was in his class, he wasn’t the one who he’d be asking. The sandy blonde only helped Kirishima, who would ask only one and get an okay. How he did it Kaminari did not know. He could ask Momo, or Todoroki—both knew their English well. Or he could ask Kirishima. Even if the redhead struggled, he was able to explain things at a level that Kaminari could actually capture, rather than the other three, who were too advanced for him. He sighed, imagining sitting across a table with Kirishima, the muscular male pointing to his paper and speaking English to him. He’d heard Kirishima speak English before, and it did things to him that he’d rather not talk about.
He sighed to himself about having let his mind drift back to Kirishima, much like it did everyday, all the time. He would never be able to focus like that. Before he knew it, the bell had rung and the class bustled, Kaminari quickly shoving his things into his bag, papers scattering across the floor.
“Shit—” he stammered, a foot stepping over his paper, almost crushing it. “Sorry..”
“It’s fine. Are you alright?” asked a calm, neutral voice, the blonde looking up to see a glimpse of red hair and his face heated up.
Todoroki, who was the one who spoke, looked taken aback at Kaminari’s sudden embarrassment, the blonde the looking away.
“Sorry,” Kaminari repeated, covering his face. He saw one shade of red and went wild. There was no way he could keep something like this a secret.
“It’s fine, again,” Todoroki said, offering a hand to help him up, the electric male taking his hand to stand up.
Todoroki looked at Kaminari’s face, seeing the soft redness and clearing his throat. Emotions rushed in his head, but he skillfully pushed them down like he always did. The double quirk user was snapped out of his thoughts when Kaminari shook his arm, the smaller male now holding a rather pleading expression.
“Todoroki? Can you help me, please? I can’t seem to get these English terms right,” he asked, figuring it was better to get tutoring over with than to wait longer.
Todoroki nodded, and Kaminari smiled gratefully, the taller male feeling a flicker of heat on his face, but quickly pushing it off, walking out of the classroom with the electric blonde trailing behind him.
“What don’t you understand?” Todoroki asked, Kaminari jogging up to stand beside him.
“Um—n-nothing…” he stammered.
The dual user paused for a brief moment, then fell back in step with Kaminari. “How have you been passing, then?”
“I’m not!” he frowned. “That’s why I need help.”
Todoroki nodded, leading the male towards the dormed side of the campus. “Okay.”
“Thanks, dude… this really helps a lot,” he smiled up at the taller male, Todoroki staring back with a sense of… adoration.
The dual user nodded, the two taking a silent walk to the dorms and into the elevator, more silence between them.
Kaminari studied Todoroki from the side, eyeing his taller, more robust and built form and his collected, straight expression. His hair hadn’t gotten longer, but perhaps a little bushier, looking soft to the touch as red and white shaded over his eyes. Almost sensing the blonde’s gaze, he looked over, mismatched eyes shadowed by lines from long lashes.
Kaminari gulped and stared down at his feet.
“Are you uncomfortable?” Todoroki asked.
“What? No way, bro!” Kaminari laughed dryly, swallowing. “Just kinda quiet in here, y’know?”
“You could've talked to me,” Todoroki said.
“I know, but about what?”
“Your grades.”
Kaminari waved that off. “No, no, no,” he said. “Those are no fun to talk about, honest.”
Todoroki shrugged. “It’s beneficial when you need to talk about it. But since you’ve already told me you have all F’s…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay!” Kaminari groaned. “Don’t remind me, jeez…”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you doing so poorly? You can’t pass with those kind of grades.”
The blonde sighed out. “I just… get distracted,” he said. Thinking about Kirishima.
Todoroki nodded, looking at the shorter male. Mismatched eyes stared at him, seeing the uneasiness in his face. It was more than just distraction, he knew. But he wasn’t going to force it out of him. It wasn’t completely his business to pry that far in.
The elevator door opened and Todoroki led Kaminari to his room, opening the door to the Japanese-style dorm.
“Bro… you literally remodeled it…” Kaminari gasped, walking in slowly as he looked around.
“I tried,” Todoroki said, closing the door. “Tea?”
Golden-yellow eyes flicked to the taller male, Kaminari grinning. He nodded.