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You were playing the world’s longest game of truth or dare. Probably.
It’s not that you had set out to break any records, and when the thought occurred to Mina a little while later, she couldn’t even find any on file. But when it had started getting late last Friday night, and not a single one of you had wanted to let up, you had been the one to suggest turning it into an ongoing venture.
“Is that even doable?” Toru had asked, the bracelets on her arm jangling together as she presumably scratched her head.
“Why not?” You had grinned at them, then— Toru, Mina, Hanta, Mashirao, and Denki— and you could see your excitement start to spread among your friends.
“Yeah, that sounds fun!” Denki said, grinning widely back at you.
“Always so quick to agree when it comes to Y/N’s ideas,” Mina said on a sigh, but she was smiling, as eager as the rest. She turned to you. “It’s not that I don’t want to, but wouldn’t it be a little harder to keep track of points? And couldn’t the game potentially go on forever?” She gasped. “What if we’re still playing by the time we graduate?”
You laughed. “Let’s change it up, then. Instead of using points, the winner will be determined by elimination.”
“Ooh, I like it!” Mina said, pumping her fist enthusiastically. “No more passing on the tough questions and embarrassing dares! Instead of losing points, you’re out if you decline!”
“Yes, exactly!”
Frankly, truth or dare was supposed to be an inconsequential party game teens used as an excuse to do reckless and sometimes sleazy things. But put into the hands of your group of friends, and played on the campus of the nation’s most competitive hero school, it was only natural that it had turned into a competition. Add to that the fuel of a tangible prize other than bragging rights— being treated to lunch once by every other player, for a total of five free meals, as Hanta suggested— and the lot of you were taking this as seriously as you did any written exam.
“You guys just wanna change the rules because you’re losing,” Hanta said. He was definitely winning with a clear lead at 13 points, with Denki a whole 4 points below in second. “Besides, this thing could still drag on forever if people just put off their task.”
“Then, let’s set a time a limit. We play from 9 AM to 9 PM. You have an hour at most, and if you don’t do it, you’re out. How’s that sound?” You tilted your head and looked around once more.
There was the sound of a general assent, even with Hanta grumbling about a stolen win, until Mashirao stood up.
“I’m sorry, it looks like I’ll have to be the first to drop out then.” He smiled apologetically. “I’m going home for the weekend to see my parents, so I won’t be around to play.”
“You can just film yourself doing the dares and send the videos to us!” Toru said cheerily.
Mashirao hesitated for a moment, but with one look at the matching mischief in your and Denki’s grins, he shook his head resolutely. “That’s alright, I’d rather just enjoy my time with family.”
He’d bid you all goodnight and left, and then the five of you who remained went over the new rules and restrictions before heading off for your own dorms.
“Hey.” You felt a nudge against your arm as you waited for the elevator. It was Denki, his lips still curled mischievously. “You know Ojiro totally chickened out. He could have kept playing if he wanted, but he was too scared to imagine what I might dare him to do in front of his family.”
“No way,” you grinned at him as the two of you stepped through the now open doors. “He was definitely looking at me when he resigned.”
“Sure, like you’ve ever come up with some extraordinary dare,” he said.
You titled your head a little and quirked a brow, assessing the challenge. What Toru had said earlier wasn’t untrue— Denki did seem to be agreeing with you more and more lately, and this you’d attributed to your growing bond— but only in the presence of others. When it was just the two of you, the air became charged with something different, something that made the both of you even more reckless.
“You think so, Kaminari? Maybe I should focus my efforts on you a little more.”
“Yeah, maybe you should,” he said, just before his eyes widened a fraction. You thought his face was getting a little flushed, too, but you reached the third floor just then, and he bolted out with just a quick, “Night!” thrown over his shoulder.
You watched him until the elevator doors slid shut, wondering about that strange little reaction more than you should have. It was better than confronting the feeling you had whenever his presence was suddenly retracted.
Once in your own room, you pulled out your phone and created a new group chat— including Mashirao, so he could still enjoy everyone’s antics— and named it People who Owe Me Lunch.
You had been the last to play, and now you knew who you were picking to go next. You sent a single message and then slipped your phone into the drawer of your nightstand.
Y/N: Kaminari, truth or dare?
That was how, five days later, you found yourself biting the inside of your cheek and willing yourself not to laugh. Homeroom was drawing to a close, and although most students were packing their things, you were taking your time, having just read the message that lit up your phone screen.
Denki (People who Owe Me Lunch)
I dare you to steal one of Mr. Aizawa’s hairs.
The message was to Hanta, who had so foolishly chosen dare right after grumbling that you and Denki saved all the “good ones” for each other.
Mr. Aizawa dismissed the class and most people filed out. Yaomomo approached the front desk, asking the teacher if he had a moment to address a question of hers.
You were sure Hanta would use this opportunity. Or at least, he would try. You stood up and slowly zipped your bag shut, keeping your head down until a pair of familiar shoes stopped next to your desk.
You looked up into bright golden eyes that glimmered with silent mirth. You bit your lip to suppress a giggle and he grinned at you. The two of you feigned conversation as you slowly ambled towards the door together, where you could watch the five-way stalemate finally break from a safe distance.
It was over in a flash. Hanta stood up and swung his bag over his shoulder, and then stopped and slowly reached his arms up as if stretching them. He sent his tape towards the teacher’s back, no doubt aiming for a hair that had already fallen and stuck to his shirt, when the latter’s head snapped in his direction. Hanta let out a fearful whimper as his tape fluttered lifelessly it to the ground, and, realizing he’d been caught, he turned to where the two of you stood in a plea for help. This drew Mr. Aizawa’s attention to you as well, and at the sight of his eyes glowing red with rage— or technically, quirk— you bolted.
You didn’t even have to look around to know Denki was right beside you. The two of you were practically flying down the hall, fear and excitement powering you in equal parts. You heard a shouted, “No running in the halls!” as you passed your class representative, but you kept going until you’d safely rounded a corner.
“Watch out!” Denki’s voice was breathless, and you were just processing what he’d said when you realized you were about to collide with someone. For a moment, you were horrified, trying to slow even a little to reduce the impact, but at the last second, you felt a hand on your back and then a forceful tug on your shirt. You stumbled back into a pair of waiting arms.
“I-I’m so sorry!” You squeaked, looking up at the third year you had just narrowly avoided crashing into. He looked a little miffed. You bowed and kept your head down until he had walked off. You took a deep breath, your heart still pounding from the running and the scare, and turned to look at Kaminari. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” he said, his own breathing finally slowing. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” you said, before a smile began creeping its way up your face again. “Sero, on the other hand…”
The two of you laughed, and without even thinking about it, you leaned your head slightly into his shoulder. You closed your eyes, oblivious to the blush flooding his face and tinging even the tips of his ears a deep shade of pink. You didn’t notice him stiffen under your touch either, focused only on catching your breath and slowing your heart rate.
“After Ojiro, I didn’t expect the next person’s elimination to be so climactic,” you finally said, looking up at Denki with a smile. He wasn’t meeting your eyes, and that’s when you realized just how close your face was to his. You pulled back immediately, feeling heat prick at your own face. “A-anyway, it’s about time! It’s already Wednesday, and we’ve only just knocked it down to four.”
“Yeah,” his eyes finally met yours, and he smiled again too. “But I bet the rest of you are gonna start dropping like flies now.”
You snorted. “We’ll see.”
In fact, Denki was right, at least in that you didn’t have to wait long for another elimination. The very next day, Mina was caught trying to sneak into the kitchen. You had a sneaking suspicion that your teachers were aware something was going on— something worse than your usual tomfoolery— and had alerted the other staff to keep an eye on you.
“It’s not fair,” Mina whined later, back in the common area of the dorms. “I should still be in the game for at least trying.”
“You wanna talk about fair? How about my stolen win,” Hanta griped, clenching a fist to his chest. “I could be trying out a bunch of new diners at everyone else’s expense by now, but instead, I’ve got detention from Mr. Aizawa. Detention. I never get detention.”
“So he didn’t buy that you’d accidentally activated your quirk?” Mashirao asked, plopping down on the couch beside him. “Figures.”
“You’re just mad that you lost,” Denki said gleefully, drawing your attention as he entered the room. Admittedly, you had fully expected him to make a fool of himself by this point, but he was still going strong, even with all of your hardest dares aimed at him. He gave you a little grin, like he knew what you were thinking, and then headed over. “By the way, Y/N, check this out.”
“Hm?” You took his phone when he held it out to you and furrowed your brow in confusion as you scrolled down a little. “This is…?”
“The website for a new café I’ve been wanting to try. They have a couple things you’d probably like, so I will kindly cash out my prize from you there. That way, you’ll get to try it too. Aren’t I just amazing?”
You laughed as you clicked through the menu. It did look good.
“You are,” you said sweetly. “It’s so thoughtful of you to be searching out places to take me for my victory lunch.”
“Ha! Bold words from the person who’s been choosing truth more and more lately.”
Your friends, watching from the couch, wondered what was going on between the two of you. Over the past week, they’d been seeing less of Kaminari stupidly agreeing with you and more of the mutual banter that you two had typically reserved for each other. But then, most supposed it was just the heat of the competition forging this new dynamic.
Mina’s dark eyes lingered a little longer than the rest, her own dismay at having been eliminated quickly replaced by her excitement at this new discovery.
The pressure had increased tenfold the next day. The questions had gotten all the more prying and the dares even more humiliating as you, Toru, and Denki tried desperately to get each other out.
Mina, although technically out, was still very much into the game, closely monitoring all developments. She caught you after classes let out.
“Y/N!” She practically skipped up to you. “You know, it’s been a week, I think it’s time to finally end this.”
“Yeah, seriously, I’d like to get my prize already,” you joked.
“Not only that, but then this weird tension between you and Kaminari will finally ease up, right?” She looked at you with big, sparkling eyes, an innocent smile on her face.
You laughed, a little uneasy, but you hoped she hadn’t picked up on that. “What tension? Is there tension? I guess we’d better finish the game then, huh?” You averted your eyes, and, no longer under scrutiny, Mina’s lips drew back in a devilish smile.
“Yeah! That’s why we should have the finale in the common room tonight. All of the original players will be there to witness the crowning of our grand winner. I’ll bring snacks, so see you then!”
By the time you turned to look at her again, she was already skipping off, likely to find the other remaining players. You pressed the back of your hand to your cheek. It was definitely a little warm. Or was that your paranoia? Had Mina noticed? And what had she meant about the tension between you and Denki?
You shook your head. Of course there was tension, you were literally competing. You mentally chided yourself, heading for 1-A’s dormitory to drop off your bag so you could go for a walk and clear your head. Unfortunately, the whole five minute walk there, you were running Mina’s words over in your head.
If you were being honest, your banter with Kaminari preceded this game. And then, there was that weird moment in the elevator, when he’d run for it. What had you said? Oh…
“Maybe I should focus my efforts on you a little more.”
Oh. Well, it was a little weird taken out of context, but— but what were you doing, justifying yourself to yourself anyway?
You stopped walking for a moment and shook your head again, harder than before, as if trying to shake the memory loose. You would not think about the elevator moment, and you would not think about leaning on Denki’s shoulder, and you would not think about how dull everything felt after he’d left or his big dumb grin or the way he always smiled encouragingly at even your stupidest ideas. You just wouldn’t think about it.
After a long walk and a quick shower, you were already feeling better. You were rewriting your math notes into your study notebook, which you kept much neater than your in-class notebook. You were the smartest idiot in your friend group, so jokes and pranks aside, you cared very deeply about your performance. You finished up the last of the notes and admired your handiwork as a text lit up your phone.
Mimi (People who Owe Me Lunch)
Let’s 👏🏼 get 👏🏼this 👏🏼done!!
The rest were waiting for you by the time you got down there. Other classmates filtered in and out of the room, but most wanted nothing to do with the thing that had earned two of your group detention.
Mina was whispering something in Denki’s ear when you made yourself comfortable on the couch. You leaned back and kicked your legs up onto the coffee table.
“Hey, no fair! Don’t give him any ideas,” you said. You hoped Mina hadn’t thought of your grand finale and shared it with someone else.
“Don’t worry,” Denki said, a devious expression on his face. “It’s not to be used against you.” His eyes traveled to where Toru was sitting.
“Me? Mina, why?” The girl cried, shifting her position. “Well, Kaminari, you’re not so bright— now I know I have to get you out before you have a turn!”
“Except, it’s not your turn. You made Y/N tell a truth, remember?” Mina sat back and cracked open a soda, looking incredibly pleased with herself.
Toru gasped. You had answered her so quickly earlier that she forgot she’d even used her turn.
“It’s time to spill some secrets, Toru,” Denki said, flashing you what was supposed to be a smooth smile. You rolled your eyes. He just gave himself away right after getting a second chance. Now Toru knew to pick—
“Dare! I pick dare,” Toru said without further prompting.
“Perfect.” Now Denki’s eyes left yours to meet Mina’s before trailing to where Toru was. “I dare you to kiss the person you like.”
“What? N-no way— I mean— I don’t like anyone!! Or, not anyone in our class!” Toru squeaked, giving herself away more and more with each word. Her bracelets were shaking as she waved her arms in front of her wildly.
“That’s funny, I have a pretty reliable source telling me otherwise,” Denki said. “Alternatively, if what you say is true, you can just kiss the most attractive person in the class.”
Toru was silent for a moment, and then she sighed. “No. No, I cannot do that. I… I’m out.” You almost felt bad hearing how dejected she was. A moment later, a pillow whizzed past your head and hit Mina square in the face. “I cannot believe you, Mina!”
“Sorry,” Mina shrugged, rubbing her cheek where the pillow had smacked her before tossing it back playfully. You heard a huff from Toru as she leaned back and crossed her arms. “Now then, since Toru forfeited—”
“It’s my turn,” you said, bringing your feet off the table and leaning forward eagerly. “Kaminari, truth—?”
“No!” Mina cried, interrupting you. “Since Toru forfeited without trying the dare first, it transfers to the next person. That’s you!”
You froze. The dare transferred…?
If that was the case, there was no way out of it. Even if you said you didn’t like anyone, you would have to reveal who you found most attractive. Even if you picked someone else, someone who wasn’t him, you would be subject to your classmates’ teasing over a crush you didn’t have.
It was times like these that you remembered U.A. was still just a high school. And you were still just a teenager, who, despite occasionally battling it out with villains, still had to battle things out with your feelings, too. How utterly lame.
Your eyes trailed to Denki. He was looking away, his brow furrowed a bit. It seemed he had not anticipated the transfer of the dare. “I mean,” he was muttering quietly, “Does Y/N have to do it? The dare was for Hagakure…”
“Yes,” Mina said emphatically. She was on the edge of her seat. You realized, then, seeing an almost sadistic gleam in her eyes, that this entire thing had been orchestrated by her. That clever little alien.
“Alright.” Denki looked at you with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. It was like he didn’t want to see you do it, like he didn’t want to know who you’d pick. “Do it. I dare you.”
Something snapped in you then, and suddenly, without caring that your friends were watching, or giving yourself time to anticipate his reaction, you stood up. If there was even a chance that you were reading his reactions right, that you hadn’t been projecting your own feelings by means of overthinking and over-analyzing him, then you knew what you had to do.
You closed the space between you two in just a few steps. His eyes widened when you grabbed his face in both hands, but they gradually closed as you leaned down until your lips met.
You swore you felt a tingling on your lips like a little current of electricity, and you wondered if it was his quirk firing off or if this was just what it felt like to kiss the person you really liked. You heard your friends cheer— Mina loudest of all— and you would have pulled back then, only having meant to give him a quick peck anyway, but he put his hands on either side of your head at that moment, pulling you deeper before sliding his hands just a little further to play with your hair. His lips were soft, though even after that initial shock, seemed to carry a certain energy within them as they moved against yours softly.
By the time you finally parted, your face was completely flushed. You were breathing heavily, and there was a ringing in your ears, but the room was completely silent aside from that. His golden eyes were shining, and you were pretty sure underneath all the excitement, there was a hint of relief, too. Your chest squeezed. So the feelings had been mutual, then…
“Denki…” You said softly, your hands still cupping his cheeks. His face, which was just returning to its normal hue, flushed a deep pink again at the sound of his name spoken so informally, so intimately, in your voice.
“Yes?” He brought his hands over yours, looking at you with gentle eyes.
“I feel like a voyeur,” you heard Mashirao mutter before being hushed by three voices.
“Truth or dare?” you asked.
Denki’s eyes widened, a little thrown off by the question, before he chuckled, curious to see where you were headed. “Dare.”
You dipped forward again, and he closed his eyes in anticipation once more— but he was a little too early. You leaned your forehead against his. “I dare you to forfeit the game.”
His eyes snapped open, meeting your devious ones. His hands dropped to his sides, and you pulled back, unable to stop the laughter that was bubbling in your chest.
“W-what? You can’t do that!” he cried, looking first at you in disbelief and then at the rest of the group. “Is that allowed?”
Even Mashirao was excited by the turn of events, and he turned to Mina, who had apparently put herself in charge of determining the gray areas of the rules.
“If you refuse the dare, you lose, and if you accept the dare, you’ve still forfeited the game. It’s pretty genius, and we technically never banned that, despite going out of our way to ban daring people to tell the truth…” Mina was muttering to herself in a very Midoriya-esque fashion. She finally looked up at the two of you. “It’s totally allowed! Y/N, you won!”
“Yes!” You pumped your fist. “I’ve been sitting on that dare for days! About time I got to use it!”
Your friends congratulated you, impressed by your strategy and even more so by your bold move earlier. They were saying their goodbyes and leaving, one by one, until it was just you and Denki left.
“So…” he said, leaning back on the couch and staring up at the ceiling with cloudy eyes. He looked spent, the way he did when he went over his wattage.
“So?”
“So now what…?” He brought his gaze down to meet yours.
“Now…” You slowly placed a hand over his, tentative now that the adrenaline from earlier had died down. His hand stiffened under your touch, but before you could withdraw, he had turned it over and was slipping his fingers between yours. “We pick a day to visit that café you showed me? I believe you owe me a lunch.”
“Okay,” he said, his eyes dropping to where your fingers were now intertwined. He smiled a little. “Okay, yeah, that sounds good.”