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Kaminari Denki is really looking forward to living on his own for the first time.
His best friend was moving in with his boyfriend, and Denki knew it was time. Mostly because Kirishima told him that Bakugo was about to (metaphorically) blow up his room if he didn’t move out (literally) the next day. So he packed his bags, said his goodbyes, and left.
The apartment is small and not very nice, but it fits his budget and the few things he owns very nicely (when Kirishima comes over for the first time, he tells Denki that it’s basically the size of a dorm room. “Joke’s on you, Kiri – I didn’t go to college.”). Being a freelance electric bassist doesn’t pay very much (or anything, really), but it pays enough for him to afford one small room with a tiny kitchen and a bathroom whose door doesn’t totally close. It’s perfect.
The one problem Denki has with this almost-perfect apartment (other than the leaky toilet and the one burner on the stove that won’t start and the fact that you have to kick the refrigerator to get it to work 90% of the time) is that the walls are paper thin. And it’s really hard to sleep when your neighbor never fucking stops playing the drums. Luckily, most nights he’s out on auditions, so he doesn’t really have to deal with it. But more often than not, when he’s trying to sleep, he can hear the person next door playing their drums, or their guitar, or their whatever the fuck, and he has to slam on the wall to get them to shut up. He’s oftentimes met with a “fuck you!” – but he’s oftentimes asleep before he has a chance to respond. And it isn’t like he’s well renowned for his wit or anything, so it’s better that way.
And it is in this small apartment that he gets a call from Ashido Mina as he’s walking out the door. “What’s up, Mina?” he says as he slings the bass case over his arm. “I got a call from a band – okay, fine, I called them nine times before they got back to me – but they want me to audition!”
“Denki! You can’t leave your house!” Mina sounds frantic.
“It’s an apartment, Mina,” he says pointedly as he pulls the door forcefully and tries to lock it. He pulls it towards him, then pushes it back again. He’s pleased when he gets it to lock on the third attempt. That’s two less than yesterday.
“Shut up, Denks, you know what I mean. I’m serious.” Her tone almost worries him, because she never calls him about anything serious (except the time that she ended up in the hospital after playing with acidic chemicals that Yaoyorozu had specifically asked – no, begged – her not to touch).
“What’s wrong? Is there, like, a super villain on the loose or something?” He laughs at his own joke. “C’mon now, that would be stupid.”
“No! There’s some…virus…I don’t know! But they’re recommending we all stay inside. Social distancing or some shit.” He can hear her pacing across her own apartment. “Please, just…reschedule. Or send them a video. Something.”
“Mina, I’ll be fine. I’m nowhere near anybody else.” As if to prove his point, some jackass runs right into him. “Okay, I’m not nowhere near anybody, but I’ll be careful.” He can hear her groan. “I promise. I have to go get on the subway.”
“DENKI-”
“I love you, Mina, bye!” He hangs up as the subway begins moving. He whistles a soft tune as the train rolls away from his station.
---
As is often the case, Mina had been completely correct. As it turns out, the whole government was recommending (fine, requiring) that people stay inside, and now he is stuck in this stupid, annoying, gross little apartment with the loud person next door. And he hadn’t even gotten the gig, which he has decided is because of this stupid virus and not because he was “too enthusiastic and almost fell off the stage.”
There’s nothing to eat in his apartment because he’s eaten all of the snacks he bought yesterday (this morning, but whatever) and he was not in the mood to cook (which held true most days, but whatever). That’s how Denki finds himself sitting against the wall, holding an acoustic guitar that he hasn’t played in a very long time. “Acoustic anything is for cowards who aren’t ready to play electric-” he had said to Kirishima over the phone as he impulsively clicked the “add to cart” button, “-but I might as well see what all the fuss is about.”
“This thing is stupid,” he mutters as he tunes it. Even if it sounds kind of cool when he strums the first chord. Even if he feels kind of like Paul McCartney going solo as he picks at the strings lazily. He bobs his head slowly, getting more and more into it with every note.
His eyes are closed and he’s leaning back against a poster-covered wall as his playing gets louder and louder. Alright, this thing is pretty cool.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP.” He hears an old man shout from the apartment next door, slamming on the wall. “BETWEEN YOU AND EARPHONE JACKS OVER THERE I NEVER GET ANY PEACE AND QUIET!” Denki slams his own hand against the wall in retaliation, but says nothing. He puts the guitar down on the floor next to him and stands from where he was sitting. He moves to his bed and lies down with a sigh. Another nap, it seems, is in his future.
---
The fact that he naps so frequently that day has no correlation with the fact that he does not sleep at all that night. For what it’s worth, he really does try. But he can’t stop tossing and turning, and the person next door is playing that fucking music again. He props himself up on his elbows and is about to slam his hand against the wall when he hears it. A girl’s voice.
A girl?
Well, that changes things.
Denki shakes his head. No it doesn’t! She’s still being annoying, and even if he can’t sleep, that doesn’t mean he wants to hear her play the-
Wait, is that an acoustic guitar? He looks across the room at his own collection. I have one of those too! He gets excited, pressing his ear to the wall. She sounds like she’s probably pretty. She has a nice voice, at any rate. Her guitar work is good, too – maybe even better than his. He slumps against the wall and keeps listening, closing his eyes. Her voice is soothing, calming. It’s a pretty song, even if he has no idea what it is. It’s in English, he thinks, and he’s never been very good at English. Maybe Spanish?
“You are my sunshine…my only sunshine…”
No, that’s English.
“You make me happy…when skies are grey…”
He closes his eyes and lets her voice soothe him into a soft, warm sleep.
---
Denki wakes up at 12:30 pm and runs a hand over his face. He gets up and sleepily makes himself some tea, all the while thinking about that girl. Has he seen her around before? He finds himself sitting cross-legged on his bed again, a tea mug in his hands and his head against the wall. He snuggles into his oversized Pikachu sweatshirt and sits there for a long while before realizing she’s not going to start playing anything until some ungodly hour of the morning. He’s surprised to feel a little saddened by this. He shrugs and turns on his speakers, letting his music drown out the yelling of his angry neighbor. He sits on his bed, scrolling aimlessly through Tumblr, looking for more memes to send to Mina, when he hears a quiet voice next door. It takes him a moment too long to realize she’s singing along to the music he’s playing.
She’s probably hot as hell. Anybody with a voice like that is hot as hell. Honestly, all women (and men and everybody else) are hot, but goddamn – this girl’s voice is angelic.
“Oh don’t you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me, I said ‘you’re holding back’, she said ‘shut up and dance with me!’”
His heart is keeping time to the music, a smile forming on his face as he stands on his bed, bouncing a little. “This woman is my destiny, she said, ‘ooh, shut up and dance with me!’”
The two continue singing back and forth, and Denki can’t stop smiling. When the song ends, he desperately wants to say something, anything to the girl on the other side of the wall. He opens his mouth, but all that comes out is a dry squeak. He sighs and sits down.
The phone rings. It’s Mina. “Mina!” He whispers excitedly, stumbling off his bed (he has a tendency to wander around his apartment when he’s on the phone and a penchant for ending up in weird places; most recently – and most weirdly – was on top of the fridge).
“Hey, Denks. I miss you and your stupidity. What have you got for me today?”
“Nothing,” he says honestly. He grabs some chips out of the cabinet and a coke out of the fridge, then sits down at his table to keep himself from accidentally ending up out the window. Falling into the street would be bad social distancing. “There’s a girl on the other side of my apartment, though…”
“Ooooh, is she pretty?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t seen her. But we have really good chemistry.”
“…Denki, what the hell are you talking about?”
Denki leans back in his chair and grins to himself. “We listened to music together this morning. And last night I fell asleep listening to her play guitar and singing. It was beautiful-”
“Denki-”
“-I think she’s the love of my life-”
“Denki-”
“-Seriously, maybe we could start a band together-”
“DENKI!” He almost falls backwards in his chair at Mina’s high-pitched yell, but catches himself.
“WHAT?”
“Have you spoken to her?”
“Well, no, but-”
“Have you seen her face?”
“Well, no, but-”
“Denki, you do this all the time. Do you even know her name?”
“Yes!” He shouts indignantly, opening his drink. “It’s…uh…girl-in-the-next-door-apartment.”
Mina huffs. “I love you, you chaotic bitch, but you don’t love her.”
He huffs and slams his hands on the table. “I COUL- FUCK.”
“What? Are you okay? Do I have to break quarantine?” He can hear the scrape of her chair on the line as she stands up.
“I SPILLED SODA IN MY PRINGLES!”
She’s quiet for a moment while he pouts. Then:
“…You should try them.”
He doesn’t hesitate to pick up a soggy chip. “FUCK, MINA, THIS IS DISGUSTING-”
He hears a thump of her falling off her chair followed by hysterical laughter. “Denki, you didn’t-”
“YOU TOLD ME TO!”
She hasn’t stopped laughing and he can feel his cheeks burn with embarrassment. This, along with his confession of love for the mysterious girl next door, makes him feel like his last two brain cells have fallen out of his head.
“…I love you so much.”
---
Denki hangs up the phone and, after cleaning the table, lies down in bed. He puts his hands behind his head and sighs. Mina is right, he decides. He doesn’t love her, because honestly, he hasn’t got a clue who she is.
From the other side of the wall, he hears a quiet laugh.
Mina is wrong, he decides. You can totally fall in love with a girl in three minutes and nineteen seconds.
---
Denki has his electric guitar at the ready at 10:30 pm. This is when she seems to prefer to start practicing her music, anyway. He sits on his bed, his back pressed up against the wall, and starts playing a few notes.
“I’ve been trying to keep my grip, yeah I think I’m over this…”
She hasn’t responded yet.
“I can hear it now oh no, oh no…”
He can hear the rustling of someone getting up out of bed. These walls are so goddamn thin. He’s grateful for it for the first time.
“Yeah, my tongue, I’ll let it slip, why’d I do those things I did? I can taste it now oh no, oh no…”
As he hits the chorus, he can hear the quietest drum line he’s ever heard. And that voice. That beautiful voice, also quiet, too quiet, and he wants to beg her to sing louder.
“I’ll try my best, how much do I invest?”
“Like cardiac arrest, high voltage in her lips…”
They continue until the end of the song. And for the second time in a row, he tries so damn hard to say something to her, anything, just his name-
“SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU STUPID FUCKING MILENNIALS.”
Denki sighs.
Maybe another day.
---
This continues for two months. Denki only leaves his apartment to go get groceries, and although he tries to time it with when he thinks she may leave, they never seem to meet face-to-face. It’s depressing.
But they have this. They have their little dance parties through the wall during the day and play together during the night. He’s pretty sure his neighbor is going to come strangle him when the quarantine is over, but he really can’t bring himself to care as the girl blasts Mr. Brightside through the wall.
“…’CAUSE I’M MR. BRIGHTSIDE!” He scream-sings at the same time she does. He’s jumping up and down on the bed and laughs. This is more exercise than he thought he would get during quarantine – okay, it’s probably the most exercise he’s gotten ever, but that’s neither here nor there.
He jumps off his bed to get a glass of water, his socked feet almost giving out on the slick wooden floors. He drinks a whole glass in less than thirty seconds, pleased that he only choked on it twice. He sits down at his now very messy kitchen table to call Mina for the second time that day.
“So what color are we doing today?” She asks by way of greeting. “I’m doing bright pink.”
“Black.” He grins and picks up a bottle of nail polish. The two chat idly as they paint their nails, trying to pretend like this isn’t the weirdest fucking time in the world.
“So…how’s the girl?” Mina asks innocently.
“She’s…I don’t know, we don’t really talk. But she and I are still doing our thing, so I know she’s not dead. And she still sings, so I don’t think she’s sick.”
Mina sighs. “Are you ever gonna talk to her?”
He shrugs, admiring his messily done nails. “I don’t know, we’ve gone this long without talking, I think we’ll probably just keep it up until we both die.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“I know. You have custody of our shared brain cells today.” She laughs.
“Wait- Denki, go look at Facebook. Go look at the article I just shared.” He complies, putting her on speaker.
Prime Minister Announces Stay-At-Home Order Has Been Lifted!
People are still advised to use caution, but the Japanese Prime Minister has announced that the quarantine order will no longer be in affect starting-
Denki doesn’t bother finishing the rest of the article. “Mina, I’ve got to go.”
“Am I finally going to get to see you after like, two months? Because honestly, Denks, I’ve missed getting to see your stupidity in action in person-”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll come over later, but right now, I have to do something. Bye.” He hangs up quickly and pulls up his music app.
He should probably put something nicer on than the black THUNDER BOLT t-shirt he’s been wearing for two days and grey sweatpants that he doesn’t remember washing anytime recently and the socks that are more hole-than-sock at this point. He doesn’t care. He needs to do this before he decides it’s a stupid idea. Which, it probably is, but like he said – Mina has their shared brain cells today, and this is all he’s wanted to do for two months.
He clicks the play button.
“In the car I just can’t wait, to pick you up on our very first date!”
He knocks on the door.
“Is it cool if I hold your hand? Is it wrong if I think it’s lame to dance?”
He can see the knob rattling, then, “Shit.”
“Try pressing it out and then pulling it in again, that’s my trick,” he says helpfully.
“Let’s go, don’t wait, this night’s almost over-”
The door opens.
His smile is the biggest it’s ever been.
“Hi. I’m Denki.”