Work Text:
2k subscribers
He refreshed the page
2k subscribers
He could've sworn that when he went to sleep yesterday night, it had only been about 300... What the fuck happened?
_____
As it turned out, a video of him had ended it a gaming fails compilation that had not only gone viral, but also had been featured in a video made by one of the biggest gamers out there.
So now suddenly, without any kind of warning, Denki had 2k followers. One could argue that wasn't a lot, but to the teen it seemed like a hell of a lot. He was really glad he'd chosen the name Chargebolt and never showed his face in that moment, because he didn't need anyone knowing it was him.
He exited YouTube and looked at the time. Shit, it was already a lot later than he had thought. As quickly as possible he got dressed, not bothering with his tie, only slinking it around his neck. He shoved his phone in his back pocket, grabbed his bag, took the last sip of yesterday's energy drink and off he was.
He made it to the classroom just two minutes before the bell rang. Quietly he slid into his seat and did his tie.
"I don't understand how you nearly end up being late every day when you literally live on campus", Ashido said, while throwing him an energy bar. She started carrying those after the two weeks of Kaminari missing breakfast.
The blonde caught it with one hand and shoved it in his mouth while doing his tie as quickly as possible. "I just get distracted easily", his voice muffled through the food in his mouth, but Ashido seemed to get what he was saying.
"This wouldn't happen if you just got up like twenty minutes earlier", she replied, as if she didn't know full well that he had seven alarms set, each five minutes after the other, just so he could wake up thirty minutes before school started.
Instead of replying Kaminari just munched on his energy bar and pulled out his books. One day, he would make it to class early, he promised himself. Even if it was just once.
_____
Lunch break rolled around surprisingly fast. Kaminari was tasked with finding a table for them to sit at while the others got their food (or in Ashido and Jiro's case, touch up their makeup.)
Kaminari unlocked his phone and idly scrolled through social media. Eventually his fingers found their way to YouTube. He refreshed the page and a huge number stared at him.
5.3k subscribers
His jaw dropped and he stared at the number, refreshing again, just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. The number stayed the same. How? It had only been five hours.
"What's got you speechless?", asked a familiar deep voice from besides him. Kaminari's head wiped around so fast, he thought he was gonna break it. A tall figure with purple hair was looking down at him with an amused expression.
The blonde could feel a blush make it's way onto his face as he quickly turned off his phone. "Shinsou, what are you doing here?", he asked with a nervous laugh.
Shinsou sat down on the chair across from him and shrugged. "You invited me to lunch the other day, but as you might remember, I was busy. So I thought I'd just show up today", he explained.
Kaminari smiled at that, before he remembered. "Oh, the other's don't know you'll be here! They won't bring you any extra food", he said with a concerned expression. "I'll just text them real quick and ask them to bring more-"
"Relax, Kaminari. I got my own food", he said while holding up a small box. The blonde let out a small 'oh', before putting down his phone on the table again. "So, what did you look at just now that caused you to be speechless?", Shinsou asked.
Kaminari looked up, confused epression on his face, before realization hit him. "Oh", he said, clearing his throat. "It was... Uh... Nothing really. Just some stupid meme."
Shinsou didn't seem convinced, but didn't press on. He opened his lunch pack and started nibbling on an apple. A silence settled over them and Kaminari opened his phone again. It still was on YouTube. He bit his lip softly and thought for a second, before making a post.
Chargebolt posted:
5k??? I just checked my phone during lunch and saw this. Thank you all so much?? This was much more than I could've ever dreamt of, especially since this was only for fun. Please feel free to ask some things, I'll do a little Q&A later.
Before anyone could sneak up on him and ask what he was staring at, he shut off his phone and looked up at the purple haired beauty sitting in front of him. He had nearly finished eating his apple. Kaminari grabbed into his bag und rummaged around until his hand found what he was looking for. He pulled out a lollipop and held it out to Shinsou with a small smile.
The purple haired raised an eyebrow at him, and honestly that shouldn't be as hot as it was. Kaminari felt himself blush, the smile on his face faltering softly. "I don't know if you have a sweet tooth or not, but these lollipops are really good. They also have a lot of vitamins and caffeine in them, so I thought it would maybe help you. Not that I'm saying you look tired, well you kinda do, but that's not a bad thing-"
"Kaminari, shut up", Shinsou said, rolling his eyes fondly as he took the lollipop, their hands brushing together for a split second. Kaminari could feel his breath catch in his throat and he felt a tingle in his fingers. He wasn't sure if it was his quirk or something else entirely. "Thanks", said the purple haired.
Shinsou smiled softly and unwrapped the lollipop. He took it in his mouth. At first his face looked sceptical, but then his eyes widened and looked at his friend. "This actually tastes really good. Where did you get them?", he asked.
Kaminari's smile grew bigger. "They are from my hometown. There's this little store that makes them and they've made this kind specifically for me. I can ask my mom to send more the next time and I can give you some", he explained.
The purple haired smiled a bit more. "Thank you, that's very nice of you."
_____
The hero course in the afternoon seemed to take forever. Kaminari just wanted to get back to his dorm room and take the longest nap in the existence of humanity.
Eventually classes were over and Kaminari rushed back to his dorm. He threw his bag onto his desk before planting face first into his bed. After a few seconds of uncomfortably lying there he sat up to throw off his tie, shoes, belt and jacket. Lazily he plopped back down on his back and grabbed his phone.
The first thing to pop up when he unlocked it was his YouTube account.
12.7k subscribers
"Holy shit", he mumbled, eyes nearly falling out of his head. He sat up and rubbed his face. What was one supposed to do in a situation like this? Okay, fuck calm down.
The blonde got up and paced the room. He needed a plan, a strategy, something. Okay, first things first, he should do that Q&A he had promised. He opened his closet and started rummaging. There had to be something in here that could help him hide his identity, he didn't need anyone to tell his mother about this.
He found a huge black hoodie that had belonged to Bakugo at some point. Perfect. Now, something to hide his face with. In the depths of his closet he found a plain, black face mask. Humming softly, he pulled on his outfit and looked at himself in the mirror.
His hair stood out like fireworks in the night sky. He grabbed a few hair clips and pinned it back. Now that was perfect. You could only see his eyes and he looked... average.
The blonde sat back down on his bed and put his phone on the nightstand. The wall behind him was plain enough that no one would be able to figure out who he was from it. Nervously his fingers hovered over the live stream button.
Taking a deep breath he pressed the button. It only took a few seconds for the first person to join. After only a minute, 78 people had already joined.
Kaminari smiled nervously, but realized no one could actually see his smile. "Uh, hey, Chargebolt here! My account blew up basically overnight, so decided I should do a little Q&A. Before I start answering questions, I just wanna say that I won't answer anything that could reveal my identity."
He waited a bit longer for more people and questions to come in. When the number reached 2k viewers, which ,holy shit, was a lot, he started answering questions.
"So I won't say my real name, but you can call me Chargebolt or K. I am 16 years old and go to high school. Uhh, I'm a boy, if you couldn't tell. I enjoy video games and memes", he said as a basic introduction.
The questions started coming in quickly.
"Why did you start this channel?"
"I just started this channel for fun! I grew up with video games and once I moved out I decided it would be fun to share same gaming videos. I honestly would've never thought people would find me failing hilarious enough to follow me, but here we are."
"What's your favorite Pokemon?"
"What's your quirk?"
"I won't talk about my quirk. It's not stupidly rare or anything, but you could still be able to find me through it, so", the blonde mimicked zipping his mouth. "As to my favorite Pokemon, I love Pikachu! I have a plushie of him, a charger, a phone case and a few shirts." He grabbed his Pikachu plushie from the other end of the bed and hugged it tightly.
"What's your sexuality?"
"Are you single?"
Kaminari laughed softly at that. "I am very much single. That doesn't mean I'm not a huge flirt though. I'll flirt with every attractive person in a two meter radius. I think if I had to put a label on it, I would say that I'm bisexual."
The live stream went on for another thirty minutes, before he decided to end it. He shared it to his YouTube and turned off his phone for the day. Lazily he put on more comfortable pants and started doing his homework.
_____
Dinner rolled around in the blink of an eye and Kaminari made his way towards the kitchen. A delicious smell met him halfway and he really hoped whoever was cooking had made enough to spare him something.
Luck didn't appear to be on his side, it was Bakugo behind the stove. It was a well known fact how tasty Bakugo's food was, but he never shared with anyone besides Kirishima. Totally unfair in Kaminari's opinion.
"Bakubro, please tell me you're willing to share some of that deliciously smelling food", he said as he entered the kitchen.
The angry blonde looked at him, his eyes flickering up and down. "Is that my hoodie?", he asked with an annoyed undertone as his eyes concentrated back on the frying pan full of meat in front of him.
Kaminari looked down at himself before looking at his friend with a shy smile. "...maybe?", he mumbled and tugged the sleeves down.
"Where did you even get it from?", asked Bakugo, looking more curious than angry as he put his food on two plates. He shoved one of them towards his friend.
"Thank you!", said the smaller boy, his eyes practically sparkling as he grabbed a fork and took the plate. He took a bite, savoring the flavor, before he responded to the original question. "Kirishima lent it to me one evening when I was cold and never wanted it back."
Bakugo rolled his eyes at that while eating his own food. "No wonder he keeps stealing more and more of my clothes. He just gives them out to random ass people. It's like none of you own clothing."
Kaminari just shrugged and happily continued eating.
_____
If felt like he awoke just a second after closing his eyes. His alarm was like nails against a chalkboard, penetrating his ears. Groaning loudly he reached out blindly and turned off his phone. Cracking an eye open, he looked at the screen, it was only his third alarm.
He yawned softly and stretched his arms above his head. He started his day by checking his social media accounts. Should he make other social media accounts for Chargebolt as well? An Instagram account? A Twitter account?
That brought him back on topic of the YouTube account. He swallowed heavily before tapping on the app. He went on his profile and checked the subscriber count.
34.8k subscribers
He nearly choked on his spit and coughed into the crook of his elbow. Holy fuck. Was he semi famous now? What was going on? What was he supposed to do in a situation like this.
It would be best if he ignored it for a little while longer. He was awake earlier than usual, he should use the extra time to actually eat breakfast this morning. Maybe he should pack some more lollipops for Shinsou.
_____
When he was dressed and had packed everything, he walked into the kitchen and made himself some cereal. The only other person still in the dorms this close to school start was Jiro. She looked up from her smartphone and raised an eyebrow at him. "You actually got up on time for once", she remarked.
Kaminari puffed out his chest a bit, feeling proud of himself. He ate his cereal in silence, before a thought crossed his mind. "Hey, Jiro? Can I ask you something", he asked nervously.
The girl looked up at him, frowning softly at his uncertainty. "Go ahead."
The blonde took a few seconds to collect his thoughts. "Okay, let's say hypothetically speaking, someone I know became somewhat internet famous. Like 35k internet famous. What should they do in this kind of situation?", he mumbled awkwardly.
Jiro frowned even more. "That's an... odd question. I guess it kind of depends. They probably should take every kind of public information down and I don't know, just do what they've been doing? It must be working since they have all those followers", she said after some consideration.
Kaminari nodded softly. He had already done all of those things. "That's some good advice, thank you", he said while getting up. He out his bowel in the sink and started walking out of the door. "See you in class", he yelled over his shoulder.
_____
During lunch break he was tasked with finding a table again. He spotted Shinsou sitting alone at the far back and walked over to him with a small smile. "Mind if I sit here?", he asked as he came to a halt.
The purple haired boy looked up from his phone and pulled out his earphones. "Sure", he replied with a small smile of his own. He turned off his phone.
"What were you looking at just now?", Kaminari asked while getting out his water bottle.
Shinsou blushed softly and glanced at his phone. "I found this new YouTuber. He's a gamer and like, insanely pretty", he mumbled.
Kaminari could feel his heart skip a beat. He didn't know if it was because he just found out his crush found a guy attractive or because he just found out his crush liked a guy that wasn't him.. Now wasn't the time to dwell on it. "What's his name?", he asked instead, before taking a sip of his water.
"Chargebolt."
Kaminari would deny choking if you asked him about it afterwards, but that's exactly what he did. He nearly spat out the water he'd been drinking, coughing heavily into the crook of his elbow. His eyes watered and his face burned with embarrassment. Way to go, Kaminari, way to go.
Shinsou patted his back softly and handed him a tissue. "You okay?", he asked, looking mildly concerned.
The blonde sneezed into the tissue a few times before nodding. "Yeah, sorry, just choked on water", he grumbled, the coughing slowly becoming less and his face started cooling again. "What did you say the account was called?", he needed to hear it again.
Shinsou smiled at him. "Chargebolt. You probably don't know him, he only has 40k subscribers. I don't actually know what he looks like, since he never showed his face so far and in his live stream he was wearing a face mask, but his eyes are probably the second most beautiful eyes I've ever seen", he said all this with such fondness.
Kaminari could feel color pooling in his cheeks and he looked away with a soft smile. He just couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Who has the prettiest eyes you've ever seen? If he's only number two", he asked, only one of the million questions filling his head at that moment.
"Ah, that's kind of private", replied the taller boy with a wry smile. He actually looked nervous and embarrassed. Shinsou Hitoshi, Mr. too cool for everything, looked nervous.
"I never would've thought you're into gaming. We should play together sometime", Kaminari said with a soft smile.
Shinsou waved his hands in front of him. "I don't play at all. I just think Chargebolt is really funny and pretty. That's why I subscribed to him in the first place."
Kaminari couldn't help the smile on his face that lasted until his friends arrived with their food.
_____
He doesn't check on the account for a few days afterwards. He's busy with homework as well as exercising more. Exams start in less then a month and he was determined not to fail again.
It seemed like forever, but eventually it was Friday evening again. Kaminari threw himself on his bed and opened YouTube, clicking on his profile. It had already become some kind of routine.
67k subscribers
He should bake a cake tomorrow to celebrate when he reaches 69k, he decides with a snort. Okay, he would actually assist whoever was helping him bake said cake, but his point still stands.
With a sigh he got up from bed and made his way over to his laptop. He sat up the twitch live stream and considered to do what to do with his face for a moment. In the end he decided to wear Bakugo's huge hoodie and the face mask again. The lightning bolt in his hair was hidden by a beanie.
He loaded the game he was planing on playing that evening, Assassin's Creed. He got comfortable in his chair, put on his headset and started the live stream. A few butterflies fluttered in his stomach when he remembered the possibility that Shinsou was watching him at this very moment.
_____
It took a lot of convincing to get Koda to help him with the cake (read as: make the cake while Kaminari kept eating the ingredients) and in the end, the cake was a masterpiece. It was just a plain vanilla cake with frosting, but Kaminari had written 69 on top of it in rainbow frosting.
As soon as he hit 69k he posted a video of himself eating the cake, face obscured by shadows.
The whole thing still felt surreal to him. Those were so many people. He didn't even know 100 people, much less nearly 70 thousands. He was pretty sure there were countries with less people living in them.
He did another live stream that evening, getting his ass absolutely beaten at Overwatch.
_____
Over the next couple of months a sort of routine developed. He'd go live every Friday evening, edit the video on Sunday and upload it to YouTube on Monday. It was a lot more work than he had expected and it did rob him a good couple of hours of sleep.
The only time he ever took a break was when exams rolled around. He wanted to focus all his energy on passing, which he managed to do in the end. The results weren't great, bud he passed his exams, even math, and that was all that counted.
While his account was steadily growing, reaching a 100k in less then four months, his feelings for Shinsou also continued growing.
They started eating lunch together every day and studied together once or twice a week, depending on how much homework they had. His crush got so bad, that he couldn't sleep for two days because his mind was just filled with images of the purple haired smiling.
And while Kaminari was trying his best to hide his massive crush, Shinsou's aesthetic attraction towards Chargebolt had taken whole new dimensions. What he was feeling was bordering on a crush, which honestly was ridiculous in his opinion. He had never even seen the dude's whole face and he most certainly had never talked to him.
He spent a good deal of his free time complaining to anyone who was willing to listen, which was more often than not Kaminari. The blonde always seemed happy to hear about the YouTuber. Maybe he liked energetic people like himself? Chargebolt surely was energetic.
Kaminari liked listening to Shinsou speak about him, but he felt immensely guilty afterwards. He had long passed the point where it wouldn't be weird to tell his friend that he was Chargebolt. After nearly four months of Shinsou talking about him to him, it was way past absolutely mortifying.
It was weird in a way. He knew that Shinsou had a crush on Chargebolt, even if the purple haired denied it, but it felt wrong to use that information against him. He could always tell the other that he was in fact Chargebolt, but he wanted Shinsou to like him for himself, not some internet persona.
All in all, it was a hopeless case of two pining idiots who didn't realize the other was deeply and utterly in love with them.
_____
Shinsou yawned softly, covering his mouth in the progress. It was a late friday afternoon and he had been studying with Kaminari again.
"You can take a nap if you wanna. Actually, you could also sleep over if you're too lazy to go back to your dorm", Kaminari said offhandedly while scrolling through social media.
The purple haired blinked a few times before a smile spread over his face. "I think I'll take you up on that offer. I am really exhausted", he said while he shifted on the bed until his head was on the pillow, only a few centimeters away from Kaminari's face.
The blonde looked up from his phone in surprise, their eyes locking for a second, before Kaminari broke it again and looked back down at his phone. Was he writing with someone?
"Go to sleep, Shin. I can practically hear your brain working", said the blonde, amusement twinkling in his eyes as he looked over at his friend.
Shinsou shoved his shoulder lightly. "Shut up. At least my tongue doesn't dart out of my mouth every time I try to concentrate on anything whatsoever", he replied, trying to imitate the way Kaminari would always stick out his tongue.
The blonde's eyes flickered down to his lip and the smile that was basically a permanent part of his face fell ever so slightly as his eyes became unfocused and his cheeks tinged red.
"Hey, you okay?", the purple haired asked, his eyebrows etched together in concern as he looked at the weird expression on his friend's face.
"I really want to kiss you right now", Kaminari blurted out, which, judging by the look on his face, hadn't been what he had planned to say.
Shinsou felt himself blush a little as his eyes flickered down to the blonde's lips, which looked incredibly soft and smooth. He had long ago given up denying the physical attraction he felt for his friend, but the romantic attraction had been a more recent development.
The purple haired swallowed heavily, licking his suddenly dry lips. "Maybe I want to kiss you too", he replied, his heart rate picking up.
Kaminari's breath caught in his throat as he carefully reached out. His small hand carefully cupped Shinsou's jaw. He had no idea who moved forward first, but suddenly their lips were pressed together in a soft kiss.
Shinsou tasted like coffee and chocolate. It was just so incredibly Shinsou and familiar, but it still sent a shock down Kaminari's spine. His hand was stroking soft skin, while his other hand found it's way into surprisingly soft, purple curls.
Kaminari tasted like lollipops and energy drinks. It was so typical Kaminari. The blonde's lips were literally sending waves of electricity through his body. It was a bit weird, but not unpleasant at all. If Shinsou wasn't careful, he would get addicted to this. He wrapped his arms around Kaminari's waist, pulling their bodies closer until they laid flushed against each other.
The kiss came to an end before it became anything other than a soft, perfect first kiss. The boys looked at each other's eyes as they tried to even out their breathing.
"I have something to tell you", Kaminari said suddenly, looking away nervously.
"Knock yourself out", murmured Shinsou, residue energy still making his body tingle pleasantly.
"I'm Chargebolt", Kaminari said without hesitation. "In the beginning I didn't tell you because I didn't want anyone to know who I was, but then you started talking about how hot you thought he was and I was just too embarrassed to tell you the truth. I'm so sorry, I understand if you don't wanna see me again and-"
Shinsou cut of his ramblings with a quick peck on the lips. A small smile found it's way onto his face. "I've known that you're Chargebolt for a while now", he said.
The blonde stared at him like he had grown a second head. Shinsou was afraid that his eyes would fall out if he opened them a bit more. "You knew?", he asked eventually, sounding flabbergasted to say the least.
Shinsou snorted softly. "Well, at some point I noticed how similar you two look to each other and then eventually it all clicked. Honestly, what kind of friend would I be if I hadn't noticed?"
"Wait... so all this time you've been telling me how attractive you found him, you were flirting with me?", the blonde asked.
"Well, not exactly. I never was 100% sure, because you never mentioned anything about it to me, but I was hoping it was you", Shinsou said with a soft smile.
A silence settled over them. "So you like me. Like, like me? And not just because I am Chargebolt?", the blond eventually asked.
"God, you make it sound so complicated. Yes, I like you and not because you're Chargebolt. You always came before Chargebolt", replied the purple haired with a fond eye roll.
"Can I kiss you again?", Kaminari asked, eyes sliding back down to his lips.
"You don't even have to ask", Shinsou said before connecting their lips in a kiss again.
It was different from the first one. Both of them weren't as shy anymore, more sure of what the other felt and wanted. They both tilted their heads until their lips slotted together perfectly.
Kaminari carefully slid his tongue against the other's bottom lip. Shinsou hummed softly opening his mouth as an invitation. Their to tongues slid together. Every now and then a little electric shock passed between them, making Shinsou shiver pleasantly each time.
They pulled apart, heavily breathing as their breaths mingled together in front of them. Kaminari closed his eyes and snuggled into the crook of his boyfriend's (?) neck.
"Are we dating now?", he asked softly.
Shinsou wrapped his slender arms around Kaminari more tightly and closed his eyes with a content sigh. "If that's what you want", he replied.
"Do you want that?", the blonde asked.
"Yes. I would very much like to be your boyfriend."
"I would like that a lot too."
The couple snuggled closer together and relaxed. Just before sleep was about to wash over them, Shinsou spoke up. "Hey, Kami?" He got a little hum as a response. "You're the one who has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen."
_____
Chargebolt posted:
Sorry there was no live stream yesterday. I was busy getting myself a boyfriend. I'll make up for it with a live stream tonight.