Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Aizawa can pinpoint the exact moment he figured out who the UA traitor was.

He just wonders if it was for better or worse that he didn’t find out till later. Till after he began to care for the boy, watched him grow and learn, and till after he watched his son fall in love with the traitor. 

Denki Kaminari was an amazing actor. Aizawa couldn’t deny that. He had been an underground hero for years and hadn’t suspected a thing. He wants to say he had a suspicion since the beginning, that he always knew there was something wrong with the boy. But he hadn’t, and he didn’t.

Denki Kaminari hid everything behind a perfectly crafted smile. No one ever saw anything he didn’t want them to see.

Looking back, there were always hints. That there was more than what was going on behind the surface. Signs that Aizawa didn’t see.

In the beginning, the blonde had this hyperactivity, while Aizawa hadn’t noticed right away, Hizashi had. Hizashi had looked into the boy’s previous files, and various teachers had made a note of it, but there had apparently never been a parental meeting about it. A few tests later, and the boy had been diagnosed with ADHD.

So Aizawa said, put him on medication, and that was supposed to be the end of the conversation.

Except it wasn’t because the medication for the ADHD conflicted with the quirk suppressors that Aizawa hadn’t even known his student was on. So, Aizawa was thrown in a long meeting with Nezu, Hizashi, Recovery Girl, a psychiatrist, and his blonde student. A blonde student who everyone could see was trying his hardest to pay attention, but the clicking part of the pen made such a lovely noise that was obviously too tempting.

Then the boy was on the new medications. Aizawa saw the difference, the boy didn’t space off as much, and while his grades stayed around the same, there seemed to be an improvement in focus. Aizawa decided that must be the end of the conversation. That if his student needed something, he would come to him.

He was wrong; the child didn’t come to him.

Aizawa can pinpoint the exact moment he saw the boys mask slip. The carefully crafted smiling porcelain mask that he wore every day. It had been right after Bakugou’s kidnapping, he and All Might had been going home to home talking to parents. After they separated, he had to travel to the Kaminari’s. It had been a perfect small family home. With lots of windows and wooden exterior. Two little blonde girls with a striking resemblance to his student had played in the yard, supervised by a dark-haired young man who had introduced himself as Akio and hesitantly asked what he needed. His eyes had widened, seeing them, but once he had explained that he was Denki’s teacher, he seemed to relax.

At the time, he had dismissed it as suspicion of a stranger.

Soon, he was sat on a couch with the two adults of the house. Rikona Kaminari was where his student had obviously gotten his looks. His mother had the same slim figure and wavy blonde hair. With a kind smile and graceful appearance, Aizawa felt almost at ease in the unfamiliar home.

Taishiro Kaminari, on the other hand, had given Kaminari his eyes. However, not a pair of eyes that Aizawa had seen yet. The man’s eyes were cold like the gold metal they were the color of. He resembled what must have been Denki’s older brother outside, with a tall, sturdy frame and dark hair that had provided his students signature hairstreak.

Aizawa had been talking to parents all day and found himself mostly at ease with the repetition. After all, despite the concern from most parents, all of them had agreed in the end. He found himself quickly answering the questions the parents had asked. Would they still see their child? What if there was a family emergency? Would it be Aizawa specifically looking after then? And so on.

In fact, Aizawa accidentally almost dropped his guard until, in the corner of his eyes, he saw a yellow flash, and his eyes flew to the spot that held the opening of the living room. If his eyes hadn’t moved when they did, he’s sure he would have missed the look of pure terror that was on his students face the way his parents had. But he didn’t, and he watched as the boy physically shifted into what appeared to be a nervous stance.

“Whatever it is you think I did, I didn’t do it,” Denki had laughed apprehensively, and it had felt so real. It had felt real when his mother held out a gentle hand pulling him to sit with her, and his father teased him for his grades in front of his teacher before assuring him, he wasn’t in trouble. It felt so real when Denki had greeted him, trying to adjust his rumpled clearly slept in clothes. And it felt real when his mother had sent him away to make tea, and the woman in front of him told him all about how her baby had been so worried about his friend that he had barely slept.

And yet, Aizawa couldn’t shake the look of fear away.

He had been a pro hero for a long time. His instincts had saved his life on more than one occasion. He wasn’t about to start ignoring them.

It felt real.

But there was something wrong here.

So, when he left with the Kaminari’s permission and signatures, he had begun really looking. He started waiting for the mask to drop, watching for any signs he could document, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He wondered if it was a case of neglect or abuse. Aizawa couldn’t make accusations without evidence, and he worried Denki might pull away if he spoke to him to quickly as well.

So, Aizawa waited.

He had been brushing Eri’s hair as she brushed her dolls hair when his son shuffled up to him, clearly embarrassed, and asked him about how he got together with papa.

Hitoshi was a smart boy, however, like himself, wasn’t the most emotionally inclined. Aizawa knew he was embarrassed by the question, and yet he knew exactly why his child was asking. After all, he’d been keeping a closer eye on the blonde and had watched the way the two danced around each other. Both sidestepping any actual confrontation and twirling into conversations as if they had been calculating this dance for ages.

It was exhausting to watch.

“I'll tell you about how me and your papa got together if you really want, but you should know he confessed to me. More importantly, if you're looking for inspiration for how to ask Kaminari out, don't take any advice from your papa. He asked me out in a McDonald's parking lot."

As he watched his son's face get as red as his sister's eyes and mouth drop at his crush's name, they heard a yell from the other side of the house that broke the tension between the two of them.

"IT MAY HAVE BEEN A MCDONALDS PARKING LOT, BUT YOU STILL SAID YES."

Later that week, he saw Hitoshi kiss Kaminari on the cheek before they separated for lunch. Both boys had flushed red and grinned at each other before saying their goodbyes.

Later that month, Hitoshi brought Kaminari home for dinner.

Hizashi had tried to convince the other blonde that he was a guest, and there was no way he was letting him cook, but his husband had ended up with a helper anyway. No one had minded, Kaminari was an excellent chef, which Aizawa thought balanced out his own sons' laziness and seeming inability to want to eat anything that wasn't prepackaged. Then while they were waiting for the final minutes for dinner to finish cooking, he got to see Kaminari interact with Eri and had a momentary flashback to the little blonde girls in Kaminari's yard. He was patient with the girl's shyness but didn't talk down to her like he had seen many do.

He learned that night that Kaminari was child 3 of 7 and that his eldest brother and he had ended up raising siblings 5, 6, 7 due to their parent's work.

Aizawa looks back and wonders why he didn't ask about Kaminari's parents then.

Eri had asked about his siblings, seemingly in shock that there could be so many. After all, the girl had grown up on her own and now only had one older brother. Kaminari had been happy to talk about his siblings. After all, with 6 of them, there was plenty to talk about. While Kaminari told Eri and Hitoshi about Akio, Ramika, Terashi, Atari, Ayana, and Issei, Aizawa's eyes flashed to his husband, and they both saw many things about Kaminari click for each other.

Kaminari, the middle child of a big family. Kaminari, who could be loud enough to be heard over everyone.  Kaminari, who was always ready to split his lunch in half or share anything he got. Kaminari who was a peacemaker both for the Bakusquad and outside it.

He began learning about the other boy at that dinner, but it didn't stop there.

It wasn't long after that their son bringing around the other blonde more often and Aizawa found he didn't mind his student being over so much. They got used to getting home to dinner started and Hitoshi trying to force his boyfriend into doing his homework.

As both the children moved from their first year to their second, Aizawa found out Kaminari was staying with them over the break. Aizawa is sure Hizashi agreed to that instead of him. And yet when Kaminari and Hitoshi wandered downstairs hand in hand, he only found himself asking what they wanted for breakfast.

Aizawa would never openly admit it, but he had noticed how easily the boy fit into their family.

The group of them ended up with cereal that morning. And Aizawa learned two things about his son's boyfriend.

He took his coffee black.

And he stared at Hitoshi like he was his entire world.

He had been pouring the bowls, and when he turned around, Hitoshi had passed out hunched over on the table. Kaminari had been stroking the messy purple locks with a mushy and thoughtful expression on his face.

Aizawa wondered if that was how he and Hizashi stared at each other. Or maybe how they stared at each other back when they were in high school. Either way, when Aizawa placed the bowl in front of the blonde, he had turned extremely red in embarrassment before gently waking up the other.

Breakfast had been a quiet affair. Hizashi had taken Eri to her child psychologist, so it was just them in the house. Some part of him had expected Kaminari to start up a conversation in between eating like he had seen at dinners, but the boy seemed content to try and to not pass out and drown in his cereal.

"Won't your parents miss you during the break?" Aizawa had asked the boy, and to his surprise, the boy laughed at the idea.

"There are 6 other kids. I could go days before they realized I was gone. Besides, Akio told me they won't be home, and it's easier to avoid my older sister this way," Kaminari had smiled at him for the entire statement, only showing a hint of negativity when mentioning they weren't home. Aizawa's heart clenched when the boy said it like it was the most normal thing. Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if that was the blonde's normal. He wondered if that was the reason the blonde was so starved for praise and soaked in attention like a sponge.

Those weeks the house had more sound and laughter in it than Aizawa was used to. Between shared English puns between the two blondes, giggling from his daughter at her new playmate, or the loud, playful teasing between teenagers, there weren't many quiet moments, and yet, he found he didn't mind. It did make him appreciate moments when Aizawa sat at the table, working on an underground string of murders by lightening watching the blonde direct his son on how to start dinner with a soft teasing tone. Or the moments when Kaminari would join him in the sitting room with an English book that Aizawa could barely read the title of, and they both would just exist.

Then they were back in school. Back to training for heroics and fighting evil and all that. They had been having a streak of not being attacked in outings, so UA was getting a little bolder than it probably should. They were doing a weekend training outing. Similar to the training camp, but on a piece of land that was owned by Endeavor.

Theoretically safe.

It was announced on a Monday and was going to be held on that weekend.

And yet ever since it was mentioned, Kaminari had been acting up. Other teachers were giving him detention after detention. When this got back to Aizawa, his first reaction was confusion, because even before the break Kaminari had been a joker, but never openly disruptive. When questioned, Hitoshi admitted he also had no idea what was going on.

Later, Aizawa would call Kaminari into his office, and the calm conversation Aizawa had planned escalated into a screaming match that made him thankful for the emptiness of the area his office was in.

"WITH HOW YOUR ACTING DO YOU EVEN WANT TO GO ON THIS TRIP?" Aizawa had shouted, hoping that the idea of getting the trip taken from him would settle the behavior.

It did not.

"NO, I DON'T," The blonde had burst into tears, becoming a sobbing mess and working himself into what must have been a long building mental breakdown. The shouting was replaced by soft words and muffled, crying as Aizawa held Kaminari to his chest, rocking him gently on the couch in his office.

They wouldn't talk about it after, but as punishment for his behavior that week, Aizawa banned him from the trip, and Hizashi had left him with a book to read and verbal summary as punishment. The Bakusquad all complained, Iida asked if it would matter that they were an uneven group now, and Kaminari pretended to be upset about the whole thing. The next week everything went back to normal.

When Aizawa told him that nothing had happened on the trip, that the villains hadn't known where they were, Kaminari's mask slipped again.

He was faced with a pained smile.

"I know, Sir."

Aizawa thinks that's when subconsciously, he knew there was more than just a rough family life going on. The words bounced around in Aizawa's mind for days as he tried to figure out what they meant. If they meant anything. Or was he reading too far into a boy that had a lot of trauma and no healthy coping mechanisms?

The answer was maybe to all. Because maybe he didn't know.

After that event, Kaminari no longer seemed to dance around him the way he did with many other adults. For the most part, it had always been chalked up to hyperactivity, but it seemed to only happen around the authority figures in Kaminari's life. The boy always bounced on his toes as if he was preparing to run and spun smoothly around the adults, never really staying in one place, leaving the teachers dizzy trying to follow him. But now with Aizawa, he settled, he still rocked back and forth on his feet, but those feet were planted.

Aizawa would never admit it, but he felt a little flattered. Kaminari trusted Aizawa.

Aizawa barely let himself wonder if Kaminari had ever trusted any other authority figure before.

Not long after that, all the students in his class were signed up for therapy. Nedzu had been planning this for a while now, but he had to make sure the therapists were trustworthy. In the end, three were brought on staff. All of them had a squeaky-clean record confirmed with multiple background checks and were all experienced in their field. This was one thing that the principal wasn't going to mess up, and so he took meticulous care with it.

To let the parents know, each teacher called home. He had an idea of what to expect from the visits home, and while he wasn't surprised, some of the phone calls still managed to piss him off. Between the Aoyama's indifference to anything to do with their son, the Bakugou matriarch dismissing that her son needed help, and Endeavor's outright refusal saying that therapy was for the weak and his son wasn't weak, it was a wonder he had gotten through the phone calls without snapping at any parents.

However, when Aizawa tried to call the number for Kaminari's parents, he reached the wrong person. The old woman he spoke to claimed to have had the number for years and had no idea who the Kaminari's were. Aizawa had looked back at the sheet of paper with his student's information, and due to the clearness of the numbers, he knew he was reading it right, but he wondered if the parents had accidentally written the wrong number.

He moved on in his list of parents and made a mental note to talk to Kaminari and come back to it before setting the paper to the side. It slipped to the back of his mind letting Aizawa pretty much forget about it after the next few phone calls.

Then that trust Aizawa earned came into play. Kaminari had stayed the night again on another early morning psychiatrist day, and the two teenagers had snuck downstairs. They must have thought were quiet, but he could hear his son whisper and ask if Denki was okay and that they could go back upstairs and deal with this another day.

Then there was a soft noise and a quieter whisper before Kaminari walked into the kitchen, radiating confidence that through many months Aizawa was beginning to realize was fake. He had asked if Aizawa had a plan for breakfast or if he wanted Kaminari to cook.

He had managed to get a hold of any tell of surprise and simply took in the child before answering and pointing to the frozen waffles in the toaster.

Kaminari was in a tank top. It was loose and black and Aizawa was reasonably sure it belonged to his son, but it showed off Kaminari's arms and neck. Both lined with jagged Lichtenberg figure like scars that trailed the blonde's skin in dull, jagged red lines. It wasn't overly shocking; however, Aizawa had never seen these scars before. He had seen the boy in T-shirts that showed off his neck and arms, but they had never been there.

Aizawa barely let himself wonder what lengths the boy had gone too to keep the scars hidden.

But he wondered why they were familiar to him.

Kaminari pulled on a jacket when Hisashi and Eri got home, and life continued as usual. He still had to lesson plan for the upcoming week, he still had to go on patrol, and he still had to grade papers that night.

Then life shifted. As it does, only this time, it wasn't for the better.

He did some digging on his students' father Taishiro Kaminari. His mind had flashed back to the mask, dropping the first time in that living room, that fear, and Aizawa had wondered what he would find. If he was honest, he was prepared for a lot of things.

He wasn't prepared for nothing.

There wasn't anything on Taishiro Kaminari.

As far as Aizawa could, there were no records on that proved the man even existed.

Aizawa was a teacher, but he was also a pro hero. A pro hero investigating a string of murders.

And Aizawa figured out where he recognized the scars that ran along Kaminari's arms.

His stomach had dropped, and he wanted to call Kaminari in and have the child tell him why he had jumped to the wrong conclusion. He wanted the blonde child that had begun calling his boyfriend's place home to assure him that his father wasn't and couldn't be a murderer. But he couldn't ask Kaminari these things. Not yet. So, the next chance he got, he asked his son.

He asked his son what he knew about Kaminari's dad and watched the boy grimace before running a hand through his lilac hair.

"I know he's shitty. Denki's never been one for details, but his home life has never been A+. Though you knew that already." His son had sighed out before beginning to chew on the end of the pencil in his hand. "I don't know how bad it is, though. When I asked Denki…Well, he doesn't like to talk about it, and he always pulls away. I don't know much, sorry. Can I ask why? Is there something going on? Do you think he's in danger or something?"

Aizawa hadn't been able to give him a real answer, and Shinsou had understood the blatant lie he was fed as an 'I'll tell you later.'

Aizawa hadn't gotten to finish the investigation. In a twist of fate, he ran into the man that night right before he was about to finish off his victim. Despite the man's mask, he recognized him by his cold eyes from their short meeting. However, Aizawa was a professional and schooled his expression to make sure that the other man didn't realize he recognized him. He had saved a life that night, but the criminal had slipped through his fingers.

While his student's father wore a mask, Toga didn't. The girl had snuck up behind him and attempted to stab him while he was distracted. He had dodged just in time, but it had given them both enough time to run. And with a victim still lying on the floor, Aizawa couldn't justify chasing them. Instead, he knelt by the young woman and asked her the routine questions before taking her to the hospital.

Little known fact, Aizawa did a lot of thinking on his patrols. He had never been the most outspoken person in the first place, but in the quiet of the night, as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, he allowed himself to get lost in his own mind.

Kaminari's father had connections to Toga. Which meant he likely had connections to the League.

Kaminari was the traitor.

And there laid the problem. Aizawa thought back to the breakdown Kaminari had back before the weekend trip and how the boy seemed so relieved when he was told he couldn't go. He thought of the scars on his student's arms that he hid with makeup and sleeves. And he thought of the blonde child that read English literature on his couch. His couch, in his house. A place that had never been attacked.

Aizawa didn't know what that meant. Not for sure, anyway. So he compiled everything he had and went to Nedzu. Everything he had been compiling for months and everything he knew about the unnamed lighting villain and brought it all to his employer. After all, before he had been Aizawa's employer, he had been Aizawa's principal as well. Nedzu had always put his students first, and Aizawa hoped he would understand his need to protect this kid as well as protect the other students. 

Luckily, he did. Nedzu also brought other things to the table as well that Aizawa hadn't been aware of. Mainly concerning comments to his therapist and the fact that Kaminari had successfully snuck out of the UA dorms before.

The sneaking out thing had been handled quietly. After all, no one wanted to think about what it meant if the lowest scoring student in 1-A could figure out the holes in the security system. Plus, Nedzu thought if the child was bright enough to escape without getting caught by their security system, he could have that one. The principal had patched up the holes, and they had both went on with their lives. Nedzu always thought that Kaminari was smarter than he let on; after all, while his grades in this school were low, his middle school GPA had been incredibly high.

 The counselor that Kaminari had been seeing had reported recently to Nezu about some weird comments Kaminari had made that concerned him about his home life and made him believe he might be in danger.

Needless to say, things were falling into place.

Aizawa had agreed with Nedzu when he proposed to handle this carefully. They would keep a watchful eye on the blonde and ration what was told to any students.

They would keep this to themselves for now.

Chapter Text

Denki Kaminari's oldest memory is from when he was 5.

Though technically he wasn't Denki Kaminari yet, he was just Denki to anyone that mattered. And, according to any papers that he didn't yet know exist, his name is Denki Kutsuki. Using his father's last name. It would be a decade before he took his mother's maiden name.

But anyway, Denki's 9-year-old brother was holding him as he cried because his quirk had just come in, and it had hurt.

Denki remembers the way his body twitched every few seconds afterward as if the electricity was trying to violently escape his body or drag him away from Akio's comfort. He remembers not being able to breathe as he choked on the sobs that had ripped through him.

His mother had put him on quirk-suppressants not long after that. She had thought he was far too loud to deal with when crying.

His father hadn't objected.

After all, even on the quirk-suppressants, his quirk was still strong enough to be of use. Denki didn't mind either. His quirk still hurt, but it no longer felt like lightening was ripping through him. And that wasn’t an exaggeration, after all, Denki knew what lightening felt like.

By the time he was 7, his brain gained the ability to turn off when his quirk is active. His father forced him to outgrow this by the age of 9, after all, he’s not useful when he’s braindead. It did give him a good jumping-off place when making his short circuit state for UA. He knew what it was like to feel numb. When he really wants to, he can still put himself into that state. When the hurt gets to be too much or when the world feels like it's falling apart.

And by the time he was twelve, Denki learned to fake a smile and pretend everything was okay even when the world was falling apart.

Coincidentally, twelve was also the age when Denki's father began to teach him to use his quirk. His father's quirk 'Lightning' did exactly what it sounded like. He could control lightning in a thunderstorm. The stronger the storm, the more lightening he could pull down.

Denki's astraphobia began to make sense if you considered the number of times he had been struck by lightning.

Was it sad that Denki didn't know the number? That he had lost count? That after the Lichtenberg Figures had stopped fading, he had stopped counting. At a point, he supposed it didn't really matter. His body was resistant to the damage it would cause ordinary people letting him be able to take it and live to see another day.

Unlike some of his father's victims.

Perhaps an outsider would also consider Denki a victim though. What with his father's harsh fist connecting with his jaw and his mother's tight grip on his hair dragging him to his room. To this day, Denki still has no idea why two people that seemed to hate children so much decided to have 7 of them.

Apparently, crime paid well enough though; despite 9 of them living under the same roof, they never seemed to be needing for anything. If Denki really thought about it though, he knew it was probably his mother's well-known string of high-end robberies.

Denki also sometimes wondered if this was part of how his parents had been getting away with it for so long. The pretty house that Ramika and Denki maintained, with the pretty well-fed, well-dressed children that Akio fed and dressed.

He supposed it made sense. On the outside, they looked like the perfect family.

They didn't see how quickly Akio had grown up because he had to raise his siblings.

They didn't see the cigarettes that Ramika had started stealing from their father and smoking at 13.

They didn't see Denki's panic attacks whenever a thunderstorm rolled through.

They didn't see how Terashi threw himself into school to avoid their perfect looking home.

They didn't see the way Atari and Ayana flinched at the slightest noise whenever daddy was home.

They didn't see how Issei was almost 18 months before he was consistently sleeping through the night.

Sometimes when he was younger, Denki wished he was as easy to overlook as Akio and Ramika. However, as he got older, he quickly learned he didn't actually want that. If his parent's attention wasn't on him, then the attention would go to one of his younger siblings.

Denki learned to be okay with being his father's project.

Denki learned to be okay with his father teaming up with villains.

And at 13, Denki learned to be okay with being a villain.

Because that's what he was going to become. He had realized it at a dark two in the morning as Ramika smoked a cigarette, and Akio rocked a crying Issei in another room after a nightmare.

"He’s going to make me into a villain, Rami,” He had whispered into the smoke of his sister’s coping. He cleaned the glasses he held in his hands and his leg bounced, making a small tapping noise into the quiet. She silently took in the statement as she ashed the cigarette. She took another drag before looking back over to him.

“You knew this, though.” She said with a quirk of her eyebrow, because yes, he did, but it was really hitting him now in the dark of their parentless home. He was still sore from his father’s quirk training earlier, and he knew he should be doing something useful like studying, but he couldn’t find any motivation at the moment. “Denk… dad’s always been a shitbag. Even if he’s making you do shitbag things, you’ve always been good at heart.”

Before Denki could express the other thoughts on his mind, Akio walked in with a scowl on his face and spoke in a low tone towards Denki.

“You are not a villain, Denki. And you’re not going to become one.”

A quote by Ernest Hemingway said that “All things truly wicked start from innocence.”

At 12, Denki wonders if that means everyone has the potential to become evil. If everyone is born one traumatic fuck up away from wanting to destroy the world. 

At 13, Denki no longer believed anyone was truly good anymore.

At 14, Denki began working to apply to UA. Not coincidentally, age 14 was also the first time he encountered the League of Villains. Though at the time, he hadn’t known them as the League of Villains. At the time, it had just been Kurogiri and a black screen that his father addressed as ‘sir.’

He had been sat down next to his father across from a shadowy man and a dark screen.

After introductions, no one spoke to him.

He wasn’t surprised. His father had given him the rundown on how this was going to go down outside. He told him that he had been asked to bring Denki and he had. That he would be introduced and then would be silent, the adults would talk, and then they would leave.

So, Denki allowed himself to stare off into space as his father spoke to the other men. He allowed himself to fantasize about what Akio would make for dinner before trying to remember if his biology exam was on Wednesday or Thursday.

Then Denki’s father was asked to leave. Not by Kurogiri, but by the head-honcho hiding behind the screen. Denki had thought he was surprised, but when he glanced over to his father, the shock was written all over his face along with the apparent want to object. His father wasn’t given that chance as he was taken on a walk by Kurogiri and Denki was left alone with a screen.

For a man that Denki’s only visual of was a black screen, he was extremely charismatic. He was kind and spoke politely, and the stereotypes of villains that Denki had taken as fact were shattered. There were no threats of violence of blackmailing, in fact, the man behind the screen asked him about his father. Ask what was really going on behind the family's closed doors.

Denki hadn’t answered.

The man offered Denki something that hadn’t seemed possible.

He offered him a way out.

He had done it in such a nonchalant way as if the screen hadn’t offered to become his savior.

At the time, it had seemed so easy.

But he had been 14, an idiot, and most importantly, desperate.

So, he trained his quirk again. Though it was a different type of training now, one to make his quirk seem different than it was. He was taught how to make his quirk look more uncontrollable and how to create his own weakness to cover up his real ones.

Denki also took an acting class. Though not a traditional one, a kind young woman sent by Sir had educated him on how to become a perfect spy. Sir had assured him that he was already a fantastic actor they just wanted to get all of the creases in his character ironed down. Everything from the flirty personality to a strategy to keep his below-average grades from being noticed was perfected.

Sir had told him to make ‘friends’ and be a part of the class to keep suspicion off of him, but not to be too noticeable. He was encouraged to transfer to a different school for his 3rd year of middle school. He had never had many attachments to his first middle school, so he was easily convinced.

He changed his appearance. Blonde hair he once kept short, neat, and clean was grown out slightly and allowed to exist without maintenance. Glasses that he had worn for years now were replaced with contacts. A girl sent by Sir taught him to do makeup, teaching him to cover his freckles and dark circles.

Well, she taught him how to do more than that and gave him a bunch of unused products she had on hand for him to experiment with, but it had been mostly teaching him to cover his freckles and dark circles.

Soon, the blonde boy had been introducing himself to a new class of wide-eyed teenagers curious about the new student’s arrival. The class had been nice is a bit boring; however, the most important to Denki was his introduction.

Denki Kaminari.

Kaminari flirted with the girls that approached him; he made them giggle and carefully sidestepped them asking why he had transferred. Kaminari joked around with and made the boys laugh with an almost airheaded nature, making them forget they had even asked if he wanted to hang out later.

And when it was announced that Kaminari was applying for the hero course at UA, everyone was thrilled for him and told him that he would do great.

And he could have. He made sure he scored very well on the written exam and well enough to make it into the hero course on the practical.

He could hear Sir’s voice saying not to be too noticeable.

It was easy to fly under the radar with the angry blonde exploding the robots left and right. Denki made sure to fry some of the higher scoring robots before accidentally helping a boy who had been about to get stepped on by the zero pointer. The practical exam was only 10 minutes long, but afterward, Denki felt utterly wiped out.

Ramika later told him he had slept for 35 hours.

In fairness, it probably had to do with how little he slept in general, not just the exam. But Denki couldn’t help it; at night, he could feel his skin practically vibrating and his limps itching to move. His mind raced at night the same way it did in the classroom that caused his teacher's lectures to drift in one ear and out the other.

In the end, he made it into UA. There was no anxiety about getting the letter or debating opening it. No celebration from his family or congratulations from anyone but Akio. He had walked down to breakfast and found the already opened letter sitting on the counter. After replaying the device, he allowed himself to feel a surge of pride before squashing it down.

He couldn’t let himself forget his mission.

On his first day of school, 3 hours before class Denki was applying concealer everywhere. Well, everywhere was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was a stupidly extensive process. He covered the darkness under his eyes along with the fading bruise he had been gifted by his father. Those weren’t hard, he had been doing that for years and had perfected it by now. Then he covered the long-jagged scars that would be visible when he pulled on his uniform.

Then his paranoia kicked in, and he covered all of the ones he could see on him.

He would later discover it was good that he did when he met Shota Aizawa, his homeroom teacher. Denki had been struck by lightning, met the countries top villain, and yet nothing chilled him more than when his new teacher stared at him like he was looking into his very soul. He almost expected to be called out for being a spy at that very moment.

He wasn’t though.

So, the year continued.

In the first few days, he became fast friends with Ashido and Sero. He also became friends with Jiro. He found he quite liked hanging out with the former two. Ashido seemed to have that same innate need to move, that same vibration under her skin, while Sero seemed to bring a pleasant calm with him that balanced them out. He found himself eating lunch with them, settling into an easy trio. Their trio became a quartet not long into the year as well when Sero dragged Kirishima into their circle. And he felt content. In his 3rd year of middle school, Kaminari felt like a mask he had to remind himself to keep on, so he was surprised to see how easy he fell into him while at UA. It wasn’t till a few weeks in he noticed his mask changing.

The flirty calm persona he had worked on for years changed. Kaminari slipped out of calm and became happier, maybe bubblier. He was most surprised at how real it felt.

Then the USJ happened.

Denki had been reporting back to Kurogiri consistently since the school year started because he’d been gaining lots of information, but he never expected an attack so soon.

Denki had been in hero training for a total of 3 weeks before he was faced with villains. Unlike most of his class, this wasn’t his first time being attacked by villains. He went home to them every night. It was, however, the first time a villain had wanted to kill him.

Then he fell into the familiarity of Kurogiri’s portal and landed on hard rock surrounded by villains. Surrounded by enemies. Not even a moment later, Jiro and Yaoyorozu landed next to him, and the fight began.

Denki doesn’t know if it was a miracle that they made it out uninjured or if it had been somehow conspired by the League. Either way, the villains had mainly been defeated by a massive wave of electricity before Denki had sent himself into what Jiro called his Whey State. Denki let himself sink into a headspace that allowed him to pretend that this wasn’t his fault.

He felt the guilt eat at him. It only got worse when Jiro and Momo got him down to the center after everything seemed to pass, and in his half-conscious state, he saw a paramedic carefully picking up the bloody mess that the villains, his bosses, had made of the teacher.

His teacher.

Who had almost died to protect them.

Fuck.

Then the man had come into class with his full body cast, and Denki had felt almost nauseous, but he quickly learned he didn’t have time for guilt because before he could blink, it was time for the Sports Festival. He was pretty sure UA’s ego was hurt by being attacked, but he let it go pretty quickly and began planning. A good spy doesn’t get noticed for good or bad, so he needed to strive for the average of his class. His pride also wouldn’t allow anything less. He needed to be good enough to prove he was worthy of being in the hero course, but not good enough that people focused on him

Indeed a fine line he was teetering on.

Denki wishes he could have actually gotten the chance to fight Shiozaki. She seemed nice, and more importantly, her quirk was naturally resistant to his.

Sadly, it wasn’t in the cards.

He let out a large stream of electricity and found himself being carted off to Recovery Girl’s office. He felt a little humiliated as he sat there with drool running down out of the side of his mouth, but he dealt with it. Laying in Recovery Girl’s office as he waited for an acceptable amount of time to pass before restarting his cognitive functions.

Then with the rest of his class, he watched the rest of the matches. He cheered on all of his classmates even if they were competing against each other.

And Bakugou won, just like he said he would. While he was chained to the stage and forced to accept the first-place medal, Denki found the poetry in what was an uncomfortable situation that everyone seemed to be okay with. Bakugou was literally chained being forced to do something he didn’t want to, and Denki was metaphorically chained by his commitments. Though he wasn’t being forced.

Surprisingly, he was the one to find Bakugou after the Sports Festival had ended. The skin on his face and arms had been rubbed raw from his struggles, and he appeared to have just finished changing after taking a shower. When their eyes met, neither of them said anything for a second. Bakugou opened his mouth his say something, likely rude, but was swiftly cut off by Denki speaking.

“That whole ceremony was pretty fucked up, huh?”

Bakugou seemed to settle for a moment as he glanced to the ground and didn’t say anything. This, of course, meant he didn’t yell at him, which Denki counted as a win.

Come next school lunch, Bakugou dropped his lunch down next to Kirishima, who seemed to light up at the other blonde’s presence.

With Bakugou joining them, things seemed to click into place.

And Kaminari shifted further.

He no longer had to force down the vibrating under his skin; in fact, Present Mic had noticed it and gotten him on a medication to make it easier, but his class didn’t mind his wandering mind and tapping fingers. The calm he had so carefully crafted went out the window as a genuine smile was on his face when he was with his class and especially when he was with his friends. His mask felt lighter, and sometimes he wondered how much he was really acting. It was getting harder to tell now. When did these people really become his friends?

Jiro, who played dumb music-based games on her phone. Jiro, who talking to, was a comfortable presence and matched his banter perfectly. Jiro, who could see where his line was and never crossed it on purpose, but when she did would hold his hand and apologize.

Sero, who looked like a twig and yet was always hungry enough to finish Denki’s leftover at lunch. Sero, who was easy going and laughed at his dumb jokes. Sero, who bought him a soda after a rough training session and walked with him to classes.

Mina, who danced even if there was no music playing. Mina, who cared about everyone she had ever met, but held a grudge like no one he had ever seen. Mina, who never let him talk bad about himself in front of her and always fought him on it when he did.

Kirishima, who used the word ‘manly’ like it was going out of style. Kirishima, who had such a terrible sense of style it made Bakugou physically repulsed. Kirishima, who cared so much about everyone and despite his own insecurities, always comforted others on theirs.

Bakugou, who despite his seemingly violent nature, was the most determined person in the class. Bakugou, who had gotten into fights before to defend his idiots. Bakugou, who was such a mother hen to the entire group even if he aggressively tried to cover it up with yelling and explosions.

Where was the line? Perhaps he was just so far passed it that he couldn’t see it anymore.

No matter what he did, he was screwed, so Denki continued on with the smiles of his friends that he didn’t deserve and marched toward summer.

Much like his acceptance at UA, his father knew about his school trip before he did. The man informed him of the planned attack on the camp. They were going to use Denki as a personal tracking device, and he was scared. Not for himself, but for the people he had foolishly allowed himself to care about.

He got the bare minimum needed to pass the written exam; however, he didn’t try on the practical. He couldn’t. He couldn’t go to that camp.

But he did, and it was just as bad as Denki thought and worse.

Bakugou was kidnapped, and Denki swore that the guilt was eating him alive. There was a cry in his gut that itched to tell anyone whatever he knew to save his friend, but then he saw his father. The man came home with blood-soaked shoes that night and yelled at and threatened Ayana, and Denki didn’t dare leave his room again. That night the blonde boy wished for the bed to swallow him whole and never let him out again.

His phone began to spam with texts from Jiro telling him to check his TV, so Denki flew downstairs to see his parents already watching with a wicked grin on their faces. Slowly, Denki joined them on the couch, biting his lip in anxiety. He knew that everyone on the sofa was praying for ‘him’ to win.

He wondered if it occurred to his parents that his him was different than theirs.

And his him did win. All Might defeated what must have been Sir, and his parents looked angry. Well, his father looked angry, and his mother looked annoyed. His father sent him to his room, and he complied, of course, confining himself to his bed till the next day when he slipped downstairs in the early afternoon, hoping his parents weren’t home and he could get some food.

His parents were home.

And so was his teacher.

They sat in the living room, and Denki felt a moment of pure fear run through him. He wasn't even sure what he was afraid of, but he quickly squashed it in favor of playing a loving son to his perfect parents. It almost made him feel sicker than the guilt waiting on him like an anchor. Almost.

When Denki was told about the dorms, he was thrilled, then he was terrified, then those feeling bled together into a muddled mess of emotion he didn’t recognize. On the one hand, he wouldn’t be in this home anymore. On the other, his sibling would.

Could he really leave them?

Did he have a choice?

The answer to that second one was probably not. So, he packed up what little belongings he did have and placed them in the UA moving truck along with the boxes of brand-new things his parents had gotten so they could all pretend he was a normal kid.

Great.

Even he thought his room was kind of rough. He had always shared a room, so there had never been much real decoration in it. When he began unpacking, he wondered if he really spent so little time with his parents that they had no idea what he’s like or if they were trying to make him seem like a stereotypical teenage boy.

Either way, they were failing.

He buried away his English books under clothes that he had never owned before that week. Tucked the makeup away under that skateboard that would have been cool if he was 12 again. Hid the burner phone he used under a mountain of ugly hats he would never wear.

At first, Denki had tried to make the room look decent, but about halfway through, he gave up. It just didn’t matter.

After all, this was Kaminari’s room, not Denki’s.

When the class come to his room, he acted surprised when they all thought it was gaudy.

It was.

Told them he thought it was cool.

It wasn’t.

Honestly, it was a vivid reminder of his parents.

He didn’t spend much time there. The class learned that pretty quickly, often checking Sero’s room before checking Denki’s. It was fair in all honesty; even when the dorms were new, he had practically moved into Sero’s room, only going to his own for clothes. The other boy didn’t mind, in fact, after a while of Denki sleeping in his hammock Sero had just started sharing the bed. And despite Iida’s best efforts slowly, it morphed into a cycle of him couch surfing (bed surfing? Hoboing?) in his friend’s rooms.

Sero never asked why. Neither did Mina. Or Kirishima or Bakugou or Jiro. He could tell they were curious, but after the first few dodged answers he had given to the rest of the class, none of them said anything. Mina never questioned why he snuck into her dorm at 11 pm looking exhausted and crashing onto her bed before falling asleep. She knew he would come to her when he was ready. Jiro never questioned why he would quietly knock on her door before bed some nights. If some nights, he needed to sleep next to a warm body that was his business. Kirishima never questioned when he showed up demanding that the redhead let him be the big spoon that night and that “it wasn’t gay if they were wearing socks, bro.” Afterall, Kirishima could feel how cold Kaminari was, and if the boy wanted him to be his personal heater, he didn’t mind. Bakugou never questioned when his damp eyes appeared outside his door at 2 am. He complained and rolled his eyes while telling everyone and himself he didn’t care, but really, he knew what nightmares were like.

He wondered where Kaminari stopped, and Denki started.

It was becoming a blurrier line nowadays. Especially around his friends. His friends were unconsciously digging into the layers behind his personality. At first, he didn’t even realize they were doing it either. One by one, they all had forgone the name Kaminari and called him Denki. They found his pile of books and told him how cool they thought it was that he could read them. And one sleepover in Mina’s room, he joined them without his makeup. Mina had taken one look at him and pulled him to her chest. Sure, the happy, bubbly person was becoming natural, but around his friends, he could be quiet sometimes.

On one sleepless night, he laid staring at Jiro’s ceilings and wondered what all would happen to them. Would they die because of him? Shigaraki had no qualms about killing children, could he stand there and watch as his boss turned his friends to dust.

He had long since been done, asking if he was doing the right thing.

He wasn’t.

However, everything was spiraling out of control in his mind. More than once, he stared at his homeroom teacher, wondering if he should tell. Tell him and take the punishment that they would dish out. After all, it would undoubtedly be easier to face than his friends dying. But even though his parents never planned the dorms, they still found a way to use them. Shigaraki found a way to use them to his advantage. Every time it looked like Denki’s loyalty might be swaying, he was reminded about his sibling’s still at home, especially the young ones that wouldn’t even be able to fight.

Denki stayed quiet.

He wondered how he possibly got so far away from the boy who just wanted freedom.

Chapter Text

“With those looks, you must be popular with the ladies, I can tell,” Denki had said.

“I know you said you weren’t interested in making friends and all that, but I like you, dude,” Denki had said.

“You’re a proper hero-hopeful like the rest of us,” Denki had said.

Denki couldn’t even blame Kaminari. Saying that his idiocy was acting, no-no. He knew that was all his dumbass. His dumbass being thrown off guard at how stupidly attractive Hitoshi Shinsou was up close, and every language he spoke just fell out of his head. He had time to adjust himself to Todoroki or Momo’s beauty before talking to them at the beginning of the year, but now he was just thrown randomly into the interactions.

Though Denki knew it wasn’t really his looks that made him attracted to Shinsou. Sure it’s what made Denki stumble on his words as languages turned to sludge in his mind, but that not what really made the boy linger in the blonde’s mind for days.

Denki first took in the dark circles’ telling tales of sleepless nights that words could never convey. However, unlike Denki’s own teacher, who’s always seemed 3 steps away from knocking out in his sleeping bag, Shinsou always seemed put together. His uniform was always buttoned and positioned appropriately with the tie tied in the center of the shirt, and while his hair was messy, it appeared well kept. He wasn’t Iida, but he always looked reasonably nice. So, it wasn’t that he lacked time or care for how he looked; he just didn’t mind the bags resting under his eyes. The bags under his eyes were from the insomnia that he wasn’t ashamed of. That was a struggle that just was, instead of a deeply hidden shame that was tucked away because ordinary people can turn off their brains and just go to sleep.

Denki wondered what it would be like not to do his makeup in the morning. What it would be like to reach for his phone instead of concealer when he woke up. 

He doubted Hitoshi needed makeup with how gorgeous he was. The way the other boy had bulked up in the past few months was also stupidly attractive, and the sharp angles and countors of his face were practically statuesque. Denki thought if Shinsou kept working out, he might just stop and turn into a perfect marble statue.

However, he never seemed to stop. Shinsou raced forwards at what he wanted and grabbed for it, not caring about anyone else. To Denki, ever the bystander in his own life, if surprised him. It was the first time he ever considered whether he wanted to be a hero. Sure, he had been training for it for months now, and all his friends wanted to be hero’s but had he gotten to chose, would he be here? Or would he be at some standard high school working towards a degree? Had he not been sent on this mission, would he have been forced to drop out high school for his family like Akio was?

Did he, Denki, really deserve a spot in a top heroics school, when his only heroic trait was a flashy quirk?

Probably not, but to be discussed.

After that joint training session, Denki sought out the other boy, much to both of their surprise. That first few times they interacted, were awful for multiple reasons. First of all, they were short, which sucked when Denki wanted to get to know the guy. More importantly though, every time they interacted, Denki hid behind the mask that was Kaminari. He stretched it wider and made a shield of it.

But perhaps because it was so thin Hitoshi Shinsou saw through it.

Saw that Denki hadn’t slept in 2 days or saw Terashi’s text telling him that with him gone, Akio has been stressed and made a mistake last night and got hit for it. Whatever it was, on that fateful day of Denki interrupting Shinsou at the vending machine, he got called out.

“You’re acting is usually a lot better. Are you feeling okay?” Shinsou had looked at him and asked. There hadn’t been any sarcasm or mocking, just concern. Purple eyes looked at him with more emotion than he had ever seen from him, and Denki was surprised. He was also frightened by how quickly the dam broke. The already thin and frail shield shattered in front of what was practically a stranger, and Denki cried.

Then it was Shinsou’s turn to be surprised.

He pulled the blonde into the boys' bathroom and spent the better part of ten minutes comforting him before Denki could pull himself together. Denki had ended up leaning against the wall while Shinsou took a cold napkin and wiped against his cheeks and Denki almost hadn’t wanted to move. He was surprised at how touch starved he behaved like he wasn’t friends with two of the most touchy-feely people in the class. Like he wasn’t one of the most touchy-feely people in the class.

Eventually, the tears stopped falling, and Denki apologized.

Shinsou had brushed him off, though.

He had said, “If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t have asked. Are you doing better now?”

He had been.

And after that, their relationship practically blossomed overnight, going from strangers to friends after one mental breakdown. What that said about the both of them was to be determined. Their brief meetings at the vending machine turned into lunches together, which turned into them hanging out in the 1-A dorm till Iida kicked Shinsou out for the night.

His seeming awe for the other boy was growing into something that almost scared Denki. His friends teased him for the pink flush that seemed to be permanently on his cheeks around the purple-haired boy. And Denki knew this, whatever ‘this’ was, was not part of the mission. He was sure of that. After all, he had many long nights counting the tiles in his friend's dorm rooms, thinking about it under his belt. He had no way to justify dating the boy in general education. There was no information to gain, and Shinsou had no significant connections that would make him useful. 

Of course, he wasn’t thinking of dating him. He wasn’t thinking about how warm Shinsou was as he lied on the boy's chest. He definitely wasn't thinking about how he wished for all his responsibilities to disappear while Shinsou tried and failed to do homework around him before giving up and his combing fingers threw Denki's blonde hair.

And he definitely hadn’t fallen asleep in Shinsou’s room only to wake up the following morning still in Shinsou’s bed to Shinsou’s alarm cuddled close to Shinsou’s chest.

Yeah.

That night he slept. Both of them did, and it was quite a pair, he was sure. Two insomniacs passing out at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

Unlike the previous night, there weren’t any late-night thoughts of all the ways that his father might hurt Shinsou simply because Denki cared for him

Luckily for both of them, Shinsou had his alarm set to go off every day, despite being an insomniac like Denki. When the alarm first went off, neither of them were fully conscious enough to understand what was happening and despite what movies would have made Denki believe there was no jumping away and furious blushing. Okay, there was some furious blushing, but when the alarm went off, Shinsou groaned rolling over and turned it off before finding Kaminari covering his ears with a pillow. The other boy had laughed before poking him gently in the stomach.

“The alarm is off now, besides it wasn’t even that loud,” Shinsou said, protesting what he assumed Denki’s grumbling under the pillow was about. When the blonde continued, obviously ignoring him, he yanked the pillow from him, leaving Denki shielding his eyes from the sudden light. When he eventually pulled his arms away, he found Shinsou staring at him with a light smile. When he and Denki’s gazes met, he looked away for a moment biting his lip before looking back.

“Good morning.”

“Hi,” Denki had broken out in a smile, causing his greeting to sound dorkish even in his own ears. Shinsou rolled over onto his back before sitting up and cracking his neck and hands. When he turned around and saw Denki grimacing, he just laughed again.

“It’s like 6:30, so we’re got like an hour and a half before class,” he said like he didn’t just shatter Denki’s whole world. His jaw dropped, and he could feel his eyes widen.

“SHIT. Shit, shit, shit, shit shit! Iida and Aizawa are going to fucking kill me,” Denki reached for the other pillow on Shinsou bed and shoved his face into it and groaning. He could feel Shinsou rolling his eyes

“It’s fine. I texted him. I doubt he’ll be mad.”

“You texted Iida?” Denki asked.

“No, I texted, uh, Aizawa,” Shinsou said, glancing away.

Now had Denki not been an actual spy Shinsou’s blank face might have sold him. However, he was and had always noticed the small things about people.

Like how Shinsou couldn't make eye contact when he lied.

“That was just hella sus, Shinsou.”

“What? No, it wasn’t?”

This time Denki laughed and slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes. Suddenly, he extremely glad he had chosen not to bother putting contacts in yesterday.

“Hey, Kaminari, what happened to your arm?”

Alarm bells rang in his head immediately, and he looked down and then back to see that the concealer had rubbed off on Shinsou’s sheets while they both slept. Hell, if he squinted, he could see that it was on the other boy's shirt as well.

Denki wondered if he could play this off as stupidity. Or if he should just make a break for it right now. The panic must have been apparent on his face because Shinsou quickly placed a hand on him and looked at him with concern.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want too.” He said, reminding Denki of everything he loved about the boy.

He didn’t end up telling Shinsou what they were. The boy ended up figuring it out on his own.

Much like how Denki figured out that Aizawa was Shinsou’s father before he told him.

Todoroki had mentioned the idea during one of their We Had To Go Home To Our Family Meetings, where they wrapped up each other’s wounds and talked crap. Denki doesn’t know when these started, but he liked them. Much like Denki, Todoroki never asked questions and had experience wrapping injuries, so the session’s conversations often bounced around from topic to topic blatantly ignoring the bruises and burns the boys tended to on each other.

That particular day Todoroki had spent ranting about the fact that Midoriya was definitely All Might’s secret love child no matter what the green-haired boy said. Considering the substantial amount of evidence, Denki was almost on board with the theory.

“Any other secret love children in the school,” he had asked, biting his lip as Todoroki used an alcohol-soaked cotton ball to clean the few cuts that hadn’t quite scabbed over from the weekend.

“Of course. Hitoshi Shinsou is definitely the child of Mr. Aizawa.”

Denki had died laughing.

By this point, he had spent enough time around Todoroki to know that it was his attempt at a joke. But at the time, the idea had seemed absurd. He had laughed so hard that his lungs actually hurt. Or maybe it was the bruises on them. Either way, he brushed it aside and moved along, chatting easily with his peer.

Till 3 am, of course.

It was when all of Denki’s best thinking was done. He realized that actually, that made a surprising amount of sense. Shinsou always stumbled on calling their teacher Aizawa like he was used to calling him something else. The two seemed pretty familiar with each other; however, Denki had heard that Aizawa was training Shinsou, which could excuse that. The thing that really made him buy it was something he wasn’t supposed to see. A short moment from a few weeks ago where Shinsou had done amazing in the training session he joined. When everyone was packing up heading to leave Denki was planning to talk to Shinsou, but found him in a conversation with Aizawa. He didn’t hear what he said, but he saw his teacher’s smile. He watched his notoriously serious teacher grin at a student before ruffling his hair.

So, Denki could buy it.

He admires both of them for a lot of similar reasons, while Aizawa didn’t look like the boy past the eyebags he could definitely see the same character in both of them

Almost exactly a week after Shinsou saw the scars on Denki’s arms, he dropped down next to him at lunch with a quiet thud. When Shinsou didn’t say anything immediately, Denki kept his eyes on the boy, eyebrows raised, and slowly took a bite of his sandwich.

“They’re Lichtenberg figures, aren’t they? People get them from lightening, but they usually disappear, don’t they?” Shinsou had asked slowly, obviously looking for a sign he was making Denki uncomfortable. However, Denki wasn’t yet, so he decided to humor the other.

“They did the first few times.” Denki knew his voice sounded weird right now, but he pressed on. “Now they’re just…there.”

Shinsou had nodded before attempting to steal some of Denki’s sandwich, which he was violently denied, receiving a kick to the shin.

“Was it actually lightening?”

Denki had nodded, probably the quietest he had ever been with this boy, except in sleep. God, now he was uncomfortable. Luckily, Shinsou must have seen that.

“If that wasn’t the scariest shit I’ve ever heard, I might even say that you were cool, Kaminari.”

“You could tell me I'm cool anyway?”

“Nah, now you don’t deserve it.”

Shinsou and Denki had spent the better part of ten minutes teasing each other with Denki fishing for compliments from the other. Then the mood shifted back again, Shinsou looked at him and gently knocked against him with his shoulder.

“Was it like…because of your quirk?”

Denki thought about his dad training his body to be able to handle more electricity. Pushing him because his quirk was strong so he could be useful.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Are you upset, I know?” Shinsou paused before scooting closer so that his shoulder knocked against Denki’s again.

“No, I just wish It had been on my terms, you know?” Denki said.

He meant it too.

He found himself confiding in Shinsou, in Hitoshi, pretty easily. It probably helped that all of his friends had always reacted well whenever he shared something with them. With experience in how to tell people, Denki found himself able to make the words necessary to tell Hitoshi things that his friends had seen, but had to put together on their own.

And he liked the other boy.

But contrary to what movies would also have had Denki believe there was no overdramatic confession in the rain followed by their long-awaited first kiss. Hitoshi had just grown a spine first and asked him out on a date. The Bakusquad had been ecstatic. Even Bakugou seemed pleased.

Hitoshi took Denki to a cheap American style diner, using Denki’s known love for a good hamburger as a decider for the location. Denki isn’t sure how Hitoshi bribed his father to let them do this, but he was happy he did. They had gotten to walk hand in hand down the street, taking in the people around them as they got to their destination. Denki had known he was getting his hamburger as soon as he walked in, and Hitoshi had followed in suit. And besides Hitoshi almost ending up with a fork in his hand when he tried to steal one off Denki’s fries, their dinner went well. They teased each other, talked about school, Hitoshi admitted that he was pretty intimidated by the Bakusquad, and they just enjoyed each other. After spending far too long arguing over who was going to pay, Denki conceded and told Hitoshi, there would be no arguments when he paid for their ice cream on the way back to UA.

Considering that Denki was pretty sure they were both on their first-ever date, he was surprised at how nice it was. Just how attentive Hitoshi had been the entire night, not that he wasn’t already. And when they reached the outside of the 1-A heights Alliance, Hitoshi took Denki’s chocolate-covered hands and wiped them both off with a small smirk. Then when he was done with his task, he shoved one napkin into his pocket and pulled out another placing a hand under the other's jaw, allowing him to wipe the chocolate ring from around the other’s mouth.

“I’m not a kid, Hitoshi,” Denki whined, grabbing at the taller boys wrist.

“Really? Could have fooled me.” Hitoshi said before deciding that it must be good enough and putting the other napkin in his pocket as well. However, the wrist, connected to the hand holding Denki’s face? That was allowed to stay.

There was a pause and a tension held in the air.

And though Denki didn’t recognize this one, it was almost a good type of tension.

“Will you text me when you get back to your dorm?” He said softly, looking at Hitoshi’s purple eyes that rolled at the request.

“I mean, if you're going to nag me about it, I guess I have to,” Hitoshi muttered into the space between them.

“I mean it.”

“I will. Promise.”

Then the both stood there. Just for a moment, just enjoying the warmth of the skin that was touching the other. Finally, Denki let go of the other’s wrist, but Hitoshi paused and let his wrist not fall to his side but down to Denki’s neck. Gently, he pulled the blond forward and kissed the top of his forehead.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Denki.”

Denki Isn’t sure if Hitoshi texted him when he got back to the 1-C dorms, but he assumes he did. After all, he did promise. But Denki isn’t sure of anything because when he walked into the dorms, the entire Bakusquad, including Bakugou, was sitting in the kitchen waiting for him.

It was a terrifying moment.

Truly.

There was something about all his friends sitting there staring at him in silence that terrified Denki in a way that his parents and the League never could.

There was something about Kirishima asking if Shinsou treated him well on their date that made him wonder if he said no would Hitoshi die? Honestly, considering the look on Bakugou’s face, probably.

They put a label on their relationship the next day.

Hitoshi was officially Denki’s boyfriend.

Did Kaminari deserve nice things? No, probably not.

But god damn, did Denki feel like he was on cloud nine around him.

They went on two more dates before, a month later, Hitoshi asked if he wanted to come over for dinner with his family. For a moment, Denki froze, he was lucky that it was a text conversation instead of one in person. It was one thing to be dating Hitoshi, he could pretend he didn’t know that he was his teacher’s son right now, but if he went to his house and met Aizawa there then he no longer had that plausible deniability. Not for the first time, he was glad he hadn’t mentioned Hitoshi to anyone. If his father found out where his teacher lived, his teacher might die.

So, Denki didn’t mention it. It wasn’t like Denki felt bad about it, a vague underlying sense of dread maybe, but his morals were all intact.

For the entire week before dinner, he could tell his boyfriend was dancing around him trying to tell him his father was his homeroom teacher (and maybe his English teacher…that was unconfirmed though), but it seemed the universe was working against the other boy and they didn’t get any time to talk until they were quite literally on Hitoshi’s doorstep.

“Listen, Denki, there is something I need to talk to you about. It’s about my parents,” Hitoshi said, rushing it all out in one breath. Denki turned his head towards him, and as Hitoshi’s mouth opened, so did the door.

“Hello, listeners!” Present Mic's (Denki’s pride swelled a little at the confirmation) loud voice echoed slightly in their ears. Hitoshi scrunched up his face and placed hands over his ears, raising his eyebrows at his father is a silent signal to quiet down. From inside the house, Denki could hear the distant sound of the TV and Aizawa talking.

“Hey Present Mic, good to see you,” Denki said like he hadn’t seen the man a few hours ago while he was teaching English. Denki said with no surprise in his voice, clearly surprising his boyfriend.

“Are you that good of an actor or did you know,” Hitoshi whispered to Denki as they walked in, leaning over to take off their shoes.

He didn’t respond. It was more fun that way. He followed Hitoshi into the living room and found a white-haired girl he somewhat recognized sitting in front of his teacher while he braided her hair.

“Hey, Dad.”

“Hey, Mr. Aizawa.”

The dark-haired man looked over before rolling his eyes and sending his own greetings back to them. Denki wasn’t quite sure what to do at the moment, so he turned to see Present Mic in the kitchen, seemingly chopping something on the counter.

“Can I help?”

“Absolutely not. You’re the guest, Kaminari.”

“Great, where can I be of assistance.”

Present Mic laughed and shook his head before trying to swat him away with his hands. Denki simply ducked under the teacher's arms, leaving his boyfriend with his sister and father and heading over to the sink to wash his hands. Present Mic sighed, placing both hands on his hips.

“You aren’t taking no for an answer, are you kid?” Present Mic said with a low chuckle.

“No, sir.”

Denki held a hand out towards the apron that was currently hanging as a silent request to which Present Mic nodded before offering a spoon for him to stir a pot presently sitting on the stove. Eventually, Aizawa, followed by both children, made it into the kitchen. Present Mic stepped out to go turn off the TV. Then, considering they were just about done, he checked on the rice that had been covered a few minutes ago.

The little girl came up behind him slowly before tugging on his jeans and asking what they were eating. She seemed sweet and a little shy, he was sure that he had seen her with Midoriya a few times, but he hadn’t caught her name. He spoke to her while he began plating the food, he learned her name, that they were eating one of her favorites tonight, and he gave her a bite of the rice before she scurried off back to Aizawa. After another moment or two, Present Mic came back into the kitchen.

“No. Kid, you put that down. You are not serving food as the guest. Shota! Why would you let him do that,” Present Mic assumed that same pose with hands on his hips while he looked at his husband helping their daughter into a chair.

“He seemed to know what he was doing,” His teacher said in response only to get a sigh in return. Denki found himself being shooed over to the table to take a seat.

Family dinners were a new concept to Denki. His family had always been a little too big to fit comfortably around the table they had, so usually, when food was done, people just took it and left going back to whatever they were doing before. Denki often ate with Akio and Ramika in their room, with Terashi joining them sometimes. They never sat around a table and just talked to each other.

He thought this was nice though.

Under the table, Denki grabbed Hitoshi’s hand.

Chapter Text

Denki’s pride told him he needed to be useful. Or maybe it was the insecurities. Either way, despite every amount of coaxing from Hitoshi or Present Mic if he was at their house, he started dinner. The first time it had happened, Hitoshi had been told to start dinner, and Denki had taken one look at the texts and started asking where they kept the pots. While Hitoshi had insisted that he didn’t need to do that, Denki’s stubbornness eventually won out.

When Aizawa, Present Mic, and Eri made it home, there was dinner on the table. All of them thanked him, and the adults assured him he didn’t need to do that.

Either way, he continued to, because if he was going to intrude on their family, put their son in danger, and eventually betray all of them.

He could at least make them dinner.

Eri always liked his food over when Hitoshi was supposed to help cook. However, considering his boyfriend only knew how to make prepackaged ramen, he wondered if that was really high paise.

He ended up spending many weekends and even days after school at the home. The place felt lived in, unlike the perfect and pristine home he grew up in. With scattered toys and coloring pages from the young girl and the coffee mugs, both his boyfriend and his teacher would leave everywhere. It felt like a home.

Once Aizawa and Present Mic came home to Denki looking uncomfortable on their couch watching a movie with Eri, and when asked where their son was, the blond could only give a vague shrug. They had later found out that Hitoshi had run to pick up dinner, seemingly forgetting that he shouldn’t just leave Denki to watch his sister. Not that it mattered by that point. Both adults were getting used to having another teenager in the house and sometimes more surprised when there was a weekend when he wasn’t at their home.

Denki, who had been prepared to stay at the dorms for the break, found himself thrown into the guest bedroom at the Aizawa-Yamada residence. He never asked if he could stay; they never had a conversation about it at all. Present Mic just showed up to the dorm room and shooed him up to the dorm, telling him to get packed. The blonde man had found out he was staying at the dorms, then learned he was going to be the only one and decided that Denki would stay with them.

Yamada, who was the first adult to find out he slept in his friend’s rooms but left it alone when Denki didn’t want to answer. Yamada who saw the stack of books when Denki was packing them and didn’t tease him about it or ask why his grade was so low if he could read those. Yamada, who was Present Mic, a teacher that had always just let him exist.

Yamada, who judging by the look on Aizawa’s face, didn’t tell his husband that there would be another child in their home for the break between school years.

Denki’s hand was held tightly in Hitoshi’s, who was not yet awake as they made their way to the table.

“What do you want for breakfast,” Aizawa said from where he was standing near the coffee pot pouring himself a cup. “I offer cereal or cereal. Now I know it’s a tough choice, so I’ll give you a minute to decide.”

Hitoshi beside him snorted into his arms where his head was currently laying, then without moving, he spoke, “I think I’ll have cereal and a cup of coffee…please, dad?”

Denki bit his lip to stop from laughing before asking for the same thing.

“How do you take your coffee,” Aizawa asked, only turning his head slightly to talk to him as he made the requested cups.

“Black,” Denki responded before letting himself get distracted by his boyfriend’s lilac locks as he combed his fingers through his hair. There weren’t many tangles in it, considering that Denki had finally gotten to brush it last night after a week of bullying. It was soft and easy to run his fingers in.

Then there was a cup of coffee in front of him, and his teacher was looking at him with a small smirk on his face. And Denki could feel his face heat up till it was as warm as the coffee in front of him from getting caught.

Denki allowed himself to exist in the quiet atmosphere, it was nice in a strange way. Neither Yamada nor Eri was there at the moment, so there was a resounding calm that the kitchen didn’t possess during those family dinners where everyone was home. It was nice that he wasn’t expected to talk through breakfast because right now, he was exhausted. Hitoshi probably was too. They had both been up all night, and not because they were doing something fun like making out or fucking or talking about the crippling existential weight of existence. No, they had been doing the very unfun activity of talking about Denki’s feelings.

Breakfast had stayed quiet until Aizawa broke the silence.

“Won’t your parents miss you during the break?” Aizawa asked. And Denki started laughing before he had the chance to suppress it. They might miss their punching bag or their servant. Not their kid, though.

“There are 6 other kids. I could go days before they realized I was gone. Besides, Akio told me they won’t be home, and it’s easier to avoid the older sister this way,” Denki said, forcing on a smile. It’s not like it was a lie. Denki had learned he didn’t like lying to his teacher and avoided doing it at all costs. There was something about lying to the face of the man who had nearly died for his class that didn’t sit right with Denki.

After breakfast, Denki and Hitoshi made their way back upstairs and spent the next few hours lounging around and not talking to each other. Hitoshi was happy with the game he was playing, and Denki was happily texting his friends hearing about the disasters they had already gotten in too. Mina had twisted her ankle and was on bed rest for the new few days, Kirishima had dyed his sink red while fixing his roots, and Sero had gone to the grocery in a Santa bikini top…for some reason.

So, even if they all weren’t together, their break was off to a good start.

Late that night, however, Denki received a message from Katsuki asking where he was staying. He wasn’t sure why the other blonde would ask, but he told him he was staying with Hitoshi’s family.

Katsuki seemed pleased with that answer, and for a moment, Denki wondered if Katsuki knew. What Katsuki knew? Probably not the whole story, he reasoned with himself. He likely had put together that his parents with pieces of shit. Afterall, Katsuki had always been more perceptive than others.

After their short conversation about his living situation, Denki stirred the topic onto the homework and asked Katsuki for the answers, letting himself get yelled at over text. At least he was used to that.

That night he falls asleep spooning Hitoshi. With his arms wrapped around the taller boy holding him to his chest, he feels at ease. He thinks considering the two of them can only sleep well together, they may as well share a dorm room when Hitoshi transfers. He lets himself consider how this feels like to wake up feeling safe.

He wakes up alone with the clock on the bedside table nearing noon. He barely registers the knock that woke him. Distantly he can hear the sounds of the house around him going about their day, but then more distinctly, he hears another knock.

“Hey, come in,” Denki calls out to whoever is on the other side of the door. After a few moments of quiet, the door slowly swung open, and Eri crept in holding a stuffed rabbit to her chest. She smiled at him before shuffling over and next to where he was currently laying on Hitoshi’s bed. He met her smile back before saying, “So, what can I do for you?”

“Papa sent me to wake you up for lunch,” she said softly.

“Alright, I’ll be down in a minute.”

This seemed to satisfy her because, as Denki climbed out of bed and stretched his back, she slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her. Yamada’s promises of food and coffee were the only thing keeping him compliant. He ended up just pulling on Hitoshi’s sweatshirt on top of his tee-shirt before making his way down the stairs. When he reached the kitchen, Yamada set a plate down in front of Eri, but when he turned around and saw him, his grin grew a little as he beckoned into the kitchen.

“Just so you know, kid,” Yamada began, setting an identical plate down in front of him. “Shota and Hitoshi are out right now.”

“I got bonding time with Mr. Aizawa yesterday and now bonding time with you? If I didn’t know better teach, I’d say you were planning this,” Denki joked before biting into the provided sandwich.

“I would say we're that good, but unfortunately, it was just how the schedule lined up. Hitoshi is at a psychiatry meeting,” Yamada continued with a slight chuckle. “And since they’re out anyway, Shota and Hitoshi will probably stop at the grocery and pick up some stuff. If you need anything, you can text Hitoshi, okay?”

“Oh, Okay.”

No way in hell was he asking for anything.

Okay, he did ask for something, but nothing that needed to be bought.

Not even an hour after lunch, he found Yamada’s small library and ended up borrowing Pride and Prejudice. Sue him, he was bored and had played all of Hitoshi’s video games yesterday. Besides, it was a good story, that he hadn’t gotten to read in English yet, only in Japanese. He dug into the novel. So much so that he didn’t move from his spot on the couch until Aizawa and Hitoshi were home. They both walked into the house and found him with his face shoved into the book, completely ignoring his surroundings. And when Hitoshi placed a hand on his shoulder startling him out of his stupor, he saw Aizawa stifling a laugh at they way Denki literally jumped.

Eri asked him what it was about, so he weaved her a summary of the novel of Elizabeth Bennet, who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments. In her curiosity, she asked why she couldn’t read it, and he had to explain that it was in a different language.

She asked if she could learn it and he said why not. He was Eri’s age when he decided to learn.

Denki didn’t remember ever making a decision to learn English. As a kid, he was frustrated that a book with a pretty cover was in a language he didn’t speak, so he checked out books to teach himself the language. Now Denki isn’t sure whether normal children could have stuck with something like that; however, at the tender age of seven, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do.

That night he ended up reading to the girl. Telling her a story that she didn’t understand as she drifted to sleep.

Soon though, it was time to head back to school. And far too soon, Denki got a message from his father.

Come home.

A chill ran through his spine when he read that. For no other reason than he hadn’t spoken to his father in almost a month. Since before the break. The break he had spent with his boyfriend and his family.

He didn’t know how his father expected him to break out of and then back into the UA dorms, but it was clear that it wasn’t a discussion. The first day that they were back, Denki found himself subtly testing out frying the electricity on this door to his room. Basically, using his quirk to overload the security system, so it shuts down, giving him enough time to slip into his bedroom. When it worked on the door to his room, he tested it on the gate to the dorms. After all, that was what locked at night that he needed to get around.

It was midnight when he snuck out of the UA dorms. He did it in a black hoodie and a pair of sweatpants. And it took him longer to get to the bottom of the hill then it did to leave the dorms. It took him less than 5 minutes to break out while it took him 15 minutes to get to the bottom of the hill where a car was waiting to drive him back to his parents’ home. The driver didn’t ask questions and didn’t bother with small talk. Denki found himself slightly relived while also somewhat uncomfortable. Knowing that this driver definitely worked in the same circles as his father or his boss means he wouldn’t snitch, but Denki was also in the car with a criminal.

Then again, so was the driver.

The driver muttered that he’d be the one to take him back, as Denki stepped out of the car where they were parked in front of the house. He barely remembered to respond before walking away from the vehicle and up to the front door. He raised his hand to knock, where so many months ago, he would have just walked in. Not that it mattered because as soon as he raised his fist, the door swung open, and Ramika pulled him into a tight hug.

It was warm and safe and for a moment. But only for a moment because his sister pulled away far to quickly and began leading him inside toward the sitting room where Shigaraki sat with Toga across from his parents. Despite technically working for this man for almost two years now, this was the first time they had met where they weren’t in a fight.

“Well, well,” Shigaraki said. “The little traitor finally arrives.”

Denki didn’t flinch.

He knows better.

He could feel his father’s gaze rake over him, and he felt Toga’s eyes sizing him up. He ignored both and took a seat next to his parents. He ignored both in exchange for a sense of Déjà vu wash over him as he remembered the last time he had been in this spot, Aizawa had been the one across from him.

Somewhere inside him, he finds a mask and slides it on. He slumps back into the couch and crosses his arms while waiting for someone to speak to him. Then the sense of Déjà vu is back as he finds a scowl on his face. He thinks of red eyes, cooked meals at dinner, and rolled eyes when Denki slips into the bed. He feels slightly sick but doesn’t let it show on his face.

He knows better.

“What’s the matter with you,” Shigaraki practically spits at him breaking Denki out of his thoughts.

“You mean besides the fact that it’s one in the morning, and I have to get up in a few hours?”

The sass slides off of Denki’s tongue before he can stop it. The room pauses as he sees Shigaraki’s face contort with anger as he sees Toga’s giggle as he sees his father's fist fly at his face.

He doesn’t move.

He knows better.

The fist connects with Denki’s face. He wonders if it hurts more because he knew it was coming, but it doesn’t matter. The hit sends Denki off the couch and onto the floor. Denki doesn’t meet his father’s eyes; instead, he finds Shigaraki’s. The man looked at him with an expression that Denki didn’t recognize.

Something akin to sympathy.

Denki didn’t remember the rest of the meeting. At some point, he was yanked back up onto the couch by his mother, but he continued to be ignored while Denki tried to ignore the ringing in his ears.

At some point, they left.

And at some point, he left. He found himself back in the car, this time with a jaw that hurt like hell, stumbling home, hoping that no one’s insomnia had kicked in tonight.

He didn’t get so lucky. Katsuki stood in the kitchen with two mugs and an expression that reminded him of what he imagined a worried mother looked like.

“Drink this, you dumbass, its fucking cold out there,” Katsuki said with a scoff pressing a mug filled with tea into Denki’s hands. He was right, of course. Katsuki was usually right, and he could definitely see Denki’s pale skin as he shivered. Katsuki took Denki’s cold hand and didn’t comment on why Denki had come in at 3am, just gently pulled him towards the elevator. Speaking in a quiet tone that Denki wasn’t used to hearing. Katsuki muttered, “Come on, lets head to my room.”

Denki didn’t know if he could have argued even if he wanted too. He just allowed himself to be pulled along up to Katsuki's room and into the other boy’s bed. And the other blonde paused for a moment before Katsuki pulled him into a tight hug.

It was warm, and he felt safe.

And it felt like coming home.

The next day he woke up a different kind of warm; he was running a fever. Katsuki chastised him for being out late again, called him a dumbass, and then brought him some water. His temperature was hovering around a hundred degrees, so Katsuki demanded he stay in bed. Perhaps not his finest moment all things considered. And as he sat the coughing into his friend's blanket, he let himself drift back into unconsciousness.

However, the second time he woke up, he was met with the eyes of the principal.

“You’re a tad difficult to track down today, you know?” Nezu said his tone light but his gaze knowing. “First, I tried to call you down from class, but of course, you're sick today. So, I went to your room and to my surprise you’re not there either. I was concerned for a moment till I reached out to Present Mic, and he told me that you were in Bakugou’s room.”

“My bad,” Denki said. He could hear his own voice rasp from the strain of the early morning coughing. As he took in the relaxed posture of the other sitting on his friend's chair and almost wanted to ask how long he had been there. “What can I do for you?”

“Kaminari, why are your grades so low?”

Denki knew the surprise showed on his face, so he forced himself to use that and made something that he hoped sounded like laughter before speaking, “I’m mean, I’ve never been the smartest really-”

“Well, that’s not true is it,” Nezu spoke, cutting Denki off. “I pulled your grades from your last year of middle school, and they are exceptional. What’s strange is I can’t find the first two years or anything from your primary school.”

Excuses ran through Denki’s mind, but he wasn’t even sure where to start. He knew his mouth was hanging open ready to start explaining any of the hundreds of cover stories he had stored in his mind, but he sucked in aa breath Denki in found himself caught in yet another coughing fit. Water was pushed into his hands, and he gulped it down, before looking back at the principal who merely shook his head when Denki went to speak.

“I’ll be frank, Kaminari. I know you snuck out of the dorms last night. Tell me how you did it and promise to never do it again, and we can keep it between us.”

Denki wondered what the principal’s long game was if he was working for someone or just trying to stay alive. Many questions were born from that conversation, but none he was allowed to ruminate on for long because the owner of the room returned with an entourage of 18.

Everyone barely all fit in the room, but damn if they weren’t going to make it work. Voices overlapped the others as they all asked if Denki was alright or what was wrong with him. They offered to get him things or just straight up brought him stuff.

He had been on the other side of this aggressive care, but he had never realized how overwhelming it was.

Iida, with tissues and medicine from Recovery Girl, had wished him a speedy recovery. 

Momo had brought a thermos of tea, telling him it would help his throat.

Mina and Kirishima were practically on top of him, hugging him, exclaiming their worry throughout the whole endeavor as if they could cuddle the sickness out of him.

Sero had brought his phone from where Denki had left it in the other's room yesterday.

Todoroki had brought a familiar bag that Denki knew was filled with first aid equipment, though judging by the look on Midoriya's face, he knew it too.

Not that it mattered Midoriya didn't say anything and offered him some more water along with cough medicine with a kind smile.

Jiro brought him some noise-canceling headphones and told him to get better.

Bakugou had brought him a bowl of soup and then threatened to shove it down his throat.

Hitoshi had kissed his forehead and held his hand.

Denki felt warm, but that may have been from the fever.

However, surrounded by everyone, he felt safe.

Chapter Text

Denki spends two days wallowing in his own misery before Katsuki forces him to go back to class. It’s a wonder that the blonde didn’t catch his cold. Actually, no, Katsuki is too stubborn to get a cold. But his class welcomes him back with open arms when he finally comes back. Everyone knows that he’s still sick, which is why Denki thinks they’re somewhat babying him. His class goes easy on him when they spar, and Iida brings him a water bottle after, Eijiro brings him his lunch while Momo double checks that he doesn’t need any more medication from recovery girl, and Denki can feel the concern in his teacher’s eyes that seems to fade as the week draws to a close.

Overall, it’s a calm week that comes to a screeching halt after school on Friday. Mina brings him a package that’s clearly addressed to him. It’s a small cardboard box with his name and the school address on it. Nothing that makes it stand out, but Denki feels a wave of unease wash over him when he holds it.

And he can’t place where it’s coming from.

So, he makes his way into his dorm room and hides away while opening the box. It’s a simple metal bracelet, made of a thick chain and a single crystal hanging off it. It feels like Denki’s dorm all over again, because honestly, Denki would never wear something like this. Though, even if it wasn’t ugly, Denki doubted he’d want to put it on. After all, being tracked at all points of the day wasn’t overly appealing to him.

It looked like they tried to make it look slightly less conspicuous, but even if Denki only had half a brain, he could have figured out what it was. After careful examination, excluding the crystal, he was pretty sure that the bracelet was just a tracker. There weren’t any cameras, and there was no good place to hide a mic, but there was the strange crystal, which just didn’t feel right, it was strangely warm. 

“Hey, Denks? Are you okay in there?” Mina yelled from outside his door.

“Yeah, dude, it’s not like you to hide away,” Hanta agreed.

When they spoke, Denki almost jumped off of his bed but managed to control himself. He found himself digging in his head for an excuse and found himself replying, “Yeah, I’m alright, just about to get started on the homework I missed at the beginning of this weekend.”

Nope. No one was going to buy that. Denki was lying through his teeth, and both of his friends definitely knew it too.

“…okay Denki, but tell us if you need us, okay?” Mina said, voice laced with concern.

“I will.”

He wouldn’t.

Denki planned to spend the entire weekend sulking in his room, but that plan was complicated by all of the people that came to check on him clearly, not believing that he was getting caught up on homework. And on the one hand, that was fair, but on the other, he found himself a little offended by the fact that everyone had that little faith in his academic motivation. A few people offered to help him with the work, which he all politely declined. No way in hell was he doing algebra right now, he didn’t need to feel stressed and stupid. A few more asked if he wanted to eat dinner with them, to which he informed them he wasn’t hungry.

Honestly, the only reason he didn’t spend the weekend sulking is that Shoto Todoroki was much less polite than their classmates. He didn’t request he open the door and talk to him, he broke into Denki’s dorm and then dropped on Denki’s bed and informed him that the class was worried about him.

“Uh,” Denki said brain stuttering much like he was since Shoto had just broken into his room. Denki had been laying face-first into his own mattress, silently contemplating whether he could fry the bracelet (he probably couldn’t) and only shot his head up when he heard his door open despite being sure that he had locked it. “How did you get in here?”

“Not important, the important thing is why are you in here? You never spend time in your own dorm,” Shoto said.

“How do you know that,” Denki muttered, pushing himself over onto his back to stare up at the other boy.

“Everyone knows that,” Shoto said blankly, staring down at him with a raised eyebrow. “Now, you’re avoiding the question, and you know it.”

He was right, of course.

“It’s just… stuff with my dad,” Denki said, throwing his arm up and over his eyes. He's sure he hears a mutter of what sounds like 'gross' before he feels the weight next to him shift and find Shoto lying next to him. When he looked at the other, he just nodded, because Shoto of all people got asshole dads. The other boy moved over to him and somewhat awkwardly pulled him into a one-armed hug that pulled Denki into Shoto’s chest.

And if Denki was shaking when he wrapped his arm around Shoto, that was their business.

Besides, it worked out. Everyone was somewhat surprised to see Shoto bringing Denki downstairs to join the class, but no one complained. Everyone instead got their assurances that he was okay now and that he knew he could talk to them before they all forced down any additional questions.

Then he spends the weekend in Hitoshi’s dorm. He had seemingly caught a miniature version of Denki’s cold and was hiding away to make sure none of their class found out. And it likely would have worked had Mina not decided to go looking for Denki and find him taking care of Hitoshi. Mina is terrible, so despite Hitoshi’s immediate attempts at bribery and threats, she ran off to go tell the class reps. Denki just watched Hitoshi drop back down onto his pillow with a sigh waiting for the stampede of worried teenagers. Luckily for his boyfriend, it wasn’t quite as bad as Denki’s; it was only the people in the common area downstairs.

And somehow the class coming to check on Hitoshi meant Denki getting lectured because he wasn’t better yet (despite it being almost a week) and should still be resting. Thus the blonde was shoved next to Hitoshi, and Monday couldn’t have come soon enough for either of them.

However, when it did come, Denki wishes it had stayed the weekend. Aizawa announced a weekend trip for training on a piece of land Endeavor owned. Had Denki literally not been given a tracker, he wouldn’t have worried about it; however, he didn’t know how it worked yet or how accurate the locations were. It would make a difference if his father could tell if he was at UA or even the Heights Alliance versus if he could see whether Denki was moving in his dorm room. He still needed to test that, because if the bracelet was so accurate that it could track movements around the dorm. If he could see him moving around his dorm, Denki couldn’t leave the bracelet in his room and leave. His father would know he wasn’t wearing it by the lack of movement.

It looks Denki about thirty minutes to stop spiraling.

And it was because Aizawa was calling his name.

“-minari. Denki Kaminari, are you paying attention?” He said, sounding very clearly annoyed. Denki knew his teacher was likely going to kill him for this, but he hoped it was for the best.

“What happens to the people born on February 29th? Do they like to stay one for four years, or do they just celebrate on a different day? Oh my god, what if the government locks them up and only releases them once every four years!” Denki was talking out of his ass, and Aizawa just stares at him for a few moments. Denki can almost hear Kyoka shaking her head next to him, and he can definitely hear the attempts at suppressing laugher from around him. Eventually, Aizawa just turned around and went back to teaching the class, ignoring the interaction entirely.

He earned his first detention of the week in Mathematics with Ectoplasm. If Denki was honest, he did like Ectoplasm, he just did not like math, but when Ectoplasm came around to gather Denki’s homework, he paused.

“Kaminari, where is your homework,” He asked.

Denki swallowed his pride and somewhat pouted before saying, “Oh, I didn’t do it. No disrespect to you, dude, you're cool. But your class is super boring.”

His classmates looked at him with surprise because Denki knew he was breaking all of his patterns. Usually, when he didn’t get his homework done, he was really apologetic because he always did feel bad, but today he couldn’t allow himself to think like that.

Ectoplasm didn’t seem amused or surprised. His face was neutral when he told Denki to meet him in detention after school.

And a similar situation when Midnight asked for his homework, only when she told him to meet her in detention, he had to tell her that he already had detention.

So, just like that, Denki had two hours of detention after school. He felt a little lucky, considering he knew that most of the teachers had a bit of a soft spot for him, and he spent the two hours doing the homework that he didn’t turn in.

Tuesday started out bad and only got worse when he remembered that he’s supposed to be trying to get in trouble. Nightmares had kept him up most of the night, even with Hanta at his side. The class could tell he was exhausted, but he refused the coffee offered to him and then slept through most of homeroom. When Denki woke up, Aizawa was already gone, and Yamada was already teaching. When they realized he was awake, no one let him refuse the coffee, and Mina whispered to inform him that Aizawa had given him detention later that day. Usually, Denki loves English class, but today his teacher's voice just seems to go in one ear and out the other. But Denki finds a pen in his pocket.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Cli-

The pen is pulled out of his hand, and Yamada holds it and looking at him with barely concealed annoyance.

“Little Listener, if you didn’t notice me approaching, I think we should probably work on situational awareness in detention after school,” Yamada says, sliding the pen in his pocket before walking away then stopping. “And meet me after class.”

Denki doesn’t get a chance to escape his conversation with Yamada because when it becomes time for lunch, and everyone else leaves his teacher sits on his desk and looks down at him.

“Have you taken your ADHD medication today,” Yamada asks with a sigh. And Denki just feels realization settle over him. No. No, he hadn’t. Denki wanted to mentally justify that as part of his plan, but it wasn’t. He knows the answer showed on his face because Yamada continued. “Go take it. Better late than never.”

Denki nodded and stepped out of the room to be faced with Hitoshi, waiting for him.

“Forgot your medication, huh?” He said with a hint of a smile before holding out his hand for Denki to take. As they walk, Denki swings their hands back and forth between them till they reach the front of the school, where Denki attempts to send his boyfriend off with a wave telling him to go enjoy lunch and that he was going to take a few minutes to breathe. Hitoshi had looked concerned and tried to object but eventually conceded, leaving with a kiss to Denki’s cheek.

So, Denki took his time. Grabbing a snack as he walked past the kitchen and up to his room. He took the stairs instead of the elevator, and by the time he made it downstairs, lunch was basically over. He took his time getting back as well, and when he opened the door to Cementoss already teaching, the man just looked over before gesturing to his seat and asking him to meet him in detention later that day. 

He didn’t bother telling him that he already had detention.

It didn’t matter, he got another for pulling out his phone in Midnight’s class. So, when all four teachers showed up in the 1-A classroom, they looked at each other in surprise before Midnight sent them off, saying she would handle it. She then told him that since he technically had four hours of detention, they would split it up and do half of it today and half of it tomorrow.

By Wednesday, Denki gets an additional three detentions, and all of his teachers are frustrated.

They send him back to the dorms after school on Wednesday, and it’s quite clear that none of them are quite sure what to do. Denki can feel the stress building up in him, it’s halfway through the week, and they hadn’t even threatened to take the trip away. He almost wanted to start screaming that he was a danger in Aizawa’s face and hope that they would at least spend the weekend interrogating him instead of taking his classmates anywhere.

But Thursday morning after Aizawa was done teaching, he began to pack up and called Denki to come with him to his office.

“Nine detentions in three days,” Aizawa informed Denki like he wasn’t aware. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” Denki didn’t have an excuse, so he stayed relatively quiet and just shrugged, looking towards the ground. Everything he had thought of to say just feel out of his head when he was faced with his homeroom teacher staring at him. The man just sighed and looked at him before speaking again. “Kaminari… Denki. Sure, you’ve been a joker before, but you’ve never been openly disruptive or disrespectful. Is it a problem with taking your medication?”

Denki shook his head, saying, “No, that was just Tuesday I forgot...and I took it at lunch.”

“Yes, then immediately proceeded to be late to your next class and began playing on your phone in the class after that,” Aizawa glanced down at the papers in front of him before looking back at Denki. “And you’re sure there is nothing wrong?”

Denki nodded, looking at the ground. He could feel his teacher's gaze practically drilling into him, and he didn’t think he could continue to lie if he looked at him. The silence hung in the room for a few moments before Aizawa sighed.

“…you know this is more detentions than you got during your entire first year,” Denki could hear the disappointment in the other’s tone, and it made his throat tighten. His eyes started to water, and he forced himself to keep breathing at a normal pace as he nodded. “I can’t help if you don’t tell me what's wrong-”

“There’s nothing wrong,” Denki shot back far too quickly and far too loud.

“Then why are you behaving this way!?”

 “I’M NOT BEHAVING ANYWAY.”

"WITH HOW YOUR ACTING DO YOU EVEN WANT TO GO ON THIS TRIP?" Aizawa had shouted, finally breaking the dam of tear that Denki had been holding back.

"NO, I DON'T," He heard himself cry. He doesn’t realize he’s being pulled onto the couch besides Aizawa’s desk until long after he’s crying into his teacher’s chest. He finds himself struggling to breathe and shaking. He knows Aizawa can feel it, but he can’t find it in himself to generate words. He feels this overwhelming want to run and hide but doubt his legs would let him move if he tried.

Aizawa, however, was calm. Concerned but calm. He gently rubbed Denki’s back while he cried into his teacher’s shoulder. And he seemed to realize when Denki became more aware.

"Concentrate on your breathing. Stay in the present," Aizawa said softly. “Breathe in, hold it, then let it out.”

Denki nodded slowly, following his teacher’s directions.

“You’re alright, Denki. I’ve got you. You’re safe here,” Aizawa said.

And for those few moments, Denki let himself believe that. He let himself believe the calming words that his teacher told him.

And he fell asleep. When he woke up, he was still in Aizawa’s office, and Hitoshi was there almost mindlessly messing with his hair while typing on his phone.

“Hey, hot stuff, worried about me,” Denki said with a small laugh noticing how incredibly hoarse his voice was. Hitoshi's eyes shot up, and Denki watched Hitoshi give him one of those soft smiles carefully reserved for a select few people.

“Hey kitten,” Hitoshi muttered, pressing a soft kiss on Denki’s forehead before seemingly pulling a water bottle out of nowhere and offering it. “And yes, considering we just stared lunch, and you disappeared after dad’s class.”

“Yikes,” Denki muttered, wiping his mouth and offering back a now empty water bottle.

“You just missed dad, though. He asked me to stay with you while he had a meeting,” Hitoshi said.

“Wow, so much work. I can’t even imagine how hard it was to sit on your phone in the same room as my sleeping carcass,” Denki said, reaching out and pulling the taller boy till they were both lying on the couch.

“Drama Queen,” Hitoshi said with a roll of his eyes.

“Says you,” Denki responded before cuddling close to the taller boy enjoying the warmth he was providing and letting the silence hang in the air.

“… you got banned from the weekend trip,” Hitoshi said.

Truthfully, Denki’s heart got caught in his throat, and he felt like jumping for joy, but he ended up just nodding and saying, “Yeah, I expected that.”

“Luckily for you, when Dad told the other teachers he was making you stay here, they waved your detentions.”

“Hell yeah,” Denki muttered with little enthusiasm.

“Hey, no more sleeping,” Hitoshi said, poking Denki’s side, causing him to jump and look up to pout at the other. “Dad excused you from your morning classes, but you still have to go to the ones in the afternoon.”

And Hitoshi barely finished his sentence before Denki stared groaning out a no. Not that his boyfriend was going to listen. The other boy started to move despite Denki’s objections, and when he was fully standing, he grabbed Denki’s hands. He began pulling him to the edge of the coach and then once again, despite protests, picked him up from under his arms and brought Denki to his chest, forcing the blonde to wrap his legs around Hitoshi’s waist.

He barely notices as the day flies by, and he’s saying goodbye to everyone who promises to text him as much as he can.

He gives Hitoshi a kiss and tells him to be safe, and his boyfriend chooses that moment to hold his wrist and be surprised by the bracelet.

“Not really your style,” He said with a quirk of his eyebrow.

“Gift from my father,” He says, looking away so he can’t see the surprise he knows will appear on the other’s face. Luckily for him, Hitoshi doesn’t comment just gives him another kiss before passing him over to Mina and climbing onto the bus. 

Luckily for him, the weekend also flies by.

Chapter Text

“Come on in Kaminari,” Mr. Kimura says, gesturing to the couch in front of him. Honestly, Denki has never been so uncomfortable in his life, and Denki had been in the room as his older brother had the sex talk with their younger brother. The adult shuffled around some papers as Denki sat down onto the couch before placing them to the side and giving him a faint smile. “So, do you know why you’re here today?”

‘Because I had a mental breakdown in front of my teacher, and they think I’m traumatized’ was what Denki wanted to say. Or maybe even ‘because Nezu recently decided he cares about his image.’ What he actually ended up was something more like, “Not really, sir.”

“Well, the faculty at your school believes the students of the hero courses could benefit from having someone to talk too. Especially due to everything you all have gone through in the past two years,” Kimura said before picking his stack of papers up again, flipping through them before seemingly finding the one he wanted. He pulled it out and set the documents back down again. “Specifically, your teacher, Present Mic, ask me to note your ADHD, hoping that I could help with coping strategies. Your teacher Mr. Aizawa wanted to address any lasting trauma you may have had from the villain attacks.” There it was. “Which was an opinion shared by Principal Nezu. Now, even though that’s what I was asked to address, this is your session and, therefore, your time. We can talk about whatever you want.”

Mentally, Denki was cursing out Mr. Aizawa. Yeah, sure, crying and having a breakdown in his office didn’t leave the best impression, but it definitely didn’t imply that he had lasting trauma from the villain attacks. He was fine.

He wonders if that breakdown was the last straw in some ways.

Even worse, Denki didn’t know what to say, honestly talking to a stranger about his inner trauma sounded like torture. Honestly, he struggled to be able to talk to his closest friends and boyfriend about that stuff. So, he didn’t say anything. He just nodded.

“Look Kaminari-”

“Denki.”

“Denki,” Kimura corrected. “I’m not expecting you to divulge your life to me today. How about we start with you telling me about school or your friends.”

That Denki could do. He could spend an entire hour going on about his friends, and in fact, he did. Denki could tell Kimura everything about his friends, their favorite movies, their childhoods, their deepest fears. However, he found himself struggling to put into words any of those things for himself. The entire experience with Mr. Kimura just made him think back to when he started high school.

‘Kaminari’ was the only thing that mattered when Denki started attending UA. The flirtatious carefree blonde that Denki had played so easily at the beginning. But it’s hard to make a person entirely from scratch, so he decided in order to keep his lies straight, he could base much of his mask on himself. Perhaps that’s where it went wrong. Perhaps if he had never made any connections between himself and Kaminari, they would have never merged.

He remembered the exact moment things began to change. When Mina picked out his favorite color. They were discussing their favorite color, and when Denki was trying to come up with one to tell them, Mina had excitedly asked to guess before asking if it was yellow. Telling him, he always wore yellow, and his phone case was yellow. Then she told him how he practically embodied the color. Bright and vibrant, always making those around him happy.

Denki had never thought of himself like that, but he so desperately wanted to be that person she thought he was.

He told her she was right.

Denki shares a therapist with Todoroki, Midoriya, and Hagakure. It doesn’t technically matter, but when Denki and Shoto find this out, they both give a simple nod to each other as a sign to not speak of their mirrored situations. Both of their sessions consist of trying to convince this professional fucked up person appraiser that they are entirely different brands of not okay. Denki is desperately trying to keep Kimura’s attention on his ADHD and the villain trauma that Denki doesn’t have like his teachers wanted. But Denki doesn’t give the man enough credit, because one day he pulls a question out of nowhere surprising Denki.

“Denki, how come you never talk about yourself?”

He doesn’t answer.

“You always such wonderful things about your friends, but never about yourself. Is there a reason for that?”

He doesn’t answer.

“Well, our sessions about to end, but why don’t you think about it.”

Most weekends, he walks with Hitoshi over to his home. They walk over on Friday, which is coincidentally the day Denki sees Mr. Kimura and leave Sunday morning. The class all knows where they go, but only their squads know specifically who Hitoshi’s parents are. Denki won’t admit that he doesn’t feel all that great after his session, but he’s sure Hitoshi can tell by the way he’s dragging his feet and staring at the ground or maybe by how tight Denki is gripping his hand. Something deep in Denki’s mind tells him that these therapy sessions probably shouldn’t be as stressful as they are.

It’s not raining as they walk, but it’s close. Denki can smell it in the air and feel it in the goosebumps that run across his skin. Denki can feel his gut stirring slightly at even the thought of a thunderstorm.

“You know…you practically live at my house, and you talk about your siblings a lot, but what about your parents? Will I ever meet them,” Hitoshi asks, swinging their hands lightly, probably in an attempt to distract Denki with light conversation.

But Denki freezes.

In his mind, he hears thunder and can see a fist flying towards his face that will undoubtedly paint his face a dark blue. Or that same fist calling upon lighting to hit him, and for a moment, Denki can almost feel an echo pulsing through him a memory of the blinding white pain. It almost feels similar to the ache in his gut he gets when he remembers how hungry he felt when his mother locked him in a closet with a gallon of water and a bucket for four days. He can even feel a different ache when he can almost hear his mother in his head, ‘worthless’ she called him. Worthless, Empty-headed, plain, he can hear her bitter disinterested tone spitting insults at him like they were just fact about him.

Hitoshi will likely never know the full extent of what races through Denki’s head, but he also knows that there’s no way to spin the pause and alarm on his face into something positive. So, he doesn’t bother, they were still stopped Denki had maybe been lost in his head for a moment, but he could see the concern on Hitoshi’s face. Denki took a step towards the other and laid his head onto his boyfriend’s shoulder while letting out a soft sigh.

“No,” Denki says. “Not if I can help it.”

He can almost see his father killing Hitoshi for Denki having the audacity to get close to him. He can practically see the other’s boy face contorted with pain after being struck by lightning. And if he had the audacity to survive it, then he’d be struck again, and again, and again.

“Do you want to talk about it Kitten,” Hitoshi says in a soft tone, clearly attempting to comfort him. And Denki feels Hitoshi’s fingers run through his hair and allows himself to relax into it. He can just feel the soft heartbeat thrumming under Denki’s fingers, where his hand is placed on the other's neck, reminding him that Hitoshi is still alive and still here.

“They don’t know about you,” He responds. Likely not the answer, Hitoshi was expecting, but he makes do and give a soft hum in acknowledgment.

“Then, we never have to meet,” Hitoshi says and oh how Denki wishes that were true. “But perhaps one day you can introduce me to your siblings. They all seem like wonderful people.”

“You’d get along great with Ramika,” Denki muttered into Hitoshi’s neck as the boy pulls him closer, wrapping his arms around his waist. “And I bet the twins would love you.”

Denki maybe tearing up in his boyfriend's embrace in the middle of a road, but he’s fine. He just so badly wants to lose himself in that fantasy. He can almost see Akio trying to teach Hitoshi to cook before asking him to take care of his younger brother, and he can almost see Akio holding Ramika back from giving the stereotypical shovel talk. He can almost see Atari and Ayana trying to braid Hitoshi’s hair with all while Hitoshi talks to Terashi about whatever scientific theory fascinated him recently. And he can almost see Hitoshi playing with Issei, letting his baby brother quietly introduce him to each of his toys.

“Yeah, that would be nice,” Denki says before beginning to pull away. They can both feel the slight drizzle that will undoubtedly turn into a pouring storm.

Later, Denki will text Hanta asking if he left a metal bracelet in his room. He already knows the answer. He already knows it’s on Hanta’s desk; after all, he was meticulous when placing it. But that’s not the point; the point was that the bracelet's tracker needs to move because Denki’s still isn’t sure how exact the bracelet is. When his friend confirms, Denki asks him to pretty please drop that in his dorm when he gets the chance, and he’ll grab it when he gets back. Sero says, of course. Which is when Hitoshi steps out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist.

“Is this the start of a bad porno,” he asks, rolling onto his stomach and kicking his legs up, looking over to the other as Hitoshi digs through his dresser. “I want you to draw me like one of your French girls–” He gets a pair of sweatpants tossed directly into his face, and after a moment, he recognizes them as his.

“I’m going to need to give you your own drawer soon, so you don’t keep stealing my clothes. Honestly, you have enough stuff here already,” Hitoshi’s sighs before wandering back into the bathroom with a bundle of clothes draped over an arm.

“What’s yours is mine Hitoshi,” Denki called as the door clicked shut before laughing slightly.

Yamada knocked on the door, calling out, asking if he could come into which Denki quickly responded he could. When he opened the door, Denki had the realization of how different Present Mic looks from Yamada. He never really saw his teacher in his hero costume while they were in his house, and it was almost strange, even though he saw the man dressed like this every day.

“We’re going to be heading out now,” Yamada said with a smile. “Obviously you and Hitoshi know how to take care of Eri, but really I doubt she’ll be awake any longer than an hour. Don’t forget to lock the door tonight and we’ll be back around five am. so you two should at least pretend to be asleep by then.”

The bathroom door clicked open, and Hitoshi now dressed was using a towel to dry his hair. His boyfriend walked over and gave his father a quick hug before shoving his head outside the bedroom door and yelling to who Denki assumed was Aizawa to be safe. Then he turned and walked over to where Denki was flopping on his bed unceremoniously. He heard Yamada give a light chuckle as he walked away.

“Eri’s probably downstairs playing. I’ll help her clean up and get her into the tub if you set up a movie and do her hair when she gets done?” Hitoshi said into his sheets, causing it to be somewhat muttered. Denki just snorted and agreed before telling him he was going to take his own shower.

As the water runs, Denki can hear Hitoshi calling out to his sister. He pulls his clothes off and steps into the water. It’s definitely a little warmer than most people would like, as Denki can feel a stinging on his skin. However, Denki can never get the water this hot at the dorms, so he likes to savor it when he invades his teachers' home. He can see the scars slowly appear on him as the makeup trails off his skin and down the drain.

He breathes in.

Sometimes Denki thinks about Eri. He wonders what would have become of her had she never been rescued, right now the girl was going on eight and would have undoubtedly had still been with Shie Hassaikai, but in a different time and place and different future, could she have become a villain? Sure, this was the little girl who insisted that her hair be braided every night and had tea parties with him and Hitoshi, but perhaps anything is possible. Especially when he considered the environment she was in before.

He breathes out.

Denki feels a tightness in his chest, and he knows if he really wanted to find the root of it, he would need to completely ignore Eri and wonder about himself. He so rarely thought so selfishly like that anyway. Sometimes in the comfort of his own mind, Denki wonders where he would be had his parents been normal or even just not criminals. Would he be at UA? Would he still have found himself operating under villains? The answer to the second one was probably not.

He breathes in.

A quote by Ernest Hemingway said that “All things truly wicked start from innocence.”  It’s a quote that bounced around in Denki’s head long before being introduced to All for One, but it seemed to take on new meaning.

At 12, Denki wondered if that means everyone has the potential to become evil. If everyone is born one traumatic fuck up away from wanting to destroy the world. 

At 13, Denki no longer believed anyone was truly good anymore.

Now nearing 17, Denki feels certain that he would have been a different person if not for his parents. If not for how he was raised. Surely everyone would be. He thinks back to Eri and the young girl almost instinctual fear of her quirk. He thinks of his boyfriend and his natural distrust of people because of their biases. He thinks of Katsuki’s loud tone and aggressive attitude and thinks of the blonde woman he had heard yelling on the other end of his friends’ phone.

He breathes out.

He’s fine.

And turns the water off.

It’s immediately cold.

Denki leaves the bathroom pulling on a sweater that definitely belonged to Hitoshi and a pair of pants that probably were his before wandered down the stairs to find the living room deserted. However, not for long because as Denki is setting up the television and surfing through their options, a ball of child catapulted onto his lap while dropping a brush, comb, and hair tie next to him. As he felt a weight settle next to him, Eri shifted off his lap onto the floor in between his legs.

Hitoshi knocked into him with his shoulder before grabbing the remote that had fallen into the couch's crevasse and passing it down to his sister. Denki notes that Eri’s hair is somewhat dry as he pulls a comb through her hair to try and get some of the last few tangles out. The girl chooses an animated movie that Denki knows he has watched with Eri and Hitoshi at least a dozen times.

Between the girl in front of him and the boy next to him, Denki feels warm.

He finds himself barely paying attention to the movie as he runs his fingers through the white hair in front of him, parting it in half. Denki can almost picture it as the blonde of the twins. Realistically, Denki could have sped through both braids in a matter of minutes; after all, he’s been french braiding for years, but he finds himself taking his time. They’re halfway through the movie by the time he’s done, and Eri is already asleep. It was past her bedtime, so neither teenager blamed her. Hitoshi rolls his eyes slightly at his sister, but he still has a fond smile.

“I’ll drop her in bed if you want to change the movie,” Denki whispered with a nudge to Hitoshi. He nodded, grabbing the remote from where it was dropped by Eri’s leg as Denki picked up the girl, moving her slowly into her room before coming back to the living room. There’s a movie already playing. It’s another movie Denki has seen a dozen times, but he finds he still doesn’t mind as he drops next to Hitoshi and wraps the taller boy’s arm around him. Hitoshi once again rolls his eyes but pulls Denki closer anyway. The movie becomes background noise as they cuddled; in fact, Denki’s eyes weren’t even open.

Fingers carded through his hair, and he hears Hitoshi take a deep breath in. Denki decided immediately he didn’t like wherever that was going to go.

“I’m sorry for bringing up your parents,” Hitoshi whispered. “I… I didn’t know it would be a sore spot.”

“It’s alright, Hitoshi,” Denki responded. When Hitoshi made a very noncommittal noise, Denki continued, “Really, it is. You deserved to know, it’s just complicated.”

He meant it too, which scared him. 

The next morning Denki doesn’t wake up on the couch, so he assumes someone moved him in the night. Most likely, his boyfriend, who was still knocked out next to him. Denki presses a quick kiss to the purple hair before crawling out of bed, walking over to his overnight bag, and digging through it. He looks through it. Then looks through it again. Then he’s dumping out the bag spreading the items out on the floor.

He’s almost ashamed to admit that he doesn’t realize he’s hyperventilating until Hitoshi is whispering in his ear, telling him to breathe.

“It's not– Hitoshi, it’s not here,” Denki hisses out, finding the words that are lodged in his throat. “Is it suspicious to wear a hoodie this close to summer?”

“You’re not breathing Denks,” Hitoshi says, rubbing his thumb across Denki’s bare shoulder. The loose blue tank top Denki has on does nothing to conceal the scars that run across Denki’s right shoulder to his left hip, and that’s the problem. “What exactly are you missing?”

“My makeup bag,” Denki says involuntarily, bringing a hand up to tap his collar bone. “…I must have left it at the dorms.”

Hitoshi takes the hand that Denki has on his collar and presses a kiss to the back of it before setting it back on Denki’s lap.

“It’s just dad this morning,” Hitoshi says, laying his chin on Denki’s shoulder. “You know he won’t ask questions, so if you’re feeling brave, no one besides you would care if you didn’t cover then up. If not, I tucked away most of my hoodies because of summer, but I can get one out for you, Okay?”

“They’re ugly,” Denki choked out, barely recognizing he was talking. He hears his boyfriend scoff behind him, placing Denki’s hand on Hitoshi’s wrist. There’s a soft moment, where Denki habitually runs his thumb across the faded lines.

“They’re scars, kitten,” Hitoshi said before pressing a kiss on Denki’s shoulder. “There’s no judgment here about those. No hero gets through their career without them. And just so you know your handsome scars and all okay?”

And yet when Eri and Yamada get back, and Denki immediately pulls the jacket on. He can’t help it. He doesn’t know whether it’s habit or fear, and he’s already on edge. He knows everyone can see it. But little Eri is more observant than he gives her credit for.

She tells that both Dad and Papa don’t mind the noise, so he doesn’t have to walk so quietly. He didn’t even realize his old habit had resurfaced until the little girl pointed it out.

Aizawa comes behind him and places a hand on his shoulder, and Denki flinches. His teacher has raised an eyebrow and had obviously been concerned, but Denki brushed it off with a laugh.

Yamada raises a hand to place it on his shoulder and is surprised when Denki steps back so quickly that he trips over his own two feet. He is lucky his teacher is swiftly distracted by the scrap he earned from his fall and doesn’t question why the fall happened in the first place.

Hitoshi asks what’s wrong, and Denki doesn’t have an answer. He can’t find the right words to explain why he feels on edge.

He wonders if the guilt is catching up to him. He wishes that he couldn’t see the metaphorical storms on the horizon. He couldn’t feel the pressure around him, in him, dragging him down. His stomach has a knot in it that seems to twist tighter and tighter with every breath. He feels like he’s slowly downing on land. Perhaps it’s the humidity.

Denki kisses Hitoshi goodbye and apologizes that he couldn’t stay like they had discussed.

He’s fine.

He is fine.

He. Is. Just. Fine.

He forces himself to walk. He forces himself to not look behind him.

He supposes things have been too quiet because his phone rings just as he walks into the elevator. Uraraka, Momo, and Hagakure see him pull it out, everyone sees the caller ID and encourage him to answer it. So, Denki slaps a smile on his face as he answers and pulls the phone to his ear.

“Hey dad,” Denki says as his classmates look at him. “What’s going on–”

“Hey, Mr. Kaminari!”

“Hello!”

“Hi!”

All the girls yelled out before giggling as Denki hushed them with a laugh and a noncommittal hand wave. There’s a silence on the other end of the phone, so Denki works with it as the door to the elevator slides open onto the floor with Denki’s room in it.

“Yeah, dad, those were just some of my friends—HAVE A GOOD NIGHT, GUYS… yeah, those were just some the girls from my class they’re heading up to have a girl’s night in Momo’s room. They have those every once in a while- oh, hey Koda, hope you’re feeling better after Friday’s training dude! Oh uh, Koda is my neighbor in the dorms. He’s pretty cool, kind of quiet, though. I’m sure you remember him. He’s the one with the… I’m in my room now, father.”

“Good, took you long enough,” His fathers voice was perfectly calm, so it was hard to tell if he was angry. “Your homeroom teacher, Eraserhead, isn’t it?”

“Yessir.”

“Tell me about his weaknesses.”

“I-I’m sorry?”

Denki can hear his teacher in the back of his mind. “You’re alright, Denki. I’ve got you. You’re safe here,” Aizawa had said as Denki cried into his shirt.

“I want to know Eraserhead’s weaknesses. Did you not hear me, Denki?” His father spits on the other side of the phone.

Words catch in his throat for a moment, and Denki wants to puke. He feels physically nauseous.

“…his eyes. That’s how he erases someone’s quirk. His right elbow also never completely recovered from his fight with Shigaraki back at the USJ.” Habit is what saves Denki because even as he’s mentally falling apart, his voice comes out clear and calm and concise. More importantly, it sounds like he doesn’t care about the fact that he’s selling out the first adult he’s ever trusted.

“What about emotional weaknesses?”

Suddenly, Denki is perfectly calm. It strikes him just how quickly he goes from feeling like he was going to cave in on himself to feeling completely numb. He sees Hitoshi and Eri, and the lies start flowing.

“Nothing of substance. He says that a hero having a family is illogical. However, he is close to the heroes Present Mic and Midnight, I checked, and it appears they all would have been at UA at the same time. Present Mic and Eraserhead even shared a class. There may be a platonic emotional attachment.”

Denki Kaminari is nothing, if not an amazing actor. No one could deny that. He had been attending the top heroics school for almost a year, and no one suspected a thing.

Denki Kaminari hid everything behind a perfectly crafted smile. No one ever saw anything he didn’t want them to see.

So, Denki lied through his teeth.

He can’t hear his father speaking, but he does hear the door open and see Katsuki walk in. He doesn’t know why the blonde seems so concerned, though.

“The hell is wrong with you, dumbass, get off the phone,” Katsuki growls, walking over to take the phone as Denki laughs, apologizing to his father saying he’ll talk to him later before hitting the end call button. There’s a pause before Katsuki takes his sleeve and runs it across his cheek. Denki is shellshocked for a moment before pressing a few fingers against the opposite cheek only to pull away in surprise when he realized it was wet. Katsuki sighed before taking his other sleeve to dry his other cheeks, “That’s just like you, to not even realize you were crying. Dumbass.”

He barely realizes Katsuki pulling him down the hallway to an entirely different floor until he’s watching Katsuki break into Eijiro’s room. The redhead seems surprisingly unstartled when his door kicks open before slamming shut. He’s lying on his bed with what clearly homework in front of him. His eyes do widen at the sight of them both.

“I’m sorry,” Denki says automatically. “Are we interrupting your–”

“Move your ass over shitty hair,” Katsuki says with a scoff pulling Denki over to the bed and pushing him onto it. He hears Eijiro snicker at the squeak that Denki makes when he hits the mattress. As he lifts his head up, he finds Katsuki moving Eijiro’s homework before hitting lights and dropping next to Denki on the bed.

Now, Denki won’t lie and say that it was a great fit. He’s cuddled close to Eijiro’s chest, and Katsuki is spooning him, but Denki quite likes how safe he feels. He feels warm and protected between his two friends, and for the moment, it's enough.

Chapter Text

Denki won’t admit to being uncomfortable, and he knows he’s hiding it well, but honestly, he felt like he’s walking on glass right now. Momo, Asui, Ojiro were fast approaching as Iida, Shoji, and he were waiting. It was a simple hero versus villain exercise that involved robotic hostages. The premise being they, meaning Iida, Shoji, and he were robbing a bank and needed to get past the heroes with the stuff they had ‘stolen’ to win. He knew All Might and the rest of the class watched through the cameras in each corner, but they didn’t have mics good enough to hear the conversations they were having. In fact, really couldn’t hear them unless they were yelling. But Denki couldn't believe his bad luck with this match up. Everyone he was careful around was in their group. He usually made an effort to only interact with one or two at a time, because these were the smart and responsible people in the class. If he messed up around them, he was worried they could catch on a lot easier.

“Kaminari,” Shoji said, startling him out of his daze. “We took too long getting the stuff, so we’re going to need to face the hero team head-on in a fight, okay?”

Denki nodded, dropping the bag he was holding by Iida's and Shoji’s.

“When they enter, wait for them to make the first move,” Iida said, taking a few steps away from the door. “That’s the only exit, and I can already hear them coming down the hall. At least here, we have some space instead of being trapped in the hall. I’ll focus on Asui, she’s the fastest.”

“Then I’ll take Ojiro,” Shoji nodded.

“Guess I’m with Yaomomo,” Denki laughed as he began lining up with Iida before shifting his weight and getting ready to fight. And it was a good thing he did because the doors through themselves open, and their classmates were there looking thoroughly determined.

“Please surrender and come quietly, or we will be forced to take you in by force,” Momo called out to them, pulling a metal rod out of her arm.

“I’m afraid we can’t do that,” Iida responded.

“Have it your way,” Ojiro said before looking over to his team and nodding, having them all move at the same time. However, they were obviously thrown off when Iida went to attack Asui, who was diagonal to him, forcing her to fall away from her teammates. Ojiro’s eyes followed her and almost missed Shoji heading right charging for him. Leaving Momo, who had been in the middle alone. The girl shifted into a position ready to fight holding her weapon out prepared to attack, but when it was clear Denki wasn’t going to move, she pressed forward, swinging her staff towards his let side. Denki stepped back quickly before moving forward after covering himself with electricity. It was a low thrum against his skin, enough to knock anyone who got hit on their ass without giving any lasting damaging them.

A fine line he was walking. The punch he through was easy ducked under, and in turn, she managed to hit him in the gut with her pole. It knocked him back and hurt, but she hadn’t considered that her staff was metal, and when she hit him, it traveled down. She ended up dropping her weapon and shaking out her hands while taking a step back. Usually, when he and Momo fight, she’s not surprised with it, but she had been today. She’s changes weapons as Denki picks up the one she had. Another staff, this time, rubber. Or at least rubber covered.

“Let’s try that again,” Momo said, shaking her head.

“Fight aside, you okay?” Denki said with a smile as he swung the metal pole only to be blocked by hers.

“Yes, I’m fine. It didn’t hurt too badly,” Momo responded, sending her own attack, trying to sweep out his feet. Denki jumped back and shot her a smile.

“I’ll have to try harder next time them.”

Momo shook her head. They both knew that he would stay at the same voltage.

But luckily for Denki, he didn’t have to. Ojiro slammed into Momo.

“Ouch,” Denki muttered, looking at them on the ground as both scrambled away from each other, trying to stand up and get back to their respective fights. He and Shoji looked at each other and took a few steps back towards the hostages, then he looked at the robots. They were humanoid that beeped every few seconds and tied to a conveniently placed decorative pole. “Back away, I have a plan.”

Shoji looked at him, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking, but it was probably surprise. However, he did listen.

But then Denki looked back at Momo and Ojiro, who were cautiously approaching. Then both paused and seemed surprised, and the air stilled for a moment. Just a moment though, because both looked at each other and continued their movement forward, which Denki countered. Denki moved towards the hostages as both the heroes approached, and then Denki’s shot out electricity. It wasn’t even a lot, not enough to put him out of commission or even hit the other team; however, it was enough to shock all the hostages and cause them to beep a lot louder and a lot faster. Everyone in the room stopped and stared at him; he even ruined Iida and Asui’s fight.

“Look, several hostages that need to go to the hospital for electrical burns and stuff,” Denki could name every possible thing that could have happened if these hostages we’re human. Cardiac arrest due to the electrical effect on the heart. Muscle, nerve, and tissue destruction from a current passing through the body. But the point was that he was right and because these were the smart and responsible people in the class, they knew he was right. The robots were still beeping so loudly it sounded like screams to prove his point. “It would be irresponsible of heroes to not take care of the injured citizens.”

Ojiro cussed him out, but Denki waved and began moving. He shot to the right, and Shoji followed him as they grabbed all their bags and headed to the exit. Iida, who had been keeping Asui busy as they exited chased after them. It looked like Asui wanted to follow, but she knew Denki was right and went over to the still screaming robots.

Iida, Shoji, and he reached the end of the hallway, and the call over the announcement called them the winners. They dropped their bags on the table and walked through the door where their class was waiting.

“That was below the belt, Denki,” Mina said, not even trying to keep the smile out of her voice. “You’re such a dick, and Yaomomo, Tsu, and Ojiro are going to kick your ass.”

“I was playing the villain; I’m allowed to use that kind of dick move. I like to think I’m preparing our classmates for the future,” Denki said, trying hard not to laugh.

“I like to think that you’re just a dick,” Ojiro said, shaking his head as he walked in with the others. Iida immediately gave them a short speech about their job yell done that Denki quickly tuned out, walking over to the class.

“Now, why don’t you continue that conversation over here so I may talk to you about your match,” All Might call out from where he was sitting by the screens. “Now, who can tell me what decided the match?”

“Denki frying the hostages?” Sero said with a humorous tone and a raised hand.

“Look, they would have lived! If they were people, it would have hurt, but they would even have still been awake. I needed the hero team to stay there, but there’s no use helping the dead,” Denki responded before All Might could and crossed his arms.

“Geez Kami, that's so morbid,” Eijiro said from the other side of the room.

“Now settle down, and Young Sero, that was the outcome, but not the deciding factor,” All Might said before looking around. “Anyone else?” Izuku raised his hand, biting down on the pencil he had been using to write with. “Yes, Young Midoriya?”

“Uh, when Yaoyorozu pushed Kaminari back while they were fighting? That allowed Kaminari to be close to the hostages in the first place,” Midoriya said, looking down at his notebook then back up at their teacher who nodded.

“Exactly, robots or not the hostages need to be your first priority,” All Might said. “Now, it’s easier to think about that when you’re not fighting your friends, and there are actual lives at stake, but you should always try to treat these scenarios as realistic as possible. And Young Kaminari, while you were certainly joking, you were absolutely right. You were playing a villain, and they likely would play and underhanded tactic like that. So, it’s definitely fair to say you were preparing them for the future. Now can anyone tell me one thing the villain team did well?”

“…Denki fried the hostages?” Eijiro said quietly, causing everyone to begin laughing.

“CAN WE MOVE ON FROM THE HOSTAGES,” Denki yelled, pouting as everyone began laughing harder. He felt his cheeks burn and felt a hand on his waist, pull him a step back. Even though Hitoshi was laughing too, Denki proceeded to hide his face into his boyfriends’ neck. Also, as Denki was hiding, his face burned even brighter when he heard a laugh that was distinctly All Might. Luckily for him, his teacher pulled the class back and got their attention.

“Well, yes, but is there anything else?” He said.

“Uh, when they split up the hero team in a way they didn’t expect?” Hagakure said, with what Denki assumed was a raised hand. It was kind of hard to tell.

“Yes, that’s exactly right. It through them off and made it so they couldn’t rely on each other. However, it also made it so the villains couldn’t either. It’s a give and take with that approach. Now, what about the hero team?”

“Although it was what Kaminari wanted, they stayed with the hostages and attempted to figure out how to make them stop beeping, meaning they were trying to help the civilians,” Uraraka said, more a question of her own than an answer, but it ended up being the same thing because All Might nodded.

“I’ll take that. I also wanted to commend Young Yaoyorozu for her ability to act quickly changing strategy when she realized that the metal pole wouldn’t work against her opponent. She came up with a quick solution, but we’re over time, so that’s the end of our class, so I will see you all tomorrow!” All Might said before standing up and gathering some papers. Everyone immediately swarmed to their groups and friends and headed out. Because it was their last class afterward, they all got to change and be done with school. Personally, Denki thought that was the best thing about All Might’s class.

“Denki, I need you to know how awesome that was,” Hanta said, coming up behind Denki as they walked to the locker rooms. “It scared the shit out of everyone, but it was awesome.”

“What? Why did it scare you,” Denki said, turning his head to look over at his friend as he walked, hoping Hitoshi wouldn’t let him walk into a wall.

“Dude, you got this look on your face for a moment after Shoji moved away, and next to me, Mina literally asked if you were going to kill them,” Hanta said with a laugh, and Denki laughed along ignoring the internal screaming.

“Then I should probably apologize to Momo and Ojiro,” Denki said. He felt Hitoshi shift slightly, and the arm the was wrapped around his shoulder became tighter. He glanced over at his boyfriend for a second to see him frowning at his phone before looking back at Hanta. “If it was that crazy of an expression from over the screen, it might have been worse in person… Hanta, I feel bad, do you think I actually scared them?”

Denki really did mean the question, and despite his whiney tone, he knew his friend knew he meant it as well. And despite his poor choice in friends, Hanta was a pretty reasonable person, so Denki stayed quiet as his friend considered it as he moved from behind Denki to next to him and hummed.

“I mean, it was more weird than anything else,” Hanta said finally. “I mean, if I saw that expression on someone else’s face, I’d probably be freaked, but like… you’re you. You know?”

“Kinda,” Denki said with a quirk of his eyebrow as he pushed open the door to the locker rooms where most everyone had beaten them there. Hanta immediately ran off at the call of Eijiro, so Denki looked over to Hitoshi, who was still staring at his phone. And then his eye followed after Hitoshi as he walked to his locker and slammed it open, crashing into the door of Denki’s locker. Under the conversation and shuffling around them, no one really paid any mind. “Ouch, what did the locker do to you?”

“Nothing…well not nothing, but I can’t tell you about it yet,” Hitoshi muttered, grabbing his uniform from inside his locker.

“Okay, raincheck then,” Denki asked, carefully ignoring the small dent in his locker door as he leaned on it.

“Raincheck,” Hitoshi said, looking at Denki with a strange expression before pulling his shirt over his shoulders. For just a moment, Denki let his eye run over the muscles that the other developed before tearing his own eyes away and heading towards the shower stalls with his change of clothes.

“Give me like…twenty,” Denki called over his shoulder.

He turned the water on to cold; that way, he wouldn’t have to worry about the steam. After all, not like he was actually going in it. Honestly, he just wanted an excuse to run away from his classmates, because he knew there was something wrong today. There had been so many signs and a few small signals that everyone missed, but Denki was a spy. He was more observant than the average person, and he allowed himself to take pride in that fact. The only other person who may have noticed was Midoriya, but he was probably writing a 12-step plan on approaching the topic.

So, Denki waited. He was good at waiting. Sure, it wasn’t quietly or very still, but he could wait. Eventually though, he turned off the water and changed his clothes before stepping back into the standard locker room and tossing his clothes into his locker. Denki paused for a moment and heard the light breathing and walked towards the stalls.

“Hiding in the bathroom isn’t a good emotional outlet,” Denki called out to Shoto on the other side of the stall. He heard a deep breath out before nothing. It went completely quiet if only for a moment then a soft and almost broken sounding laugh broke that quiet.

“Why not? You do it all the time?”

“How do you think I know.”

“God, you of all people should not be lecturing me about my coping methods,” Shoto muttered just loud enough for Denki to hear.

“I’ll break in if you don’t come out,” Denki said, and he crossed his arms even though Shoto couldn’t see him. “I am a twink and I have no reservations about crawling on the bathroom floor.”

“That’s so gross,” Shoto said with a small laugh.

“I know,” Denki cried. “So, are you going to open the door now or what?”

Shoto just scoffed, “You know I could have my pants down right now as you’re asking me to open the door and threatening to crawl under. What would you do then? If you just crawled under and my pants were down?”

“Obviously, I take mine off, and then we compare sizes. God, what kind of friend do you think I am Shoto,” Denki said, ignoring the brief sputtering from the other side.

“That’s not a thing!” Shoto all but yelled.

“You never had friends before UA, how would you know,” Denki laughed. He heard some muttering and footsteps and saw his friend open the stall door a crack to glare at him.

“I should freeze you to the ground right here,” Shoto muttered before letting go of the door, letting it swing open.

“And yet you haven’t,” Denki said, smiling at him as he took Shoto’s hand and pulled him over to the showers where they dropped onto the metal benches that cut down the two lines of showers. The sat facing opposite directions, but they were shoulder to shoulder. And then after a moment, Slowly Denki laid his head on Shoto’s shoulder. His friend stiffened for a moment before relaxing. “I won’t ask you about it if you don’t want me too, but just stay and exist with me for a while, Shoto.”

There’s a calm quiet. One that Denki has come to associate with Hitoshi and Shoto because they’re both peaceful people, and Denki feels calm with them. It’s something that used to be strange to him but progressively has become more familiar. He feels less and less need to cover any lack of noise with the sound of his own voice. After all, It’s not the awkward pause of embarrassment from when one of his jokes falls flat in front of everyone. It’s not the strained silence from back at Denki’s house when he and his mother had to exist in the same room. And it’s not the suspenseful speechlessness that rolled over him whenever he did something wrong in front of his father. But they're so many things it’s not that it makes it hard to describe what it is. But it’s nice.

“It’s okay,” Shoto said suddenly. “You can ask.”

Denki hummed from where he was leaning on Shoto’s shoulder. He angled himself a little more diagonally so that he was slightly more wrapped around Shoto’s left before settling. “Shoto, are you okay?”

“Today’s the anniversary of when my eldest brother died,” Shoto said. And Denki didn’t know how to comfort that. He had gotten really good with people over his time at UA, but he wasn’t sure what to say. He doubted Shoto sensed that, but the other continued anyway. “I’m not grieving or anything, I barely remember him. But my father… he never told us what happened. There was never a funeral or anything. So, today always hits strangely.”

Denki flips himself around so that they’re facing the same direction and maneuvers his friend into a hug. It’s a little stiff and awkward, but honestly, so is Shoto. In the end, it works for them because slowly, Shoto hugs him back.

“I’m sorry I don’t have any words right now to help you. But I’m here for you,” Denki whispers while holding his friend tight. “And it’s okay to grieve. Even if it’s only what should have been. The older brother you should have had.”

Shoto’s hands are shaking slightly where they’re gripping onto his jacket, but Denki doesn’t mention it. He can give the other that much. And they just stay like that for a few moments, and he quite literally feels Shoto relax. They stay like that for at least another minute before Denki feels him take a deep breath, and the other pulls away.

“Thanks,” Shoto says, looking at him.

“I meant it when I said I was here for you,” Denki replied. “I know lots of people would be willing to do this for you as well. You have so many people to support you in and out of class.”

“I mean, you’re the one that noticed,” Shoto said softly.

“Midoriya also did. I’m sure he’s looking at the Wikihow for how to approach a serious conversation with a friend–”

“No way that’s a thing,” Shoto said, cutting him off sharply.

“Oh, it definitely is, now don’t interrupt me,” Denki said with a fake huff. “But Midoriya’s a smart cookie, and so are you. You’re already hard to read, so when you’re trying to hide your emotional cues…”

“But, you noticed?”

“Takes a good liar to know a good liar.” Shoto takes that answer and processes it rather quickly. Denki watches as some things click mentally for the other, though if he’s is being honest, he has no clue what they are. However, Shoto nods slightly before opening his mouth then closing it. Then thinking about it for another moment. But then Shoto breaks one of their unspoken rules.

“What are your parents like?”

Denki knows that the shock shows on his face, and he paused and looked away and laughed nervously. Denki suppresses the instinct to flee and pretend this never happened, but, in the end, he lets out a sigh and looks back to Shoto. He figures it’s at least fair because he knows plenty about Todoroki’s father, considering he’s the number one hero.

“…My mother isn’t so bad. As long as I don’t make her angry and she doesn’t want me to do something for her, we mutually pretend that the other doesn’t exist. So, it works out. My dad,” Denki pauses, trying to find the words. He thinks of lightening and cold eyes and white-hot pain and tries to force it into words. “He’s a lot, and he’s not a great person. But you knew that. He’s not used to being told no, and he’s like this media portrayal bipolar asshole, one second he’s this perfect, polite, and put together businessman the next dad’s furious and crazy and looks like he’s three seconds away from blowing up the house with everyone inside.”

“They sound like assholes,” Shoto says, causing Denki to choke on his own breath and laugh at the deadpan way Shoto spoke.

“Yeah,” Denki said, and even he could hear the lack of commitment in his tone. He leaned against Shoto again. And found himself relaxing until they both overheard the door to the locker rooms open.

“Shoto,” Midoriya called from the other side of the room. The boy was clearly unsure if anyone and specifically his friend was in here. Shoto looked at Denki and smiled at him ever so slightly.

“I’m back here,” He called out.

They both hear a slight noise of relief, and then they hear footsteps approaching and see Midoriya round the corner. “There you are, Shoto. Hello Kaminari,” Midoriya said with a kind smile before dropping next to Denki on the bench with the same closeness that Shoto and Denki had. Denki pulled Midoriya into the hug that he always used to greet the green-haired boy, and Midoriya giggled slightly at the contact. Then Denki felt Midoriya’s head tilt somewhat in the hug and heard him say, “I was worried about you, Shoto. I’m glad that Kaminari was able to help you.”

“Thank you for worrying about me, Izuku,” Shoto said as Denki and Midoriya pulled away from each other. “I think I’m alright now. Sorry for acting weird.”

“That’s good between the entire staff and you; I don’t know how much weirdness I can deal with,” Midoriya said with a small laugh.

“I know what you mean,” Denki nodded before looking over to Shoto. However, Shoto apparently did not know what they meant because he stared at them with evident confusion. Denki stared back at Shoto for a second before saying, “You haven’t noticed?”

Shoto shook his head, and Denki turned to Midoriya with a raised eyebrow.

“The staff has been super on edge lately,” Midoriya said slowly. “It’s like they’re waiting for something to happen.”

Denki nodded. It was strange one day everything was normal. The next, everyone was on edge. Denki doesn’t recognize the tension that had appeared among the staff came from. It’s peculiar, and it's affecting every one of the heroes differently. And for the most part, it’s hard to spot, hell, Denki likely wouldn’t have noticed it if it wasn’t literally his job to notice these things.

And strangest of all was the fact that he was still on the school campus to witness all of it.

Because Denki can pinpoint the exact moment, he figured out that Aizawa figured out who the UA traitor was.

He has to give his teacher credit. As an underground pro, Aizawa’s got a lot of experience hiding his feelings, and he’s gotten very good at it. In fact, the man only messed up once. His eyes had trailed over Denki with an emotion that had he hadn’t recognized. At first, he thought it was guilt, but he quickly realized that it was deeper than that. He was so used to his teacher not expressing emotions that when they were suddenly there, he had a hard time identifying them.

Denki couldn’t understand why he was here and not in jail if his teacher knew.

“What do you think happened then?” Shoto asked, looking between him and Midoriya.

“I don’t know, and you know… I don’t even think all the teachers know–”

“Hey, Denki!”

“Back here, Hitoshi,” Denki said immediately. “Sorry to cut you all off.” Denki hugged Shoto tightly before switching sides and tugging Midoriya into a similar hug. A head of purple hair rounded the corner and raised an eyebrow as Denki was hopping off the bench.

“Yeah, go run off to your boyfriend,” Shoto said with an eye roll and a light smile. Denki found himself giggling, and Hitoshi came up behind him and placed his chin onto the top of Denki’s head.

“I mean, yeah, but your boyfriend came and found you first,” Hitoshi said with a smile that Denki could literally hear. Both boys in front of them were slack-jawed and blushing with words clearly stuck in their mouths. Then they looked at each other and seemingly snapped back to reality.

“Hitoshi, please don’t say stuff like that–”

“It’s really not like that between Izuku and me–”

Their defenses really didn’t matter in the end because Denki had tugged Hitoshi out the door while they both laughed.

“Midoriya is going to kill you later,” Denki said, knocking against the other.

“Worth it,” Hitoshi said with a wide smile. A real smile, not the sarcastic half-smile or his mischievous smirk or even his terrifying Aizawa style smile. Denki looked at Hitoshi for a moment, letting himself soak in that smile just in case it would soon be the last time he’d see it. Hitoshi’s smile faded, and his eyebrows furrowed. He placed a hand on Denki’s cheek soft and looked down at him with concern. “Hey, what’s going on.”

Denki doesn’t have an answer for him, so he pulls the boy into a tight hug and just enjoys that warmth that radiates off his boyfriend.

“You know how much I love you, right?” Denki whispers into the crook of Hitoshi’s neck only for the other boy to pull him closer.

“I know,” Hitoshi mutters. “I love you too.”

Denki finds himself pleading to a god he doesn’t believe in to freeze time and let him have this for a few more minutes.

Chapter Text

Eri Aizawa-Yamada is nine, but she is not dumb. In fact, she’s sure she’s fairly more observant than her peers. Her older brothers would probably joke that it’s the trauma, and she supposes that they may have a point. She was usually on guard, much more than most her age. It was that constant urge to check over her shoulder. Perhaps that’s why even if she didn’t know what to look for, Eri knew something was wrong with her big brother.

Not her big brother Hitoshi, there was always something wrong with him, but she supposed that was more related to the fact that he seemed to be allergic to sleep. No, what was wrong with Denki ran deeper than a lack of sleep.

Her second brother had come into her life when she was seven. He hadn’t cared that she was shy, he had listened to her no matter what she was saying, and he never talked down to her. She learned later that he had little sisters around her age. Not just one, but two of them. Denki talked about them sometimes and always got this far off look. It hadn’t taken many meetings before Eri adopted him. But in the end, it wasn’t how he treated her that made her like him, it was how he treated Hitoshi. Her brother was like their Dad, quiet and reserved. Eri never saw Hitoshi smile as much as when he was with Denki.

Eri Aizawa-Yamada is nine, but she is not dumb. She knows what love is. Sure, it had taken her a long time to learn it, but now she understands and knows her family is full of it. She sees it in all the little things they do because, remember, she’s observant.

Eri sees it in her Dad and her Papa. The time she watched them slow dance to a song on the radio late at night when they thought no one is watching. Or the times when they’re without the other, and both of them reach for the ring they wear. Whether it hangs around their neck or on their fingers, they’ll both run their fingers across it with a serene expression. She sees it in the ways that neither of them has to speak to say I love you to the other.

Of course, in her Dad and her Papa’s love extends to more than just each other. She remembers her Dad learning to braid hair because her Papa couldn’t always be the one to do it at night. She remembers how her Papa would stroke the faint scars on the underside of Hitoshi’s jaw the few times she had seen her brother have nightmares. The way her Dad trained Hitoshi encouraging him to ignore what anyone else said about her brother’s dream to be a hero. The way her Papa held her hand and assured her healing takes time when she flinched and cried at the needle that her doctor held. Those were expressions of love in the same way that her fathers said I love you to her and Hitoshi every night.

Everything Denki did screamed love. The small things like how he made dinner when no one asked him too or how he always remembered everyone's birthday in his class. It was in the way he retold stories to her and held her hand crossing the street. How excited he was and thanked her Papa when he borrowed a new book and how he just knew when to be quiet for when her Dad needed it. It was all in the way he looked at Hitoshi like he hung the stars and lit up when he entered the room.

Because Eri knew what love was, she also knew what love wasn’t. She knew there was no love when Denki talked about how he looked like his mother, how he had gotten his blonde hair and pretty features from her. Or when he spoke of his father, who had provided Denki’s bright golden eyes and powerful quirk. The was no love when he talked about the place he was raised, even as he spoke about the beautiful exterior garden filled with his mother’s favorite flowers and the lovely kitchen where Denki had learned to cook. He shows her a family picture, and Denki was right about where he got his appearance from, so she ended up wondering where he got his disposition.

He’s happy. Always so happy. To see her, her parents, her brother, the world, and it makes Eri upset. It was sad. It made Eri sad, because she didn’t know how to fix it. She couldn’t give Denki parents that loved him like hers. Or a house that made him want to go home. Denki Kaminari, her older brother, who braided her hair and played tea party with her and always made her laugh when she was crying deserved nice things and Eri wanted to give him that.

Recently, she had watched him become anxious. Anxious was a word her therapist taught her and described her brother perfectly right now. Anxious to be experiencing worry, unease, or nervousness, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. Denki was clearly worried, uneasy, and nervous, but Eri wasn’t sure about what. She finally said something when she noticed how quiet he was being. Of course not quiet in the traditional way. He was still loud and expressive while conversing. Quiet like she had been when she first arrived with her fathers. He breathed quietly, ate quietly, walked quietly as if he was waiting to get in trouble for existing.

“Dad and Papa don’t mind noise,” She says as they sit on the couch watching her favorite cartoon. Behind her, Denki sucks in a breath and before looking over at her. “So, you don’t have to be so quiet while you walk around the house.”

“I’ll try to remember that, thank you, Eri.”

He doesn’t mean, but she nods anyway. After all, she won’t give him a hard time he’s clearly thinking right now. Eri can practically hear the cogs turning in the other boy’s head as they continue watching.

Afterall, Eri Aizawa-Yamada is nine, but she is not dumb. She realizes there are things she’s not equipped to handle, so she goes to her Dad one day. On that day, her brother is barely there. Sure, he’s there physically, but mentally Eri’s not sure what’s going on. When she talks to him, he snaps back to reality for a few moments before fading away. He still loves her, it’s evident in how hard he tries to stay present, but Eri lets her brother fall asleep to the sound of her favorite cartoon and strokes his hair. After all, that’s what he did when she was sick, and it was comforting to her then, so she hopes that it was comforting to him today, even if he wasn’t awake for it.

She wanders out of the living room and out to go find her one of her fathers. Luckily, she finds her Dad in the study staring at a bunch of photos. Some pictures were of random people that Eri skimmed over, some of the other random people made Eri wish she had the innocence to not recognize a corpse, and one of a familiar face she had seen a few weeks ago.

“Why are you looking at a picture of Denki’s father,” Eri asked, startling her Dad who dropped the picture and turned his chair to look at her.

“How do you know this is Denki’s father,” Her Dad says, carefully avoiding her question.

“He showed me pictures of his family on his phone,” Eri responded and climbed up into her father’s lap to take the picture off the table. “So, why are you looking at a picture of Denki’s dad?”

“I’m trying to figure out how to best protect him,” her father said before sliding the picture out of her hand and into the messy stack of photos on his desk. Then her Dad’s back straightens and looked towards the door. “Where is he anyway, I thought he was with you?”

“He’s sleeping,” Eri muttered, looking down. “I think he’s sick.”

“Why do you think that,” Her Dad asked looking at her then at the hallway with concern.

“He’s not really there,” Eri frown. It made sense in her head, but she wasn’t sure how to explain it to her Dad. “Like you know how Papa isn’t really awake when he just wakes up? It’s like that but sort of different.”

“I think I get what you mean,” Dad nodded and shuffled all his papers into a stack and slid them into a folder. “How about we move him to Hitoshi’s bed?”

Eri nodded because she hoped some rest would do her brother well. So, she walked her father back to the living room to see Denki exactly where she left him. Her Dad picked him up, and Eri quickly stepped in front so she could open the door to her brother’s room. After Eri tucked him in, she nodded to her father, and they left the room and quietly shut the door behind them.

“Do you think he’ll be okay, dad?” Eri asked.

“Yeah I do,” Her Dad looked down at her before ruffling her hair. “He’s pretty tough. Kind of like you.” Eri felt a little bit of pride at the hidden compliment of being called tough and nodded up at her father. Her Dad checked the time before holding out his hand to her. “Why don’t we order something for dinner and give Denki and your Papa a break.”

The next day, Denki sits down and takes her hand. There’s a little more light in his eyes today, and Eri’s takes it as a win.

“Eri, can you do me a favor,” Denki asks her to which she quickly nods. He nods slowly, almost mimicking her, and he pulls an envelope out of his bag. It’s small and white and quite thick, implying that it’s stuffed full. He hands it to her, and she finds herself turning it over and examining it, but it’s just an envelope. “I need you to keep this safe for me. Pretty please, don’t read it, but Eri… some stuff is about to go wrong soon. And you are smart, and sadly, I know you’ll know when it does. When it happens, I need you to give this to a trusted adult from the school. Whether that’s your Dad or your Papa or Miss Midnight or anyone like that. That'll help make the bad situation less bad.”

“If it’ll help, why not give it to people now?” Eri asked staring at the envelope, and when she looked up, tears were dripping down her brother’s face. He was trying really hard to cover them up. She threw her arms around him and found herself tearing up as well. “Denki?”

“I’m sorry to drag you into this. But it won’t help until after things go wrong,” Denki muttered stroking her hair. “I am so, so sorry for what’s about to happen because I don’t even know what to apologize for.”

 Eri Aizawa-Yamada is nine, but she is not dumb. Denki is scared, and she doesn’t know how to help him.

Chapter Text

Let it never be said that Katsuki thought he knew what he was doing. He never claimed that. Sure, he would never let anyone else even imply he was unsure of what to do, but in his defense, how was he supposed to begin to comprehend the idea that one of his idiots was a traitor.

There was always something off about Denki Kaminari. Always something that didn’t quite add up, but no one ever stopped to question it because he was just so lively. Perhaps lively wasn’t the word. He was friendly, excitable, earnest, and reliable. He was just so Denki that no one thought twice about it. Katsuki didn’t think twice about the night he had snuck in freezing and detached. He had been too in shock by the difference between the blonde he knew and the one that suddenly appeared.

But now he was standing outside the boy’s door listening to him talk about their teacher’s weaknesses, and emotions blew through him. Betrayal, grief, anger, fear, to name a few, but none stayed for long, and eventually, he settled on confusion. Then he heard him lie, and a wave of relief swept over him. Because if he was lying, that meant that he wasn’t completely loyal to the villains. So, Katsuki opened the door intent of confronting the blonde only to have all of that resolve seemingly fall out of him when he saw Denki. Katsuki would have said he was crying, but that would have been an understatement. He was barely there, and Katsuki was once again reminded of that cold night before when he also found him shaking and pale.

Denki threw on an almost convincing smile.

“The hell is wrong with you, dumbass, get off the phone,” Katsuki growls, walking over to take the phone as Denki laughs, apologizing to his father saying he’ll talk to him later before hitting the end call button. Katsuki pauses, taking his sleeve and runs it across Denki’s cheek. The other blonde seems shellshocked and, after a moment, presses a few fingers against the opposite cheek. Katsuki sighed before taking his other sleeve to dry the other cheek, “That’s just like you, to not even realize you were crying. Dumbass.”

There’s no heat to his words, and Katsuki pulls the other downstairs into Eijiro’s room, where the boy is exactly where he left him.

“I’m sorry,” Denki says automatically. “Are we interrupting your–”

“Move your ass over shitty hair,” Katsuki says with a scoff pulling Denki over to the bed and pushing him onto it. Katsuki hears Eijiro snicker at the squeak that Denki makes when he hits the mattress. He just shakes his head before moving Eijiro’s homework onto the desk before hitting the lights and dropping next to Denki on the bed.

The blonde between them doesn’t stay awake long, and as soon as both of them are sure he’s asleep, Eijiro leans up and looks over Denki to meet Katsuki’s eyes, who’s still laying down.

“What happened?” He asks, frowning down at the two blondes’ in his bed. Katsuki is aware that Eijiro’s not upset, more concerned, but he still doesn't like the expression decorating his features.

“It’s hard to explain,” Katsuki whispers, and in his defense, it is. “I’ll explain later,” He probably won’t.

Eijiro nods and lays back down, and Katsuki is left to his own thoughts. He knows he should have gone to Aizawa right away or literally any of the teachers. But at the moment, he was only concerned with protecting his friend. Crap, the dumbass really was his friend, wasn’t he?

Even if Katsuki could go back in time, he’s not sure that he could pin down what made him this way. He thinks it has a lot to do with his mother, but that’s an entirely different conversation he’s not ready to have with himself yet.

People tend to be faceless to Bakugou. They exist in a void of faceless nonexistence that practically makes them indistinguishable from each other. They were irrelevant. They’re extras. But gradually, the people in his class, annoying as they are, became recognizable. He’d never admit it, but Denki had become more than an extra to Katsuki pretty early in the year.

“That whole ceremony was pretty fucked up, huh?” Denki had said like he wasn’t the only one to think that besides Deku. To this day, Katsuki wondered if the other knew he had been the only one to say anything on that day. It had taken Eijiro watching a rerun of the event months later to mention it. It was like Katsuki had been on fire, and everyone was ignoring it. He felt like he was going crazy during that ceremony and after. Like he was the one with a problem. Denki had looked at him and raised an eyebrow and said, ‘Wow, that’s a pretty big fire.’ It hadn’t put the fire out, but at least he didn’t feel like a madman anymore.

What made it worse was that Katsuki knew Denki didn’t like him at that point, but still let him sit with them the next day. Which is when he made the mistake of getting close to him and the rest of the idiots.

Sure, Eijiro was his best friend, but Denki and Katsuki reflected each other in a strange way that both had come to acknowledged and ignore. After all, both knew what it’s like to be expecting a hit around every corner. Both of them were trying hard to ignore all of their issues in favor of putting up a mask. There were days when both of them were just going through the motions.

He’d allowed himself to dismiss it even as the other blonde slipped into the cracks of his life.

In the beginning, he’s enjoyed lunches with golden eyes that seemed more there somedays than others and barely thought the smile that didn’t really reach those eyes. Much like the situation he was dealing with now, Katsuki didn’t think that there was more to the other until it was shoved in his face.

Denki had skipped lunch, which wasn’t like him, and in that damned group chat that he and the others shared, Hanta, Mina, and Eijiro had begged him to go look for him. So, he had excused himself to go to the bathroom and wandered through the darkened halls. That day had a thunderstorm that kept the sky dark and made everyone’s voice just a bit louder as they attempted to talk over the pouring rain and thunder. Eventually, he had wandered by a closet and heard the sound of crying. When he swung the door open, he had been surprised to find the blonde in a fetal position.

He had been shaking and crying and clearly struggling to breathe.

Even at the time, Katsuki recognized the symptoms of a panic attack.

“Stay here, sparky. I’ll go get someone,” He’d said intent on getting a teacher or one of their more emotionally inclined friends that may be able to handle the situation better. But the boy had grabbed his arm and shook his hand, pulling him back, crying harder. It had been the first time Katsuki had seen Denki so broken.

“No, you can’t leave! I can’t protect you. If you leave, you might get hurt!” Denki had cried, and Katsuki found himself getting pulled into the closet by the other blonde and sitting next to him.

Later that night, Katsuki had found the word dissociation to describe the blonde not fully being in his head. But at the time, he watched the blonde flinch as they both heard the thunder before becoming practically non-responsive. Katsuki had pulled headphones out of his bag and pushed them onto Denki’s head before pulling the other towards him, trying to convince the blonde to breathe properly until Present Mic found them almost ten minutes later.

Now though, Katsuki feels a headache forming. It’s getting later at night, and he can’t sleep. Usually, in these times, Denki is up with him, but tonight the boy if knocked out on the arm that he is slowly losing feeling in. He thinks about the boy laying on him.

The blonde doesn’t have any of his normal makeup on. It took him weeks of bullying for Denki to begin taking off his makeup while he slept because his skin was starting to get rough.

Similarly, he thinks about the time Hanta told him about the nightmares that Denki he used to have when he slept on the hammock before he moved to the bed.

On their own, these are just the random collection of traits that makes up Denki Kaminari.

But the more he lies there, the more he realizes he knows absolutely nothing about Denki.

Well, perhaps that’s not entirely true.

Katsuki knew his grades in English were terrible, but obviously read English literature for fun. He knew that sometimes when Denki was being tutored, he’d occasionally forget that he didn’t know the material they were studying. He knew there were days where they would call out his family name, and he just wouldn’t respond to it.

Katsuki knew that when he was kidnapped, the other was hit incredibly hard by it. Well, in fairness, they all were. The looks on his friends’ faces when they saw him would likely be burned into his mind for as long as they lived. For Mina and Hanta, it was delight, which was a big contrast to the way that Denki looked at him and threw his arms around him and cried. He didn’t even mind that Denki hit the bruises his mother left on him, because judging by the way the other blonde flinched as well he had jostled his own bruises too.

Katsuki doesn’t know when he fell asleep but eventually wakes up. He’s luckily the first, so he manages to slip out of bed without much trouble. Unluckily, he wakes up Eijiro was he’s climbing out of bed. The other had looked up at him and asked something that Katsuki was sure was meant to be ‘where are you going,’ but it came out muffled and slurred.

“I’m going to take a shower, your alarm doesn’t go off for another half an hour,” the redhead had nodded before drifting back to sleep.

Katsuki looked back to them both, he found himself thinking about how soon the three of them would enter their third year. How he’d been with these losers for almost two years.

Twenty-four hours ago, he was so sure that that concept was only scary to him. After all, he was the only one of his friends with issues with emotional attachment. Now, he’s not so sure.

Monday, he’s quiet and everyone but his idiots’ comment. They know that he’ll tell them when he’s ready. Katsuki spends his classes thinking and processing, carefully weighing his options. On Monday, he misses the strange tension that lingers over the school, but he doesn’t miss the peculiar look that passes over Denki’s face in their training with All Might.

Tuesday, Denki, is the quiet one. And if Katsuki thought people were worried about him yesterday, the amount of concern in everyone’s eyes was alarming, and it reminded Katsuki why he refused to get sick at this godforsaken school. The other blonde looked exhausted and, more importantly, lost. Strangely, it was much like how Katsuki felt.

Wednesday, Katsuki sits in front of Aizawa nervously, fidgeting with a bracelet that hung on his wrist. Only, he’s not typically one to fidget, so his teacher realizes something is wrong immediately.

“How…how secure is this room,” Katsuki found himself asking.

“That depends what you mean,” Aizawa said, clearly giving the blonde his full attention. “If you mean, would I talk about anything you talk about in here? No, of course not. If you mean are their cameras and people listening in, there is a camera in the left corner that’s video only and can only be accessed by the principal.”

Katsuki realizes this is his chance to duck out, but he knows he can’t take it. He nods instead, looking over to where his teacher said the camera was and quickly found it. While he was looking away, Katsuki took a deep breath in to steady his heart before breathing out and looking at his teacher in front of him.

“I think Spar– uh Denki is a traitor,” Katsuki muttered out and then quickly dropped his eyes down to his lap. He couldn’t figure out why he was quite so nervous, but Katsuki could only hope he was doing the right thing.

“It seems we both came to that conclusion around the same time then.”

Katsuki’s head shot up and looked at his teacher, and suddenly his mind raced a thousand miles a minute as he comprehended all of the implications of that statement.

“Can you tell me what happened?” Aizawa asked, pulling out a notebook from his desk.

“Yeah,” Katsuki nodded. “I was outside his dorm late Sunday. I had heard from pink cheeks that Denki was on the phone with his dad, and it’s always been clear that Pikachu’s dad is a shit stain. I got to his door and I heard him talking. I only heard it because I was literally trying to listen in though, but he was talking about you. He told whoever was on the other end of that call that your eyes are your weak spot along with your elbow.”

Katsuki paused, letting his teacher write down whatever Katsuki said that was important. Then he made an expression and looked up at him, “Why not confront him then? Or tell me immediately?” Aizawa asked. “Sure, you care for him that much is obvious, but is there more to it?”

“Fuck I wasn’t done teach,” Katsuki said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I was going to get a teacher, but then I heard him lie about you. He said that you had no emotional connections outside of platonic ones, which threw me off. Because even if it was just for Eyebags, that means he wasn’t completely loyal to them. So, I went into his room intent on confronting him, but he was crying. It was weird, though. He sounded completely fine and even tried to force a smile, but he didn’t realize he was on the verge of a panic attack. I took him to Ei’s room and figured I’d sleep on it.”

“Be honest with me, Bakugou,” Aizawa said, setting the note pad down. “Where’s your head at with this?”

“I want to know why, so I can find out who I need to kill for him,” Katsuki muttered. Aizawa just nodded before finally dismissing him.

Katsuki left with the strange feelings floating through him subdued slightly. And he found himself wandering through Thursday and Friday robotically. It was much more convincing than Monday; however, Deku still called him out on it during sparring practice.

“Are you feeling alright, Kacchan? I don’t want to fight you if you’re not going to give it your all,” Deku said, clearly hiding his concern under a challenge.

“Fuck off, nerd. I’m fine,” He wasn’t. And it was clear he was distracted. Especially when Deku found a way to knock him on his ass multiple times during that training. Katsuki was only glad that people were so focused on their own matches that they didn't notice his.

“Is it something to do with Kaminari?” Deku asked, suddenly causing Katsuki’s eyes to flick over and meet the other boy’s. “Well, uh, you just keep looking over at him and Tenya, so I figured…”

Katsuki often forgot how perceptive the nerd was, but he shook his head and told him it was nothing.

Sure, Deku didn’t believe him, but he dropped it. And just in time too, because Aizawa called them all and they were suddenly standing in front of a large bus.

“But Mr. Aizawa, we aren’t packed!” Uraraka had called out from next to him, causing a few murmurs of agreement. However, their teacher merely scoffed and told them UA had packed all the necessities for the trip. Sure, they were still skeptical, but they got onto the bus. Mainly to shut up Iida, who began lecturing about the importance of trusting their teachers and the academy they were attending. And luckily for Iida, it was a standard bus. Katsuki was found himself in a seat next to Eijiro while Denki and Shinsou sat next to them, and Hanta and Mina sat in front of him.

In the beginning, the ride was quiet, but after they got going, conversations began to pick up.

“What do you think is going on,” Mina asked behind her. They were at the front of the bus, so behind her was relative, Katsuki supposed it was directed at anyone paying attention to her.

“Who knows honestly,” Shinsou said, shuffling slowly, trying to avoid waking the blonde that had fallen asleep on his shoulder. “I’ve stopped trying to guess.”

This caused a few small laughs from around them. From right behind Shinsou, Izuku popped up, “Maybe it’s a survival thing? Drop everyone in the middle of the forest with no supplies and see what they do?”

“That sounds more like a social experiment by Principal Nedzu,” Todoroki said, leaning against the window while looking at his seatmate.

“Sounds like a blast,” Hanta muttered sarcastically.

“Totally,” Mina snickered.

“I suppose we should start thinking about survival soon,” Todoroki said. “So, who are we eating first?”

All eyes snapped to the dual-colored boy who held a hint of a smirk on his face. Next to him, Deku looked horrified.

“S-Shoto! That’s so awfu–” 

“So, Denki and I have talked about this before, and the order were eating people is Sato, then Kirishima, then Momo,” Shinsou suddenly said, turning and grinning at Izuku, who just got pale.

“Bro, you think I’m good enough for eating,” Eijiro said and wiped a fake tear from the corner of his eye.

“Why are you to like this,” Mina gaped. “Why are these conversations you’ve had?”

“Three in the morning is a strange time,” Shinsou said with a shrug.

“Okay, okay,” Hanta said, jumping in. “But here’s my question, how did you come to… have I lost it this time or does anyone else hear that?”

Katsuki’s eyes shot over to the sleeping blonde, and it seems everyone else had as well.

“The bracelet, I think,” Shinsou said, pointing at the metal wrapped around the blonde’s wrist.

“What the–” Deku muttered.

“An alarm, maybe? Try seeing if you can turn it off,” Kirishima said, nudging Katsuki, who was on the outside of the seat. He leaned over and grabbed the other blonde’s wrist. The small crystal that was hanging off of it had a faint, flashing red light inside that he hadn’t noticed until just now.

Then just when Katsuki touched the crystal to examine it, it fell off the chain. But Katsuki hadn’t broken it, it simply fell off. The group of them watched seemingly in slow motion as the charm fell and fell and then hit the floor and shattered.

None of them moved. They all stood there just frozen for a moment, but in the end, it didn’t matter. They didn’t end up saying anything after that. Because where the gem had dropped a small black dot appeared. Then it shot out in every direction, causing them to jump back and even scream.

The black dot swallowed them and then everything around them.

Everything went black.

Chapter Text

Izuku wakes up on the floor.

His head is pounding, and he feels sore from the hard ground he’s lying on. And for a moment, he can’t remember why he’s on the ground, why he feels so sore, or why he had been asleep. But when his mind begins to clear, and his eyes take in what he’s seeing Izuku shoots up and looks around.

Because he’s in a cell.

It’s not very big, but it is at least big enough to hold their class comfortably. There were three walls made of concrete, with the final being made entirely of thick glass. And for a moment, Izuku ran his fingers over the floor. It felt weird, or more accurately, it felt wrong. It was a dark gray and felt almost like vinyl flooring with a grainy undertone. After a quiet moment, Izuku finds himself standing and walking to the wall and pressing his hand against it. But it doesn’t matter how much Izuku wishes this was a dream, either way, it was a nightmare.

There’s a separate piece of the room on the other side of the glass considerably smaller than the cell with a door attached. That door was the only exit Izuku could see when he looked around the room. Additionally, the only thing on the other side was a small wooden table, with nothing on it. The room felt strange. But strange like the room, it was a wrong kind of strange. In Izuku’s short time working to be a hero, he had seen a few villain lairs and hideouts, but none of them were this new. Or this clean.

Around him, his classmates are all still asleep pushed against the far wall like Izuku was. His eyes roll over his classmates for the most part, but then his heart stops because he can see Hagakure. Not clearly or even in color, but there’s a faint outline of where the girl is, and she had almost a mist-like appearance. Then he looked closer and moved over to get a better look at Tokoyami, but Dark Shadow wasn’t there. Which is when Izuku felt the panic set in and tried to activate One for All, and he couldn’t feel it. He slammed his fist against the glass and only felt pain. He pulled his hand away and saw his knuckles bleeding a little, so he shook out his hand, but felt his breathing increase.

The dread and possible hyperventilating Izuku felt was cut short by a cough he behind him, he quickly turns to see Shoto sitting up and looking at him.

“What happened?” His friend groaned and rubbed the arm he had been laying on.

“We’re stuck.”

“But our quirks–”

“Gone.”

“Shit,” Shoto muttered under his breath before pushing himself up. He heard someone else groan as his friend approached and kicked at the glass before shoving his foot under the small rectangular hole that was in the center. He raised his left hand for a moment before, “Nothing.”

“Like your quirk,” Kirishima suddenly asked behind them, and both of them nodded. He blinked at them before looking down at his hand then looking back up them. “That’s really not good.”

“Not good indeed,” Shoto said, biting his lip, then looked over to Izuku asking, “Should we wake everyone up?”

“Probably not,” Izuku said. “People seem to be waking up on their own.”

Iida sat up the fastest, obviously immediately awake, “What’s going–”

“We’re in a cell. Quirks don’t work. Kami’s missing,” Kirishima said.

“Wait–”

“What–”

Izuku and Katsuki said, overlapping each other and looking around. Izuku heard Katsuki curse under his breath before Kirishima walked over, holding out a hand to yank Katsuki up. Iida looked at their class before looking back at the small group standing by the glass.

“He’s the only one missing,” Iida all but breathed out. “You don’t think…?”

“Don’t even,” Sero suddenly said, sounding angry a tone that Izuku has never heard from him. “I don’t know what you were going to say, but I don’t care. I don’t even want to hear it.”

Iida just nodded and didn’t argue, clearly not wanting to start whatever fight was inevitably going to spring from that conversation yet. And then the door slammed open, and a man they didn’t recognize was standing there with a smirk. Everyone who wasn’t awake before was definitely awake now. The man who Izuku had to assume was a villain stood there for a minute, just looking proud of themselves before walking in. He ran his fingers through his dark hair and took off the glasses covering his golden eyes and tucked them into his shirt pocket.

“You’ll have to forgive me for not being here when you wake up,” The older man said with a smile. “I was paying the kind gentleman who installed your accommodations. I hope you appreciate them.”

“What did you do to our quirks,” Iida said, approaching the glass.

“Oh, don’t worry, young man… Iida? Is it? It’s the floor, spectacular, isn’t it? Gift from my wife that nullifies quirks as much as it can without getting rid of them completely. They’re often used for young children with powerful quirks they can’t turn off. My darling wife and I used them in our basement when our Denki was in trouble,” The man said, and Izuku felt everyone freeze. Hell, he froze, because no, there was no way. “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Taishiro Kutsuki. I’m Denki’s father.”

At his side, Izuku feels a weight settle next to him, and he looks to see Hitoshi suddenly appear and grip his shoulder tightly. In fact, Izuku bites down inside his mouth because his friend's grip is almost so tight it hurts. Izuku isn’t even sure who ends up speaking in the end.

“Kutsuki?”

“Yes, Kutsuki. As in Denki Kutsuki… ah wait, he would have told you his name was Kaminari, right? I completely forgot. Sorry I never did keep track of all the lies my son told you,” The man was smiling at them and using a calm tone, but Izuku hasn’t wanted to punch someone so badly in ages. He grits his teeth as Kutsuki continues. “I’m sure this comes as a surprise to you. My son is quite the little liar, it almost makes me proud,” He chuckles then he runs his eyes over them, and Izuku can’t help but feel like prey. Then Kutsuki’s smile drops, and his face morphs into what appears to be worry. “You all seem upset...you know what? Why don’t I send Denki down, he’s been locked in his room all day, so I’m sure that it would be great for all of you.”

“Wait, where’s our teacher?” Ochako suddenly called out.

“Honey don’t worry about that. He’s being well taken care of,” Kutsuki said, starting to turn around to leave.

“Wait don’t just leave. Answer us, you bastard!” Jiro yelled from where she was in the back of the cell.

Kutsuki immediately turns around completely silent and now obviously angry. All fake politeness is thrown out the window. “Did you say something?” Everyone freezes. Kutsuki’s gold eyes are icy, and he continues staring directly at Jiro, “Because if you did, you should know young lady, that I have killed for much less than someone insulting me…Nothing? Yeah, I thought so.”

He turned on his heel and opened the door and paused. He was clearly speaking to someone quietly, but then he started laughing, before grabbing and tossing Kaminari into the room onto the floor. “It’s cute you think I give a fuck,” Kutsuki said before walking out and slamming the door on them and Kaminari. Could Izuku even call him Kaminari anymore?

The look on Denki’s face when he hit the ground was obviously pain, and Izuku couldn’t blame him, considering that he hit the ground hard enough that his glasses fell off his face. Glasses that Izuku didn’t know that Denki needed. Unlike Denki's father's clean and crisp outfit, the blonde in front of them wore an oversized white t-shirt that was sliding off his right shoulder showing off a patchwork of jagged scars that disappeared under the cloth and a pair of loose black pants that pooled around his ankles. When he realized that the class was staring at him as he pulled himself up, Denki pulled his face around to mimic his father’s. Izuku watched as the same cold eyes and scowl graced the blonde’s features. As Denki grabbed his glasses and held them up to his face, Izuku noticed the dark circles that rivaled Hitoshi’s. He watched Denki begin to clean them with his shirt revealing wear the scars trailed to a stop near his left hip, and Izuku felt frustration bubble up in him because was he ignoring them?

It seemed someone else was thinking the same thing because, behind him, Sero started yelling, “Seriously, Denki? Fucking say something.”

The blonde glanced up, so casually, it hurt and looked at his supposed friend and sighed out, “What do you want me to say, Hanta? Surprise?”

“Denki are you okay,” Hitoshi suddenly said, causing eyes to shoot to him with various expressions. “Are you hurt?”

Denki just laughed, pushing his glasses on his face and shaking his head, “You realize I’m the villain here, right? Suprise, I’m the traitor, I sold UA out! You’re not supposed to worry about me.” Hitoshi stood up and crossed his arms before moving to where he was directly in front of the blonde, who hardened his face and glared at him. “I used you, don’t pretend you know me. I used you, I couldn’t give less of a shit about you,” Denki spat at him.

“Why did you do this?” Yaoyorozu said with an unnamed emotion clearly in her voice.

Denki raised an eyebrow at her, and eyes shot over to the girl. He just shrugged.

“I don’t know, it’s in my blood, so it was whatever,” He said with an air of nonchalance.

“But Kaminari, that’s not fair, how could you do this? You’re supposed to be our friend!” Ochako suddenly cried from the back of the cell before moving forward.

“God, what do you think this is? What do you think the world is? Life isn’t fucking fair. If it was none of us would fucking be here. After all this time, all the villain attacks, most of you haven’t realized that life isn’t sunshine and rainbows? …You're so fucking naïve. And it was your downfall in the end, you trusted the bright social blonde idiot…made friends with him” Izuku watched Denki look at the ground, his hands were shaking in tight fists. He used both of his hands to push up his glasses into his hair before letting one of his hands slide through his hair and grip it tightly. “Fuck, I even got one of you to fall in love with me…” Emotion decorated his voice, and he looked upset but changed his entire demeanor instantly, and suddenly the blonde smirked, gesturing to the purple-haired boy to Izuku’s right. No one looked at Hitoshi, no one dared right now. Denki looked so different right now, confident- no cocky. And, more importantly, reckless. His eyes spoke an entirely different language than everything else about him. He didn’t look like the hero in training they all knew. He didn’t look like a villain either though. He looked like a newly caged animal who was scared and lashing out. “Well heroes, anything to say?”

The room was quiet.

“You’re a horrible liar, Sparky.”

The voice shocked Izuku, and his head immediately looked over to see Katsuki sitting near him. Despite their current arrangement, the blonde still found a way to look cool and in control as he looked beyond the glass wall to the person who scoffed.

“They’d kill you first and without a second thought, Katsuki. So maybe, for once in your life, you should learn to shut the fuck up,” Denki spat before turning on his heel and heading for the exit. They all watched his leave, tracking his movements as he pushed open the door on the far wall to what was clearly a staircase.

And the room was quiet yet again.

“Search for cameras or microphones,” Iida said, starling everyone out of their stupor, but their classmates nodded, and a few of them stood to walk the perimeter or walk to the glass wall.

“Nothing,” Yaoyorozu said quietly before dropping down. “Did anyone…well, know?”

“I did.”

Everyone's eye in the room looked over to Katsuki, and he hadn’t moved an inch from where he had been when he spoke to Denki. His expression wasn’t anger or anything close; it was thoughtful, almost remorseful. Not the expression Izuku expected the Kacchan he knew to direct at someone who may have been involved with his kidnapping. He was sitting leaned against the wall with Kirishima against him, who also looked surprised.

"Sunday night," Kirishima muttered to which Katsuki just nodded.

Then he looked back at them and lifted up his head off of his left leg that was held to his chest. He slowly let it slide down as he sighed out.

“Once I actually fucking thought about it, all the puzzle pieces fit together,” Katsuki continued. “Obviously, because we’re…friends, I got more chances to interact and gather those pieces, but I also got lucky… stumbled into a few things he was careless about. However, if any of you think about it, I’m positive everyone had a hint or two. I only really figured it out this week, I wanted… I was planning to talk to him. Figure out what was going on.”

“Bakugou,” Iida jumped in with a gasp. “You should have immediately told Aizawa the moment you suspected something after all this is a villain–”

“He’s not a villain, Iida,” Shoto next to him practically spits with venom in his voice.

“Shoto…” he hears Yaoyorozu say, but the boy next to him shakes his head.

“That’s still the boy that wrapped my injuries and cuts—the one who taught me how to hide bruises with makeup. I iced every bruise his father gave him, I know he’s not a villain,” Shoto said, looking directly at Iida. No one spoke for a moment, clearly processing what they had just been told.

“His father?” Aoyama questioned hesitantly, breaking the silence.

“Both of his parents are abusive dicks,” Kirishima said, looking at his hand holding onto Katsuki’s. “He’s always had some strange ticks, but I always assumed that was due to the abusive household or it just being him.”

“What do you mean by that, Kirishima?” Ochako joined in. “Kaminari was one of the happiest people in the class.”

“That doesn’t mean he wasn’t weird as fuck. It’s what I liked about him. Besides, it takes a lot of work to be that happy all the time,” Hitoshi said. It was the first time he had spoke the entire conversation and everyone looked at him surprised before their expressions changed to that of pity. Hitoshi shook his head. “Don’t look at me like that. I just…I used to watch him put on his makeup, covering his scars almost every morning. He went through concealer like an addict. Between the scars, his dark circles, and whatever injury he was attempting to hide. He seemed convinced if anyone found out he needed glasses, everyone would hate him. That god forbid anyone finds out he feels sad no one would be friends with him anymore.”

“What Shinsou said,” Sero jumped in quickly. “Denki is my best friend, which is why I’ll say he’s a great liar… hell, once he told me the key to being a great liar was pretending to be a bad one. He’s great at hiding things. Like did any of you know he’s fluent in English? Or that he was basically a parent to his three youngest siblings? Or that he’s been on quirk suppressants since he got his quirk? No right? I learned all those things on accident.”

“I never thought about how little we knew about him?” Tsu said. “But he knows literally everything about all of us.”

Much like the revelation of Denki’s parents, everyone took a moment to process that, because Tsu was right. Sure, Izuku and Denki had never been the closest, but Izuku still adored the blonde. He was always so comforting and kind. Denki knew about his absentee father, his fear of not living up to people’s expectations, and the little orange bottle in his side drawer for his anxiety. At the time, Izuku had felt so safe opening up to the blonde who had willingly shown his ADHD medication to him, who looked to the ground and related before whispering his fear of being abandoned, who had told him that fathers weren’t all that and that Izuku didn’t need him to be great. Izuku had cried then, and he felt like crying now. He was just so frustrated and angry, but not at Kaminari… not at Denki. At the people that had turned their him into a tool to be used and thrown away.

“We need to save him,” Izuku felt the words fall out of his mouth before he could stop them, and immediately the class was split.

“Midoriya, I know where you're coming from, but we need to worry about saving ourselves first,” Ojiro said with a frown.

“Well, I’m not leaving without him,” Mina jumped in, almost reflecting Shoto’s earlier defense of Denki.

“Me either,” Jiro nodded only to have Yaoyorozu’s eyes shoot to her.

“Kyoka–”

“Don’t bother trying to change my mind, Momo.”

“You know it’s interesting that the people who are against him are the people that never bothered to look more than skin deep,” Kirishima glared at everyone. “You’d know he’s not evil if you bothered to actually get to know him.”

“I considered Kaminari a good friend,” Sato crossed his arms. “But he had two years, and he never admitted to anything? Think of all the people that have gotten hurt because of him. He literally just pretended to be our friend only to betray us. He just said so. And Bakugou, you should be on our side, the league kidnapped you with the information he gave them!”

Katsuki looked pissed that the other boy even brought up the event, and Izuku could feel the tensions rising in the room. He couldn’t help himself from wanting to defend Denki as well, but he bit his tongue of the moment because right now, it wasn’t his fight. He kept a tight grip on Shoto’s hand who responded in kind. It would seem Izuku would be going against some of his closest friends right now, but he couldn’t just cave on something like this.

There seemed to be three different groups of being against Denki. He knew his close friends were struggling with the idea that Denki could be so difficult to understand. Iida and Ochako were both stubborn in their own way and clearly had already formed their opinions. Tsu was teetering a fine line, but she didn’t know Denki well. Needless to say, Iida, Ochako, and Tsu seemed on guard and had clumped together. He could easily tell that Yaoyorozu, Ojiro, and Sato were also clearly opposing them. Yaoyorozu and Ojiro were both competent people, he wouldn’t blame Denki if he took great care around them. Izuku could probably lump Tsu in this category as well. If he had taken care to make sure whatever oddities weren’t present, then it would make sense that they wouldn’t believe that he wasn’t just a villain. Despite how he tried, Izuku couldn’t get a good read on Shoji, Hagakure, and Koda. They were all clearly not defending Denki though. They all seemed frustrated and a little concerned, clearly trying to get their point across to people who weren’t listening.

On the other hand, the half of their class that was defending Denki all looks ready to attack then and there. The Bakusquad, Hitoshi, Tokoyami, Aoyama, along with Shoto and himself all looked angry and were having no problem showing it clearly. Considering that none of them besides Katsuki were really known for their anger, it probably made quite the image. His classmates all shifted scooting over to clump together with someone who agreed with them or just away from someone who didn't.

“You have no right to talk about shit you don’t understand,” Katsuki growled at Sato even with the movement around him. “That’s the dumbass I found crying in his room holding a phone lying about Aizawa. He was the first person to ask if I was really okay after the kidnapping instead of just telling me how great I was for surviving it. The one scared of lightning that hides in my room under the covers listening to an audiobook I couldn’t even begin to understand until I come back from whatever I was doing and demand I become his human heater while telling me about his day. You’re trying to tell me that HE is evil?”

“Bakugou, this is all just your biases speaking,” Iida said, chopping his hand like this was any other class argument. “Can we really trust your opinions on whether he is a willing villain.”

“Iida is right,” Yaoyorozu jumped in before Katsuki or any of the others could start yelling. “You all are wearing rose-tinted glasses about him because you love him, but if you just consider–”

“I think this is where I interject mademoiselle,” Aoyama popped up from where he was currently sitting. “I apologize, and sure I care for Kaminari, but we aren’t close the way the rest of them are. Same with Tokoyami and even Midoriya to an extent. You can’t discount our opinions because of that, but you can’t condemn him to villainy so easily. There are a few options that me and Tokoyami were discussing.”

Tokoyami nodded before picking off where Aoyama left off, “There are three ways to look at this that exist on a spectrum. On one end, his soul is completely dark and is, in fact, the villain you all believe he is. On the other end and least likely, something is going on behind the scenes, and he’s not a villain. And lastly, what me and Aoyama believe is the most likely, he’s been forced into villainy by circumstance or blackmail.”

“If we already know his parents are terrible, it’s not too out there of an idea of them being villains and forcing him into all this,” Mina said slowly, looking at the others.

“But why wouldn’t he come forward when he got put into the dorms,” Ochako demanded. “He wasn’t going home to them and would have been safe–”

“Sorry to interrupt?”

Everyone practically jumped before looking over to the voice that had suddenly appeared. No one had heard anyone come in, but suddenly, a dark-haired young man that Izuku didn’t recognize was standing by the doorway. But even though he didn’t recognize him, there was something strangely familiar about him. He had a backpack slung over his shoulder and seemed extremely cautious.

“Which one of you is Hitoshi Shinsou?” He said, walking towards the glass before sitting on the floor in front of it.

“…that’s me?” Hitoshi said, hesitantly approaching the glass where the stranger was seated.

“Was that a question?” The man said with a small laugh before pulling his backpack in front of him, digging through it. “I should probably introduce myself, huh?”

“No- I uh…. You’re Akio. Aren’t you?” Hitoshi said softly. Next to him, he could see Kirishima and Sero whispering and pointing, confusion was written all over their faces.

“I am Akio, nice to meet you all. I do wish it was under better circumstances,” Akio said with a soft smile before sliding a piece of paper under the glass to Hitoshi. “I’m just sorry that I can’t help more than this, I have to leave soon.”

Izuku watched Hitoshi’s jaw drop, and so he shuffled over to his friend to look over his shoulder. And he understood why he saw surprised. It was map detailing the floor plan of the building they were in, entirely done in pencil and with incredible detail. Izuku felt that same shock before collecting himself.

“Who exactly are you… and why should we trust you?” Kirishima said with an air of caution.

“Well… I’m Denki’s older brother.” Akio said, and Izuku could hear a few sharp breaths behind him. “And… I’ll be honest, I don’t have a reason for you to trust me.”

“Are you a villain like your brother?” Iida asked.

“No, I’m not, but if you ever call my brother a villain in front of me again, I will become one.” Everyone was suddenly very aware of the sharp turn the conversation had taken, Akio had never raised his voice, but Izuku could tell everyone in the room was on guard immediately. He supposed that the hero training made them acutely aware of when someone was seriously threatening them. A tension flooded across the room as Akio and Iida stared at each other, seemingly assessing each other, for a few moments.

“You didn’t make this.”

The room's mood shattered in an instant as everyone took in the Hitoshi’s statement.

“His handwriting is that recognizable?” Akio said, looking at Hitoshi almost fondly, a sharp contrast from less than a second ago. It caused Izuku took to look over to the paper and specifically at the handwriting. Which is when it hit him.

“Denki made this?” Izuku said, looking up Akio, who looked at him with a smile and nodded.

“He asked you to give it to us?” Kirishima suddenly joined them by the glass.

“You dumbass, don’t ask questions that are obvious,” Katsuki said with a scoff before crossing his arms, causing Kirishima to go back to him.

“Wait, how is that obvious?” Kirishima pouted, causing Akio to laugh.

“You must be Bakugou and Kirishima? I’ve heard a lot about you.” He said before dropping his eyes down and closing his bag back up.

“Wait, my name is Mina did Denki ever talk about me,” The girl practically jumped up and over to them.

“Ashido, please be serious in this situation,” Iida jumped in.

“Honestly, just shut the hell up right now, glasses. Every time you speak, you insert your foot farther down your throat. I’m starting to think it’s going to come out of your ass soon,” Katsuki spat, and Izuku could tell he was trying to hide his anger. However, it was only because Izuku was looking at Katsuki at that moment that he saw the lightbulb go off in the blonde’s head. Suddenly Katsuki looked over at Akio. “When you said you were leaving, you really mean leaving, don’t you? So that they can’t threaten you all anymore and use you against Sparky.”

“…He said you were smart, but yeah, that’s spot on,” Akio said before pausing and looking down at a watch he was wearing. “I don’t know how much you know about the Kamino Incident villain, but around our house, we just called him Sir. He was basically everybody’s bosses’ boss, and he was the one who originally made a deal with Denki, in exchange for information to help take down UA and All Might, he’d keep us, his siblings, safe and when all was said and done get us out of our parents’ house. Obviously, after everything went down and he went to prison, Denki was in too deep to just back out and Shigaraki has strong ties to our father and doesn't want to lose a player in his plans, so in private he gave Denki a lot of money and told him to move us because that was a close as he could get to the original deal.”

“Wait-” Hagakure said before cutting herself off. Worry showed in the way her clothes fidgeted. “You’re just going to leave him alone?”

Akio shook his head and smiled at her, “Of course not, you’re here, aren’t you?”

“Who’s saying we’d help him?” Sato said. “What if all of us think he’s a villain plain and simple? Or what if we just decided to save ourselves?”

“Well one, you don’t all think that, I heard bits of your argument when I walked in. Make sure you work on your spatial awareness when you get back to school, okay? And two, it’s the way he talked about you. He could go on and on about how everyone in his class would make such amazing heroes and how proud he was of everyone. How amazing everyone did in class and how incredible a rescue one of you did in your work studies was. Now, I trust my brother’s opinion wholeheartedly, so I know you won’t leave him because your heroes and it’s your job to save people. And from what he tells me, you all are amazing heroes. Even if you can’t rescue him now, I know you won’t leave him behind.”

Everyone seems stunned for a moment. However, Tokoyami quickly breaks the silence as Akio stands up, gathering his things.

“I didn’t know he thought so highly of us.” He said, which got a few nods of agreement.

Akio hummed, seemingly thinking about that as he walked to the door, and Izuku noted how quiet his footsteps were.

‘Like Denki’s’ his mind rightfully supplied.

At the last moment before opening the door, Akio gave them a final wave before saying, “I suppose I’m not all that surprised. He’s a great liar, remember?”

Chapter Text

"What choice do we have anyway?"

"So many, Midoriya, there are literally so many other options here!"

"But if you look at the map– "

"The map we don't know if we can trust."

"Iida, this place is a maze, we'll need this map to get around!"

"It's a map that was provided by our enemy!"

Shoto listened as his friends whisper-yelled around him. He wished they wouldn't do it while he was right in between them, but he settled for pulling his knee's close to his chest and trying to make himself smaller as Izuku and Iida went back and forth.

Both of them were pretty quiet despite their harsh tones. They weren't trying to wake everyone else up after all. It had taken a while, but eventually, even Momo had been able to fall asleep on the hard floor. Now it was just a matter of keeping them all asleep. Izuku, Iida, and he had volunteered to stay awake in case someone came in, so as far as he knew he was the only one suffering threw his friend's argument.

"Denki isn't our enemy– "

"We don't know that."

"We do, you're just stubborn! God, you're so stuck in your ways."

"Midoriya, he's a villain– "

"And you know about villainous behavior, huh?"

Even Shoto flinched at the apparent reference to the Hosu incident, and both of them fell quiet. Iida opened his mouth, then closed it, clearly searching for words. When he went to speak again after a moment, he was swiftly cut off by Izuku.

"I'm… I'm not apologizing," Izuku muttered, looking down, clearly feeling guilty with crossed arms.

"I know," Iida said with a sigh as he rubbed his forehead. "I am, though. I'm sorry I got so heated there."

"Okay, I… I am sorry about the Hosu stuff. It was uncalled for," Izuku replied.

"I know you didn't mean it, we're just both…"

"Angry?"

"Something like that," Iida agreed. "It's a stressful situation after all… Midoriya, Todoroki, why do you believe in him? Or I guess, why don't you think he's guilty."

Izuku blinked in surprise and paused, making a humming sound as he thought, after a moment, he looked at Shoto, and he found himself looking from Midoriya to meet Iida's gaze. After a moment, Shoto collected his thoughts enough to speak.

"Because I trust him, I guess. It's hard to explain, but I always knew that there was something up with him, even if I didn't know about the traitor thing. But I trusted him… we both trusted each other actually. The first time we came back from a break after we moved into the dorms, I was patching myself up in the lockers rooms, and he found me there. He saw me covered in bruises and burns and laughed then made a joke saying, 'great minds think alike.' Then he showed off his own bruises." Shoto said before looking at Iida, who had a raised eyebrow. Then Shoto found himself glancing at Izuku, who had clearly been listening enraptured and not coming up with what he wanted to say, so Shoto continued. "Asui said that we didn't know anything about him, but that's not necessarily true. I think you all don't know what you know about him… if that makes sense. For everything he knows about me, I know something about him. Sure, I don't know his favorite color, but honestly, I doubt he knows mine. But I could probably name his top three existential fears. And I know not to hit his ribs when we come back to school, the same way he knows not to hit my back. I know his sister has issues with smoking, like he knows my sister is still in denial with our father. I trust him because he trusted me."

Shoto watched at Izuku frantically nodded in agreement, and Iida hummed in acknowledgment.

"I think he might have been careful around you, Iida. Even though I think he's been forced into villainy, he still was a spy. A fairly good one considering he went for two years at one of the most heavily guarded high schools in the country, so obviously, he would put some effort in to not have his cover blown. Shoto and I are…kind of oblivious, I suppose. I think he probably assumed you, and maybe Yaoyorozu and a few others would be able to figure it out given the right pieces. So he just made sure you didn't have those pieces, meaning this comes as a bigger shock to you than to us... not that it wasn't a shock to us though, but i just mean... I'm not making sense," Izuku said stumbling over his words towards the end, but much like Izuku for his statement, Shoto found himself nodding in agreement. Izuku leaned against him slightly letting their shoulders bump before suddenly, "Anything you want to add, Hitoshi?"

Shoto's eyes tracked where Izuku's were looking and found Shinsou leaning against a corner of the room, wide awake and staring at them. The other boy sighed before pulling himself up and walking over to their small group.

"Can't sleep," Izuku asked, and Shinsou shook his head.

"Hitoshi… I'm sorry about all this," Iida said, surprising Shoto. "No matter what is going on with Kaminari, this must…hurt."

"Thanks, Tenya," Shinsou dropping down on Iida's other side, joining them with his back against the wall. Shoto watched the boy pull his knees closer to his chest, similar to him, and lean over to set his head on them. Finally, he tilted his head to look at the three of them. "This is pretty fucked, huh?"

"Oh yeah, definitely."

"One hundred percent insane."

"I wouldn't normally use that description, but yes unquestionably."

All of their voices lapped over each other as they all agreed.

"How are you…doing?" Shoto found himself asking, before mentally cringing. It was pretty clear how the other boy was doing, and Shoto felt somewhat like an idiot for asking. However, the other just chuckled weakly.

"I mean, pretty sure I've moved through all stages of grief and have now settled on acceptance," Shinsou joked.

"Are you purposefully using Denki's type of humor as a coping method?" Izuku asked, causing Shinsou to stare at him and Iida to use his elbow to knock into Izuku and give him a disapproving look.

Shinsou didn't answer.

"Sorry, I don't know why I said that," Izuku said, scratching the back of his head. "Ignore me, uh, why don't we…make a plan?"

Izuku held out the folded pieced of paper that had been tucked into his pocket and Shoto watched as Iida hesitated before looking between the three of them and scooting closer to peer down at the paper.

"It's definitely Kaminari's handwriting," Iida sighed. "I'd recognize that chicken scratch anywhere."

Shoto turned the map till it was facing him and Iida, giving Izuku and Shinsou and upside-down view. He knew it didn't matter by now; the image was likely burned into their very brains with how much they had been studying it with Tokoyami and Bakugou. Before the latters fell asleep, that is.

And even though Shoto had seen the map before, it still surprised him by the sheer level of detail in it. Despite the fact that it was on a piece of lined paper that had clearly been ripped out of a notebook, it was neat and clean. It wasn't detailed in the way he expected, the blonde didn't tell them the size of every room or bother describing a room beyond what was generally in it, however, Shoto knew there were nine cameras in this building, three exits, and five windows. He knew this because they were labeled; if there was a camera, it was highlighted, and where that camera began to pick up footage was noted as well. Every exit and window was marked in a red pen differentiating it from the greys a pencil provided.

And every room was labeled with a vague description. For example, Denki had written 'you are here' under the room that was clearly their cell. There wasn't that many, and judging by the size of their cell room comparatively, the building wasn't actually that large. There were a handful of other rooms, some smaller than their cell. The 'entrance room' was the largest and labeled as to where the villains were meeting and hanging out when not doing anything. Next to it was what was called the meeting room where, apparently, the cameras footage was and where any serious conversations were held due to the soundproofing. There were also a few bedrooms with each being labeled as for a specific person, particularly eye-catching was Shigaraki, Toga, Denki's father, and Denki himself.

Most notably though, was the interrogation room. It was where Mr. Aizawa was, but it didn't have a description other than that. 'Aizawa is here,' Denki wrote, almost mimicking what he said about their cell. And that was it—no further information.

"Before anything else, our main problem is the barrier right there," Shinsou said after a silence from all of them while pointing to the glass wall. "When we get out, we clearly have options, but we can't do anything while trapped on this floor and behind that wall."

"I agree, that should be our priority," Iida nodded. "We have an advantage because they aren't checking on us as well. Because even the food tray just appeared earlier and disappears, I don't they're going to come in that much. Obviously, we shouldn't rely on that–"

"Denki's father might come back to gloat some more," Shoto popped up.

"Yes, he might," Iida sighed. "But we have the advantage of not having to plan around someone coming in often."

"I agree," Izuku joined in. "Whatever we do, needs to be hidden from anyone that could walk in at all times. Think about what happened with Akio, if he had been a villain…"

Everyone cringed slightly, but Shinsou eventually said, "Yeah, we got so caught up in arguing we forgot literally all our training."

"We can't let that happen again," Iida said. "And we need a plan. We can't always rely on someone else saving us, and right now, we don't have our quirks, so we were going to need to get creative with this."

Shoto nodded but didn't say anything; after all, despite his standing in the class, he guilty of relying on his quirk. He's self-conscious enough to realize he doesn't have anything to add to the conversation as Iida, Izuku, and Shinsou toss ideas back and forth.

"It's because we were literally built-in," Shinsou said suddenly, immediately drawing all of their attention.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, the reason they're so confident is that there is no way to open up this cell without shattering the glass. The glass was probably put in after we were in here," Shinsou explained.

"Are you sure," Shoto said, looking at the glass wall more than Shinsou.

"Yes. Think about it. There's no entrance or exit, meaning it's not like they could have moved us here after it was already built. The only thing is I feel like that might have taken a while to get that glass installed. My only other guess would be that Kurogiri maybe teleported us here, even then that still means that the only way out is breaking 6-inch-thick glass."

Of course, that was when Shoto felt it. His mind tuned out the questions that Izuku and Iida were throwing at Shinsou in favor of shifting where he was sitting and looking at the flooring. It was subtle, but he hoped this small mistake might be able to save them.

"Hey, Izuku," Shoto said softly.

"We don't know that Iida," His friend continues, clearly not hearing him.

"Izuku!" Shoto says, catching everyone's notice now. He flushes slightly at the eyes on him but gestures down somewhat, so they're looking at what he felt. "There's a small gap in the flooring."

Izuku blinked for a moment, "You don't think…?" He says softly before sliding over to where he's sitting.

"It's worth a shot," He finds himself saying to which Izuku nods, and Iida and Shinsou look at each other confused. "And even if that doesn't work, maybe start at a corner?"

"Sorry, but can one of you fill us in on your silent communication there?" Shinsou said after a moment, and Izuku turned back to him immediately.

"Yes, sorry, okay, so there's a gap in between the two pieces of flooring?" Izuku said before gesturing to the floor.

Iida nodded slowly, "And that means?"

"We could tear out the floors."

Shinsou and Iida both paused before Izuku jumped in and explained. "Obviously, we'd have to be careful since I'm not sure how people normally take out flooring, but even if we just take out a few, then maybe someone could get their quirk back long enough to break the glass."

"And that means we're able to all get through and be on flooring that doesn't negate our quirks," Iida said, nodding now clearly understanding what they were talking about.

"It would be loud though, there'd be no way to not avoid a fight," Shoto found himself saying before scooting back closer to where the map was. "So, to avoid as many people as possible, we'd need to find the closest exit. Because even if they follow us, we don't want to be fighting in a hallway."

"That actually has a problem," Shinsou jumped in and pointed at the map. "The closest exit is the entrance room, but it says that's where everyone generally hangs out. More importantly…" Hitoshi trailed off and pointed to the other side of the facility and specifically the room where Mr. Aizawa was supposedly located.

"Then we're going the long way," Izuku said resolutely. "There's an exit right by that room as well." He pointed. Then the other made a face of confusion before picking up the map and bringing it closer to his face, before turning it over to look at the blank backside for a moment then right back to the front. Finally, Izuku set the paper back down and looked at them all, "Where are we? I was figuring there would be some indicators of where the exits lead, but there's nothing."

"I hate to say it because I know the looks I'm about to get but, that reads as suspicious to me," Iida said.

"More like Denki probably hasn't left the facility either," Izuku responded quickly with the look that Iida had clearly been waiting for.

"It was worth saying," Iida muttered.

"Tenya, I adore you, but shut the fuck up," Hitoshi said, giving the other boy a flat look that was clearly hiding anger. In turn, Iida nodded and kept his mouth shut, but not without a sigh, however.

"So, what now," Shoto asked, cutting into the tension.

"Well, we know how we're getting out when we're out of the cell, so I guess we focus on getting out of the cell," Izuku said, pointing to the gap on the floor.

Chapter Text

Aizawa wakes up with his body chained to a chair, it's not comfortable by any means, but in all honesty, he's been in worse arrangements when in captivity. Frankly, the worst thing about the room is that he's the only one in it. None of his children are with him. He looks around the room, even turning as far behind him as he could and doesn't see anything. He ends up squirming around as much as he can in his chains as a test, but they're increibly secure and he knows he insn't going anywhere.

The room is small, honestly about the size of his office of UA. But he's sitting with his hands attached to the table in front of him and there's another chair on the other side, so he can only assume someone else will eventually be joining him. What's surprising is there're no windows or even a two-way glass like he'd expect. Though it's when he's looking around that he spots his capture scarf, he'd been wearing it when they left campus, but it didn't make sense to leave it in the same room as him. Though there was no way, he could ever hope to reach it.

Then the door clicked open, and Aizawa prepared to listen to gloating speeches about his soon to be demise. Or to spit insults at one of the villains he had sadly gotten familiar with. He wasn't prepared for a familiar head of blonde hair to walk through the door and sit himself at the table.

Aizawa watched his student with careful eyes, because, sure, the child was familiar, but the way he held himself wasn't. The blonde looked far too exhausted. The school uniform that Kaminari had been in last time Aizawa had seen him was replaced with clothes that clearly weren't his. Neither the white t-shirt and black pants fit, meaning that the blonde didn't have clothes here, so he likely wasn't here often, or this was his first time here.

"You should have arrested me when you had the chance," Kaminari suddenly said, breaking the quiet. Aizawa carefully took in the broken appearance of the boy. A million thoughts ran threw his mind, but he didn't know what to say. 

"Your father hit you," Was what practically fell out of his mouth after a moment. The blonde, however, scoffed and shook his head. When he lifted his eyes back up to meet Aizawa's, all he could focus on was the tears welling up in them.

"What gave it away?" Denki said voice littered with sarcasm.

"Shouldn't he be pleased?" Aizawa asked.

"Perhaps, but he's never been one to abide by what he should do. He doesn't like being told what to do…" Denki trailed off. Staring at the wall clearly getting lost in thought, the boy's bouncing leg was causing the entire table to shake, and it looked like the blonde was barely aware of it.

"They're not letting you take your ADHD medication, huh?"

Denki's eyes snapped back to him, and all movement immediately ceased for a moment, before he slowly went back to normal. The boy bit at the inside of his mouth rather obviously before saying, "That obvious, huh? But not really, they don't care what I take. Hell, Dabi is actually on crack sometimes, and no one cares. I just ran out of what was packed for the weekend trip, so I don't have anymore."

"What? We packed for like five days in case–"

It clicked in Aizawa's mind, and he just stopped.

"What happened on that bus?" He finally asked slowly to which the boy in front of him sighed.

"If I'm being honest, I don't really know. I was asleep. But my bracelet had a tracker in it, so when we left the school, my father knew and set off the 'sleep bomb'...I'm not exactly sure of the real name of it, but that's what Toga called it. It was that little crystal thing apparently," Kaminari explained. "Basically, it creates a black sphere, and everyone inside it is knocked out. After everyone was asleep, they transported the whole damn bus here. After everyone was here, they made sure everyone would stay asleep for a while… just ask how long you've been out I can tell you want to know."

"How long?"

"Well, if we use my medication to count it, it would be six nights exactly. I took a pill the night we got here and ran out the day before yesterday," Kaminari said. Aizawa found himself examining his own hands for a few moments as he ran that through his head. They'd been gone for six days. "Everyone else is fine. They woke up this morning... just by the way–"

"YO KUTSUKI, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE ANYWAY," A loud voice suddenly called out from outside the door.

"SHIGARAKI SENT ME IN HERE, SO KINDLY FUCK OFF," Kaminari stood up to yell back.

"HEY, DON'T BE A BRAT," Suddenly, there was a rattling on the door handle and swearing outside before the man cussed his student out, then there was quiet. Kaminari dropped down and put his face in his hands to sigh out.

"Kutsuki?" Aizawa found himself asking in order to break the quiet.

"My last name," He replied before lifting his head back up. And Aizawa's mind whirled processing that. That the name he'd been calling his student for two years wasn't even his name.

"So, Denki Kutsuki?"

"Please don't use the name Kutsuki. It makes me feel sick," Denki muttered.

"Okay."

"Just call me Denki at this point."

"Okay."

"And please stop looking at me like that."

That made Aizawa pause for a moment before asking, "Like what?"

"Like I'm the victim here."

"You are. None of this is your fault," Aizawa said firmly. Mentally, he found himself trying to figure out how the blonde came to the conclusion he was at fault, but the boy just sighed out while shaking his head. Aizawa frowned before saying, "Denki, you're not a villain."

That got Denki's attention for a moment. His student stared at him, blankly. Seconds ticked by before the blonde's head slowly dropped, and he stared at his lap.

"Sir, I promise I'm going to fix this," Denki said softly.

"I believe you."

"You have no reason to though," Denki said, bouncing his leg faster as he picked at his fingers and looked away from Aizawa. When he looked back, the eyes he saw seemed almost dead. "Shigaraki sent me to torture you."

The sudden cold tone should have shocked him. It should have, but it didn't. Aizawa watched his student lift his head up and pull on an entirely different personality like clothes. Currently, the look on Denki's face reminded Aizawa of the other's father. His eyes were cold, and his expression severe, as he watched the boy physically separate himself from the situation.

"What information does he want," Aizawa found himself asking almost resigned to his fate. Whatever that may be. He knew needed to wait this out to find his other students after all.

"That's just it," Denki said while shaking his head. "He doesn't want information. He just wants you in pain."

And Aizawa nodded. If he was honest, he wasn't sure what else he could do at the moment, but he saw the look on Denki's face as the boy stared as his own hands.

"I'll be okay," He said in that tone of finality that he'd often used on his students. The one that said, 'listen to me, I promise I know best.' Still, the boy hesitated. Finally, though, Denki stood up and grabbed onto Aizawa's wrists. He looked into the gold eyes and raised an eyebrow at him until, finally, Denki took in a deep breath and just hold it as he blinked back tears.

Then white-hot pain rolled through Aizawa like thunder.

To whom it may concern,

If I'm honest, I've never written a letter, so I apologize for my awkwardness. I suppose I have more to apologize for than just that. Mentally, I've written this letter hundreds of times and in hundreds of ways starting before I even entered UA, and every time, I struggle with what to say. So, to begin with, I'm sorry for whatever is about to happen. At the time of writing, I don't know what's being planned only that there is, in fact, a plan. I'm not sure where to start, so I guess the logical thing would be, to begin with how I got into this mess.

My father is the Lightening Killer. I believe Mr. Aizawa was investigating him, so I'm sure you would be able to look into his work. He used his quirk, which gave him the ability to control the lightning in thunderstorms, to kill people. Not for any particular reason, but because it made him feel powerful. On the other hand, my mother is a thief who committed mainly high profile crimes. For example, she was the one that stole from the Tokyo Hero Memorial museum. Most of her crimes were never connected to the same person.

To this day, I'm not sure of my father's plans for me. If I had to guess, I'd say that he wants someone loyal to him to assist him in villainy.

Considering everything, I suppose you could say I was always destined to be a villain. My father worked under All for One for a long time, likely before I was even born, and he was the one who introduced me to the man. Well, introduce may be a strong word, we met once through a screen, and he told me he could get my siblings and me away from that house. I was barely fourteen when I agreed at the time; I thought I was close to achieving freedom. I changed my appearance, my personality, and my quirk all to apply to UA so that I could be the spy. As you can tell, I succeeded.

Perhaps if I'm being honest, I know that in the end, I would have done much worse to get away from my father, but I'm afraid now I can only hope to get my siblings away. I can't even begin to explain the hell that was my home. There's too much there, so instead I'll tell you about my home's basement. For a long time, it was mainly my mother's space where she kept her favorite steals, but every once in awhile, my father's work would get carried home and down into the basement. That's why there are bloodstains in the corner. When I was twelve, my father began to train me and the basement became my place of punishment. That's why the floor has a quirk suppressant. Despite the pain, my quirk used to cause me, not having my quirk exhausts me and leaves me feeling like a corpse. I can only assume to a certain extent i'm literally powered by the electricity i produce.

I don't mean to play the victim, after all, I'm not, I hope you can understand I'm trying to explain as much as I can because I won't speak to the police. Nor to the heroes that will inevitably bring me in. I don't know how I could. I can barely explain to Hitoshi why I would rather stick knives in my eyes than ever have him meet my parents. If you care to ask, Shoto Todoroki will have the best understanding of what my home was like. There were days when we'd talk about them; it was easier to talk to someone that understood my situation after all.

I wonder if ironic is the word I'm looking for. To describe the strange humor I find in how similar Shoto and my situation is. I was the child of a villain and was made into a tool for him to use and then one day become a villain. Shoto was the child of a hero and was made into a tool for him to use, and then one day become a hero.

Both means to another man's ends.

If it comes to me being placed in a court of law, I hope this letter will be enough of a confession. Because I confess to being guilty. Even if I'm not sure what I'm confessing too, I'll admit I'm not very well versed in criminal laws. I've always stopped myself from looking because, in the end, I was afraid to know. I suppose if I had to guess accessory to murder, assault, kidnapping, and who knows what else. Treason charges are likely. If I'm given life for my crimes, it'll be more than fair earned. All the attacks on UA were because of my own betrayal, I provided the locations by merely being there. I sold out the school's weaknesses. Hell, I sold out my teacher's weaknesses. The only reason I know there is a plan is because of how my father behaved when he asked me about Mr. Aizawa's weaknesses.

The first time I ever lied to my father was telling him that my teacher had no substantial emotional weaknesses. I'm confident Mr. Aizawa and even Mr. Yamada can take care of himself, but the idea of Eri or Hitoshi getting hurt kills me a little.

My only regret would be not telling the people around me how they made me human. I was so used to being an object for my father's plans, and you all made me so happy. Kaminari was nothing more than a mask I used to keep from showing you the truth, and in the end, I wasn't scared of you all knowing. You took the time and allowed me to live, even if it was just for a bit. Thank you for that. It means more to me than I could ever express. If you hate me after this, I understand completely, but I will cherish everyone I met at UA forever.

I have attached multiple things in this envelope that I can only hope will aid whoever is in charge of cleaning up my mess.

The location of the home I grew up in, along with how to access the basement. There you will be able to find evidence of my parent's crimes.

There is also a map of everywhere I ever met the league. It wasn't often, but we did meet face to face a few times over my time working for them. When it wasn't at my home, it was somewhere secluded, and you can see that they are all marked.

You can find the phone I used to contact the villains in my room. On the shelf on the left wall, there is a box of god-awful hats, and under that, the phone is tucked under a fake bottom. This location is also where I keep the bracelet when I'm not wearing it. It has a tracker in it, so I try to avoid wearing it as much as possible.

I've written a few personality and quirk evaluations in a small notebook. It's written in the style of shorthand Izuku Midoriya taught me, so it would be to your benefit to include him in your deciphering. They are also modeled after his style of analysis, so send him my thanks for the inspiration.

Enclosed is also a few letters addressed to the people at UA. Please give it to them; they don't have any additional information in them, only my apologies and best wishes.

Signed,

Denki Kutsuki

The UA traitor

P.S.

I think I now know what my father is planning.

And here's the part where you ask me why I'm doing this? Why I'm saving them if it'll hurt me in the process. Sure, I can hear you all say, you care about them, but is that worth sacrificing yourself. And to that, I say yes. My classmates are each one hundred times better people than I could ever dream of being.

I can't remember where he heard it, but there's this quote that says, "Everyone has a little bit of 'I want to save the world' in them. It's okay if you only save one person, and it's okay if that person is yourself."

So i'll save twenty people at the cost of one.

I'm not worth saving, but they are.

Chapter Text

Yamada reread the letter. Then he read it again. Then again and again and again until he began to develop a headache. And despite how many times he read it, it was painful. He could physically feel the pain the other boy was in. The other blonde who he traded jokes in English with, who helped him make dinner, the boy who he found hiding in his living room late at night because he had a nightmare and didn’t want to wake anyone.

The worst thing is Yamada hadn’t even been aware of the plan. His husband and the principal had planned to go off the grid for the weekend in an attempt to keep all of the class safe. Nedzu still currently refused to tell anyone where they were heading, but it didn’t matter because they didn’t make it to the secondary location anyway. About halfway there the bus had vanished. Completely.

Aizawa had stopped answering Nedzu, so the principal sent the police to their last known location. And they searched the surrounding area, and there had just been nothing. It made him want to rip out his hair.

The UA staff had been called into the debrief after Nedzu couldn’t get a hold of Aizawa. Yamada hadn’t suspected anything was wrong and had brought Eri in and was shocked by the mood that the principal was putting off. He had sent Eri out to color in another room while the meeting began.

He was more surprised by the apology he was given, however.

“The reason I asked everyone to be exceedingly careful this week was that Aizawa found out who the traitor was…it was a student,” Nedzu had said, causing the room to become deathly silent. All of the staff had grown still while waiting for Nedzu to continue, and Yamada had felt ice in his veins when the principal finally said, “Denki Kaminari.”

Nemuri, on his right, mouth had dropped before she asked if he was sure, clearly conveying the shock everyone was feeling.

“I believe… Sorry, I am at fault here. I should have realized there was more to his story back when he broke out of the dorms,” Nedzu said, looking at his paws with an unreadable expression. Then he noticed, and despite any attempt to hold his tongue, he asked.

“Where’s Shota?”

“I’m sorry,” Nedzu said quietly.

“Don’t say that… you make it sound like he’s dead,” Yamada said with a forced laugh. “What…?”

“He’s missing… along with the rest of the class A kids,” The principal answered him before handing a folder to Recovery Girl on his right. “Aizawa had planned on getting all the students, Kaminari especially, away from UA. But the bus vanished presumably with them all inside.”

“Villains?” Recovery Girl asked before handing the folder to her right as well.

“Likely,” Nedzu said.

“…his father?” She continued slowly glancing up from the folder she’d been given to which the principal just nodded.

“His father,” Nemuri questioned and raised her hand halfway as she spoke.

“Were almost certain that Kaminari’s father is the Lightening Serial Killer. A bunch of Aizawa’s notes on him are in that folder being passed around,” Nedzu said then paused before glancing at Yamada. “You knew him best? …Do you have any thoughts?”

For a moment, he let the question sit before sighing out. “Just… I’m processing, I suppose… I wish it made less sense, but things certainly click into place now that you’ve said that.”

The silent question of ‘like what’ hung in the air, so Yamada continued hesitantly. “There were always strange things about him. His family life was… obviously not good at best and clearly physically and mentally abusive at worst. Shota and I even danced around it, like in small ways we both knew, but we also didn't know what to do about it. Some days he would be scared to ask for things because… I’m not sure actually, I suppose because he was scared to be denied or even be hurt for asking. He always had injuries and seemed used to being in pain. His parents were always a super weird topic… remember this is a boy that lived with me for weekends or on breaks, and I never asked about his parents because it felt like a taboo topic. I assumed that was because there was an abusive relationship there that he was refusing to tell me about, but it makes an alarming amount of sense of them to be villains.”

The other teachers seemed to process that for a moment. Especially the ones that hadn’t had him as a student seemed to be taking his words in. Eventually, Cementoss cut off their thoughts.

“Did you ever ask?” He questioned. “About his parents or whether he was being abused?”

“Of course, especially at the beginning when he first started hanging around,” Yamada found himself saying quickly before thinking back to calm moments watching television on the couch after dinner. “I still asked every once in a while, but he always seemed to violently pull away when I asked, so I learned to ask about other things if he wasn’t going to answer anyway. Instead of asking ‘hey, are your parents hurting you’ I started asking ‘hey, you know that if you ever hurt you can come to me to get patched up, right?”

“…Yamada, in your opinion, is this a villain that needs to be arrested, or is this a child that needs to be saved?” Ectoplasm asked.

“He’s a child,” Yamada found himself saying automatically. “I don't believe he's a bad person even now. He’s a stupid brilliant child that has always been a living breathing paradox.”

“Then that’s all we need to hear,” Recovery Girl had said firmly, although there were clearly differing opinions on that matter in the room. “What’s the next course of action, Nedzu?”

“I want to put the school on as much of a lockdown as possible,” The principal said. “I don’t quite want to cause that sense of panic, but I don’t want students in and out unless it’s an emergency.” All the various teachers nodded. “But I want to split you all up. One third watching the school grounds, one-third resting, and one third working with the police. Ectoplasm, Midnight, Hound dog, Vlad King, Snipe, All Might, be prepared to move with the police in half an hour for about 6 hours. Recovery Girl, Present Mic, Power Loader, Thirteen, Cementoss, and Lunch Rush, please stay on standby and await instructions. Everyone else divides and conquer, especially covering the dorms and the students with no combat training.”

Yamada had wanted to argue. He wanted to go with the group to meet with the police, but Nemuri had placed a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. “Take care of Eri.”

And she was right, of course. Yamada definitely wouldn’t have stayed at UA if it wasn’t for the fact that his daughter needed him. He took her home, and he couldn’t pretend that everything was alright, but she didn’t ask either. He watched his daughter fall asleep in his and his husbands’ bed and just let the weight of what was happening settle on him.

The villains had a spy in UA, and they managed to kidnap an entire class of students and their teacher. He could see the headlines now, like Bakugou, only so much worse. Yamada didn't sleep, but he’s definitely wasn't awake. He thought of another night he couldn’t sleep. Generally, on those nights, Shota was awake to keep him company, but his husband had been asleep for once, so he had wandered down the stairs and into the living room and found the blonde staring off into space, hugging his knee’s tightly to his chest. Denki hadn’t heard him come in, so he had knocked quietly on the wall to announce his presence, causing the boy’s eyes to shoot to him and revealed to be filled with tears.

Neither of them had said anything until Yamada had sat on the couch and pulled him into a hug. He didn’t need to know what was the matter. One of his kids had needed comfort, and so of course, he gave it to him without a second thought. It was clear that the other blonde didn’t want to talk, so he didn’t force him. He only tried to make sure that the other knew that he was there for him.

Maybe it would be strange for anyone else, but Yamada had realized early on that the boy in it of himself was a paradox. One of the lowest ranking students with below-average grades in English read advance English literature for fun. One of Class A’s loudest members had the quietest footsteps. One of the happiest people cried at night in the arms of Yamada himself. Everything about the boy was a contradiction, but perhaps that’s what Yamada liked about him. Of course, it was more than that. It was in the way Denki ran his hand gently under his son’s chin, where few people ever noticed the soft faded scars from a muzzle from many years ago. It was in the way Denki always braided Eri’s hair without complaint no matter how many times his daughter asked him to do it. It was in the way that Denki could clearly tell when Shota had a migraine and would lower his tone and bring his husband water and painkillers if Yamada hadn’t already.

It was in how easily he found a spot in their family.

The next day everyone found themselves back in the same seats, only now more people had the same grim expression on their face that Nedzu had displayed yesterday. Only now, Detective Naomasa had joined them.

“Would it be fair to assume that there haven’t been any good leads since yesterday,” Thirteen asked the room only to be met with shaking head and frustrated sighs.

“They quite literally vanished,” Hound Dog muttered. “There’s nothing to gain by running over the area again, but we have a police team there anyway. However, we're trying to see if we can locate anyone that might know Kaminari.”

“Mic, do you know where Aizawa would have kept his student files?” Nemuri asked.

He nodded before answering, “They all stayed in his office.”

“We’re going to dig through the file he had on Kaminari. See if there might be anyone else we can be looking for to find him or his father,” She explained while getting up to leave and presumably head to Shota’s office, then it hit him.

“He said he had siblings… like five or six of them,” He offered up before glancing at Naomasa. “I know two of them were older than them. So, it’s possible there may be evidence of them existing more than the other children.”

“I’ll make a note of it,” The detective said before scribbling something down.

And then his daughter had pushed her way into the room, asking if the bad thing had happened. It had made everyone that was getting up to leave stop and look at the little girl. Nemuri was right behind her with a manila folder tucked under her arms, and Eri had that determined look that she had definitely stolen from Shota, and she stood her ground and asked again.

“Did the bad thing happen, Papa,” She asked him like he knew what she was talking about. He opened his mouth to speak but stumbled over his own words and looked to the principal for help.

“Eri,” Nedzu said, gaining her attention. “What do you mean when you say, ‘the bad thing’?”

“Denki said that a bad thing would happen soon,” Eri said, causing all attention to fly to her before gesturing to Nemuri, “He gave me something for it.”

His friend held up a thick white envelope and walked it over to Nedzu, who took it slowly along with the folder she was holding. His attention was suddenly snapped back to his daughter, who decided to climb into his lap. “Did you read what was inside,” Yamada asked.

“No, he asked me not to,” She shrugged before tugging on a lock of her hair. “…Papa, what’s going on?”

It’s a question of how he phrases this, because sure his daughter is smart and doesn’t need the situation dumbed down to her, but on the other hand, Yamada isn’t sure saying ‘One of the people you consider family is a villain and betrayed us,’ will go over well with her. He doubts it would go over well with anyone. It wasn’t going well with him, after all.

“Your dad and his class are missing… like kidnapped missing,” Yamada ended up saying. “And we think Denki may have been involved in their disappearance–”

“Present Mic,” Nedzu said suddenly. “I think you should read this,” Nedzu held out the paper than he had been reading. Yamada took it gently in his hands and began to rake his eyes over the writing. Yamada read Denki’s letter. Then he read it again. Then again and again and again until he began to develop a headache. But eventually, he passed it to someone else.

“Someone should go to his room,” Yamada found himself with no small amount of uncertainty.

“Naomasa and I can go,” All Might said in a tone that was almost him asking, but everyone agreed.

“The address on the map is the same as the one in his folder,” Nemuri said, looking between two papers.

“Then someone should go check it out,” Nedzu said. “It’ll likely be empty, but it’s worth a shot–”

“I’ll go,” Power Loader said suddenly. “Anyone feel like joining me?” Hound Dog nodded and rose up from his chair. “We’ll keep you updated.”

“Good luck,” Yamada heard someone say behind him as he glanced at the sealed letters. The original one hadn’t been sealed, nor any of the documents he’d provided, but the letters were. 

“There’s one addressed to you and Eraserhead,” Nedzu said before pulling one of the letters out of the stack to hand it to Yamada. He took it gingerly and wondered if his student’s handwriting was always so shaky. He wondered even though he knew that it wasn’t. “There’s the one addressed to you and Eraserhead, one to his class, one to the 'Bakusquad', one to Midoriya and Todoroki, and one to Shinsou… Did you want to read the one addressed to you and Eraserhead?”

On the one hand, yes. A million times, yes. On the other, he was almost afraid to. Even though it didn’t make sense, he stared at the letter partially addressed to him and shook his head. Nedzu gave him a curious look but didn’t comment. Merely handed it over for him to take.

“I’ll begin pulling apart the personality and quirk evaluations,” Nedzu said after a moment of Yamada’s silence. “I helped Midoriya develop his shorthand, so I’ve got a decent handle on it. You should head home and look through Eraserhead’s things. See if there’s anything else that can help us?” Yamada knew the confusion must have shown on his face because they both knew it wasn’t like Shota to keep things out of his organizational system, but Eri finally reminded him of her existence by tugging on his shirt. He understood and immediately scooped her up as he stood and looked to Nedzu for assurance on his silent approval to leave. The principal nodded, and Yamada took his daughter and began planning his next move. He really needed to get someone to watch Eri. He didn’t want her in those meetings, and it wasn’t fair to expect her to sit through them.

While unlikely, he figured he could still look and see if there were any files left in his husband’s office with useful information on either Kaminari or his father.

Then halfway home, he got a text from Mirio telling him that he and Amajiki could watch Eri at their apartment if he needed it of them. He spent a moment in shock, wondering how he knew. It hit him almost violently, and he pulled up a news site on his phone.

And there it was.

The Bad Luck of the Infamous Class 1-A Back?

It was the first thing he saw on the site, and he found himself gritting his teeth and closing the tab and sending a thanks to Mirio before asking when he was free.

“You’re going to go stay with Mirio and Amajiki for a bit, okay?” Yamada said to Eri, and he saw her eyes light up then get darker after a moment as her eyebrows furrowed.

“Is it that bad?” Eri asked.

“Yes,” He answered after a moment. “Eri, I’ll be honest. We’re trying to figure out if Kaminari is even a good person–”

“He is!”

“I believe that, and your dad believes that, and I’m certain that Hitoshi believes that, but the problem is that he’s done bad things,” Yamada sighed as he explained, but after a second, Eri hummed slightly, seemingly in understanding.

“I don’t think doing bad things necessarily makes someone a bad person,” Eri said after a moment. “I think it has to do with their intentions…you know?”

Yamada looked down at his daughter and, for a moment, took in just how young she was.

Then he nodded, “I think I do.”

Mirio was already at their house with Amajiki and Nejire in tow. No matter how bad the situation, Eri was thrilled to see all of them and ran up to greet them. After giving Amajiki and Nejire hugs in greeting, she got scooped up by Mirio, and he heard her giggling with happiness at seeing the other.

“I hope you weren’t waiting too long,” He said, throwing on a smile for his ex-students.

“No, we weren’t,” Amajiki said quietly from where he was standing somewhat behind Nejire, and Yamada nodded before pulling the keys out of his pocket to open up the door. Amajiki glanced over to Mirio and Eri, and after assuring they weren’t listening, he looked back over and asked, “How do you think it got out? That they had been kidnapped?”

It was a good question. One that Yamada hadn’t yet considered. “I’ll be honest, I’m not sure. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the villains that have them leaked it–”

“Hey Mic, Eri, Nejire and I are going to go grab her things,” Mirio called over before being led away into the house by his daughter.

“Are you worried,” Amajiki asked, and Yamada laughed slightly while shutting the door behind him.

“With you three watching her? No,” He said. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

“No, thank you. And I didn’t mean about Eri, though I’m glad you have that much trust in us, I meant about Aizawa, Shinsou, and their class,” Amajiki said clarifying. The dark-haired boy was fidgeting with his hands and really looking anywhere but towards him.

“How much do you know,” Yamada asked quietly while grabbing a drink for himself and setting a juice aside for Eri to take with her.

“Only what the media knows,” Amajiki replied almost immediately, and Yamada bit his lip and wished he had actually read that report.

“What does the media know?”

Amajiki blinked at him, and his mouth made a small O shape. “I mean… not much. They know that Eraserhead’s class was kidnapped and that there are virtually no hints as to where they went.” It was less than Yamada assumed that they knew, and he actually felt a little relief. “It’s worse than the media thinks, though, isn’t it?”

“The UA traitor was one of Shota’s students,” Yamada said and was already beginning to get weary of explaining. “Denki Kaminari. The boy with the electricity quirk. His father’s a villain that works for Shigaraki and before that, All for One. But Kaminari left a bunch of information behind with Eri. And he…” Yamada run his finger's threw his hair as he trailed off.

“…so not necessarily worse, just more complicated?” Amajiki asked in a very not question sort of way.

“Yeah. Eri believes he’s a good person and… so do I,” Yamada said to conclude his explanation.

“I’ll take you word for it then,” Amajiki said with a short nod. “You know him better than me after all–”

“Tamaki!?” Mirio called out, clearly looking for him before Eri ran into the kitchen before Amajiki could even respond.

“Found him!” Eri yelled back before scurrying off, presumably to wherever she left Mirio. They both watched her run off before looking gazes again before Amajiki’s dropped once again.

"I think that's your cue," Yamada said with a laugh and Amajiki nodded.

“We’ll take care of Eri, so find the rest of your family,” He said slowly. “And… take care of yourself, Present Mic.”

Chapter Text

He wakes up confused by the silence in the house before everything comes flooding back to him. Yamada pauses before pulling himself out of bed. It's slow going, but eventually, he manages. There's a weight that hangs on him today that he's not used to and is a little unsure of how to handle, but he makes do and heads downstairs to get breakfast and, more importantly, coffee. Which is usually his husband’s morning routine, not his. However, despite sleeping for almost eight hours, it had been in smaller bursts as he tossed and turned through the night and Yamada still felt exhausted.

Over text, Nemuri had given him the rundown of what happened after he and Eri left the meeting with Nedzu.

Someone had finally put two and two together and realized there was a different last name signed than what they were used to. From there, they found a handful of names, including Ramika Kutsuki, who had Denki's address listed when she had been attending high school the year before, and Terashi Kutsuki, who still had the address listed in his files and was attending the nearby middle school. Unsurprisingly, they hadn't been at the house when Power Loader and Hound Dog arrived, much less when the police finally got there. However, Denki's information was right; they quickly found the house's basement and extracted the stolen goods and multiple pieces of possible evidence.

It was strange, though. In some places, the house looked like it had been deserted. In the living room and kitchen and what his co-workers had assumed was Denki's mother and father's room, everything looked like a standard home. Nothing looked like it was missing. There were clothes in the laundry hamper and hung up in the closet. There were makeup left out and lights left on, which is why it was a sharp contrast from the other bedrooms. Because the children's rooms were practically empty.

Yamada hadn't seen it in person, but he had pictures sent to him and had been shown around the house through the call. There were only three rooms in the house, including the "parents' room," meaning, not including Denki, there were three kids in each room, so it didn't make sense for there not to be anything. Even taking into assumption the fact that Yamada knew these kids a shit parent. There weren't any clothes in the closets, the dressers were bare, and the beds were stripped clean of any sheets or blankets. It stumped the police and heroes on the scene, but they didn't have time to focus on it. They made as many notes of it as possible and had to leave the mystery where it was. Luckily, Naomasa and All Might had found the burner phone in Denki's room. It gave them something else to look at.

Unluckily, they hadn't found much on it, mainly records of long phone calls had at late hours of the night. But what they did find helped fill in some of the blanks. The only texts on the phone weren't labeled; however, when Naomasa began to go through, it was clear by Denki's behavior and a few context clues that they were looking at the conversation between Denki and his father.

And it was bone-chilling.

Especially to compare with what he found on his own phone from the boy. To look at the slang and the typos and exclamation points of his own conversations with the boy versus the perfect, long-winded paragraphs that the burner phone held.

Yamada's mind kept coming back to his own children. And to an extent, his husband's penchant for finding traumatized children.

Eri, who had been involved with the Yakuza from birth.

Hitoshi, who had been muzzled when he was five for a quirk he could not control.

And now Denki, the child of a villain and the UA traitor.

Yamada mentally paused; he could feel his brain come to a screeching halt at the title that the boy himself had taken. The UA traitor was what he'd signed his letter as, but then again, he also signed it as Denki Kutsuki. At the time, he hadn't even acknowledged it, but now it was staring him right in the face. Denki was the UA traitor.

Logically, he knew it before, but only now did he really think about the implications of it. All of the attacks on UA had been done with the information that he had provided. He felt a tightness in his chest as he thought back to the first one, the USJ, seeing Shota beaten and broken on the ground.

And for a moment, he wants to be angry, but then that moment was over, and Yamada wants to hug this child. He wants to keep him safe and assure him that he won't let anything bad happen to him again.

But he can't do that right now. Not yet.

Eri was still with Mirio and Amajiki, but he made sure to call them every night and reassure his daughter he was still okay. That he was still looking for her father and brothers. But it seemed like every day was just on repeat. After the first day, Yamada had taken shifts guarding the dorms. No one was going in or out. When he wasn't watching the dorms, he met with parents and tried to assure them they were looking for their children.

And the media had lost it. He was taking the small mercies in the fact that there was no way any of them knew about Denki. Still, even that didn't help the swarms of reporters begging for scraps of information and mountains of articles dragging UA for letting an entire class get kidnapped. It was like Bakugou's kidnapping but so, so much worse. Perhaps the only positive was that these kids were almost third years and had taken and completed their course in hostage situations.

However, on day seven, going on eight, everything changed. It was the middle of the night when the silence he had been dragging with him was shattered. His phone went off as he tossed and turned, but not the stereotypical chime that unknown contacts had, or the ones assigned to his co-workers that he had gotten used to these past days, or even the cat meow he had given to his husband. No, this one he remembered specifically and knew exactly who the notification was. After all, his daughter chose it, and he had heard it often over these past years. It was a soft 'Pikachu' because, of course, he associated Pikachu with Denki. Who wouldn't?

At almost four in the morning, he had received a message from Denki Kaminari. He grabbed it from his nightstand and quickly opened up his phone to look at it. Then when he looked at it closer, it wasn't a message; it was a location. He sent a screenshot of it to Nedzu and Naomasa, who luckily immediately saw it and told him to come to UA as soon as possible.

And he wasn't the only one. As he was stumbling out the door, Nedzu and Naomasa sent all the other teachers an emergency meeting notification. He wasn't the first one there, but he still was able to watch as everyone else had rushed in with an aura of concern and expectancy. And when he got there, Nedzu already had a screen pulled up with a blinking dot right in the center that he directed their attention to. Because that blinking red dot, Nedzu told them, was Denki's phone, which hadn't been active in days. The location had been turned on and additionally sent to Yamada's phone.

No one was sure what to say. After days of radio silence and no words from the class or the villains, suddenly they had a location.

"…What if it's a trap," Someone said. Yamada didn't even know who; he was too busy showing his phone to Nemuri.

"What if it's not?" All Might responded. "What if young Kaminari is reaching out for help from us as heroes, and we ignore him?"

All the UA staff went quiet.

Everyone knew of a story of a child that had reached out to a hero and been ignored. Those were children that often became villains, and Yamada didn't know if he could handle that. He knew Shota definitely couldn't. Wouldn't.

"The location is about three hours out," Naomasa said, cutting off everyone's thoughts.

"We can't not go, but we have to be careful," Thirteen popped up after an additional minute.

"I called in some additional help as well," Nedzu said, catching everyone's attention. "Both to guard the school and head to the location. Edgeshot and Endeavor will meet us there. And we have cars coming around to take everyone else. Midnight, Present Mic, Snipe, Ectoplasm, and Cementoss, get ready to leave in half an hour. That way, we arrive before daybreak."

Yamada's eyes lock with Nemuri as they seemingly stand in unison with their other co-workers. Most of them needed to get their hero costumes on, himself included. He could only assume that the other staff had gotten the notification and like him stumbled out the door in what amounted to their sleepwear.

The other teachers and staff stay behind to wait for instructions from Nedzu, but they head out immediately. He waves to Nemuri as they part their separate way.

Then for a time, he feels like he's running on autopilot, mind focused on getting prepared for hero work, then making it back to UA. He doesn't realize what else autopilot contained until he was listening to the ringing against his ear; even at the late hour, it only rang twice before he heard a quiet 'hello' on the other end. He had called Mirio, but he wasn't surprised that Amajiki had picked up.

"Sorry for the time, but we're moving out in less than an hour, and I figured…"

"No, no, I get it. Let me wake her."

"Yes, thank you," He said, and in the background, he heard a deeper voice speaking that he could only assume was Mirio. Then some faint shuffling, then a soft answer from Amajiki, then a door, then–

"Papa?"

An anxiety he hadn't even known was there started to sizzle out until it disappeared.

"Hey Bug, sorry to wake you," Yamada said softly. "I wanted to give you a call before I fall off the grid…"

He can hear shuffling and can only assume his daughter is sitting up now, "Are you going to find them?"

"No promises, but… we've got a lead and I… I've got a good about it," He muttered into the phone as he turns and walks onto a familiar street. "The thing is we're leaving pretty much immediately."

His daughter goes quiet for a moment before finally saying, "Promise you'll call me as soon as you can?"

"I promise."

"And promise you'll be careful? Like Extra careful since Dad isn't there to watch your back?"

"I promise."

"And… promise you and dad will take me and Toshi to that cat café we all really like once they're okay?"

"I promise, Eri," He said, feeling a fond smile on his face even if his daughter couldn't see it. She went quiet again after his answer, and he wondered if she was looking for something else to say. He nears an all too familiar door, and as he opens his mouth to say something else to his child, she cuts him off.

"Okay. Goodnight, then Papa, I'll start planning that family day to the café in the morning," Eri said with confidence in her voice.

"Good night Eri. Sleep well, I love you," He said into the phone, standing at the (luckily) locked door, pulling out his keys incredibly slowly for a man on a time crunch.

"I love you more!" He pushed the door open and pushed himself into the house.

"I love you most," He says, and there's a giggle before for a moment he hears Mirio in the background of the phone and then the soft beep signaling being hung upon. Then for a moment, only one, he let the conversation wash over him before shaking his head out and making his way upstairs where his hero costume and equipment were all stored. He pulls on the costume in a rush before taking the speaker with him in the case. After all, he knows he can put it on once he gets to UA or in whatever vehicle they were driving. 

When he sees Nemuri standing at the UA gates' front, he manages to pull himself out of his head to take the energy drink she was offering him and greet her.

He doesn't walk into the school. There's a car waiting for them already. And they get a more extensive briefing once they’re in the car. They already located where they were going, and it was a large 'storage facility' near a port. There were three separate cars so they could approach in waves and from different directions and be less noticeable.

Naomasa was in the front seat with Nemuri next to him, while he sat in the back next to Ectoplasm. For a while, everyone was still quiet. It was a long drive, so while Nemuri tapped away on her phone, Yamada found himself spacing out as he watched the scenery go by until Ectoplasm suddenly spoke up.

"Do you really think he's innocent?" He asked, and the comfortable silence was suddenly replaced by a tense one. Yamada just stared at him for a moment before shaking his head slowly.

"No, he's definitely guilty. I know he's the UA traitor. He even confessed to it, remember? But I do know he's is a child that needs us. And that's what I'm holding onto at the very least."

The rest of the car ride settled into a wave of peace, then Yamada would remember where they were going, which would cause a tightness to form in his gut. Then he would settle into another sense of peace only to have the process repeat for another three hours until they were about ten minutes out.

Naomasa gave them the warning and he found himself methodically putting on his Directional Speaker and attaching his earpiece. Next to him, he sees Ectoplasm attaching the same piece so they can hear each other. Once Naomasa had parked about a block away from the building and slipped out of the vehicle, trying to avoid any unnecessary eyes on them. Then they were waiting for instructions. The unease becomes frustration from having to wait in silence until a crackling appears sounds in his ear.

"Were waiting on Edgeshot to confirm that the entrance," Nedzu said. "Midnight, Present Mic, Ectoplasm, get ready to head in."

Chapter Text

Eijiro hears faint familiar voices as he wakes. And he feels pressure on his shoulder as well. When he cracks his eyes open a sliver, he sees a head of pale blonde hair that he only really associates with Katsuki resting on his shoulder. He sighs out softly to not wake the other boy and attempts to blink the sleep out of his eyes. If he's honest, he's surprised he managed to sleep at all, what with the way his mind kept racing.

As he begins to wake up, he finally processes Midoriya, Todoroki, Shinsou, and Iida standing around in a small circle staring at the floor and whispering. They seem focused, but then he watches Midoriya scan the room with a tense posture. Then the boy's eyes landed on him, and his expression softened, and he waved slightly almost embarrassed. A part of him was perfectly happy to stay where he was with Katsuki’s comfortable weight on him, but another part was far too curious to ignore what they were doing. In the end, Eijiro's curiosity outweighed his comfort, and he found himself gently moving the blonde till he was resting on Mina, who was leaning on the wall on the other side of Katsuki. Then he carefully wrapped his jacket around the other boy and stood as cautiously as he could. Luckily, Katsuki didn't stir.

He moved over to the group, who immediately stepped to the side to engulf him in the circle.

"What's going on?" He asked them in what was little louder than a whisper.

"An escape plan," Todoroki said and then gestured to the floor.

"If the floor takes our quirks away, then we tear out the floor," Midoriya said, taking over with his voice full of determination. "Then we mapped out an exit that goes past both 'Denki's room' and where Aizawa is being kept."

Eijiro looked down at the map and then specifically to where Midoriya was pointing on the map. When they exited the room, they would need to make a sharp left.

After a moment, he asked, "What if he's not there?"

Only to almost immediately get a response from Midoriya asking, "Who?"

"Denki. What if Denki's not in his room," Eijiro clarified. All of the others looked slightly dumbfounded and stared at him, but Iida was the first to answer.

"Then we leave without him–"

"No," Todoroki cut him off forcefully. "Then, if necessary, some of us break off and go find him. It's not a large facility, and we meant what we said about not leaving here without him."

"That's going to be dangerous," Iida said with a frown while crossing his arms.

"So? So, is everything we're doing right now? So is heroics?" Eijiro said. "Besides, isn't that what heroes are for? Saving the people that need to be saved?"

Iida's mouth opened, but after a moment, he closed it and just nodded. "You're right."

"Let's just… focus on getting the floor up, guys," Shinsou suddenly cut in, causing Iida and Midoriya looked bashfully to the floor. "Want to see if we can kick the floorboards any farther apart before we attempt to pry them up with our bare hands?"

"Yeah, let me do that," Midoriya said before jumping to take the place of where Shinsou was standing.

"I'll help," Todoroki said and went to join him.

"I don't really think it's a two-person job," Shinsou muttered, watching the other boy follow Midoriya's instructions as they both shuffled awkwardly around the floorboard.

"Pick your battles," Iida responded, trying to hide a small smirk caused by Shinsou's tone. Then he glanced behind him. "I know Uraraka's family owned a construction business. Do you think she might know anything about removing flooring?"

The three of them mulled it over for a second, but Eijiro finally shrugged and answered first, "Possibly, but I think that's normally someone else job, though it couldn't hurt to ask."

Iida nodded at him slightly as he made a slight face of resignation before turning and presumably walking to Uraraka. Eijiro did pity him; he heard how painful it was attempting to get wake Uraraka up before she was ready. Or in general. Either way, with two soft conversations happening on either side of him, Eijiro looked at Shinsou and really took in his one of his best friend's boyfriend and the thoughtful expression on his face.

"Hey dude," He said softly while lightly knocking his shoulder against Shinsou's. "What's on your mind?" He asked softly to the other boy.

"That's a loaded question."

"Is it one you're going to answer?" He pressed while looking towards the other boy, and after a second, he heard Shinsou let out a shaky breath before turning his head and glancing to meet his gaze.

"I miss him. Isn't that stupid?" Shinsou sighed. "But it's more than that. It's everything. What if… what if we can't rescue him. What if we're not fast enough or powerful enough to save him. What if I lose him? And setting aside the fact that my boyfriend is a fucking villain… it's just…my dad… What if something happens to him. What if something already has? What if–"

"Mr. Aizawa will be fine," Eijiro said, cutting the boy off. Shinsou just frowned and nodded as he looked to the floor, so Eijiro made his way to him and gripped his shoulders.

"Mr. Aizawa will be fine," Eijiro repeated. "And we're going to save Denki. No ifs, ands, or buts-"

"Let me see if I can help you, Deku," Uraraka said suddenly behind them.

"Okay, but it's definitely not a three-person job," Shinsou said with a raised eyebrow, but then the other looked back at him, and Eijiro found himself shrugging in response. Shinsou bit his lip and seemingly recentered before jumping back, "Kirishima do you think-"

There was a crash behind them, causing Eijiro to whips around and see Midoriya laying on the ground with the board in his hands. Todoroki and Uraraka stood wide-eyed, and his eyes flickered between them and Midoriya, who grabbed the back of his head and began to rub it with a grimace before sitting up slowly. "The board came up…so... wake everyone up."

Though a few of their classmates had woken up at the clatter and were staring at them wide-eyed. Eijiro tuned out Iida turning around to talk to their class and explain what the plan was, and he finds himself focusing on Midoriya standing on the now bare floor while clenching and unclenching his hands. He had ditched his shoes seemingly in an attempt to get his feet directly onto the concrete instead of the flooring. Midoriya slipped into a stance that was just a hair off from his usual fighting stance, and after a moment, a familiar red line began to trace his friend's skin faintly. If Eijiro was honest, he had never been happier to see someone else use their quirks. He watched Midoriya breathe out slowly before slipping out of his stance, looked over to him, and just nodded.

Then a hand on his shoulder startled him out of his stupor, and he snapped his head to see Katsuki looking at him. The blonde raised an eyebrow at him but seeing that it was Katsuki caused that surprise and tension dissipate. He placed a hand on top of Katsuki and slid it off his shoulder, allowing him to just hold onto the other's hand. And he was surprised by the fact the other not only let him but squeezed his hand back as they interlaced their fingers.

"I'm ready," Midoriya said, suddenly catching everyone's attention as he slid into his same almost fight stance and Eijiro watched him begin to draw his fist back.

And two things happen right after another.

Midoriya punches straight forward, the sheer force blasted a hole directly through the glass sending it all flying and shattering against the back wall.

Thunder rolls across the room, and Eijiro swore he could almost feel it rattling deep in his bones.

No one pauses. They were trained better. Aizawa trained them better. Everyone's carefully hopping through the large hole made in the glass barrier. Midoriya pulls his shoes on as he moved towards the exit, and Eijiro followed after watching as he carefully followed Yaoyorozu over, then Katsuki followed. The blonde turned, paused, and waited for Eijiro on the other side of the barrier that they had been trapped behind for who knows how long.

And the door slams open, but it doesn't matter because Todoroki is already on the outside of the cell, and while a little slower than Eijiro knows he's capable of, ice surrounds the villain before he can even speak. Tokoyami gives Todoroki a short nod, and then everyone is over, and they're ready to get out.

"Which way?" Ojiro says, looking towards Midoriya and Iida while holding the door open, allowing them to see a short staircase leading straight up.

"Up the stairs, then a right," Midoriya responded before gesturing for Iida to take the lead. The other boy nodded and moved to the front and moved up the stairs and crashed the door open and just out of Eijiro's sight. But not too far because Eijiro could still hear Iida slamming a kick into the villain, presumably by the door. The grip he had almost forgotten about suddenly tighten, and Eijiro looked down to Katsuki. However, Katsuki wasn't looking at him; he clearly knew that there would be a fight once they got upstairs, but he had this look on his face, and it was one that Eijiro recognized from years of experience. It was a look of pure determination.

The stall at the staircase seemed to clear up pretty quickly, and everyone was making their way up less than ten stairs and into a hallway that looked far too dirty to be attached to the seemingly perfect prison. Unlike the cell, there was dirt everywhere, and everything had a worn edge to it. They had only really seen Denki, Akio, and their father while in this place, and Denki had been the only thing that had looked to be in such a state of mess, but looking around, he almost wondered if Denki's father was the weird one with his clean almost formal dress and put together state.

Finding Denki's room was almost too easy. It was the first door in that hallway. However, they threw the door open to find a mess. Not the natural one that the rest of the building seemed to have; this was all shattered furniture and scattered papers.

"He's not here," Mina stated incredulously, to which no one said anything. Mina looked to him and then to Iida. "What now?"

"Mr. A-Aizawa," Iida said, stumbling on the words as he tore himself away from the room. "No point and standing around here. We need to keep moving–"

"YOU BRATS!"

Eijiro was fast to harden and turn to hit one of them would be attacker straight in the jaw and straight towards Katsuki, who grabbed the guy slammed him into the wall before dropping him and letting him fall to the floor. Katsuki then turned to the group, "Aizawa will know what our next move should be. We need to go to him."

Katsuki doesn't give them a chance to argue, and he pushes through. Everyone begins to move again after the pause in front of the room. There's a different air now; everyone seems slightly shaken. They hear a commotion down the hallway, and everyone has a silent and immediate understanding that they're going that way.

They're running down the hallway again, and not more than a minute, they see a handful of villains, and Todoroki almost immediately freezes the nearest villain's feet forcing them to stop in their tracks. From there, it's easy to recognize Midnight and Vlad King fighting five to two.

"You're outnumbered now," Iida called out, causing one of them to turn his head so rapidly Eijiro almost wonder if it hurt. It's clear that none of these men are willing to die for whoever they're meant to be protecting because arms are put up, and the villains surrender pretty quickly. Everyone watches as Vlad King contains them in blood. Less noticeably, though, Eijiro watches as Midnight's posture relaxes ever so slightly at seeing them. He watches her call something into her earpiece as she runs over to them.

"Are you all okay–"

They knew where she was going, but it didn't matter. Shinsou cut their teacher off, frantically, "Where is he?"

She blinked and gripped his shoulder, "He'll be okay. He's been extracted like you all are going to be as soon as we can get an officer down–"

"Then what about Denki?" Shinsou asked.

"We're going to find him. We are searching every area in the building," Midnight said, but everyone noticed the like of response from the other boy. They had been itching to get out for days. To get free. And yet, Eijiro knew what Shinsou was feeling. He was feeling the exact same thing. An officer turned the corner with what was clearly a sidekick. "…Shinsou?"

"Okay," Shinsou said. "Where are we going?"

"Out of here–"

The look on their teacher's face was one they had seen plenty of times before. He saw the opportunity that Shinsou created, but unluckily for him, so did Iida, who grabbed him fully and physically. Unluckily, or luckily in Eijiro's opinion, the closest person that saw what was happening near Katsuki was Tsu, who was not physically imposing enough to physically stop him immediately.

Katsuki and Shinsou booked it around the corner and down the hall.

By the time he's gotten out of Iida's grip, Shinsou's already released his on their teacher's mind. Midnight pauses for a moment, clearly struggling to make a choice when Midoriya speaks.

"Miss Midnight, I'm going after them. They're heading to the main room, which is going to be where everyone else would be. Just… tell me whether or not I'm going to be a UA student when I'm done here," Midoriya said, looking over to their teacher. And for a moment, she looked like she didn't have an answer either. But eventually, she turned and looked over to the sidekick and waved her over.

"Take the ones that want to go out of here. Midoriya lead me to this main room," Midnight said, and Midoriya pulled out the map and handed it to her. There was a couple of things that changed at that moment, but no one attempted to leave. No one even looked like they were considering it. "Two paths. Vlad King, take the opposite hallway with some of the students."

It's a given that Todoroki follows along with Uraraka, Tsu, and Iida. Eijiro was going down the hallway that Katsuki left down, and it looked like Mina, Sero, and Jiro were going to follow him. Following Midnight down the hallway, they had just run through. They seemingly retraced their steps running past Denki's room, then past the room with their cell, and then they were kicking open a double door where there was already a fight in progress.

Eijiro is sad to say it's overwhelming and familiarly exhilarating at the same time. The very definition of lackeys were fighting. Seemingly radiating out of a single corner. And in that single corner, Shigaraki was leaning against a wall looking like he didn't have a care in the world. In contrast, next to him, Kutsuki seemed so different from when they first meet, even though it couldn't have been more than two days ago. He looked frantic and nervous, with messy hair and hands splattered with drops of what could only be blood. And with the two of them, he almost missed him; Denki sat on the floor with his knees to his chest, glancing up at his father, Shigaraki, then back down at the floor.

One of the various minions takes a look at Eijiro and his group that had just run in, and he looks like he's about to take a swing at them, but Katsuki doesn't give him a chance with a punch packed with an explosion behind it. The minions were dropping like flies with the number of professional heroes that surrounded them, and it looked like Kutsuki knew it that even if Shigaraki was hiding it.

"UA, Fall back! Make an outer ring!" Edgeshot yelled out as the hero's closed in. Katsuki looked like he was clearly about to defy orders and jump into the diminishing fight, so Eijiro jumped forward and placed a hand on Katsuki's shoulder. He felt him freeze underneath his grip, and Eijiro gently pulled him back while moving into the semi-circle that he and his classmates were making. His instinct said to run toward the fight, towards his friend, but he bit it down and pulled Katsuki towards himself where Sero and Iida were standing on either side. And judging by how they were gripping their hands into tight fists, he doubted he was the only one squashing down his instincts.

"Thoughts?" Eijiro whispered to Katsuki, gripping his arms and holding him against his chest. The blonde paused and turned to face him with wide eyes like he was really seeing him for the first time, and then the blonde let out a shaky breath through gritted teeth.

"This isn't ending well. And every hero and villain over there knows it…there was a moment. Right before you got here, there was just… this fucking moment…" Katsuki said. 

The radius of that corner is getting smaller, and Shigaraki looks at Kutsuki and nods, and the man in question straighten up and before grabbing Denki from the floor and yanking him up.

Thunder rolls across the room, and Kutsuki smirks.

And there's this moment.

He wonders if it's similar to the one that Katsuki experienced.

The room just pauses, anxious for what's going to happen next.

Kutsuki pulls Denki close to him and whispers something into his ear that causes Denki's body to seize up and his expression to just drop. He looked up at him, though whether it was in shock or surprise, Eijiro wasn't sure. Kutsuki lifted his hand up ever so slightly and scanned the entire room, and smirked. Almost like he had won. And his hand crackled like he had seen Denki's whole body do so many times, and everyone backed up quickly, not sure of what this guy was about to do or, more accurately, what his quirk was about to do.

Then, in three seconds, three things happened.

One: a portal opened up right next to Shigaraki, who looked at it easily like he was never worried in the first place.

Two: Denki shoved his father, causing him to slam against a wall.

Three and most importantly: a bolt of lightning shots out of Kutsuki's hand and hits the wall. Eijiro eye's flashed left, right where the lightning had shot between him and Iida. It had been a foot away, and he could feel the static. And the most horrifying part was somewhere deep in his gut, he knew that bolt of lightning was meant for him and Katsuki. They were right on top of each other, and it very well could have killed them both.

The room freezes, but Kutsuki doesn't. After all, Kutsuki's furious. Shigaraki drags his eyes up Denki like he expected this and steps through the portal, and it almost goes unnoticed because not a moment later, Kutsuki grabs Denki by his hair, and that shakes everyone out of their stupor. He's pulling him, but Iida is fast and is running through the few lackeys left standing and reaching out to grabs him, and he slips out of reach.

The portal closes, and Iida barely doesn't slam into the wall. He looked crushed, and Present Mic immediately runs over to him while the rest of the heroes gather all the lackeys left behind.

In the end, it doesn't matter. He's already gone.

Eijiro feels numb, and as tears slip down his cheeks, he feels Katsuki's pulling him close almost instinctually. The heroes around them slowly collect themselves, then lead their class to the swarm of police cars outside the building. Everything feels like it's moving in slow motion, though Eijiro acknowledges that it may just be because his mind is racing.

They're eventually ushered onto a bus; none of them like buses anymore, but no one complains.

Dear Class A,

I spent a long time thinking about how this would all go down. I've had a long time to prepare, so I've gotten to the point where I've mentally organized who will likely be upset at me so many times that at this point, it's committed to memory, so I guess I'll start there.

Ochaco Uraraka, Tenya Iida, Momo Yaoyorozu, Rikido Sato, Tsuyu Asui, Toru Hagakure, you're furious, I know, I'm sorry. Mezo Shoji, Mashirao Ojiro, and Koji Koda, I doubt you're very happy with me either. So, I'm sorry as well. Everyone else, well, I have separate letters for you with the apology you deserve. Is it strange that I can see your minds working, trying to figure out how I could possibly know your reactions to me being the UA traitor? As a spy, my entire job was to know everything about you all. So, if this is my last chance, I might as well teach you something. Additionally, you all will learn a few things about me, so we're hitting two birds with one stone.

"Never trust a survivor until you find out what he did to stay alive." Kurt Vonnegut claims this was a piece of advice given to him by his father. I personally have yet to read Vonnegut's work, but his father's advice holds some merit. After all, people have done some terrible things to survive. For example, let's go back to nineteen seventy-two, there was an Uruguayan Air Force plane that crashed in the Andes. There were forty-five people, to begin with, and, in the end, only 16 survived. It later came out that those who survived had eaten the limbs of those who had already died. When it was first revealed, people were horrified and condemned the survivors, but after some time, people began to realize that they did what they had to.

See, now you're probably wondering where I learned that. That event was actually shared with me by my younger brother Terashi. In order to avoid our home, he spends all his time in school or at a library. I'll be honest I barely know him. We tend to talk around a lot of topics and often avoid others, mainly our home. But with little else in common, I struggle to find things to talk about with him. One day, the topic we found ourselves discussing at one point was cannibalism from a pre-quirk era. How fucked up is that? How fucked up is that we were talking about cannibalism at all? Sometimes I wonder how our lives got to the point that-

I'm sorry, I'm getting off-topic, but please, stick with me; I promise that I have a point.

I was supposed to be telling you about me, so I'll begin with the fact that I have Astraphobia. Astraphobia is an extreme fear of thunder and lightning. I know the boy with a lightning bolt in his hair is afraid of lightning. Ironic huh? This is because when my father would punish me, striking me with lightning was his favorite method, so my mind associates lightning with pain. If my mind thinks lightning means pain, then I tend to avoid it when I can. Remember this, for now, we'll come back to it.

When I first got my quirk, it hurt. And quickly after my quirk's development, my brain would force me into a dissociative state due to the pain that my quirk caused me. And though around the age of seven, many of my nerve endings were damaged, the disassociation continued until it was beaten out of me when I was around nine.

Now, here's your question. What are both of these examples of? While I'm sure there are multiple things, the answer I'm looking for specifically is learning to survive—almost a type of adaptation. Many of us know what that's like. There are many examples of this that I can think of even off the top of my head. Sorry to drag some of you into this, but for example:

Shoto, everything about you is based around the various survival behaviors you kept up to get through your childhood. Those behaviors are the ones you needed to survive in a highly abusive situation. Katsuki, I adore you, but you keep up an aggressive persona, so you have an excuse to spark up your hands as often as possible. After all, nitroglycerin is toxic to people, and you can't leave that on your hands all the time, right? Uraraka, how long did it take you to break your habit of overeating at lunch after you moved into the dorms? Logically, you knew there would have something for dinner, but yet, you were so used to eating excessively that it took time. I'm sure it takes a long time to break a habit that you've spent your entire life relying on.

As people, we biologically are trained to survive. That's what all of those behaviors are, coping mechanisms to survive. It's strange to think about. To survive, I learned to be scared of lightning because it meant I would be in pain, but in a way that meant I was scared of my own quirk. Scared of myself.

I'm scared of lightning, but I always sort of hoped that one day I wouldn't be. After all, despite its destructive nature, it's beautiful to watch dance across the sky. But more importantly, I don't want to be scared of my baby brother's quirk. Especially since it might be more powerful than my father's. But it's similar to breaking any habit, and it's difficult. If I had a wish, it would be to be able to live without that internal survival instinct that lives in my head telling me that someone is around the corner about to hurt me. That the light rainstorm doesn't automatically mean pain. That there will be another meal, so I don't have to finish my plate every time. The idea of living without that voice in my head sounds like heaven. Even just for a day, I would-

I'm sorry. I'm rambling again.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is, there is a difference between surviving and living. And sometimes surviving gets in the way of living.

And I genuinely hope that you all can find the difference between surviving and living for yourselves because I'm sure it's different for every one of you. In this last year, I was able to figure that out, and it's what led me down today's rant. Three in the morning is a great time for contemplation after all. But you know, in my time at UA, and especially this last year, I spent a lot of time thinking about the future and, more importantly, the futures I imagine for you. If you all find a way to live even half as well as I want you to, I know you'll be happy.

After all, you all will make amazing heroes. I used to tell my siblings all about you. I'll admit I was gushing a little bit, but in my defense, you all are incredible and don't even seem to realize it. And while they've always seemed impressed, the other day, something happened with my youngest brother. My baby brother Issei told me he wanted to be a hero. A hero like his big brother and his friends. I suppose it was inevitable; after all, I've been showing him all these videos I could find of you all and telling him how cool you are. But the thing is, none of my siblings ever wanted to be heroes as kids. We never related heroics to anything positive after all, only the anger grumblings of our parents. So, even though the idea of a 4-year-old wanting to be a hero doesn't seem like anything all that out there to you, to me, I think I means that I did something right for him.

I don't know if that dream will stay, but a selfish part of me hopes it does. After all, the idea of my brother being able to be a hero with a quirk so similar to the one my father always used for villainy makes my heart swell up with joy. Especially knowing that he won't have to grow up with the looing fear of being my father's next pet project.

And you know, I never got that chance to live really considering everything. And I probably never will, but that's okay. It's what I want for all of you. What I want for my younger siblings as well. I want to see you all thrive in this world. I hope that you are able to make a world that I don't mind watching my siblings live in.

I hope you all get the chance to live in the way that you all gave me a glimpse of.

So, until the next time we meet.

In this life or the next,

Denki Kaminari

Chapter Text

It's a little before sunrise, and he's sitting on the floor of his room admiring his scars. He runs his thumb lightly under his jaw the way that Denki and his fathers do, hoping it'll provide the same comfort. It doesn't. He only ends up catching sight of the pale lines on his wrists that remind him of a much darker time. It had been a while since he had simply sat in front of a mirror, wallowing in his own self-pity. However, he's gently jostled out of his thoughts when Denki wraps his arms around him. And for a moment, they're just sitting on the carpet. Then the blonde presses a soft kiss to the back of Hitoshi's neck before breathing out a sigh while resting his head on his shoulder.

"Why the bad thoughts, sunshine?" Denki asked softly into the morning quiet. "It's Christmas. Bad thoughts on Christmas should be, like, illegal."

He found himself letting out a small chuckle at his boyfriend's words before tilting his head to lock eyes with the golden eyes staring at him with concern. He pressed a soft kiss onto Denki's lips and felt the blonde relax slightly. "I'm okay," He said after pulling away.

Denki rolled his eyes and rested his chin back on his shoulder, "You don't have to lie. It's okay to not be okay, you know that?"

Hitoshi hummed noncommittally, and Denki moved his hand to rest on the side of his face and dragged his thumbs lightly over the scars under his jaw. He found himself placing his own hand on top of the other boys and just enjoying the soft contact. It grounded him. And he felt safe right now. There were a lot of Christmases he hadn't gotten that luxury, so even though he had been with his fathers for going on seven years, there was always that nagging thought in his head that this would disappear one day. He remembered the cold and empty holidays from his childhood. Then he looked up and saw gold eyes peering curiously at him.

It was their first Christmas together as they neared the end of their first year, and the blonde had stayed the night after going back and forth every day of the break. It was also the first time they had shared the bed at Hitoshi's house. While the dorms had become almost par for the course, this was new for them bother. Did it matter outside of the anxiety Hitoshi had? Probably not. But it felt more intimate sharing the bed in his home.

"You know, she… my mother gave me these," He said regarding the scars resting on his face. "Neither of my parents really cared for me before my quirk came in, they hadn't really wanted a kid, and they didn't really love each other, but then she got pregnant, so they ended up staying together. I don't remember much because I was so young, but it was alright. Not great, but they, uh, tolerated my existence."

He stumbled and looked up for a moment away from where he had unconsciously started picking at his fingers. Denki grabbed onto his hands and didn't say a word with a silent cue that, yes, he was listening.

"...Then, my quirk came in, and I accidentally brainwashed my biological father… I don't even remember much of the incident. People talk about remembering the day their quirk came in for the rest of their lives, but I remember talking to my dad and asking him a question and then a hospital because my mother wasn't sure what to do, but that's really it. He left not long after. It was easy. They weren't married, and they could barely be considered dating. He just packed up and left us, and she never wanted to acknowledge it, so we never bothered tracking him down. And I figured out my quirk pretty easily and got it under control, but she didn't speak to me. Then it turned into her not allowing me to speak to her. The…muzzle appeared when I was seven. I messed up after school…I didn't even ask her a question; I just told her how there was a form I needed her to sign, and she looked at me with disgust, and she left the house, and when he came back, she had the muzzle. It was a metal wire basket muzzle with black straps meant for a dog. She bent it and cut the metal parts to fit my face, and I began having to wear it as punishment, I guess, but I really didn't do anything. I was really just a 'punishment' for being born. I was pretty lucky because how she made it never really did much more than scratch my face and prevent me from talking. But there was one day… she put it on, and I struggled, but she forced it on me anyway. The cut metal wires sliced at the underside of my face as she put it on me. When she was done putting it on, she left, so then I left. Literally, muzzle and all, I walked out of the house and kept walking, and I found myself wandering down the street, and people were looking at me, and a few even tried to help, but I just kept going, and eventually I collapsed against a wall and just sat there…hours later, that's how dad found me. Bloody and not really in my own head. I was eleven. He took me to the hospital, and they had to cut the muzzle off of me. The metal had dug into my skin, which is where the scars came from, and I… I uh…"

He's not really sure where the word vomit came from, but once he started, he found he couldn't stop. He was just talking and talking and talking until suddenly became aware of his babbling and found himself looking back up towards familiar golden eyes once again for that familiar reassurance. He isn't sure when he looked away from Denki, but he is sure that Denki never looked away from him. The blonde was looking at him, and now that he had stopped, he reached out and grabbed onto Hitoshi's hand. "I'm listening, I promise," Denki said softly, and Hitoshi unconsciously let out a choked breath and felt his eye well up. But he took a shaky breath in and continued.

"I looked up to him as a hero, which is why I went with him. It was hard to get any information on Eraser Head; I mean, it still is…but like, I wanted to be like him. So, he took me to the hospital, and then Papa showed up, and… he could relate in some ways. His parents were never really as bad as her, but he talks about how they always seemed to hold their breath when he spoke, so just like that, they were invested in what happened to me. So, they invited me to stay in their house until they found somewhere for me to stay. It was just an apartment at the time, but they had a guest bedroom, so I stayed there. They tried reaching out to my Biological dad, but he, uh, he remarried and had another kid and said I would be a threat to the other kid. And obviously, she got arrested for child abuse and whatever, so eventually they everyone came to the realization I was going to be put into the foster system… but dad was raised in the foster system, and he… didn't want that for me. So, he and Papa offered to adopt me, and I agreed, and now..."

"And now you're here," Denki said with a questioning lilt in his voice.

He felt the anxiety train out of him, and then Hitoshi nodded slowly, "And now I'm here."

"I think here's a pretty good place," Denki said, scooting slighting so instead of being behind him, he was sitting next to him and letting his head rest on his shoulder. He vaguely felt Denki fidget with his hands before looking down at them then back up at him. "…I wish I knew how to comfort you right now. You're always so good at this when it comes to me; I can't think of anything to say besides what the fuck or fuck your mother," Denki mutter just loud enough for him to hear and shocking him enough for him to cough out a laugh. The blonde leaning against him sighed at the laughter he inspired and tilted his to look at Hitoshi.

"I mean it," He pouted.

"I know," Hitoshi nodded before taking the other's hand.

"Do you know that I love you," Denki questioned while snuggling into him, and Hitoshi could feel himself being used as a human heater.

"I do," Hitoshi said after a moment.

"Do you know that you didn't deserve that? What she put you through, or even your father, you didn't deserve that…And it wasn't your fault. It was hers."

 A small bubble of affection appeared in his heart at the words. Because, of course, yes, he knew. His therapist had told him a million times; it was just hard to force himself to believe it. And while Denki's words didn't suddenly change the mindset the years of abuse had developed, there was something about the blonde in his arms assuring him of his worth that made him feel warm. He reached out a hand to cup under Denki's chin and place a kiss on his forehead as he hummed slightly.

"I mean it," Denki repeated.

"I know," Hitoshi finally said.

And then Hitoshi woke up. He found himself staring up at the ceiling before blinking himself out of his dreams. Well, memories. He wondered if they counted as dreams if they were memories. But he was in his dorm room, and he had no clue how he got there. The media he had consumed all his life would have had him believe that there would be a few moments where he was lost and didn't know what happened yesterday before it all came rushing back, but that was a lie. He wakes up, and his mind is already on yesterday. But he forces it away and looks around for a time. There isn't a clock in his room because he usually uses his phone, and he's not sure where his phone is, so he moves his curtain slightly to see that it's very dark outside.

Now, he's not sure what time they actually left that building or of anything after he left the building. He vaguely remembers a bus, a silent bus, contrasting the loud ambulance that he pretended to be sure wasn't for his dad even though he wasn't sure of anything. He opens his door and steps into the hallways and realizes it was definitely earlier than then when he'd typically get up to go to class, but perhaps it would be around the time Izuku and Bakugou got up to train. The sun wasn't quite up yet, but he was and began the trek downstairs. It's quiet, just like the bus had been, which contrasts the speed at which his mind is moving.

Is his dad okay?

Is Denki okay?

How long were they gone for?

How long was he asleep for?

When did he get back to the dorms?

Where was the rest of his class?

Was anyone else up?

Though the last question came with its own answer as he found Mina, Tenya, and his Papa sitting on the couch, each holding a mug. A strange group under normal circumstances. However, when he walked into the room, all eyes shot over to him, and everyone tensed for half a second until recognition kicked in. Yamada set down his hug on the table and held out a hand, which he happily walked over to take. His father settled him on the couch next to him, and he felt absolutely no shame in taking comfort in the steady warmth his parent provided.

"Great timing," He said, giving Hitoshi a soft smile, much more tired than his usual ones. "Your dad will be okay. They have some concerns they want to address, but nothing that they think will be life-threatening, mainly things they want to monitor in the long term."

"Like what?" He said. His Papa's expression strained, and Tenya and Mina both seemed to tune in at his question.

"He…The doctor… Listen, kids, I should say to all of you, especially to you, Hitoshi, that I want to believe in Kaminari. I want to believe in the good in him and how he was clearly a kid struggling to make the best with the… less than stellar options provided. That being said, Shota… there are clear signs of electrical torture. Not the way you'd see with lightning, but with a lower voltage or wattage or whatever for a sustained time. Which implies–"

"Denki," Mina breathed out.

Present Mic hummed, "We'll know more when Shota wakes up. Until then, I want you all to be informed on what we know, but just… just the gossiping and rumormongering to a minimum... not that I really have to worry about that. YOu're all good kids, and I know you care about Kaminari."

Tenya agreed and started talking, but Hitoshi could not find it in himself to listen.

He wanted…

Hitoshi didn't know what he wanted, actually. He wanted plenty of things, most of all, for his boyfriend to come back safe and unharmed.

But he knew the likelihood of that. And it was moments like these he fished his dad hadn't taught him to be so damn logical.

"How long were we gone," Hitoshi found himself saying after a moment of silence, and his Papa froze. Only for a second, though, his father had always been good at hiding his reactions. It came naturally with the years of hero work.

"Seven days, nearing eight," He said, and Hitoshi felt a little shock settle in. Because sure, there had been no way to keep track of the days that passed in that room, but it definitely hadn't been a week. He would have guessed three days at most. The surprise must have shown on his face because concern morphed onto Yamada's. But before he could ask any questions, Iida jumped in.

"We definitely weren't awake for the full week. At some point, we all just…woke up. I was sure we were only there for two days. But taking that into account, I guess that means we were only awake for two days," Iida said, but he hesitated at some parts. Like he was guessing more than stating an obvious conclusion.

"Do you think Denki was awake all seven days?" Mina suddenly cut into the conversation.

His Papa once again hesitated but finally nodded, "I can't say for certain, but it is quite likely." Then another awkward pause settled over them as Mina, Iida, and Yamada sipped at their drinks, and Hitoshi picked at his fingers. Eventually, Yamada spoke again, "Did you ever see him before that final fight? How did he look then?"

Mina looked at him for a brief second, seemingly just to confirm he wasn't going to speak before settling her cup down in a small signal she was down with it. "He looked tired," She finally seemed to settle on. "And out of place. His clothes and glasses… I don't know, I think he wasn't expecting to be there, and no one took the time to ensure his comfort when he was."

"I agree," Tenya said, shocking him. And then all three pairs of eyes drifted to him expectantly, and Hitoshi just shrugged and looked down. Because what was there to say. He looked like he was shoved into a room with all of the insecurities he had painstakingly hidden on full display.

He looked like he was wearing a pair of glasses that were just a bit too small for his face. He looked like no one cared how he looked, so someone tossed some clothes they had lying around at him and told him to change because no one wanted to see his UA uniform. He looked like he hadn't applied concealer, so there had been nothing to hide behind but his own crumbling lies as he stood before a collection of people that knew him better than anyone. It would be easier to say that he didn't look like himself.

"This is for you," His Papa said, suddenly snapping him out of his short-lived trace, and he slid a letter towards him. And just like back at the cell staring at the map, what was clearly Denki's handwriting stared at him.

"What?"

"He left them," His Papa said vaguely. "I gave Mina the one for the Bakusquad and Iida the one meant for Todoroki and Midoriya, but they're yours."

"Thanks," He would himself muttering, not really paying attention staring at the white envelope. However, when his father stood, he snapped back to reality. "Where are you going?"

"I just told you. Nedzu, then the police station," His Papa said before leaning over to ruffle his hair. And strangely, he found himself leaning into it. Which he usually never did in front of company. There was something comforting about feeling his father's hand on him, even just for a second. Then he hesitated before giving them all a smile and leaving.

"I'm going to deliver this to Midoriya and Todoroki," Iida said, standing up, and Mina nodded and stood quickly as well.

"I'm going to find the rest of them…I need to know what this says, but I can't open it without them."

And Hitoshi was left with his own thoughts and a letter that he was scared to open.

Hello Sunshine,

It's interesting to write that, you know, instead of texting it like I've done almost every morning that I haven't woken up in the same bed as you. And I'll text you that in about… three hours continuing to hope it's not the last time I'll get to send that text. Hoping that I'll get to receive a text saying 'morning kitten' the next day.

I…I don't even know how to begin. You can hate me. That's fine. I won't blame you, but I need to say thank you. Thank you for teaching me how to love someone.

I'll keep this short because I promised myself I wouldn't cry writing these, but I don't know how I'm supposed to get through this one. By the time you read this, you'll know that I am, in fact, the traitor. I hate that I have to ignore you tonight in order to write these, but I can practically feel my father's impending plans. It's worse not knowing what they are.

I want you to leave you with the knowledge that I loved you more than anything. You were the best thing to ever happen to me, and I will cherish every moment we spent together.

Hitoshi Shinsou, I will love you until the day I die. But I hope you don't. I hope you find someone better for you. Someone who doesn't have so many scars or doesn't cry when it thunders. Someone who you can love wholeheartedly and doesn't have to wonder when they'll end up betraying you. I hope you move on and find someone who will love you like I do. I hope you get to grow old with someone who loves you like I wish I could.

I hope you're able to forget me as a high school mistake. Something for you to feel embarrassed about in a few years: an easy target on your back for a drinking game. I mean, you'll be the only one to drink when they say, 'never have I ever dated the UA traitor.'

Thank you for every kiss. For every time you held me at night. Every time you made me feel beautiful. Every time for made me feel worth a damn. Every moment you allowed me to spend with you. And thank you for making me feel alive.

I'm sorry.

Love,

Denki

Chapter Text

He digs into the laundry basket filled with clothes Denki never wore. And as he rakes through the unfamiliar shirts and pants, he ends up tossing them to the side haphazardly. At the bottom of the basket, he did finally find what he was looking for. Two shoeboxes that couldn't really shut filled with books. A small bubble of emotion attempts to claw itself out of Hitoshi's chest, but he squashes it down.

Hitoshi scooped up both boxes, carried them out of the closet, and dropped them onto Denki's unused bed. For a moment, he considers rifling through them, just to see what there, but he stops himself.

On the shelf parallel to the bed, he finds an all too familiar bag. Hitoshi moves the makeup as well but places it onto the desk that looks messier than he's ever seen it. He almost wishes he knew if it was from Denki using it for once or whoever was clearly in here digging around in the room looking for evidence.

But thinking about the fact that someone had been in the room rifling around made Hitoshi feel sick, so he shoves that train of thought away and goes digging through anything he can think of that Denki would hide things in. He's not sure what he's searching for, and he wonders if he'll know when he finds it. But he feels like… he feels...

Conflicted maybe? In truth, he's not sure how he feels. He just feels.

In truth, he feels like a child that wants his dad.

Perhaps that's why he's acting like one now.

Hitoshi tosses the shit that he knows Denki never cared for to the side, not caring for the crashing that might disturb Midoriya, the floor below. Either way, no one comes to bother him.

Once his boyfriend had confided in him and Sero that he didn't like his room because it didn't feel like his. Both Hitoshi and Sero had looked up and to each other and then to the blonde with wide eyes because they both knew he wasn't one to really open up about those kinds of things. Especially not without prior prying. He had told them how his parents had bought him a bunch of things to keep up appearances, and hanging out in his room just reminded him that his parents didn't even know the kinds of things he liked. At the time, Denki had seemed apathetic but perhaps leaning towards sadness. However, looking back, Hitoshi just felt angry. Maybe, that was how he felt right now? Hitoshi thinks he feels angry right now, but that doesn't explain the tears that rolled down his face.

But maybe that had something to do with the piece of paper in his pocket that said that Denki loved him. Promised him that, in fact.

Then he's dumping out the basket of accessories that he had never seen, and a previously unseen box heavily clatters open on the floor, spilling open. It's a large square wooden box, and he was surprised to see that even though he didn't recognize the box, the contents were strangely normal. There was a strange tightness in his chest as he pulled the box near him and leaned against the bedframe.

Hitoshi admittedly was confused at first. His mind was still moving at a snail's pace. However, on the box's left side, there were a couple of random items that he pulled out and glances at before setting to the side. There was a Pikachu figurine that looked like it came out of a McDonald's happy meal, a rubber ball, a handful of poorly made braided string bracelets, and a carefully protected snow globe, but then there was something he did recognize. It was a headband with cat ears on it that Eri had given to Denki for his 17th birthday so that they could match, and under the headband, Hitoshi finds a piece of paper, and when he unfolds it, he realizes it also came from his sister. It was a drawing from the first time Denki had stayed with him to babysit Eri; she had given it to him before leaving to go back to the dorms.

Then he's picking up the small stack of papers, and he unfolds the piece of lined paper on top and finds the scribblings of four different hand writing's in four different colors. It's a mess of overlapping writing, colors, and doodles. He knew the color-coded method of passing notes in the Bakusquad almost as well as he knew Denki's writing. And right on the top in bright yellow highlighter was something so mundane it made him feel almost nostalgic. 'Movie night???' it said with exclamation points next to it in Kirishima's signature red pen. His eyes followed down the paper with Sero's agreement in a black pen and Mina's movie suggestion in what must have been a pink colored pencil before leading to a big 'NO' written in bold sharpie, undoubtedly by Bakugou. Despite the 'NO' black ink, all of the other handwriting scribbled over it with various pleases and begging.

And knowing Bakugou, the boy had probably lost that fight willingly. Then more handwriting he recognized suddenly appeared, and he almost immediately realized it was his Papa's writing on an English essay that Denki had turned it. It was graded and given back to him with full points. Hitoshi noted the compliments that his Papa paid his boyfriend's English ability and hard work on the cover page. Underneath that was a final that Hitoshi remembered taking with his dad's handwriting on it. Unlike the essay, it wasn't full points, but for his boyfriend, who had struggled with heavy testing all of his life, the grade had meant a lot. He had talked about it all through the lunch after they got it. Similarly to the essay, Hitoshi took in the small note in the corner from his dad. 'Your hard work paid off here,' It said, 'I'm proud of you.' Neither Denki nor his dad had ever mentioned the note on the test. His dad probably hadn't thought much of it, but as he rummaged through the box, he was beginning to realize that it meant a lot to Denki.

He sets the papers to the side and pulls out two stacks of cards, each tied with a piece of ribbon. He places one on his lap and, on the other, unties the knots to pick up the first card and skim through it. It's a birthday card that he doesn't recognize immediately, but he realizes that it was a card addressed to Denki when he opened it. There was a note from Momo on the side with her well wishes on his 16th birthday. He pops open the second one, and it's from Kirishima, then the next one from Mina. Suddenly, it hits Hitoshi that he barely knew Denki during this birthday. Slowly, he ties the cards back up and looks at the other stack. It was even bigger than the one he was holding, and pulling the first card off the pile, he finds a card from Hagakure that was wishing him a happy 17th birthday.

At the bottom of the box, there was a stack of polaroid pictures of the Bakusquad, of them being generally ridiculous. He flips through their weird poses and funny faces for a moment but eventually moves on and finds a very old-fashioned iPod that he suspected had once belonged to Jiro. He glanced it over, but he doubted it still turned on. Next to that, he found the occasionally talked-about child of Mina and Denki. Miki, their pet rock, was supposedly the sole reason that Mina had not divorced Denki. After all, 'she didn't want to raise their child without a stable father figure,' He had heard her cry once before. Under Miki were a pair of tickets to a horror movie that had Hitoshi knew Denki had gone to see with Sero at least twice, after all, they had talked about how good it was for the next week until they convinced the rest of the squad and even the Dekusquad to go see it. He found a fancy invitation for a fashion event Denki and Kirishima had accompanied Bakugou too. He remembered how Bakugou had approached the two of them, hinting that he didn't want to go alone in the subtle way the boy was an expert at.

Then folded neatly, he found two receipts—one to an American-style dinner and an ice cream place down the street.

Both of them hit him like a smack to the face, and memories from the pure joy he had felt on their first date just washed over him, bulldozing whatever wall had been keeping back the wave of sadness, and it quickly becomes a heavy stream of silent tears, because he didn't know what was going to happen. He wracked his mind trying to figure out what the last thing he said to Denki, because what if it was the last thing he ever said to him? For the life of him, he didn't know, but he desperately wanted to go back to sitting back at betting with Midoriya whether the Bakusquad would get caught passing notes today. Or to laying around all day with Denki in his room. Or even to sitting with his boyfriend's friends and not quite getting their jokes.

However, as his tears slowed, Hitoshi realized that frantic search seemed to settle. Sure, none of his anxiety about everything has been assuaged, but he found what he needed. The anger and panic seemed to simmer down, especially as he looked at the box he had unpacked. It felt so like Denki to keep things like these tucked away in a box somewhere. His blonde had always been sedimental and liked physical reminders to go with his memories. The box felt like his Denki, not the one that had glared at him from the other side of the cell wall.

And just maybe something in him needed proof that the Denki he loved back even existed.

But where the anger dissipated, overwhelming grief and numbness set in. Maybe that's why Hitoshi didn't hear the door open, or maybe he left it open, but he hears two sets of footsteps approaching him. Izuku and Todoroki drop next to him. He doesn't bother asking how they knew he was here, he supposes they heard the racket he was making earlier, but as they sink to the floor, joining him and leaning against the bed frame, he drops his head onto Izuku's shoulders. The tears that he just managed to suppress made a sudden reappearance. He would have thought by now that he would be out of tears to cry. However, between his dad in the hospital and Denki's absence, they just kept flowing down his face.

He thinks it's worse because while Izuku was great and Hitoshi appreciated Todoroki's efforts, the person he always had and wanted with him to comfort him about his dad getting hurt was MIA. And the only person he could imagine being able to really say anything to make him feel better about Denki was in the hospital. It felt like someone kicked him in the gut while he was already down. Though when Izuku took his hand, he felt grateful. After all, the green-haired boy was still his first real friend and had a way of settling him like no other. And it seemed for the moment Izuku was just going to let him cry for a minute, which he felt grateful for. He didn't know if he was ready to hear the standard placating 'It'll be alright' and 'there's no need to cry.'

Eventually, his tears slowed once again, and all three of them just let themselves exist in the silence, but after a long moment, Todoroki picked up the snow globe in the box.

"I bought this for him last fall." He said in a faint voice. "He couldn't tell me why he liked it so much, but I kept seeing him go back to it to mess with it. So, when he went off with the Bakusquad, I bought it and gave it to him when we got back to the dorms. It was almost exactly a year since the first time we… we patched each other up after we went home for a weekend." Hitoshi's eyebrows shot up, and he blinked as he processes that new piece of information. He hadn't realized that this was how Todoroki and Denki had become friends. Todoroki apparently did not recognize the thoughts that were running through his head. "You really did a number on this place, huh–"

"Shoto!" Izuku hissed, leaning forward to glare around Hitoshi.

"What, he did?"

And as Izuku shook his head lightly at the other boy, a light flush took over Hitoshi's cheeks as he looked around because Shoto was right; he really did destroy the room around them. "Sorry," Hitoshi muttered, more on instinct than anything.

"You're okay, Hitoshi," Izuku assured. "It just means… It just means we can redecorate it for when we save Denki and get him back."

Hitoshi choked on his own words when he met Izuku's determined gaze. His friend had always been more optimistic, and while part of him was so ready to agree with him, but another part… there was this niggling feeling of doubt that settled its way deep in his gut. He glanced at the ground before finally saying the real thoughts on his mind, "What if I don't… we don't get him back?"

He watched Izuku suck a breath in, fully ready to tell him why that wasn't going to happen when Todoroki cut him off before he could even get started.

"Not an option."

Hitoshi shook his head because that wasn't how life worked, "But what if–"

"Don't do that to yourself. No what-if's, you'll send yourself spiral if you do that," Izuku said as if he wasn't known for playing the 'What-if game' and overthinking the most straightforward situations.

Then Todoroki placed a hand on Hitoshi's shoulder, "I'm going to head downstairs. Whenever you're ready."

Izuku waved slightly as the other boy left, but when the door clicked shut, he took Hitoshi hand once again, "So hey, like Shoto said, whenever you're ready, the teachers  want to talk to us about what–"

"I'm ready."

Izuku blinked, “Are you sure?”

"Yes, let's get out of here," Hitoshi said, but then he looked at the wooden box and then to Izuku. "Help me pack this back up?"

"Of course."

Both of them carefully packed up the box back to the way Hitoshi had found it, and they left it next to the other two boxes on the bed. Izuku then jumped up and offered a hand to Hitoshi to pull him up, which he hesitantly accepted. They made their way around the whirlwind disaster, but for a moment, Hitoshi hesitated at the door and took in the room once more. He had been in it really only a handful of times, so there weren't really any fond memories with Denki's room. But in his head, he wondered if he should be feeling something for it, but it wasn't really his Denki's room at all.

Hitoshi shut the door and waited till he heard the electronic lock activate before turning to Izuku, who was waiting patiently for him.

When they made their way downstairs, he was almost surprised at the people standing in their common room. Typically, other teachers and staff tended to leave students alone after school hours, so it was strange to see them there. Not including his entire class sitting around on the couches, Nedzu, Recovery Girl, Midnight, All Might, Ectoplasm, and Detective Naomasa were all standing there as the center of attention. However, at their entrance, all eyes turned to them. Honestly, Hitoshi didn't doubt that he looked like a hot mess right now, and while he wasn't normally one to feel self-conscious, he could feel the pity in some of their glances. It almost made him wish he had taken a moment to straighten himself out upstairs.

"Come take a seat," Recovery Girl said, motioning them over and simultaneously calling attention back to her and the others.

Then Ectoplasm stepped forward, "Just to start, a small piece of good news we found the bus which contained all of your personal effects on it, including your phone and any other items you might have had on you. We'll be returning those afterward."

Although it was labeled as good news, no one really reacted, but it seemed like no one was really expecting them to. With no obvious questions, Ectoplasm stepped back and turned towards Nedzu, who stood on the chair that he had been seated on.

"Students, I'll be frank. I know that many of you are having mixed feelings, but I also know that the majority of you are looking for a reason to support your friend. UA does not believe he is a villain, and we are currently treating this as an abducted student. After all, we wouldn't have most of the information we have if he didn't leave it for us–"

"Wait, sir, what do you mean," Mina said, suddenly shooting up from where she was previously leaning on Kirishima.

Nedzu looked to Naomasa, who pulled a manila folder out from under his arm and pulled an almost familiar piece of line paper. Everyone seemed scared to touch it for a moment, but eventually, Mina reached over and picked it up. Naomasa spoke up with an explanation. "This was left for us along with the other letters. He also activated the location on his phone, allowing us to find where you were being kept."

Iida raised his hand, and Naomasa nodding at him. Hitoshi watched the other boy stand from where he was seated on the couch with furrowed brows, "Do you have any information you can share with us about Mr. Aizawa's condition?"

"Yes," Midnight said, catching everyone's attention. "He was found with… some severe looking electrical burns. He's asleep right now getting some much-needed rest, but with the tests, the doctors have run, they believe that he should be able to make a full recovery."

There was a silent breath of relief as the unknown was answered for everyone, but the just meant that everyone's next question was caught in their throats. It seemed like no one wanted to be the person to ask.

"What about–" It was the unison that caught both himself and Bakugou off guard, and both of their eyes shot towards each other. Hitoshi relented the question to the blonde; after all, it didn't really matter who asked. "What about Sparky?"

"We don't know anything new," Midnight said. "I'm sorry."

A silence settled over the class, and Naomasa immediately attempted to change the subject. "We'll be conducting individual interviews; in the meantime, feel free to call your parents…however, keep in mind that the details of all of this are being kept classified."

Chapter Text

The louder of the simultaneous crashes drags her attention from the villains they're currently cornering the students that she had brought here. Bakugou and Kirishima both seemed frozen in place, almost waiting for another attack that wasn't coming. Nemuri's head then whipped forward again in time to see Kutsuki push himself up and grab his child by his hair and towards the portal she barely recognized opening. What Nemuri did not check-in time was one of her other students racing towards the fleeing villains. Iida rushed forward and not a single hero was able to shake themselves out of their stupor to move or even call out to stop him. It's only after the third thud of Iida just barely missing them and narrowly not crashing into the wall that she sees Hizashi run over to the student.

The other kids all looked terrible. Hell, they looked like they were going through the first stages of grief.  Denial, anger, bargaining, and depression were easy to pick out on each of them as all of them simply processed, not even thinking about who was watching or if they should hide their feelings.

Bakugou and Asui stood there, shocked. Neither of them moved and until Asui suddenly blinked herself out of her trance and looked around almost as if she didn't believe what was happening. Nemuri then watched as Asui slowly turned to Jiro, seemingly needing to confirm what she had just seen was, in fact, what had just happened. In contrast, Bakugou didn't move. His face was almost entirely blank, with him seemingly unwilling to accept what had just happened.  He stayed close to Kirishima even as the other boy's emotions ran in the exact opposite direction.

Kirishima, Uraraka, and Midoriya's expressions were almost shocking because they were so unlike them, as they were all furious. Despite the tears that Kirishima had running down his cheeks, he had a clearly tight grip on Bakugou's arm, one that would have definitely hurt if Bakugou was paying even any sort of attention to his own wellbeing. Uraraka and Midoriya were staring at the ground and Uraraka wore a scowl while Midoriya had his fists clenched tightly. As a hero, Nemuri had seen those looks, even worn them, many times. That expression that was anger at yourself more than anything. That clear as day self-loathing asking if you had been better could you have saved 'them'? She supposed it was only worse since 'them' was one of their friends.

Todoroki and Ashido both seemed lost, staring blankly at that corner spot as if glaring at it would somehow make the blonde reappear. Todoroki was almost statue-still and stared, but the tightness in his frame told her that if she was just a little closer, then she would be able to see him shaking. On the other hand, Ashido looked about a second away from her legs giving out, and Nemuri feels sure that they would have been on the ground now if it wasn't for Sero by her side stabilizing her.

Sero, Jiro, and Iida all looked crushed. Jiro, who was known for her calm and aloof demeanor, looked to be holding back tears. Sero, who had immediately moved to check on Bakugou and Kirishima before steadying Ashido, had clenched fists and was shaking slightly as he kept a hand on his friend. Nemuri watched the boy bite the inside of his cheek before letting out a long shaky breath, only to look up to Iida as he approached. Iida, who had been gathered by Hizashi and brought back to his friends, had his head hanging low, clearly blaming himself. He shuffled towards them, and while Nemuri was just out of distance to hear the boys, she could clearly see Sero ask him if he was alright.

Then she hears the door open, and she sees a mop of purple hair just before it slams shut. This knocked Todoroki and Midoriya out of their stupor, and they quickly ran after him. And a part of her wants to run after them herself, but she knows she needs to clear the area. She sees Hizashi head after them himself and steals herself. Nemuri waves over one of the sidekicks and gestures for them to gather up the villains remaining and distantly, she hears the police come in before signaling for the silent group to gather around.

"Is anyone hurt," She asked while simultaneously scanning the eight of them that stood in front of her. A few of them seemed to actually recognize that she had asked a question and shook their heads, but for the most part, the kids just clung to each other silently. She quickly realized that the situation's reality was tearing into them all and motioned for them to follow her as she led them out of the building. A swarm of police surrounded the perimeter, and the bright lights of their cars lit the area overpowering the subtle rising sun.

Near the bus, she spots Vlad King with the rest of the 2-A students, and she watches him scan her group before his eyes made their way back to her. In a subtle way both of them had learned from years of hero work, a short conversation was carried out from afar with nothing but an eyebrow raise from him and a shake of her head. It told him all he needed to know, and he gently directed the part of the class over to her. The other students moved slowly but in a dazed way. It was different from the open grief that the students standing around her showed, but it carried the same feeling.

She thinks the worst part is that the part of the class that had split off with Vlad King didn't have to ask what had happened. They could see the looks on their classmate's faces, and they knew and what they didn't, they didn't dare ask. An officer called her attention to the bus that was behind the wall of flashing cars, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Todoroki, Midoriya, and Shinsou accompanied by Hizashi. All three looked raw, and when her friend pulled his son into a tight hug, neither of them said anything. She watched him pull away, but then he slid a folded envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Iida. The class representative stared at it blankly, and she supposed it was a good thing that Yaoyorozu made her way over and got an explanation of what it was. Then Hizashi pulled away and looked up, making eye contact with her, and with a slight tilt of his head, she stepped to the side, allowing for the students behind her to be escorted onto the bus.

"I'm going to follow the ambulance with Shota in it," Hizashi said while simultaneously keeping his eyes on Hitoshi boarding the bus. "Midoriya and Todoroki had to talk Shinsou down from what I think was almost a panic attack. And while I know they'll look after him, will you just–"

"I'll keep an eye on him," Nemuri said as she gripped his hand in reassurance.

"Thank you," He mumbled and gave her a smile before they heard the ringing of an ambulance begin, and she watched him grimace. "I know he's tough and that he'll be fine; I'm just…"

"Worried," She finished for him, and he nodded. "You're allowed to be. And go ahead and follow after them but call Eri on your way to the hospital. I'm sure she's worried sick."

Hizashi nodded before turning and locking eyes with Naomasa, who appeared to be waiting on him. Nemuri gave Hizashi's hand one last squeeze before letting go and joining the students on the bus. Vlad King was already there taking a headcount of them, and right towards the front, she found Iida and Momo staring at the letter. One of the outside officers climbed up the steps and sat in the driver's seat before closing the door. Nemuri made her way to the class representatives, and she didn't even get to open her mouth before Iida cut her off, saying, "I think...I'm scared of what it says."

Nemuri nods before she looks to Yaoyorozu, who let out a quiet breath as she gnawed on her own lip, "I don't know if I'm scared necessarily just… what if…if…"

Nemuri heard what the girl didn't say. What if it says something they weren't ready to hear? Or what if it didn't say what they really wanted to hear? But Yaoyorozu stood up anyway, grabbing everyone's attention. They had all seen the letter passed to Iida and her earlier, and the already quiet bus became silent, and Yaoyorozu peeled open the envelope.

"Dear Class A…"

Nemuri takes a seat next to Vlad King, who glances at her. His phone was out, and although he's already left the scene, he's still focused on their mission. Finally, he says, "When we separated, we stopped in the room the students said was Kaminari's. They found a compartment under the floorboards. The room was trashed, so I wonder if they were looking for something he had hidden there."

"It's possible. Kaminari got great at hiding things in his room at UA," Nemuri responds, considering. "We should probably have people keep digging through that room in general and the building at large. What did you find?"

"I didn't get to look over any of it in-depth, but there was clearly a burner phone, a small wad of cash, a notebook, and what looked to be a go-bag. Midnight… realistically, he could have left. He had the means too; do you think he stayed because…" He trails off, never finishing what he's saying, but he glances behind them to the class listening to Yaoyorozu at full attention. She thinks for a moment before she nods because it does seem like something he would do. "There was a phone number in the notebook. We think it's going to lead to another disposable cell, so we wouldn't be able to track it. We could call it, though. The problem is that we don't know whose number it is, and if it's a villain's, we could end up putting him in hotter water than he already is with the villains."

"Why would he have a villain's number written down though," Nemuri asks.

"Don't you have your employer's number on your phone?" Vlad King asked.

She hummed for a second because while yes, and of course they needed to be careful, something about it being a villain's number just didn't make sense. She reasoned, "Of course, but it's not the same thing. I feel like a villain would make him memorize the number. They don't want it floating around; additionally, this number was written with all of his things. If he was planning to leave in a hurry and run away from the villains, he still wanted this number.".

"Who's do you think it is then?"

She didn't know enough about the boy to answer. Maybe if Hizashi were here, they might be able to make some guesses. "I'm not sure… I'll get back to you on that."

It was almost noon by the time they made it back to UA, and a handful of the students had fallen asleep in their own seats. Were it not for the seriousness of the situation and the weight of her own exhaustion, she might have found Midoriya carrying the taller and broader Shinsou on his back funny. And were it not for the seriousness of the situation and the weight of the class's exhaustion, she's sure the class might have found humor in Sero stumbling into Hagakure or Kirishima bridal carrying Bakugou up into the dorms.

As she watched them make their way into the building, she heard a faint shuffling and looked to see All Might and Nedzu off to the side. Once the door closed and all the kids were inside, she and Vlad King made their way over to the two of them.

"Are they okay," Nedzu asked in lieu of a greeting.

"They're unharmed," Nemuri responded.

"What are you doing regarding their parents?" Vlad King asked while keeping an eye on the building.

Nedzu looked up at them and gestured for everyone to follow him. "They're going to be welcome to come to visit their children after they've rested… and been interviewed then debriefed."

"Is that really the best idea?" All Might questioned at her side. "Won't the parents object to not being able to see them right away?"

"Maybe, but we've put them in danger because we weren't careful with what we told a student's parents," Nedzu explained as the four of them walked into the school's main building. "The student's safety will have to come before the parents' comfort. But most importantly, we need to be careful what is said to the parents to control the media's coverage. Right now, the only people that know about Kaminari are the UA staff and Class 2-A. I want to keep it that way."

All Might hummed thoughtfully before looking back to her, "Have you heard anything about Eraserhead?"

Nemuri shook her head regretfully and she thinks back to what she told Shota's son. 'He'll be okay,' She had said to Hitoshi, because yes, of course, he would be, but she had still smelled his father's burning flesh when she walked into that room. Shota had been leaning back against his chair, wheezing like he was struggling to catch his breath. And then there were the red lines that were becoming scarily familiar in the last week, trailing up his arms with ugly red and black speckled burns circling his wrists. Burns that had been wrapped in makeshift bandages that clearly had once been a cotton shirt. It wasn't too far of a stretch to come to the conclusion that it had been Denki who had both burned and treated him. It shook her up inside and scarily made her wonder who the torture was supposed to torture. All Might again spoke up, snapping her out of her daze, "Midnight?"

"No, sorry," She said slowly while double-checking her phone. "Hizashi will text me once we know anything, though. I'm sure of that."

The staff room looked even more of a mess than when she left. All the information and papers were scattered across the table or pinned up on a board in an extremely disorganized fashion. Nedzu took a seat at the head of the table, but no one acknowledged their entrance, they were to busy with their own tasks.

"Sorry to have you come straight here, but your insight into the situation is important," Nedzu said and gestured to the seats near him, which she and Vlad King quickly took. "I'm going to have Present Mic send me his report while he waits with Eraserhead."

Nemuri nodded as Vlad King spoke up, "What's going on now?"

"Since we're no longer searching exclusively for class 2-A, some of the teachers have been able to make headway into looking into Denki Kaminari's parents. For example, we've been able to link quite a few big-name heists to his mother. We're hoping that there's something with his parents that we missed that may be able to lead to where they are now," Naomasa answered, suddenly walking towards Nedzu from the back of the room. "I think that it would be best to conduct interviews with the students at the latest by tomorrow."

Nedzu nodded and asked for a verbal report before sending her and Vlad King to rest for a bit which she accepted after a slight struggle. Nemuri made her way back to her apartment and takes a shower before checking her phone. She only opened the text from Hizashi assuring her of his safety. He tells her that he'd been cleared and was just waiting on the doctor's opinion on Shota. Her friend seemed to be doing a little better, judging by the joke that he made about him feeling like Shota's chances were pretty good, considering no one was rushing his husband into surgery.

Nemuri couldn't help the relief she felt when she was assured that Shota would be okay. And it was only after that confirmation that the day she had caught up with her. After a quick update back to her friend, she allowed herself to sleep.

In fact, she accidentally let herself sleep till almost eight am the next day. And yet, when she made her way into the staff room, everyone looks the exact same amount of frustrated as they were yesterday. Actually some even more so. The only notable difference is the table with a few items she vaguely remembers seeing at the compound from yesterday. Nemuri doesn't even have to ask to know that it was a rough night of hitting brick wall after brick wall. She doesn't have to ask, so she sits down and grabs one of the packets to look over and finds the information they have on Kaminari's mother painfully lacking. Somewhat luckily, they had been able to find enough on the woman when she was Rikona Kaminari. Arrested twice for shoplifting and with plenty of paper trails to follow, but it seemed almost 24 years ago she just fell off the face of the earth. If her math was correct, Nemuri could guess that was when the woman fell pregnant with her student's eldest brother. Taishiro Kutsuki, on the other hand, didn't exist as far as legal records were concerned, which just made the situation even more complicated. And their attempts to find the man through what they knew about his quirk led nowhere.

Eventually, she gets a text with another short update from Hizashi. He tells her how he had spent all day at the hospital that Shota had been taken to by the ambulance but had accepted a ride home when it got closer to night. In the early morning, he had stopped by the dorms and found Hitoshi and checked on him before updating his son what he knew about his father. Then he had left to go back to the hospital because apparently, the doctors were ready to talk to him.

After the short message from her friend, it's back to the overwhelming amount of information that keeps leading nowhere. It seems like every time Nemuri or her coworkers found something that might be helpful, it ends up leading down a rabbit hole that dead ends, leaving them with a new pile of useless information. Nemuri barely realized how long it had been when All Might tapped her on the shoulder and asked her if she would come with them to talk to class 2-A about the interviews. She found herself agreeing hesitantly because Nemuri wasn't sure she was ready to walk away from it all..

Bakugou, Ashido, Sero, Kirishima, and Jiro were sitting around the common room couches and startled when they all walked in. She easily recognized the paper that Kirishima held close to his chest and the envelope torn and set to the side.

"What's going on?" Bakugou said, looking at them expectantly.

"We need to speak to your class as a group. Could you gather everyone?" Nedzu asked, and Ashido nodded and gabbed Sero and hopped up before scurrying off. Nemuri couldn't help but notice as the tension in the room grew with each student that made their way down and each question that wasn't asked. No matter how many times they assured the students it wasn't anything bad, they just wanted to talk to them, the class looked nervous, and she couldn't entirely blame them. Typically, teachers and staff tended to leave students alone after school hours, so it was likely strange to see them there. Frankly, she felt strange being there. And despite their presence, the students shot quiet whispers and anxious looks to each other that were clearly meant to convey something more than what they were. 

"Izuku and Shinsou will be down in a minute," Todoroki said when he walked in likely knowing that they were just waiting on the three of them before dropping down next to his friends. True to his word, the two boys followed behind not long after. Nedzu, Recovery Girl, All Might, Ectoplasm, Detective Naomasa, and herself were all standing there as the center of attention; however, at the boy's entrance, all eyes turned to them. She couldn't help but see behind the mask Hitoshi had put on. Despite his blank expression, she could see the faintly red eyes and slightly more messed appearance. She was sure everyone else could as well.

"Come take a seat," Recovery Girl said, motioning them over and simultaneously calling attention back to her and their coworkers.

Then Ectoplasm next to her stepped forward, "Just to start, a small piece of good news we found the bus which contained all of your personal effects on it, including your phone and any other items you might have had on you. We'll be returning those afterward."

And although it was labeled as good news, no one really reacted, but they weren't really expecting them to. The students hadn't really been asking after any of their stuff, so she doubted they really cared much for any of it, but she figured they would definitely appreciate their phones back once they had them. With no obvious questions, Ectoplasm stepped back and directed attention to Nedzu, who stood on the chair that he had been seated on.

"Students, I'll be frank. I know that many of you are having mixed feelings, but I also know that most of you are looking for a reason to support your friend. UA does not currently believe he is a villain or acting of his free will, and we are currently treating this as an abducted student. After all, we wouldn't have most of the information we have if he didn't leave it for us–"

"Wait, sir, what do you mean," Ashido said, cutting in.

Nemuri glanced to her boss and watched as Nedzu looked to Naomasa, who pulled a manila folder out from under his arm and pulled a familiar piece of lined paper. She was surprised, but she also wasn't. It was the original copy of the letter, but it's not like they didn't have a million copies in the staff room. She supposed the letter might be something that the students wanted to see, but she worried about how they would react. Everyone seemed scared to touch it for a moment, but eventually, Ashido reached over and picked it up. "This was left for us along with the other letters. He also activated the location on his phone, allowing us to find where you were being kept." Naomasa explained to them all.

Iida raised his hand after a moment and Naomasa nodded at him, "Do you have any information you can share with us about Mr. Aizawa's condition?"

There was a thoughtful pause among the staff that lasted a fraction of a second, but she cut in grimly not wanting to let the silence become awkward. "He was found with… some severe looking electrical burns. He's asleep right now getting some much-needed rest, but with the tests the doctors have run, they believe that he should be able to make a full recovery."

There was a silent breath of relief as the unknown was answered for the students, but it was partnered with a tension as everyone's next question was caught in their throats. It seemed like no one wanted to be the person to ask about Kaminari, but at the same point they all wanted to know.

"What about–" In unison, Bakugou and Hitoshi sounded off, and both of their eyes shot towards each other. She watched Hitoshi quickly relent the question to the blonde. "What about Sparky?"

She knew it was coming, and the answer was still hard to give. "We don't know anything new," Nemuri forced out. "I'm sorry."

Naomasa immediately changed the subject. "We'll be conducting individual interviews; in the meantime, feel free to call your parents. However, keep in mind that the details of all of this are being kept classified." There were a few murmurs of agreement from the students, and behind her, the box of personal defects was being brought out.

Naomasa quickly grabbed the student's attention before any of them could wander off. "It doesn't matter who goes first for the interviews, so do we have any volunteers?"

There was another silence as the whole class seemed to hesitate.

"I'll go," She was surprisingly not surprised to see Ashido speak and stand up, pulling away from her group. Her boys seemed reluctant to let her go, but Bakugou nodded at her in a silent communication that Nemuri didn't understand. Naomasa then asked for Recovery Girl and Ectoplasm to prepare the next student before gesturing for Ashido and the rest of the staff to follow him where they had set up in an office on-campus. When they arrived Naomasa and Ashido both settled in their chairs as the other staff members watched from the security camera that they were recording from. Naomasa then gave Ashido a small smile in what was clearly an attempt to be reassuring before beginning.

"Alright, Miss Ashido, can you tell me about the first time you interacted with Denki Kaminari?"

Chapter Text

"Ready to get started then, Miss Ashido? Can you tell me about the first time you interacted with Denki Kaminari?"

"I loaned him a pencil on the second day."

"Really, did you not meet the first day?"

"I did, but we didn't interact. The first day, I thought Denki seemed pretty cool, and so when lunch came around the next day, I decided I wanted to be friends."

She had loaned him a pencil on their second day and introduced herself afterward. That was when they first met. While holding out her hand for him to shake, he leaned over the desks to do happily while introducing himself. At the beginning of class, The blonde had sat next to her and whispered, asking if she had an extra pencil, and luckily for Mina, when lunchtime rolled around, he offered it back to her with a smile. Mina decided that she liked him immediately when she knew he wasn't one of those people that borrowed a pencil then stole it, so, she asked him if he wanted to join her in the cafeteria.

The boy spoke warmly and flirted with her noncommittally as they walked from their classroom to the lunchroom. For their first interaction, it went pretty well, and they would go on to meet and befriend Hanta. Denki seemed slightly out of place or maybe a little uncomfortable in the school, which she could so clearly remember relating to that feeling even if she didn't comment or call him out on it. After all, it was the second day of school, and no one could really be expected to be completely comfortable on the second day. Other than that, Denki had seemed sociable and kind, and Mina had known that she could see herself being friends with him.

"Sato, what was your first impression of Kaminari?"

"Um…He was different."

"Different?"

"Not like how we know him now; I didn't ever really think about it before, though."

When Rikido first interacted with him, he had noticed that Denki Kaminari had seemed calm and surprisingly forgettable. He blended into the background on the first couple of days of school, but Rikido had excused it as them both just settling into high school. Besides the longer they were in class together, he couldn't help but notice the blonde becoming livelier. Rikido's mother had always assured him that first impressions were a curse, and then he should always look at people a second time. Never one to argue with her, he did, and when he had looked back at Kaminari, he found him smiling brighter than before.

On most days, the smile that Denki Kaminari wore was an utterly different smile than the one Denki had worn when they introduced themselves during Mr. Aizawa's quirk apprehension test. Before when Rikido had looked back, he had dismissed it as first-day nerves. After all, Denki's usual smile was much brighter and more meaningful than the calm half-smile from their first day. Sure, Rikido still saw those half-smiles sometimes when the blonde was uncomfortable, but around their class, Denki was all sunshine-filled smiles. Of course, none of this was to say he had any complaints about Denki's personality or behavior in their earlier days of class of the first year, but Rikido couldn't lie definitely found himself more at ease with the boy who smiled so bright. Rikido knew that everyone felt at ease with the blonde. From early in their first year, the boy had clearly tried to be on good terms with everyone.

"I'd like you to reflect, and could you tell me what you think you would have said if asked if you and Kaminari were close before all of this? ...Asui?"

"I think I would have. Everyone felt close to Denki, that’s why it really affects us all."

"You would say that the entire class felt close to Kaminari?"

"Yes."

Tsu noted how the boy always put in the extra mile to make people around him happy. And Denki definitely became close with the class very quickly because of it. Then again, what happened at the USJ caused their class to bond very fast in general; after all, shared trauma tends to draw people together. But more than that, Denki seemed to find a place in their hearts with the way he tied them together. Slowly but surely, Denki Kaminari started giving her a hug every morning as a greeting. Come hell or high water, Denki Kaminari greeted everyone in their class, but Tsu noticed that it seemed to be different with everyone. He always started with a vocal good morning to Iida, but threw himself while yelling 'bro' at Kirishima. He never touched Tokoyami because physical contact made the other boy uncomfortable, but he gave her a hug every morning because he knew that she liked them. Every morning, he raced around the classroom, checking in with each of them to ask how they were and accidentally making sure how much everyone knew he cared.

And he listened to them. For a boy who talked so much, he was great at shutting up when he needed to make someone feel heard. Tsu knew he wasn't great at tests or homework, but perhaps that's because his strengths lie in other people. Navigating what to do and say to make someone feel better in a way that she always struggled to do.

"Would you say that Kaminari was close with everyone, Uraraka?"

"No, I… I don't know. Denki was really great with everyone, and everyone really trusted him, but he was always closed off about some things. And I didn't think it was a trust thing, and I didn't really mind, but he's only really close with a few people… I think lots of people were close with him, but he wasn't really close with a lot of people."

It was clear to Ochako and anyone that really looked that Denki Kaminari regarded his close friends very highly. She watched them sometimes, not in an envious way really, after all, she had her own friends, but sometimes she couldn't help but take note. They were all extremely comfortable with each other very quickly, and once they found their place they were thick as thieves.

Ochako knows what it's like to have friends like that. Genuinely, she knew what it was like to have friends that you would jump off a bridge. However, she could also see that Kaminari treated his friends slightly differently from how she treated her friends. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but in a way, he really seemed to regard them as family. She never noticed how little he talked about his actual family, so she thinks that maybe they were good for him.

"Can you tell me about what his home was like?"

"I don't really know."

"Did you ever talk about your home lives?"

"Sometimes."

"Todoroki, he sent us to you to ask about it… look here in the letter."

"Can I see that paper? …Thank you."

"Are you okay?"

"Fine, just… where do you want me to start?"

"Wherever is best for you, but the beginning would be preferable."

Shoto knew that Denki's friends were good for him. After all, he knew what Denki's family was like. There was this one day where they had been sitting in the locker rooms silently patching themselves up when Shoto realized why they were both so quiet during these small get-togethers. It was less of his own brilliance and more Izuku's because earlier in the day, Shoto's friend had commented on how he never really talked about what was going on in his own life, and how Shoto preferred to keep everything very quiet and very close to his chest. Izuku had commented that it wasn't healthy and that everyone needed someone to talk to, and despite the outcome not really being what Shoto assumed Izuku wanted, Shoto rolled with it.

Then Shoto broke their biggest rule. It was also their only rule. Shoto had broken rules and asked about the concealer-covered bruises. Shoto had watched Denki pause briefly in what he assumed was a surprise before shrugging and telling him that it was 'mainly' his dad. It was then that he figured out that Denki was also the type of person to never complain. But the dam broke a little that day, perhaps because he was a little out of it.

"Now Tokoyami, Can you think of any occurrences that suddenly make sense to know that Denki is the school's traitor?"

"No."

"What about times where Kaminari behaved strangely?"

"A couple, but not in a suspicious way, Denki was always very… bright and has a big personality. I never thought of the strange things he did as anything other than him just being him."

Everyone had those days where they're tired or sick, and they're just not really conscious. Similarly, there were just sometimes where Denki was just out of it. Denki Kaminari was never the type of person that Fumikage Tokoyami ever labeled suspicious but looking back, there were always things that he did that were a little off. Days where he was just a little out of it and not really paying attention to how strangely he was acting. Those times Fumikage was usually able to chalk it up to his classmate, having not slept or maybe not taken his ADHD medication.

Like there was this one night back when the dorms were still new where Fumikage slipped downstairs to grab something to eat. He had never been able to get to sleep quickly after all and was used to it, but the new building definitely wasn't helping. What he was not used to was finding Denki sitting cross-legged at the table with a mug of tea and his phone. The blonde waved at him and given him a smile before going back to scrolling on his phone. He hadn't looked at him or really spoken, but he had gestured behind him to another mug and a snack while telling him how he 'figured Tokoyami down soon.'

Fumikage had nodded at the time and thanked the blonde for his thoughtfulness. He had forgotten to ask how Denki knew he was awake or why he knew what time he got his late-night snack, or why Denki was awake anyway. Though honestly, Fumikage couldn't really think of anything that might have made him pause for more than a moment or actually believe that a situation or behavior was stranger than Denki's usual strangeness.

"Hagakure, can you think of any occurrences that suddenly make sense now that you know that Denki is the school's traitor?"

"…Just one really, but I never thought much about it since I assumed Bakugou had it under control."

"And so, you never investigated?"

"Everyone in our class has walked into a moment they weren't supposed to and just never mentioned it because we don't want to embarrass each other…As a class, we all have gotten really good at not asking questions. I realized that the other day. Because of our trauma, most of us never will push any of the others to talk about anything, so we sweep things under the rug that should be red flags. With everything that's happened to our class, we just stopped asking questions for why people do anything."

Toru Hagakure could only think of one time that really stuck with her about Denki, and even then, she never really thought it was suspicious. But that was because Denki was just so Denki that she didn't think twice about it, and that night the blonde had just been… different. She had a nightmare, and she hated bothering people with those, so her plan had been to slip downstairs and get something warm to drink. After all, it had been cold outside, and Toru always thought warm drinks were best when it was cold out. However, she quickly forgot any drink ideas when she got downstairs because Denki and Bakugou were in the kitchen. Bakugou looked so worried, and Denki looked so… empty.

They both looked so different from normal and Toru couldn’t lie, so many questions ran through her head but in the moment she froze. She soon realized that Denki had clearly been outside even though it was the middle of the night. After a moment of collecting herself she hoped neither of them saw her pajamas when she slipped away just as quickly as she entered. Everyone had their bad moments, where they have nightmares or panic attacks and needed company, and in the end that’s what she figured had been happening. Toru hadn't wanted to interrupt, so she when she walked back t her room she made a mental note to check up on Denki in the morning, but then he caught a cold, and it just slipped her mind. It was only after the blonde came back to class that she remembered, and by then, the boy was back to normal.

"Just to confirm, you sit right in front of Denki in class, don't you, Ojiro?"

"Yes."

"Okay, what's he like as a student?"

"Um, I don't know about as a student, but he was fine as a classmate. I know he didn't have the best grades, but he always pulled his weight in group projects and never was too disruptive… uh he liked to…mess with my tail sometimes."

"Do you know why?"

"I guess because he had ADHD, and he liked messing with stuff. He said… it helped him concentrate."

The way Denki Kaminari behaved in class could change faster than the direction of the wind. Mashirao Ojiro had sat in front of him for all of their high school experience and knew this exceptionally well. Regarding Denki's intelligence, it's not that he couldn't understand what was being taught; its that his attention strayed when lectures started getting long. And it's not that the assignments and tests were too hard for him, it was that Denki's attention had wandered during the class they had learned it in, and he could barely remember the day of the week, much less the homework for the night. It's not that Denki didn't try to be a good student, but sometimes Mashirao could feel when the other boy got confused and spaced off. Mainly because usually that spacing involved the other blonde messing with his tail, but that was neither here nor there. Mashirao always made sure his notes were easy to copy for the other boy.

After all, the other boy was always there to provide a joke or cheer someone up after a hard test. And despite all the jokes Denki himself made, he was smart enough and had a good tactical mind. While Mashirao and the rest of the class knew it, but sometimes it seemed like Denki didn't believe it. There were days where it seemed what he said about himself to make others feel better to seem to dig deep into him causing their class to assure him of his worth, yet Denki would find a way to talk around the issue and back to how amazing they were. Looking back, Mashirao realized how great the other was at deflecting.

"Jiro, I understand that you interacted with Kaminari outside of class a lot?

"Yes?"

"Okay, can you tell me what was Kaminari like outside of class?"

"…The same really, it's not like just because we were friends that he became a different person. I guess he was just more comfortable around us and didn't put up as many walls."

Kyoka stood by that fact that Denki behaved the same inside and out of class. Perhaps a little quieter or louder depending on his mood once he was in a comfortable headspace, but he never faked a personality. And Kyoka also knows that at least some of her friend was real because there are some things you just can't fake. You can't fake the nightmares Denki had while he slept, and you can't fake the kind of panic attacks that Denki had from the sound of thunder.

And no matter what, Kyoka stood by that her friend cared too much about everyone and everything. It was a good thing and a bad thing. He was kind and affectionate and took care of those he loved and cared about, but he also would break himself bending over backward for those same people he loved and cared about. Denki was the kind of person to stay up with her all night when she got sick but insist that she leave him and head to bed when he caught her illness. She had seen him get walked all over time and again and had taken it upon herself to make sure that people didn't take advantage of him more than once.

She cared about him, and she knew that he cared a lot about her and about all of them. That's why he let them in when he did. That's why he was so concerned about what they thought of him. Kyoka stood by that Denki, that Denki had been real.

"Would you say as Denki Kaminari's friend you saw a different side of him than your classmates?"

"I don't think so?"

"Well, did you behave differently and have anything that only you guys knew about?"

"Not really? I mean, he has…scars on his arms… he's always super careful that no one sees them accidentally, and he doesn't show many people them purposefully. I know all of, like, our group saw them."

"Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think he got them from his father or another villain?"

"He always just said it was his own fault or just a quirk accident."

Denki didn't show his scars to just anyone. Literally or metaphorically. He was just more likely to keep them to himself. He didn't think it was Denki not trusting their classmates. Eijiro genuinely believed there was more to it than that. A part of his friend didn't want anyone to worry about him, a part didn't want to 'burden' anyone, a part that was scared that their class would judge him, and now knowing about everything behind the scenes perhaps an irrational part that probably would have thought the scars made him villainous.

The first time he saw Denki's actual scars, Eijiro panicked for a moment thinking his friend was hurt, until he realized that they weren't fresh wounds. Mina had pulled the blonde into her arms and just hugged him and didn't ask him anything. Eijiro remembers running his hands up his friend's arm while Denki assured him they didn't hurt and that he was okay. Eijiro had been unconvinced, but he had nodded and agreed anyway. And okay, maybe those scars didn't hurt now, but they certainly looked like they did, which means they probably had hurt at one point. Which Eijiro would definitely classify as not okay. But Denki would always insist he was 'okay.' He could have a broken both his legs and still insist that he was alright and to take care of someone else first. And he never turned that part of himself off, no matter how close the company was.

And Eijiro knew that Denki cared about and trusted their entire class with his life, but only a select few ever saw those scars, and to this day, he didn't know why. He didn't know where those scars had come from or why they were such a sore spot, but Denki also kept many secrets. He held a lot of things close to his chest and didn't even tell those that loved him. Kirishima can think of so many times when a piece of information would come out, and he'd be genuinely stunned. Things like that, made his friend’s reveal as the traitor surprisingly less surprising because perhaps there were hints all along that he just didn't just together.

"Sero, someone in your class, described Kaminari as secretive, and I was curious if you would agree with that description?"

"Uhm…Yes and no. I don't think Denki was necessarily secretive because he never attempted to hide many things; he just never volunteered the information. When I asked him things, he always answered? That's how I found out a lot of stuff, we'd be talking, and I'd realize I don't know something about him, and I'd ask."

"What kind of things did you learn about him like that?"

"That's how I learned about his siblings. It was the first thing we really bonded over."

Hanta is an eldest child. Perhaps that's why he's used to taking care of people. He got used to being the extra set of hands around the house, and his behavior didn't change when he got to UA. Bakugou insisted he didn't need anyone looking after him but always accepted the extra bottle of water Hanta brought him. Eijiro always got slightly flustered at the attention, but in the end, he always found Hanta looking after him. Mina knew it was Hana’s way of showing love and seemed to love the attention. Denki, however, seemed uncomfortable being cared for. Over time, Hanta had watched him come to love it, but at first, Denki had always seemed awkward when anyone tried to take care of him. Denki had learned about his family the night that Hanta learned about Denki's.

Denki had also been the extra set of hands; only Hanta realized he had not been the extra set for his parents but for his older brother, who raised all of their younger siblings. And Denki's behavior did change when he got to UA. He was always taking care of people at home, so Hanta realized that with their friends is where he just simply got to be. He loved his siblings but taking care of them wasn't something he did because he loved them; he did it because he had to.

"I'm sorry, Detective, I feel like I should know more or have something to tell you, but I didn't know."

"Midoriya, it's alright. No one blames you for not knowing or figuring it out."

"Still…"

"It's still okay, and we don't have to focus on that. If there wasn't a time that you thought was suspicious, can you think of any situations that made you think there might be something wrong with Kaminari?"

“Uh yeah recently.”

Izuku trained with Katsuki sometimes during class. The two of them played well off each other, and after almost two years through lots of yelling and fighting, they had somewhat managed to mend their relationship. Izuku liked sparing with Katsuki because it was always an interesting fight. However, in a training match before they were taken, Izuku had finally been sure that something was wrong with Kaminari.

He hadn't been sure of what or the seriousness of the situation, but the way Katsuki, whose eyes always look dead ahead on his goals, kept turning to look at the other boy was a red flag. His eyes kept flicking over to the other blonde before coming back to Izuku in front of him. If Izuku wanted he could win the fight easily, but idea he calls off the fight. Katsuki seemed on edge, and Izuku hadn't been sure what, if anything, he should do. He had dropped the subject after being asked, but they got onto that bus almost immediately after.

"Did you suspect anything was wrong at first?"

"No."

"So, when did you realize what was happening?"

"Like what happened?"

"Yes, what happened on the bus?"

"…someone screamed."

Mezo and Tokoyami usually took up the rear of the bus. His friend generally just preferred to sit in the back, and Shoji preferred to sit with Tokoyami. He didn't see where Kaminari went, but he assumed he was in the front because Shinsou preferred to sit in the front, and Kaminari preferred to sit with Shinsou.

On the bus drive, Mezo and Tokoyami had been going back and forth while Dark Shadow occasionally butting in, and it was only at the cry of alarm that they looked up to pay attention to what was ahead of them. He watched as a large black sphere expand rapidly until it hit the walls of the bus around them, only to start running along towards them. They both saw it hit row after row of their classmates, but the most they could do was instinctually shield themselves, and they were knocked off their feet by a wall of black.

"What happened during your time in the cell?"

"Good Detective, I think you should know that we don't fight."

"I'm sorry?"

"Our class. We don't fight."

"I'm sorry, Aoyama, but I fail to see the connection?"

"We have out petty spats and Bakugou and Midoriya but heads a lot, but when it comes to a lot of things, we tend to all be on the same page, or when we're not, we resolve it peacefully. Perhaps, it's because we've been through a lot together or maybe because as heroes we've trained to behave a certain way, but in most situations, we don't tend to have any arguments."

"I understand, but I'm afraid–"

"Everyone constantly argued in that cell. I guess there's no way to train for what Kaminari did. And the thing is, there's no tossing blame to someone or the next, everyone had their opinions, and everyone was going to say their piece, and everyone hated those whose opinions didn't line up with theirs. I think we've all calmed down the more we got to stew and really re-think the past years."

Yuga had seen a strange expression on Tokoyami's face and asked the other if he felt alright. While Tokoyami had assured him that he was, in fact, alright, he admitted that Dark Shadow had always been around, and there was a strange lack. At that moment, he wished he was any better at talking to people because after his friend spoke, a small silence rolled over them, amongst the debates around them.

To Tokoyami, Yuga apologizes because he lacks anything else to say. Then internally, he thinks about all the times he's seen Denki comfort others. Everyone had seen Denki's making it his goal to cheer someone up or make someone laugh after a tough day. Yuga didn't know how to do that, and for a moment, he almost wished Denki hadn't left because he at least would know what to say to help Tokoyami.

"Is the notebook okay so far, Koda?"

‘Yes, thank you.’

"Alright, then let's get to business. Can I ask if your upset at Kaminari?"

‘Yes and no.’

"Can you elaborate on it?"

‘I get why. I would also do anything for my family, so I get where he's coming from. However, I'm still upset, not at him, I think. Just upset.’

There aren't a lot of times where there isn't anything to do, especially in the UA hero course. No one sure how long they've been there, much less how long they were asleep. There were no windows, and their quirks were faint flickers that were just out of reach. He thinks the longer they and everyone else sat there, the more useless they felt. Everyone was upset, at Denki, at each other, and even at themselves. He doubted anyone could nail down exactly how they were feeling, especially in the high-tension situation. Koji knew this for sure because it's exactly how he felt.

He thinks the worst part is the anger that he's not sure what to do with. He's not angry at Kaminari, not anymore, at least, but he is angry. He's angry at something, maybe his friend's father or the situation, he's not quite sure. However, Koji doesn't like being angry. Now adding in confusion about why he's upset, Koji's thoroughly unsure what to do with all the emotions he's feeling.

"Iida, I wanted to ask why did you run after them?

"…Midoriya talks about those moments where your body moves on its own, and that's what I think this was. I just thought… I could reach them."

"What were you planning on doing if you did?"

"…I have no idea."

Loud crashes physically rolled over the room, and the room freezes, but Tenya doesn't. The world seems to move slower when he runs, but it doesn't move slow enough. He moves towards them as he watches Shigaraki, Kutsuki, and Denki slip through a portal. He watches Denki's look of horror when he approaches, but then relief when he's a moment too late. He was too close to not be upset at himself. He had seen the other side of the portal and heard the pouring rain on the other side–

"I'm sorry, Iida, but could you describe what you saw on in the portal."

"It wasn't much, but if you believe it will be helpful, then, of course, I only saw a part of a wall, but it looked to be a storage building. And I could hear a loud storm on the other side."

"Thank you, I'll make a not. Please continue."

–of the portal. He finds himself getting almost immediately lost in the 'what if' of what would have happened if he had been faster. Tenya usually hates letting those float around his head, but it's only when Present Mic appears that he's pulled out of it and back to the group.

"So, Miss Yaoyorozu, can I ask why your opinion changed. You were upset after Kaminari was revealed as the traitor, right?"

"Yes, but I think everyone was. Moreover, I don't know what I believe right now. I think… I want him to be good. If not for me, then because I know that him genuinely betraying us would break some of my friends. I may not be sure if I believe him, but people I love and trust the opinion of doing trust him. And… there has to be a reason for that."

"…What happened when your classmates separated?"

Momo has always been smart. She's been told that since she was little. She notices things that most people miss and can figure out solutions before anyone else. Momo didn't see anything that might point to Kaminari being a traitor, and more importantly, she had no solutions.

Momo adores Kyoka. The other girl had been there for her through thick and thin, and Momo loved her for it. That being said, for the life of her, she couldn't understand where Kyoka was coming from. Momo had also considered Denki a good friend, but there had to be something that she hadn't seen in him that the other girl had. Something that the others had gotten to see. There was a slight pang in her chest as she realized that if there was something that the others had gotten to know that she hadn't, then he might not have trusted her enough.

Momo had trusted him, though. And they were so sure that there was something else. And Momo adores Kyoka, so she steals herself as she and her classmates look around the already destroyed room labeled as Denki's. She finds it on accident she steps somewhere just a little too hard, and the sound was just wrong. Momo's eyes had dropped to the ground and the floorboard that she was standing on.

"Why didn't you immediately inform the staff you thought Denki Kaminari might be the traitor?"

"…"

"Bakugou?"

"I just knew there was more to it than that…"

Katsuki tells everyone that asked that he knew there was more to the story. It's true, but there's definitely more to it than that. And it takes Katsuki a minute to even admit to himself that he doesn't know it he would have turned Denki in. He's not sure what he would have done if anything went differently. As a hero, Katsuki swore to uphold justice, and as a person, the league of villains had attacked and traumatized him more times than he could bother to count; he should have run the other way and straight to Aizawa.

The moment Katsuki threw open the door, he had committed to a lot of things, namely, hearing the other blonde out. The moment Katsuki didn't just walk away and find the nearest teacher, he had decided to listen to the other blonde and placed his trust in him. Katsuki remembered when he finally went to his teacher, and he remembered somewhat jokingly saying that he just wanted to know who he had to kill for his friend. On the bright side, Katsuki had a direction for his anger.

"Alright, Shinsou, we're all set here.  Is there anything else you'd like us to know?"

Hitoshi looked up from where he had been, staring a little too hard at the table, and shakes his head. "Just… are we done here?"

"Yes, we are," Naomasa confirms while rising and gesturing for Hitoshi to do the same. "You can head to meet with Midnight now. She'll take you to the hospital that Eraserhead is being transferred to."

"Thank you."

Chapter Text

Dear Shoto and Izuku,

I knew that if I wrote you separate letters, you would share them anyway, so I figured I'd save myself the extra piece of paper. I wish all the best to both of you. Honestly, as I said in my letter to the class, if you have even a fraction of the future, I hope for you, I know you'll be happy. And that's really what I want for you both. For our entire class, really. I'll keep this short since I'm addressing this to both of you. However, I wasn't to start with don't beat yourself up—either of you. What happened, or what's going to happen, isn't your fault. Despite what you both are going to try to believe. You can't blame yourself for not knowing or realizing. I know you are, so just don't. It was my job to make sure you didn't know, and sadly, I was good at my job. The fact that I made it this far just reaffirms that.

The thing I want to say most is, please take care of yourself, Shoto. We both know you are terrible at it on a good day. You deserve better than what life and, more importantly, your father gave you. You're going to do such great things as a hero once you get out from under him; I just know it. And Izuku, you're going to go so far. Even though we've never been the closest friends, I know you're close with Shoto, so please take care of him for him. What always made you a great hero was how kind you were; even to me, you've always been endlessly patient.

I'm also going to say sorry, Shoto. I broke our agreement, and I hope you'll forgive me. I told Mr. Aizawa. Perhaps I'm still buying into the heroes a little bit, but I'm hoping, if nothing else, I can save you just a little bit. I also should say sorry to you, Izuku; I left a small puzzle for the pros that they may end dragging you into. While I'm sure, Nedzu could do it on his own, just in case you end up dragged into it, sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for the inspiration.

On an even more serious note, I think you both struggle with the idea of letting someone face their own mistakes. And that's not a bad thing; it's part of what makes you both great heroes, you both are kind, and you don't want others to suffer. But I implore you to just this once leave it alone. Let me live with the consequences of my actions. I made this bed. I put a handful of broken glass in it every time I betrayed you all. Someone will have to face the consequences for this, and it won't be comfortable. If anyone should have to sleep in the mess that is that broken glass muddied with my blood from my past attempts to lay down, it should be me. I made this blood-stained bed all on my own; please let me lie in it.

I'm sorry. That was rather dramatic, wasn't it? Perhaps I've been reading too many novels lately. Anyway, there's something to be said about watching the two of you live your dream and being able to watch you become heroes. After all, I never wanted to be a hero growing up, and it was only after I got to UA and began being around everyone that I felt that drive. Different from you both or the people in our class.

Can I tell you both a secret? I let myself buy into it—just a little bit. Most of the time, when I was working under a pro hero, I found myself just following orders, but there was this one day where I ended up helping a rescue. There was this little girl that I saved, and she held onto me and called me her hero. She was Terashi's age. Did I tell you about him right, Shoto? And you know, I told my brother Issei about our class, and Shoto, I don't know if you remember, but I told you about him once as well. Anyway, I told him how you had a dad kind of like ours and how you were so strong and working to make your own identity. Issei has a quirk like our father's, much like how you have a quirk like yours. I think that's why he's taken a shining to you. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous, but since it is you, I'll allow it. I think you're a great role model for him.

Sincerely,

Denki

P.S.

Shoto, I know we always had a silent agreement to never talk about how we became close, but thank you. Thank you for bandaging me up when I needed it and not making me talk about it. It meant a lot to me too.

Shoto closes Momo's door behind him when he walks in. Jiro was already comfortable on the bed and in the silence, but he noted quickly that the actual owner of the room was absent. He had been practically attached to Midoriya all day, including when going over their letter and comforting Shinsou, but they had ended up separating when he went to be interviewed. And when Midoriya had been gone when he arrived, he found himself instinctually heading to his other friend even though he had seen her and Iida downstairs organizing who was getting interviewed and when.

"You already talked to the officer?" Shoto asked Jiro as he settled on the end of the bed. She nodded, sparing him a quick glance up. He watched her for a short moment as she typed something, then paused and appeared to delete at least a significant chunk before typing something else. Even Shoto could read the frustration on her face. Shoto took the silence in stride and proceeded to lie back on Momo's bed. They were getting close to noon, so soon they would be coming up on twenty-four hours since they had gotten home. Which meant they were coming up on twenty-four hours since he had been seen alive. And if they were treating this like a kidnapping, Shoto remembered clearly from Katsuki's that the first forty-eight hours were crucial.

Shoto's head was turning. It was worse when he sits there because he lacks anything to do but let his brain work. Shoto remembered Katsuki's kidnapping; it was so distinct in his head. However, the staff learned their lesson the first time and shut down any possible activity from them before it even began. And Shoto, contrary to his wishes, didn't know how to let it go. He didn't know how to not care now that his class had forced themselves into his heart. Shoto wasn't sure how he was supposed to want to help his friend. Because the blonde had the audacity to make friends with him and make Shoto feel comfortable around him and then tried to tell Shoto not to do anything when he's in danger. Jiro shifted slightly and pushed herself up to adjust her position on the bed.

"Can I ask what you were typing earlier?" Shoto asked Jiro glancing at her phone briefly.

"I texted Den– his number…I don't know if it will work, but I figured it was worth a try. I was trying to find the best way to say that he can come home. That we'd protect him, and he'd be safe here." Jiro said, glancing at her phone and looking at it with emotion that even Shoto picked up on quickly. "And I told him that if he couldn't get home himself… that we were coming to save him."

"Do you think he'll get them?"

"No, not really. I doubt he still has his phone on him, but… just in case," Jiro said, tapping the side of her phone, clearly deciding what she was going to say next. "I want him to know that we're still here for him."

Shoto hummed, and both of them settled back into a comfortable silence until Iida and Momo pushed open the door, both looking slightly frazzled. Momo waved Iida in and then closed the door, made her way over to the bed, and almost literally sunk into it. Shoto could only assume that the interviews with the police were either over or at least almost over. Neither of them said anything, so Shoto glanced between them, "Is everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry. We got word that Mr. Aizawa made it to the hospital nearby, and all interviews are done… so there's nothing else to do right now," Momo said. "Parents are going to be screened before entering UA property." Shoto felt himself grimace, but he hoped it wasn't too noticeable. He knew perfectly well that there wasn't anything to screen with the number one hero, so his father would likely stop by when he got a chance. Momo, who knew bits and pieces of his relationship with his father, looked concerned like she wanted to say something, but knowing her, she probably didn't want to overstep.

"How was your interview?" Shoto asked, not really directing it at anyone, just hoping that someone would take over.

"It was okay."

"Fine."

"Same."

Another silence. This one is more awkward than the last, which Shoto understood. Honestly, he wouldn't want to talk about his either. It wasn't so much that there was anything bad about it, but he felt like he was breaking his friend's trust by talking about his family. It wasn't until the police started asking him about it that he realized that he was probably the one who knew the most about his family. Shinsou seemed to be aware of his family and their dynamic, but it was clear that he had left many of the details out. The Bakusquad may have known how being a middle child affected him, but after a short conversation with Mina, he realized none had much concrete information. Shoto knew what was happening inside that house better than anyone. And even Shoto knew so little.

"I, uh, found some of his things while we were searching his room," Momo finally admitted grabbing everyone's attention. "That was mainly what they were asking about, that and our time in the cell."

"What did you find," Jiro asked hesitantly.

"Well, it wasn't just me that found it, but I think it was a go-bag, there was some money and what I think was a phone number," Momo said, obviously slightly uncomfortable. "Vlad King took everything away as evidence, but there was all the stuff needed for him to make a getaway, so… I can't help but wonder why he didn't."

"Didn't run? Maybe he was waiting for the right moment," Iida said.

"I doubt he would have left us there," Jiro muttered.

Shoto silently agreed but didn't say it.  Honestly, everyone in the room already knew he agreed with that sediment anyway. After a moment, Shoto rolled over on Momo's bed, letting his face be pressed into the mattress, and he let out a sigh. He felt useless right now, confined to the dorms, not able to do anything to help. He felt such, and so he made sure to say so to the room. Despite it being slightly muffled, everyone understood the sentiment.

"Do you think they're going to call the number?" He thinks he hears Jiro asks.

"I don't think so, I heard them talking about it, and they think it might put him in unnecessary risk," Momo said. Shoto was immediately confused because they had a lead they weren't using because they were worried it might put him in danger, but it didn't matter because he was already in trouble. Shoto sat up and made a face at Momo that she quickly understood. "Shoto, it's an unnecessary risk."

"He's been gone for twenty-four hours; at what point does it become a necessary one?" He said much sharper than he intended. He felt a pang of guilt immediately after, but then also found himself becoming self-conscious when Momo and Iida looked at him with pity. "Sorry."

"You're okay, Shoto, but we've got to trust our teachers… we don't need something like what happened with Bakugou happening again," Momo said as she scooted over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder in what he supposed was meant to be a comforting gesture. He squeezed Momo's hand gently, but despite the comfort his friends were trying to provide him, his frustration didn't assuage. He found himself pulling away and muttering something about heading back to his dorms.

He doesn't go back to his dorms. Instead, he wanders around downstairs and finds himself in an empty kitchen. He's a little surprised there's no one there, but he supposed everyone had broken away into little groups the way he had as well. Shoto's getting himself some water when Katsuki walked into the dorms. He heard the door slam before he saw the blonde, but when the other boy stopped in front of him, Shoto just passed the water over and got himself another one. Katsuki hummed in what might have been thanks, but overwise stayed quiet.

Despite Katsuki's objections, he and Shoto had an easy friendship based on the fact that both of them were always able to speak their minds and never had to hold their punches literally or figuratively. Katsuki had also been the first of their class to know about his traitor status and hadn't told anyone but Aizawa. Shoto looked up at the blonde and found the question he wanted to ask get caught in his throat. "Do you think…" Shoto started and trailed off, causing Katsuki to raise an eyebrow.

"Do I think what?"

"If I had mentioned what I knew about his father earlier, this wouldn't have happened?" Shoto asked. It was a loaded question, one that probably wasn't fair to put on Katsuki right now, but he couldn't really help it. The blonde looked at him with a strange look. Shoto saw a slight annoyance on Katsuki's face, but no more than usual.

"What if I give you an answer you don't want to hear?" Katsuki said, leaning against the counter, and Shoto shrugged in response. Internally, Shoto knew that at least that it would be an honest answer. Katsuki sighed and put down the water, "No, because we all knew something was happening at Sparky's house, and none of us said a damn thing. You knew more, but even if it was enough to go to a teacher with, they likely would have investigated the house and found nothing. It might have gotten him in more fucking trouble than it was worth." Shoto hummed in response this time, more in thought than before, and he watched Katsuki slam the rest of his water and set the glass in the sink. "Come on, stop sitting here in your pity party," Katsuki said while waving for Shoto to follow him, barely giving him a second to dump the rest of his drink and follow him.

Katsuki leads him back to the girls' dorms, but he found himself outside Ashido's room this time. Katsuki pushed the door open, not bothering to knock, and Todoroki followed him in much more hesitantly. He hadn't been in Ashido's room since a study session he had been dragged to, and he had forgotten how bright it was. He immediately noticed Ashido was holding a phone to her ear and a piece of paper in her hand while Sero was listening intently to her conversation. As Katsuki walked in, Mina thanked whoever was on the phone and hung up smiling at her friend as he made his way to stand near where Kirishima was situated. Kirishima looked up from some papers he was shuffling through to greet Katsuki and then waved Shoto in. Katsuki leaned against the wall as Shoto shut the door, "Here, Pinky, he's bored. Put him to work."

The confusion must have shown on his face, and Ashido patted a place next to her and showed a list of numbers that were being crossed off. "I ended up begging Midnight for something helpful to do, so Detective Naomasa gave us some busy work. It's not great, but it's good for making us feel helpful. Naomasa gave us a phone belongs to the police department, and right now, we've been reaching out to the various departments in areas that saw rain recently, telling them what we know and to please reach out to UA if they find anything that might be useful to find him."

"Doesn't seem like a five-person job, really," Shoto said, sitting in the spot Ashido designated anyway.

She laughed a little, looking down at her list of numbers, and began looking at the next one, "It's not really, but it's keeping us all distracted… did you hear about Shinsou and Mr. Aizawa?"

"Depends on what? I saw Hitoshi while he was in his room, and I heard that he was going to visit Mr. Aizawa at the hospital he got transferred to," Shoto said.

"I heard his meltdown while I was heading downstairs," Kirishima jumped. "But I saw you and Midoriya heading in that direction."

"I don't know if it's fair to call it a meltdown," Sero said while typing in the next number onto the phone.

"I guess, but I don't know what else to call it," Kirishima said with a thoughtful expression. Katsuki took the pause to join him on the floor across from himself, Sero, and Mina. "I couldn't imagine what was going through his head. I doubt he does either, really. I mean, I knew that I'm feeling, so I can just barely imagine."

Mina held up her hand and silence all of them in a second, and it was then that he noticed that the paper she was holding was a notecard with a script.

"Hi, my name is Mina Ashido; I'm calling for Detective Naomasa regarding a missing person's case involving a UA student and the League of Villains? Yes, I can hold…."

Shoto couldn't help but notice how focused all of them were. And how compared to the aura of gloom that seemed to be hanging over the rest of the dorms, the Bakusquad were forcing themselves to work through it.

"Good afternoon Officer Arakawa; my name is Mina Ashido; I'm calling for Detective Naomasa regarding a missing person's case involving a UA student and the League of Villains; I wanted to ask if there are any areas with abandoned storage containers or storage buildings in abandoned areas… uh huh…."

It felt too familiar, and quickly Shoto realized that he knew pretending to be okay in order to keep going incredibly well. He had also seen it quite often in his life. In fact, his friend had been a master at it.

"Thank you so much. If you have any other questions or anything to report, it would be best to call Detective Naomasa directly. Do you have somewhere to write his number? …No, this number would not be the best way to reach him. Alright, that's going to be…."

Shoto wondered if maybe the other blonde had rubbed off on his friends in more ways than one.

"Thanks again," Mina said before hanging up and addressing the room. "They'll look into it."

No one expected miracles, but everyone was hoping for one anyway. So, they couldn't help the slight disappointment at the lack of immediate answers. "I hate sitting here," someone said. It took a long moment for Shoto to realize it had been him that said it. Everyone agreed with him anyway.

Everyone quickly tried to shake it off by jumping into a new conversation, but eventually, the conversation fell into a minor lull. "Did you hear about the things Momo found underneath the floorboards in his room at that place?" Shoto said finally.

"No, what?"

"A go-bag, filled with everything he needed to leave. And a phone number in a notebook."

"I bet I guess what you're most interested in?" Katsuki snorted. "I'm guessing they're calling it too much of a risk. Any ideas who it could be?"

Shoto shook his head, "None."

"I hate to be the one to say it, but what if getting involved is the wrong move. What if we put him in more danger?" Ashido said sharply with an anxious expression.

"And what if he's already dead?" Eijiro shot back, causing the atmosphere to plummet as everyone looked at him. Nobody had wanted to say it, but Shoto supposed they had all been thinking it. Eijiro looked guilty the moment he said it, and his head and expression dropped. "Sorry… Sorry, I just keep thinking about it. It's been hours, and nobodies heard anything and… and… I feel so useless right now."

"I want to see what they have," Katsuki said. "The number would be cool and shit, but I need to see if they're even close to having anything. They just… they're keeping us in the dark about everything, and I can't fucking stand it."

"You three should go. Mina and I will stay here." Sero finally said, looking them all over, and Mina begrudgingly nodded. "We begged for the job, so we should stick with it, and hopefully, we'll find something useful. Someone had to see something. just… don't call on your own phone… And be careful."

Katsuki and Kirishima nodded, letting Ashido kiss their cheeks before turning back to him. Katsuki nodded, thinking out loud, "If we hurry, we should be able to beat them before they take a lunch break."

Slipping out of the dorms was more challenging than getting into the meeting room. The police were actively patrolling the exits and were incredibly alert versus the pro heroes, their teachers, who looked exhausted and off their game. In the end, it was probably a good thing just the three of them went because, despite the sleep deprivation they exhibited, stealth was vital. They ended up sitting around the corner of the hallway for almost ten minutes before they heard the sounds of their teachers leaving and taking a quick lunch. None of them seemed happy about it.

When Katsuki, Kirishima, and Shoto slipped into the staff room, they first noticed how much of a mess it was. Papers were scattered in front of every seat, and many laptops were left open with what had to be more information on them. Shoto immediately looked for the go-bag Momo had mentioned and the notebook while Katsuki started reading the various papers spread on the table. Kirishima hovered near the door, keeping a lookout. Shoto was surprised to recognize a strangely familiar notebook that he had never seen on the table, and although it wasn't the book Momo had described, he opened it anyway and was surprised by the handwriting. It was clearly his. He knew it from the essays he showed him with pride, from the small notes the boy passed him when the teachers weren't looking asking after his wellbeing, and from hours staring at his English notes trying to find some sense of in the papers even though there never was any.

His friend's father was all over the first page. But this was different than his English notes, but the same in a way. It was organized so differently, but it was clearly his. He could barely figure out what it said, considering the code the writing was using, and he couldn't figure out where he had seen it before.

"Guys, someone's coming back," Kirishima hissed before glancing around to hide. Katsuki dragged him into the closet as Shoto dove for the Nedzu's desk in the front of the room.

"Let me grab my purse; it's got some headache medication," A female voice said. Shoto thinks he recognizes it as one of the third-year teachers. There was some brief shuffling before the door closed once more. He can almost hear the unison breath of relief from all three of them. He slid out from under the desk and got back to work, looking for the number or, at this point, anything else useful. Then it hit him why the book was familiar; it was Izuku. Izuku structured his notes precisely like this, and Shoto was almost sure that it was the same code. He could read words from it, but without the carefully made translator his friend had made for him, he wouldn't be able to read it. His head swam with the idea, and he wondered if that had been what he was referencing to Izuku when they had sat down with the letter he had written them.

He found the notebook on accident after grabbing the first book he saw and realizing when he opened it that all that was written there was a phone number. He snapped a clear photo of it with his phone and turned to see Katsuki jump on the idea and snap as many pictures as he could on his phone of the papers in front of him, likely to read as they went along. He quickly relays this to Katsuki and Kirishima, causing the blonde to roll his eyes dramatically. They flee from the room as soon as they dare pull Katsuki away. As they escape the campus, Shoto sends Izuku a quick text letting him know his whereabouts, and while the other boy seems concerned, he promises not to tell any of the teachers, staff, police, or worse, Iida if he makes it back in an hour. He says he's going to check in with Mina and Sero and let them know. As they agreed, none of them use their phone, so they attempt to find the nearest payphone and scrounge together the coins to afford it.

Shoto is nervous. He can't help but wonder if this was a good decision, but the look on Katsuki's face implies that he might face bodily harm if he even suggests it. So, he picks up the phone and dials the number, and it rings once before a slightly familiar, very panicked voice picks up.

"Denki, is that you?"

It's the first time anyone's said his name all day. He just barely recognizes the voice, and he doubts he would have been able to place it had they literally not just spoken to the young man. "I'm sorry, no, this is Akio, right? I'm Shoto. We spoke briefly when… you visited us?"

The other end lets out a sigh, and he disappointed him, "Yes, I remember you, Shoto. How did you get this number?"

"Denki's notebook. Momo found it with the pro-heroes while they were looking around," Shoto considers briefly if this is actually Denki's older brother. He entertains this thought for just a second too long to be comforting, and an instinct takes over. "This is Akio, right?"

"I-yes. Shoto Todoroki, Denki told me about you. Thank you for looking after my brother. He was never specific on your end, but he told me about the bathroom you would meet in to patch each other up. I hope that's proof enough." Akio said, despite not seeing his face; Shoto could clearly imagine the wondering look on his face.

"Denki told me about you too. I know you don't seem suspicious of me, but Denki told me how you were basically my sister in your family. That you held everyone together," Shoto said softly, briefly remembering that he had an audience behind him listening intently.

A humorless laugh followed, "I don't' know about that but… it's nice that Denki thinks that. Now that we've gotten all of that out of the way, I need to ask where Denki is? Please tell me, you know?"

"…no, I was hoping you would," Shoto said, chest tightening. A silence followed, and Shoto rushed to continue feeling the young man's dread at the statement. "The heroes are trying to figure out where his– well, your father would have taken him. I was hoping you might have a lead."

"I don't... I'm sorry…." Akio said softly. "Last I saw him or heard from him was the day you saw me. I took our siblings and left." Shoto felt that tightness in his chest become a steady pang as he processed. His cheeks flushed slightly as he felt Kirishima and Katsuki's eyes on him, looking as disappointed as he felt. He felt his mind circle back to his insecurities from earlier. Akio, ever the older brother Shoto thought, seemingly sensed this. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Shoto glanced back at Katsuki, who nodded, so Shoto did. He told Akio about their escape attempt and then their teachers and other heroes arriving. About Denki's small rebellion saving Katsuki and Kirishima and him getting dragged through the portal. And at the end of it all, Akio spoke in a quiet voice, almost like he didn't want to be saying what he was saying, "If he gets out, he'll end up in a hospital."

"What?"

"Not by choice, mind you. Denki's not fond of hospitals. I doubt anyone is actually, but I know my father. He would strike immediately before leaving Denki alone to wallow in his injuries. It's just the way he is. He'll leave and then come back to finish what he started because, more important than… punishing him for disobedience, my father would just want him in pain. If he gets away in that time, he'll end up in a hospital because he needs one."

It was such a small chance. Something he had no doubt could have been overlooked. Shoto thinks back to Ashido and Sero making calls back in the girl's dorm, and he glances and Kirishima, who's already stepping away to make a call.

"Thank you," Shoto said when Akio took a breath of air.

"There's also other buildings or property; I'm not too sure, I've never been. But they're under my mother's name, instead of my father's. Her maiden name as well. It might be worth looking into," Akio continued, clearly forcing himself to keep his sentences short and to the point.

"Akio, we…" Shoto's never been great at comforting people. It's a part of a hero's job, of course, but it's never something he's excelled at. "We're going to find him."

"I know you will," Akio says. "Just…call me. When he's safe, or just have him call me… when he can. Please?"

"Of course, thank you for everything," Shoto says, telling the elder he would talk to him soon. When he turns, both boys look contemplative.

Kirishima is the first to speak up, "Mina says it's quite a few hospitals to call."

Katsuki is quick to reply, "It'll be less if she starts now. We'll help when we get back."

Chapter Text

Aizawa wakes in his second least favorite place in the world. It’s a close call, but the hospital had never actively given him food poisoning, so the god-awful restaurant Hizashi took him to on their third wedding anniversary still took the top spot. There is; however, a weight leaning on him that’s strangely familiar; as his sense comes back to him slowly, he realizes it’s likely his daughter before he can even open his eyes. When he does open his eyes, Aizawa finds his son asleep in a chair in a position that will definitely leave him sore when he wakes. He blinks, and for a long moment, he can’t remember why he’s here until he glances down and feel almost sick by the fading burns on his wrists.

They look better than they had before. Red, inflamed, and sore, but he had walked off worse. But he knew they hadn’t looked like that before. He suspected Recovery Girl or someone similar had something to do with that. Hizashi, always with his perfect timing, walked in and smiled in what was clear relief, setting down a stack of papers walking over and pressing a meaningful kiss onto his forehead. His husband smiled down at him, “I guess I can’t really be surprised. The doctor said not to expect you awake until tomorrow at the earliest.”

“What can I say? I love defying expectations,” he said hoarsely, reaching for the hand Hizashi and nearest to him.” What time is it?”

Hizashi glanced at his phone and frowned, “past midday. Almost four.”

“Great. I’ll leave before dinner,” Aizawa said firmly, planning either what he would need for the necessary hospital check-out or his escape.

Hizashi pressed him back down against the pillow he hadn’t realized he had leaned up from. “At least talk to the doctor before you plan your grand escape–” Aizawa opened his mouth to protest, but Hizashi didn’t give him a chance and cut him off succinctly from years of practice. “–in fact, I’ll go get her right now.”

He made a second attempt at protesting, but his husband wasn’t hearing it. He glanced at his son, and memories of being held in a separate room from his child and students crept up into his mind. Despite his ruffled appearance, Hitoshi seemed mostly okay. Something gripped at his gut, and he glanced over to the papers that Hizashi had left on the table. Right on top was a missing person’s file for Denki Kaminari. His heart sunk, and his resolve strengthened, he grabbed the papers, and in the time it had taken for Hizashi to find his doctor and bring her back, Aizawa was almost done skimming the missing person’s report.

“Shota,” Hizashi said in a tone that told him they would come back to this conversation that they had yet to start. Reluctantly, he set that file back down and gave his attention to the doctor that he didn’t want. The woman gave him a soft smile that years of heroics told him that she was slightly concerned about whatever conversation they were about to be having.

“You’re very lucky, Mr. Aizawa. Almost everything should heal fine. The only thing I’m concerned about is the nerves in your wrists, but I believe with a healthy amount of physical therapy, you should only experience some discomfort in the coming weeks and stiffness in your wrists in the long term.” The doctor glanced up from the chart they were looking at to him. “Are you in any pain right now?”

If he was honest, yes, his head hurt, and his arms ached, but in Aizawa’s opinion, that was irrelevant.

“Not really.” Hizashi rolled his eyes behind the doctor as she made a marking on her clipboard. “Is there anything else?”

The doctor looked conflicted for a moment before she looked at him, “I meant it when I said you were very lucky, Mr. Aizawa. Electricity can have many nasty consequences that you will likely not see. From my understanding, this is electricity from a quirk, yes? Quirks like that can be very deadly. I’ve seen many of them in action and treated people who didn’t survive them, and as a hero, I imagine you have to. Quite frankly, many would consider you lucky to merely lived through this. I imagine the only reason you survived with so few injuries was either dumb luck or perfect control and precision.”

 Perfect control and precision would never have been how Aizawa described Denki’s handle on his quirk before, but he nodded, considering how wrong he had been on so many things before. “Thank you, doctor. I’ll be checking out as soon as you bring me the paperwork.”

Aizawa supposed Hizashi had warned her already. She seemed surprised, but not overly so. “I wouldn’t recommend checking out so soon, Mr. Aizawa. We were planning on monitoring you for at least another twenty-four hours before discussing release dates.”

“I’ll take it under advisement; whenever you get around to those forms would be great,” Aizawa said, and Hizashi sighed. Except it wasn’t Hizashi, he glanced back over to the chair and saw his son sitting up, looking distinctly more awake. He had never realized that Hitoshi sighed at him the same way Hizashi did, but he didn’t have a lot of time to consider it; the boy moved out of his seat and hovered near the bed. Aizawa gave a small nod before Hitoshi sat down on the bed next to him. The doctor and his husband slipped out, and Hitoshi seemed to breathe in his awake presence for a moment and scooted closer to him before a few tears slipped down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” He muttered, and Aizawa blinked for a moment before holding up a hand to his child, running his thumb under his jaw and trying to settle his clearly distressed son.

“What for,” he asked softly.

“I…I don’t know,” Hitoshi said. “Everything, I guess. I’m sorry, you just woke up, and I’m just dumping this all on you and–”

“Hitoshi,” Aizawa cut in. “I’m listening.”

His son sucked in a breath. “Why didn’t he tell us? We could have helped him… we could have–”

“I knew about a week before anything happened. I think Denki knew I knew as well.” Aizawa said, causing Hitoshi’s eyes to shoot to him.

“Why didn’t you tell me,” Hitoshi asked softly.

“Because there was more to consider than just him. Which is also why I think he couldn’t tell us. He needed us to figure it out. Hitoshi, he had his sibling to worry about, and Hitoshi… I know you would do anything for Eri. You know that too,” Both of them glanced at the little girl still settled on the bed. “He couldn’t put them in danger.”

Hitoshi thought this over for a moment, “…but didn’t he put us in danger then?”

“Not really; look at it this way, he knew where our house was, but the villains never did. He knew our schedules and routines, but nothing ever happened. I think he did his best to protect us as well.” He took in Hitoshi’s ruffled appearance and slid a little closer to Eri before patting the area next to him, and he was tucking Hitoshi under his arm despite the teenage boy being much too big to be curled up in the small bed with him. “I’m not angry at him. But that doesn’t mean if you are, you shouldn’t be.”

“I asked him once. If I could ever meet his parents, he told me not if he could help it.” Hitoshi said after a long moment. “I don’t think I’m mad. Not anymore, at least. I just didn’t think he had many secrets. There were clearly some things he didn’t like to talk about, though, like his house or his scars, so we never talked about them till he was ready. I waited till he brought them up. But I never thought that he… was carrying something like this.”

The sound of the door opening brought them both looking at Hizashi, who gave them a soft smile. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt, but Hitoshi, I do want you to know he really was taking care of us in the ways that he could.” His husband settled sitting on the bed where he found room and ran a hand through Hitoshi’s wilder than usual hair. “He sent us the location; you know. And he made sure to clean your father’s wounds the best he could. Hitoshi, he loved you to pieces; that’s something impossible to fake,” Hizashi said in a soft voice he reserved for comforting those he cared about. “You know that much, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Hitoshi said with a small smile. Before glancing up and looking at him, “You have something you need to talk to dad about, don’t you?”

“I’m afraid so,” Hizashi said, barely surprised at their son’s insightfulness. Hitoshi just nodded, and Aizawa couldn’t help but hug the boy before he pulled away. After a moment, Hitoshi extracted himself and picked up his sister gently as to not wake her. For as much as he huffed and called his sister a brat in these moments, Aizawa could tell he cared about her. When the door shut, Hisashi glanced at the files again. “He’s–”

“Missing.”

“Yes,” Hizashi breathed out. Looking like he didn’t want to be saying it as much as Aizawa didn’t want to be hearing it. “Going on 36 hours now.”

Aizawa knew the statistics, but he wasn’t sure if they really applied here. Denki was either alive, or he wasn’t, and it was a terrifying thing to acknowledge. It would break his son if he was; it would break him if he was.

“I want… you to read something as well. I couldn’t stomach it until you were here, and I wanted to wait till you were awake, but I couldn’t help it in the end,” Hizashi said, sounding almost guilty. The whole stack of papers was put in front of him, and the one Hizashi settled in front of him had handwriting too familiar to put him at ease. Hizashi nodded at him and held his hand.

Dear Mr. Aizawa and Mr. Yamada,

I’ll be honest writing this letter is more for me than you. This is my last letter of the night, and while I wouldn’t say I’m eager to be done, I’m certainly ready to be able to not have to think about it. To be able to pretend for the next few days and suppress what I already know. Excuse my handwriting in this, I’ll admit my hands are shaking, and despite all the techniques you both have taught me to help with panic attacks and anxiety, I can’t seem to make them stop.

I’ll try to make this short because I could go on for hours, but my hand already hurts. What I really wanted to say was thank you. Even if it was just for a moment, thank you for allowing me to be a part of your family. I’m sorry for what I did, but I swear upon everything that I loved Hitoshi more than myself, and I never wanted him to get wrapped up in my mess, but in the end, I got selfish and dragged him in.

You both were the first adults I’ve ever allowed myself to trust, and I know you knew that. But I really hope you knew how much I appreciated everything you both did for me. Every weekend and vacation spent at your house. Every meal you made me. And every panic attack you talked me down from.

Please take care of everyone for me. I’ve always done my best to keep everyone in class happy because I noticed, but they won’t have me to keep an eye out for them and their emotional states anymore. So, please look after them. I don’t want them to mourn for me. I want better for them. Better than what I got.

And take care of Shoto. This may seem a little random, and I’m sure he’ll be furious at me for breaking one of our unspoken rules, but in the back of my mind, I can’t stand the thought of leaving him with no one really knowing what goes on in his house. I know his friends know some of it, but I think Midoriya is the only one of his friends that’s really seen how violent Endeavor can be with him. I won’t betray his trust more than that, but please keep an eye on him.

I wish I had the pleasure of being born into a normal life. That I could have had the chance to have a happy family or even a normal one. I wish that the perfect family that my siblings and I learned to pretend we were what we actually were. I’d give anything to see my family somewhere safe where my younger siblings can be allowed to grow up at least somewhat normal. Because no one deserves to grow up the way I did. I know I don’t have any right to ask anything of you but please, look after them if you can.

There’s a quote by Ernest Hemingway I’ve always been pretty attached to that said, “All things truly wicked start from innocence.”

When I was 12, I wondered if that means everyone has the potential to become evil. If everyone is born, one traumatic fuck up away from wanting to destroy the world.  When I was 13, I no longer believed anyone was truly good anymore. But when I was 14, I began working to apply to UA. Not coincidentally, age 14 was also the first time I encountered the League of Villains. Though at the time, I didn’t know them as the League of Villains. At the time, it had just been Kurogiri and a black screen that my father addressed as ‘sir.’ It’s strange now; some of the people at UA made me really believe there are good people out there. Between my classmates, who are so eager to help others, and you two who so easily let one of you students practically live part-time in your home, I believed that just maybe there are people out there different from the ones I was raised by.

I confessed to my crimes in my original letter, but I’m sure you already know that. However, I figure it’s only right, to be honest with you both right here and now, so you know the truth. And are better equipped to handle the fallout. If I’m honest, I doubt whether or not I’ve confessed will matter. I confessed only because it felt right and just in case, but I doubt that confession will actually be used for anything. Because It’ll be clear that I was the one who betrayed the villains quite quickly. So, it’ll all come down to how they choose to respond to that betrayal. As you probably know, villains don’t do well with being betrayed. If I’m honest, I don’t think I’ll make it out alive.

That’s pretty melodramatic, isn’t it? Sorry about that. Processing that you’re going to die is strange. I can only imagine that this is how people with a terminal illness feel as they try to walk through life, trying to live with what time they have left. But I think I’m coming to terms with it. If you’ve seen me acting differently this past bit, I suppose now you know why.

I suppose there’s nothing else to say other than goodbye, and once again, thank you for everything.

Sincerely,

Denki Kaminari

The first emotion Aizawa felt was fear. Fear for his student, the child he’d been looking after for almost two years now. The blonde boy who wasn’t sure what was about to happen but was sure he would end up dead because of it. But that fear faded, and anger replaced it. Anger at Kutsuki, Denki’s father, who Denki was so sure would be the one to kill him. Not Shigaraki or any of the other villains that had been attacking his students and his school, his father. And then he was upset at Denki because how dare his child just accept death. Aizawa had told him before that none of his students were allowed to die before him, and he had meant it.

The letter is a startling snap back into reality, and suddenly Aizawa is trying to get up and out of bed all over again.

“Shota,” Hizashi is trying to settle him, and he can’t see anything but red. He can’t be here. He’s useless here. He needs to be out there, or with his coworkers, looking for his kid.

“No, Hizashi,” he said firmly. “I’m fine. I need to be able to help.”

His husband wants to deny him, wants to tell him that their coworkers got it and to lay down. That’s he’s still hurt from his last encounter with Denki. There’s clear conflict on his face, and Aizawa doesn’t give him a chance to make a decision. He finds the bag with his clothes and gets dressed, ignoring Hizashi’s vocal complaints, and when a nurse comes in to check on him, he’s equally surprised and encourages him to change back, telling him that he can’t leave yet. In his mind and his heart, he wants to tell him exactly where he can shove that. He doesn’t though, he asks him politely to bring him the release papers.

Hitoshi is less surprised than the nurse when he comes back, and Eri immediately wants a hug, and he sits and holds his daughter while the papers get drawn up. She doesn’t cry. She thanks him for coming home to her. The hospital hadn’t been expecting him to leave, so they weren’t ready yet; he remembers that and tries to be patient as he holds his daughter tight, promising silently that he was still here for her. Hitoshi sits next to him and whispers when Hizashi’s not paying attention, “Bakugou wants to talk to you. He said… they did something you’re not going to be happy about; they tried going to the pro’s, but the police wouldn’t let them out again. They got caught sneaking back into the dorms.”

Aizawa hummed and is surprised to find that he’s not surprised. The most startling thing was that Bakugou was involved; despite the boy’s brash nature, he wasn’t really one to challenge an authority to be respected. Maybe that just meant that he was the authority he respected. “Tell him to look out for a call from me. When we’re in the car.”

Hitoshi nodded before typing away at his phone. Release papers are filled out, and then they check out in the front with the receptionist, despite no one but Aizawa being happy about it, and they leave. The man in the front quietly tells Aizawa that whenever his case is done, he can always come back if his injuries are still bothering him. Aizawa knows he should call his coworkers, tell them he’s on his way back immediately. He doesn’t, though. Something about Bakugou asking to talk to him makes him want to head towards his student immediately. Something in him told him to call Bakugou first. He lets his family grab the car, and he stays outside the hospital entrance.

He had been a pro hero for a long time. His instincts had saved his life on more than one occasion. He wasn’t about to start ignoring them. He lets Hizashi send the update to Nedzu, and he scrolls through his contacts and finds Bakugou. The call rings once before he picks up, and it’s not Bakugou; it’s Kirishima.

“Oh, Mr. Aizawa, you’re gonna be so mad, and I’m super sorry. I know we got in trouble after Bakugou for getting involved, and you told us that you would have us expelled if we ever did something like this again. But we just had to do something, and so we went looking for something to do, and Todoroki practically brought it to us on a silver platter, and if that’s not fate, I don’t know what is, but the–”

“FUCKING SHITTY HAIR, GIMME THAT,” There’s a small struggle before, “We’ve got a lead. Two actually. They’re both small, but they exist, and it’s more than the teachers have now. But the police aren’t letting us leave now, and we can’t contact anyone else.”

Aizawa is calm and firm when he speaks, “What did you do, and what did you find?”

“We broke into the staff room where everything about Sparky’s case was. Half and half-heard from Ponytail that they were refusing to call this number because they were worried about the risk, but calling it felt right, and it just made us fucki– made us angry, so we did it ourselves. Mr. Aizawa, it was Sparky’s older brother Akio,” Aizawa sucked in a breath. That was a lead. He would never admit it to his students, but deep down, he was a little proud of them for following their instincts.

“What did he say?”

“Shit, I mean, uh, Half and half actually talked to him, like I know, but here talk to him,” Bakugou said, and there was more shuffling before Todoroki’s voice came over the phone. If the situation was a little less serious, Aizawa was sure he would feel almost amused and the phone changing hands.

“It’s good to hear from you, sir,” Todoroki said softly.

“It’s good to hear from you as well, Todoroki,” Aizawa responded. And it was it really, really, was. He hadn’t seen his students since they were separated on the bus, but knowing that they were okay, lifted a weight from him he hadn’t realized was there.

“I called him, and I knew it was him, just by talking to him. We met him when he visited us in our cell,” The idea of a cell concerned him, but he knew he would have to come back to that later. “Still, I spoke to him, and he said some stuff that I knew came from Denki. Sir, he told us to check the hospitals, we know they haven’t done that. If he’s injured enough, they wouldn’t be able to get his name or information, and I know the teachers haven’t checked there because we read all the information they had on the table. And Mina’s the one that’s been calling the police stations.”

The way Shoto spoke was less calm than expected; he just kept talking. Aizawa knew that no one had been listening to them by how Shoto was trying to get it all out before he got cut off again.

“And the last name Kaminari didn’t come out of nowhere. It was his mother’s maiden name. He said that there are properties or houses under his mother’s maiden name that we should check. It could be where she, or Denki’s father, or maybe the league is hiding right now.”

The car pulled up beside him, and he gave a small signal for a moment.

“I’ll bring it to them. Good work, you three, we’ll talk about your methods later, but good work,” Aizawa said. “Do you have any idea on the hospitals to start with?”

“A few. We’re starting in the areas that the police stations were called because we’re assuming Denki’s on foot. From there, we planned to branch out,” Katsuki’s voice said loudly, though it remained slightly muffled since he was clearly a few steps away from the phone.

“Keep calling hospitals. And keep calling police stations. Someone will know something. If you find anything, I mean anything, call me.”

Three ‘yes sirs’ chimed over the phone before Aizawa hung up. For the first time since he woke up, Aizawa felt tired, but he didn’t show it. He didn’t have time to feel tired; maybe if his coworkers had a lead or were getting somewhere with finding his student, he might be convinced to take it easy, but even then. Aizawa couldn’t let this go. He had told his student, promised Denki that it was okay, and he was going to hold himself to that promise even if Denki wouldn’t.

Aizawa slipped into the car, and everyone looked at him nervously.

“What’s going on,” Hitoshi asked nervously.

Aizawa considers telling him the truth and all of it, but he hesitates. “Your classmates did something dumb, but it got us a lead on the parents.” He doesn’t mention the lead on Denki; he wouldn’t get his son’s hopes up for nothing. Everyone in the car nods; he glances at Hizashi in the mirror, and his husband immediately understands a conversation they can have when small and smaller ears are not prying.

They get caught in traffic on their way back, not to mention the red lights they hit, but the hospital isn’t far from UA, so they end up making it there rather quickly either way. Aizawa spends what time they have in the car reading every document Hizashi had with him, just trying to get caught up. They tell Hitoshi to take Eri into their dorms, and he doesn’t argue. Especially once Aizawa promises to call him once they have something concrete. When he and Hizashi make it to the staff room, he’s not surprised not to know one looks much better than he does. They’re frazzled, grasping at straw after exhausting all the leads they had looking for the class at the beginning of this mess.  No one is surprised to see Aizawa, but they look rather concerned after his wellbeing.

They passed over what they had learned in the past week, plus what they had learned in the past day over to him, and he got to work. He glances at the files with everything they know about the Kutsuki siblings in them. All their papers are in order. He looks over the notes on the house and the few interviews they had been able to pull from neighbors about the family. Everyone said they were a kind, quiet, and smart-looking family. Never caused any issues and is generally almost forgettable if it weren’t for all of their striking appearances. The neighbors said that the parents were often in and out of the house but always assured those who asked that it was an unfortunate side effect of their work. They claimed that their children had a part-time nanny when they were gone and that their adult children were always happy to help out. As far as the neighbors could tell, Rikona and Taishiro Kutsuki were perfect, loving parents.

Nedzu tells him they were waiting for forty-eight hours to roll around before damning the risks and exhausting the rest of their options, including the phone number they had, along with attempting to storm any of the places the various police departments had reached out to Naomasa and suggested.

“Well, there’s no need to worry about that number; my students took care of that for you,” Aizawa said, and the surprise that decorated the faces in the room told Aizawa everything about what the police stationed outside the dorms were telling the UA staff. He tells them what he knows, throughs in his own thoughts, and everyone sets back to work eating at the new lead, as they were clearly so desperate, they would be willing to overlook how his students had gotten the number. They had been operating under the impression that Kaminari was a made-up name.

“I’ll run her name see what comes up,” Nedzu says. And it's nothing, but Aizawa doesn’t like that answer, so he and Nemuri backtrack. Digging through people with the last name Kaminari, and they find one loose end.

Its not Rikona, but Rinako Kaminari. Who disappears at nineteen, her police reports indicated that she had been an ‘unstable child’ and more explicitly stated that she was a reckless kleptomaniac later in her teenage years. The middle child of thee, Rinako, had suddenly vanished one night, though not to the surprise of her family. They had put out a missing report but made it clear they believed she skipped town with her boyfriend. The timeline matched up a little too well for them to ignore. Before she had left or shortly after, Rinako had fallen pregnant for the first time with Kaminari’s older brother.

A long moment of silence fell over the room as they took in the information reading the folders they had been sent. Naomasa got a determined look and dug through a notebook, and got back to work. The next time someone spoke to address the room with their findings, Aizawa wasn’t surprised that it was Naomasa.

He admitted he hadn’t liked how little information they had on Kutsuki and had begun digging only to put it aside when the class had actually been found. But he retraced his steps and gone down a long path of looking into the registered quirk database. Electricity wasn’t a common quirk, but even uncommon quirks were plentiful when looking nationwide. Lightening, while also uncommon in terms of quirk names, was vague enough that Naomasa had widened the search before he even started to just include the word lightning instead of it being the entire name.

Quirk: Lightning Strike. It had born fruit in the name Raicho Nagamine. He had also disappeared from his home at the age of eighteen, but unlike Rinako, his paper trail hadn’t gone cold so suddenly. He had clearly learned the hard way how to disappear, and it was clear it was he who made sure his wife had done it right her first time.

Everyone felt a little bit relieved over the two successes. Even Aizawa would admit to riding the high slightly, but he wasn’t done yet; there had to be more. Two of his coworkers had stepped out to reach out to the families, hoping for a moment of their time and perhaps a little bit of insight.

A ring from his phone catches his attention, and he immediately picks up on instinct; he barely gets through his hello before Kirishima is barreling over him with nothing but his voice.

“Okay, you said anything, this is anything. It’s a super small chance. Probably nothing, practically minuscule. John Doe teenager was brought in by an ambulance because he passed out shortly after exiting an alley. We don’t know anything else, but he’s injured and hasn’t woken up.”

“Where?”

The phone is snatched; he’s getting used to the sound now.

“Fucking– Local, you were straight just there, sir. But they won’t give fucking anything without an officer or a pro hero there.”

“I call you back.”

He doesn’t tell his husband what’s going on, just takes the keys and leaves the room despite the protests; and Hizashi is waist-deep in papers and theories, and quickly, Aizawa loses his husband.

His success is high gone, and he’s moving towards his car with impressive speed, considering he’s freshly out of the hospital and heading back there. When he’s settled in the car, already moving, he reminds himself to get his emotions back in control.

Aizawa doesn’t believe in luck. Luck is for people without the skill to back up their words. Luck can change, and Aizawa makes a point to not rely on it. Denki told him that some man named Louis Pasteur said that ‘Chance favors the prepared mind.’ He had decided he liked that quote more than some, Denki threw out. He considers himself a logical man above all else, but what would be the odds? He sent a wordless prayer to a god he hadn’t believed in for a long time for the safety of the second son he barely acknowledged he had. Aizawa doesn’t believe in luck, but he doesn’t get caught in traffic on his way there. He catches every green light on his way back to the hospital.

And no one is standing in front of him when he raises in a greets a familiar receptionist.

“Mr. Aizawa is something wrong. Are your injuries hurting you or–”

He swiftly cuts the man off, pulls out his hero license, and flashes it despite the man already knowing that he is, in fact, a pro hero, “I’m looking for a possible John Doe. Older teenage boy, He’s seventeen with blonde hair and a black streak in it. Likely injured.”

The receptionist takes his frantic nature for what it is and doesn’t ask questions, just starts typing, but he’s cut off by a not familiar doctor.

“He’s here. Are you family?”

“Yes,” Aizawa breathed like he hasn’t since he woke up.

Aizawa doesn’t believe in luck, but god damn, did the stars align for him. He could take a good thing for what it was.

Chapter Text

Denki doesn't know if this is what dying feels like, but if it is, he doesn't recommend it. Everything hurt, and frankly, he was almost hoping that death would come a little faster because sitting in a pool of his own blood was decidedly not comfortable.

As expected, his father hadn't been too happy with him. Actually, that was a lie, the man had been downright furious, and it had shown. They slipped through the portal, and Denki immediately had been hit. It had been a punch that knocked him to the floor, and his father demanded to know what he had done. His father, who always looked so put together, was yelling till he was red in the face.

And it was torture. Not as a metaphor, literally. Denki's father had taken his hands, his feet, even a piece of stray wood and beaten him past black and blue and into bleeding and bloody. He doubted it was a very nice sight to behold, especially since all of the other villains had averted their eyes or had walked away.

"Let me teach you something about working smarter," his father had whispered, causing his entire body to go cold. "Two for one right there." Eijiro had Katsuki pulled right against his chest, and the panic that shot through his chest causing him to physically stiffen, and he didn't doubt that everyone could see it. More importantly, his father could feel it and clearly knew that he found a weak spot. His father raised his hand ever so slightly.

The portal opened to his right, and he felt the static ever so vaguely drag his hair up.

And Denki pushed back, causing his father to slam into the wall and the bolt of lightning to swerve just enough.

And everyone besides him froze.

Denki let out an inaudible sigh of relief, which was quickly followed by a sharp breath when his hair was grabbed by a familiarly rough hand. He felt his head being yanked backward and before being shoved towards and into the portal. He barely has time to process the panic he feels when he sees Iida run towards them. He has even less time to process, whether it's a relief or disappointment that he didn't make it in time. His landing is rough, much like the hand that had grabbed his head, and his eyes traveled up until he meets Shigaraki's eyes, who stares down at him with an air of nonchalance that did not suit his usual personality. Though he wouldn't be surprised if Shigaraki had thought this was coming. He did have a portal ready.

"You've done decent enough work," Shigaraki had said to him exactly a week ago. "And while I can't honor the deal you made with Sensei, I can do that next best thing."

And for what it's worth, Shigaraki was right. It wasn't his and his sibling's freedom, but it was his siblings' escape. His reward came in the form of a stack of cash, false identity papers, and six one-way train ticket vouchers. He handed them to Akio the day after he was given them when his brother was dropping off some necessities for him at their temporary base. And he had watched his older brother count the tickets silently before looking up at him in what was clearly false confusion.

"You have a ticket too, don't you, Denki?" Akio had hissed to him, trying not to draw any attention to them as they hid in the mostly untraveled corner of the building.

"I can't," Denki whispered fiercely. And they both knew it. Denki was too easily recognized and, more importantly, too high profile. His siblings would be able to vanish into a footnote of his story.

And then his medication ran out, past his ADHD medication, his quirk suppressant was suddenly unavailable, and he had not been on it, and now that he was, he knew why he needed to be on it. His body ached to let out the electricity building inside him that it made so rapidly, and every time his control even began to slip, he started letting of sparks left and right. However, those tiny sparks sent out a kickback of sharp pain every time one fell out, making his whole body sore. With the stress of where he was staying, he wasn't sleeping, and there wasn't much in the ways of food laying around. Akio had brought him some snacks, but he was pretty much out by the end of the week. By the time he saw his teacher, everything in him just ached, and he was so tired that he knew he looked like a right mess.

But he pulled himself together before he faced his teacher because Denki knew that he didn't have the right to pretend he didn't deserve every little bit of the pain. Shigaraki knew that putting him in front of Aizawa would hurt his teacher, he likely knew it would hurt Denki, but he didn't have a clue to what extent. When Denki was younger, his father made him memorize the exact voltage that would kill an average person. 100 to 250 volts would almost certainly take someone out, but even as low as 42 volts had killed someone. Denki's first super move had been over ten thousand times enough electricity to kill someone. It was never could he kill someone, that had never been in doubt. It was more learning how to keep enough control to not kill everyone in the room.

"Just call me Denki at this point," He had said to his teacher, and the man just nodded.

"Okay."

"And please stop looking at me like that."

That made Aizawa pause for a moment before asking, "Like what?"

"Like I'm the victim here."

"You are. None of this is your fault," Aizawa said firmly, and while Denki would never admit it, a small part of him felt at ease with the older man's confidence. It was reassuring, but it didn't matter because it wouldn't matter. He sighed out while shaking his head. Aizawa frowned before saying, "Denki, you're not a villain."

That got Denki's attention for a moment. Flashes to looking at his older sister and spilling his fears fluttered into his mind. His chest tightened because he remembered Akio's reassurances, and they felt like they were so long ago. His chest tightened as he stared at his teacher held prisoner. Something he had caused, and he didn't believe him. Denki wanted to, but he didn't. He knew he was just as bad as some of the lackeys Shigaraki had running around. He didn't say anything as seconds ticked by before his head slowly dropped, and he stared at his lap. "Sir, I promise I'm going to fix this."

"I believe you." He shouldn't, though, and he told him such. "You have no reason to though, Shigaraki sent me to torture you."

Aizawa didn't seem surprised; the concern on his face had yet to shift to anything else. There was something calculating in his gaze that made Denki feel small under the teacher's gaze. "What information does he want," Aizawa asked.

"That's just it," Denki said while shaking his head. "He doesn't want information. He just wants you in pain."

And Aizawa nodded. Like he understood. And that was that. A short silence fell over them, and Denki fussed with his own hands looking down so he didn't have to meet the eyes of the man in front of him.

"I'll be okay," Aizawa said in a tone of finality that he'd used often. The one that said, 'listen to me, I promise I know best.' The one he used when they hesitated to assure them that he had their back. Still, he hesitated. Finally, though, Denki stood up and grabbed onto Aizawa's wrists. Denki took in a deep breath and just held it as he blinked back tears. He sent a wordless prayer to a god he hadn't believed in for a long time for the safety of the first father he had ever had. Who was about to be tortured by Denki's own hands.

There's silence until there isn't and there is screaming, and Denki forcefully shoves his conscience and awareness to the back of his mind. He relied on perfect control from years of practice that bled into charging phones. Aizawa has been knocked out by the time he's done. There are burns on his wrists where Denki had grabbed hold of him.

He wants to hurl, but he hasn't eaten anything to get rid of, so he forces the instinct down and tries to stand like he doesn't care. Like he won't come back later when he can actually get a hold of something to help. He steps out to do such, but his father is outside the door. He's smiling and clearly pleased. He almost assumes it's from what must have been the screams of his teacher, but he gives him a straight answer for one. Telling him that his 'friends' have begun to wake up.

His father had dragged him down the hall, though much less violently than Denki was used to.

Later that day, he had slipped away again. With a very understocked first aid kit, his teacher had still been unconscious, but he had used what he could find to clean the burns the way he remembered being taught in school during a lecture from recovery girl. He had gone digging in the things that the villains had piled to the side, the inventory from the bus, and found the shirt that came with his hero costume before putting it aside, figuring it was clean and would make decent bandage material. His mind had been fuzzy, he was barely sure if he was actually supposed to bandage burns, but he figured it was better than nothing. And in that pile of things, he found his phone. He wondered if his parents could have recognized it as his or if it was just one of the random phones in a pile. It was off, and he wasn't sure it was going to turn on, but he took the chance, and it did, surprisingly, with plenty of battery on. It was almost three in the morning. He had been here a week. He didn't want to risk getting caught in an attempt to find a charging cord. He found his emergency contacts and located Yamada, and sent his location. Then he left the phone there with the location on and in a pile. He just hoped that UA would take a chance on him.

Later, he wasn't sure how much later, his father stormed into his room. He hadn't explained, just told him to follow, and so he did. He hadn't known that his classmates were making a break for it until someone had told him, and he had to bite down a grin. Because of course they were, and he was so proud of them for it. They weren't the type of people to sit back and wait for help. They were heroes, after all. A small voice in the back of his head pipped up, and he remembered the map that he had let Akio steal from him. And he hadn't known that the heroes were there until they quite literally kicked down the door.

His mind and body moved in slow motion taking in his classmates that made up the last barrier between the doors. His mind, however, kicked into gear once they were threatened. Part of him wanted to regret it, but not so deep down, he didn't. A little bit deeper down, he felt pride for making sure they were safe.

After the stunt with Eijiro and Katsuki, his father drags him from the cold room and tosses him on the floor, and doesn't give him enough time to process anything besides the fact that he was in pain. A sharp kick to his abdomen had him wheezing and curling in on himself. After the first moments of pain faded with consistency Denki realized that people were watching him. Well, watching his father. And Denki couldn't help but think how familiar this was; it felt like he was home again, taking a punishment in front of his siblings because he messed up something around the house or missed curfew. Only this was much worse, which would likely follow by a much worse punishment.

As Denki tried to force himself into the recesses of his mind, he wondered why punishments were always a public affair. He wondered if it made his father feel more powerful to watch Denki feel humiliated. Then all of his thoughts were cut short when he caught Shigaraki's eye.

Denki laid there in pain and his own blood, feeling dizzy and frustrated. And as he sits there, he thinks about all those letters he wrote. He wishes he had more time. Time to try to figure out how to explain himself and time to actually apologize in a way he didn't think he'd get to. Mostly, he wanted more time before he had to say goodbye. He was started out of his thoughts when Shigaraki suddenly appeared next to him and couched down to look at him. Denki opened his mouth to try and say something, anything, but the words got caught in his mouth. It didn't matter too much, though, because Shigaraki cut off his mere attempt.

"You know, I hated that they never helped me."

"…what?" Denki choked out while forcing himself not to immediately curl in on himself from how the older man was considering him. "I don't–"

"He'll come after you. Probably with your mother. If I can offer you some free advice, I'd take care of them as soon as possible," Shigaraki said, and in Denki's dazed state, he wasn't following what was happening. "Kurogiri, what do you think his chances are?"

"Depends on how badly he wants to live or not," A familiar voice said from out of sight, and Shigaraki nodded in the same direction as the voice while looking at Denki. Shigaraki snorted

"What are you–"

"Next time we meet," Shigaraki scoffed as he stared down at Denki and slowly stood. "I'll treat you like the heroes you've come to love so much… get him out of here, Kurogiri. I don't want him dying on my floor. This is our debt paid. Farewell, little traitor."

Denki felt the world shift around him, and he felt him fall, not even an inch, but he enough where he noticed easily that he was in a new place. It took an embarrassingly long time for Denki to realize that he was not in any of the league's latest hideouts. He was currently in an alley. Still bleeding, but he would take it. He didn't have time to think or consider Shigaraki or his motives because Denki was certain that they could come to this exact spot and drag him back. Denki knew he needed to get away from this alleyway. But Denki Kutsuki thinks about how cold it is. He felt a little bit put out; he didn't want to die in the cold. He's never really liked the cold, actually. Because at home, it somehow always felt a little too cold no matter what he and his siblings did. The dorms were always warm, though. With his friends piled on one too-small bed and conversations around a table that would cause his face to flush with laughter, He thinks of the hugs with his siblings that had almost made up for the freezing atmosphere around him and his friends fluttering around him when they were concerned. And between the way his palms sweat and his heart fluttered, Denki felt warm every time he was with Hitoshi. He thinks of the warmth of the Aizawa-Yamada household. Of movie night nights buried under blankets and a small girl tucked to his chest, with a hand in his, Aizawa silent comfort and Yamada offering him popcorn.

Then the realization that he was in an alley hit him again, and he forced his head up to look over to the street that had people walking by. He was at first startled by how close they were, but then Denki's head begun spinning, and he knew he really just needed somewhere safe. UA would be ideal, or a police station, but he didn't know where he was. Would they arrest him when they saw him? Probably, he thought darkly, but he supposed anywhere was better than where he was before. Denki rolled over onto his stomach and attempted to push himself up, but his entire being felt weak. His arms shook when he attempted to put any pressure on them. Every part of his body hurt, and he quite frankly didn't want to move. And Kurogiri's choice of words suddenly made sense. Then again, he didn't expect to live through this. It would be easier to just lay here and accept whatever happened, but he wondered if they would forgive him for dying like that. Fifteen feet away from being able to get help, could he really forgive himself if he died right here. He was sure that Shigaraki and his father were going to kill him, but they hadn't, not for his father's lack of trying.

He was still alive.

He can almost hear Aizawa yelling at him to get the fuck up. That none of his students were allowed to die before him. How dare he even consider the idea. With nothing else to do, Denki Kaminari decided he wasn't going to die here. He wasn't allowed to. He felt himself shake when he used one arm to push himself up, and it hurt when Denki put pressure on it, but he managed to get to the point where he was leaning against the wall. Once he had caught his own breath, he used the wall to pull himself up. With one hand on the wall and another wrapped around himself, Denki stumbled out of the alley. For a moment, he let himself relish in the small victory, but after that moment, he realized his vision was becoming hazy, and after another moment, he realized he had hit the ground. He thinks he hears voices around him, which would make sense since he saw people walking before.

"…the hell"

Voices above him floated in and out of his ear.

"Is…okay"

He felt someone touch him, and he couldn't help but flinch despite the additional pain it caused. It took him a long moment to realize they were looking for a pulse.

"…someone…an ambulance."

Denki can't feel anything as the world fades into darkness.

Denki Kaminari's oldest memory is from when he was five.

Though technically he wasn't Denki Kaminari yet, he was just Denki to anyone that mattered. And, according to any papers that he didn't yet know exist, his name is Denki Kutsuki. Using his father's last name. It would be a decade before he took his mother's maiden name.

Akio was holding him as he cried because his quirk had just come in, and it had hurt. Distantly he wondered if it had hurt Akio as well. While their family was pretty good at throwing off powerful bursts of electricity like they were small sparks, he can hear the cracking and see the bright light radiating off him. Denki remembers the way his body twitched every few seconds afterward, as if the electricity was trying to violently escape his body or drag him away from Akio's comfort. He remembers not being able to breathe as he choked on the sobs that had ripped through him. Akio holds him tighter, comforting him in a way that a nine-year-old shouldn't have known how to do yet.

He had been so certain in his young mind that he was going to die there, but Akio had held him. Assured him he would be fine; his brother did what he could with a quirk he barely knew how to use to lower the electricity racing inside him.

And then he's nine. Watching Ramika leave again. She's eleven and finding every excuse to stay as far away from them as possible. She's often out with her friends, and briefly, he wonders if said friends even exist; he's never seen them, and neither had anyone else, but he wouldn't blame her for keeping them far, far away from their god-awful house. Everything in him wants to follow her, walk out the door and stay out. He feels his feet begin to move; his parents are gone. No one would even notice he was gone, but he hears a cry behind him.

Terashi doesn't know better than not to cry yet; after all, he's only four. And he doesn't understand why all of Akio's attention is suddenly going to the other screaming children. After all, the twins had been so young and so small and so demanding. And Akio, who was thirteen, could barely manage his schoolwork and a toddler, much less two babies. Something had to give, and it ended up being both his schooling and Terashi, despite how hard he tried. Denki doesn't watch Ramika leave, but he hears her as he hugs his little brother, doing his best to explain that twins were a lot of work and Akio was busy, but he still loved him. He assured Terashi, to the best of his ability, that Denki's here for him. Ramika leaves, and Denki stays. He picks his brother up, and Denki holds him tighter, comforting him in a way that a nine-year-old shouldn't have known how to do yet.

He makes Terashi a snack, and at some point, Akio found his way downstairs. He glances from Denki to Tershi before looking towards the door and the missing set of shoes. He smiles at Denki anyway, hugs Terashi, and asks his little brothers what they want to do while the twins take their nap.

They play a board game. It's incredibly dull and mundane, and Denki can almost pretend that everything's okay until there's a cry from their twins' room.

Eventually, Terashi would follow Ramika's example, though his preferred excuse to Akio and Denki was the library. Unlike Ramika, he finds his way back for dinner most nights, though, but maybe that would end up changing as well with age. Ramika starts staying out later and later, and by the time he's rocking Issei trying to coax him into sleeping so that Denki can sleep, as he school in the morning, she stops coming home some nights. He worries, but Akio panics. Denki's hushing his baby brother, trying to speak quietly to cover up the yelling downstairs.

Ramika yells that Akio is not their father; she screams at him to stop trying to parent her. Akio shouts right back at her that maybe he wouldn't have to if she had stayed. If she had done her part. Ramika tells him that's not fair. In his head, Denki thinks that she might be right. He then hears the soft footsteps of Atari and Ayana looking up at him with big, innocent, and most importantly, questioning eyes. They know better than to ask, though. Akio and Denki had done better with them; they understood at an earlier age how to avoid trouble. After Terashi, Denki stopped trying to raise them normally, and Akio focused on keeping them healthy and Denki on being uninjured. Their parents aren't home, which is the only reason that his older brother and sister are even risking yelling, but he doubts the twins understand the difference. They know to keep their silence and know better than to be heard, lest they risk unwanted attention. Also, in his head, because Denki would never dare say it out loud, he thinks that maybe it wasn't fair to any of them. He puts them back to sleep in Ramika's bed, still holding a fussing Issei because, judging by the slamming of the door, he doubts that she'll be using it tonight. He's thirteen, and he hopes his parents are satisfied stopping at Issei. He's tired, but Akio is exhausted; every dream his brother had is flushed down the drain when their father asked if he would be able to both attend to his siblings at home and manage his schooling.

By the time Denki stops coming home every night, Issei is two and doesn't understand why Denki's packing. Ramika and Denki get into their first fight when he asks her to help Akio. She coldly claims he's running away, and he tells her that she has no room to talk. They had never fought before. The statement infuriates her; he does nothing, though; he just stares at her blankly. She's clearly used to getting a reaction from their older brother, and Denki's silence unnerves her. As she attempts to needle a response out of him as he packs the few things he can genuinely call his preparing for dorm life. He apologizes to Akio for leaving, for not being able to be more help. His brother looks at him in the way he so often does. That screams pity. Ramika never apologizes to him, but he forgives her anyway by the next time he comes home. He's sixteen the first time he comes back home, and Ramika is holding Issei when she opens the door and, in his head, Denki knows it's the first time he's ever seen her holding one of their younger siblings.

A few months later, Denki takes a risk and shows Issei a video circulating in the hero circles, Red Riot's debut. Children often lack a brain-to-mouth filter, but even Issei understood heroes were not to be talked about in the house. And he's just so damn proud of Kirishima, so when he's quietly watching the video on his phone when Issei toddles in, he speaks softly about the different ways his friends were incredible. He barely realizes that Akio is staring at him with wide eyes that know more than he should. Later, he shows off more of his friends, and Issei latches onto Shoto, claiming he's his favorite.

He starts splitting his weekends in various ways, between his house and his home. Issei is getting older now, and Akio is a little less tired, and Ramika is able to be there to support their older brother better now that she's got the hang of it. He, however, sees her looks of envy when he gets to leave at the end of the weekend, and he wonders if she'll run again the moment she legally and financially can. But Akio never judges him; he thanks him for the small break Denki's return to their house allows him to have.

When Issei is four and Denki is seventeen had his first panic attack in front of Akio. His sweet baby brother holds up a hand ever so casually, and lightning crashes down. No rainy weather necessary. It's not the solid crashing bolt he so often sees from his father, but he sees its potential. And that terrifies Denki. Ramika takes over the congratulations for him, telling his brother how amazing he was and that this could be a secret between siblings. She emphasizes not telling their father, and Akio pulls him away, and he realizes how hard he's breathing. Akio holds him like he used to, back when he was the youngest and had all of Akio's attention for himself. He feels the gentle weight of his brother's quirk slowing the electrical current in the air. His older brother assures him that Issei will never be like their father, that Akio and Denki would ensure that. Denki doesn't correct him and tells him that it will actually be Akio and Ramika making sure of that. He doesn't know what his father's up to yet, but he knows it's nothing good. Later, Issei will run up and ask if he can be a hero like his big brother and his friends, and Denki wants to cry all over again. He tells Issei yes, a million times over, and makes his brother swear to never tell his father his ambitions. Denki wants too much better for Issei.

When he leaves that night, Akio pulls him into a hug. Tells him how much he loves him and that he'll always be there for him, even when he can't do anything but comfort him. Denki feels safer than ever, held tight in his brother's arms.

One moment, Denki feels relief likes he's a child again before he got his quirk just existing in Akio's embrace, and then next, he feels his brother's body physically crumble around him. Leaving less than a trace around him. His heart begins to pound. His head turns so fast, and he's looking at Ramika, and when he reaches out his hand, she takes it with a curious look that she only gives him when she's clearly humoring his insanity, only to disintegrate in front of his eyes. He blinks quickly, stumbling back, before turning and running,

He runs, and he runs straight into Katsuki, who looks at him with a scoff as he slowly fizzles out of existence. And when Eijiro, Mina, Hanta, and Jiro stand in front of him, reaching out to offer the same comfort they always did. Denki shies away from it. His heart twists when Eijiro pulls him into a hug that's too familiar. Mina takes his hand, and Hanta runs his fingers in the blonde locks on his head. Jiro whispers something that just doesn't reach his mind. They're there one moment and gone the next. He breathes hard and lets out a choked sob when he realizes. There's paper clutched in his hands that hadn't been there before.

Hey guys,

I mostly said my piece in the letter addressed to the class, but I feel like I owe you something more. Well, owe may not be the right word; perhaps deserve is better. Because you all deserved more than what I gave you. You deserve a friend that wasn't a traitor. You deserved someone who didn't betray you. You all deserved a friend who deserved your patience—someone who deserved your kindness and empathy.

I've been thinking about choices lately and what I could and would have done these past few years differently, and the answer I didn't want to keep coming back to was nothing. I'm ashamed of what I've done, and I regret it, but if forced to, I would probably do it all again. It's important to me that you know that. You are, or at least were my friends, and I feel more comfortable being honest here than with some of our classmates. This isn't to say that I can't love them; I tell you all wholeheartedly I would trade my life for anyone in that class, but the thing is, I know that you all will be able to hear me.

So, this is my letter of apology. My apology for all the times I stayed in your beds, never knowing if I was going to be ordered to stab you while you slept. For every time you all wiped my tears, and I couldn't tell you what was really wrong. For every time you had to put up with my nightmares, my breakdowns, my depression, and the mess that I am, I'm sorry.

But I know I selfishly don't regret a moment of it. While I'm sorry, I took your kindness from someone who deserved it more, but I'm more sorry that I don't regret it. That even if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. Every lunch and hang out, from going out to a mall to existing in one of our dorms, made me feel like I was walking on cloud nine.

You all made me so incredibly happy.

So, thank you. Thank you for holding my hand as we wandered in public because you were afraid I'd get distracted and you would lose me. Thank you for bringing a charger whenever we went out because you knew I'd forget. Thank you for coming to find me whenever you saw the thunderstorm rolling in. Thank you for never questioning my excuses that you knew were lies, even if it's what got us here today. And no matter what ends up happening in the next couple of days or weeks, no matter what lies or hate I spit at you. I don't mean it, and you'll know I don't mean it. So please let this be my final piece to you all.

Please know that I loved every moment we spent together.

Please know that I loved all of you.

Please know that I still love you.

Your friend,

Denki

He feels guilty. He knows that. Denki is intimately familiar with what feeling guilty is like, but he's not sure what else he could have said. Should he have said more? Said something else. What if he died, and they hated him anyway? Perhaps he deserved that.

He thinks the letter to his friends is the one that sits the worst with him. They had known him so well, and yet not at all. He wishes he could have told them everything, but that thought almost terrifies him.

In the end, he tried to assure them how much he loved them because what else could he do.

It's dizzying. He feels like his mind's an out-of-control carousel. Spinning around and round with no control. Where even is he? He wants to scream, but his voice gets caught in his throat. He wants to flee, but his legs feel glued to the floor. The paper crumbles away just like his friends did.

Then he's standing across from Hitoshi. He wants to throw himself into his arms, but he doesn't dare. He just stands there shellshocked before Hitoshi steps forward. One step, two steps, and he's in front of him. And Hitoshi smiles. Not the half-smirk he sometimes pulls or the creepy Aizawa smile. He really smiles. The kind of smile that Denki has burned into his brain. Hitoshi reaches out and takes his hand, and Denki freezes. The hand is ice cold, he pulls his eyes down to looks at their normal-looking interlocked hands, but when he looks up, he watches as the boy crumbles before his eyes like stone. The hand in his falls away before he can even react, and he's standing over a pile of nothing.

And Denki is alone.

His head feels fuzzy, but he wants to wonder if he's always been alone. However, just in the back of his mind, he can recall a time that he knows he wasn't. Perhaps that's why he had people to lose in the first place. Maybe this is how it should have always been.

Denki is drowning in darkness.

Then he's floating.

And he's floating.

And he's floating.

And he's squinting his eyes at the bright light directly over him.

Denki turns his head and blinks a couple of times but can't help the groan at the harsh lighting. Then someone's leaning over, and he's met with a familiar face looking at him. This Hitoshi's eyebags are darker than usual, and his hair is messier. There are tears in his eyes, but he's smiling that gorgeous smile that made him fall in love all over again. Denki watches the image fondly and finds himself smiling lightly. Fuck, he's so tired.

Hitoshi reaches for his hand, and Denki can't help but pull away, despite how hard it is to move his body. He hisses in pain, but he still needs this. Just a little longer.

"Don't hold my hand," Denki chokes out; he can't remember when breathing became so hard? "God forbid, you remind me that you're not real." 

He can just barely feel how he's shaking like a leaf in the wind. Denki wonder's if he's cold; he's not quite sure yet. He's still so tired, he feels like he's drifting away. His vision grows hazy, but he sees Hitoshi reach out slowly and feels him place a hand on Denki's cheek. Then there's a kiss pressed against his forehead, and he can just hear Hitoshi whispering to him.

"I'm right here, Denki. We all are. And I'll be here the next time you wake up too."

He is still there, Denki notices fondly. He's almost inclined to believe him, Hitoshi's never lead him wrong before.

And as Denki drifts back to sleep, he wonders if Hitoshi's always been this warm.

Chapter Text

Eijiro bites the skin right near his nail. It's a bad habit he thought he kicked back in middle school, but when Mr. Aizawa hangs up, Eijiro does it almost instinctually. Katsuki, Todoroki, and he had congregated back to Mina's room after being caught by the police officers walking away from the dorms after leaving their watch shift. They had immediately been dragged back despite complaints that they needed to talk to their teachers. The police kept telling them that they would inform the UA teachers that they wanted to talk to them and when the heroes had time, they would send for them.

Midoriya had come down while hearing the commotion, definitely to check on Todoroki, only to argue with the police, backing up Bakugou, who had been throwing a fit before being taken back inside with the rest of them. The green-haired boy looked sheepish but relieved when they were back inside. Eijiro supposed it was likely hard letting Todoroki run away like that after they all just escaped a kidnapping. Knowing how much the other boy cared for Todoroki, he was probably waiting for him to come back. When they had gotten back into Mina's room the girl had recommended, they reached out to someone, but they were sure how until Izuku got a heads up from Shinsou that Mr. Aizawa was awake. Their teacher had made sure everyone in the class had his number if there was ever an emergency and they needed to contact him. They all knew that their teacher wouldn't want to stay in the hospital longer and likely would attempt to leave the first chance he had, but if their teacher was more injured than they expected, they didn't want to put any unnecessary stress on him. He was still in the hospital, so they went the roundabout route and asked Shinsou to tell him they wanted to talk to him.

Todoroki, Katsuki, and himself had stepped out of the room when he called. Midoriya had been put to work, and while Mina was still calling police stations, Sero and Midoriya had continued to call hospitals asking after any patients without confirmed identities. It's what they had been doing before Mr. Aizawa called and then after they hung up.

Their second call to their teacher came later. After Eijiro got to thinking, Denki had always hated the hospital. Preferring to wait to see Recovery Girl or not go at all. But there was one right near UA, the one Mr. Aizawa had just been at. He had thought about it, and it didn't feel likely, but it felt just out there enough to be possible. Just ironic enough that he made the call. They said there was a blonde teenager with some nasty injuries. One of the hospital's nurses had seen him collapse and called an ambulance, so they didn't have his name, and he didn't have any identification on him. Eijiro had thanked them and hung up. Was he getting over-excited? It was so vague, and then again, how many blonde teenagers were there in Japan? Hell, Katsuki was a blonde teenager in Japan, but Eijiro couldn't deny that he wanted it to be Denki so much. His pause and expression had Katsuki place a hand on him, he startled out of his trance, and he nodded at Katsuki. Katsuki took a moment to understand, but after a second, he pulled his phone out yet again for another call to Aizawa. Katsuki puts the phone in his hand. Everyone in their room had now noticed and were practically holding their breath.

Aizawa picks up, but he barely gets through his hello before Eijiro is barreling over him with nothing but his voice. He rattles on for a second forgetting everything, but what he was saying, and he's out of breath by the time he's done. "Okay, you said anything, this is anything. It's a super small chance. Probably nothing, practically minuscule. John Doe teenager was brought in by an ambulance because he passed out shortly after exiting an alley. We don't know anything else, but he's injured and hasn't woken up."

"Where?"

Eijiro looks at Katsuki; he feels suddenly very emotionally drained. Katsuki takes over for him at nothing but a glance.

"Fucking– Local, you were straight just there, sir. But they won't give fucking anything without an officer or a pro hero there."

"I call you back."

 And they were left with nothing again. It's frustrating but necessary.

"Now what?" Midoriya asked quietly.

"Now, we just have to wait," Katsuki spat; he clearly wasn't happy with it either. He jumped up, and Eijiro felt himself follow after him. Katsuki stormed out of the room, and Eijiro was less than a half step behind. He realizes that he doesn't know where he's going until Katsuki knocks on Denki's dorm room. When no one answers, Katsuki scans the key he had for their friend's room, and when they had said Denki's room was a mess, everyone was right. He remembered hearing and hearing about Shinsou trashing the place, but he hadn't gotten to see it.

Eijiro notices he doesn't feel anything regarding though the room, though. He thinks about the calm that Hanta's room provides for him, how Katsuki's room always felt warmer than any of the others, or how Mina's room had this sense of nostalgia. How each of his friend's rooms had memories that made the place important and homey in a way. He's never been in Denki's room long enough for that. Katsuki leans over and seems to scan the bed. He hands two boxes stacked on each other to Eijiro. "Can you put those by the door," He asks, still looking around. Katsuki's mind is clearly spinning and working on something.

"Sure, but what are you looking for," Eijiro asked as he gently set the shoe boxes down and finally glanced in them. A small smile comes naturally at the sight of the well-loved covers. It was a nice way of saying they were worn down, but Eijiro thought that just meant he could tell how many times Denki had read these stories in particular. Other books were scattered around, but he supposed those were mainly for show as Eijiro had never seen the blonde open them. Or they were gifts, he remembered. Recognizing a few books on Denki's desk. After all, he remembered a few weeks before Denki's seventeenth birthday, Momo had asked Katsuki and him about what to get Denki for his birthday. She had seemed nervous; she told them how thoughtful Denki's gift to her was and that she wanted to do something equally meaningful but had been at a loss. Eijiro recommended some books that he remembered Denki mentioning leaving at his house. None of their friends were really into books, but Momo was, and when he opened her gift that year, Eijiro remembers how big his grin had been. He had seen the glossy gold eyes fill with tears that he tried to hide from Momo. Three hardcovers sat on Denki's desk; Eijiro had no idea where the fourth one was.

Katsuki, as always, practically reading his mind, spoke up, "I think the fourth one Ponytail gave him is in one of his desk drawers, if you can find that. Put them with the books by the door. All the others can be fucking donated or something."

Katsuki had apparently found what he was looking for, and it was a trash bag. He had just started tossing everything. "Wait, Katsuki!" Eijiro said, startled. "Should we not wait to see what he wants?"

Katsuki huffed, "No, now make yourself useful and move what's on the bed over by the door." Eijiro nodded slowly; he trusted Katsuki's judgment and knew that he only wanted the best for their friend. He just didn't understand how getting rid of everything in this room could be a good thing. He looked over to what was already on the bed since it seemed to be what Katsuki had decided they were keeping. If he had to wager, then he'd say that Shinsou was probably looking at it all earlier. Maybe, Katsuki was trusting the other boy's judgment on that then? But that didn't seem like Katsuki.

He doesn't recognize the top paper in the stack of papers that had been set aside. He sees that it's clearly his handwriting, along with everyone else's, but he doesn't remember this day. He wonders if this day or this paper had been significant to Denki or if it had just been something he held onto for nostalgia's sake. He glances and grimaces at the room; it had looked the same way since they moved in during the first year. Denki told them that he wasn't in it enough to care about how it looked. He had always insisted he liked his room, though, but maybe that part had been a lie.

Everything had made him Denki was on the bed. Eijiro had never seen many of these things before as they had always been tucked out of sight in various corners and crevices of the room. Katsuki had tossed the books from Momo onto the bed after he had swept through the desk and tossed almost everything else. On the bed were the grades Denki was proud of, various tickets from events that were both familiar and not, and all of these memories tucked into nothing more than a few boxes. It made something twist nastily inside him. After all, how could his friend with such a big personality fit his entire life into less than five small boxes? And was he so used to hiding things that he cared about, he continued doing it even in the dorms.

The door opened, and Shinsou almost tripped on the shoe boxes, but he caught himself. He didn't seem surprised they were there, but he didn't greet them either. Katsuki, however, did acknowledge the new presence. "Great, welcome back, Troll. Grab a trash bag and start in the closet. If you've never seen him wear it, toss it."

Shinsou raised an eyebrow at the order but seemed happy enough to follow them anyway. While Shinsou hadn't seemed surprised to see them, he was pretty surprised to see him. He wondered if he knew that Mr. Aizawa had taken off to–

Eijiro frantically checked both his and Katsuki's phones. He was relieved and disappointed when he found nothing but a text from Mina asking where they had gone. He answered her, telling her that they were taking a minute away from everything. He didn't understand how it had barely been twenty minutes since they hung up with Aizawa, and it felt like it had been hours.

"We found Denki," Katsuki said suddenly. His blonde hadn't even looked up from whatever he was folding up and putting into the trash bag. However, Hitoshi's mouth and the shirt he was holding both hit the floor. He seemed to stumble for a second, and Eijiro jumped in quickly before he could say anything.

"We haven't! It's possible. We…it could be him, and we don't know if it's him," Eijiro stressed to the other boy. Shinsou looked like his head was spinning.

Katsuki scoffed, "Well, I do know. It's him. It's got to be."

Katsuki was firm in his voice, which was accentuated nicely by tossing a skateboard into the trash bag. Eijiro and Hitoshi were both quiet as Katsuki kept working. Eventually, Hitoshi looked at him, he practically pleaded with him, "Please, tell me when you know something?"

"Of course," Eijiro said. "Besides, I doubt we'll have to. Mr. Aizawa is checking out the hospital now."

"The hospital?" Hitoshi blinked. "We were just there, though?"

"Fucking Ironic, huh," Katsuki muttered and was ignored.

"An unidentified blonde teenager is being treated at the hospital. That's all we know," Eijiro explained. Hitoshi looked conflicted for a moment and looked away back to the closet he was currently working his way through. Eijiro hadn't realized how much of even Denki's wardrobe was for show.

"… it's not a lot," Hitoshi muttered, probably to himself.

"It's not," Eijiro agreed. "And yet…?"

Hitoshi smiled a little; it seemed he, like Eijiro and Katsuki, was okay with hoping it was him. Sticking to that for right now while there was nothing to do but wait. After a long moment, though, Hitoshi's smile fell, "…What do we do if it is him then?"

"Then we sneak away from those bastards downstairs again and head to the hospital with idiots that are still in Mina's room," Katsuki said.

"I'm sorry, again?" Hitoshi said with more of an amused tone than a shocked one, even though it was clear it was the first he had heard about this.

Eijiro sighed, "Well, it's a long story, but–"

A ring cut them off, Katsuki pulled his phone. Eijiro knew Katsuki like the back of his hand, and he watched him hesitate before picking up. The small way, his resolve quivered before becoming iron-clad again. Katsuki answered shortly, "Well?"

Eijiro and Hitoshi couldn't hear Aizawa on the other end. However, they saw the way that Katsuki's posture shifted suddenly, losing the way he had curled in on himself, and they saw him grin. They saw the fond look on his face. They heard the next thing he said, "Of course, he's one of my idiots. Living through something that no one has any right to live through is practically their trademark. "

Eijiro felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest. Every anxiety he had in the past few days, they could wait. Denki was okay, and he was alive and already at the hospital.

"We'll tell the pros and meet you over there soon," Katsuki said before hanging up and turning around towards them, looking more determined than Eijiro had seen him in a while. "Tell the idiots to meet us downstairs; we'll hop the fence to avoid the police out front. Eyebags texts your other father once we're on our way."

Katsuki, who was never one to break the rules, was breaking them twice before his very eyes. Eijiro grinned a little bit, and before he knew it, tears were welling up in his eyes. Denki was safe. He was alive and would be okay. It was the only thing repeating in his head. His friend was okay, would be okay. He would get to come back; they would take better care of him this time. Make sure he never felt the need to keep a secret like this again, make sure he never felt like he couldn't tell them something. Eijiro felt more sure of himself than he had since his friend had vanished after saving him. He would get to say thank you for Denki putting his life at risk to save his. He sent a quick text to Mina, telling her to grab everyone in the room and book it downstairs they'd meet them there. He said to her that they had a hospital to visit. He saw the read notification, and with no response immediately given, all three of them gathered what they needed to leave.

"Why the hell are you about to cry?" Katsuki said with a scoff. Eijiro wiped his eyes and shook his head, not sure if he could even articulate his feeling right now. Katsuki took his hand anyway, leading him by the hand following quickly after Shinsou.

Mina, Hanta, Jiro, Todoroki, and Midoriya were waiting for them downstairs. They all looked slightly out of breath, and Eijiro was glad someone had thought to get Jiro; he's somewhat ashamed that he hadn't even thought about her. Shinsou nodded at all of them, typing on his phone as he walked. The small area between the dorms and the forest was blocked off by a brick wall that, all things considered, was not that intimidating. It was more a deterrent than an actual obstacle. "There's more of us than those that got out earlier," Todoroki said. "We need to be quick and quiet about this. Izuku and Sero if you could go last if any of us struggle with this more than expected. No offense meant, I'd just be willing to bet we're all still exhausted. You have the only quirks that would allow for silent wall hoping, so just in case. Additionally, I think Jiro should go first so she can keep an ear out."

With a simple plan set, everyone nodded or at least gave some form of silent agreement. Even Katsuki. Jiro took the first step connecting her jack to the floor before opening the door and nodding to them. They slipped out silently, and Eijiro watched as Midoriya closed the door. Jiro and Mina both going first and use the slight gaps in the brick as hand and footholds. Once they were mostly over and there was no concern about them getting over, Katsuki and Shinsou almost in unison followed them and Eijiro followed after Katsuki. Todoroki must have taken the hint and began to scale the small wall and landed on the other side not long after him. They were all quiet when they climbed and landed until Hanta hoped down right after them.

"Problem," Hanta said, and everyone immediately seized up with anxiety. Almost immediately, Midoriya suddenly landed next to them, and he had an unhappy look on his face but shook it off. 

“No problem,” Midoriya said.

"What happened?" Eijiro found himself whispering.

“Iida saw us,” Midoriya said.

Katsuki took this badly and hissed, "That's a fucking problem. Glasses will snitch in a second!"

Midoriya shook his head, "He won't."

"How do you know," Todoroki cut in with furrowed eyebrows.

The side of Izuku's mouth tilted up a bit, "One-word Shoto. Hosu."

Todoroki's eyes widened, and he nodded. Eijiro figured whatever that meant, Todoroki and Midoriya believed it would keep Iida quiet. And that was enough for right now. They all brushed themselves off and, as quick as possible, made their way through the forest. Midoriya took the lead slightly, seemingly more familiar with the trails in the trees. They soon made it out and into civilization. About a twenty-minute walk to the hospital.

Eijiro watched as they all attempted to keep their cool as they speed-walked through the small crowds on the sidewalks. At some point, Eijiro knows he saw Shinsou press send on the text he had drafted. And when they reached the hospital, Hitoshi rushed forward.

"We're looking for Denki Kaminari. Where is he?" The boy said in a rush, and the receptionist glanced up at him and appeared to recognize their friend.

"Your father is with him now, floor five, room nine. It's going to be to your right; take the elevator up, then follow the signs."

They did as they were told and found themselves in an elevator that would not move faster for the life of them. There was some anxious shuffling from all of them, and as their metal prison told them, they had moved from floor two to floor three when Todoroki spoke.

"Do you think he's badly injured?" Todoroki's seemingly asked all of them, or maybe he was just airing out his thoughts. However, he sounded smaller than usual. His ordinarily calm voice shook slightly, and Eijiro bit the inside of his cheek to keep from shouting that no, he had to be okay. With his sharp teeth, it was probably not a good idea. He tasted copper slightly. Luckily, he didn't have to speak up. Jiro did it for him.

"If he wasn't at least stable, we wouldn't be able to visit him," she said, sounding a lot more confident than she looked.

Finally, the elevator opened, and they all burst out of it, glancing at the directions, and their group made a quick left and found Mr. Aizawa talking to a doctor. The woman gave a gentle smile and a slight wave before turning their attention back to their teacher. "It's almost funny; the boy you rushed out of here to find ended up being here in the end. Sure, I can't convince you to let me give your injuries a once over while you're here?"

"No, thank you, doctor. I need to take them in to see him before they start a riot," Aizawa said before turning his attention towards them. The doctor nodded and took her leave as their teacher gave them a small signal for quiet and motioned them all towards the door he was guarding.

Denki has always had such a big presence that it was easy to forget he wasn't much larger than he was in their first year. He was lithe, which made him agile on the battlefield and a good sparring partner to counter Eijiro, but now it made him look too thin. He was still the shortest male in their group, standing only a couple of centimeters above Mina, but in the hospital bed, it just made him look too small. Too many bandages made him look washed out in all the white, but he almost would have preferred all white as to primarily white with tiny speckles of red.

"I just got the rundown from the doctor. Most of the bleeding was internal; there were a few places, mostly on his arms and a spot on his face that had some actual bleeding. A couple of fractures, but no breaks, some on his ribcage and on his arms. That's why there are so many bandages in that area. They did a minor surgery to correct the internal bleeding, it went well, but now he's just resting. He's connected to some fluids right now. Recovery Girl is en route to get the healing process moved along much faster. He's going to be okay."

Everyone's emotions had been all over the place all day and even the day before. And Eijiro could feel the relief the calm that swept over them all. And then the exhaustion that set in, the past few days, finally caught up to all of them. Eijiro watched as Shinsou walked over to the bed and took a moment to look over his boyfriend before taking Denki's hand and just sat down leaning against his hospital bed. And when he moved, everyone else did, Eijiro following Shinsou's example, seated himself on the other side of the bed, and Katsuki almost immediately followed after him. Midoriya, Jiro, and Todoroki took up all of the chairs near the window while Mina and Hanta stood right in front of the bed for a moment, looking at their friend before eventually settling down on the floor like him, Katsuki, and Shinsou. For a moment, all of them let the tranquil calm and exhaustion fill the room, and they were quiet. Which meant that he heard when Mina started crying.

He could only see her back from where he was sitting, but she seemed choked up. Hanta wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and they all heard her in a soft voice choke out, "I'm just so so glad that he's okay. He's here, and he's going to be okay." Hanta murmured small agreements as he held her. Eijiro agreed silently before he glanced at Katsuki. The blonde was sitting with his back against the bed, and he kept glancing towards the door. Mr. Aizawa seemed to notice it too and leaned against the door, causing Katsuki nervous glances to slow slightly. But something in Katsuki still seemed so anxious, almost restless. In a way, Eijiro understood; he didn't want anyone to burst in and rip this away from them either. He wondered what it said about them that they seemed to always just be waiting to try and avoid life's next disaster. Planning and preparing to face the next unknown that they all knew was coming. He didn't have the words for Katsuki, so he reached out for the blonde's hand, which he was allowed easily. He then took a calculated risk and pulled Katsuki towards him, pulling him towards him allowing him to place Katsuki's head on his shoulder and wrap an arm around his waist. There was a soft sound from near his neck that was almost like annoyance, but Katsuki didn't struggle away from him at all.

Aizawa suddenly spoke up, "Hitoshi, you should know that your father's not happy with you."

Eijiro couldn't see Shinsou when he answered, "I was willing to accept those consequences. And I'm willing to take the consequences you have for this as our teacher."

Mr. Aizawa hummed slightly, looking at them. Eijiro suddenly flashbacked to their first year, running off to save Katsuki and almost getting expelled for it. That night he had promised himself he'd never do something so reckless again, but here he was. He hoped this was at least somewhat better since he was at least in a hospital and not an active fight. "You should apologize anyway. He's upset because you and I just got back from being kidnapped, along with your class. It was a stressful situation for him. He's not really upset you left your dorms; he'll be the first to tell you that love makes you behave irrationally. He's just worried about you–"

Then there was a groan from behind them that caused them to shoot up and look behind them, abandoning the conversation from before. Aizawa quickly walked over to the bed a pressed a button for the doctor. They turn in time to see Shinsou bend over and get closer to Denki. The blonde looked panicked and stiff; it was as easy to tell even in the small movements he was making. The blonde head turned slightly to Shinsou, who was leaning over him. They can see Shinsou's eyes fill with tears, but when he reached out to Denki, the blonde flinched back before curling in on himself in pain. He had attempted to push himself away but struggled to do anything but lay there between the pain and exhaustion. Denki drew in a sharp breath, and Eijiro's heart clenched at the way his very breath shook.

"Don't hold my hand," Denki chokes out, "God forbid, you remind me that you're not real." 

Denki looks dazed and disoriented; Eijiro wouldn't doubt that he wasn't sure this was reality. Katsuki and Eijiro watch as Shinsou places a hand on Denki's cheek; the blonde's body which had been stiff, seemed to relax after a long moment of contact. They watch their friend calm down before blinking and quickly falling back to sleep. The room watched Shinsou kiss his forehead sweetly before pulling away and holding Denki's hand close to his chest.

They all let out the collective breath they were holding and began to relax from the position they froze in. Shoto actually stands and makes his way across the room. Eijiro watches him for a moment as he approaches the bed before carefully adjusting the bandage that had become lose in Denki's brief attempts at moving. The redhead almost didn't want to think about how good he was at rewrapping Denki's bandages. When he was done, he looked past Eijiro to Katsuki, "What do we do now?" He asked monotone as if he hadn't been taking care of their hurt friend but a moment ago.

"Now we wait," Katsuki said. "We wait for him to wake up and stay up because he'll need us."

Chapter Text

"I'm looking for a possible John Doe. Older teenage boy, He's seventeen with blonde hair and a black streak in it. Likely injured."

The receptionist takes his frantic nature for what it is and doesn't ask questions, just starts typing, but he's cut off by a not familiar doctor.

"He's here. Are you family?"

"Yes," Aizawa breathed like he hasn't since he woke up.

Aizawa doesn't believe in luck, but god damn, did the stars align for him. He could take a good thing for what it was.

"One of our nurses found him. Well, found might not be the best word. From what she said, he stumbled out of an alley and collapsed on the sidewalk. As you imagine, it gathered some attention. Someone called an ambulance, and she came with. You said you were looking for him?"

"I'm the Pro-hero Eraserhead. He's one of my students, his name is Denki…Denki Kaminari,” Aizawa says. "Can you take me to see him?"

"Of course," The Doctor said. "But are you okay? Do you need a minute, sir? You don't look well."

"He just checked out of here a few hours ago," The receptionist cuts in, seemingly watching their interaction. The doctor blinks and looks Aizawa up and down quickly, eyes settling on his wrists for an extra millisecond. He doesn't say anything, though. The receptionist rolled over in his chair closer to where Aizawa and the doctor were standing. "At the risk of you not being able to tell me, what happened to the poor kid? All the staff that was working with him were curious, but he's been asleep, so it's not like anyone could ask."

"Yoshio!" The doctor scolded, looking at the younger man behind the counter. "Excuse him."

"He was missing," Aizawa said vaguely, not wanting to give too much away. The younger man's eyes went wide and filled with pity, but he nodded.

"He's okay, a little injured, but stable." The doctor said in what must have been an attempt at comforting him. Aizawa nodded, still feeling a little in shock when he suddenly remembered his student's waiting for his call back at the campus.

"Can I make a call real quick?" Aizawa asked, looking to the doctor, who nodded.

"I'll wait here for you, and then I'll take you to his room and introduce you to Doctor Katayama, who's been his main doctor."

Aizawa stepped to the side and pulled out his phone to dial back Bakugou. There's a long moment before Bakugou answers, and when he does, his student's voice is firm. "Well?" Bakugou questions, and Aizawa can't help the small snort he lets out.

"He's here. Asleep and injured. But here, and more importantly, alive."

"Of course, he's one of my idiots. Living through something that no one has any right to live through is practically their trademark," Bakugou sounded dismissive, but there was evident relief in his tone that Aizawa only knew how to pick up on after all this time as his teacher.

"I'm going to go meet with his doctor, do me a favor and tell the other teachers?"

"We'll tell the pros and meet you over there soon," Katsuki said before hanging up. Aizawa rolled his eyes; he wasn't surprised that the other blonde was planning on coming immediately. He did, however, wonder who else would come. Definitely, Kirishima and his son. Perhaps also Ashido and Sero. Maybe the rest of his friends, though that was all of the class. Aizawa did at least hope the entire class didn't show up immediately.

True to his word, when Aizawa walked back in, the doctor was still waiting for him appearing to be making small talk with the receptionist. He addressed the receptionist when he approached them, "A few more Pro heroes will be coming. However, I wouldn't be surprised if some of his classmates beat them here. Could you just direct them all to me when they get here?"

"Of course," The younger man gave him a small smile.

Then he turned his attention to the doctor in front of him, "Ready?" The doctor asked, and Aizawa nodded. He was led to an elevator and down the hall, where the doctor knocked on room nine. There was no answer, but after a moment, the doctor opened the door and walked in. When Aizawa saw Denki, he paused at the door frame. He really was there. His arms were wrapped in bandages, and he had an IV attached to his arm while he slept, but he was there.

After a long pause, Aizawa let himself move; he slowly walked in and over to the bed. He ran his fingers through the blonde hair that rested on the pillow. If he tried really hard, Aizawa could almost pretend they were back at his house and that Denki had just fallen asleep on the couch again. He remembered the times where he and Hizashi had gotten back from a nighttime patrol to Hitoshi, Eri, and Denki passed out on the couch. He remembers the times where he and Denki would join him in the sitting room with a book and fall asleep there. He remembers sighing at the blonde passed out on his couch half a million times but covering the boy with a blanket anyway. He can almost pretend, but he can't. Not really. There are too many tangles in the boy's hair and the beds at the wrong angle. The doctor looks at both of them with pity, and Aizawa hates it. He doesn't comment, but he also makes a point to not look at the other man. After a silence, there's a knock on the door, and a woman walks in. "Eraserhead," She asks him, and he nods.

"Doctor Katayama," He asks after and moment, and she also nods. As she walks in, the other doctor gives them both a nod and slips out. She holds a clipboard in her hand and offers Aizawa a warm smile. "You know, both of you have made things more exciting around here. I was pretty shocked when my coworker came in and told me how one of her patients was demanding to leave despite clearly still being injured. Though I'm almost glad you did, I was worried he was going to wake up alone; many patients do when we don't know who they are and don't know who to contact."

"Is there anything else we can do for him," Aizawa asks.

"Not really, he just needs to rest," Doctor Katayama says with a shake of her head. "Doctor Ishigama said you were his teacher; is there another guardian we need to contact?" Aizawa shakes his head; he's grateful when she just nods and makes a note and doesn't comment. "Has he ever been admitted here? We looked a bit, but we couldn't find anyone matching his description?" Aizawa shakes his head, it's strange he's never realized it, but most of his students have had to be admitted to a hospital before. Midoriya would have lived here at the beginning of his first year if not for Recovery Girl, but Denki had always just managed to dodge the point where Aizawa would have put his foot down and dragged him there kicking and screaming. "That's fine. If someone could just bring his medical files down from the school, that would be great; it's been a lot of guesswork and praying he didn't have an allergic reaction."

His phone goes off. This time, it's not Bakugou. It's his husband. He relays as much to her, and she nods and tells him she'll wait outside. When he picks up, he's not surprised at the exasperated tone, but he is surprised at who it's directed towards. "Do you even know what that son of yours did?"

"No?"

Hizashi sucks in a large breath, "HE, and his little friends, snuck out, apparently again, to run off to the hospital. He said you told him to text me but guess what he did, Shota. Please, guess what he did?"

"He didn't text you?"

"No, no, he texted me. When he was halfway there," Hizashi scoffs, and Aizawa has to bite down the small laugh. It's clearly not the time. "You all were just kidnapped! You and he realize that, right? God, when I get a hold of him, he'll be lucky if I don't ground him till he graduates!"

"Following our instructions and still finding a way to do the exact opposite of what we want? It must be Denki and his friends' influence," Aizawa says, and he hears a small silence before Hizashi laughs a little.

"He's okay, right Shota," Hizashi asks him a little quieter.

"He is," Aizawa says. "He's here with me now. Just asleep."

"Good, then I won't feel as bad when I ground him as well. Neither of our boys is leaving the house ever again."

Aizawa laughs a little, "I think they'll have a few objections."

"I swear, it's bubble wrap for the both of them. Listen, I'm taking Recovery Girl and Midnight, and we'll be there soon, okay? Nedzu was going to come as well, but we might have a lead. A safe house under the mother's maiden name, like Denki's brother, suggested. Local heroes are closing in now. A couple of our coworkers are going to meet with them."

"Sounds good. I'd like to have them both behind bars before he wakes up if at all possible. Denki's doctor wanted his medical history. Could you ask Recovery Girl to bring it?"

From somewhere beside Hizashi, he heard the older woman's voice pop up, "We already have it, dear."

"We already have it," Hizashi repeated. "I'll see you soon. Chew out that son of ours when you can. I love you, Sho."

Aizawa will deny the smile that appeared on his face, "I love you too." The small beep that signaled Hizashi had hung up sounded. Aizawa knows this isn't over yet. As much as he wants it to be, it's not yet. Hizashi was on his way, but some of the other UA teachers were en route to a promising-looking safe house under Denki's mother's name. He wants that to be the end of it. That would be ideal, but things rarely were ideal.

The doctor was outside when he joined her; she passed him the clipboard she was holding, letting him glance over the information they had collected while Denki was here. "I'll be honest, it wasn't great when he got here. He's been here for almost a day now. Clear signs of blunt force trauma, our best guess would be he took a pretty brutal beating. The bleeding was mostly internal. However, there were a few places that broke the skin on his arms and a spot on his face. We did a very minor surgery, all things considered for the bleeding. Despite our concerns, there weren't any complications. He's just resting, but we've got him connected to some fluids right now."

Aizawa nodded; she mentioned almost everything on the paper. "The fractures?"

"Small, also likely from the blunt force trauma, the ones on his ribs look like he took a kick in the torso area, and I'd wager that somebody stopped on his arm," The doctor said regretfully. "You mentioned you were from UA, right? Does that mean Recovery Girl is going to be coming?"

"Unless you have objections?"

"None from me, but I'd originally decided to wait until he wakes up to put a healing quirk in the mix, so we know what's going on, but considering Recovery Girl is probably the closest thing he has to a primary doctor, I'll follow her lead on that one." Doctor Katayama said, and Aizawa passed the clipboard back. She took it with a smile. They distantly heard an elevator ding, and they both ignored it till they listened to the sounds of a small group quickly making their way down the hall. Aizawa wasn't surprised with who it is. "Yours?" The doctor asked.

"Unfortunately."

His students paused in front of him, looking out of breath and hopeful. The woman gave a gentle smile and a slight wave before turning their attention back to him. "It's almost funny; the boy you rushed out of here to find ended up being here in the end. You sure I can't convince you to let me give your injuries a once over while you're here?"

"No, thank you, doctor. I need to take them in to see him before they start a riot," Aizawa said before turning his attention towards them. The doctor nodded and took her to leave as Aizawa gave his students a once-over. His guess was pretty close; Hitoshi, Bakugou, Kirishima, Ashido, and Sero were all there. Jiro, Midoriya, and Todoroki made a less than surprising appearance. He gave them a small signal for quiet and motioned them all towards the door he was in front of.

He noted the disparity in their expressions. Some of his students looked relieved, while others looked horrified. He noted the guilt that crossed over his own son's face. He let them settle in their own time and didn't say anything. He allowed them all just process their thoughts.

Once, Aizawa had described Denki to Nemuri as larger than life. In that way, the boy reminded him of Hizashi. Hizashi liked to joke that Hitoshi and Denki were the better versions of them. It had made him laugh because, of course, his son would make his same 'mistake.' He glanced at Kirishima, whose thoughts were written all over his face. The redhead's friend looked too small, and his bright demeanor was dimmed by the pale hospital. Bakugou clearly thought similarly but was better at hiding it. The boy stared at the other blonde blankly, much like how Todoroki usually looked at most things. It was strange because, on the other hand, Todoroki's face was so full of relief, the dual-colored boy clung to Midoriya on his right with an ease that wasn't there before. Midoriya seemed to look between Todoroki and Denki; the boy wore his guilt openly on his face even if he knew that there was nothing he could have done for his blonde classmate. Sero and Ashido clung to each other much like Bakugou and Kirishima, both looking equal amounts of shocked at Denki's current appearance and grateful for being able to see him in the first place. Jiro looked at the blonde on the bed with a small fond smile that he often saw directed at her friends when he wasn't looking towards her.

"I just got the rundown from the doctor. Most of the bleeding was internal; there were a few places, mostly on his arms and a spot on his face that had some actual bleeding. A couple of fractures, but no breaks, some on his ribcage and on his arms. That's why there are so many bandages in that area. They did a minor surgery to correct the internal bleeding, it went well, but now he's just resting. He's connected to some fluids right now. Recovery Girl is en route to get the healing process moved along much faster. He's going to be okay."

Relief was suddenly written clearly on everyone's face. This may have been the first time Aizawa had seen them today, but he had no doubt everyone's emotions had been all over the place all day and even the day before.

Aizawa could feel the calm that swept over them all. And then when the exhaustion that set in all of the kids. Clearly, the past few days had finally caught up to all of them. Aizawa watched as Hitoshi walked over to the bed and took a moment to look over his boyfriend before taking Denki's hand and just sitting down leaning against his hospital bed. And when he moved, everyone else did; Kirishima followed Hitoshi's example and seated himself on the other side of the bed. Bakugou almost immediately followed after him. Midoriya, Jiro, and Todoroki took up all of the chairs near the window, while Ashido and Sero stood right in front of the bed for a moment, looking at their friend before eventually settling down on the floor like Kirishima, Bakugou, and his son. For a moment, all of them let the tranquil calm and exhaustion fill the room, and they were quiet. Which meant that he heard when Ashido started crying.

Aizawa froze for a minute, surprised slightly at the outburst. He almost went to his student, but he watched as Sero wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and they all heard her in a soft voice choke out, "I'm just so, so, glad that he's okay. He's here, and he's going to be okay." Sero murmured small agreements as he held her. No one really responded, but it was clear everyone agreed with the statement. For the first time in the day, he got to check over his students. Instinctually, he glanced from each of them, glancing for injuries he knew weren't there. They were all fine, but it made him feel better to double-check. Eventually, he glanced at Bakugou.

The blonde was sitting with his back against the bed, and he kept glancing towards the door. He knew that anxious look and found himself leaning against the door behind him. No one was getting in without going through him. He hadn't been able to be there to protect his students when he was trapped in that room, but damn if Aizawa would let anything happen to any of them, especially the injured blonde on the hospital bed, while he was here.

Bakugou's nervous glances slow slightly. But something in Katsuki still seemed so anxious, almost restless. He watched Kirishima examine his friend and then pulled Bakugou towards him, pulling him towards him, allowing Kirishima to place the blonde's head on his shoulder and wrap an arm around his waist.

Aizawa suddenly remembered his conversation with his husband from earlier and spoke up, "Hitoshi, you should know that your father's not happy with you."

Aizawa watched as Hitoshi sighed and looked down briefly and picked at his hand before speaking almost robotically, "I was willing to accept those consequences. And I'm willing to take the consequences you have for this as our teacher."

Aizawa hummed slightly, looking at them. He could almost see Kirishima, Midoriya, and Todoroki flashbacked to their first year. Hell, Aizawa definitely remembered how furious he was when he learned that they had run off to save Katsuki and how much he had wanted to expel them for it. However, a smaller part had been proud of them for standing up and doing what they thought was right and protecting their friend. That night he had promised himself he'd never let his students get away with doing something so reckless again, but here he was. However, he wasn't interested in punishments right now. He was interested in making sure his kid knew that his father had been worried and that there had been a better way to handle it. "You should apologize anyway. He's upset because you and I just got back from being kidnapped, along with your class. It was a stressful situation for him. He's not really upset you left your dorms; he'll be the first to tell you that love makes you behave irrationally. He's just worried about you–"

A groan from the bed cut him off and caused them to abandon the conversation from before. Aizawa quickly walked over to the bed a pressed a button for the doctor before heading near the bed to hover slightly behind Kirishima and Bakugou. Hitoshi bent over as Denki's eyes fluttered open. The blonde looked panicked and stiff. The blonde head turned slightly to Hitoshi, who was leaning over him. They can see Hitoshi's eyes fill with tears, but when he reached out to Denki, the blonde flinched back before curling in on himself in pain. He had attempted to push himself away but struggled to do anything but lay there between the pain and exhaustion. Denki drew in a sharp breath, and Eijiro's heart clenched at the way his very breath shook.

"Don't hold my hand," Denki chokes out, "God forbid, you remind me that you're not real." 

Denki looked dazed and disoriented, and Aizawa recognized this look. He knew it from the week when he had tried to wrap his head around why Denki would act out in such a way and actively attempt to get kicked off a trip. But moreover, he knew it from when he walked into his living room and watched Denki thrash around in a nightmare, he had woken the boy up, and the boy had seemed to freak out when he was startled into consciousness. It wasn't even like it was forever ago. Honestly, it could only have been earlier this year. Denki had looked at Aizawa like a stranger before recognition slowly faded in his eye. Then the tears had flowed, on that day, Aizawa had held the boy as he cried himself to sleep. The next day, Aizawa had asked him if he was okay, and Denki assured him he was, that he had just had a bad nightmare. Aizawa had believed him, but looking back, he almost wished he had pressed. He supposed hindsight really was twenty-twenty.

His son, always conscious about the blonde, was slow and gentle when he placed a hand on Denki's cheek; the blonde's body which had been stiff, seemed to relax after a long moment of contact. Clearly concerned about the boy thrashing around, he grabbed onto his boyfriend's hand and held Denki's hand close to his chest. Then almost as an afterthought, he pressed a kiss to the blonde's forehead. Aizawa is glad his student's attention isn't on him because a small melancholy smile graces his face. He never thought he'd miss the way his son's boyfriend had lit up when the boy kissed his forehead. He had always tossed a halfhearted call about 'PDA' and not really acknowledged it.

As Denki slips back into unconsciousness, Todoroki stands suddenly and makes his way across the room. Aizawa watched as the boy carefully adjusted the bandage that had become loose in Denki's brief attempts to move. Aizawa didn't like how quickly and habitually he did it, but he supposed it was a conversation best saved for later. When he was done, he looked to his group.

"What do we do now?" He asked, voice blank, but his face betraying how he actually felt.

"Now we wait," Katsuki said. "We wait for him to wake up and stay up because he'll need us."

A knock echoed in the room, and everyone jumped, startled out of the miniature trance they were in. A nurse Aizawa hadn't seen yet walked in concerned, glanced at them all before settling her gaze on Aizawa, "What's going on?"

"Sorry to call you, he woke up briefly. He spoke but didn't seem fully conscious," Aizawa said, and the woman lit up seemingly delighted.

"That's wonderful," She said. "He hadn't done that when any of the other nurses or Doctor Katayama were in here. He must know his families waiting for him to wake up." Aizawa watched Ashido and Sero grin at each other when she said this. Kirishima also made a small smile while Bakugou rolled his eyes, not entirely hiding his fond look. There was no knock when the door swung open again. Hizashi just burst in. He looked around and rubbed his face with his hands, and shook his head at all of them before giving everyone a smaller version of the bright smile he was known for.

"Hey, listeners!" Hizashi said as he held the door open for Nemuri. The woman walked in and greeted them all as well before making her way over to the nurse, who moved to check Denki's vitals. Hizashi walked directly to Aizawa and paused in front of him. He spoke low in a soft whisper only Aizawa could really hear. "Recovery Girl is talking to his doctor; we ran into her on our way over. Can I talk to you outside, though?" Aizawa hummed; he gave his students a short nod as he followed Hizashi.

His husband pulled him into a hug once they were outside, "Please don't ever run off like that again. I trust you, but that scared the shit outta me, Shota," Hizashi practically begged, resting his head against Aizawa's shoulder. Aizawa found himself murmuring small apologizes to the blonde and even ran a hand in the blonde hair that had been left down today. After a moment of them, both just existing in the other's presence Hizashi sucked in a breath and pulled away. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "Okay, I got a call from Nedzu right as I walked in. He had just heard from the local heroes that had raided the property we were looking at. Good news and bad news. Good news, his mother is in custody along with most of the lackeys they had left. Apparently, Kutsuki pays well, so we know it was never loyalty that got him in any followers. The League wasn't there, and it seemed like they hadn't been for hours."

Aizawa nodded, not likely where his gut told him this was going, "His father?"

"On the run," Hizashi sighed. "He couldn't have gotten far, and all the police and heroes in the area are looking out for him. But listen, Shota, what I don't get is how Denki ended up here? The safe house they were hiding out in is almost three hours northwest. Additionally, we're keeping most of this out of the media for now, but there's no way that's going to last forever. Additionally, additionally, Naomasa wants to know if we want the police here guarding."

Aizawa nodded again, suddenly reminded that catching Denki's father had been his case, to begin with. Back when his only knowledge of the man was that he was a killer that got his kicks murdering people with lightning. He's slightly glad that he still had some power in the situation, and it hadn't been taken when he was in the hospital. "I think that a police presence at the hospital would do more harm than good. Right now, Kutsuki probably doesn't know where Denki is even if he wanted to come after him, but a hospital would probably be the first place to check. Police roaming around would be a bright red flag. There's a pro hero in there right now and two by the door along with over half a dozen UA students that aren't about to leave him alone for a second. Denki's the most protected person at this hospital. I'm going to tell Nedzu that, if possible, I want to wait for Denki to wake up before we come up with a plan for the media. It's his life; he should get a say in if and how the media can tear it apart. And for how he got here, I imagine we'll know as soon as he wakes up."

"Mr. Aizawa?" Aizawa jumped at his name and turned to see Todoroki sticking his head out of the door. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I was wondering if you would come to talk Denki's brother with me? He asked me to reach out when Denki was safe, and I figure he might appreciate you being there as well."

Aizawa glanced to Hizashi, who squeezed his hand as he stepped away. He was glad at least someone was in contact with Denki's siblings. Aizawa nodded at Todoroki, who seemed grateful at his agreement. He followed Todoroki and was surprised he led him outside of the hospital. It's then he realizes that the boy looks almost guilty. He expected his student to pull out a phone and make the phone call, but instead, Todoroki just stood there. And then a bus pulls in front of them, and Aizawa realizes precisely what's happening.

"You didn't?"

"I always wanted Fuyumi and Natsuo when I was hurt."

He hadn't felt angry before, but the bubble of frustration he felt immediately diminished. The doors on the bus opened, and a dark-haired man that Aizawa recognized from his visit to Denki's home steps off the bus. He looks anxious and looks around, and after a moment, he slides a pair of glasses hanging on his shirt onto his face. When he spots them, he seems to need to steel himself but approaches them anyway. Aizawa steps forward and meets him halfway before politely holding out his hand, "Akio Kutsuki?"

Akio nods slightly and shakes Aizawa's hand weakly, "I'm willing to cooperate with the heroes and police for my younger brother, but please don't go looking for any of our other siblings. I worry about their safety."

Aizawa nodded. It was a valid concern. "Can I ask where they are now? If there's anything I can do to get all of you in a safe place, just let me know."

Akio smiled, a little more genuinely, before sliding his glasses back off his face and into his hair. "I appreciate it, Mr. Aizawa, but my sister and I are having a bit of a disagreement on the safest thing for us right now. They're all together now."

Todoroki approached, "Did you want to come up and see Denki?"

Akio nods quickly before pausing to glance at Aizawa, "Unless you need to ask me anything? Or interview me? I'm afraid I'm not sure how this works."

Aizawa shook his head. He wouldn't keep the man from his brother, "It can wait till after."

Chapter Text

Mina is startled when the door opens. She is even more startled by who stands there. After being on the verge of falling asleep, the door opening had forced her into consciousness. She is still on edge and filled with anxiety, she sees Denki’s father first, and panic races through her. However, Hanta grabs onto her as the door opens, and her panic stills, his steady presence calms her quickly enough to realize that no, it wasn’t Denki’s father coming to hurt her friend again. Her already tired mind takes an extra moment to put a name to a familiar face. Mr. Aizawa walked in right behind him, and even with how quiet their teacher was, she could hear his assurances that Denki was fine.

Akio, Mina remembers.

Denki’s brother, who she only saw briefly in their holding cell and was known to her through only brief stories that Denki told and a single-family picture Denki had kept hidden in his wallet. Mr. Aizawa tells Akio that the IV is just normal saline and that the bandages will come off probably as soon as he wakes up.

As Mina attempts to resettle down and her heart rate slows once more, she listens to the reassurances her teacher gives to someone else and takes them to heart. Denki looks a lot worse than he really is. Recovery Girl has already taken care of most of his wounds, and that really, they were only waiting for him to wake up. That he’ll probably be fine once he wakes up and Recovery Girl can fully heal him. Mina attempts to reason with herself because honestly, with how little her friend slept as is, it probably was just him catching up. Besides, she already knew that he liked sleeping in when he could catch up on his sleep. And Denki was always late to everything anyway. So, of course, they were once again waiting on him. Mina thinks it would be inappropriate to laugh but can’t stop the slight quirk of her lips as she leans against Denki’s hospital bed.

She knows that Denki will wake up when he’s ready. He never did anything important until he was good and ready. The blonde had always been stubborn in small ways like that. He always did a million and a half things in order to get ready to start a project that he insisted was necessary and not just him procrastinating. He never told them anything he wasn’t ready to share yet. And he had waited to talk and confess to Shinsou until he was ready.

But fuck, Mina’s never been known for her patience. It had never caused problems between them before, so it was easy to overlook. But that is why Mina always started the project while she waited for Denki to gather snacks, pencils, pens, and every book he’s ever known before beginning a class project. It’s why she had to bite her tongue to keep from asking about things Denki clearly wasn’t ready to talk about yet. It’s why she had roped Eijiro and Hanta into finally getting Denki to even acknowledge his feelings.

Almost two years ago, at the beginning of Mina’s first year, she thought she understood how Denki worked. Once upon a time, she guessed his favorite color was yellow. After all, all the signs pointed to his favorite color being yellow. He was bright and loving all the time. He was never unhappy and seemed to always try to give off good vibes. Mina loved that about him, but she didn’t understand how he always did it. Weeks later, she overheard Hanta and Denki whispering about a thunderstorm. Mina hadn’t understood the significance of a thunderstorm at the time, which made Mina pause. Then she realized that it wasn’t that Denki wasn’t ever upset; he was never upset around her. It’s that he only relaxed like that in other company. Mina would be lying if she said she didn’t feel hurt, but she didn’t have time to be affected by it. Not long after, they hit summer, which led to the training camp and subsequently Katsuki’s kidnapping.

They had all agreed to go to Katsuki’s house to check on him. Eijiro had the advantage of being part of the group that saved him, but Mina, Hanta, and Denki had wanted to lay eyes on him themselves. Mina remembers the relief she felt when Katsuki opened the door. When she saw the Katsuki, Mina was so thrilled to just see her friend safe and unharmed that it was her only thought. However, that was also the first time she had ever gotten to see Denki cry. And when Denki saw Katsuki, Denki had thrown himself at Katsuki, clearly emotional. Katsuki had yelled at him almost immediately, but he had also clearly been surprised. Also not expecting this.

She finally got to see Denki with some of his walls down. When he had calmed himself, he had shot her a weak smile and avoided eye contact. Mina remembered rolling her eyes and yanking him into a tight hug. It was the first time she saw Denki’s weakness, but definitely not the last. Weeks later, there was a small knock on her door; she was about to settle in for the night but opened the door to see Denki leaning against her doorway. By then, she already knew that he was hopping from bed to bed every night after he began to feel like he was burdening Hanta. And once again, Denki didn’t meet her eyes. She remembers noting that he looked embarrassed. She didn’t call him out on it at the time, but she told him that this was nice. They had found themselves spooning after she didn’t give Denki a choice in it, but the blonde had relaxed into it. In the dark and quiet of that night, Mina let down some of her walls. She admitted that she liked having people over sometimes because she had nightmares. Denki froze for a moment but didn’t speak. Mina continued anyway; she told him how when she was younger when she had a bad dream that she would pile into her parents’ room and sleep there, however not that they were in the dorms, she couldn’t do that.

“Then,” Denki yawned and then spun around in Mina’s arms to halfway look up at her, “let’s make a pact.” He blinked slowly before settling near her. Mina thinks she was more awake than he was.

“What kind of pact?”

“An open bed policy for nightmares,” Denki said.

“My bed’s always open for you anyway,” Mina said, then paused before giggling. “That doesn’t sound right.”

“Hey, it’s only sexual if you make it sexual,” Denki muttered and rolled back over so his back was facing Mina. Mina laughed a little more, but she settled again, and rather quickly, she heard gentle breathing next to her as Denki slipped into unconsciousness. In fact, if Mina closed her eyes and focused on Denki’s breathing, she could almost pretend that’s where they were. In her room, enjoying the company of each other as they tried to catch some sleep.

A little over a day and a half ago, Uraraka had sat near her on their bus ride back to school. Uraraka had asked if she was okay. The answer had been no then, and now the answer was a little closer to yes. She was also going to be okay, just like Denki was. Mina glances at her friend’s older brother, it’s only the second time she’s met him, and she’s never seen him in good light.

Akio doesn’t look like Denki at first glance, his eyes are blue, and his hair is a dark black that only matches the lightening shaped patch of Denki’s hair. However, some similarities can be seen now that Mina can see him in the light. Now she notices that the shape of their eyes is the same and that their nose has a very similar slope. She notices how when Todoroki had spoken to him earlier, and the sides of Akio’s mouth quirked up in the same way Denki’s did. In the small way, when he was amused and really trying not to show it. In those ways, he was familiar to her. She wondered if his other siblings would feel similar. Different but familiar in the same way Akio was.

Mina doesn’t know how to start a conversation with Akio that doesn’t sound awkward, so in the end, she doesn’t. She does, however, make eye contact with Jiro. The girl on the chair gives her a small smile. “How’s the weather down there?” She asks lowly, to not disturb the small peace they’ve made in the hospital room.

Mina places a hand on the floor and shrugs, “Cold? At least the floor is. Not so sure about my weather.”

Jiro’s face flashes with concern before her cool demeanor takes over again. She offers Mina her jacket almost immediately, though, while she does decline, she tells Jiro she might take her up on that offer later. However, now that someone had pointed out that Mina was on the floor, she wanted to be off the floor. She figured a short walk might be good for her, and she could stretch her legs, at least.

“May I join you?” Todoroki asked after her announcement. Mina shrugged, and he hopped up and walked towards her and the door. She’s slightly surprised, though. She’s also surprised that she was surprised. Usually, Mina was the one surprising her classmates. Then again, it was Todoroki she was talking about. She never knew what he was thinking. Though that may just be her, though. She hadn’t known that Denki and Todoroki were friends for months at least. Hanta had mentioned it once, and she had nodded along like she knew exactly what he was talking about when Mina had been entirely clueless. He held the door open for her as they exited.

“Where to?” Mina asked as Todoroki looked left and right.

“There’s a vending machine to the left,” Todoroki offered with a questioning tilt to his voice. Mina nodded and started off. Todoroki, who had always been much taller than her, caught up with her strides almost immediately.

“Sorry for intruding,” Todoroki said. “I don’t know if you intended to walk on your own, so I hope I didn’t ruin that.”

Mina glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. She shook her head while saying, “No, you’re good. I just wanted to stretch my legs. It’s probably better that you came with me if I’m honest. Everyone will worry less if we stick together.” Todoroki tilted his head slightly but nodded. Probably just agreeing for agreement’s sake, Mina guessed. However, suddenly Todoroki grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, so they were both against the wall.

“Hey, what are you–”

Todoroki shushed her gently and pointed to the open door next to them. Mina finally heard the voices inside.

“The wife isn’t talking,” someone says, and then sighs and–

It’s a familiar sigh. Not someone says Mina realizes it’s Midnight talking. She shoots a quick glance at Todoroki, who seems to be listening intently.

“And there’s nothing on Kutsuki’s location in the house?” Detective Naomasa says, and Mina blinks for a second because she hadn’t even known that he was here.

“Nothing yet,” Midnight responds, and there’s another sigh. Notably male, Mina thinks, probably Naomasa. She gives Todoroki another glance; he meets her eyes this time. She gives him a questioning look that must work well enough because he leans closer to her.

 “I heard Mr. Aizawa and Present Mic talking a bit earlier too,” He whispered like that answered or justified anything they were doing. Apparently, her facial expressions weren’t that good because Todoroki ignored her and went back to eavesdropping.

“And the League?” Midnight asked.

“All signs say they had been gone for hours before we got there. Kutsuki’s people confirmed this as well,” Naomasa informed.

“Kutsuki’s people were basically just quirks for hire? Getting a paycheck meant to kill others and protect Kutsuki, right?”

“That’s what they claim. We’ll be a little more certain when I get to sit down with them at the station.”

Midnight almost growled, “Then why aren’t they more willing to talk?” There was a short silence. “Sorry, I was just hoping we got more out of these guys. Between the ones today at their new safe house and the ones we arrested at the old one, there were like fifteen guys.”

“If no one wants to talk about Kutsuki, it’s either because they think he could still help them or that he could still kill them. Here’s my take, Denki Kaminari will be able to help me when he wakes up, but from what I gather, his father is a man of many connections. While Kutsuki is still out of prison, he still has access to those connections, so everything is still pretty fair game.”

“So, we have nothing?” Midnight said. Mina could almost hear the way her eyebrow raised as she spoke, tinged with frustration.

“No, we just don’t have as many answers as we wanted.” Naomasa corrected, but even to her ears, it sounded hallow. “I’ve been thinking that Akio Kutsuki might have some ideas of how to best get more information out of his mother.”

“Couldn’t hurt, you interviewed him yet? I know he just got here…but?”

“No, however, I spoke to him briefly before he was allowed near Denki. I used my quirk for a few short moments in the conversation too. He is truthful about not being involved in his parents’ illegal affairs; I know he’s also being truthful about wanting to be there to protect his brother. He says he doesn’t know where his father is right now and has no reason to believe he could be tracking him. I’m willing to leave the interview for later.” There was a quiet moment before a phone rang. “Sorry, it’s Nedzu.”

“Go ahead,” Midnight said, and there was a shuffling around in the room, and Todoroki looked over to her and nodded. She scooted over to jump up, and Todoroki followed her lead. They were around the corner before they heard Midnight’s footsteps moving the other way down the hallway. She looks over to Todoroki, and he leans against the wall. He looks like he’s thinking about what they just heard, and Mina doesn’t blame him. She, too, wishes they knew what was happening outside the hospital. Eventually, though, he glances back at her and apologizes for his curiosity. Mina shakes her head. He has nothing to say sorry for. They stand there quietly for a moment.

“What did you overhear Mr. Aizawa talking about earlier?” Mina asked, now unable to get rid of her own curiosity.

“Denki’s mother being captured and his father getting away.”

She hums in acknowledgment but eventually shakes herself out of her stupor. Finally, she asks weakly, “How about that vending machine?”

And Todoroki gives her a small smile and agrees. They take the long way, avoid the hallway in which they had just been, and find a small drink machine. Todoroki insists on paying for her soda, and Mina eventually acquiesces after a short debate. It fizzes when she opens it and, after taking a sip, realizes that she was actually pretty thirsty. She thanks Shoto and asks if he wants to wander around with her. He agrees with a small smile as he opens his own drink. They meander up and down the hallway talking on and off about their surroundings. It’s not uncomfortable, Mina realizes. She doesn’t think it could be after living together this long, but there’s a polite distance. One, both of them maintained as they avoided the heavy current topics. Mina can’t help but notice that he looks tired.

“Are you okay?” She says before she can catch herself. Todoroki blinks at her almost questioningly, and before he responds, she rushes to continue. “It’s just, you look tired. And you’ve got these dark circles under your eyes, and I wanted to check in and–”

“I’m as okay as can be.” He said, putting a pause to her babbling. “What about you?”

Now Mina turned to him questioningly, “I’m fine?”

“If you don’t mind my saying so, you also look tired, Ashido. Try to get some more rest when we get back to Denki’s room,” Todoroki said. Mina unconsciously touched her face like she’d suddenly be able to see what the boy was talking about. She nodded though and realized they were back in the hospital lobby. She glances at the chairs around them, and Todoroki shrugs unhelpfully. She takes the initiative and takes a seat, and he follows her lead.

They sip their drinks, and eventually, they finish them. Mina takes Todoroki’s empty drink and stands to toss them out. The large window that the trashcan sits in front of gives her a clear view of the street the hospital sits on. It’s getting darker now, and there’s less light now. The past few days have been hectic, and now they’re catching up with her. Todoroki’s right. She is tired. Emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted. However, she decides her friend is worth it.

She sees them outside a small shop across the street.

Bright yellow sunflowers.

She thinks of the pale room Denki’s in. She thinks of his bright personality and laughter. She thinks of Denki’s favorite color and decides Denki needs flowers.

Todoroki approaches behind her; apparently, she’s been staring out a window longer than socially acceptable. She feels him look at her and follows her gaze.

“I’ll buy them.” He says determinedly.

“We’ll split them,” She counters.

“But–”

“We’ll split it,” She emphasizes. Todoroki deflates a bit; he almost looks like he’s sulking, and she can’t help the small chuckle that escapes her. In the end, Todoroki does buy the flowers. He’s faster pulling out a card and has swiped his credit card before she can do anything. He looked proud of himself when the cashier handed him the flowers, and she glowered at him. She realizes he’s childish like that, but so is she. So, she buys a yellow bear that matches the sunflowers with her own money.

Denki used to tease her for old stuffed animals, so she’s determined to get him his own now. She holds the bear and straightens the bow on its neck. Then she looks to Todoroki. Silently they decide this was a successful walk and begin to make their way back. When they arrive, they catch sight of Akio exiting with Aizawa right behind him, following after Naomasa. They glance at each other with another silent understanding, and Shoto opens the door for Mina, and they let themselves back in.

“What happened to a walk around the hospital?” Midoriya asks as they reenter with a small laugh. They glance around and realize that it’s just the students around.

“We got distracted,” Todoroki says blankly before settling the flowers on the table. He slightly adjusts the flowers in the vase before deciding he’s happy with them and leaving them be.

“I like them,” Eijiro says from where his spot on the floor. “The bear too. They’re cute.”

“Thank you,” Mina said before leaning the bear against the flowers. Shinsou gave a small chuckle looking at the flowers and bear. Based on the smile that continued to decorate his face, she assumed that he approved. “Anything new with Sleeping Beauty?”

Katsuki snorts a bit, “Still snoozing. Nothing since you left.”

“You might be onto something with that Sleeping Beauty thing. We sure Shinsou doesn’t just need to give him a kiss?” Hanta piped up with a slight grin.

“No,” Shinsou said with a roll of his eyes.

“I mean, we haven’t tried it yet.” Eijiro joined in. “Don’t you want Denki to wake up Shinsou?”

Mina watches Todoroki settle next to Midoriya and lean into the other boy’s presence as Eijiro turns to face Shinsou on the other side of Denki’s bed. She notices the faint flush on Shinsou’s face as he shoots down their teasing suggestions. Mina checks her phone; she has half a million texts from everyone in the class. She ignores them all. Not out of malice or even anger over what they had said about Denki before in that cell. She just doesn’t know what to say to any of them.

She vaguely hears the kissy-face that Eijiro and Hanta are making at Shinsou.

“Guys, I’m not kissing Denki in his sleep. That’s creepy,” Shinsou said humoredly.

“I would never turn down a kiss from you, Hitoshi,” A familiar, raspy voice cuts in.

Mina freezes. A familiar voice.

Fuck.

She almost drops her phone as she spins around to face Denki. His eyes are open once again, but he looks much more aware than he had before. She can’t stop the tears that pipe up as she moves to the edge of his bed before she can even think about it.

The room is dead quiet, and then Denki attempts to weakly push himself up.

“What are you doing, dumbass? You’re hurt. Stay fucking still,” Katsuki says, jumping to his feet as Denki stops moving.

“I feel fine. Just sore,” Denki slurs before coughing. The world seems to stand still when he does. Everyone’s fear and anxiety shot up, all caused by a weak cough, and Denki didn’t even seem to realize. Hitoshi and Katsuki settle him back down in the bed, but instead of slipping back into unconsciousness, he looks around the room at them. Eijiro has a grip on his left hand and Shinsou on his right, and he seems confused. “What… what are you all doing here?”

“Waiting for your dumbass to wake up clearly,” Jiro said with evident relief in her voice.

Midoriya jumped up, “I’ll get Mr. Aizawa and Recovery Girl,” he said before scurrying off.

Denki’s eyebrows furrow at them, “But I…you should….” He trailed off.

Shinsou pulled Denki’s attention to him. Then he pulled her friend into a chaste kiss, and despite not being able to hear it, she could see Shinsou quietly whisper, “I love you,” to Denki. And Denki, who had been the only one in the room not emotional, was also brought to the verge of tears. Mina watched Denki try to blink them away and fail, he glanced away and ended up glancing at her, and she took the blonde’s hand and gave it a tight squeeze.

“We’re still here for you, Denks, okay?” Mina said, voice choked on her own tears.

He looks at them, and the expression on his face is blank for a moment. The room is quiet and still when Denki breaks. The tears already in place begin to flow, and Mina jumps up and pulls him into a tight hug, “I’m sorry.” Her friend cries into her shoulder. “I’m so sorry. I never wanted any of you to get hurt. I swear it.”

She already believed him, but she whispers and tells him she forgives him anyway. Just because she wants him to hear it. To begin to understand that they don’t blame him for what happened. Despite that, Mina sees how Denki keeps a tight grasp on Shinsou’s hand even as he cries on her. And how when Eijiro places a hand on Denki’s, he doesn’t hesitate to grip that hand for all it’s worth. Jiro and Todoroki make their way over from the chairs to the edge of the bed with Hanta, all silently watching the scene. Mina’s never seen Denki like this, as he shakes and cries and chokes out apologies. He’s still wrapped in bandages, and she’s suddenly very glad that he’s already been mostly healed. She speaks softly to him, “You’ll need to do a lot worse to chase us off. You’re stuck with us; you have been since school started. We’re a loyal bunch, you know that.”

He doesn’t believe her. She knows that. Denki knows everyone well and is always super good at taking care of people emotionally. It was his turn now, Mina decided. Because she also knows him very well. She knows how he hangs onto things, and she refuses to let him blame himself for this.

Denki’s taken care of them, and now whether he liked it or not, Mina was going to make it his turn to be taken care of.