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In Shinsou’s humble opinion, the worst part of hero work wasn’t the villains or the annoying reporters or the clean-up or the injuries- it was the debrief. Sitting in a hot police office trying to remember every insignificant little detail, getting raked across the coals for everything he couldn’t- sorry if Shinsou couldn’t remember the colour of that dickhead’s eyes while the fucker was SHOOTING him- and then being expected to go home and write up a report of the incident that matched everything in the initial debrief after you’d had a nap and a shower.
Shinsou, like most other heroes had taken to voice-recording during this time. Thank the world for Aizawa-Sensei who’d given Shinsou this practical advice when he’d first signed as a sidekick. He still used it as a hero in his own right now, albeit a fresh one and was working with Aizawa’s old agency as an underground pro.
“Is that all?” he asked tiredly. The officer nodded.
“Yes, that should be all. I’ll expect your report in by tomorrow afternoon. Thank-you for your assistance MindFlayer.”
It had been a big day. A group of villains had finally been apprehended attacking UA high school. All in all it had taken five pro-heroes and two underground heroes to finally get them all rounded up and in. Including Shinsou’s very own handsome boyfriend, ChargeZuma. When UA’s shields had been targeted, Denki had been the emergency battery, clutching the power source to keep them up. Thanks to him, they could safely report a total sum of zero casualties, injured or otherwise. And he’d been able to take down three villains besides.
“Would you like me to send Chargebolt in for his report?”
“No, he’s fine to just send his report in tomorrow.”
Shinsou’s eyebrows knitted. “That bad?”
“Do you know his emergency contact? Nothing serious, he’ll just need some help getting home.”
“I’m his emergency contact. I’ll take care of it.”
“Thank-you MindFlayer. Drive safely.”
Fuck, debriefs sucked.
Shinsou walked out to find his boyfriend sitting tiredly propped up next to pro-hero, Pinky. He smiled at the sight, tragic as it was.
“Hey Mina. Wrapped up already?”
“Unfortunately not.” She nodded at the school. “Like old times, huh?”
“For you maybe.” Shinsou had been lucky enough to miss most of the major villain attacks during his education there.
Mina snorted. “At least we kept it contained outside the shields. Kids these days don’t know how lucky they are.”
Shinsou crouched down so he was eye-level with Denki.
“Hey” he said softly. “Ready to go home?”
The man pulled his hands out from where they’d been clutching Mina’s elbow and gave a shaky thumbs up. The action repeated jerkily a few more times as Kaminari’s eyes wandered tiredly.
“Keeping those shields up did a number, didn’t it?”
“Unfortunately” Mina sighed. “He hasn’t had a short-circuit this bad since third year.”
“Alright then” Shinsou gently pulled Kaminari’s arm up and over his shoulder, allowing the majority of his weight to rest on him. “What work have you got?”
“They want those of us left to do a meet ’n greet with the kids.”
“Ah, calm them down after the scawy villain attack?”
“Explain why they had to finish their maths lesson in the underground shelter.”
Shinsou laughed. Kids these days.
“You enjoy that.”
“I’ll put my most convincing happy face on.”
She pulled her mouth upwards with her fingers to prove the point. Shinsou knew that she would enjoy it despite the action, tired and dusty as she was. Mina loved this kind of stuff. Promotional work he gratefully shrugged off as an underground hero.
Kaminari was able to walk to the waiting cab pretty well, leaning against his boyfriend for support. He still let out a happy sigh as he was lowered into the car seat. Breaths and the occasional thumbs-up stim were about the only means he had to communicate in this state. Shinsou didn’t take them for granted. As he climbed in the other side, Denki shifted so that they were facing and gave the jerky action again with one hand, pressing it gently into Hitoshi’s forearm.
He knew what his boyfriend was asking for. He grabbed the offered hand and wrapped his own around it. Denki gripped so fiercely it might have hurt if Shinsou wasn’t in the mood for it and they drove home to their apartment like that.
While infrequent, short-circuits like this were expected and they’d been warned by Kaminari’s doctor that they were more likely to happen the longer he worked as a hero. The couple had had long conversations in the past about what to do during such circumstances.
“I think the most important thing” Kaminari had said “is keeping me informed. Even though I can’t respond, or really react I’m still somewhat aware and I’d prefer to know before you push me onto the bed or whatever. Like when you’re planning to check up on me. Or if you’re going to a different room to fall asleep.”
So, as they rode the elevator up to their home Shinsou kept up a quiet murmur about how his day had been and what he’d done and what the officer had said about Denki’s report, so then he wouldn’t have that to stress about in the meantime. Kaminari had been able to stand alone for the ten seconds Shinsou needed to unlock the front door, but swayed in an alarming way that confirmed in Shinsou’s mind the severity of this particular short-circuit. Normally they only lasted about one to three hours, but there was no doubt in Hitoshi’s mind that this would last the entire evening and Denki would be very drained afterwards. He explained as much as he lead his boyfriend to the master bedroom and sat him down on the edge of the bed gently.
“But that’s okay, isn’t it?” he asked. “As long as I’m here to help you.”
And he smiled at Denki’s answering thumbs up.
“As much as you can, please limit your direct questions to yes or no answers because then I can reply with a thumbs up or thumbs down. Otherwise it just gets frustrating.”
Shinsou began peeling the bigger items of costume off of his boyfriend, the power diverters off his wrists, the battery packs on his belt, his glasses and boots before depositing them in a small box next to the bed.
“We can drop them off to your support staff tomorrow when we hand our reports in. If I pack it now it’ll just be a pick up and run in the morning.”
After Denki was handled, Shinsou took his own support items off and placed them in the box next to the first, which was covered in gaudy smiley-face stickers. Kaminari made sure to place one every morning before they went to work. Shinsou gave a great big yawn and stretched his tired muscles as Denki watched jealously. Shinsou turned to him.
“Ready for a shower?”
His boyfriend managed a small displeased sound at the back of his throat.
“Yeah, yeah, I know bug. I’m tired too. But you don’t wanna wake up tomorrow all muddy and have to shower when you’re drained out right? And this will make cuddling on the couch so much more pleasant.”
Denki sighed.
“I’ll shower with you, bug. I’m not gonna make you do all the work.”
He waited for the reluctant thumbs-up, then got to work.
Kaminari probably didn’t need help getting to the bathroom, but what kind of partner would Shinsou be if he didn’t? The couple weren’t exactly ‘bath’ people so such a useful piece of furniture was not available. However, a bench was installed in the shower, specially for such times (although the couple had also found it made certain activities much easier) so, after stripping Kaminari down, Shinsou placed him gently in before stripping off himself.
Once he’d stepped into the shower, Denki patted around until he found Shinsou’s hand and clung to it tightly again. He was certainly clingy tonight. The severity of this bout might be scaring him.
Shinsou carefully set the shower to Denki’s preference of lukewarm water, compared to Shinsou’s taste which was “broiled like a lobster” before carefully covering Denki in soap and scrubbing him down, one limb at a time. He was very muddy, thanks to one of the villain’s earth-based quirks but Shinsou was gentle with his washcloth.
Denki indicated his preference was to not have his groin cleaned for him at this time. Shinsou turned his attention to his own body, rinsing himself down with one hand. Enjoying the sensation of having his voice modifier off, after a long hard day.
“Hey bug, I’m gonna wash my hair. You want yours done too?”
Denki sighed happily. He loved having his hair played with. Shinsou took his time rubbing his fingers into the scalp and squeezing the shampoo out with his hands before rinsing it completely.
The shower was finished. Shinsou rubbed his boyfriend off with a towel and dressed him in his favourite evening-wear. A very very fluffy Red Riot sweatshirt and cotton Pikachu pajama pants. Shinsou also picked out a pair of socks before walking Denki to the couch where he could happily remain for the rest of the night before going to bed.
“Okay, maybe this is obvious but no surprises. We both like to treat each other by revealing special things we’ve planned out beforehand but when I’m short-circuited, that’s not the time. No presents, no trying on new clothes, no watching scary movies. Just try and stick to things you know I’m comfortable with, okay?”
“I’m gonna order pizza for dinner and we can eat it while we watch My Neighbour Totoro.” Shinsou informed. They had watched the film twice together when Denki wasn’t out of it, so he figured it was a safe pick. Pizza as well.
“Wait, you’re probably super thirsty right? It was hot today. I’m gonna go grab some water from the kitchen, order the pizzas and then come right back. Are you okay to doze or do you want to put something on the tv while we wait?”
Kaminari sat quietly on the couch, trembling a little. He’d sunk further into the short-circuit, looking completely exhausted. The shower must have taken more out of him than Shinsou previously thought.
He kissed his boyfriend on the forehead, then departed to the kitchen.
After finishing his tasks, Shinsou poked his head into the cupboard Denki never touched- the one that held Shinsou’s protein powders. He did it to look at the little box he left stashed there, made sure it was still in place and in good condition before heading back out to the living room. Denki was where Shinsou had left him. Sitting stiffly on the couch, shivers running through his entire body and two steady streams of tears running down his cheeks. Shinsou’s heart dropped.
He rushed over immediately, setting the glasses down and crooning gentle things as he sat beside the man he loved.
“The worst thing about short-circuiting is the helplessness- needing someone to direct me where to go, to get me food, to keep me updated, to keep me safe. I hate feeling useless and needy . . but it’s one of those things I can’t change. Just be- just be cool about it please? Don’t baby me.”
“Hey” Shinsou hushed, wiping the tears away with his thumb. “It’s alright. I know that it’s scary and annoying and frustrating, but I’m here.”
It was hard. It was hard not knowing why Denki was sad. It was hard having to watch him collapse into a state that he struggled to deal with, physically and emotionally. It was hard for Shinsou and it was harder for Kaminari and it was a problem that wasn’t going to go away.
Denki shifted his weight so that his head collapsed onto Shinsou’s chest.
He was worth it. Having Denki in his life was worth every second of it.
Carefully, he wrapped a thin blanket around them both and turned the movie on. Shinsou paid the pizza delivery boy extra to bring the pizzas into the living room, so he wouldn’t have to move. And they spent the night like that, softly cuddling and enjoying the peaceful time together.
Every morning when Shinsou woke up, Denki was staring at him from the next pillow. Shinsou would ask him why and Denki would reply “Because you’re beautiful.”
Every morning, Denki woke up early to prepare coffee for them both, knowing exactly the way Shinsou liked it.
Every morning, Denki found a way to give Shinsou a little smiley-face sticker.
And damn if Kaminari wasn’t the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, especially when his hair was whipped up by the wind and he was pulling Shinsou by the hand toward adventure and laughter and fun.
Tonight was their five-year anniversary since officially getting together in third-year.
Denki didn’t know. His ADHD made it difficult for him to remember dates, so Shinsou used that to his advantage, preparing a special surprise night for the both of them. First, they would head down to the shopping district and order dinner at their favourite food vendor. Shinsou would pull Kaminari up to a rooftop garden he’d rented for the evening, decorated with fairy lights and full of the scent of flowers. Denki would ask where he found that place and Shinsou would shrug and say “I saw it in a dream.”
Afterwards, they were gonna go to a bar where Denki and Shinsou’s friends would be waiting, and they’d either celebrate together or hang out while Shinsou drank away his miseries.
Because, holding the ring that was currently hiding in the protein cupboard, a thick silver band with an amethyst inset, up on that rooftop, underneath the stars, Shinsou was going to ask Kaminari to marry him.
Well, he would have anyway if the attack hadn’t happened.
But as Kaminari fell asleep, cuddled up in a blanket on his chest while his boyfriend combed his fingers through his hair contentedly, Shinsou smiled.
There was always tomorrow.