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Denki Kaminari sluggishly made his way into the 1-A dorms after an emotionally and physically taxing day of one-on-one training with Aizawa. He had been falling behind in physical activity, due to having other things on his mind that caused him to stress. Because of this, he was made to spend extra time on the training grounds with his esteemed teacher.
A rough sigh escaped his mouth as he practically collapsed onto the soft, bouncy cushions of the loveseat in the common area. The room was mostly empty, aside from Midoriya and Todoroki at the table studying, and Kirishima and Bakugou watching some action anime on the television. Kaminari paid no attention to his classmates in the room, and they hadn’t really seemed to notice him either. With another exhausted exhale, he covered his face with a throw pillow and hugged it tightly. This usually helped him to relieve tension, but it wasn’t really all too effective at the moment.
It was but 10 minutes later that he could feel the presence of another person beside him. He peered out from beneath his pillow to see Mina Ashido sitting beside him.
“Heya, Kaminari. Are ya alright?” She asked, petting his wildly unkempt blond hair.
“Mmm…” was all he was able to muster.
Ashido was about the only person in their class who Kaminari actually talked to about any of his personal problems. She was his closest friend and knew many of his secrets that he never thought he would ever find himself telling.
“Is it about the… um,” her eyes averted down to where the pillow covered Kaminari’s chest, but she quickly looked into his eyes again. “...dilemma?”
“N-no,” Kaminari defensively hugged himself, his face reddening in embarrassment. “I’m just tired. That’s all.”
Ashido was silent for a moment, staring up at the ceiling in thought. “Well… maybe you should go get yourself cleaned up. You just got back from training with Dadzawa, right?”
Kaminari nodded before yawning abruptly.
“Then go. Get cleaned up and changed. Then we can have a slumber party! I’ll invite Jirou and Yaoyorozu and Uraraka and Tsu and Hagakure!” Ashido stood and dragged Kaminari off the couch, pulling him onto the floor.
“Ow~...mmmm… fine…” Kaminari stood and headed upstairs, smiling softly to himself about Ashido’s excitement.
The blond entered his room and began rummaging through his clothing drawers, trying to find a decent outfit to wear. He had been refusing to do his laundry over the sheer lack of motivation to do anything productive whatsoever. After several long minutes of searching, he settled on a wrinkled tee-shirt and a pair of grey sweat pants. He gathered his clothes, hairbrush, and towels and made his way to the dormitory bathrooms.
He stopped abruptly between the men’s and women’s bathroom, contemplating where he would go. With a deep anxious breath, he walked into the women’s bathroom, hoping no one else would be in there. Much to his relief, he was alone. He set his things on the counter and nervously locked the door, despite the fact they never really locked the door at all, after making sure he was really alone.
He turned on the water and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He hadn’t realised how roughed up he looked until now. His clothes were dirty, battered, and torn. His hair was unkempt and frizzy, and he was covered in sweat and dust. Disgusted with himself, he slipped off his shirt, tossing it onto a pile of various clothing items that had been left behind by various other people who had been in the bathroom before him. He made eye contact with his reflection before glancing down at his binder. Suddenly feeling insecure about himself, he sharply turned away from his reflection, ashamed of himself. No… he shouldn’t be ashamed of who he is. He shouldn’t…
He shook his head before finishing with undressing and stepping into the hot, relaxing shower. That felt nice. Showers were really underrated, he thought. He liked the way the molten water burned his skin and the way the steam would exfoliate. He ran his wet hands through his knotted hair, a soft smile about him. Maybe this was the cure to anxiety and depression; taking long showers and forgetting about everything. He was finally beginning to feel like himself again.
He grabbed his hairbrush and began to brush through his hair, trying to tame it in a sense. He began softly humming a tune, but moments later had broken out into full song, his hairbrush as a microphone.
“I’m just a poor boy, nobody loves me- HE’S JUST A POOR BOY FROM A POOR FAMILY, SPARE HIM HIS LIFE FROM THIS MONSTROSITY… na na na na na...”
He carelessly reached to the shelf to grab his bottle of shampoo, squirting it into his hair and massaging it onto his scalp.
“Easy come, easy go, will you let me go? Bismillah! NO, WE WILL NOT LET YOU GO…”
Kaminari finished his song and giggled softly, overjoyed with himself.
“Thank you, thank you. I know, that was the best show this side of the dorms has ever seen. What was that, Mrs Shampoo? Do you want my autograph? Why absolu-” he cut off at noticing tints of pink on his hands. “I did not…”
Kaminari hastily turned off the shower water and wrapped himself up in a towel, sprinting over towards the mirrors.
“Oh no oh no oh no… my hair… it’s… pink?!” He held the wall for balance as he thought about this.
He must’ve used Ashido’s colour enhancing shampoo instead of his own dandruff control shampoo. That was his own mistake, he was so entranced in his amazing performance of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, he hadn’t noticed he had mistakenly grabbed the wrong bottle. He glanced at his reflection again, grabbing a towel to pat his hair dry. Maybe it wasn’t so bad… He began to comb through his thick hair with his fingers and fix his hair into his signature style. Wow… He actually looked pretty hot. Now he looked like Ashido. That wasn’t bad at all.
“Huh…” he murmured to himself, walking back over towards the shower to retrieve his clothes and get dressed.
~*~
“Pikachu, what the hell did you do to your hair!?” Bakugou exclaimed dramatically as Kaminari walked down to the common area the next morning, alongside Ashido.
Kaminari laughed softly. “Well… I may have accidentally used Mina’s shampoo instead of my own?”
“How the fu-”
“It doesn’t matter how he made the mistake,” Ashido quickly stated. “He just did. But now we are totally twinning. Hashtag lit!” she pulled out her phone and snapped a picture.
“Do I look hot, Bakubro?” Kaminari smirked mischievously.
“Y-... WHY THE HELL WOULD I ANSWER THAT, KNOCKOFF PIKACHU?! I HAVE A BOYFRIEND, YOU THIRSTY LITTLE-”
“Oop, tea? Are you confessing to having a relationship with daddy sha- sorry, I mean Kirishima?” Ashido cackled schemingly.
“Daddy Shark?!” Bakugou exclaimed, angrily.
“Yeeesss?” Kirishima poked his head into the room, causing Bakugou to blush in embarrassment and Ashido to simply pass away.
Kaminari laughed and sat on the couch. He felt happy now… as if the pink hair was all he needed. A little mistake supplied him with serotonin… he could finally be happy and joke around with his friends, and look damn sexy while doing it. Even if his classmates somehow pieced together why he ended up in the women’s bathroom and ultimately using Ashido’s shampoo, it wouldn’t matter to him.
He brushed his bangs out of his eye as Ashido sat next to him, fluffing her own pink hair. Kaminari’s face lit up with joy at the thought of twinning with his best friend and the one person who was knowing and accepting of him regardless of anything. The rest of the class had eventually noticed Kaminari’s new, powder-pink hair and had complimented on the change. This had really been the confidence boost Kaminari needed to gain his motivation and self-worth. Who would’ve thought, a small mistake caused by Bohemian Rhapsody could end up being the boost he needed to keep living?
(That’s a story for another time… and until then, I bid you all ado, my fair readers)