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Bakugou just finished his weekly therapy session and was on his way back to the dorms, when he almost ran into Denki.
"What the fuck!" Bakugou hissed, immediately forgetting what he went over in his session, about staying calm and taking a moment to assess situations before cursing and blurting out profanities.
"Oh! Sorry!" Danki apologized immediately.
"What are you doing here?" Bakugou asked. Usually he didn't cross any students in this hallway around this time.
"Ah...I wanted to talk to Cementos..." Denki said rubbing the back of his head. He fell into step next to Bakugou.
"What did he want from you?"
"Oh, nothing. It was me who actually wanted to ask him something."
"Hugh?" Bakugou made a questioning sound, but did not bother to actually ask a question. Denki was talkative. He usually didn't need much prompting to explain things or chatter about random things. Somehow, that wasn't the case this time around. It threw Bakugou off a little.
"What did you want to ask him?" Curiosity got the better of Bakugou.
"Well...I am kind of failing his class right now...and I asked him if I could do some extra work or retake any tests or whatever..."
"So he gave you a bunch of extra work?"
"No. He said I had to do better in class and he couldn't just let lazy students do make up exams or presentations every time they realized they were failing at the end of the year." Denki sighed.
"It's not even the end of the year." Bakugou pointed out.
"I know, right! That's what I said!" He just wouldn't change his mind. Denki seemed really disappointed about the situation.
Bakugou's therapy sessions really must be paying off. That or his competitive spirit did really well with the class challenge they set up about being nice to everyone in exchange for stickers. It probably was a mixture of both, including a healthy portion of him actually wanting to help a friend, that drove him to offer help. "I can help you with homework if you want. You did fine on the first tests after studying with Yaoyorozu, didn't you?"
"Really?!" Denki's eyes immediately lit up. "That would be awesome. It really helped to study with others, but I didn't want to intrude, so I never asked if I could join you."
"What would you intrude? You could have just asked."
"Your dates? With Kirishima?"
"What?!" If anyone asked Bakugou would deny how his voice rose higher in that moment.
"Well..." Denki said, both with a teasing grin, while also backing off and holding his hands up defensively.
"We are not going on dates!"
"Okay, okay. Study dates then...You sure it's fine if I join?"
"I just offered, didn't I?!" Bakugou grit out annoyed.
Kaminari backed off and they walked back to the dorms in peace.
"Go get your stuff and meet me back down here." Bakugou told Denki.
"What? You want to study now?" Denki had looked forward to doing something other than math after his disappointing meeting with Cementos.
"I'm not asking you twice. Either you come or you don't. Your grades are bad, not mine." Bakugou said.
Despite Kaminari not looking forward to it, Denki went downstairs after getting his notebooks.
"Kirishima's not here?" He asked surprised.
"Should he be?" Bakugou raised and eyebrow with a sadistic grin. "By the time we are done you better know how to do every single problem in the book."
Denki's heart sank. Studying with Yaomomo and getting fancy tea was so much better. He felt like crying before they even started.
Bakugou sat down opposite from Denki at the table pointing at one of the math problems in the book. "Start." He commanded.
Denki carefully read over the problem, only glancing up once to check what Bakugou was doing. His glare was enough to make Denki look back down. He carefully started to work on the problem, not too sure of what he had to do if he was honest, but he also did not want to ask. Somehow he doubted how helpful this tutoring session would be.
"Stop." Bakugou told him before he was even finished writing down the next line. "Look over it again." Bakugou waited patiently, though Denki had no idea where his mistake was.
"I don't know." Denki whined. "What did I do wrong?"
"You'll figure it out. Look at the line you just wrote and the line before."
"I'm stupid! I have no idea. Just tell me, I thought that's what we are doing here!"
"You are not stupid." The statement caught Denki by surprise.
"Er? What?"
"You're not stupid. You got into UA. Don't sell yourself short. Kirishima did the same mistake yesterday. I would explain it if I didn't think you'd get it. Just check the two lines again."
"I-I did check them! I just don't know."
"You can do it." Bakugou insisted and Denki looked back down with a dramatic sigh. It was quiet for a moment, then he finally got it. "Oh my god." Denki said, crossing out what he just wrote. He turned his paper with the corrected numbers towards Bakugou.
"See? Told you." Bakugou smiled. "Now do the rest." He said, smirking cruelly.
"You're such a sadist. I should have expected it." Denki muttered but felt far more motivated now that he got the first problem right. Without getting smacked too! He expected there to be far more smacking.
Denki should have known he shouldn't let his guard down too fast. Two problems later a rolled up notebook met his head. To be fair though, Bakugou had explained to him what to do very well before. He basically had to do the exact same thing as in the second problem, but somehow he had managed to make the same mistake again.
Their tutoring session ended two hours later. Bakugou had taken quite a lot of time to catch Denki up to some of the material and invited him to do homework the next day together with him and Kirishima. Bakugou was strict, but he also was good at explaining. Somehow the thought of Bakugou turning out becoming a decent teacher crossed Denki's mind. He was too tired to think more about it though. Bakugou had already gone back up to his room, while Denki just rested his head on the table.
"Hey Denki. What happened to you?" Denki looked up at Kirishima.
"Studying."
"Math kill you?"
"No. But Bakugou almost did."
"Bakugou studied with you?" Kirishima's surprise was justified, considering him and the rest of the squad hadn't been there. "Wow..."
"Is he this harsh on you too or do you get special treatment?" Denki asked, getting up.
"He can be a little rough I guess." Kirishima responded with a bit of an embarrassed smile.
"Does he know not all of us can harden? I'm nothing but a soft, squishy, innocent guy." Denki said. He still looked for his sticker set and stuck a lightning bolt sticker onto Bakugou's poster, documenting all the times he did others a favor.
-----.....-----.....-----
Denki regretted everything. He regretted ever encouraging Mina with her 'doing- favors- for others' project. He regretted trying to do everyone in the class a favor. He definitely regretted ever thinking he could cook something for his classmates. He stood amidst a gigantic mess. The water with potatoes boiled over, in his haste to shove the pot away he cut himself with a knife and knocked down the carrots he was cutting. He didn't even know where to start with the mess he created.
"What the fuck did you do dunce face?!" Ahhhh....just who he needed to see this. Okay. Maybe Ida would have been just as bad. Or one of the teachers. Either way it sucked to have anyone see this at all.
"Umm...sorry?" Denki suggested with a sheepish grin.
"What are you trying to make?" Bakugou stepped closer to the kitchen.
"I wanted to make curry. I figured that would be easy. I even got a recipe!"
"I'll get a mop." Bakugou said, turning around. He stopped to glare at Denki one more time. "Don't you dare take a single step." He warned and stalked off.
Denki was fine with that. He didn't know where to start anyway.
Bakugou threw Denki the mop and watched while Denki started to clean the floor.
"The potatoes need a little longer." Bakugou stated, when he stuck a knife into one of the potatoes. "You wanted to make curry, right?"
"Yeah...I don't think that's gonna work out anymore." Denki admitted, looking over Bakugou's shoulder.
"You can still make it. You just should have peeled them first." Bakugou said. "Where did you put the carrots?"
"Ugh... they are dirty." Denki warned.
"Then go wash them. Here, let me cut the rest." Bakugou pushed past Denki and got to work easily. Denki smiled seeing Bakugou get to work. He did not mind getting ordered around because he knew it would mean his disastrous attempt at making food would be saved.
"We are not using the extra spicy curry though." Denki warned. "We don't want everyone getting the shits."
"You're just weak!" Bakugou shot back and instructed Denki to take the potatoes out of the water to peel them.
"Outch. They are still hot."
"Obviously, dumb ass. Wash them with cold water."
"But then they'll be cold!"
"That's the fucking point! Usually you cook everything together in a single pot, but now the potatoes are done and the rest is not, so we'll have to add the potatoes again later."
They worked well together and Bakugou stayed until they could declare the dish finished.
"I just texted everyone that dinner is ready." Denki let Bakugou know.
"Did I hear lunch is ready?" Sero called out when he came down the stairs. "Don't tell me you're trying to poison us Denki!"
"Hey! I worked hard and slaved for this meal!"
"Looks more like Bakugou made it." Mina teased.
Bakugou stepped out of the kitchen to sit down at his usually seat. Kirishima joined Mina and Sero and helped them plate up the curry and carry everything to the tables with Denki. Even though his cooking plans had started out chaotic, the result was more than simply edible. It turned out really good and Denki knew it never would have gone hat way without Bakugou's help. Needles to say, the explosive blonde received a lightning bolt sticker as thanks.
-----.....-----.....-----.....
Bakugou was headed up to the third floor of the boys side of the dormitory. The toaster oven was broken, which meant some idiot must have broken it. Based on experience, Denki was a logical suspect. It would not be the first time he short-circuited something. It wasn't that big of a problem if Bakugou was honest, considering they had more than enough wealthy students to pay for a new one and they also had the option to get it repaired by Powerloader. Bakugou just could not accept Denki would run away instead of owning up to his mistake.
Rapid, hard knocks sounded on Denki's door. Denki was so surprised by the sound he shot up and tore the door open. "Kacchan! Hey! What's brought you here to my humble abide?"
"Cut the crap. Did you kill the toaster oven?" Bakugou glared at him.
"The toaster oven? Uh...nope. Not that I know of. Not recently at least."
"Really?"
"Hey, I haven't even been to the kitchen today!" Denki defended himself.
"Where's your proof?"
"What? How am I supposed to prove that? We don't have cameras set up! Why would you think I broke it anyways?!"
"I'll let you think about that for a second."
"Well, okay. I guess I get it, but I've been here looking for something since class started." Denki said motioning behind him and letting Bakugou look more into his room. The room was an utter mess.
"What the hell happened here? What are you looking for?"
"...A notebook." Denki said.
"You lost your homework?" It was less of a question and more of a statement.
"No." Denki protested. "Look, is there anything else you needed?" He grew a little annoyed with Bakugou. He was already on edge after unsuccessfully searching through his things and he definitely lid not enjoy Bakugou bitching at him for something that wasn't even his fault. Much to his surprise- or should Denki even still be surprised at this point? Bakugou, in a moment that could have been a change of heart, guilt overcoming him, pure boredom or most likely plain curiosity, offers to help Denki. Or so he assumes.
"Er...what?" Denki asks.
"Your notebook. What does it look like? I can look for it with you."
"Wow. I'm starting to believe the word help is not part of your vocabulary." Denki laughed.
"You know, I can just go if you don't want me here."
"No, no! It's okay! It's a regular blue notebook from the hundred yen store...oh. And it should have a dragon on it."
"Okay...and you have no idea where it could be?" Bakugou asked.
"Nope. That's why I got everything out and tried to put everything away again."
"We just moved in. How is it possible you have to sort your stuff again already?" Bakugouu grumbled, but stepped inside.
"Whose books are these?" Bakugou asked, stepping over a stack on the floor.
"Mine?" Denki answered, going back to the corner he had been working on.
"You read?"
Denki stared at Bakugou offended. Sure, Bakugou did not spend quite as much time with the Baku squad, but was this really such a big surprise? It was far from a secret.
"You didn't know?"
"I guess. You seriously read these in English?" Bakugou asked and picked one of the books up. He knew Denki did surprisingly well in English, he just never thought much about it before. If he was honest he just assumed Mic gave him some extra points because he liked Denki. "What's your favorite book?"
"Hmm...I can't pick. There are many I like." Denki smiled down at some of his books, that appeared to be scattered all about on first glance, but now that Bakugou took a closer look he saw that they were carefully placed in stacks. "I like many older fantasy and science-fiction novels. I have quite a few from before quirks were a thing. I like stories about medieval times in Europe or samurai stories in feudal Japan. I just got an old science- fiction series by a British author. The story is about aliens who invaded earth and brainwashed people by implanting caps on their heads so they loose all interest in technology and war. The people are happy but at the same time they live brain washed lives and glorify the aliens to the point they are willing to die for them."
"U-hugh..." Bakugou had to admit he felt a little dumbfounded. Of course he got to experience the occasional comment or reference to some pop-culture type of things, but he had never heard him talk about literature- old literature at that, so much. "What do you want to do with the books? Do you want to sort them in any special order?" Bakugou asked before he just stared at Denki any longer.
"Ah! Yeah. I wanted to put them back based on genre and language, except my favorite ones, but I have those over here..." Denki pointed to a stack close to him. "So the rest has to be sorted new."
"Hm." Bakugou made a sound of affirmation, looking around the room to figure out where the books had come from. All the shelves were still full of things. "Where do you want to put them?" Bakugou finally asked because there was no space as far as he could see.
"In there." Denki pointed to his closet, which was partly open, so that Bakugou could see inside. He could see some more books still inside."
"What the fuck." Bakugou exclaimed. "You keep your clothes and shoes out here and your books in there?!"
Denki averted his gaze and nervously rubbed at his neck. "I just thought it would look cooler that way." He admitted.
"What makes you think that?!"
"Well...books aren't really that cool..."
"Who the fuck told you that. I had no idea you liked books so much, but they look a hell of a lot cooler than all the gaudy shit out here!" Bakugou said, motioning to everything else Denki had on display.
"I can't tell if you are trying to be nice or to offend me to be honest." Denki said, still processing Bakugou thought his books were cool in some way or form.
"Well it's your room. You should have things where you want them." Bakugou said. "But you shouldn't decorate your room just to look cool for other. It doesn't matter whatever someone else says."
"Even you?" Denki asked before he could stop himself. "Because that does sound pretty contradictory Kacchan, ya know?" The blonde grinned and easily avoided Bakugou's playfully aimed hit.
Bakugou did not give up quite yet though and leaped to wrestle Denki down, who barely managed to roll somewhere where he did not have books. With a squawk Denki went down before pulling at Bakugou's arms and using his legs to kick Bakugou away in a true Nala from The Lion King fashion. Bakugou had to be very careful where he landed and had to give up for now before he broke something in Denki's room. "Damn. That would have been so good if it happened during training!" Denki laughed in delight at his victory.
"You just got lucky." Bakugou denied, but if he was honest he just underestimated Denki in that moment.
"Soooo...I guess I should try to put my books out here but I don't think I have enough room." Denki looked around. His closet was larger than the shelves he had.
"You could get some proper bookcases." Bakugou suggested.
"Where would I get them from so fast?" That honestly was a good question.
"Okay. Let's just work with what you have right now, so you can see if you like it and whatever doesn't fit can go in your closet." Bakugou suggested.
"Hey, you think we should invite the others over?" Denki asked, because he suddenly realized he rarely spent time with Bakugou alone. He did not mind being alone with Bakugou, he was just sure Mina, Sero and Kirishima would like to be with them.
He belatedly realized, that perhaps Bakugou would have preferred it just being the two of them Bakugou did seem to do better in smaller groups and Denki knew whenever they were all together in a squad they could be pretty rowdy which also resulted in a grumpier Bakugou. Well shit. Now it was too late to take his suggestion back without making things awkward, was it?
"You can." Bakugou said and his voice sounded somewhat rougher. Wow. The thought alone of spending time with four more people in such a confined space might not be the best for everyone.
"You know...we don't have to a-"
"Just ask them dunce face."
"I don't mind spending time with you alone!" Denki clarified.
"If they are busy they are busy, if they have time they'll want to come. Let's just ask." Bakugou said, getting his phone out to text everyone himself.
In less than ten minutes the entire squad assembled and piled into Denki's room. Sero and Kirishima jumped onto the bed to get out of the way and Denki suggested for Sero to put on some music, because his song choice was usually much calmer than anything the rest of them would come up with. It plan worked out pretty well too because the calm music set the mood and they didn't go all crazy and annoyed Bakugou to the point of him frowning non stop.
Mina pulled everything out of Denki's shelves, drawers and closet and piled it onto the bed, where Sero and Kirishima sorted it into piles. They categorized everything by type, which meant clothes on one side, electronics on another. They also had a pile of random stuff they ended up suggesting Denki to sort through to donate or throw away.
Mina wiped all the surfaces off, while Bakugou tried to figure out the books genres and then sort them in an alphabetical order. The five of them worked well together and piece by piece Denki refilled his shelves, cupboards and drawers. He ended up filling his drawers with clothes again after all, because the books looked better standing up in the closet according to him, but he sorted his shoes away into the closet away which freed up that shelf.
"You should show your room to Ida now. I'm sure he'd approve." Sero said, once more books were on display.
"It does look really manly now." Kirishima said, whatever he meant by that.
Bakugou was content and had a slight smile on his face he couldn't get rid of and no one dared to point out when he sat down on the bed, so close to Kirishima they touched.
Denki was very happy with the outcome of his room makeover. There was only one thing he hadn't figured out yet.
"Oh yeah." Sero tore Denki out of his thoughts and looked around searching for something. Kirishima quickly caught on and looked around as well. It took them looking down the bed to find what they were looking for. "What's this?" Sero stuck his arm under the bed and pulled out a blue note book with a dragon on it.
"You found it!" Denki called out happily.
"Wow. Did you draw that?" Mina asked looking over.
"Ah...I just scribbled that a while ago..." Denki deflected and waved her off.
"It looks very good for being 'just scribbled." Sero said.
"Yeah! It's awesome!" Kirishima said.
"What's inside?" Bakugou asked the question that burned on everyone's tongue.
"Ahm...ugh....it's nothing special."
"Don't give me that bullshit. You've been looking for it."
Denki hesitated a moment, before deciding to just go for it. "It's something I wrote a while ago. It's not that good, but I did spend quite some time on it so I wanted to find it again." Denki answered. "It's kind of personal." He hoped that would keep everyone from asking more questions. He had their full attention and their eyes brimmed with curiosity, but they did back off.
"Alright." Bakugou was the first to relent.
"Awww. I'd love to see at least some of it though!" Mina was not willing to give up so fast.
"Maybe you can show us some other time." Kirishima suggested a compromise.
"Yeah, if you're ever ready to share it, we'd love to see." Sero agreed.
"Thank's guys. I'll keep that in mind." Denki smiled and quickly hid the notebook in his closet among the other books.
Denki was incredibly grateful to have such amazing friends. Before coming to UA he had wondered what it would be like, if he would find friends and if others would like him. He was sure most if not everyone thought about these things before changing schools. He was glad things worked out so well. Spending time with his friends truly made up for all the villain drama or struggles studying for tests.
Since their class started the fun project of rewarding others for nice things with stickers, there was only one logical consequence for the Baku squad's help with his room. The answer came in form of a lightning bolt stuck to each of their posters.
-----.....-----.....-----.....-----
Denki prided himself in getting along with many people. If asked he would even say he managed to befriend Bakugou. Bakugou was rough around the edges. He yelled, he cursed and was an over all competitive, rude asshole but Denki was happy to say he understood the other blonde. Not in a deep, empathetic way, but he understood Bakugou's language. Yes, language. Bakugou spoke Bakugou. It was a rather primitive language Denki thought, but at the same time it needed careful analysis to be able to decipher the subtle differences in meaning.
These subtle differences could be the intonation of words, the rise of an eyebrow, the hint of a smirk... there were dozens of tiny hints, but Denki had managed to figure them out. At least for the most part he felt confident in understanding Bakugou. "Fuck off!" Depending on the intonation could mean anything from "go away" over "you've got to be kidding" to "that was actually quite funny". "Dunce face" could be said in a rude, annoyed way or as an endearment. "Fucking shit!" could mean "that hurt" as well as "that was genius".
All things considered, Denki was happy he understood Bakugou. Until he didn't. He finally managed to decipher the meaning behind the slightest eye brow twitch only for Bakugou to stop cursing. Okay, that wasn't hundred percent true. He still cursed, but he no longer called him Dunce face. It ticked him off. Because, while Dunce Face most likely started off to push Denki away and make fun of him, it had turned into something sweet. And it was really weird for that part of their relationship to suddenly disappear.
Suddenly Denki was called his name more often than not and the same went for Mina, Kirishima and Sero. Hell, Bakugou almost called Midoriya Izuku once instead of Deku. Bakugou had caught himself in the last second that time. Denki allowed the situation to continue for quite some time. At first he thought it was just a phase and a new way for Bakugou to tease them. Then Denki had tried to simply get used to the change. It did not go well. Finally Denki had enough.
They were all sitting in the common room, playing a game, requiring everyone to call one another by their name. And it went a few rounds until Denki could not take it any longer. It irritated him to no end. When Bakugou called him Denki again, he stared at Bakugou and blurted out "What the fuck do you mean with Denki this and Denki that?! What happened to Dunce face?! Just tell us you like us in fucking Bakugou again!"