Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a rare day when the whole class was allowed off campus without supervision. But they were nearly third years now, and they had all more than held their own against top tier villains. It would be almost too easy to subdue anyone stupid enough to go against all of Class A—that was the only reason Aizawa let them go. Well, that, and the fact that they had finished their final exams and even their grump of a teacher wasn’t mean enough to keep them from celebrating.

They hadn’t planned on doing anything too exciting, just some shopping for their last summer training camp. Not all of them needed to buy things, but it was fun to just hang out. Like the many other times Class A went out, they split into several groups, some headed for the camping supplies, some for the training gear, and some for the clothing shops.

Hanta, who tagged along with the last group, watched as Uraraka, Mina, and Hagakure bullied Midoriya into buying more fashionable clothes.

“What’s wrong with my clothes?” Midoriya protested. “I like them.”

“Midoriya, sweetie, your shirt literally says ‘pants.’ All of your clothes are like that,” Mina sighed, hands on her hips. “It was funny the first few times, but you never wear anything else. You’re wasting your potential! You’ve got a great bod—show it off!”

“What about this ? It’s cute, right?” Uraraka interjected. Midoriya’s eyes widened as she held up a shirt for the other two girls to see.

“Uraraka, that’s a crop top!” cried Midoriya, blushing from his flushed head to his equally red shoes. “I can’t wear that!”

“Why not?” whined Hagakure. “I agree with Mina! Your stomach is way buff, that top would show it off like a pro.” She snagged said top from Uraraka and held it up to Midoriya’s chest in comparison. The other two girls completely ignored Midoriya’s spluttering protests and nodded vigorously in agreement.

“It is cute, I like it!” Mina exclaimed. Hanta could see what she meant. The top was a pale sort of blue that complimented Midoriya’s hair and looked like it would cling well to Midoriya’s broad shoulders. “At least try it on! We just wanna see how it looks!” 

“Yeah, Midoriya, it would look really cute on you!” Hagakure added. “If you don’t like how it looks, we won’t make you get it.”

“Please, Deku?” begged Uraraka. “If you want, we can write ‘long sleeves’ on it to match the rest of your clothes.”

“Well, if you promise I’ll only have to put it on,” he conceded, worn by their pleading. Midoriya might’ve been one of the smartest and strongest people in their class, but it was near impossible for him to refuse anybody. Hanta looked away as the trio cheered, hustling the green-haired boy to a changing room with their previous picks. His gaze landed on Denki, who was chatting with a stranger at the entrance of the store.

Hanta narrowed his eyes. Denki didn’t look uncomfortable, but Hanta knew him well enough to tell that Denki’s too-loud voice and fixed smile meant he didn’t want to be talking to the guy, but also didn’t want to seem rude. Never one to leave his friends in trouble, Hanta pushed himself off the wall and headed towards them. 

“A cutie like you deserves a real man. How about you give me your number, huh?” Hanta heard as he neared them.

“Ah, no, I, um, can’t,” Denki gulped.

“No need to be shy, sweetheart, I won’t bite. Unless you want me to,” the guy leered. His expression made Hanta want to tape him somewhere very, very high as he screamed for mercy, but Hanta knew what it would look like on his record. And there weren’t any fun places he could tape the guy to anyways, so he settled for interrupting the conversation.

“What my adorable boyfriend means is, he doesn’t need to give you his number because he’s already taken.” Hanta slid an arm around Denki’s waist and smiled winningly at the stranger. 

(He tried not to dwell on the fact that Denki fit perfectly there, because this was a Serious Situation, Hanta, get a grip.)

The guy grumbled something under his breath. Hanta narrowed his eyes at him, keeping his smile pasted on the entire time. “Are we going to have a problem?” Hanta knew that while he wasn’t as intimidating as, say, Katsuki, he was at least a head taller than the dude and considerably more muscular, due to hero training. And dealing with villains for the better part of the last two years had helped him develope a nice aura of don’t-fuck-with-me.

“Whatever, man. Just trying to be nice,” the douchebag muttered, slouching off. At least the guy knew when to quit it. Hanta vaguely registered him saying something else, but ignored it in favor of checking up on Denki.

“Hey, man, you okay? That dude was a sleaze.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. We were talking about Pokemon before he decided it would be a great idea to hit on me. But then you swooped in to save the day! My hero~” Denki batted his eyelashes at Hanta playfully.

Logically, Hanta knew Denki’s default coping mechanism was humor and this was just him trying to put the asshole stranger out of his mind, but the mini-Hantas running around in his brain freaking out because Denki Batted His Eyelashes At Us We Are Very Gay Send Help didn’t register logic and continued to scream their heads off. But Hanta expressed none of this outwardly and just snorted. “Come on—wanna watch the girls give Midoriya a makeover?”

Chapter Text

“Brooooo, look at that!” came Eijirou’s excited voice. The Bakusquad were hanging out at the fair during a rare day of relaxation, the rest of their class scattered around the fairgrounds. Right now the five of them—minus Kyouka, who was on a date with Yaomomo—stood in front of a small contest stage.

“Wow,” Hanta remarked. “That is a giant Pikachu plushie.” Denki gaped at it (mouth open, tongue drooling, the whole spectacle). The plushie was in a sitting position, arms out and face beaming. It was as big—no even bigger —than Denki was. He wanted it.

“I want it,” Denki announced out loud. “It looks so soft and cute and huggable. Just imagine the cuddles I could get out of it.”

The Pikachu sat close enough to the front of the stage that they could almost touch it, if they had really long arms. Like, arms twice as long as their legs. Arms as long as their legs while holding one of those claw grabber thingies.

Okay, maybe they couldn’t touch it, but still . They could see it close up in its full, fluffy glory.

“Hey, are you guys admiring our Pikachu plushie?” A bubbly girl with bright green hair popped up from behind said plushie. “You can win it from our contest! Couples only, starts in an hour. I can give you a sheet if you’re signing up.”

Denki turned to Hanta immediately, because he might not have a boyfriend, but he did have a best friend who owed him so many favors for charging his phone (and who he’s totally not crushing on What Do You Mean). “Hanta, bro, please. I have never wanted anything more in my life.”

Mina draped herself over his shoulders and snorted. “Didn’t you say that last week about the cake Sato made?”

“His cakes are like heaven and angel tears rolled up in the burrito wrap of the gods, okay? Don’t judge me, Kiri said the same thing.” Denki crossed his arms and pouted. “Anyways, I have never wanted anything more in my life, Hanta, please help me .”

Katsuki (lovingly) smacked Denki in the back of the head. “Idiot, you didn’t even see what kind of fucking contest it is. Don’t just jump into it without being prepared.”

“Says you ,” Mina snickered.

“Oi, you wanna die?!”

“I’m a bad bitch, you can’t kill me,” she answered gleefully, ducking behind Eijirou.

While Eijirou tried to defuse the Bakubomb, Denki turned to the sign next to the Pikachu. “How well do you know your partner?” 

He turned to Hanta. “Hey, that doesn’t sound too hard! We know each other pretty well.” Denki wasn’t entirely sure how the kind of information he knew—like that Hanta still slept with a blanket his mom made him when he was a kid or that he hated eating foods with peanut butter in them but loved peanut butter candy—would help, but that was a problem for future Denki. Present Denki was willing to do anything for that Pikachu.

“I mean, it’ll be fun,” the taller boy shrugged. “I’m down.”

Denki cheered, and accepted a sheet from the girl. “Let’s goooo .”

<><><><><>

An hour later, they sat at opposite ends of a cheap plastic table in the middle of the stage, whiteboards clutched in their hands. The other two couples were arranged similarly on both sides of them, while the hostesses stood in the front and the prize Pikachu sat in the back.

“All right, let’s get started!” cheered the bubbly girl from earlier. “I’m Hina and this is Yumi.” She gestured to the pink haired girl beside her, who cheerfully waved to the crowd. “This is our ‘How Well Do You Know Your Partner’ contest for couples. It’s a lot harder than you’d think! We host this every day at the same time, so if you wanna participate but missed out today, you can always come back tomorrow! Now, can we get some introductions from our couples? We’ll start with you two,” she said, gesturing to the couple on the right of Denki and Hanta.

The shy looking boy and brown haired girl waved to the audience, introducing themselves as Yui and Haruto. “We’ve been together for over a year now, so I’m certain we’ll win!” Yui said, beaming at the audience. 

“All right, long term relationships are the best for this kind of contest!” Hina then turned to Denki and Hanta “How about you guys? What’s your juicy relationship story?”

“What up, people? I’m Denki, and this is Hanta, my best bro and the love of my life.” Denki flashed Hanta a dopey smile, and playfully batted his eyelashes, hamming it up for the crowd.

Hanta cracked up at his antics. “Bro, stop, you’re going to make me blush in front of all these people.”

“What a lovely relationship! We love the ones who can play around with their partners,” Hina grinned. “Now, what about our last couple?” 

“I’m Ayaka and my girlfriend is Sora,” boasted a girl with hair red enough to rival Eijirou’s. “We’re just here for the Pikachu!” Her girlfriend smacked her arm for being so blunt, but Ayaka’s grin didn’t falter.

Hina jumped in at the mention of the plushie. “That’s right! Our lovely prize, a giant stuffed Pikachu, will be in the possession of whoever wins our contest! The rules are simple: each of our contestants have a different color based on the seat they sit in, red or blue and a total of twelve questions will be directed to either color.”

Hina glanced at her partner, who smoothly picked up from there. “For example, if we ask Blue what Red’s favorite color is, Blue will write their guess on their whiteboard, while Red writes the correct answer on theirs. You’ll have thirty seconds to answer the question. Everybody got it?” The contestants all nodded back at her.

“Then let’s jump right in!” said Yumi. “First question: what is Blue’s favorite food?”

Okay, blue, that’s Hanta. Denki looked down at his whiteboard, thinking. Hanta loved anything orange or soy bean flavored, but Denki wasn’t sure which one was the favorite. Could he write down both? Would that be allowed?

“Ten seconds!” Yumi called. Okay then, no time to agonize. Denki quickly scribbled ‘soy bean flavored stuff’ down. Hanta drank soy bean milk all the time and hardly ever stole Denki’s orange juice, unlike some people who would remain unnamed (cough *MINA* cough). “Time’s up! Please flip your boards around to show the audience!”

Denki craned neck to see what Hanta wrote. “Hey, we wrote the same answer word for word,” he said, grinning at Hanta. They leaned across the table to slap a quick high-five as the announcers continued.

“Looks like everybody got this question right! Congratulations!” said Yumi. Hina made a show of adding points to a large whiteboard. “Next question: when is Red’s birthday?”

Denki wrote a neat “July 29th” on his board, smiling as a memory came to him—the first time the class shared birth dates. Denki had been so excited to find out that he and Hanta were born only a month apart.

“All right, another easy point for everybody,” cheered Hina. “Keep it up! The next question: what is Blue’s favorite hobby?”

Favorite hobby, huh? Well, they rarely had time for serious hobbies outside of hero-ing, but Denki remembered oohing and aahing with Mina and Eijirou over the beautifully hand-woven rugs and tapestries all over Hanta’s room. His family owned a crafts shop and Hanta always said it was fun playing with the patterns he could create and good stress relief to boot, so that was probably a safe guess.

“Let’s check your answers,” Yumi said, calling time. “Hm, looks like Yui and Haruto are the only ones missing this question.” Yui, the blue partner, frowned at her boyfriend, but softened when he murmured something back.

“I’m surprised you remember I like to weave,” Hanta said, a teasing glint in his eyes.

Denki snorted. “Your room is covered in the stuff. It’s kinda hard to forget.”

The next few questions go by without a hitch for them. “Hey, we’re doing pretty good,” Hanta said. “We’re the only ones who have a perfect score right now.”

“Heck yeah, that Pikachu’s gonna be mine ,” grinned Denki. He was honestly kind of surprised that they, the fake couple, were the ones with the perfect streak. But he couldn’t deny the burst of satisfaction that came with getting each question right.

“Okay, we’re getting into the more difficult questions now. Who was Red’s first kiss?”

Aw, shucks, this might actually throw our score off. Denki wasn’t sure if he ever told Hanta who his first kiss was—Denki himself couldn’t even remember who his first kiss was. He felt kinda bad for forgetting the guy’s name as he scribbled down “a boy in middle school” as his answer.  When the timer ran out, Hanta’s board only had a question mark on it.

“Sorry for ruining our streak, man.” 

“Nah, dude, you couldn’t have known since I never told you,” Denki answered, brushing it off. “But, hey, we still have the lead!” he beamed, waving at the scoreboard. 

Hanta returned his smile with one that did unspeakable things to Denki’s heart. Honestly, Denki could get drunk off Hanta’s smile. It was sweet and goofy and while Hanta wasn’t always smiling, the hint of it was always there, soft and tempting. Too many times Denki had caught himself besottedly mooning after Hanta’s lazy half smiles.

Too many times like right now , Denki realized. Get a grip , he scolded himself. Hanta will definitely notice if you keep staring at him!  

So he mentally gave his brain a good shake and focused on the next question: “What is Red’s weirdest fear?”

It would’ve be an easy point if the question was about biggest fear since it was common knowledge that Denki hated spiders as much as Katsuki loved swearing, but his weirdest fear? Denki had lots of fears, ranging from insects to angry pomeranians (thanks Katsuki) to forgetting his homework to Midoriya with no sleep (you’d understand if you saw him). But it had to be one that Hanta would remember, so maybe…..sand foxes?

Okay, listen, Denki knew next to nothing about sand foxes, but he did know that their faces were NOT NATURAL and CREEPED HIM OUT, so you were not allowed to laugh at him. Seriously, the first time Denki saw one, he couldn’t stop thinking about that face for hours. It still haunted him to this day; just thinking about it now gave him shivers. And the freak-out Denki had had was one for the books—there wasn’t a chance Hanta had forgotten about it.

“Alright, let’s see your answers!” A quick glance around revealed that only Denki and Hanta got this point.

“Dude, we’re totally gonna win,” Denki whisper-shouted excitedly, leaning into the table. “Look at how far we are compared to everyone else!”

It came as no surprise, then, that they did end up winning. The contestants lined up in front of tables as the game came to an end. “Hey, that was a great game! In third place, unfortunately, is Yui and Haruto, with six points.” Kinda strange, that the lowest-scoring couple had been together for over a year , Denki mused. Meh. Worked out in his favor. “Second place, we have Sora and Ayaka, with eight points. And finally, our winners, Denki and Hanta, with eleven points!”

Denki whooped, turning to high five Hanta enthusiastically. The other two couples filed off the stage as Yumi and Hina handed over their prize.

“I know the Pikachu is huge and kind of hard to carry, so you can leave it here until you’re ready to leave,” Hina told them. 

“Promise we won’t let anyone steal it,” Yumi winked.

“Nah, I think we have to go now,” Hanta shook his head. They bid goodbye to the two ladies and rejoined their waiting friends, each carrying an armful of the heavier-than-expected plush between them.

“Bro, it’s even bigger up close!” Eijirou exclaimed. 

“And it’s so fluffy I’m going to die!” squealed Mina. She stroked it reverently. “Denki, you have to bring it to our next Bakusquad sleepover.”

Denki laughed. “You know it!”

Chapter Text

“Hey, Mom, what’s up?” Denki greeted her over the phone. “And before you say anything, I’m going to do my laundry right now, so you can’t nag me about doing my chores.”

His mom huffed out a laugh. “And how long have you been putting that off, dear? If it’s not at least two weeks, I’ll eat my hair.”

“I am not going to answer that,” Denki replied primly, absolutely not sulking, thank you very much.

“Mhm, I thought so. Tell me about your week—how are your friends doing?” They chat for a few minutes about the latest Bakusquad shenanigans while Denki loaded the washing machine with a month’s worth of laundry.

Okay, maybe his mom was right and Denki shouldn’t have procrastinated his laundry that long, but he had enough clean clothes to last him the whole month, so it wasn’t like he’s wearing dirty clothes!

(And he was lazy. Sue him.)

Denki tried to keep the topic on trivial stuff, telling her about the fair they went to, but the conversation eventually turned to the dreaded subject.

“You know, Nakamura-san’s grandson was visiting the other day, remember him? He’s pretty cute.”

“Mom! Stop trying to set me up with random people!”

“Why? It’s not like you’re going to set yourself up,” she answered matter-of-factly.

“Well, what if I told you I got a boyfriend?” Immediate regret washed over him as soon as the sentence popped out of his mouth, but if it meant getting his mom off his back, then so be it.

“Really?” She sounded excited for a moment before her tone turned skeptical. “How come you didn’t tell me sooner? Are you making up a boyfriend to get me off your back?”

Before he could stop to think about it, Denki blurted out “Hanta!”

“What?”

“It’s, um, Hanta. My boyfriend. I’m dating Hanta.” Oh, he was so going to regret this later. “It’s really new, okay? I didn’t want to jinx anything.”

She squealed loud enough to make him wince. “Sweetie, that’s amazing! Hanta’s such a wonderful boy, I just knew you’d end up together someday!” Wait, what? What did she mean by that? Before he could say anything, though, she barreled on. “You know, I just got the wedding invitations from Akari yesterday, you should bring Hanta! I know Akari would love to meet him.”

Denki banged his head against the washing machine and resisted the urge to groan. He had been hoping his mom would just ask a few questions and he’d make some stuff up, but a wedding meant they’d have to pretend to be a couple. Gods, it meant Denki would have to ask Hanta to be his fake boyfriend. Denki wasn’t sure he could handle the embarrassment from that inevitable confrontation, let alone pretending to be lovey-dovey with Hanta. 

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” answered Denki, rubbing his head. “Just dropped something.”

“Okay, then. I have to go now, but your father and I are going shopping for his suit next week and we’re picking you up, okay? See if you can bring Hanta, dear.”

“Yeah, I’ll ask him. Bye, Mom, love you.” As soon as his mom hung up, Denki switched to his text thread with Hanta.

discount pikachu: 1:04 pm
hey bro can i call u

discount spiderman: 1:05 pm
ofc u can bro

“Yo, Denks, what’s up? You good?” Denki could practically see the face Hanta was making right now, all soft eyed and handsome and concerned. But considering Denki prefered to video chat and only ever called in an emergency, he wasn’t not wrong to be.

“I need you to be my fake boyfriend for my cousin’s wedding because my mom was trying to set me up, again, like I have a problem flirting for myself, so I told her I was already dating someone but she didn’t believe me and I panicked and told her you were my boyfriend and she said Akari was getting married and I should bring you as my plus one, not that I wouldn’t’ve brought you anyways, and did I mention we’re going suit shopping with my parents next week?” Having said that all in one breath, Denki’s voice rose steadily and was squeakier than a broken shopping cart wheel by the end.

Hanta cracked up, full on wheezing, as he struggled to form a response. He gave up after a few minutes, muffled thumps indicating his rolling on the floor.

“Don’t laugh at me, you jerk! How was I supposed to know she’d want you to meet my entire extended family?”

Chapter Text

Denki’s parents had agreed to take them suit shopping on Sunday, so the day found the two of them by the UA Gates, waiting to be picked up.

Hanta watched as Denki fiddled with the strings of his hoodie. He bounced on the balls of his feet as he rambled to Hanta about the cousin whose wedding they were attending.

“I bet Akari’s parents aren’t super thrilled she’s getting married so soon. They’re kinda conservative, and Akari’s still in college—won’t graduate for another year, I think, but Akari told me she and Toshi have been together since forever, and honestly, I think they’re really good for each other, so—”

“Dude, breathe,” Hanta chuckled. “You’re talking almost as fast as Midoriya.”

Denki stopped, a sheepish expression creeping onto his face. “Yeah, I know,” he sighed. “I’m just nervous about you meeting my parents.”

“Hey, I’ve met your parents before. They’re pretty chill, and I’m pretty sure they like me. Nothing to worry about.”

“I know you’ve met them, just—not as my boyfriend. Or, fake boyfriend, I guess. I just don’t wanna deal with all the questions I know my mom’s gonna ask us.”

“We’ve been through our story a thousand times,” Hanta reminded him reassuringly. “You made sure of it.” He changed tack abruptly, spotting something over Denki’s shoulder. “Anyways, you don’t have any more time to worry—your parents are here.”

Denki startled, spinning around. His dad’s car, an old but well loved sedan, pulled up next to him. Despite being older than both of them, the car had a surprisingly silent engine, especially when compared to others its age. Given Kaminari Kentaro’s hobby of tinkering, Hanta was willing to bet many of the car’s parts weren’t the same ones first installed in the car.

Denki’s dad rolled down his window and grinned at them. “Did I spook ya, Denki? I thought you were a hero! You’re supposed to be made of stronger stuff than that!”

“I was just surprised,” Denki protested as he and Hanta climbed into the backseat. “Don’t make fun of me.”

“But you make it so easy, kiddo!” he cackled, pulling out. The father and son duo playfully bickered back and forth as Hanta and Denki’s mom watched, amused.

At first glance, it was easy to assume Denki took after his mother. Kaminari Haya was a petite woman with blonde hair, the same black streak of lightning on her left side, and warm golden eyes. Denki was practically the spitting image of her. But personality-wise? All his dad, an energetic man who remembered jokes better than he did facts, and was one of the most genuinely clueless people Hanta had ever met, despite being one of the best inventors in the support world. 

They arrived at a fancy looking store not long after, all glass and sharp angles. If he had just passed it on the street, Hanta would’ve never guessed that they sold suits. 

“I didn’t know there were so many kinds of suits,” Denki whispered to him as they walked in. “I’m kind of overwhelmed.”

“Honestly, same,” Hanta agreed. “But, hey, that’s what your parents are here for.”

“Yeah, but my mom is going to be so picky about it,” Denki sighed.

“Hey, I’ll only be picky if you make up your mind about what you want for once,” his mom interjected good-naturedly.

“I can make up my mind!” he protested. “I’m great at making up my mind!”

She laughed and ruffled his hair.

<><><><><>

“You know, I thought your parents would have more questions,” Hanta commented. They had been at the store for close to an hour now, but so far Denki and Hanta had been left to their own devices. Hanta wasn’t entirely sure what Denki’s parents had been doing, but it hadn’t involved their inputs.

But of course, as if there was a higher force making a living shitting on poor bastards who start to feel like nothing bad’s gonna happen, Denki’s mom started towards them before the sentence fully left his mouth.

Hanta knew that he didn’t need to be so worried (“we’ve been through our story a thousand times”), but he couldn’t help the rapidly speeding thumps of his heart. Could you blame him? This might’ve been fake, but it was still Denki’s mom, as in, the mother of the guy he was literally in love with. He couldn’t help the thoughts running rampant in his head. What if she knew it was fake? What if she grilled him about their relationship and Hanta forgot everything he and Denki came up with? What if he made himself so nervous he threw up on her shoes and they got kicked out of the store because of his puke and Denki’s parents decided Hanta wasn’t boyfriend material and made them break up?

Okay, that last one might be a little overdramatic, but Hanta was really really nervous, okay?

“So,” she started conversationally. This was it. Time to throw up square up and face the music. Hanta was a big boy now; he did his own laundry and changed his own diapers and everything. He could face one—slightly scary, if he was being honest—mother. “How did you meet my Denki? I don’t think he’s mentioned it before.” Her gaze turned mischievous and, for a brief moment, looked just like Denki’s let’s-pull-an-epic-prank face. “I bet he either introduced himself with a pick up line or embarrassed himself.”

Hanta blinked, slightly startled but infinitely more relaxed. He'd forgotten how much of Denki’s humor he’d gotten from his mom; this he could deal with.

“Yeah, he did, actually.” It was one of his favorite stories to tell. “It was the first day of school, right, and I’m excited as hell, because I mean this is the hero course , who wouldn’t be excited? But I was also really nervous, because I heard that Todoroki Shouto was gonna be at UA. And on top of that, you know Bakugou Katsuki? He’s actually a big softie when you get to know him, but my first impression of him was that he was a really scary dude. But then Denki walks in, and he notices my tape dispensers, and he just lights up —no pun intended. And before I can say anything, he goes–”

“Are you a tape dispenser? Because I’m stuck on you,” Denki butted in, winking dramatically. “Hanta says that he didn’t realize his feelings for me until a few months ago, but I know that’s when he really fell for me.”

Denki’s mom laughed out loud, a boisterous sound that was quite frankly shocking coming from a woman as tiny as she was. “Ah, that sounds like you, alright!” Hanta laughed along, forgetting why he was ever nervous.