Work Text:
It all began one day in April, in Midnight’s modern hero art history class. The weather was beginning to change into springtime, and today was particularly warm. Usually, a nice day like this meant Kaminari would spend the class period staring out the windows, imagining the feel of the sun rather than the tough air conditioning within UA.
But today, simply by chance, he decided to flip open the old art textbook that sat under every student’s desk instead of daydreaming. And, simply by chance, he found a note scrawled in the margin of the page for today’s lesson.
first question say Kahlo. extra credit
Denki considered the words on the paper. Whoever wrote it must be from the class before him because Art History was 1-A’s second period of the day. Who was Midnight’s first period… some Gen Ed class, maybe?
Oh, well. It couldn’t hurt to try. It’s not like it’ll be anything new if I make a fool of myself, Denki thought.
“ ‘At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.’ ” Midnight began class abruptly, putting an end to the chatter as everyone clambered into their seats. “Does anyone know who said this quote?”
Unsurely, Kaminari raised his hand. It was a new sensation. Usually, he sat quietly and let the information fly over his head. Mina glanced at him with an eyebrow raised.
“Denki! Go ahead, who do you think it was?”
“Uhhh, Kahlo?” he tried to pronounce the foreign name
Midnight looked surprised. “ Very good, Denki, it was Frida Kahlo! I’ll give you 5 points extra credit on today’s assignment for that!”
Kirishima poked Kaminari’s shoulder from the seat next to him. “Dude! How’d you get that?!” he whispered.
Kaminari shrugged and turned back to his book.
thanks! :)
He scribbled out the reply with a grin.
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Denki didn’t expect anything else to come of the interaction, until the very next day when another message appeared for him in the margin of the textbook. He had grabbed it and flipped to the page on the history of Modernism, preparing to take notes, when the writing caught his eye.
no problem – whats your name?
This was certainly an interesting development. He decided to reply again; it would certainly make this class a bit more interesting.
Denki Kaminari!
He paused, then added beneath it:
wbu?
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Kaminari? from class 1A? ⚡️⚡️⚡️
The lightning bolt doodles next to his name made Denki laugh out loud. So he was already this famous, good to know! But the other person hadn’t answered his question. Kaminari had been looking to get this kid’s name, but instead:
im just a guy from class C, nothing special here.
Something about the reply was off-putting. So he was playing hard to get, hmm? That’s ok, Denki was up for the challenge. It’s not like he had better things to do during art history.
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Their conversations continued for weeks, at an excruciatingly slow pace. With every day that passed, Kaminari found himself more and more charmed by this mysterious individual. The margins of the textbook slowly filled, at first with snippets of sentences, and more recently, with long paragraphs of chit-chat. Their doodles filled the frame of the book, sentences wrapped around pictures of clay statues.
Kaminari almost regretted that they would probably have to replace the book at the end of the year. Almost.
how was your day?
the answer to #4 is the renaissance. that one stumped me :(
what is your class doing for the school festival? i can’t wait to see it. we’re just selling onigiri at a stand…
i saw you on tv, blondie. nice job saving that girl. too bad you didn’t get interviewed (todoroki barely did anything, anyway)
i hope you had a nice night, you seemed upset yesterday.
how’s your hero internship going?
Every snippet of conversation with this mystery man made Denki long to know him even more. After nearly a month, Kaminari had made up his mind. He would meet this person if it was the last thing he did!
“Plan Alpha” was simple. Denki would leave his glasses in Midnight’s room, and the next morning, he would barge into her first period to get them!
…If only Tsu hadn’t noticed them on the table.
Okay then, Plan Beta! He could arrive to Midnight’s class early and bump into the other kid as that class left the room!
…If only Aizawa hadn’t made him stay after class for a lecture.
Plan Gamma! Kaminari would accidentally walk into the wrong classroom in the morning, glance and who was in his seat, and then run away!
…If only he didn’t meet up with Kirishima and Sero in the hallway.
Denki was dejected. What letter even came after Gamma…?
The truth was, he really liked Mr. Mystery Textbook Man, and when the rest of his class tended to overlook him, it was nice to talk to someone who really seemed to care every day. A faceless and nameless someone, but still someone.
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Speaking of his classmates, they had noticed something was up. In the Lunch Rush Cafeteria, Kaminari’s friends wouldn’t stop bothering the electric boy, who leaned on the table with his head in his arms.
“Kami, you haven’t even touched your pudding! Pudding, man, your favorite!” Kirishima slapped him on the back.
“Hey, if he’s not gonna eat it, more for me~” Mina giggled. She reached across the table to grab his dessert. “But seriously, dude, what’s wrong?”
Sero tilted his head and tried to look Denki in the eye. “C’mon, Denks, you’re never this quiet.”
Kaminari didn’t want to worry them, so he propped himself up on his elbows. “I’ve – and this is gonna sound silly, but – I’ve just been talking to this guy, from Class C,”
Mina gasped. “Romance? Heartbreak? The plot of a manga in the making?”
He couldn’t help but snort at that. “Not exactly. See, the problem is, I have no idea which guy it is. I don’t even know his name.”
“... Do I even want to know?”
Kaminari groaned and buried his face back into his arms, muffling his voice. “It’s so annoying, though, because I really like talking to him nowwww,” he whined.
Bakugou, who had been getting his lunch, slammed his tray down on the table across from Kaminari. The rest of his friends jumped at the noise. “Oi, idiot, why don’t you just ask class C which one of ‘em it is?”
The other four at the table stared at him.
He scowled back. “I’ll do it, if it gets you to stop whining,”
“Bakubro, I don’t know if that’s a good idea–”
“No, no no no, wait, STOP THAT! BAKUGOU!”
“That might not be the best way to handle–”
All at one, Kaminari’s friends tried to stop the angry blonde. All at once, they failed.
Bakugou waltzed to a table a few rows behind them. His friends watched in shock as he hollered, “OI! CLASS C! WHICH ONE’A YOU FUCKERS HAS BEEN TOYING AROUND WITH DUNCE FACE?!”
Ever so slowly, someone raised their hand. “I believe it might be me.”
“THEN GO FUCKIN’ TALK TO HIM!”
If he ignored the sound of Bakugou screeching, the other boy’s voice was rough, and deep, and rather undeniably attractive. Kaminari followed the sound as he scanned the Class C lunch table, and…
Oh.
Oh.
The voice matched its owner. Kaminari’s mind went blank at the sight of messy indigo hair, and broad shoulders, and strong arms, and dark, dark purple eyes, and oh my goodness Denki didn’t know how he hadn’t short-circuited yet.
The boy walked over to their table in silence. Luckily, most of the rest of the lunch room had ignored Bakugou’s outburst. Otherwise, Denki would have died of embarrassment right there.
Kaminari’s stranger produced a small slip of paper and a pen from the pocket of his uniform. He bent over their lunch table to write something, and oh, Denki had the perfect view of his legs, and his arms,, and his–
He slid the piece of paper to Denki and walked away, hands in his pockets.
shinsou hitoshi
XXX-XXX-XXXX
call me ;)
He knew right away, the handwriting was a perfect match.