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A couple months into joining the hero course, Shinsou had grown accustomed to the intricacies of 1-A. He wasn’t outgoing in any sense of the word, but he got along ok. Bakugou was not to be angered, Kaminari was the jokester, and Midoryia was even a little too friendly. But lately the class had been feeling off balance. Usually homeroom was a bit too chaotic for his taste, but today a certain loud blonde was missing.
“I haven’t seen him since combat training yesterday.”
“Me neither”
Aizawa sighed. “Shinsou, go see what’s keeping the problem child and get him down here.”
It was a normal enough instruction- Shinsou had a reputation amongst the UA staff for being studious and responsible, so he was often the student sent on errands, especially now that he was in his dad’s homeroom.
Shinsou tested the door halfheartedly, expecting it to be locked. Instead the door opened, revealing a horrifying sight. Clothes lay strewn across the floor and a pile of Monster cans peeked out from under the bed. The worst part was seeing Denki curled up on his bed, arms wrapped tight around a Pikachu plushie and staring at the ceiling with his headphones in. His chest rose and fell rapidly, as if he had just run a marathon.
“Are you ok?”
Denki sat up suddenly, his earbuds falling out. He stared blankly at the boy standing in the doorway, then glanced behind him. It was as if he hadn’t quite registered that they were alone in his room. “Are.. are you asking m-me?”
The other boy rolled his eyes in response.
“Sorry I just-” Denki forced a laugh, but it came across a bit creepy when Shinsou met his misty gaze. “No one asks me that, dude! I’m all good.” He offered a thumbs up, which did little to convince the purple haired teen. Shinsou raised an eyebrow at that, and apparently that was enough to dissolve Denki’s cheerful front. He collapsed back onto the bed, returning his gaze to the ever fascinating ceiling. “Tell Aizawa I’m sick.”
“Are you?” There was a short moment of silence “I”m not lying to my dad for you, Kaminari.”
The blonde sighed, rolling over to face the other boy. “I’m surviving, not thriving, my guy.” Shinsou took the opportunity to activate his quirk. “Tell me what’s wrong with you, Kami.” “Short-circuiting puts stress on my central nervous system.” The purple haired boy sighed. “Okayy... how are you feeling?” “Everything is too much, I can’t do it.” The words came in a rush of desperation and fear. “Nothing I do is enough and god the jokes. They’re too much- I’m tired of pretending it’s funny when I short-circuit. The truth is I feel so alone and powerless in those moments and no one even asks if I’m ok and I can’t even tell anyone how I feel because the only reason people want me around is to be the butt of the joke. But they treat me like an idiot who can’t even control his quirk, like I’m not useful for anything else.” An awkward silence flooded the room as Shinsou took in Denki’s words.
“I don’t know how much this means coming from me since we’re not close at all but I don’t think you’re an idiot. Anyone can see how hard you try in class, and you had some pretty smart ideas in the training exercise yesterday.”
Shinsou deactivated his quirk and sat on the edge of Denki’s bed, pulling out his phone. He flipped through his contacts to D for “Dadzawa” and hit call.
“Shinsou? What’s keeping you so long-”
“Kaminari isn’t doing great. Nothing Recovery Girl can change; I’m going to stay and keep an eye on him.” The blonde’s head shot up at the mention of his name, and he gazed wide-eyed as Shinsou hung up on Aizawa. “Y-you’re not going back to class? It’s not like I’m sick-” “But you obviously need emotional support, and I’m already here, so there we go.” Denki laughed bitterly, roughly rubbing away the tears on his cheeks. “Obvious, huh? Sorry I’m so pitiful to you, Shinsou.”
Hitoshi leaned closer, pulling Denki’s hands away and gently wiping away a tear with his thumb. “Hitoshi.. Call me Hitoshi. I mean we’re friends, right?”
“F-friends? I thought you ‘didn’t come here to make friends’”.
“I didn’t, but you grew on me.”
“I did?”
“Yup. And now as your friend I’m going to help you with this mess.”
He gestured to the cluttered room around them.
Denki pouted at him. “I just don’t have the motivation. It’s not like you can just make me.” His eyes lit up a little. “Or maybe you can with your quirk!”
“No, that’s not-! I mean I could, but.. no! I know my power’s kinda messed up but I’d never-”
“Would you, though? For me?” Denki’s eyes shined hopefully and Hitoshi just sighed, knowing he couldn’t help but give in. He was rewarded with a grin.
“Ok.. first, tell me to do my homework.”
The next few hours went by quickly to the rhythm of:
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.” or sometimes just “Yup!”
“Clean up that trash.” or “Drink this water.”
A bond of trust grew between the two boys with each use of Hitoshi’s quirk, enough that he had the confidence to go a step further to help Denki. When he reached his final command on the list, which was to eat, Denki had started to doze off and kept biting his tongue, cancelling out the quirk. Eventually Shinsou had an idea and turned to Denki, blushing faintly.
“What if I just feed you? I mean you’re too tired to do it yourself so..”
“Ok!” He hadn’t expected him to agree so quickly. Soon Denki was awkwardly clambering over Hitoshi, trying to find a good position. Shinsou carefully spoonfed Denki bites of rice and vegetables, feeling oddly serene, until the food was all gone.
With Denki sprawled across his lap, Hitoshi absentmindedly went through the other’s math homework, checking his work. “Kaminari?” No response. “Uhm… Denki?” Denki’s eyes fluttered open. “Hm?” Hitoshi brandished the assignment, uncharacteristically excited. “These are right. All of them.” “I’ll have to have you brainwash me into doing my homework everyday then.” Denki yawned. The other boy shook his head. “That’s not how my quirk works. I can only make you do things within your abilities. Meaning-” “I really do get it!” Seeing how happy Denki was made Hitoshi impulsively reach out and ruffle his hair. “See? Super smart, you just need to stop doubting yourself.”
“Denki?”
“Yeah?”
“Go to sleep.”
Based on how quickly Denki fell asleep as Hitoshi played with his hair, he was nearly convinced that he had activated his quirk on accident.