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Shinsou is lying in bed, scrolling through Pinterest as he waits for the sun to rise. He, like his father, is an insomniac, so most nights, he is up late doing whatever he can to pass the time before he has to go to school. The dark circles under his eyes and his constant half-dead demeanor make his insomnia obvious, so whenever his classmates can’t sleep, they tend to text him to chat.
He doesn’t mind, really. Being an introvert makes it harder for him to make friends, so he usually welcomes the bonding that comes with a 3 am chat session, mostly with Denki or Midoriya.
This morning, it’s Denki, and he has an unusual request.
“Hey, I’m starving. Wanna go to the dep with me?” is the text Shinsou receives at 2:47 am. It’s Wednesday and they have class in a few hours, but they have English first and his pops is quite easy when it comes to rules.
He and the blonde have been progressively getting closer and closer for the past week. Ever since they got back from spring break, Denki has been up later and later and has been texting Shinsou most nights. Shinsou has even learned to expect the boy at some point, and even questions his absence when he does sleep through the night. Tonight, however, is the first night that Denki has asked him to go outside with him, and while he is concerned for the blonde’s health, he does smile at the thought of an adventure.
“Sure” is all he replies and after a few minutes, he hears a soft knock on his door. He gets up to check and sees a smiling Denki in front of him, dressed in stylish casual wear. His breath hitches a bit. He forgot how pretty the boy is.
“Hey! Ready to go? I’ll pay,” Denki says cheerily, resting his side on the door frame as he gives Shinsou a thumbs-up.
“Yeah, hang on,” Shinsou says as he grabs his mug from the side of the bed. The dep nearby has decent coffee, and he always prefers to bring his own mug. He then walks over to a grinning Denki and closes the door.
“Whatcha smiling at, blondie?” Denki blushes a bit at the nickname, then playfully nudges the insomniac with his elbow before they start walking down the hallway.
“Your cat mug. It’s adorable,” Denki says, which prompts Shinsou to examine it. It’s a simple black mug, but with cat ears coming out of the top, and the handle is the tail. Two beady eyes are on the front, with whiskers painted on in a cartoon fashion. His dad got it for him for his birthday last year, and he uses it every morning to keep him awake. His dad actually has a matching one, but it is designed based on one of their cats (brown and black). He has a few mugs, but the cat one immediately became his favorite. After all, no amount of fun thermoses can beat the appeal of cats.
He smiles at his mug. “Yeah, it is adorable,” He replies. Denki laughs a bit before opening the door to the stairs for Shinsou.
“After you, milady,” Denki teases. Shinsou rolls his eyes, but goes through the door nonetheless, chuckling.
In the common room, Shinsou and Denki try to sneak out of the front door, hoping that no one is awake this early (or late) to question them. The boys flinch as they hear a soft but commanding “Hey” from the kitchen. Shinsou curses under his breath. Denki looks at the boy in confusion before the realization hits and he mouths “ohhh” before trying to sneak out again.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Aizawa calls from the kitchen, walking over with a suspiciously familiar cat mug in his hand. He looks over at the blonde next to his son, raises an eyebrow, and brings the coffee to his lips, taking a long sip as the boys squirm under his glare.
“Uhh… what are you doing up so early in the morning?” Denki sputters out, trying to deflect the question. Shinsou looks over at the blonde and grabs the boy’s hand reflexively to try and calm him. A light shock shoots up his hand and he hears Denki mutter a quiet apology. He looks at the boy who has a light blush on his cheeks and processes how pretty the boy is while a blush forms on his own face. Shinsou hadn’t really thought about grabbing the boy’s hand, but now it is the only thing he can think about. His mind is buzzing with the electricity shooting through him, both because of Denki’s shock, but also because of how much he enjoys the contact.
“I never sleep,” Aizawa replies, eyes locked on their interlocking hands. He smirks at the boys, taking another sip of his coffee before locking eyes with Shinsou again and nodding. “Just get to class on time,” he adds before walking back to his room, muttering something about telling Mic about this. Shinsou feels his cheeks flush, but he ignores it, pulling the blonde out the door with him.
“Holy shit, he let us go! I was not expecting that,” Denki exclaims the second they’re out the door. He looks up at Shinsou in admiration, grinning from ear to ear. “I thought he would take one look at me and send us back. Man, hanging out with the teacher’s son really does pay off,” Denki adds and Shinsou smirks at the boy.
“Oh, so you’re just using me to get off campus, huh?” Shinsou teases, jabbing the blonde lightly in the ribs with his elbow. Denki laughs fully and Shinsou can’t help the smile that crosses his face. He is so used to being on the outside of this excitement, so having it directed at him feels different. It’s quite refreshing.
“Yes, now let’s go before your dad changes his mind,” Denki says while laughing, pulling Shinsou after him with the hand he is holding and running towards the door. Shinsou laughs as he jogs to keep up with the energetic blonde.
The boys arrive at the depanneur, hand in hand.
Denki’s stomach immediately grumbles as soon as they enter.
“Oh, wow, I am STARVING. Food time!!!” Denki sings as he skips around the store, Shinsou in tow as he frolics through the aisles, examining all the goods intensely.
“How much food do you need?” Shinsou asks as Denki grabs 10 packages of gummies, struggling to hold them all in the one hand he has available.
“Shhhhhhh,” Denki shushes him as he drops more gummy packages on the ground. He drops down to get them, pulling Shinsou down with him. The boy laughs as he watches the blonde scramble to pick them up, looking around for more snacks to scavenge. Shinsou tries to put some of the gummy bags back, knowing that the boy can’t get through 10 packages in one night, but Denki just hisses at him.
“My preciousssss,” Denki hisses, his face breaking into a grin as he laughs at his own joke, still not letting up on his death-grip on the gummies.
“Ok, Gollum, how about we grab two gummy bags, and then go to the chips, ok?” Shinsou reasons and is met with an exaggerated pout from the blond. He sighs dramatically, playing up all his reactions for Shinsou’s entertainment, then returns some bags to the shelf.
“Fine, you’re no fun. I want to keep the gay bacon, though. And the sour cherries. They’re my faves. Don’t you DARE take them away from me.” Denki looks and sounds like a toddler who isn’t allowed to play with his friends, pouting in a way that Shinsou has to admit is quite adorable.
“Of course, keep those. Now, chips?” Shinsou coaxes, pulling the blonde towards that section of the store. Denki relaxes a bit and stomps behind Shinsou all the way to the chips, not before reaching over and grabbing another bag of candy, this one a spicy-flavored gummy. Shinsou groans when he sees the flavor, but doesn’t make the blonde put it back. The grumbling of the blonde’s stomach convinces Shinsou to let the boy get the extra snacks.
Denki’s mouth starts to water as he walks to the chips, soaking in the glory of the aisle of horrid-flavored snack foods. His eyes scan the chips, glossing over the classic flavors, and his gaze stops on the chips on the far right. He starts grinning like a madman and pulls Shinsou over to them, hopping as he picks up three different cans and holds them out proudly for Shinsou to see and admire.
Hot wings, poutine, and birthday cake flavored Pringles were not what the boy was expecting, but he had to admit that, despite how awful they sound, they did intrigue him. He lets go of the blonde’s hand, taking the chips and carrying them to the cash.
“Wait!!” Denki calls out, almost tripping over himself as he runs after Shinsou, gummies in tow. “What about your coffee?” Shinsou glances down and realizes that he still has his empty cat mug in his arms, underneath the atrocious chips. He was so distracted by the disaster that is Denki Kaminari that he forgot about the most important meal of the day: coffee. He sighs, puts the chips down on the counter at the front, his chip flavor selection earning him a strange look from the cashier, and he makes his way over to the coffee machine. He reaches for the fully caffeinated one, filling his mug before adding that to their growing pile of junk at the cash.
Denki puts his gummies down at the cash, and Shinsou feels tension leave his body. He doesn’t like being outside around strangers for long, and the knowledge that he should be able to go back to his room soon is relieving. He looks over at Denki to see if he should pay or not when he sees the boy milling around the “fresh” food by the cash register, picking things up and smelling them, no doubt checking if they’re expired or not.
“No. Please don’t,” Shinsou pleads, hoping the boy will back off of the “food”. No one ever buys the “fresh” stuff at the dep, so it is bound to be at least a few months old. Denki locks eyes with the boy, smiles, and grabs six muffins to add to their stock. At Shinsou’s groans, he just smiles deeper and asks the cashier to ring it all up.
“I know you’re disappointed in me, but I’ve always wanted to try one. I’ll pay for your coffee, though, so you don’t kill me,” Denki says, justifying his horrid decisions. Shinsou wants to say that to try a food, you don’t need to buy six of them, but it isn’t his money, so he lets it go. The cashier tries to hide a small laugh while watching their shenanigans, packing their food, and ringing it up on the cash. Denki pays and grabs the bags while Shinsou gets his mug, and then they both head out, Denki’s hand finding his once again.
They make their way into the dorm building and start going up the stairs. They get to Denki’s floor and Shinsou goes to say goodbye when the blonde just keeps walking up the stairs, never letting go of his hand. Shinsou hesitates for a second, then follows the blonde up the stairs. When they get to Shinsou’s floor, Denki turns down the hallway and stops in front of Shinsou’s door, waiting.
“Oh, sure, just invite yourself over, why don’t you?” Shinsou quips, smirking at the blonde as he blushes and stumbles over his words.
“Sorry, I should have asked. Can I come over? I mean, I got all this food and I thought we would share and hang out since we both won’t be able to sleep. You can say no. I know you think my food is gross…” Denki goes on, backing away from the door, his confidence from before slowly disappearing and being replaced with nervous energy. Shinsou stares at the boy and nudges him lightly in the arm before going to unlock the door.
“It’s fine, Denki. Calm down. I was just joking. Come on in,” Shinsou replies, leading the way into his room, putting the snacks on the floor and sitting down, motioning for Denki to follow. The blonde smiles at him, jumpiness restored as he closes the door behind him and plops down on the floor. He drops the food into the center, leaning over it to decide what to eat first. Shinsou grins at him while taking a sip of his coffee, a striking resemblance to his dad when they saw him earlier.
“Theoretically, if I were to mix the three Pringles flavors together, what would happen?” Denki asks him, already reaching to open the tubes and pull out a few chips from each.
“You might actually die. It might be too much chaos for even you to handle,” Shinsou replies, smirking at the boy who makes a pouty face in return before going back to his chips. He takes one from each container and stacks them, then holds them up for Shinsou to see.
“Don’t they do this in the ads? They stack the flavors to get the maximum impact or something? It’s what you’re supposed to do with Pringles.” Denki says before putting the three chips in his mouth. Shinsou looks at him in horror as he chews, then swallows the chips and smiles. “They don’t even taste that bad!”
“You’re gonna be the death of me, blondie. I hope you know that.” Denki blushes at the nickname, charging the air with electricity and when Denki goes to pass Shinsou the chips, he shocks the boy by accident.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. This keeps happening. Oh man I’m really bad at this,” Denki rambles, and Shinsou stares at the boy, questioning. Denki always seems like the confident type, flirting with people as if it was second nature. And yet, here he is, blushing on his bedroom floor and apologizing. He has never seen the boy this jumpy before. It’s quite cute, he thinks.
“Hey, Blondie, it’s fine. The shocks don’t even hurt. Just try to calm down, ok? It’s fine” Shinsou reassures as he assembles his chip sandwich. He puts it together, showing it to Denki to get the boy’s approval. He smiles back, a confirmation, and Shinsou closes his eyes before taking a big bite.
It’s not even that bad.
Well, it tastes horrendous. Whoever thought these flavors would go well together was clearly wrong. Buffalo sauce mixed with gravy mixed with cake is not a combination anyone should ever seek out, but the expression of shock and amusement on Denki’s face makes the chips worthwhile.
“Oh my god you actually ate it. I wasn’t expecting you to. It’s so bad. You should see the look on your face. It looks like you just ate an expired burrito.” Denki laughs at him, the electricity in the room dissipating with the calmer aura around the blonde.
“Of course I ate it. You looked like you were dying. I had to, it’s called being polite. I won’t eat any more of your bullshit snacks, though. This is it. I don’t trust you anymore.” Denki gives him a fake pout and they both laugh, easing into the moment. The taste of the chips is still on his tongue, but all he can think about is how happy Denki looked when he ate them. Sometimes, the suffering is worth it.
“You have to make it up to me now,” Shinsou adds and Denki looks at him questioningly.
“And how could I do that, milady?” Denki responds, earning him a light nudge from Shinsou, which he laughs off.
“You have to try the stale muffins,” Shinsou says, and Denki nods in agreement before picking one up and unwrapping it.
“I can do that. That’s not even that bad a punishment. I’m so excited. It’s going to taste so awful,” Denki says enthusiastically, making eye contact with Shinsou and winking. “Wish me luck!” he says,and takes a huge bite out of the chocolate muffin.
Denki’s expression makes Shinsou laugh so hard he almost falls over. Denki starts chewing the muffin, looking thoughtful as he tastes it. Then, he keeps chewing, and chewing, and chewing. Denki starts to look a bit disgusted as he says “oh frick frack this is dry,” and continues to eat it. After what seems like forever, the blonde finally stops chewing and swallows the muffin with a groan, coughing a bit when done.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend the muffins,” Denki says, coughing from the dryness of the muffin. Shinsou stares at him, incredulous, and starts laughing. Denki joins in, and the atmosphere around them starts to lighten into acomfortable happiness. He hasn’t felt this comfortable around anyone at the school yet, but something about Denki makes him feel like he doesn’t have to hide anymore.
“Wow, judging from your reaction, I thought the muffins were exquisite. Almost like they were made by Satou. They seemed like the best muffins on Earth.” Shinsou’s mocking incites an even louder laugh from the blonde, making him start coughing all over again.
“Oh, that hurts. The dryness is painful. If you think the muffins are so good, why don’t you try one, huh?” Denki adds, picking up a cranberry muffin and shoving it in Shinsou’s face, making the boy dodge and almost spill his coffee. He cusses, leans over to put his coffee down on a flat surface a distance from them, and comes back to the muffin in his face again. He swats it away, but Denki keeps bringing it back, laughing harder and harder every time. Denki’s happiness is contagious and causes Shinsou to join in, cackling as he dodges muffins that Denki then starts throwing at him. Eventually, the boys fall over, laughing so hard they start gasping for breath, surrounded by muffins on the floor.
The boys slowly start to calm down, their breathing slowing and only the occasional faint chuckle is left of the audible excitement. The air around them has gone from electric and exciting to a calm happiness; the atmosphere feels like a nice blanket: warm and comforting, but subtle and not as pungent as the earlier feel. Shinsou looks over at the blonde, and he seems to have relaxed into the room, eyes closing before fluttering open and looking around some more. His breathing has slowed and he looks like he could take a nap any second.
“You sure you don’t wanna sleep?” Shinsou asks as the blonde stirs again from his slow drift into sleep.
“Nah, I wanna stay up with you and eat more candy.” Denki smiles at Shinsou and he feels his heartbeat speed up all over again. Before he can stop it, a smile slips onto his face and he feels light as air. This is why people make friends, he thinks. This is the feeling that people seek. This happiness, this contentment with the world.
“Ok, we have to eat the gay bacon next. The gaycon, if you will,” Denki says, pushing himself up with one elbow as he reaches over and grabs the package, tearing it open. Shinsou stays lying on the ground as he watches Denki get some “bacon” out and passes one to Shinsou. He looks at the blonde hesitantly, remembering the disaster that was the chip combo, but Denki’s smiling response is enough to convince him to try. Denki eats one as well, putting some in his mouth and has the rest spilling out of his mouth, making him look like he has an extra-long rainbow tongue. Shinsou snickers as he eats his own, copying Denki’s motion until they’re both laughing again, eating the candy. They eat one, then Denki hands them each another and they do the same thing, forming a rhythm of joking, eating, laughing, and starting again. Then, they get to the last piece. Denki holds it up between them, contemplating what to do, then he smirks as he locks eyes with Shinsou.
“We must share the last piece, in accordance with Ancient scripture.”
“What?” is the only reply Shinsou comes up with as Denki scoots closer, leaving only a few inches separating them.
“We have to share it,“ he says, holding out the piece to Shinsou. The boy looks at him in confusion and goes to take the piece when Denki doesn’t let go.
“Um, how will we share if you won’t let me take it?” Shinsou asks, and it hits him as soon as he sees Denki grasp on one end, offering the other to Shinsou.
“Have you ever seen Lady and the Tramp?”
Shinsou’s mind goes blank. He stares at the blonde and all he sees is a mischievous look as he waits for Shinsou to respond. Shinsou feels strange. His mind is working a thousand miles a minute, but he cannot form one singular complete thought. His heart is racing and his palms are sweaty. His tongue goes dry, about as dry as those fucking muffins they got, and he cannot stop staring at the boy patiently sitting in front of him. Why does he want to do this? They just met, they have barely been talking. Well, if you can count chatting every single night for the past week as “barely”. Shinsou takes a minute to process what is going on and when he focuses on Denki again, the boy’s smirk is gone, the earlier embarrassment returning.
“I mean, you don’t have to. I just thought it would be fun...” Denki trails off, looking down at his hands, starting to lower the candy. Shinsou almost leaps up, grabbing the hand that holds the candy and holding it back up, staring Denki down.
“It’s fine. I was just confused, is all. Why are you even doing all this, with me, anyways? We barely know each other?” Shinsou asks and Denki softens, looking him in the eyes. He chuckles lightly, as if to ease the tension, and he thinks for a second before replying, softer than Shinsou has ever heard him speak before.
“I guess I like you? I don’t know. We started chatting a little while ago and I thought you were really cool, so I kept trying to get close to you. And since you only really talk at night, I stayed up later and later to talk to you. Tonight, I just couldn’t sleep, so I thought we could hang out together and see what happens, but I get it if you don’t feel the same way,” Denki replies, smiling slightly as he talks. He looks a lot more calm than he always does; Denki is always the most animated and enthusiastic person in the room, matched only by Mina. And yet, he sits here, calmly, waiting for Shinsou to respond to him.
Shinsou doesn’t know what to say. His mind has no snarky response for the boy, nor any actual verbal response left. For a guy whose quirk depends on speech, he is speechless.
Instead of speaking, he picks up the candy and puts half in his mouth, pulling the boy closer to him. He lights up at the affirmation, coming in closer and taking his own end of the candy and smiles back at the boy. They both start eating the candy, Shinsou scoffing at how ridiculous it seems, but nonetheless smiling every second of it. Once they are almost done, their lips are so close that it takes everything in Shinsou to hold back. He can feel Denki’s heart beating so close to his own and can see the hesitation in the other boy’s eyes. Denki confessed his feelings to him, but he never bothered to make his own clear. He never told the boy how much he smiles every time he receives a text from him. How much he grins every time the blonde does something stupid in front of everyone, trying to make them laugh. How he is always so excitable, yet so calm when it matters. How the boy can show up at his room at 3 in the morning and convince the ultimate introvert to sneak out of the dorms and buy candy and keep him company, and even make Shinsou feel a little better in the ever-oppressive feeling of the night. The ever-present isolation of the night, but not so much anymore. Because Denki is here with him, so close to him, and it makes all the late nights worth it.
“Just to be clear, in this scenario, you’re the tramp, right?” Shinsou comments, finally coming up with his snarky remark. He feels Denki’s lips twitch into a smile just a few centimeters away from his own and he can’t help but smile back.
“Of course, milady,” Denki replies, looking a little nervous before Shinsou closes the distance between them. This joy, this feeling of finally belonging, is what he feels when he kisses the boy in front of him, and the feeling is sweet. And so is the taste.
Denki leans in to the kiss, taking a second to finish his candy before, and then kisses the boy back, smiling the whole time. They sit there for a bit, enjoying the warmth of the back and forth and the comfort of the other’s presence, before Shinsou pulls back.
“Man, I should’ve finished the candy before doing that. I could’ve sworn I almost choked a few times.” Denki laughs at the boy, then scootches closer as Shinsou digests the candy, pulling the blonde to his side and wrapping an arm around him.
“That was nice,” Denki says, curling into Shinsou’s side, closing his eyes a bit.
“Yeah, it was,” Shinsou replies, running his other hand through Denki’s hair and making the boy hum slightly at the touch. They sit there, comfortable in the silence between them, and after a bit, Shinsou can feel the steady breathing of the boy next to him. He looks over and the boy’s eyes are closed, comfortably nestled in Shinsou’s side.
“Not gonna sleep, my ass,” Shinsou replies, leaning over to retrieve his coffee. He takes another sip, pulling the blonde in closer. He backs up a bit, leaning his back against the side of the bed, pulling Denki along with him slowly so that he won’t wake the boy. He retrieves a blanket from his bed, draping it over the boy.
“G’night, blondie,” Shinsou says, kissing the top of the boy’s head as he sits there, hugging the boy as he sleeps, sipping his coffee. He could get used to this, he thinks to himself.
And he does.