Chapter Text
One thing that Denki always loved about his quirk was that his electronics never died. His Switch stayed charged no matter how long he laid on the floor playing. Even six hours later, it was at 100% charge.
Wait- six hours? Surely he hadn’t set the clock on the device correctly. He grabbed his phone off his bed and woke up the screen, and the time read 2:00 pm. Shit. He had only meant to check his island for a few minutes and go to class- how had he played for so long?! Denki’s eyes filled with tears of frustration, and he threw his Switch across his room as if it were the device’s fault. It wasn’t even worth it for him to go to class for the last hour, so instead he stood up and changed out of his uniform into sweatpants and a hoodie. Tears fell down his face, and Denki couldn’t help but cuss himself out internally. He felt like such a failure.
Once he was dressed, a small rumble sounded from his belly, and he felt nauseous. He hadn’t even eaten breakfast that morning, so he was starving. Wiping the tears from his face and sniffling away the snot pooling in his nostrils, he made his way out of his room and down to the living area. He couldn’t cook very well, and even if he could, he was feeling very overwhelmed just being in the kitchen, so he opted to pour himself a bowl of cereal. Since he was alone, he could have the secret Lucky Charms and there’d be no Bakugou to tell him no. At least that brought a smile to his face.
With bowl in hand, Denki shuffled out to the sitting area and switched on the TV, flicking through the channels. Daytime TV sucked, nothing but court shows and game shows. Then he landed on Blue’s Clues, and maybe Denki got sucked into the show. Maybe just adult daytime TV sucked.
As Joshua and Blue had their adventures on screen, Denki ate his cereal. He drew his knees up to his chest and rested his bowl on them. Slowly his anger with himself started to fade, and he figured maybe his body knew he needed a mental health day. After all, class was super hard and he hadn’t had a break from training in weeks, and sometimes his friends could be assholes no matter how much he loved them…
Yeah, maybe this was for the best.
“Kamiiiiiii!” came a squeal of delight from behind, and suddenly Denki felt arms wrap around his shoulders. “We missed you today!” Mina said, bouncing where should stood behind the couch.
“How come you weren’t in class today, bro? You sick?” Kirishima asked.
Denki opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out. He shrugged and gave a nod, which seemed to suffice. Letting them think he was sick instead of tired seemed like a better idea anyway.
“Awww, well get better soon!” Mina ruffled his hair and ran off upstairs, much to Denki’s relief. Kirishima patted his shoulder and parroted the same sentiment before disappearing as well. Denki sighed, and turned back to the TV, blushing when he realized his two friends had just seen him watching Blue’s Clues. Oh, he’d never hear the end of this.
Then, he heard someone clear their throat behind him. Denki recognized that noise, somehow, and he tensed up.
“Oi, Dunce Face, why weren’t you in class today?”
Bakugou.
Denki needed to find his voice quickly. He didn’t want to sit through Bakugou’s grueling questions and intense version of Mom Friend-ing right then. But, try as he did, no sound came out.
“Hey, don’t ignore me, Sparky!” Bakugou leaned over his shoulder, startling Denki and making him jump. Bakugou leaned back, but the glare on his face didn’t leave. “Why weren’t you in class?”
Come on, Denki, just talk! You can do it! “……Sick…” That was the only word he could get out, and it was quiet, barely above a whisper. “I…was sick…”
Bakugou raised a brow, and Denki sweated bullets at the intense stare. “Sick how?” Bakugou came around the side of the couch and flopped down beside the other. He pressed the back of his hand to Denki’s forehead to test for a fever, and Denki’s face lit up bright pink. “You’re not that warm…stomach virus?”
Denki barely could process what Bakugou was saying. And his words were gone again, not that they were really there to begin with.
“Well, if you’re sick, you need to get back to bed instead of sitting down here getting germs everywhere.” Bakugou got to his feet and held out a hand for Denki, who looked down at it with confusion across his face. Bakugou groaned and closed and re-opened his hand. “C’mon, Pikachu, you’re going back to bed. No more cartoons and shitty cereal.”
That made Denki flush once more, but he put his hand in Bakugou’s and let the other lead him up to his room. Once in his room, Bakugou pulled back the barely-made bed covers and ushered Denki under them. He tucked the covers around Denki a bit too forcefully, and Denki squeaked. “Okay, I’ll be right back.”
“Huh?” Denki didn’t register what Bakugou had said, too focused on the sensation of his covers being too tight around his body. Bakugou returned in a moment with a cold rag, and he placed it over the other’s forehead. “Cold…” Denki whispered with a wince.
“It’s to keep fever down, it’s suppose to be cold, idiot.”
“Why…why helpin’?” Denki still struggled with his words, barely getting them out enough to make any sense.
But, Bakugou understood his question, and instead of answering he turned his head away and huffed. “I’ll bring dinner up in a little while, just don’t get out of bed, idiot.” He spat out the ‘idiot’ just to make sure Denki understood this didn’t come from a place of concern. However, he still brushed Denki’s bangs aside with more of a gentle touch than anyone thought he was capable of having.
Dinner rolled around and the class all sat in the living area awaiting dinner. Denki was the star topic of the night, with Mina and Kirishima sharing the few details they had. Bakugou listened to them all gossip, and he wanted to chime in, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t let his worry show.
Once he’d finished fixing dinner and shouted for everyone to fix their plates, he fixed two of his own and headed toward the stairs. “Aw, not gonna eat with us, Bakubro?”
“He’s gonna go check on Kaminari, that’s what the second plaaaaaaaate is for!”
“Shut it!” Stupid extras. Why couldn’t they mind their own business?!
Then, Bakugou turned to continue up the stairs, and he bumped into someone. Someone short…and blond…and carrying a stuffed Pikachu.
“…Why are you down here? You should be in bed, Sparky.” Immediately that doting behavior resurfaced, and Bakugou had to ignore the coos from their classmates.
“Tired of bein’ in bed…wanna eat wif’ everyone…” A chorus of “awwww”s and “let him stay!”s erupted from the others, and Bakugou sighed and gave in.
“Okay, fine. Here’s your plate…” Bakugou handed the plate of food over and went to find his usual seat. Denki trailed after him and plopped down right beside him, leaning against Bakugou as he sleepily ate his dinner. Bakugou didn’t realize just how red his face was as Denki used him as a pillow, but the pictures texted to him later that evening would showcase it very well.
After a few minutes, the TV was switched on, with Nickelodeon greeting them all. Denki blushed, knowing he’d been the last to watch it. Luckily no one questioned anything, and they instead just switched the TV to some show he couldn’t care less about. Instead, Denki focused all of his attention on his meal.
For some reason, this felt difficult. Denki couldn’t quite get a comfortable hold on his chopsticks. He had half a mind to dive in with his fingers, but he refrained when he remembered that all eyes would be on him if he did something like that. Instead, he fumbled and did his best, making a huge mess all over his face and hands.
“…Really?” Bakugou whispered, and Denki squeaked. Bakugou reached over to the coffee table and grabbed a napkin, and instead of handing it to Denki, he wiped off the boy’s face himself. Denki tried to protest, whining loudly and squirming in Bakugou’s hold. “Hold still, dumbass!”
“No!” Denki squeaked out. He tried to get away from Bakugou, but before he could he was clean. Dumb Bakugou.
“…You guys good?” Kirishima asked, and the two boys realized all eyes were on them. They both blushed, and Denki finally scooted away from Bakugou. Awkward silence filled the room, only permeated by the sounds from the TV.
After dinner and after the awkwardness had lessened, Bakugou insisted on walked Denki back up to his dorm. Denki blushed, but he didn’t protest the escort. Bakugou tucked him back into bed, tucking a bit looser this time, much to Denki’s relief. “Get better soon, you idiot. Class is boring without you.”
Denki giggled and gave Bakugou a small nod. Bakugou didn’t know quite what to do, then, so he awkwardly patted Denki’s hair and turned to leave.
“Wait!” Denki shot up in bed with his shout. Bakugou turned back around and raised a brow, more confused when Denki turned shy. “Um…hug?” The electric hero stretched out his arms and gripped the air weakly, and Bakugou couldn’t say no. He just couldn’t. So, Bakugou came back over and wrapped his arms around Denki in a tight hug, trying not to squeeze him too hard. Denki kicked his feet under the covers happily, and Bakugou could only sigh as his efforts to make the boy comfortable were undone by his never-ending need to constantly be moving. “Thank you, Kacchan…”
Bakugou blushed, and he patted Denki on the head again. “J-just get some sleep…”