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Okay. Denki finally had to come out about it. He was in love with the boy he heard on the radio. Look, look it sounds stupid, but he swears it’s true, and he’s in deep .
The teenager started listening to Present Mic’s radio show when he was little. It wasn’t super popular back then, but he’s been in love with it ever since his mom put it on to distract him in the car. The man’s commentary had always drawn in the yellow haired boy, and he clearly wasn’t the only one.
The show had only grown since then, and Denki is proud to have listened up until the man himself became his teacher. Not only had he made it into his dream school, but his crush did too! The mysterious boy had gloated about it on the radio on one of his scheduled recording days.
“So, Escapade, mind giving us a first hand recap of the U.A. sports festival?”
Present Mic’s co-host, who only appeared on Tuesday and Thursday, was named Escapade. He sounded relatively young, and was described to be a sleep deprived, mischievous teenager. But the reason why Denki was so enamored with him was more so found in his wit and charms.
Escapade gave a laughing chuff. “Mic, you were there too. Surely your memory isn't so bad that you’d have forgotten an event you were hosting.”
“I think our viewers would much rather hear it from a student themselves!” Present Mic squawked back. “Of course I remember!” It was easy to hear the fluster in his voice at the comment.
Humming to himself, the co-host spoke quietly, as if embarrassed. “Well, it was nothing short of amazing, that’s for sure. U.A. and all of the hero volunteers involved outdid themselves on the events that we participated in.”
“Sounds like it was a blast! Care to share with us if you were one of the students on the first year podium?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know, feather boy?” Escapade replied swiftly back. “Anyways, telling you would definitely give it away. I think it’s pretty clear I’m not the handsome Todoroki Shoto hidden in Present Mic’s studio.”
“You never know, little dude. With a voice modulator, you could be Endeavor for all the listeners know.”
The boy audibly gagged on air. “Compare me to Endeavor again and I’m getting a restraining order!”
“Escapade…” Mic sighed, as if they had gone over the topic a dozen times before. “You know you aren't allowed to legally threaten me on air anymore.”
“Says who?”
“The law! That’s what legally means! You signed the contract and everything!”
“You’ll let a piece of paper dictate Endeavor slander?” The boy gasped, a soft thump heard from the mics from where he supposedly hit himself in shock.
“I’ll let a signed piece of paper dictate my income so I don’t get sued, especially by a child like you,” the man with banana shaped hair said. “Though I think our past Endeavor segment is already saved online if any of you listeners are interested!”
“Getting back on track, the second and third years' sports festivals were also pretty cool.”
Mic’s voice perked up. “I LOVED hosting them too! My absolute favorite was Class 2-B Tani Yoshiaki. He has a quirk that makes all of his statements true, making it to the finals by creating explosions and small earthquakes from thin air!”
“I have to disagree.” Escapade spoke. “Tanji Michi from Class 3-D was not only my favorite, but definitely a fan favorite due to all of the cheers she got after winning in the first round. Her earthbending quirk was a marvel, and her attitude was anything but cocky.”
“We see element quirks all of the time, Escaa. Mix it up a bit!”
“Esca? Really?” The younger sounding host questioned.
“It’s hard to come up with things last minute, okay?!”
Present Mic and his co-host’s bickering continued as Denki stared lovingly at his small radio.
“Denki, what the hell are you doing?” Denki heard from his door.
Shoving the still playing radio under his desk, Denki stared shockingly back at Mina, her pink hands on her hips disappointedly.
Mina sighed, pitily smiling at the yellow haired boy. “It’s hard to believe you’re still head over heels for a boy that you’ve never even met.”
Though Denki would usually refute that he even had a crush, he looked down at the radio still in his hand in silence. This back and forth had been going on for a long time between the both of them, so maybe it was better just to keep his mouth shut instead of spewing pointless excuses that she somehow already knew how to refute.
After a short lapse of silence as Mina waited for his response, she spoke. “Anyways, it’s time for us to welcome Shinsou into our dorms. You were about to miss him with all of your simping in here.”
“Oh shit, I almost forgot!” Abandoning the radio on his desk, Denki got up to meet Mina at the door. “Gotta make sure he’s crazy enough to fit into our notorious Class 1-A!”
Mina’s only reply was a hearty laugh, slinging an arm over the boy’s shoulder. After locking his door, the pair walked to the common room together to meet their new classmate. The rest of the class had already gathered, taking up most of the space on the couches in the room.
“Is he here yet?” The pink haired girl asked as they sat down on the common room’s large carpet.
“Nah,” Sero replied, scrolling through his phone. “Looks like he’ll be here in about a minute though. Well, according to Aizawa-sensei’s message in the group chat.”
Sero was correct, as it only took another half a minute of waiting before both Shinsou and Aizawa appeared through the entrance door to the common room with a couple of suitcases.
While the wait had made the class quite rowdy with noise, they almost fell silent out of habit when Aizawa entered the room.
“You’ve actually learned something this year, problem children.” Aizawa smirked, genuinely surprised he didn’t have to yell to shut them up. Again. “If you couldn’t already tell, this is Shinsou Hitoshi, your new classmate.”
The purple haired boy bowed to the class politely, not taking Aizawa’s silence as an indicator to talk.
Aizawa stared at the boy shortly, before sighing and turning around to leave the room. “Well, they’re your problem now, Shinsou. If you need someone to stop a fire, please contact Mic first. I’ll be taking a nap in the meantime.”
Surprisingly, Shinsou’s only reaction was to sigh himself and put down one of his bags for a proper introduction to his new classmates. “I know Emergency Exit over there would yell at me if I were to leave without an introduction, so I’m Shinsou Hitoshi. Please don’t ruin my first day in the hero dorms with your stupidity.”
Iida squawked in offense. “First off, Shinsou-kun, our class is far from stupid, and it is rude for you to call us as such. Secondly, where did you learn that crude nickname from?!”
With little hesitation, Shinsou pointed towards the green haired bone breaker of the class. “I- He’s easy to talk to and I thought it was funny!” was Midoriya’s squeaky response, his face becoming the embodiment of a strawberry.
That gained a few giggles here and there, inciting the class to begin talking again. While some resumed the conversation they had earlier, a few of his classmates got up to talk to the purple haired boy with bigger bags under his eyes than the ones he was carrying for his new dorm room.
Denki, however, was frozen in his seat. He knew he recognized that voice from somewhere. It was quite familiar, yet oddly distant at the same time. But what was it…
“Denki? Denks? Hello, is anyone in there?”
Shaking his head to get rid of the fog that had formed, deni turned to his best friends who were staring at him with slight concern.
“Huh?”
“You sure you're okay, buddy? You aren't, you know…” Mina eyed him suspiciously, silently referring to their earlier conversation over his crush.
“N-No! Of course not. Just thinking, you know.” Denki laughed nervously.
He knew that voice, Denki knew he did. But as Kirishima reminded him of the test that Denki had yet to study for, lingering suspicions of Shinsou faded from the forefront of his mind.
Thoughts of Shinsou Hitoshi and that familiar voice faded from Denki’s memory for months, too focused on studying and training to look back on it. It all came back to him, however, in the common room’s kitchen three months after the arrival of their classmate to the dorms.
Denki, as usual, couldn't sleep during midterms week. Stress and energy drinks were an unholy but effective combination for the yellow haired boy to study for hours on end. Thus, the second sleepless night that week led Denki to try and crash on the couch after some of Yaoyorozu’s sleeping tea.
Stepping out of the elevator, Denki dragged his tired body down the hall and across the common room. While the dorms were usually dark enough to need a flashlight to get around, it seemed like someone was already occupying their communal kitchen. The kitchen lights were bright enough to illuminate the hallway leading up to it, letting Denki slink forward, feeling the sparks of static under his shifting socks.
“Shinsou?” He asked, seeing the purple haired boy by the coffee machine.
His only reply was a slow wave from the other boy, the insomniac's eye bags edging on black rather than purple.
“Man, you look worse than Aizawa-sensei. Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”
“I’m a natural insomniac. Shouldn't you be sleeping considering it’s,” he turned on his phone to blearily stare at the time, “three in the morning?”
“Can’t sleep after a few too many energy drinks and studying with Bakugou.” Denki said as he stretched.
A chuff of a laugh came from Shinsou, which sounded more like a gurgle behind the coffee he was drinking. The two enjoyed the silence together as Denki made himself tea and Shinsou watched by the counter.
A ping on Denki’s phone broke the silence. It was a familiar ping, leading the boy to run over and quickly turn the phone on.
“Yes, yes, yes! Present Mic posted one of the shows I missed on HeroTube!” The yellow haired boy squealed. It was like the tired boy from earlier was gone, replaced by a child receiving a gift.
“Shinsou, do you mind if I play this out loud?” He asked. “If not, I can go grab my headphones if you don’t mind watching my tea brew.”
Shinsou waved his hands slowly, finishing off his coffee already. (A concerning pace, if Denki would say so himself. But he wouldn’t say so). “Nah, it’s alright. I’ll likely have to hear him be just as loud in a couple of hours anyways.”
Excitedly, Denki put on the prerecorded video before placing it on the counter for the pair to listen to.
“Helloooo my weekly listeners! Welcome to Present Mic’s radio showwww!” The man's voice blared from the speakers, making the duo collectively wince.
“I will never get used to that.” Mic’s co host sighed. “Anyways, today’s segment we’ll be taking up questions that were left on our Flutter social page.”
A clapping track followed, as well as the sound of realistic enthusiastic claps from the show host.
“I’ve been waiting for this all week, Escapade! Especially since this’ll be our first Q and A with you as our cohost.”
Escapade, hummed, audibly adjusting his microphone. “There’s definitely a lot of questions to avoid by the looks of it. Even if you tell any Flutter user that they need to ask better questions, they’ll still manage to either ask for your hair color or if you like bananas on your sandwiches.”
Present Mic seemed to have a reaction to that, invoking the other to speak. “It’s okay, Mic. I promise we won’t have the same incident as last time. It’s actually monitored before we look at it.”
“So. Many. Bugs.”
“I’m glad our listeners out there know how to invoke trauma onto a famous pro hero. It’s very telling in this day and age.”
“It’s not trauma! Bugs are just ugly and gross and that’s a valid fact!” The man yelled.
As the show droned on, Shinsou went back to the coffee maker to serve himself another cup.
“How can you drink that stuff so much?” Denki said with a distasteful glare at his filling mug.
“Honestly, it’s my only will to keep going. If my dad were here, he would see me and complain–”
“we have better coffee at home. Stuff that’s actually name brand and edible.”
In that moment, the young voice on the radio and Shinsou’s own conveniently overlapped. But it didn't sound like two different people uttering a phrase they both knew. Rather, it sounded like one.
Denki’s gaze flickered between the radio and the insomniac quickly, his tea left scalding his palms. Shinsou supposedly took no notice of Denki's internal struggle, returning to his leaned position against the countertops overlooking the rest of the common room.
After a few moments of tense silence between the two, despite the radio’s incessant noise, Shinsou looked back towards Denki.
The boy was slack jawed, a reddish hue taking over his entire face. It almost looked like he was choking. Or the opposite, rather. Instead of turning blue, he was on the opposite end and looked just as much of a mess.
“Kaminari? Dude?”
“You–” Denki muttered.
“Your Escapade. On-On Present Mic’s radio show.”
Shinsou blinked back, sweat forming on his brow. “Kaminari, are you sure you aren’t hearing things? You do seem to be running on energy drinks and Bakugou’s sheer will alone at this point.”
Denki shook his head wildly. “No! No, you can’t trick me into thinking I’m crazy. I know it’s you. I knew I recognized that voice from somewhere, I just wasn’t sure why it was so familiar…”
Shinsou’s cup of coffee was placed shakily on the countertop, the boy himself rubbing awkwardly behind his head.
“You must have the wrong person then. I’m not–”
“Bullshit! You both like coffee, both of you are total insomniacs, and both of you somehow knew that exact same phrase about what your dad comments on your coffee habits.”
Shinsou opened his mouth to rebuttal again, being stopped by Denki’s waving hand.
“I’m not finished.” He said. “Not only do you both seem to have a soft spot for Present Mic despite how much you complain about his volume, but I can bet your favorite color is yellow as well.
“Your favorite movie is ‘Cats on a Midnight Stroll’ because it was your revelation about cats being actors that you weren’t aware of until you were eight. You also both attend U.A. high school in a first year class, which can’t be a coincidence!”
The purple haired boy’s face was slack with shock. He had nothing he could say to rebuttal any of the claims anymore, being too specific and factual that there was no denying his side job.
“Looks like you caught me, Blondie. I’m Escapade.” He admitted with a small sigh.
Denki stared up at the other with a new found awe. It was really him. The co-host of his favorite radio station since, well, forever!
“I have a few questions, though. How the hell did you know all that about me?”
The yellow haired boy’s face, which has been cooling down as he ranted, flushed back into existence. It seemed to be even darker this time, leaving trails of heat on his cheeks.
“Um..” He said nervously. “I’ve been listening to Present Mic’s radio since I was little. He’s always been a hero and hope for me. And- you know, you recently became his co host.” His words felt like a flimsy excuse, but Shinsou didn’t interrupt him. “So of course I would know quite a bit.”
“That doesn’t explain how you know that much about a new co-host on your favorite radio show.”
At this point, Denki was grasping at straws, his blush taking over the entirety of his face. Opening the fridge door to avoid the others' prying eyes, he stuck his head in and away from Shinsou. “I-I you know, dude. Yeahh…”
Shinou stared at the other boy, attempting to process whatever was going through his head. The bright red face, the shaky voice and averted eyes. All the information he had on him, or rather Escapade.
Oh.
Oh.
Shinsou’s ears began burning red, causing the boy to try and hide his face into the mug he was still holding. He almost couldn't believe it. Class 1-A’s blond haired spark plug had a crush. A big one. And it was on Escapade.
Both teenagers awkwardly sat in the subtle tension in the room, their faces hidden behind a mug and stuck in a fridge door respectively. With burning blushes taking over their cheeks the air between the two grew thicker.
The two both looked up when they heard a familiar, “Present Mic and Escapade, signing out!”
The two had been standing there long enough for the radio show's main segment to end, evident by the cold drinks that were left unfinished. Combined and edited without the musical segments, it lasted a little under an hour, meaning the clock had made its way well past four.
“Um. It’s pretty late, y’know. We should probably try to sleep.”
With Shinsou’s blush now under control, he turned to look at Denki, finding one of his eyes peeking out from behind the large fridge door.
“Yeah, probably.” Denki replied softly. He shut the fridge, dumping the last of his cold tea down the sink drain. As Shinsou attempted to do the same after chugging the last of his cold, bitter coffee, their hands met. The two quickly jumped back, carefully placing their mugs in the sink without any awkward contact.
“So, uh. Night, Shinsou.” Denki said after a moment of the two mutually staring at one another.
Shinsou watched the yellow haired boy walk away, not able to give a reply until the boy hit the elevator button.
“Hey, Kaminari?”
The boy turned around to meet Shinsou’s eyes from across the room. “Yeah?”
Rubbing the back of his neck, an awful habit if he said so himself, Shinsou spoke. “I could take you to the radio station sometime, if you’d like. Or we could just sit and talk after I finish my segment on Thursday.”
Though Denki’s face remained surprisingly blank, the purple haired teen could see his fists ball up and his frame shake slightly.
“Of cour- I mean. Yeah, I’d really like that. It’s a date?”
Shinsou smirked back, noting a new blush that was able to creep onto the blond’s face.
“Yeah. It’s a date, Denki.”
As the elevator opened, Denki quickly rushed in to get away from the other boy.
And if, after it closed, he was squealing with delight and jumping from foot to foot happily, no one would have to know.
Only the culprit insomniac himself, who heard the whole thing from outside the elevator door with his own small smile.