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Denki was pulled from his deep sleep by the obnoxious buzzing of his phone. Groaning and brushing his, most likely disastrous-looking, hair from his face, he blindly reached for his phone balanced on his nightstand.
‘You ready?’ the text from Shinsou flashed up at him.
“What the hell,” Denki murmured while trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. His bleary sight barely focused on the numbers of the clock perched precariously on his nightstand amongst all the other clutter there. It read 1:22 AM.
“What the hell would I need to be ready for at 1:30AM?” he questioned out loud. His brain, still foggy with sleep, raced to attempt to figure out what Shinsou’s cryptic as hell text could mean, until…
“OH SHIT!” he flung himself up from his bed and scrambled to type out a quick response. The force from him standing up so suddenly caused his phone, which was still connected to its charger, to go flying halfway across the room and to land in a pile of clothes strewn across the floor. Denki scrambled to grab it from the floor while simultaneously searching for his black hoodie.
Just as Denki managed to find his phone it started to buzz, alerting him to an incoming call.
“Hello?” he answered, somewhat breathlessly. A chuckle sounded from the other end of the phone.
“You forgot to set an alarm again, didn’t you?” Denki could practically hear Shinsou’s smirk over the phone.
“No,” Denki lied, “I’m just out of breath because..you always take my breath away.” Denki cringed at the stupid joke but committed to it.
“...That’s what you’re gonna go with?” Shinsou snickered.
“Yup, that’s what I’m going with,” Denki said with confidence while fumbling with the zip of his hoodie.
“Alright then,” Shinsou said with an exasperated sigh.
“I’ll see you in a minute,” Denki said, hoping the smile in his voice wasn’t too noticeable.
“See you soon,” Shinsou murmured before the line went dead.
Denki let the hand that had been holding his phone drop like dead weight to his side. He tried hard not to think about the small smile that had somehow formed across his mouth without his knowledge. He always seemed to smile just a bit too much when Shinsou was around.
At that thought, a small spark of electricity popped its way from his fingertips and briefly washed the room in a pale yellow light. That also seemed to happen whenever he thought about Shinsou. Before he could dwell too long on that, Denki made his way to his dorm room door, pulled it open, and slowly crept down the hallway.
Denki had always hated the fact that he had to wait to start helping the world and fighting crime until he had graduated UA and got his hero license. He knew he was still in training, but that didn’t mean crime just stopped. When he brought up his concerns to Shinsou one day in casual conversation, he had completely agreed with him. Thus sparked their discovery of Vigilantes.
After hours of research, they learned that vigilantes were people who took the law into their own hands and chose to use their Quirks to fight crime without having an official hero license. It was the perfect option for Denki and Shinsou. They could use the training they had been receiving at school out in the real world and help to fight crime.
They had been at it for about a month, taking on small-time criminals and stopping petty crime. Sure, they obviously weren't taking on any ultra-powerful villains like the real heroes were, but they were doing their part. And, honestly, Denki was having a hell of a lot of fun doing it.
Denki steadily made his way down the hall and, once he reached Shinsou’s door, knocked on it twice. Shinsou casually opened the door and stood in the doorway for a moment, eyes traveling up and down Denki’s frame.
“Well look who finally decided to show up,” Shinsou said with a lazy smirk.
“Oh come on, I’m only like-,” Denki spared a glance at the clock on his phone, “like three minutes late.”
“Still late though,” Shinsou teased with no real bite behind his words. Denki stuck his tongue out at him like the child he was and vehemently tried to ignore the way his hands tingled like they wanted to let out another spark of electricity. He shouldered his way past Shinsou and flopped down on his bed. Shinsou closed the door behind him and went to sit next to Denki.
“So,” Shinsou said casually, “I heard some of the teachers talking.”
“Oh?” Denki turned his head to look Shinsou in the eyes.
“They were talking about a villain that has been wandering kinda close by. The heroes can’t seem to figure out what her Quirk is,” Shinsou leaned over Denki to grab something off of his nightstand table and Denki had to fight back the sparks that threatened to spill from his fingertips.
Do you think we’ll run into her?” Denki asked, mouth slowly curling into an excited grin.
“I’m not sure, but we should be aware,” Shinsou muttered.
“We could have our first real fight on our hands,” Denki jabbed an elbow into Shinsou’s ribs.
“Why are you happy about that?” Shinsou asked, noting Denki’s grin. Denki shrugged.
“Could be fun.”
“Cause’ fun is definitely the word I would use to describe a fight with a villain,” Shinsou’s voice dripped with sarcasm. Denki let out a small chuckle.
“We should probably get going,” Shinsou stood up from his bed and made his way over to his window. Denki followed close behind Shinsou as he carefully popped the screen out of his window and opened it.
“Ready?” Shinsou asked as he positioned himself in a sitting position on the window sill, legs hanging down into the open space below.
“Ready,” Denki affirmed with a grin.
Shinsou then slid off the window sill and dropped out into the night air. He fell towards the ground and tucked into a front roll as he hit the soft grass below. Brushing dirt and grass from his pants, Shinsou stood up and nodded at Denki to let him know that he was ok. Denki then slid off the window sill just as Shinsou had. His landing wasn’t as graceful, however, and he ended up sprawled on his back with the wind knocked out of him.
“You ok?” Shinsou asked with a chuckle.
“Yeah I’m fine,” Denki grumbled as he accepted the hand Shinsou had offered to haul him up from the grass.
“Ya’know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you make that jump without landing flat on your ass,” Shinsou teased.
“How would I be able to when you just distract me with your charm,” Denki shot right back at him, shoving his hands in his pockets to hide the flash of sparks that managed to escape his fingertips. Shinsou just rolled his eyes at Denki.
“Come on you flirt, we’ve got to get going if we wanna be back here before everyone else wakes up,” Shinsou strolled across the quad, making his way towards the campus exit. Denki jogged to catch up with Shinsou and threw an easy arm around his shoulder. Shinsou turned to smile at him and Denki felt his cheeks heat up slightly.
Sure, he jokingly flirted with almost all his classmates, but it was no secret that Shinsou definitely got the worst of it. The fact that Denki’s heart always seemed to skip a beat when Shinsou smiled at him or that he could always feel electricity coursing through his veins whenever Shinsou was around, had nothing to do with that fact. It was also irrelevant that Denki wasn’t entirely sure his flirting with Shinsou was a joke. He always chose to not let his mind dwell on that. He turned his attention back to making his way across the quad with Shinsou and refusing to let his mind wander.
*****
It didn’t take long until Denki and Shinsou ran into trouble. They were strolling through an alleyway, taking their usual patrol route, when they heard quiet shuffling coming from a fire escape that was cast in the shadow of a nearby building. Shinsou immediately whipped his head in the direction of the sound.
“Who's there?” He called out in a commanding voice. Denki smiled when he realized what Shinsou was attempting to do.
Denki waited quietly, hoping that Shinsou would be able to use his Quirk, however, there was no response to his question. Shinsou let out a soft curse.
“Relax dude, maybe it’s nothing,” Denki reassured him.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Shinsou still kept his eyes trained on the fire escape. Denki grabbed his arm and began to gently pull him down the alleyway.
“Seriously, no need to worry,” Denki gave him a smile and a thumbs-up.
“How can you be so sure though- '' Shinsou started to question, but was cut off by a soft chuckle coming from the fire escape, now a few feet behind the two of them. Denki’s smile immediately dropped as he exchanged a glance with Shinsou. He pointed two fingers in the direction of the fire escape, prepping to use his Quirk if necessary, and he and Shinsou slowly made their way back down the alley.
“Who's there?” Shinsou called out again. They heard another soft chuckle before a small figure stepped into the light and leaned against the railing of the fire escape.
It was a girl, she couldn’t have been much younger than Denki. She had dark brown hair that cascaded down her shoulders with the edges dyed bright, bubblegum pink. She had a deep red rose placed precariously behind her right ear. She was dressed in a dusty pink party dress with silver pumps despite the weather being far too cold for a dress. It was her eyes that caught Denki’s attention though. They were a deep, blood-red color, almost inhumanly so.
She smiled sweetly at Denki and Shinsou. Her red, glossy lips sparked in the dim streetlight and her thick eyelashes fluttered.
Denki let his hand drop to his side. This was probably just a girl stepping away from a party for a moment, not too big of a deal.
“Sorry about that,” Denki rubbed a hand on the back of his neck, “you startled us for a minute.”
“Oh, it’s ok,” she said in a high-pitched voice. It was bright and sickly sweet. Shinsou’s eyes narrowed as he took in the girl in front of him.
“Um...we’ll leave you alone now,” Denki chuckled awkwardly, “let’s go.” Denki grabbed Shinsou’s arm and moved to pull him away. As he turned, he saw the girl’s smile widen to reveal perfectly white and straight teeth.
“Actually, can I ask you boys a quick question?” She drawled. Denki turned to face her once again and smiled uneasily. The girl’s blood-red eyes felt as if they were staring into his soul and her smile seemed just a little too bright.
“Of course,” Denki said. Shinsou stood uneasily beside him.
“Have either of you ever been in love~?” the girl’s gaze raked over Denki, making him shiver. Shinsou stiffened at his side.
“I’m sorry?” Denki choked out. The girl’s smile continued to widen to the point where it seemed as if her cheeks were going to rip off. She stepped closer towards the edge of the fire escape and let out a laugh.
“Have either of you ever been in love?” the girl asked again. Denki and Shinsou looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. There was something seriously wrong with this girl.
They didn’t have much time to ponder the thought though. The girl cackled and thrust her hands out towards Denki and Shinsou. Thick ropes of pink energy seemed to flow from the girl’s hands and slip down the fire escape, making their way towards Denki and Shinsou.
“Fuck,” Shinsou breathed as he moved away from a tendril of energy. The ground seemed to sizzle wherever the ropes of energy touched it.
Denki felt his mind slip into ‘fight mode’ and his hero training kicked in. He lifted his right hand and pointed two fingers at the girl, readying to shoot a bolt of electricity at her. She laughed again and slipped back into the shadow of the fire escape. The metal steps rattled and shook with fast-paced steps and Denki cursed. The girl was probably going to climb to the top of the building and jump from roof to roof to hide from them.
“Shinsou, what do we do?” Denki muttered while jumping away from a rope of energy that had started to climb its way up his shoe, he could smell the rubber on his shoe burning wherever it was touched by the tendril of energy. There was almost no clear space to stand on the ground anymore. They were definitely not equipped to fight whoever this girl was. Shinsou glared harshly into the darkness.
“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?” Shinsou yelled, once again trying to brainwash the girl. The tendrils began to creep up Denki’s shoe and lick at the bottom of his pant leg.
“Well that’s a complicated question-” the girl started to say. She didn’t even have time to finish her sentence before Shinsou activated his Quirk and brainwashed the girl.
“Make whatever this pink crap is go away,” Shinsou commanded.
“I can’t,” the girl spoke in a cool, monotone voice that signified Shinsou’s control over her, “once it’s created, it will continue to multiply.” Shinsou let out a shaky breath and shot a worried look at Denki. The tendrils had started to climb up Shinsou’s shoes as well and the ones on Denki had made their way to the middle of his leg. The thick ropes were stuck firmly to the ground, holding him still.
“There has to be some way to stop it, tell us,” Shinsou ordered while looking at the various buildings around them. The heat from the energy ropes on Denki’s leg was becoming uncomfortable. He reached down to attempt to brush some of them away, but that only caused them to stick to the bare skin of his hand.
“Shinsou, we need to fix this now, like...right fucking now,” Denki spastically shook his hand to try to rid it of the burning energy.
“The hell do you think I’m trying to do?” Shinsou shot at him before quickly turning his attention back to the girl. If Shinsou let his focus wander from the girl he would lose his control over her.
“Tell us how to stop this,” Shinsou said again.
“It will only stop once the feelings are resolved,” the monotone voice called back at him.
Shinsou clutched his hands into fists so tight that his Denki was sure his fingernails would leave bloody marks in his palms
“WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?” Shinsou yelled, “STOP PLAYING GAMES AND JUST ANSWER ME!”
“Shinsou!” Denki called out in a panicked voice. The tendril that was on his hand had traced a burning path all down his arm and was creeping up his neck.
“Shit,” Shinsou muttered, “fuck...shit.” He looked between Denki and the out towards the building where the girl could be hiding. His eyes flicked back and forth repeatedly. This was the most panicked Denki had ever seen him.
Shinsou had just enough of his leg free to quickly lean over towards Denki and swipe a hand across his neck, transferring some of the energy to his hand and off of Denki. Denki’s eyes widened and he felt sparks push at his fingertips at the realization that Shinsou had purposely harmed himself just for Denki’s safety. The heat from the ropes increased as Denki, against his own will, played the scene over again in his head. Helping him, however, caused Shinsou to lose focus on the girl, and his control over her slipped away.
They both heard the girl cheer from somewhere above them at being free from Shinsou’s control. They saw her walk across the roof of a nearby building, sit at the edge, and dangle her legs off it. Her red eyes seemed to glow in the low light.
“Well, you sure do have an interesting Quirk,” there was a playful, childish lilt in the girl’s tone, “you can like…brainwash people, right?” Shinsou leveled her with a glare.
“Hey, no need to be so mean about it, it was just a question,” the girl whined and threw her hands up in a playful surrender.
“Will you tell me what you meant when you said this will only go away when the feelings are resolved?’ Shinsou asked, hoping the girl would fall for his trick.
“Nice try there mister, I’m not letting that happen again,” she smirked at Shinsou. She had figured out the trick to his brainwashing.
“Please just let us go, what did we ever do to you!?” Denki cried desperately. The tendrils were creeping across his body and starting to singe his hoodie. Shinsou had a sizable burn hole on the knee of one of his pant legs and more energy ropes were wrapping around his other leg rapidly. If they didn’t get the hell out of here soon, they could be seriously hurt.
“Awww, don’t think you’re so special honey,” the girl looked at Denki with a fake pouty face, “it’s nothing personal, it’s just what my Quirk and I do.” Denki let out a sharp breath and struggled uselessly against the ropes holding him to the ground. This girl was goddamn infuriating with all her taunting.
“My Quirk is amazing,” the girl said dreamily as she stood up and began to pace along the edge of the roof. “If I see two people, I can sense any untold or lingering feeling between them. I can then take the tension between them and turn it into this energy that you see here. The bigger the feelings the more powerful the energy and it won’t go away until the feelings are resolved! ...Oops, I just gave away my Quirk’s little secret,” the girl looked sadly down at the two of them, sticking out her bottom lip in a fake pout and dragging her finger down her cheek in a mock-tear-path. Upon seeing just how covered in the energy ropes the two of them were, she gave them a manic grin that perfectly displayed her overly-sharp canine teeth.
“What the hell do you mean by ‘feelings’?” Denki spat at her.
“Isn’t it obvious, silly,” the girl giggled, “I mean romantic feelings! There sure are a ton of those with the two of you. But don’t worry I’ll help you sort them out, that’s why they call me The Matchmaker!”
Denki inhaled sharply. Romantic feelings? What did she mean? The tendrils spread further across his body.
Denki noticed Shinsou stiffen beside him. He turned his head towards The Matchmaker and gave her the cruelest glare Denki had ever seen.
“ROMANTIC FEELINGS? THIS IS INSANE!” Shinsou screamed at her, fury blazing in his eyes in a way that Denki had never seen before, “STOP HURTING MY FRIEND OR I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!” Denki stared at Shinsou, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Here they were, two kids alone in the middle of Tokyo at night, no one knowing their location, being tethered to the ground by burning ropes of energy and being taunted by some psycho, ditzy girl in a pink prom dress, and Shinsou was most angry that Denki was being hurt. Not himself...but Denki. Why the hell would he be worried about Denki right now?
He felt his whole body, which was covered in the tendrils, burn. Yelping out in pain and feeling a huge shower of sparks fly from his fingers, he continued to stare at Shinsou. Shinsou’s cheeks were flushed and his mouth was pulled into a dark frown. The tendrils had spread up to Shinsou’s neck. Denki could see nothing but pure hatred for the girl (The Matchmaker, he supposed) in his eyes. All she did was grin down at them happily, swinging her feet and not saying anything.
The energy ropes pulsed searing heat all across Denki, making it hard to focus on anything but he tried his best to think of a way out of this whole shitshow.
Romantic feelings? The energy ropes wrapped around his neck. Between him and Shinsou? Sparks shot from his fingers and the tendril around his neck burned so hot that Denki thought he was going to black out. It couldn’t be...but-
Oh
OH!
Oh shit.
All those times he felt his heart skip a beat when Shinsou was around, the way he could never take his eyes off him, the way he always felt electricity thrum through his veins when Shinsou smiled at him, those were romantic feelings. All the “joking” flirting he did...and the feeling he had tried so hard not to think too hard about, all of that was romantic.
He had a crush on Shinsou...
Goddamn.
Denki understood what he had to do now. He could fix this.
The tendrils wrapping his body seemed to be trying to constrict him as he slowly turned to look at Shinsou.
“Shinsou, I’m so sorry but I think this whole thing might be my fault,” Denki said slowly.
“What do you mean?” Shinsou shook his head, “how could this be your fault?”
“Well…” Denki let out a nervous laugh and he felt his cheeks flame, “Pink Disco Queen over there said that this energy stuff had to do with untold romantic feelings…” Denki trailed off, averting his gaze from Shinsou.
“Y-yeah...keep going,” Shinsou was staring at Denki, looking awestruck. A tendril had cut its way across Shinsou’s mouth, making it difficult for him to talk.
“Well umm…” Denki took a deep breath and looked Shinsou in the eyes, “I’ve kinda had a crush on you for a while now.”
Shinsou stared at him with wide eyes and his jaw hanging open.
As soon as the words left Denki’s mouth, he felt the energy ropes loosen around him and the burning pain lessen significantly.
“Are you serious?” Shinsou breathed.
“Why the hell would I joke about this?” Denki chuckled half-heartedly. He was painfully aware that there was almost no way in hell that Shinsou would feel the same way about him, so putting himself out there like he was right now definitely hurt. Denki just hoped that this wouldn’t completely ruin his friendship with Shinsou. The only reason he was admitting his crush to Shinsou was so that they could get away from The Matchmaker, he hoped Shinsou understood that and wouldn’t be too mad at him for having it.
“I’ve had a crush on you since the first day I met you,” Shinsou’s strangely calm voice cut through Denki’s panicked thoughts like ice. He blinked at Shinsou. The energy ropes began to slide off both his and Shinsou’s bodies as they stared at each other in shocked silence.
“Holy shit,” It was Denki who broke the silence, “why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“I had no clue you felt the same, I thought you would hate me if I told you,” Shinsou murmured. Denki couldn’t help the laugh that ripped its way from his throat at that. More tendrils fell away from the two of them and began to sink into the ground.
“I thought you’d never want to talk to me again after this was over,” Denki gave Shinsou a grin as bright as the sun.
“Guess we were both scared for nothing,” Shinsou matched Denki’s grin. The last of the tendrils fell away from Denki and Shinsou, freeing them completely. Before he had time to realize what he was doing, Denki was throwing himself into Shinsou’s arms. Shinsou held onto him tight and they both laughed into the embrace.
Shinsou pulled away just enough to look Denki in the eyes and place a soft hand on his face, being mindful of the burns from the energy ropes that littered his face. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before Denki, again, moved without thinking.
He leaned forward and gently placed his lips against Shinsou’s. He felt Shinsou let out a surprised breath against his lips, before leaning into the kiss.
Denki finally understood what people meant when they said ‘sparks fly’. He felt as if the kiss was electric, not electric like his Quirk though, electric in the same way as a static shock. It made his head spin and his heart skip a beat.
When the two finally pulled away, Shinsou’s cheeks were bright red.
“Wow,” he murmured.
“Wow,” Denki agreed.
“Awwww, that was sooo cute!” The Matchmaker clapped her hands together happily. Denki and Shinsou whipped their heads around to look at her. They completely forgot she was there.
“Well, it seems as if my job here is done, bye-bye Casanovas!” she lilted as she quickly scampered off her perch on the nearby roof, hopping from building to building until she was almost out of sight.
“HEY GET YOU ASS BACK HERE YOU PSYCHO!” Shinsou called out after her. Denki placed a hand on his arm.
“There’s no way we can catch her, she was smart enough to make a quick escape,” he said. Shinsou let out an angry sigh.
“Well at least we have enough info to turn in so that the heroes can catch her, she literally told us how her Quirk works,” Denki chuckled.
“Yeah,” Shinsou agreed. He looked at the sun that was slowly rising in the sky and winced.
“We were definitely gone from campus for way too long, we need to get back,” Denki muttered.
“Everyone is probably looking for us,” Shinsou nodded.
Denki reached out and grabbed Shinsou’s hand as they started walking out of the alley and back towards campus. And this time, when Denki and Shinsou’s hands met, Denki didn’t feel sparks force their way from his fingertips.