Work Text:
It hurt. Everything hurt. It always hurt. He was used to the hurt but still. Millions of volts of electricity were bound to hurt.
The world didn't make any sense. He was crumpled on the ground. How did he get there? When did he get there? What was he doing before this immense pain? Was there a before? Was there ever a time he wasn't in pain?
Someone was touching him. He was being grabbed against his will. His sluggish squirming would do nothing to break his assailant's hold on him.
Their, gentle, hold on him.
They were going to hurt him. They were going to smack him and make fun of him for being an idiot. For being so weak. They were going to make the intense pain worse. He could feel a hand on the back of his neck. They were going to strangle him huh? This is where he dies. Too weak, too dumb to protect himself. He felt his mouth being opened. He recognized the soothing chill of water running down his throat.
So not an assailant.
He tried to focus. Tried to recall what happened, or at least whose chest he was lying against. He couldn't. He could barely make sense of where he was. Who he was? Did he even exist?
“Green.” He commented quietly.
He could only make out a blur of green. A blur of green accompanied by strong arms. At least the green didn't want to hurt him.
He much preferred yellow. His hair was yellow. And his quirk was yellow. But his quirk hurt him. So maybe he didn't like yellow. No, green was better.
Green was lifting him. He felt weightless. Green was such a nice color. Where was Green taking him to? Oh, he was walking over to the black blur.
“Black.”
Wow, black was a lot bigger than green. But from where Green was holding him he noticed black wasn't all black but black and gray.
“Black and grey.”
Denki didn't realize colors could be multiple colors at once. He heard noises. Were black and gray and green talking? What were they talking about? As he moved away from black and gray he noticed other colors. Dark Blue and pink and yellow. But not his yellow, a lighter yellow, like a Pomeranian. Denki liked Pomeranians; they reminded him of a friend.
Denki wondered where Green was taking him now. There were too many shapes and colors and none of them were staying still so he closed his eyes and turned his head into Green's chest.
***
When Izuku entered Recovery Girl's office he was met with a stern look.
"Izuku Midoriya! Did you hurt yourself again?" The elderly hero yelled.
"No! No, no, no Mrs. Recovery. I'm here for Denki." He gestured to the semi-conscious classmate in his arms. "He short Circuited during training. Mr. Aizawa told me to bring him to you."
"Oh. Alright, bring him here."
When Midoriya tried to lay his classmate down on the cot the blonde's grip tightened. It was still a loose hold, Izuku could get out of it if he wanted to. However, Denki let out a strained whimper of complaint at the idea of being let down. Midoriya sat down on the cot with Denki sitting in between his legs, back against his chest.
“Alright.” Recovery Girl made no comment on the position as she performed a simple checkup on the electricity. She checked his pupils, pulse, and blood pressure. Then, with the help of Midoriya, she got Kaminari’s jacket off of him. Midoriya let out a sharp gasp at the angry red lightning patterns all over Denki’s arms. The flesh closest to the lighting lines was slightly marred, similar to Todoroki's scar.
“Hmm,” Recovery let out a contemplative sound. Not surprised but considering what her next course of action should be.
“We’ll need to lose the shirt too. Carefully hold his arms up. By the wrists.” Izuku did as he was instructed and another angry red pattern could be seen across his classmate's abdomen.
“What are those things?” He asked as Recovery Girl went about gathering medical supplies.
“Lichtenberg Figures. Usually seen in patients struck by lightning. However, with Denkis quirk, these are a tad too normal for him.” She explained in an even tone. She opened a small circular container to reveal a blue goo. She rubbed some in her gloved hands before speaking.
“Now Denki this is going to be cold.”
“Blue!” He happily chirped in response.
“Yes, it is blue.” She began to gently rub the mixture into the inflamed skin. Denki winced and whimpered minutely.
“This will help numb the pain. I’m sorry I’m sure it's uncomfortable.” Once she finished and closed the tin she pulled another from the basket of supplies. This Izuku recognized as Vaseline.
“This helps to keep the skin moisturized. It will prevent these from being overly itchy during the healing process.” She explained to the boys, despite only one of them receiving the information.
“No color?” Denki asked sadly.
“Nope, this one is clear I’m afraid.”
“Recovery girl, are you going to use your quirk to heal him?” Izuku asked, curious.
“I might. If I do he will likely go nonverbal. He might go farther into his short circuit due to the exhaustion it brings. I won’t be able to heal him entirely but the marks will be gone by tomorrow. Luckily for him, they seem to completely heal over. Odd but perhaps a side effect of his quirk.” She ended up using her quirk. The mark on his chest was likely too enflamed, ugly, and likely too painful to leave as is. This meant Denki's short responses became reduced to babbles. Recovery Girl deemed he wasn't fit to be left to his own devices and thus gave Midoriya three options.
Since they were in the same classes Midoriya could just take him to their next class. He would be given a note that stated that either Midoriya would have to switch seats with one of Denki’s neighbors or said neighbor would have to aid him.
Midoriya could be excused from class with the excuse of taking care of his classmate. She would inform his teachers.
Lastly, he could return to class and leave Denki under her care, at least until classes were over.
“How long do you think it will take for him to come back from this?” Izuku asked. Denki was still sitting in front of him, his head leaning back on his shoulder. Midoriya doesn’t think Kaminari could hold his head up if he tried.
“At least an hour? Maybe two, given how intense this short circuit was. Honestly, he could be out all day. ”
Midoriya sighed. He agrees with Recovery Girl. Denki shouldn’t be left alone. On one hand, he doesn’t want to miss class, and Recovery Girl would definitely be able to provide him with the care he needs. On the other, Denki held onto him tight earlier. Or as tight as he seemed to be able to. He definitely needed the physical comfort Izuku was providing him.
“If he comes back before classes end could we both return?”
“If that’s what you both want to do. Although it might be a bit hard for him to focus.” He could watch after him for a couple of hours, and if he was well enough on his own after that Izuku could still make it to the rest of his classes.
“I’ll take care of him.”
“Perfect. I’ll let your teachers know dearie. You can take him back to the dorms. Make sure he drinks plenty of water.”
The trip back to the dorms was easy. Everyone was in class right now save for a few older classes but their classes took place in a different part of the school. So, they weren't around. He had no trouble getting to the dorms without being spotted. He tried to set the blonde down on one of the couches but ran into the same issue as earlier. He didn’t want to be set down. He whined and babbled until Midoriya stopped trying to put him down. Instead, he just shifted him so he was settled on his hip, head on his shoulder.
He moved to the kitchen to fix him a glass of water to fulfill Recovery Girl’s request. He filled a water bottle before returning to the common area and settling down on the sofa next to the television. When he turned it on it was on some random children’s cartoon. He was going to change it but Denki seemed rather enthralled.
“Midoriya~” Mina’s sing-song voice could be heard behind him. With Denki sitting partly on his lap he couldn’t turn to see her.
“Mina? What are you doing here?” He questioned once she came into view.
“Mr. Aizawa asked me to bring you two your stuff once he got the call from Recovery Girl that you would be heading to the dorms for the day.” She set his several notebooks and other school supplies next to him on the couch.
“Oh! Thank you so much.”
“And how’s my favorite little lightning bolt?” She asked walking around to be on Denki’s other side. He let out a babble with a bright smile on his face.
“Ah, I wish I could stay with you cutie but I have to get back to class. Be good for Midoriya and rest up. See you two later.” As soon as she left Denki’s attention returned to the TV. He babbled something excitedly as he pointed to the screen.
“Mhm.” Izuku nodded as if he understood. With his notebooks, he could work on his essay. Every once in a while making Denki take a sip of water or responding to the noises he let out.
***
A loud gurgle interrupted the background noise of the kid’s show.
“Oh. Are you hungry?” Izuku checked the time on his phone. Oops. It was past lunchtime.
“Let’s get you something to eat.” He lifted Denki into his arms once more being mindful of his stomach.
“Any idea of what you want?” He asked, not really expecting a response.
“Rice!” He smiled determinedly.
“Denki,” Midoriya smiled happily surprised. “You’re speaking!” That meant he was slowly coming back to himself.
“Of course, we can get you some rice. What do you want with it?”
“Meat!”
“What kind of meat?”
“Meat.”
“Umm. How about curry? We have some leftovers from last night.”
“Meat.” Denki nodded.
“Right, meat.” He chuckled as he went about getting lunch for the two of them. Denki wasn’t as fussy when Midoriya eventually had to set him down at the small table in the room. He started tracing the patterns in the wood. He did let out sounds of complaint when Midoriya left the room with the food but without him. He was quickly pacified when he returned and immediately picked him up, though he was sporting a massive pout.
"I know. I know. I'm sorry, but I couldn't carry you and the food to the living space at the same time." He set Denki down on the floor with his back against the couch and pulled the coffee table towards them.
He pushed Denki's plate in front of him, fork and all. He waited for a moment. Testing his classmate's limits and current state of mind. Denki stared at the lunch in front of him for a long moment. He grabbed his fork, immediately flinging rice to the floor by accident. Welp. Midoriya should have expected that given how Denki was acting. He quickly put the fork back in the dish, pushed it away from Denki, and picked up the rice on the floor.
"That's ok bud. I can help you." He took the fork from Denki's plate and together they ate their lunches. Midoriya brought the plates to the kitchen intending to clean them up later. When he sat back down next to Denki he had planned to return to his work; instead, he felt a hand touching his face.
"Spots. You have spots." Denki was touching the freckles on his face gently.
"Yeah. They're called freckles." Midoriya explained, amused by his friend's antics. He was acting like a toddler. He supposed that's what happens when one's brain has to essentially restart itself.
"Lots a spots." Denki spoke in a daze. He traced the freckles on his classmate's face gently. As he did so his eyelids began to drop. He let out a large yawn before pulling himself onto the couch. His tired gaze met the TV screen once more. Midoriya smiled before getting up grabbing a blanket off another couch and coving the blonde with it.
***
"Ugh, Fuck." Was the first thing out of Denki Kaminari's mouth as he awoke laying on the dorm couches. His head was pounding. His limbs were tingling with leftover electricity.
“Welcome back Kaminari.” Midoriya chuckled as he grabbed his teacup off the coffee table in front of him.
“How do you feel?” He questioned the blonde.
“Like I should be dead.” He had yet to open his eyes. He knew that doing so would only worsen the pounding in his head.
“Yeah, I bet. Here,” Midoriya handed him the water bottle from earlier. Denki carefully peeked an eye open and took it gratefully.
“Thanks.” He sat up, downing the water. He returned the water bottle to the table before leaning back against the couch letting his head fall back.
“How long was I out?”
“Well, we came back to the dorms around the start of second period. You fell asleep just after a late lunch. We would still have time to catch our last period if you're feeling well enough.”
“No way. I’m not forcing myself off this couch just for one class.”
“That's fair. Anything I can do to help ease the pain?”
“Not really. None of the windows in here have blinds. I’ll just head to my room as soon as my head stops pounding.” Denki kept his eyes shut trying to block out as much light as possible. He winced as he took in a large breath.
"Maybe a heating pad actually."
Midriya retrieved one of the battery-operated heating pads from the first aid section in the corner of the room and brought it to him.
"Thanks, man." Denki spoke when he felt the item being placed on his chest.
Izuku grabbed a chair from the kitchen, tacks from the junk drawer, and one of the many blankets scattered around the common area. Denki heard the loud crash.
“Midoriya man, are you ok?” Denki shot up off the couch, ignoring the pain from the quick movement. Izuku was on the floor half tangled in the blanket he had been holding.
“Sorry. I was trying to cover at least one of the windows for you but I guess I’m a little too short.” He explained sheepishly.
“You're ridiculous dude. But thanks anyway.”
After helping Midoriya up Denki returned to his room and took the second nap of the day. When he woke up it was just about time for dinner. Damn, he’d be doing his homework late today. Not to mention all the classwork he missed today. Ugh. When he made it to the common area the first thing he noticed was the dimmed lights.
“About time for you to show up dumbass.” Bakugou greeted him friendly.
“Shitty hair brought you the classwork you missed. It's on the kitchen coffee table.”
“Denki you're awake,” Satou spoke. “You missed it. We covered every window with a blanket only for Aizawa to tell us that we couldn’t. Fire hazard. You should have seen Bakugou's face.” He laughed.
“Shut up Glucose!”
“Ah, Bakugou you care about me!”
“No! I was just pissed that half an hour's work was wasted!”
“Anyway,” Satou continued ignoring the angry Bakugou. “Momo told me to let you know she made Chamomile tea. It helps with headaches.”
“Thanks, man.”
Not a singular person made fun of Denki for his short circuit from earlier. No one had called him weak or sensitive for his headache or needing the lights to be dimmer.
Damn, that made him kinda happy.