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“Susan! Where did I put my tie?”
“Denki Kaminari I am your agent and manager, I do not spend my time finding articles of cloth-” she stopped as she walked into the room, “it’s around your neck.” The boy in question looked down as a blush grew across his face. “Sorry,” he replied, “I’m just nervous, it is my first day after all.” he finished, doing up his tie and fixing his collar.
Susan just stared at him deadpan, “you have walked down a red carpet for an award winning movie dressed in Louis Vuitton and you are nervous for your first day of hero school.”
At this point, Denki was rushing around the room stuffing things into his backpack and he didn’t stop as he spoke, “I have walked down plenty of red carpets, however, I have not been to school in about 10 years.”
Susan rolled her eyes and brought out her tablet, “Well, as you know I had a meeting with your homeroom teacher and principal. Even though you have moved to Japan to become a hero, you are still a massive celebrity and do still have a packed timetable-”
Denki grimaced, “Should have been allowed to drop stuff.”
Susan scoffed, “I have allowed you to drop stuff, you just can’t drop everything.” She starts walking with him to the car. “Right, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and the entire weekend, you have shoots and interviews.”
Denki sighed as he got into the car “That’s a lot of work.”
“It’s less than you’re used to, it’s practically a break. The other days are for school work and hanging out with friends.” She finished, finally looking up from the tablet to see Denki vibrating in his seat, the seatbelt struggling to lengthen because of all the shaking.
“I have time to hang out with friends?” he asked eagerly, static from his quirk slowly lifting a few top strands of his hair up.
Instead of replying to the pointless but kind of sad question, Susan just got into the front passenger seat herself as she grumbled “This is why I hate child actors. Can’t believe I had to take Japanese lessons just because this mega famous teenager wanted to be famous in another country too.”
And with that they were off to UA.
Denki marvelled as the towering buildings of UA came into view casting shadows over the city outside the gates. He was already scrambling to gather his bag and other belongings as the car pulled in to stop outside the currently open gates. He opened the door with perfect timing as the car stopped, and was out of the car in seconds with Susan shouting after him.
“You have a photoshoot tonight! And don’t forget NO AUTOGRAPHS!”
She sighed as Denki continued running but knew he had heard her. He was a good kid despite everything he’s had to do from a young age, she just hopes some friends at hero school will help him some more.
Denki was buzzing as he walked round the school of his dreams. Well he would probably be buzzing walking around any school after not having been in a proper one for 10 years, but Denki was determined to look at the positives. And the biggest one so far is the fact that as he’s walking the halls, no one stops and stares at him. Or asks him if he’s single. Or even just knows his name.
It’s all so…
Freeing.
...
...
...
“HOLY SHIT IS THAT DENKI KAMINARI IN UA?!”
Ah guess not anymore.
He turns to the source of the voice with his camera smile and posture already in place. He notices other people staring, clearly wondering what the commotion is on the first day. The source of the voice in question is a small girl with blonde hair, green eyes and two big horns on her head. She was quite cute and very clearly a fan.
He laughed slightly as he walked over to her, “Yes shit that is Denki Kaminari in UA.”
A massive blush crept up her face and she hid her face in her hands. “Ah I’m a massive fan of yours back in America!” she started, her words quickly picking up pace “I guess I relate to you with the whole Japanese-American thing so it’s always really cool to see you on TV! Although I’ve heard your Japanese and you're much better than me, I can understand it quite well but speaking and writing is a completely different- OH can I have an autograph?” she looked up at him expectantly.
Denki was a bit flustered as he brought a hand up to rub his neck, “sorry, I’m not allowed to give autographs whilst I’m at school.” He watched her deflate, but thought of a different idea, “But I’m free on Tuesdays and Thursdays if you ever need help with your Japanese?” He set his bag down and pulled out a notebook and pen, writing his personal number with his name, not autograph, before ripping it out and handing it to the girl. “Not quite an autograph but hopefully just as good.” He grinned before it dropped as he added, “Also please don’t put that out on the internet. You can tell people you met me if you’d like but if my number is leaked I will know it was you.”
The girl was stuck staring at the paper, only barely able to nod in acknowledgement and he took that as his cue to leave and head to his class.
Denki stared at the massive door labelled 1A. This was going to be his classroom for the next year then. Before he was able to open the door however, there was a hand on his shoulder and he spun around to see who it was.
The guy had long, shaggy black hair and a tired face. Those eyebags could probably hold an elephant. He had a stern expression and Denki couldn’t help but feel nervous. The man’s voice sounded as tired as he looked, “You may be the most famous teenager in America, but here? You’re the same as any other kid in this class, and I expect you to act like it.” He broke out into a creepy smile, “You can act, can’t you?”
Denki sighed, he was kind of expecting this question, most people did assume child stars to be very egotistical, but he answered politely nonetheless. “Sir, in this class I don’t want to be the most famous teenager in America, I just want to be Kaminari Denki going to UA.” he turned back and walked towards the door but just before he pushed through he turned back around with a grin of his own, “and I’m one of the only 4 children with an Oscar. I hope I can act, otherwise that’s just gathering dust for no reason at all.” and with that he pushed through the door to his new start.
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Denki thought UA was going pretty well at the moment. Sure they had had that villain attack in the first week of term, but that was just a little blip. The UA sports festival is always such a big event that they stream it almost all over the world, which is how Denki and his family used to watch it in America. However, so many more people tuned in this year. And it was all because of him.
He had done a photoshoot on the first day at UA in the uniform to officially announce that he was a student at UA but he would continue to make all the movies he could. Which meant that most of the world now knew he was at UA and wanted to watch him during the, incredibly famous in its own right, sports festival.
But as with everything in your life when you’re a child growing up in the spotlight, that comes with expectations. Loads of people online really thought he was going to demolish the competition but Denki really wasn’t that convinced. Even so he pushed himself to Go Beyond Plus Ultra! and came 3rd. He was proud of that!
That summer was the worst Denki had ever been through. Mostly because he wasn’t even in Japan. Apparently as part of the deal cutting back on work whilst in school, he really had to make up for it in the summer. No matter how famous he was, not many production companies wanted to film in Tokyo versus Hollywood. So he had agreed to being shipped off to America for his summer holidays rather than getting to go to the summer camp with all his friends.
And then Bakugo was kidnapped.
His friend was kidnapped. And Denki was in a completely different country, unable to do anything.
It was 4am when he was up watching all the heroes go to save Bakugo. Seeing All Might, his teacher, face off against All for One. Watching his friends make their way across the battlefield to save Bakugo he wished he was back in Japan. He wanted to help too, even if Mr Aizawa was probably going to give them detention for the rest of the school year.
It was only after the battle was over that he remembered he could text his friends. As he picked up his phone, he realised he had a lot of missed messages.
<Mina Ashido>
<Kaminari Denki I know you’re with family at the moment>
<But surely you all must be watching>
<Where are you????>
<You>
<Mina I’m here>
<It’s like 4 am and i don’t think i really slept>
<on account of my friend has been kidnapped and the rest of them went to rescue him>
<Mina Ashido>
<4AM????>
<ITS 4AM????>
<You>
<well yeah over here>
<you know>
<in LA?>
<Ochako Uraraka>
<I’m sorry Kaminari if this is invasive but we were told you were visiting family>
<Why are you in America?>
<You>
<...>
<are you guys for real right now?>
<you’re not pulling my leg? I’ve had a stressful day>
<or night or whatever>
<Mina Ashido>
<We didn’t know your family lived in AMERICA!!!>
<When did they move?>
<You>
<uhhhh>
<they didn’t? my dad’s american>
<did everyone seriously not know I’m american?>
<Mina Ashido>
<No.>
<Ochako Uraraka>
<No.>
<Hanta Sero>
<No.>
(u get the idea)
<You>
<wow.>
<you guys are a lot less observant than I thought>
<Mina Ashido>
<HEYYYY>
<Thats not fair :( >
<We worked out Pony in 1B!!!>
<You>
<do you want a reward or something?>
<also Pony’s been working on her japanese but it’s still not great>
<i’ve been fluent since I was a child>
<we are not the same>
<ANYWAY>
<FOR THE LOVE OF ALL MIGHT PLEASE TELL ME WHAT
POSSESSED THAT LOT TO GO ON A RESCUE MISSION???>
<Ochako Uraraka>
<We tried to dissuade them>
<But they were pretty insistent>
<Tsuyu Asui>
<Especially Kirishima ribbit>
<You>
<of course>
<well if there’s any updates please RING ME as I am now going to SLEEP>
Denki shut his phone off and drew his knees up into him, burying his face into his knees. What sort of hero was he going to be if he was constantly being two people at once? Denki Kaminari and Kaminari Denki felt like two completely different people now. One of them was hiding away whilst his friends dealt with villains and the other was lapping up fame and fortune.
He looked over to the display cabinet in the corner of his room. Littered with trophies and medals. Golden eyes met golden metal as he looked at his oscar. When he had been nominated his mother told him she always knew he’d win an oscar.
“Your eyes match perfectly. You’ll be so handsome holding it on that stage”
He rubs his eyes viciously as he starts remembering those words, trying to stop the tears before they even started. It was one of the last things his mother ever said to him, laying on her hospital bed connected to various machines. She died the day before the oscars. He hates her for that. He hates the oscar for that. He hates everyone and everything for that. He didn’t lie to Mr Aizawa when he said it was just gathering dust. If he didn't spend so little time in this room he would have covered it up by now. But then again, if he didn’t look at it how would he remember his wonderful mother again?
After the whole debacle of summer camp UA decided to implement dorms for all it’s students
The idea of dorms was a good one. It really was, for the safety of students, ease of transportation and being closer as a class. But for someone who had to leave often, it posed quite the predicament.
When they were proposed he ended up sat in a chair in the principal's office whilst Susan and Mr. Aizawa argued about his scheduling. Aizawa wanted him to stop everything, but Susan just wanted them to allow him out. As they got louder, Denki subconsciously shrunk into his seat.
“And what do you think, Kaminari?”
Denki looked over at the principal, taken aback that he was being asked a question. Before looking down and sheepishly answering, “I’d like to continue to filmings on the weekend if that’s okay. But I want to keep my privacy from my classmates so maybe no photoshoots during the week unless really necessary?”
The principal's snout twitched and turned into somewhat of a smile. “There we go. An easy fix. See you around Kaminari, you can go unload your room stuff.”
…
Oh shit
Denki hadn’t really brought any room-decorating stuff with him over to Japan. Except for a couple skateboards and random props he has from filming he’s done in Japan itself. Sure he went shopping for the important bits but he didn’t buy much outside the essentials.
So when they had the room competition he just resigned that he was not winning that one.
Midoriya recognised one of his old skateboards as Reki’s from when he played the guy in a slightly more western remake of the classic anime SK8 The Infinity, but he was able to play it off as just being a fan and someone who skates himself.
It was Mina who noticed the family picture he had on his bedside table. Curse that girl, she can be observant when she wants to be. Denki was doing mental gymnastics thinking about how to explain that picture and luckily came up with a decent answer as she asked “Is this your family on a red carpet!?” her eyes practically lighting up with excitement as she brought the frame back to the group crowded around the entrance of his room.
“Haha yeah, my dad won tickets from work and we were lucky enough to have our photo taken.” he lied.
“You look quite young in that photo Kaminari,” Momo asked, “why have that one up?”
Denki gulped and looked down at the photo. Curse his easily reactive tear ducts, they were great for acting but terrible for trying to keep a straight face around his classmates. But he steeled his emotions as he took the photo from Mina and moved to put it back on his bedside table as he spoke, making sure he stayed facing away from the group.
“That was the last family photo we took before my mother died.” He sat down on his bead looking at his mother’s grinning face. “Well except for a couple in hospital but they make me a bit too emotional to keep at my bedside.” He placed the photo frame on the table before turning back to his friends with his camera smile, “Who’s next then?”
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Mina liked to think she was the biggest advocate for the 1-A 1-B joint movie night, despite all of Monoma’s superiority claims whenever he walked in. As a social person she pretty much took charge of it all from its conception. From snacks to what they’re watching to juicy gossip, she was in charge of it all! But she does let people help sometimes! That week Pony reaaaaallyyyyyy wanted to show everyone this American film she had brought over and who was Mina to refuse that?
“Mina! I have it here! I have it here!” Pony said, barging through the front door to the Heights Alliance. She thrust a dvd into Mina’s hands and was practically jumping up and down waiting for her to look at the dvd.
Mina’s eyes widened “Is that-”
“SHHHHH” Pony brought a finger up to Mina’s lips. “I don’t want anyone to know until we start the movie. Just tell them the name and then hit play.”
Mina was still gobsmacked. “This is seriously?”
“Mhmm”
“100 percent?”
“Yep.”
“Not photoshopped?”
“Nope.”
“Not-”
Pony sighed dramatically “Do you want me to bring up his wikipedia page? Actually maybe I should” she started mumbling to herself in English as she walked away from where Mina was standing.
Mina stayed frozen staring at the dvd till Momo popped her head around the corner, “Mina are you ready?”
It brought Mina out of her stupor long enough to bounce into the main room in front of the crowd. “ALRIGHT PEOPLE!” She shouted to get everyone's attention. “This film has been suggested to us by the lovely Tsunotori Pony of 1B so it is in English. HOWEVER! There are Japanese subtitles, hold the applause please.”
“No one was clappi-” Monoma started
“Duh! That’s because I said ‘hold the applause please’. Anyway, first I must ask people to refrain from shouting, jumping and causing a general ruckus. Especially 1A tonight.” She continued as she put the dvd into its slot.
“Why?” Someone asked
“SHHH it’s starting” She finished sitting down.
Mina would like it to be known that she asked for no shouting, jumping or general ruckus-causing when she found out one of their classmates was the lead in the film they were watching. She would specifically like Mr Aizawa to know that those instructions definitely included not going to his room and bothering him.
Even if she did tag along.
Luckily Mr Aizawa didn’t really scold them for being loud. He just told them Kaminari was at a movie shoot and would be back in about an hour so they may as well get back to watching the movie.
Apparently he had watched it before and thought it was very good.
Denki thought everything was fine when he first got in the door. It was when he was taking his shoes off and he started to hear the film his classmates were watching that things very quickly went south.
“No! You can’t leave me”
No fucking way.
“I’m sorry kiddo. I can’t go with you”
He has to be hallucinating.
“Please you’re the only person I have left”
“I can’t lose you.” He whispered in time with the movie.
One of Denki Kaminari’s movies.
THE Denki Kaminari movie.
The movie that won him a mother-fucking OSCAR. That was the movie they had played for movie night that weekend. And now his cover was blown. Most likely by Pony. Well it was an award winning movie, he can’t entirely blame her.
If Denki knew his friends they would have gone straight to Mr Aizawa, who would have told them when he would get back and to keep watching the movie. Which means they’re probably keeping an eye, or an ear, out for when he gets back. But if they’re really engrossed in the movie, maybe he can just sneak past and go up to his room and face the music in the morning! Yes. A solid plan.
That Denki failed to execute. Horribly.
He barely even made it halfway to the kitchen before someone shouted “HE’S BACK”, the movie was paused and he was surrounded.
“Hey guys… That’s a good movie you’re watching there” He said sheepishly
Shinsou, who hadn’t moved from his spot on the sofa, was the first to speak. “Yeah. You’d know all about it wouldn’t you.” He said deadpan.
Denki brought his energy back up as he replied, “Well I did win an Oscar for my performance so…” He turned back round to see everyone else with their jaws dropped, “I would say surprise but you’ve already figured it out-” he trailed off into a pathetic laugh-sigh before Mina grabbed his shoulders.
“Why! Didn’t! You! Tell! Us! You! Were! An! Act! Or!” She said, shaking him on every syllable.
He gently pushed her off before bringing his hand up to scratch his neck sheepishly, “You never asked?” He replied.
“That’s a low blow Kami-bro” Kirishima said as he shook his head disapprovingly.
Denki made his way over to the popcorn bowl discarded on the sofa as Mina started talking again. He was hungry, sue him.
“I just can’t believe you never told us! Any of us!” She was saying. “You were living a double life! That’s so cool. But man, it’s like finding out you’re a completely different person-”
“NO!” Denki stood ramrod straight as he reacted to Mina’s comment. But he caught himself quickly. “I mean, heh, nah I’m not, I’m always just me. Kaminari Denki and Denki Kaminari are absolutely, 100%, the same person. 24/7, 365 babeyyyy.”
“Uh huh… You seem like you’re trying to convince yourself more than us there” Mina said, a slightly worried expression on her face.
Denki felt his face fall. He was trying to convince himself wasn’t he? Ever since starting UA he had been stuck between being Denki Kaminari the film star and Kaminari Denki the hero in training. And that dilemma was probably made worse by the fact he had been hiding a part of himself from all his classmates. God he felt like such a terrible person.
Monoma scoffed, “What’s with the sad look, thinking about how you’re too famous to be yourself around a bunch of plebeians like us? Quit the act.”
“IT’S NOT AN ACT!” Denki shouted as he felt tears well up in his eyes. “It’s who I need to be to survive. You think I asked for any of this? I didn’t ask to get mobbed wherever I go. I didn’t ask to have no real friends. And I definitely didn’t ask to not even be able to visit my mother’s grave because it’s always mobbed by people who didn’t even know her! UA was meant to be my escape! Heroics was meant to be my escape! But now it’s…” he went to wipe the tears off his face and realised he was crying a bit too heavily, “fuck.” and with that he pushed past everyone and ran up to his room.
The silence among the two classes was heavy. But it was Mina who broke it, “I think that concludes movie night,” she turned to Kendo, “maybe you guys should…” she trailed off at the end. Luckily Kendo had tact and was able to calmly get her class to leave.
The remaining 1A were just milling around unsure of what to do but Mina once again spoke up. “I’m going to go check on Kaminari.”
As soon as Denki got into his room he locked the door behind him and slid down it onto the floor. Bringing his head into his curled up knees, a position that had seemed to become his typical breakdown position.
After he had finally stopped crying he looked at himself in his phone camera. “Fuck I’m a mess.” He sighed.
“I don’t think so.” Someone said softly through the door.
“Holy fuck Mina.” he whisper-shouted as he jumped slightly in shock before returning to his initial position, “I’m sorry for-” he started
“No, I'm sorry Kaminari.” she interrupted. “I’m sorry for what I said. And for what Monoma said. I should have realised you were still the same guy I became friends with and not some crazy double-life celebrity. I’m sorry both of us insinuated otherwise.”
“No Mina, I’m sorry for how I reacted. I still feel bad for lying to everyone. I just didn’t want people to think of me differently. Or that I got into this school because of money or fame or whatever.” Denki sighed before continuing, “I never really had a chance to be much of myself before coming to UA, so the more I hid who I was outside of UA, the more I felt like I was two completely different people. I just,” he paused for a weary sniffle before continuing, “I just wish I had been upfront about everything from the beginning.”
“Well now you don’t have to keep a part of yourself hidden. Think of it like coming out.”
“Mina, the entire world knows I’m bisexual.”
“Still, when you came out didn’t you feel like you could be yourself more? I certainly did.”
Denki sat up a bit straighter as he considered her words. “I suppose so.”
“No one is going to think of you any different, the only thing that’ll change is instead of people asking what you did over the weekend they’re going to ask if you’ve met random celebrities.”
Denki gave a wet laugh to match with Mina’s soft one before standing up, unlocking and opening his door. Which meant Mina fell onto the floor as he did so. As he looked down at her, lying on her back with her legs still crossed but now up in the air he started to laugh a bit more. “Thanks Mina. You’re a really good friend.”
She stood up and hugged him, “So are you, Denki.”