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Denki was the type of person to always be in a circle, without being part of it. This has been true since the day he was born. He never could seem to fit in with kids his age, yet he found that when he was bright and cheerful people could stand being around him for short periods of time.
This only became more apparent as he got older and his quirk developed. Denki’s quirk made him a complete joke to the people around him. Ever since he was young, his mom stressed the importance of being accepted by others. If Denki couldn’t even make his own personal connections, then he was doomed to be an outcast.
Middle school was when everything truly changed for the worse. Denki was in his Second year of middle school when it happened. He still remembered the way his skin felt as he walked to school that morning, it was rainy and Denki had never done very well with the rain. His quirk made it so that he didn’t always react the best to rainy weather. He would get an uneasy itch on his skin as electricity flowed through him at alarming rates.
He was sitting in class when he felt his stomach sink to his feet. The feeling came suddenly, one moment his teacher was discussing the history of heroes, the next he felt like he was going to throw up or rip off his skin. He stood up abruptly and tried to make his way out of the classroom before he threw up all over his classroom, or worse. However, his teacher didn’t seem to pick up on this urgency and he called out to Denki, “Kaminari, where do you think you’re going so suddenly? Class is still in session.”
Denki turned to look at his teacher to say something, anything . But he found his mouth full of lead, his tongue resting heavily in his mouth making it nearly impossible for him to make a coherent sentence. He tried to say something to tell his teacher that this was an emergency, but he couldn’t open his mouth or get a single sound out. He just froze feeling as his impending doom drew nearer, and he gazed at the rest of his class, taking in the faces of his classmates. The majority looked bored out of their minds and annoyed by Denki’s “antics”. His teacher reached out to him as a bolt of lightning made contact right above the school, right above where Denki was standing.
After that, Denki wasn’t sure what exactly had happened, it all happened so fast he couldn’t keep up. As the lightning struck down, Denki felt his blood turn cold and a sharp pain he’d never experienced in his life. There was a flash of light and Denki saw his teacher and classmate’s faces as they looked at him with horror before he was blinded with light and pain overtook him. He could smell rubber.
Denki awoke in a hospital bed. His body ached all over and his throat felt impossibly dry. His eyelids were heavy and he left discombobulated as he looked around and tried to remember what had happened and how he’d ended up in this painfully white room. He was too tired to think, and drifted back to unconsciousness.
Denki woke once again, looking around to find he was still in the hospital, this time however he felt much more aware of his situation and felt fear gnaw away at his insides. A nurse came in at that moment and smiled widely when she saw that he was awake. She quickly ran out of the room to grab the doctor who walked in shortly after. He had warm eyes, yet a stern look on his face. He looked extremely tired, the bags under his eyes looked more like bruises.
“It’s nice to see that you’re finally awake, Kaminari,” The doctor smiled at him lightly as he walked over to where Denki was laying and he took note of his charts. Denki wanted to ask why he was here, what had happened, but at the same time something in the back of his mind was telling him he didn’t want to know. It seemed that the doctor could read his mind however as he turned to look at Denki with a glint of sorrow shining in his eyes.
“Do you know why you’re here Kaminari,” The doctor looked at Denki before he sat down on the chair by Denki’s bed. Denki’s throat still felt dry and he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to talk, so he shook his head in response.
“You had an accident with your quirk while you were in class.”
Oh no.
Denki knew where this was going and he felt sick.
The doctor explained that Denki’s quirk had been thrown out of control due to the storm that was happening outside and that when the lightning hit above the school, Denki’s quirk acted as a conductor and the lightning went right through him, causing him to lose control of his quirk and lightning was thrown throughout the room, causing his classmates to also get hit by the lightning. Denki could feel himself drowning in guilt as he listened to the doctor explain what had happened. He had put his classmates in danger. He was a liability. He was dangerous. He shouldn’t have gone to school. He should’ve run out of the classroom and dealt with the consequences later. He-
“It’s okay, Kaminari, one of your classmates was quick and used their quirk to protect the class from the brunt of the attack. There were only slight injuries, you were the one that got it the worst. You’ve been unconscious for three days now.”
Three days? Deep down Denki felt that he should’ve been unconscious for a week, or he should’ve just died. He didn’t deserve to live when his quirk was so unstable. What if he ended up hurting someone again?
Denki was forced to stay in the hospital for two more days after that to make sure that everything was okay and that he could move and talk before getting sent back home. His parents didn’t come to visit him until it was time for him to go home and even then they didn’t express any sort of worry towards him. His dad barely even glanced at him as Denki went and got into the backseat of his dad’s car. His mom kept her words scarce, waiting until they were in the car to really let him have it.
“That was very irresponsible of you Denki,” His mom began as soon as they got into the car. Denki felt his heart sink as he hung his head in shame. His mom knew what was best for him after all, she worried about him and she wanted him to be successful in life. Denki couldn’t help but take her words to heart. It was times like this that Denki felt extremely small as he tried to hide himself from his parents line of view, he wanted nothing more than to sink into the car seat he was on.
“I’m disappointed in you.”
For the rest of Denki’s time in middle school, he didn’t go back to school. He couldn’t face his classmates or the outside world. He locked himself in his house finishing school online. Just the thought of leaving the house sent a panicked fear through his spine, paralyzing him. His parents tried to persuade him to go back, but they were also embarrassed to show him in public and they eventually gave up. Though he still saw their disappointed eyes staring at him while they ate dinner together.
Despite this setback, Denki still dreamed of being a hero, and that is how he ended up at the UA entrance exam. He didn’t want his past to stop him from his future. He might’ve disappointed his parents by becoming a shut-in for the rest of his middle school years, but he was going to make it right. He was going to become a hero like he always wanted and he was going to be successful and make up for all of the trouble he’d caused his parents.
The entrance exam went relatively well, Denki found himself lucky to be able to fight robots instead of interacting with real people. Just sitting in the same room as all of the other applicants made his breathing speed up. For a year and a half Denki hadn’t talked to anyone but his mom and dad and those conversations usually never made it very far and were rather one-sided. The written exam had Denki feeling somewhat nervous, he’d had trouble with reading ever since his incident in middle school, his brain had gotten somewhat scrambled and he had trouble with reading or remembering certain things. However, Denki was rather smart despite his appearance. He was one of the top students in his year while he was still at his middle school and that didn’t just go away.
This wasn’t the only issue that had arisen from the accident, he also had an uncontrollable shake in his hands which made his writing shaky and he felt jittery all of the time. Denki had always had extra energy due to his quirk, but getting hit by lightning made this even more apparent. So Denki sometimes had to take breaks while he was reading or writing because words would begin to spin and his hands would shake so badly he’d lose his grip on his pencil.
By some miracle Denki managed to get into UA. His parents had been proud of him in their own way. His mom reminded him of the importance of connections with others and that he better not make a fool of himself or the Kaminari name. This caused Denki to stress for the week leading up to his First year at UA. He didn’t want to mess up and the thought of interacting with people again made him sick to his stomach. He fell ill in the days leading up to his first day at the new school. He was glued to the toilet throwing up frequently and feeling incredibly exhausted.
Denki couldn’t fuck this up. That was obvious. Who could he be? Who would be someone that others want to be around? Denki was amazing at putting on a facade and all he needed was to keep this up until graduation, until he made connections with the right people and earned his success in the future. He couldn’t become a social outcast at UA. He needed to do whatever it took.
Denki decided to become someone who was fun and was easy to talk to. He thought back to all of the people that he’d known in his life who were well liked. They were funny and people liked to be around them. Denki needed to be that. He practiced smiling in front of his mirror and worked on suppressing his true emotions, his fear at being perceived. He’d leave that feeling for when he was alone.
Denki opened his eyes and groggily got ready for his first day at UA. He scrubbed his face with water and left the sink to run as he practiced smiling and made sure that his appearance was acceptable. He walked downstairs to grab a bite for breakfast and found his mom already in the kitchen drinking from a cup of coffee and reading something on her phone. She glanced up and looked him up and down before nodding slightly and looking back down at her phone. Denki stood a little straighter and felt somewhat proud of himself, she had approved of him.
Denki made the trek to his new school and tried to not let the nerves consume him. He wouldn’t have a repeat of middle school. This was a fresh start. This was a chance to become a whole new Denki, a Denki that didn’t lose control of his quirk, a Denki that was well-liked and had friends. He had no idea what to expect as he walked into his new class, 1-A, but he tried not to let his nerves get the best of him.
He opened the giant door of the 1-A classroom and was met by a rush of noise. He looked around the classroom, a smile plastered on his face, and took in his new classmates. He was overwhelmed but he couldn’t let it show. He noticed that everyone was so different and he couldn’t wait to see what kind of quirks they had. He remembered the words of his mom “find whoever you think will give you the best chance at success, and stick to them. Don't get dragged down by others, find people that will help you rise above the rest.”
Denki searched the classroom for those who would be successful, he saw a girl with pink skin and a joyful expression on her face, he saw a boy in the the back of the classroom already sat at a seat in silence, he had a rather painful looking scar on his face, it made Denki’s own scars ache. He saw a boy with green hair talking to a girl with brown hair and pink cheeks, he looked nervous as he waved his hands around wildly. Denki looked around some more and noticed a short boy with what appeared to be purple balls on his head which seemed to also act as his hair, Denki noted that he should stay away from him given the way he was looking at the girls in the room. He also noticed a boy with glasses who was trying to get people to quiet down and be respectful, his lecture pointed towards a boy with blonde hair who had an angry expression on his face. He was practically growling with rage, Denki noted it was best to stay away from him as well.
Denki went to go and find a seat to sit in, but he had to be strategic with where he sat, he didn’t want to sit in the front row, but the back was no good either. Denki ended up deciding on a seat in the middle of the rows off centered a bit, since it also wasn't going to do him any good sitting directly in the middle of the classroom. The girl with pink skin that Denki noticed earlier seemed to also finally see him and her eyes lit up with the excitement of meeting a new person, she seemed nice and like someone Denki should be around. He decided to try and engage in a conversation with her as she approached him.
“Heya, nice to meet you, I’m Mina Ashido,” The girl with pink skin said as she reached out her hand towards him, a bright grin overtaking her face. Denki smiled his own well practiced smile back as he took her hand in his, “Nice to meet ya, name’s Denki Kaminari.”
They soon broke out into a light conversation, as the room filled up with more new faces and class began, the two going to their respective seats, which ended up being right next to each other. Their homeroom teacher walked in looking extremely exhausted as his hair rose above his head and he explained that his quirk erased other people’s quirks when he looked at them. He introduced himself as Shouta Aizawa. Denki felt a feeling of hope overtake him, if he did ever have another quirk accident, then Mr. Aizawa could put an end to it and keep everyone, including himself, safe.
Class went by slowly and Denki did his best to not let his facade drop. He couldn’t allow a moment of weakness to show his true self. When it was time for lunch Denki made his way towards the lunch room with the rest of his classmates, and tried to think of who to sit with. In middle school, Denki had been separated from his few friends he’d made in elementary school, since his family decided to move so that he could go to a more elite middle school. This made it so that Denki was forced to start again at square one with making friends, which he tried his best to do but many people found him to be annoying. He really didn’t want to have to eat at a table alone for his high school career too.
Who you sat with at lunch helped to determine your social standing, or that’s how Denki saw it. He needed to think of who would be best to sit with. Ashido could be a good person to sit by since he’d already been introduced to her and felt she was a good person to stick around. She seemed like the fun type that got along with anyone.
Denki got his lunch and began to look around the lunch room trying to spot her. He eventually found her at a table with three other people, who he all recognized as being in the same class as them. Denki made his way over with a smile on his face as he greeted Ashido, “Hey, Ashido, is it okay if I sit with you guys?”
Mina looked up at him, “Of course you can Kaminari, also you can call me Mina!”
Denki felt a slight release on the tightness in his chest by the mention of calling someone by their given name. He hadn’t interacted with anyone in so long that the smallest things made him want to cry tears of joy. That, however, would only lead to him being deemed a “crybaby” and he was not going to let that be his name for the rest of his time at UA, so he sucked it in.
The other people at the table introduced themselves to him. There was Kirishima Eijiro who apparently already knew Mina from middle school. Then there was Sero Hanta who seemed like a fun dude to be around, which Denki took note of. Finally, there was Jiro Kyoka, who seemed like the classic cool girl.
Denki continued to have lunch with this group and also became friends talking in class as well. The angry blonde boy also joined their group after a month due to Kirishima’s insistence. Denki was hesitant at first, though he didn’t show it because he didn’t want to turn his new friends against him, but he learned that Bakugo Katsuki was just the type that was very driven. He wanted to be the #1 hero, and Kaminari could respect that he had goals, he knew his mom would also push for Denki to continue to be around someone who despite their personality would end up being successful.
Denki eventually moved into the dorms on the UA campus after the USJ attack and Bakugo’s kidnapping. Denki didn’t like the idea of leaving his home, the one place he could drop his facade, but there was nothing he could do about it. He did feel a little relieved to be under the care of the teachers.
Mineta dropped out of UA after Bakugo’s kidnapping, though Denki was surprised he didn’t drop out right after the USJ attack. This ended up opening up a spot in 1-A for a new student to transfer into the hero course. That is how Denki met Hitoshi Shinsou. He had briefly seen the boy at the sports festival, but he didn’t interact with him then. He did remember thinking that his quirk was amazing.
Shinsou immediately made it known that he didn’t come to the hero course to make friends. Denki could respect that, but he also thought that Shinsou was dumb for saying something like that. Didn’t he know that connections were everything?
“Kaminari’s doing it again hahaha,” Jiro laughed loudly as she pointed at him, “dumb mode!”
Denki’s friends joined in on the laughter, as did the majority of class 1-A. Denki had overused his quirk again during training and so he’d ended up short circuiting. which was really just excruciating pain that ripped at his insides and gave him new lichtenberg scars. Of course, his classmates didn't know that it actually hurt him, or that he could hear what they were saying, but he didn’t want to become unlikable. Everyone enjoyed when he lost control, they all thought it was funny. Well, he thought they all thought it was funny, but then Shinsou spoke with a slight panic in his voice as he rushed towards Denki.
“Why are you all laughing, Kaminari obviously needs to go to Recovery Girl,” Shinsou reached out to Kaminari and held him steady so he wouldn’t continue walking in circles like an idiot, “Mr. Aizawa, we need to get him some help.”
“Calm down Shinsou, Kaminari does this all of the time,” Jiro snickered as she pointed at Denki, “He doesn’t have good control over his quirk so he goes dumb a lot.”
The rest of his friends laughed a little louder at the display of Denki being held in place by Shinsou, Denki realized that his legs were still trying to move despite the fact that he couldn’t go anywhere. Denki tried not to let the words he heard get to him, his friends didn’t know the true story, and so it wasn’t their fault that sometimes the things they said would get to him. It was just light banter after all, harmless teasing. This is just how it was to have friends.
“Enough,” Aizawa yelled as his hair rose and he looked at his students, “Shinsou, take Kaminari to Recovery Girl, the rest of you continue on with training.”
Denki woke up in a room that he didn’t recognize right away, his vision blurry. He rubbed his eyes and took in the smell of chemicals, he was in Recovery Girl’s office. He looked to his side and noticed that Shinsou was sitting at his side staring off into space with a look of worry. Denki wasn’t quite sure why Shinsou had stayed with him, but he felt a bit of happiness fill his heart. Denki cleared his throat a little to try and get Shinsou’s attention. Shinsou looked down at Denki with a look of relief, “Kaminari, you’re awake! How are you feeling?” Shinsou leaned over Denki, making his cheeks flush. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had worried over his well being.
“I’m fine. What time is it? How long was I out for,” Denki sat up and ignored the feeling of light-headedness that consumed him as he took in the ache in his body.
“Lunch break is starting soon. You were out for around an hour.”
Before Denki could respond, the Recovery Girl came back into the room and examined him to make sure he was all healed up. Shinsou sat in silence as Recovery Girl checked his blood pressure and lectured him on the dangers of overusing his quirk as much as he did. Denki appreciated her worry, but at this point it wasn’t really something he could avoid. If he wanted to be the best he could be, then he was going to go all out with his quirk, even if it hurt like hell.
Recovery Girl let Denki go and told him to take it easy for the rest of the day. Shinsou held open the door for Denki as they made their way to the lunch room in silence. Denki wanted to say something, but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable and he couldn’t think of anything worthwhile to say. As Denki contemplated his dilemma, they entered the lunch room and got their lunches. Denki looked around the lunch room for his friends, but before he could walk over to them, he felt a pull on his sleeve.
“Hey uh Kaminari, do you wanna go and eat lunch with me? I’ve got a special place I like to go sometimes.”
Denki was confused with the invitation, but he also liked Shinsou and thought that he’d be a good person to hang around, so he agreed, “Sure, lead the way.”
Denki wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting, but it wasn’t going outside and walking to a bench that was hidden among some trees on the edge of campus. It was a beautiful spot though and was perfect for when you just wanted to get away and have some peace and quiet. Shinsou sat down on the bench and looked up at Denki, prompting him to sit down as well. They sat in comfortable silence for a bit as Denki silently struggled to find something to say. As he always did when he couldn't find something to say, he ended up putting himself down, “Hey Shinsou, I just wanted to thank you for worrying about me. My quirk isn’t the most stable and so I end up overusing it a lot.”
“Of course I’m going to worry about you, any good person would.”
“You know, I’m surprised you even cared, I thought you weren’t looking to make any friends.”
Shinsou’s cheeks flushed slightly at the reminder of the words he’d said only a month prior, “Well my dad said that I should try and actually get along with my classmates. I honestly don’t want anything to do with any of them, other than Midoriya and well you.”
Denki tried not to feel too flattered at Shinsou’s words, but he couldn’t help but feel a flush in his cheeks. Denki couldn’t remember the last time that someone had actually wanted him around and had them as their first choice. It was a nice feeling, however Denki felt somewhat confused on why it was him and Midoriya. Denki let his facade of the happy-go-lucky dumb guy fall as he blurted out the only thing he could think of, “why me?”
He immediately regretted saying those words, if Shinsou wanted to be around him, he would definitely change his mind now.
“Why not?”
Denki chanced a look at Shinsou and was met with a serious expression. He felt his heart skip a beat, wow he was beautiful.
“You’re an interesting guy, Kaminari,” Shinsou continued with a look of complete sincerity in his eyes, “I think that you’ve got your secrets, and that’s fine, I’ve got mine too. But I want to get to know you, the real you.”
Denki was speechless, his mouth gaping open. He couldn’t even try and deny Shinsou’s words, since he wasn’t really wrong.
“Sure, let’s be friends, Hitoshi Shinsou.”
There were times that Denki would never forget no matter how much time passes. One of those is the day he became friends with Shinsou, the other is the day that the accident took place in middle school. The third is today.
Denki put on his hero costume for combat training. As he went to step out with the rest of the class, All Might pulled him aside.
“Young Kaminari, I think that you should sit out of this training.”
Denki felt his heart drop, sit out? “Wait, why?”
“Things could get intense with training today, and there’s a storm going on outside, normally I wouldn’t want to do this to a student, but I have to put the majority’s safety first.”
Denki couldn’t help but feel confusion take over his face. What did a storm have to do with Denki not participating in training? Deep down Denki knew the reason, “What does a storm have to do with me not being able to participate in training?”
All Might’s smile faded a bit as he replied uncomfortably, “We know about middle school Kaminari.”
Oh.
Denki had told the teachers in his student record about what had happened before he got accepted into UA, that way his teacher’s would understand his break from school and his abrupt hospital visit that was noted in his medical records. He just didn’t think that something like this would happen due to the accident.
He held back tears as he admitted defeat. It was true that there was a storm outside, but it wasn’t bad enough to cause any problems with his quirk, of course he could try explaining this, but it wouldn’t change anything. All Might had already made up his mind, enough to pull Denki aside before training could start.
“Oh, yeah of course. No problem.”
Denki couldn’t let this get to him. It was fine. Everything was fine. When you were born with a liability for a quirk, this was to be expected.
All Might patted his shoulder and went to address the rest of the class. Denki went and sat on the sidelines, knees curled to his chest as he watched the class compete in a tournament of one v one’s. He noticed Shinsou looked at him worriedly, but he didn’t have time to ask Denki why he wasn’t competing before the tournament started. Denki felt himself zone out. Even though he was interested in seeing how everyone fared against each other, he also felt like he was on the verge of tears and a panic overtook his chest. When Denki felt like he was going to cry, which honestly seemed to be a lot, he just needed to lose focus of his surroundings and stare into nothingness.
That’s why Denki didn’t notice that someone had gone to sit down right beside him, until he felt a slight shake to his shoulder. He jumped a little at the sudden reality check, and looked to where it had come from to meet purple eyes, Shinsou.
“Hey, Kaminari, are you alright,” Shinsou looked at him worriedly, “You were spacing out for a while, I tried to get your attention, but you were like a statue.”
“Sorry, I sometimes just get lost in thought.”
“You don’t need to apologize.”
“Okay, sor-” Denki cut himself off before he could continue, and Shinsou huffed a quiet laugh.
“I was wondering though, are you sick or something?”
“Why would you think I’m sick?”
“You didn’t participate in the tournament.”
“Oh, All Might had pulled me aside before class,” Denki had to be careful with his next words, “He thought it would be best for me to sit this training out.”
“Why?”
“There’s a storm outside.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“My quirk,” Denki prompted trying to get Shinsou to understand without having to actually admit his weakness. However, Shinsou did not fill in the blanks, he just looked at Denki with a blank face, “It’s dangerous.”
“How?” Shinsou seemed angry now, Denki hoped it wasn’t directed at him.
“My quirk is electricity, and the storm could cause me to lose control.”
“How?” Shinsou growled out.
Denki felt himself squirm under Shinsou’s harsh tone, “I don’t really want to talk about this.”
Shinsou seemed to finally realize that he’d lost his temper as he leaned away from Denki and turned his head away with a huff, “Sorry, I’m not mad at you, and I didn’t mean to pry.”
Before Denki could respond, a loud explosion sounded from the tournament stage, Bakugou v Midoriya. That was a sight to see. For the rest of the class, Denki and Shinsou sat in silence watching the rest of the matches.
Class had just ended and Denki was ready to sprint back to the dorms so that he could hole himself in his dorm and cry his eyes out. However, it would seem that Shinsou had other plans, and he called out to Denki, “Kaminari, wait up! I wanted to ask if you had any plans?”
Well yes, as a matter of fact I do. I have an appointment with my bed. A crying session to be exact. “No, what’s up?”
“Do you wanna go somewhere with me?”
Denki felt a sense of deja vu take over on the first day Shinsou and him had become friends, “Sure. Lead the way.”
Denki wasn’t sure where exactly they were going, but he wasn’t expecting it to be outside of campus, nor that it was going to be a small, cozy looking house just five minutes away from UA. Shinsou reached under the welcome mat and grabbed a key to unlock the door, like it was routine.
Shinsou opened the door and held it open for Denki, "Come on in, this is where I live.”
Denki felt nervous, he hadn’t been to a friend’s house since he was in elementary school, and even then it was always with a group, never just him. Denki wasn’t the type most people wanted to hang with one on one.
Denki walked in, taking off his shoes and leaving his bag next to Shinsou’s. It was a Friday, so that meant that students could go home to their families for the weekend, though they were also allowed to stay in the dorms if they so chose. Denki felt guilty as he’d lied and told his parents that they weren’t allowed to go home unless it was an emergency or a break for holiday. He just couldn’t handle the silence and disappointment he was met with when he was at home. He didn’t want to face his parents until he had something worthwhile to present to them.
Not only was Denki nervous to be in a friend’s house, he was even more nervous at the possibility of meeting Shinsou’s parents. He really wasn’t the best at interacting with adults, even if he was good at putting on a facade, adults made him nervous. Denki could admit that he craved acceptance, especially when it was from an older figure.
Almost as if Shinsou could read his mind, he turned to Denki and said, “My parents won’t be back until later tonight. You don’t have to be so on edge.”
Sometimes, Denki wondered if Shinsou’s true quirk was reading minds rather than controlling them. It was as if he always knew what Denki was thinking. He liked that about Shinsou.
The two of them ended up playing Mario Kart in the living room with Shinsou’s Nintendo Switch. Denki felt somewhat confident in this field, but he had never played against Shinsou. He got completely destroyed, only winning one game because someone had last minute hit Shinsou with a red shell, which was met with an angry scream and Denki laughing so hard that he fell off of the couch, tears streaming down his face and having him gasp and repeat how he couldn't breath. After they’d worn each other out, they decided to turn on a movie, which was due to Denki admitting that he’d never seen A Silent Voice . Shinsou gawked and pushed that it was a masterpiece that everyone had to see at least once. While they were watching they slowly got closer and closer to each other, Denki leaning his head on Shinsou’s shoulder, both of them sheltered from the cold of the room with a soft blanket resting over the two of them.
Just as Shouya was going back to Shoko’s school to give her the bread, the front door opened and a gruff voice called out, “Hitoshi, We’re home.”
Denki could hear a little girl’s voice chatting excitedly to whoever had just walked through the door. Shinsou paused the movie and responded, “Welcome home, I brought a friend.”
A new voice responded gleefully, “Hitoshi brought a friend ?”
This got the people to walk further into the house to see who this mysterious friend was. Denki looked to the doorway and caught the shock of a lifetime. Walking over to the living room was none other than his homeroom teacher Shouta Aizawa . To make things even more bizarre, following close behind was his English teacher Present Mic, with Eri bounding behind happily.
Denki’s jaw dropped to the floor as he jumped up to greet them, “Hello, Sirs.”
“Ah, I see,” Present Mic grinned as he took in Denki’s appearance, “Nice to see you, Kaminari.”
“Problem child,” Mr. Aizawa acknowledged him with a slight nod as if this was the normalist situation in the world.
“Shinsou, you didn’t tell me that your two dads were our teachers ,” Denki turned to Shinsou, the shock still apparent on his face as he whispered to Shinsou, who had also stood up next to Denki.
Shinsou had the nerve to grin at him, and the grin looked suspiciously like Mr. Aizawa’s, “I was waiting for this kind of reaction.”
This caused Present Mic to laugh as he made his way to the kitchen, “Hitoshi, I thought you’d already told him, way to almost give the poor boy a heart attack.”
“Are you going to stay for dinner?” Mr. Aizawa looked at Denki expectantly, but it wasn’t in an annoyed way, like he wanted Denki to leave. His expression was open and he seemed to be fine either way. Denki remembered how his mom had told him it was rude to reject a dinner invitation especially if it was from a “superior”.
“If you’re alright with that, Mr. Aizawa. I wouldn’t want to impose.”
“Ha, since when were you so respectful,” Mr. Aizawa let out a huffing kind of laugh, “Of course you can stay. Dinner will be ready in 20 minutes. You can continue watching your movie. Nice choice by the way.”
Mr. Aizawa then made his way to the kitchen and he and Present Mic, along with Eri got to work making dinner.
“You can close your mouth now,” Shinsou snickered as he looked at Denki. Denki shoved Shinsou light-heartedly, “Oh shut up. Let’s just watch the movie.”
Denki hadn’t had this much fun since he couldn’t even remember when. When he was with his other friends, he found himself to be the butt of the joke or he would pretend to take part in their humor. But with Shinsou, he didn’t need to pretend, he felt so comfortable around the purple haired boy. He felt like he could be himself.
Having dinner with your homeroom teacher and English teacher was still weird though. But a good kind of weird. Denki got to see a different side to his teachers and to Shinsou. He got to see big brother Shinsou in action while he talked with Eri about how her day went. He got to see Mr. Aizawa’s face softened as he talked to his husband and his kids. (Denki knew that there was something going on between Mr. Aizawa and Present Mic; he just didn’t have the proof until now.) Denki was enjoying the peaceful atmosphere that the family gave off when it was broken by a simple statement, “It’s getting pretty late.”
Denki looked at the clock in the kitchen and realized that it was already dawning at 9pm. He had gotten too immersed in family board game night that he didn’t even think to check the time. He really didn’t want to leave.
“Are you going to stay the night, Kaminari?”
This time, it wasn’t Shinsou who read his mind, it was Mr. Aizawa. Denki contemplated this question, though he did want to spend the night, he also didn’t want to be a bother or overstay his welcome. What if Shinsou was tired of him and wanted him to leave already? What if Mr. Aizawa was only asking as a prompt for Denki to go home. However, when Denki looked up to Aizawa’s face he saw nothing but genuinity on his face. He looked rather neutral, as if he was fine either way. Denki decided that for once in his life, he was going to put himself first.
“Well, if it’s not too much trouble sir.”
“Of course you can stay, Kaminari!” Shinsou cut in as he lightly kicked the back of Denki’s leg, “You’re not any trouble at all.”
Aizawa looked to Shinsou and then looked back to Kaminari, “What Hitoshi said. Hizashi, we have a guest spending the night.” Aizawa yelled down the hallway to where Present Mic had gone to tuck Eri in for the night.
“ALL RIGHTTT!” Present Mic yelled back, even without his quirk, he still had a loud voice.
“Thank you for the hospitality.” Denki bowed slightly to Aizawa before Shinsou grabbed his arm and pulled him up the stairs, “Thanks, dad! Come on Kami, let’s go up to my room.”
Denki spent the rest of the night in Shinsou’s room. They messed around and talked about anything and everything. As it got later the two of them got closer. It was around 2am when Denki found himself laying next to Shinsou on his bed. Maybe he was just tired, but he felt himself let his guard down some more as he broke the silence they’d fallen into for the last 10 minutes.
“You know, I’ve never told anyone this, but I really hate my quirk.”
There was silence, and for a moment Denki thought that Shinsou had fallen asleep (he felt a little relieved), however at that same moment he felt Shinsou shift in the bed as he turned to look at Denki. This gave Denki the confidence to keep talking, “Remember earlier today when All Might pulled me aside from combat training and I sat out?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I didn’t tell you the whole story. All Might knows that I’m a liability. I’m dangerous.”
Denki turned to meet Shinsou’s eyes and tried to hold back his tears, he hoped he wouldn’t regret telling Shinsou this, “My second year of middle school, I had gone to school and there was a storm outside. My skin felt itchy and weird, but I ignored it and went to school anyway. I’m a pro at ignoring the signs my body gives me. So, like an idiot I went to school. While I was in class, I began to feel extremely nauseous and I tried to leave the class, but my teacher stopped me and before I could explain myself or run out, I got struck by lightning. My quirk lost control and I acted like a conductor endangering my classmates and teacher. I was in the hospital for 5 days, three of them I was unconscious during. None of my classmates were injured too badly, one of my classmates created a shield and protected the rest of the class. I couldn’t stand that I’d almost injured the people around me, and so I hid away. I didn’t leave my house for a year and a half. I finished middle school online. The UA entrance exam was the first time I’d left my house since then.”
Somewhere along the way, Denki and Shinsou had found each other and were holding hands. It felt very comforting. Shinsou’s hand was warm and a little rough, but Denki felt grounded.
“You’re not a liability, Denki.”
Denki felt the dam within his heart break with those words. Ever since the accident, he’d wanted to hear those words deep down inside him. He wanted to be reassured, he needed it. Shinsou had said it with such sincerity that it caused Denki’s heart to ache, years of sorrow escaping through his tears. Shinsou reached for Denki and hugged him tightly, Denki couldn’t do anything but hold Shinsou’s shirt as he buried his face in the fabric. He lost track of how long he’d cried but eventually he’d let it all out and found himself sniffling, still holding onto Shinsou’s shirt. It was soaked in tears, yet Shinsou didn’t comment on it at all, Denki was eternally grateful.
“I hate my quirk too.”
Now it was Shinsou’s turn to share.
“Since I was a kid, the moment my quirk developed, everyone asked the same questions. ‘Oh Shinsou, you wouldn’t use your quirk against me right? We’re friends aren’t we?’ or people would make comments like ‘isn’t your quirk more suited for villainy?’ Even my own parents couldn’t stand the thought of being in the same house as me. They were scared that I was making them do things against their will and they couldn’t remember since I’d ‘erased their memories’. That’s how I ended up in the foster care system. I bounced from home to home until I found my dads. They weren’t scared of me. Dad, Mr. Aizawa even helped to train me with capture scarfs similar to his.”
Denki felt sorrow as he listened to Shinsou talk about his past, I guess they both had rough lives. He couldn’t believe that people would be scared of Shinsou when he so obviously had the heart of a hero.
“I think your quirk’s badass.” God Denki sucked at comforting people.
Shinsou let out a laugh, a bright smile overtaking his face, Denki thought it was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen, “Well, I think your quirk’s badass too.”
And if they ended up falling asleep in each other’s arms, neither of them mentioned it when they woke up the next morning.
Denki had been feeling too happy lately. He should’ve known something bad was going to happen, nothing good could ever last too long for him.
It had been a month since his sleepover with Shinsou, though it was far from their last. Denki found himself glued to Shinsou’s hip, even more so than before. However, this morning he woke up in his dorm room and felt off immediately. His skin crawled uncomfortably. He felt sick to his stomach and his whole body ached. He could already hear the thunder booming loudly outside.
Denki knew that he should stay in his dorm and not go to class. However, Denki was a pro at ignoring the signs his body gave him, and today wasn’t a day he could skip without facing consequences. There was a big test in his English class and there was also an important training session that everyone was reminded was going to be a big part of their grades and act as a placement for how everyone had grown throughout the year. And so Denki pulled himself out of his bed and ignored the heavy feeling in his limbs as he reminded himself to move one foot at a time.
He waited down in the common room for Shinsou, as they’d made it a routine to walk to class together. He found himself leaning heavily against the couch as he waited, when he saw Shinsou he tried to get up but felt that it was hard to move. His whole body felt stiff, like he was stuck in concrete. Shinsou seemed to notice this as he walked up to Denki looking worried, “Hey, Denks, are you feeling alright? You’re looking a little pale.”
Denki waited until Shinsou was next to him before he leaned against him heavily, “I’m fine.” Well if that wasn’t the most obvious lie ever, “I’m just feeling a little unwell. I don’t think I got enough sleep last night.”
“If you say so.” Shinsou put his arm over Denki’s shoulders and led him towards the door gently. He didn’t comment on how Denki was relying on him to get to their classroom and how Shinsou was doing the brunt of the walking.
“Begin.”
Denki was completely fucked . The English test had just begun, and it felt like his condition was only getting worse. He couldn’t register any of the words on the test and his hands were shaking so badly, he couldn’t hold his pencil for longer than 20 seconds at a time. Denki did what he could in the allotted time, but he knew that he wasn’t going to pass this test. By the time he had to turn the test into the front of the room, he’d only answered a third of the questions.
Denki should’ve gone back to his dorm after that failure, but he decided to just stick it out. That's how Denki ended up getting the biggest deja vu of his life. Training was put into two different groups, Denki and Shinsou on opposite sides. One was the heroes, which Denki was put into, and his job was to work with his team to retrieve ‘a hostage’ from the villain’s team. Denki decided that he would just go back to the dorms after this, all he needed to do was make it through this training and he could lay in his bed and rot away.
First, training. Denki was on a team with Momo, Midoriya, Aoyama, Kirishima, Ojiro, Iida, Sato, Tokoyami, and Hagakure as the heroes. The other team, which were the villains, consisted of Shinsou, Bakugo, Todoroki, Mina, Jirou, Uraraka, Koda, Sero, Tsu, and Shoji.
Denki felt nervous for the training, but he also felt confident with the team he was put on. His classmates were all so strong. Denki was going to do his best to not hold his team down. Especially since his team decided he was a core part of the plan. Each team lined up on opposite sides of the practice grounds which was a city setting. Aizawa blew the whistle signaling the beginning of the activity.
Things were going so well, Denki was able to run freely all he needed to do was put faith in his team and trust they’d uphold their part of the plan. Midoriya got a hold of the hostage, now all he needed to do was get the hostage to Denki who was holding an electricity blanket made by Momo to wrap the hostage in so he could carry the hostage to Kirishima who was supposed to blow his way through his opponents to get back to the other side of the city.
“Kaminari!” Midoriya yelled his name as he handed Denki the hostage, “GO!”
Denki secured the hostage wrapping them in the blanket and making his way to Kirishima, he had an open view, using his electricity to push him faster, until his view was obscured by purple. Shinsou jumped in front of him and let out a teasing, “Got you.”
Denki smiled at the competition, he could see Kirishima just in view, he just needed to stay quiet and get around Shinsou. Only five minutes left. Shinsou got into a ready position, looking for an opening to either grab Kaminari with his capture scarf or get Denki to open his mouth so he could take control. Denki got ready to fight or pass the hostage to Kirishima who took note of the predicament he was in and was in the process of rushing to his aide. Just as Denki was about to make a move, he felt his heart sink in a familiar way. A tingling rushed through his body and he stopped mid attack.
“Oh no.” Denki’s words were drowned out as a flash of light and a loud boom sounded from outside. Denki felt hot pain rush through him as he crumpled to the ground. It was happening again. There was nothing he could do to stop it, tears sprung to his eyes, time slowed as he locked eyes with Shinsou. Shinsou was right there. All of his classmates were within the range of his quirk. They were all in danger. Shinsou’s eyes lit up with understanding as he rushed to Denki’s side, “DENKI! Please grab onto my hand!” Shinsou reached out to Denki just as Denki lost complete control. He was going to hurt Shinsou. He was going to hurt everyone. He was dangerous. He was a liability.
“DENKI PLEASE!” Denki didn’t know what Shinsou was planning but he had complete faith in him, and so despite the risk he grabbed on, “Hitoshi!”
“Sleep.” Denki felt his eyes droop as Shinsou used his quirk to knock him unconscious.
“Denki, why couldn’t you be more careful? You’re such a handful.”
“Didn’t you hear about his quirk? He can’t even control it. He’s dangerous.”
“He put all of his classmates in danger.”
“Kaminari is a complete idiot.”
“Dumb mode!”
“Wow Kaminari you sure are stupid.”
“I’m disappointed in you, Denki.”
“Denki, hey Denki, are you awake?”
Denki rustled awake immediately being met with sharp pains running all over his body. He felt incredibly sore, and just the effort of lifting his eyelids used up the majority of his energy. Denki eventually opened his eyes and looked to the sound of the voice where he was met with worried purple eyes.
“Thank goodness, you’re finally awake!” Denki lost sight of the eyes as they turned away to call for someone, “Doctor! He’s awake!”
Denki’s head hurt from all of the noise, but the voice also soothed him. He let his body relax as he closed his eyes once more. He felt a warm sensation on his forehead, and chanced cracking his eyes open once more to see Shinsou pushing his hair out of the way. A fluttering overtook his stomach, but he couldn’t let his feelings take over his senses. He needed to focus and try to remember what happened and why he was in a hospital.
“Kaminari, it’s good to see that you're awake. Do you remember what happened before you woke up here?”
Denki contemplated this question, why was he here? He thought back to the last thing he remembered. Denki remembered there being a storm outside, and how he felt weird when he headed to school. There was training and Denki was running, but then he turned up blank.
“I remember that there was a really bad storm outside and that my skin was crawling when I headed to class. There was a training session I couldn’t afford to miss, but that’s all I can recall.”
The doctor looked concerned as he wrote down some notes, frowning deeply. Shinsou looked scared as if the worst imaginable situation had come true. He opened his mouth to say something but the doctor looked at him and motioned for him to stay silent.
“Kaminari, I’m sorry to tell you this, but you had an accident with your quirk. Thankfully, you had your friend here to look after you, but you still got injured due to the incident. None of your other classmates were harmed, since your friend acted quickly in using his quirk to put you to sleep. Things could’ve gone much worse if not for his quick thinking.”
“Oh.” Denki felt as if he was just shoved face first into ice water feeling his breathing constrict and his breath shallow. He remembered now, losing control and grabbing onto Shinsou who used his quirk.
“You ended up having a seizure, but putting you to sleep gave Eraserhead the time he needed to erase your quirk before it spread to the rest of the class. You got lucky.”
Denki found out that he was in a comatose state from his seizure and quirk side effects for a whole week, and he was then kept for three more days afterwards to focus on recovering and taking it easy. His parents, though they were informed, didn’t visit him once. Shinsou was by his side for the majority of it, when he wasn’t at school, he was with Denki. His other classmates had gone to visit him once, but he was unconscious so he didn’t get to see them until he was back at the dorms.
“Denki, you ready to head out?” Shinsou asked as he held open the door to Denki’s hospital room. He was finally getting discharged today and Shinsou hadn’t left his side the whole time, even offering to be there with him the whole time he was finalizing things with his doctor and the hospital. Mr. Aizawa had come to pick him up as his “guardian” since his parents hadn’t come to visit him once since he’d been in the hospital. His doctor had tried to get into contact with them, but they didn’t return any of the calls. Denki wasn’t surprised. He’d acted irresponsibly again.
“Yeah, I’m ready. Thanks for waiting.”
“No problem. My dad is already waiting downstairs. He told me he’s just doing the release paperwork.”
With that, the two headed downstairs to meet Mr. Aizawa. Shinsou helped Denki walk as his balance was still somewhat unsteady from the aftermath of the high amount of electricity that had coursed through his veins. Aizawa looked tired as he talked to the doctor, a concerned look on his face, before he noticed Denki and Shinsou making their way towards them.
“Well, thank you once again, doctor.” Aizawa said as he bowed before making his way to the hospital parking lot.
“Are you feeling any better, Kaminari?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you for taking the time to come and pick me up. I really appreciate it.”
“Of course, I would pick you up, you’re one of my students, and of course Hitoshi’s friend too. I care about you kid, don’t forget that.”
Denki felt his eyes well up with tears as he nodded his head. He feared that if he opened his mouth, the tears would start falling, and Denki didn’t feel like crying in front of people today, or ever. They eventually made it to Aizawa’s car where Shinsou helped Denki get into the car and they headed towards the dorms. Denki couldn’t wait to get back and sleep. He was exhausted from being stuck in the hospital for so long. However, as he thought that, Denki felt his phone buzz with a notification. He looked down to see that it was from his mom. Denki jumped slightly in his seat, as he straightened his posture and unlocked his phone to read the text. It was rather simple but it worried Denki nonetheless.
Mom: Call me when you get back to your dorm.
Denki’s thumb hovered over the keyboard before he replied with an okay . He couldn’t help but feel nervous and he completely zoned out as his leg began to bounce up and down and he bit at his fingernails absentmindedly.
“Hey, Denki? Are you alright?”
Denki looked up as he felt a warm hand rest on his thigh, it was Shinsou’s hand. He had a worried look on his face, and Denki realized that he’d zoned out.
“Uh, yeah I’m fine. Don’t worry. My mom just texted me. Did you say something?”
“Nothing too important.”
They made it back to the dorm and Denki tried to keep his cool as he thanked Aizawa who headed back to his house. Once again reminding Denki that he could talk to him any time, even if Shinsou wasn’t around. Denki appreciated the sentiment.
As Denki walked through the front door with Shinsou, he was immediately met with the many faces of his worried classmates. All of their voices overlapped but the majority was asking if he was okay and that they were glad he was back. Denki smiled at the obvious care his classmates had for him.
“DENKI! WE WERE SO WORRIED! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED DURING TRAINING? WE WERE COMPLETELY LEFT IN THE DARK!” Mina’s voice made its way through the rest of the crowd and everyone quieted down and looked at him with expectancy. Denki felt awkward as he felt his facade was nowhere to be found. He supposed that he did owe them an explanation. It must’ve been scary to randomly have a classmate collapse during training and then get put in the hospital for a week.
“Give him some space, I know you’re worried, but he’s pretty exhausted from everything,” Shinsou cut in as he put some space between Denki and the rest of the class. Denki felt a warmth in his stomach at the gesture.
“Sorry about that guys,” Denki rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as he let out a fake laugh even to his own ears, “I just don’t mix well with storms.”
This only raised more questions, however, Denki felt his phone buzz again and he remembered that he needed to call his mom. Denki raised his phone up slightly as he bowed before beginning to walk away, “ I’m really sorry, but I have to take this call. It’s really important. Hitoshi? Could you please explain it to them? I’d rather not relive the memories.”
Shinsou looked a bit surprised at the request, but he still nodded his head in affirmation, “Of course, Denks. Don’t worry. Go and take your call.”
Denki thanked Shinsou once again before slipping away to his dorm room, closing his door to drown out the sounds from the common room. He looked to his phone to see that his mom had texted him again.
Mom: Now, Denki.
Denki’s hand shook slightly as he pushed the call button on his mom’s contact. As the phone rang he tried to take deep breaths so his mom wouldn’t know just how scared he was. The phone stopped ringing as his mom accepted the call, silence rang through Denki’s ear.
“Mom?”
“...”
“Listen, I’m really sorry. I know that I messed up again. It was irresponsible of me.”
“I’m glad that you know that much. You’ve disappointed me once again Denki. Your father didn’t even want to talk to you. I, for one, don’t want to either. That’s why this will be our last call. You can get your stuff this weekend. Then we’re cutting you off.”
Denki’s heart skipped a beat as he felt his stomach drop, “What…What do you mean? Please mom don’t do this. Please!”
“My mind is already made up, Denki. I don’t want a fuck up for a son.”
“PLEASE! Mom! Don’t do this! I can be better! Just give me one more chance! I’ll make you proud I promise!”
“Do you have any idea how many times I’ve heard that line? I’m not giving you any more chances. I don’t want to be associated with you. Even if you do end up becoming a “hero”, you won’t make it far. I doubt you’ll even make the top 100. You’re nothing now, and you’ll be nothing later. Goodbye.”
Denki heard the click of his phone as the call ended. His hands shook excessively as his breath became more and more ragged. He was having a panic attack. His phone glued to his ear as he felt frozen in place. Denki began to lose the feeling in his legs as he slumped to the ground. His mind became full of tunnel vision seeing nothing but darkness. He couldn’t breath- oh fuck he couldn’t breath -
“DENKI!” A voice called out as they shook Denki from his daze, “BREATHE!”
Denki then felt a hand on his chest and he felt a heart beating against his own hand.
“1…2…3…4…out…1…2…3…4”
Denki felt as his breath regulated and he came to his senses, realized he’d dropped his phone and he was sagged on his knees on the ground. His savior was none other than Hitoshi Shinsou.
Denki lunged himself towards Shinsou and wrapped him in a tight embrace as he felt tears sting his eyes. Shinsou hugged him back just as tightly, rubbing comforting circles on his back. They stayed like that until Denki had no more tears left to cry and his breath had long since evened out into a steady rhythm.
“Sorry…” Denki mumbled out, his voice sounding strange due to the strain of his cries against his throat. He felt extremely embarrassed now that he was in a more clear mindset. As he pushed himself away from Shinsou’s warm embrace. Denki looked down, afraid to meet Shinsou’s gaze.
“What are you sorry for?” Shinsou asked softly as he raised Denki’s chin with his hand to match his own gaze.
“I’m such a nuisance.”
“No, you’re not. Far from it. What happened to make you think that way?”
“Well, it’s just the truth.”
“No.”
Denki looked into Shinsou’s eyes, seeing nothing but the truth. He felt his mouth drop open a little. Most people would just agree with him at this point. Of course, he knew that Shinsou wasn’t “most people'' but he also spent the most time with Denki, so he of all people should’ve seen it the most first hand. How annoying Denki was.
Shinsou shifted so that he was closer to Denki, their knees touched as they both faced each other. Shinsou seemed to be contemplating something, but Denki wasn’t sure what. This whole situation was making him nervous.
“Denki,” Shinsou finally spoke as he reached out to hold Denki’s hands in his own hands, “I’m not sure if now is the right time to ask, but I’m really worried about you. Was it your mom who put those thoughts of uselessness in your head? I know you were on the phone with her, and that she never once went to visit you in the hospital. I care about you Denki, so please tell me the truth.”
Denki suddenly felt very uncomfortable, like a fish out of water. He didn’t want to answer that question. He tried his best not to think about what his mom said to him, to the point that it was the only thing he could think about.
“She means well,” Denki squeaked out as he averted Shinsou’s eyes. Even to his own ears, he could hear how uncertain his words sounded. He loved his mom. He was sad that he’d disappointed her. He also knew that it was his mom who had put these thoughts in his head. However, directly admitting the truth of the matter broke his heart. Maybe it was partly because he believed her, and also that he was worried that Shinsou would begin to believe in Denki’s worthlessness too.
“Denki, if she’s making you think poorly of yourself, then she doesn’t mean well.”
“You don’t know her like I do! She loves me! I’ve just disappointed her for the last time. I can make things right though. I’m her son after all. She loves me .”
Denki’s desperation could be heard more and more as he continued to talk. However, it seemed that he was convincing himself of his mom’s love, rather than convincing Shinsou.
“Denki, calm down.”
Denki felt his breathing become more erratic again, and put his focus into calming himself down. In….out…..in…..out…. Denki closed his eyes and silence fell across the room as he focused on breathing. He could feel Shinsou’s eyes on him but didn’t say a word even after his breathing calmed once again. He was exhausted.
……
………
“She said she was done with me.” Denki broke the silence and sniffled as he held back the dam of tears that raged within him like a hurricane. He opened his eyes and felt tears prick at his eyes as he looked at Shinsou. His chest ached with heart break. Shinsou’s mouth gaped as he looked at Denki, his eyes softened as he moved to sit slightly closer to Denki. The warmth from Shinsou was comforting and so Denki didn’t move away.
“Oh, Denki,” Shinsou wrapped his arms tightly around Denki. Just like that, Denki felt all of his walls he’d built up break down. The floodgates opened as he clung tightly to Shinsou and cried his heart out. Shinsou gently rubbed Denki’s back in a soothing manner and stayed quiet, which Denki greatly appreciated. He’d needed this hug more than he knew.
Denki lost track of the time he’d spent crying in Shinsou’s arms and even after his eyes had dried he didn’t let go of Shinsou, and Shinsou didn’t let go of him.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Shinsou whispered to Denki in a gentle tone. As much as Denki wished he could go to bed and never talk about this situation ever again, he knew that it wouldn’t help him, and if he was being honest, he really needed to let his thoughts out for once in his life. His true thoughts, not his half-jokes or his persona of the cheerful classmate/friend that he put on. He needed to rip out of his old skin so that he could move forward in this new body that he’d long forgotten about.
“Ever since I was young, I’ve wanted to make my parents proud. My mom’s more of an uptight character, and my dad is the type that wouldn’t really notice if I got hit by a car even if it happened right in front of him,” Denki let a bitter laugh escape him before he continued, “My mom always stressed the importance of making connections and being successful. She’s told me since I was young that I needed to be strategic with who I surrounded myself with. She also told me that I needed to be more likable. That’s how I ended up creating this persona that I desperately hide behind. I noticed at a very young age that people liked me more when I was outgoing and talkative. So, I forced myself to be more loud and humble. I’ve always been extremely smart, though I’m sure that’s hard to believe given my grades now.”
“I’d told you before about the incident that happened in middle school, well not only did it make it so that I have to live with permanent scars, but it also affected me physically and mentally. I now have a constant shake in my hands and I have trouble focusing on things for too long. Words swarm through my head and memories become hazy. This makes things hard when I’m in school, since it feels that the things we learn get jammed in my head, like a traffic jam. Or, it’s like there’s an invisible barrier, causing information to just bounce off my brain, not even giving the information the chance to absorb in my head. It’s just gone.”
Denki felt as if he was talking too much, which was a nervous tick of his. He got a serious case of word vomit when he had to talk about himself. So he decided to just close his mouth, worried he’d said too much.
“That must’ve been really hard for you,” Shinsou broke the silence this time as he grabbed onto Denki’s hand, “I’ve always known you were smart. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone else who owns nearly as many classical American novels as you do, and actually reads them.”
Denki chuckled as he felt that he could continue talking, as he always did when he talked about himself, or anything really, he jumped around different topics abruptly, “You know, you’re the closest friend I’ve ever had. I’d told you how I tried to be well-liked, but honestly it backfired a lot. I tried so hard to imitate the perfect image of a person in my head that many people just ended up thinking I was annoying. Which, you know, is fair enough. I was annoying, and yet I was also the top in my whole year when it came to grades, so they had nothing to use against me. I was friendless my whole middle school experience, and it only got worse when I became a shut-in. People used to at least somewhat respect me, but UA is completely different. Now, they had something to use against me. My weakness, which is also my most important aspect, my quirk. Since the incident, my quirk became even more sporadic. I can’t use more than 1.3 million volts of electricity before my brain short-circuits. This has caused permanent damage to my brain. But, of course, nobody wants to hear about that. They only want to laugh and make my whole existence into a joke. They think I’m an idiot.”
“Denki. You are not a joke, and you’re most definitely not an idiot,” Shinsou says as he looks at Denki seriously, “Don’t believe anything they, or your mom say.”
“You know, you can stop this already.”
“Stop what?”
“Stop acting like you care. I’m useless and a disappointment to everyone around me. I mean, like it isn’t obvious. ”
Denki expected Shinsou to come to some big realization that he was right, and that Denki was useless. He expected Shinsou to give up on him like everyone else had. Leaving him behind and moving on to other, more worthy people. What he didn’t expect was to hear Shinsou cry.
Denki looked up from where he’d once again looked down to be met face to face with Shinsou, tears streaming down his face, as he looked completely heartbroken. Denki was shocked to say the least, and his heart clenched painfully, his stomach dropping to the tips of his toes. He froze. Why was Shinsou crying?
“Hey, Hitoshi, why are you crying?” Denki tentatively brought his hand to Shinsou’s shoulder, in what he hoped to be a comforting way. He was never the best at comforting others, and as far as Denki and Shinsou’s friendship went, he was usually the one needing comforting.
“Denki,” Shinsou sobbed out, “Do you really think I’d ever leave you behind?”
He was at a loss for words, this was not what he thought would happen. The scene broke his heart, once again Denki ruined everything, “I mean, you’ve always been so good to me. I don’t want you to leave me, but it’s obvious you will. Whether you feel that way now or not, you eventually will. It makes me sad, but I mean even my own mom didn’t want anything to do with me.”
Shinsou's cries became even more heartbreaking as he clung to his chest. Denki thought he could hear Shinsou’s heartbreak. Each sob that wracked through his body was a piece of Denki’s heart that got chipped away with a pickaxe.
“I would never grow tired of you,” Shinsou cried out in borderline desperation, like he was trying to convince Denki of something, which he was, “I love you, Denki!”
“....what?” Denki froze in place. There’s no way he heard that right. Shinsou… loved him ? Of all people? He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to get his hopes up.
“I love you, Denki Kaminari! I love everything about you! I want to continue to stay by your side. I don’t care about what anyone else thinks about you. To me, you’re everything I’ve ever wanted! Your smile lights up every room that you’re in. Your laughter is infectious. Your personality is electric. I love hearing about all of the books you’ve read, or the random facts that you know. I love getting late night calls from you, even if you don’t have anything in particular to say. I love how considerate of others you are. How even though people treat you badly, you never hold it against them. You’re so selfless and amazing! Hearing you say that you think I’m better off without you breaks my heart! You are my sunshine. I will love you even if the sun stops shining and the moon darkens the sky eternally. I will love you forever, Denki.”
Denki wasn’t sure how to react to this sudden declaration of love. Shinsou's words were so sincere that even Denki’s constant overthinking couldn’t mess up this moment. His heart beated rapidly in his chest as he felt his face flush.
“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” Shinsou said as he looked away from Denki and got up off of the bed, “I’ll give you space.”
Denki’s mind kicked into gear when he realized Shinsou was going to leave, “Wait! Hitoshi, please don’t go!” Denki grabbed Shinsou’s wrist to hold him in place. They were both standing now and Denki really didn’t think this through. He guessed the best thing to do was to tell the truth.
“Hitoshi, I love you too,” Denki said as he moved his grip from Shinsou’s wrist, to his hand. Shinsou instinctually held Denki’s hand back. Their hands felt so right together. Denki swallowed his nerves as he continued to talk, “I said this before, but you’re my first real close friend. I love you so much more than a friend though. You’re like the night sky, swallowing me whole in a world I never knew existed. A world where I can be myself. You mean everything to me, and I don’t want to lose you, the very thought of it tears my heart into millions of pieces. You’ve always been so kind to me. More so than anyone else. That day you first approached me, and took me to Recovery Girl’s office, I fell in love with you. You were everything I wanted to be. You were so honest with your feelings, and you’ve been so accepting of me. I’m sorry for trying to push you away, please don’t leave me.”
Shinsou moved his hand from Denki’s, and for a second Denki thought that he’d made a mistake in confessing his feelings, maybe it was all a prank afterall, however, before these thoughts carried him away, he felt a familiar embrace. Shinsou wrapped his arms around
Denki and rested his head on Denki’s shoulder. Denki hugged Shinsou back wishing for the embrace to never end. Shinsou smelled like coffee, it was comforting.
“I could never leave you Denki.”
“You promise?”
“Of course, I promise. Pinky promise, even,” Shinsou said as he pulled away from the hug, leaving their foreheads to touch as he reached out his pinky to Denki. Denki laughed at the childishness of the situation, but still looped his own pinky with Shinsou’s, “Now, to seal it with a kiss.”
Shinsou bent his head down and kissed their intertwined pinkies. Denki felt weak in his knees. How did he get so lucky to find someone like Shinsou? Denki kissed Shinsou’s cheek and pulled him into another hug. He could feel Shinsou’s heart beating fast against his own heart, the beats syncing up, each filled with an insurmountable love for the other.
“I love you so, so, so much Hitoshi! Please be my boyfriend!”
“Of course, if you’ll be my boyfriend too.”
“Well, duh! Of course I will!”
Denki laid next to Shinsou that night, their hands intertwined as they whispered sweet nothings to each other. Denki knew that his life was still a mess, but he knew as long as Shinsou was by his side, he could manage anything. For once in Denki’s life, he felt as if he was part of something. As if he was loved as much as he gave. The thought made Denki smile as he drifted off to sleep, cuddling close to his now boyfriend, Hitoshi Shinsou.