Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey Kami-bro, you down for a study group tonight? We're going to be proofreading each other's essays then hopefully watch a movie after, if we finish early enough.” Kirishima’s loud voice startled the blonde, breaking through the daze clouding Kaminari’s thoughts. He was processing everything extra slowly today and his focus had been on returning to his room as fast as humanly possible so he hadn’t even noticed Kirishima walk up beside him.

“Oh, ah, naw can’t come tonight…” The blonde retorted after a few seconds of frantically racking his dumb brain on how to arrange words in a meaningful way. Then came the art of convincing himself that yes- he could in fact speak and stand up straight at the same time. Even to himself his voice sounded forced, but thankfully not slurred so Kaminari risked another few words, “I think I need to work on it alone a bit first, you know how it is…”

Kirishima seemed to accept that excuse at face value, giving his friend a patient nod. While Kaminari typically tried to join any and all study groups, it wasn't totally unreasonable for him to need to play catch up on his own before joining them sometimes. He didn't like to bog the rest of the group down by having to go backwards on the material that he still needed to process if he was behind in a subject. Those days he would usually get caught up first then join them later. Yet that wasn’t quite the case this time. Fortunately, he’d actually managed to stay on top of his academics for the last few weeks; but he couldn’t tell Kirishima the real reason he wasn’t able to study together today so that seemed like the best excuse. It’s not that he didn’t want to hangout with the crew, in fact he’d do anything to just finish his stupid essay and watch a movie right now. He absolutely hated saying no to his friends' invites, not wanting to miss out on any bonding time they had. It was getting more and more precious as their schedules got busier with internships and training, but most of all he hated to disappoint his friend. Thankfully Kirishima didn’t look disappointed in the slightest, just understanding and a bit concerned, but Kaminari ignored that part.

“Okay! Let us know if you need any help! And come join us for the movie if you finish up in time!” The redhead conceded, setting his hand on Kaminari’s shoulder and giving it a hardy squeeze. Absently Kaminari found himself leaning into his friend's touch, clinging to that thread of reassurance that he would be able to watch that movie later tonight. It was that, or his shotty balance was about betray his façade and expose him for the lying coward he was. He needed to get back to his room-like now.

“Yeah, we’ll see. Well gotta go now. Lotsa work to do!” Kaminari eased away from his friend, shoving his hands nervously into his pockets when he felt his fingers twitching. Luckily he didn’t run into any of his other classmates on the way to his room and was able to shut himself safely into the quiet of his dorm without further delay. Flopping down on his bed the blonde released a haggard sigh, the annoyingly familiar knot of anxiety slowly easing with the relief of his miraculously clean escape. Honestly, he didn’t know how in the world he’d made it back to his room, but he didn’t have the mental capacity to be anything but grateful at the moment.

Moments later his gratitude was washed away when his stomach lurched like he was suddenly in freefall and the anxiety in his chest turned rapidly to dread. Kaminari tried to breathe through the nausea, fighting to keep focus as his vision grayed around the edges before all at once he was plunged into another focal seizure.
He came back to himself after a while with a pounding behind his eyes and nausea turning in his belly. Despite his grogginess, Kaminari pushed himself up from the bed because suddenly contact with the sheets against his hypersensitive nerves made him want to pull his hair out. Rather disjointedly he clamored over to his desk chair and folded his arm onto the table to rest his heavy head on. The new position was slightly better, but he still felt his skin crawling with excess energy. At least in this position he could pretend to absorb the material of his textbook via approximation. The sharp edge of his math notebook brushed against his left hand and the mere thought of reading made him feel like he was gonna puke.

Scooting the book away, he tried to settle into a more comfortable position, hoping a quick nap would clear up whatever shenanigans his body was pulling. Honestly he didn't know why this was happening all of a sudden, he hadn’t had an unprovoked seizure since he was like 12 years old. Sure, he still had short absence seizures all the time, but losing 20 seconds of class was nothing compared to this. The only thing he could sort of correlate was his last big brain fry. Still, his control of his quirk had improved and he’d been having less and less quirk related backlash seizures, although they still happened from time to time and last week had been rough. Aizawa had been running the whole class through drill after drill, but honestly it wasn’t that much worse than their usual hellish training regimen. There hadn’t been any villains to fight, no chaos aside from the class's usual gimmicks, yet something had changed. He just had no idea what.

The next time Kaminari opened his eyes it was to the sound of his phone alarm blaring, which vaguely struck him as odd because he didn’t remember setting it before he drifted off, but his brain had been quite scrambled so anything was possible. Annoyance and regret filled him when he caught sight of the time. It was already 7AM, which meant he’d sleep straight through yesterday afternoon and all night long. Pushing himself forcefully away from his desk he scrambled to his feet as if haste at this point would somehow make up for accidently falling asleep instead of doing his homework. Aizawa-Sensei was going to kill him.

Kaminari struggled to make himself as presentable as possible with his limited time. The blonde usually showered at night so he didn’t have time now, instead he settled with washing the drool off his face with arms that were still numb from his less than ideal sleeping position. His neck was killing him and the reflection staring back at him looked pale and tired, with eye bags that could rival Shinsou’s despite sleeping like a log for an un-godly 14 hours. The indents from his fingers over his left cheek and forehead were a classy touch too. He just hoped they would fade by the time he got to class.

The blonde gave both of his cheeks a firm slap, hoping to stimulate some color into them and give himself a little jolt to drive away the lingering drowsiness.
Even though he’d woken up at his usual time, Kaminari found himself racing to get to class before the bell rang. To be fair that wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, but he was still moving extra sluggishly and all his usual activities were taking longer than normal. He didn’t realize, until his butt was already in his seat and the morning bell had chimed, that he neglected to grab his partially finished essay (that was due today of course) or anything to eat for breakfast. With a silent groan he slumped further into his seat, hot fresh anxiety settling into its usual place in the pit of his stomach. Aizawa-Sensei was going to roast him alive and then kill him.

His first class was rough. Hero-Ethics first thing in the morning was already cruel and unusual punishment, and today he could hardly focus on the lecture Aizawa-Sensei was presenting. His brain much too busy concocting all the awful punishments his teacher was going to give him for missing the essay deadline. Then there were the brief bouts of fogginess where his vision seemed to gray-out, or an odd chemical smell assaulted him making his stomach turn. At one point the smell became so distracting that he leaned backward in his seat and asked Kirishima if he could also smell something burning, but Kirishima just sniffed the air and gave him a confused shrug. Once he realized it was all in his head, Kaminari kept quiet about the oddities he was experiencing. Some of his friends were already shooting him concerned glances and he didn't want to give them any other reasons to worry about him. He'd had seizures nearly all his life, he could handle this.

Somehow he made it to the end of Ethics without incident and he made slow work of gathering his belongings so he could plead with his teacher for an extension without an audience. His friends, and the entire class, already knew he struggled with deadlines, but they didn’t need to know that he’d flaked out and slept instead of joining them and finishing his work last night.

Once the others were out the door Kaminari slowly worked up the courage to approach his teacher’s desk. Aizawa-Sensei was just sitting there looking at his phone, but the blonde knew the man was aware of his presence. He probably already knew exactly what Kaminari was about to ask. He'd probably been preparing the exact punishments for him that Kaminari had been dreading all class period.

“Um, Sensei?” Kaminari began tentatively, he could feel cold sweat pricking against his back and he couldn’t suppress the slight tremor in his hands. The blonde leaned against the desk behind him, planting his hands firmly on the surface for support when he felt vertigo rush over him. At this point he could only vaguely hope that he looked somewhat natural and not like he was about to fall on his face. He wasn’t even sure what was affecting him more, the anxiety of telling Aizawa-Sensei he was a useless slacker or the seeming constant partial seizures he was having.

Swallowing down the thick lump in his throat and his pride, Kaminari opened his mouth to speak again when the teacher's attention was directed his way.

“I, uh.. I was wondering if I could possibly get an extension on the essay for today…?” Once the question was finally out in the air, an overwhelming need to explain himself welled up too quickly for the blonde to even consider giving Aizawa a chance to reject his request. “I was almost done I swear! I- I was gonna turn it in today but I wasn’t feeling great last night and I didn’t get a chance to finish it, and I know I shouldn’t have waited until the last minute to finish it in the first place but I just thought I’d have the time… It's a lame excuse I know and I was going to bring what I had to give you but I forgot to put in it my backpack this morning so I don’t even have that to give you, but I can go run back to the dorm at lunch and get it-”

“Kaminari slow down.” Sensei requested, and Kaminari sucked in a breath after his disastrous rambling. Great, now his teacher was going to be mad at him for wasting his time too. Aizawa was just staring at him like he didn’t believe a single word of Kaminari’s story. The sad thing was it was all true, just with some crucial details he purposely neglected to mention. Like hell he was going to tell Aizawa-sensei that his seizures were uncontrolled, that would be a one way ticket out of UA for sure. He was already enough of a liability with his “whey” episodes after overusing his quirk, he couldn’t afford to be anymore pathetic.

“It’s fine.” The teacher finally said, and at first Kaminari wasn’t sure what he was referring to.

“Just turn it in by tomorrow or Friday, or I’m giving you a 0.” The man elaborated as if he could see Kaminari’s brain trying and failing to process the information it was provided. Kaminari felt like he was melting. By some miracle Aizawa-Sensei saw fit to indulge his failures and give him another chance.

“Thank you! I promise I’ll have it for you by tomorrow!” Kaminari exclaimed with pure relief and gratitude. He’d have to make the ending of his essay mind-blowing to prove to Aizawa that his extension and faith in Kaminari wasn’t misplaced.

“Whatever. Now get out of here before you're late.” The raven-haired man grumbled, shooing Kaminari’s appreciation and presence away with a wave of his hand. Not wanting to give the teacher a chance to change his mind, Kaminari was quick to hightail it out of the room. He had to run, but he made it to his next class without being late. Maybe today wouldn’t be so bad after all, he thought as he felt himself relax for the first time all day.

Sure enough the rest of the day passed rather smoothly after his positive interaction with Aizawa that morning. Kaminari had managed to keep his friends off his back (for the most part), about both his conversation with Aizawa and his health. At lunch he’d hardly picked at his food despite not eating anything since lunch the day before and naturally questions arose. Obviously, they were worried, which meant he was doing a shitty job of hiding the fact that something was wrong. The problem was he himself didn’t know what was going on but he was sure it would pass, it was probably just a weird cold or a bad electric storm somewhere nearby.

Kaminari thanked whatever divine beings were out there that they didn’t have quirk training today. As the day wore on he could feel his control slipping bit by bit and he didn’t want to put his classmates at risk of any poorly timed misfires or zaps with too many volts from his quirk. He knew how dangerous his power could be and the thought of channeling anything more than a spark at this point sent a shiver down his spine. Even just sitting in class, thankfully the last one of the day, that familiar antsy feeling was beginning to take root in his bones. He could feel the buzz of electricity welling up in his core, making his hands and feet tingle.

Before long the anxiety transformed into dread and an overwhelming fear that something terrible was about to happen swelled in his chest. Looking around, no one else seemed to be acting odd, Present Mic was still lecturing about verbs or something, his classmates diligently taking notes, nothing out of place. Surely someone else would be able to sense that something bad was going on if it was really happening. Briefly Kaminari caught Shinsou’s eye from two rows over but he didn’t have time to decipher the look his friend was giving him. The metallic tang of copper and ash filled his nose and he realized with sudden clarity that he was having another aura. This one was different, stronger, and somehow he knew this wasn’t going to be like his other seizures.

“Sensei, I gotta go to the bathroom,” Kaminari’s body seemed to move on its own, and before waiting for Present Mic’s response the blonde made a beeline for the door. He knew everyone was staring at him, he felt hyperaware of everything at the moment, and could feel their eyes on his back as he slid the door shut behind him. It didn’t matter, all that mattered was getting away from everyone as quickly as possible.
Fumbling with his phone Kaminari managed to access his stopwatch and hit start before the fuzziness claimed his vision and he stumbled. He didn’t make it more than a few dozen steps from the classroom when his brain malfunctioned and darkness claimed him.

Chapter Text

He was going to throw up. 

That was the first clear thought that came to Kaminari’s mind once his brain decided to start working again. Clumsily he climbed to his feet from his slumped position against the wall in the hallway. Luckily since class was still in session there was no one around. Since this was a hero school and all, he assumed that if someone had seen him they probably wouldn't have left him alone seizing on the floor, so he was in the clear somehow. With a heavy fog still clouding his thoughts Kaminari found his phone a few feet from him, he must have dropped it at some point. He stopped the timer. 4 minutes and 23 seconds. If he didn’t include his wakeup time it was probably around a minute or so, not ideal, but not too bad. He’d been lucky.  

The blonde rubbed his eyes and tried to get his vision to focus, the hallway was swimming distractingly in front of him making it hard to stay upright, but the turning in his stomach was a pretty good motivator. Somehow he made it to the nearest restroom and settled into one of the stalls before proceeding to retch for the next few minutes.  A truly awful way to spend his favorite lesson. 

Once his stomach finally calmed, Kaminari emerged shakily from the stall and made his way slowly to the sink. Blinking sleepily, the strong pull of drowsiness was sinking its claws into him making the world seem hazy and oddly quiet. Shaking his head slightly, Kaminari turned on the faucet and splashed his face with cold water to wake himself up. It helped fractionally but he still leaned over until his elbows were resting on the stainless steel basin and cradled his aching head in his hands, letting his eye slide close. 

He wasn’t really sure how long he stayed in that position, but he couldn’t get himself to move until he heard the door of the men’s room swing open. Forcing himself up he tried to look alert so that whichever poor soul coming in didn’t have to worry about finding his half-dead body slumped against the sink. Instead of going to the stalls, whoever entered came up beside him, stimulating Kaminari to pull his eyes away from the drain to investigate. To his surprise he came face to torso with the newest addition to their class, the tall purple-haired Shinsou who, for some reason, appeared to be just as surprised himself. 

“Hey…?” That seemed to be the only coherent word Kaminari could muster at the moment, he winced at the roughness in his voice. 

“Hey.” Shinsou retorted, composing himself quickly and schooling his face back into careful nonchalance.

“You gotta… use the bathroom…?” The blonde questioned hesitantly when Shinsou failed to offer any further clues as to what he was doing here, since he didn’t seem keen on actually using the facilities. 

“Oh, uh no.” Now it was Shinsou's turn to look embarrassed and his hand came up to scratch nervously at the back of his neck. Even though his thoughts were still hazy, Kaminari could see Shinsou weighing each word carefully in his mind before speaking. 

“I just, um… I came to see if you were okay. I guess? You’ve been gone for a while…” The purple-haired boy finally revealed his intention. Typically Kaminari would be celebrating like a schoolgirl to have garnered Shinsou’s attention like this, but now under the current circumstances, it felt more like a failure. He and Shinsou had grown quite close over the last few months since the other teen’s transfer into 2A, and while he absolutely appreciated Shinsou’s sweet and caring nature, having so many perceptive friends was a pain in its own way. 

“Aw, that’s nice of you, but I’m alright… We should get back to class.” Kaminari deflected, Shinsou was the last person he wanted to parade his weakness around. He knew how hard Shinsou worked to get where he was, he didn’t need Kaminari dragging him down and making him skip class for something so stupid. 

“Well, I would agree with you but there are just two things.” The taller teen announced stepping closer to Kaminari and giving him a critical once over. Kaminari felt more exposed than ever knowing his brain was still too scrambled by his postictal state to safely deal with this situation, he just wanted to go back to his room and lie down. 

“First of all, class is already over- just ended a few minutes ago,” Shinsou continued, “ And second, you look like you're about to fall over so…” The teen continued lifting his arms up a little as if he were getting ready to catch Kaminari should he in fact keel over on the spot.  He didn’t fault Shinsou for his logical assessment, he knew he looked like shit, but that didn’t make him okay with the statement either. 

He was supposed to be keeping this situation on the down low, yet here was Shinsou as worried as Kirishima and Jirou. Still, as upset with himself as he was for doing such a poor job at hiding his inadequacies, some not so deep-down part of him was actually really happy that Shinsou was checking up on him. He knew how dedicated Shinsou was to his studies so it took a lot to distract him, Kaminari couldn’t help but be flattered that Shinsou seemed to care about him as much as he cared about the handsome purple-haired teen. 

“Oh…” Was the only thing Kaminari could come up with in response to Shinsou’s information, utterly unable to think of a reasonable way to make Shinsou forget he ever saw him like this. 

“Can I ask if you’re okay?” The taller boy questioned softly, and because Kaminari wasn’t sure how he was supposed to answer he just shrugged wearily. He was starting to feel more and more sluggish by the second, the annoying ache building behind his eyes. His body craved sleep, overstimulated nerves begging for a short reprieve from the constant influx of stimuli that came with being conscious. 

“I think I’ll take that as a no, you’re not… Want me to take you over to Recovery Girl?” Shinsou replied to his gesture sounding more worried.

Wrong response then, Kaminari lamented. That was the last person he wanted to see at the moment. Forcing his brain to function the blonde announced, “No, no need. It’s just a stomach bug or something. ‘M just gonna rest for the night. I’ll be fine.” As if to prove his point Kaminari pushed himself away from the sink he was still leaning heavily against, readying himself to head back to his sweet, loving bed. When he turned around to face the exit, however, he found that aside from being in a bathroom he couldn’t for the life of him remember exactly where he was. Well, he knew he was at school in some bathroom somewhere, it certainly wasn’t the dorms, but the details and direction to navigate back to his room were lost in the haze of his post-seizure brain. Great, just what he needed. 

Shinsou gently touching his arm pulled Kaminari out of his fragmented thoughts, the other teen’s brow furrowed in concern, making Kaminari bite the inside of his cheek nervously. Had he spaced out again?

“Let me at least walk with you back to the dorms. I’m heading that way anyway.” Shinsou offered instead. Kaminari could only be grateful the other teen was not pushing the issue, and because he really didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, considering he didn’t have faith in his ability to get back on his own, the blond agreed to the suggestion. 

The walk back was quiet as Kaminari was usually the one to carry conversations between the two of them. Today he had to divert too much focus on remaining upright and walking in a straight line to devote anything else to speaking. Shinsou seemed to understand that he wasn’t up for idle chatter and didn’t force the blond to engage with him or answer any more questions for which Kaminari was beyond grateful.   

“Thanks,” Kaminari muttered once they found themselves standing outside his room. The thought of moving his arm to get the key in his pants pocket was almost overwhelming. He’d never wanted a teleportation quirk more than he did in this moment, if only he could just float into his bed and sleep- life would be so sweet. But alas he could not, and Shinsou was staring at him again waiting for him to move, or fall on his face, whichever happened first. 

“Did you forget your key…?” Came the purple-haired teen’s hesitant question after Kaminari obviously took too long to respond to the whole door situation. The blonde felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment which helped clear away some of the fog in his brain, enough to give him the good sense to finally fish out his key. 

“I got it, sorry…” Kaminari fumbled, trying and failing to get his room door opened, unable to get his fine motor skills to cooperate with him enough to perform even this simple task.

“No need to apologize,” Shinsou announced softly, “We all have rough days.” With that he gently plucked the key from Kaminari’s lackluster grip and quickly slid the card through the reader unlocking the door which popped open with a short click. 

“Humor me today and send me a text after you rest for a while? Just so I know whether or not to call the cavalry. I’m sure Tokoyami would be more than happy to share some of his home remedies.”  The taller teen requested, depositing Kaminari’s key back into his hand before stepping aside to get out of the room’s entryway.

“Will do,” Kaminari agreed, “but please don’t get Tokoyami involved. I’d like to live.” The shorter teen added having heard all about the dark Avian student’s “cures” from Shinsou. He didn’t think his body could handle that much stress. 

 A short chuckle escaped Shinsou, and he seemed relieved that Kaminari was bantering back with him after their odd exchange. “Okay, okay. Well, I’ll let you get some rest. Text if you need anything.” He ended with a brief rather awkward half wave. 

“Thanks, Shin. See ya later…” The blonde only closed the door after Shinsou turned away, heading off down the hall to the right. Leaning heavily against his door, Kaminari finally let his eyes fall closed, the darkness helping mildly to ease the aching of his head. He let his feet guide him automatically to his bed where he collapsed face first. Without changing out of his uniform or even taking off his shoes he curled onto the soft sheet in bliss with only thoughts of Shinsou’s shy smile at the forefront of his hazy thoughts. It didn’t take long before his consciousness faded and he was asleep.

Chapter Text

Finding Kaminari half slumped over one of the restroom sinks was probably the last thing Shinsou had expected when he went searching for his friend after he’d had hastily left class that afternoon. Kaminari had been acting weird for the past few days, and Shinsou knew he wasn’t the only one to notice. The usually energetic and friendly teen had been more withdrawn and quiet. At first Shinsou had wondered if something might have happened in the blonde's home life, considering things had been strangely calm and peaceful at school. He had heard a few less than stellar stories about Kaminari’s father and wouldn’t put it past the man to say something upsetting that put Kaminari into a funk. It was usually the personal things that Kaminari tended to keep close to his chest, otherwise he was probably the most forthcoming person Shinsou had ever met and if something upset him everyone knew it. 

During class today, however, it became clear that Kaminari was ill. The blonde lacked his typical spark of life, looking pale and shaky long before Shinsou found him half collapsed in the bathroom. He could kick himself for not noticing earlier, he’d just figured Kaminari wouldn’t want to be pushed on the details and that he’d talk when he was ready, but if he was sick that was a different story. They hadn’t been friends long enough for Shinsou to know how Kaminari handled illnesses, besides his short circuit episodes, which Shinsou didn’t think really counted as an illness, the taller teen had never seen Kaminari anything but healthy and vibrant. 

Honestly, walking Kaminari back to the dorms had been one of the most nerve-racking experiences Shinsou had had with any of his new classmates and friends. The blonde had seemed so out of it during their entire exchange, but it wasn’t like his short circuit periods where he appeared totally disassociated with his environment, this time he seemed to be somewhere in between. He’d walked himself back to the dorms if just barely, like someone sleepwalking but somehow arousable. 

Maybe this was just how Kaminari got when he wasn’t feeling well and Shinsou was just reading too much into this. He was still rather new to the whole friendship thing. Still he couldn’t help but be a bit suspicious of Kaminari’s assertion that he just had a stomach bug and would be fine. 

Even now, two hours later sitting in the familiar silence of his own room he couldn’t help but question whether or not he should have just bypassed the blonde’s protest and taken him to Recovery Girl anyway. Resolving to give the other teen another few hours to sleep before he pestered him again, Shinsou tried to focus on his schoolwork, pushing the nagging worry to the back of his brain.

It was around an hour and a half later, right before Shinsou was about to head out to grab some dinner, when he got a text message from Kaminari. 

 7:55PM

DENKI: Hey!

DENKI: Sorry if I freaked you out earlier

DENKI: I’m feeling much better now! 

DENKI: Thanks for walking me back

DENKI: A bed is so much more comfortable than a sink!

DENKI: lol

Shinsou waited a minute before responding to the messages, Kaminari liked to text in groups so he wanted to make sure the other was done before formulating his reply. He was happy that the other remembered to update him, and that he seemed to be feeling better.

7:57PM

Shinsou: Glad you’re feeling better. 

It was simple and short but he knew Kaminari would understand the sentiment behind his statement. Finally content that he wouldn’t need to drag his friend to the school nurse, Shinsou headed off towards the common rooms.

Chapter Text

Kaminari was startled awake by his own gagging. At first he was too disoriented to do anything other than turn over onto his side so he didn’t choke on his own sick and try to regular his breathing. After a few moments he was able to scrape together enough of his wits to pull himself shaky up onto his knees and drag his desk trash over to heave into instead. 

Having eaten little over the last few days, Kaminari wasn’t able to bring up much and thankfully the painful dry heaving ebbed after a few minutes, although the nausea remained. 

Kaminari’s brain was fuzzy, his thoughts moving like molasses as he tried to take in the situation. He was on the floor, that much was obvious, and he was almost 100% certain that he hadn’t been on the floor before going to bed last night. From the soreness in his muscles and the static still clinging to his skin he figured he’d had another seizure. But this hadn’t been the minor small seizures that he’d been plagued by over the last few days, this had been a big one, a full on tonic clonic seizure. The thought made Kaminari want to puke again. He didn’t understand why this was happening all of a sudden, why it seemed to be getting worse, and what he was supposed to do about it. Thinking about it just made his headache worse. 

It took the blonde a long while before he was able to will his limbs enough strength to pry himself unsteadily off the floor and back over to his bed. He sat still for a minute, hissing and clenching his teeth as tingling pinpricks of pain danced through his hands and feet. After a minute or two the sharpness faded somewhat, leaving his extremities feeling annoyingly numb yet oddly hypersensitive at the same time. Kaminari had experienced this symptoms on occasion, usually after a  particularly bad backlash from overusing his quirk. That combined with the slight singe marks on the carpet told him that his quirk had definitely been active during his little episode. Honestly he wasn’t sure why he was surprised by that, in all likelihood this sudden worsening of his seizures was probably due to his quirk acting up in the first place. 

Not that it mattered much, he was screwed either way. 

Vaguely he thought of shooting a message over to Shinsou or Kirishima to come rescue him, wondering if “help me I think I’m dying” would be too dramatic for his friends. Banishing the traitorous thoughts from his mind he did grab his phone but not to text his friends. He needed to know the time, he didn’t even want to know what Aizawa-Sensei would do if he was late to class. Forcing his vision to focus enough to make out the small digital numbers gave Kaminari’s brain a moment to realize that there was absolutely no way he could go to school today. Between the risk of having another seizure in class and the high likelihood that such an event could trigger his quirk and possibly injure his classmates was an unacceptable risk. He could pretend nothing was wrong until he was blue in the face as  long as he was the only one being affected by his actions, but he’d never put his friends in danger just to keep up a false appearance.  Which meant he was going to have to swallow his pride and beg his no nonsense teacher for a sick day. 

Kaminari was only able to make out that it was six something in the morning, the light of his phone in the dim room made his eyes ache and he was forced to stop trying to read the time lest he risk making himself sick again. He wasn’t supposed to use screens after having a seizure, he remembered that tidbit from when he was a kid. He’d never known why, but if the nausea was any indication he’d best wait a bit before trying to text his teacher. 

He thought about calling Aizawa and explaining things, he’d thought about that so many times, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He knew somewhere in the tiny, dusty, neglected rational side of his brain, there was a possibility that his teacher would help him figure out what was going wrong with his brain, and somehow nothing would change, and everything would be fine, and he’d live happily ever after. Then his much more prominent, pessimistic side would remind him that he’d never had a shred of rationality. This kind of egregious medical issue was definitely a one-way ticket out of the Hero program, and out of UA, and goodbye to his dream of being a Hero forever, because what kind of a school would actively allow such a liability to train to be a Hero?    

Taking a slow stuttered breath Kaminari tried to abort his spiraling thoughts. Freaking out was going to get him nowhere fast, his head was already aching enough, plus he’d heard that stress could make seizures worse. Not that he could really control that at this point. The blond spent the next few minutes trying to organize his thoughts. Slowly but surely the world was beginning to make sense again and existing was getting a bit easier as the tinging in his limbs eased. 

Knowing he was running low on time, Kaminari eventually worked up the courage to pick up his phone again to send his teacher a message. Looking at the light of the screen was still tough, but not as unbearable as before. 

7:03AM

Kaminari: sorry to text so early just wanted to let you know that imnot feeling good. don’t think im going to be come to class today…

As soon as he hit send he felt like an idiot. He didn’t even fix his typos before sending it, as if Aizawa-Sensei was going to accept that lackluster excuse, Midoriya had gone to Hero training with broken bones for god's sake. 

Kaminari’s heart almost stopped when his phone buzzed in his hand, Aizawa’s reply waiting for him. It was too quick, he wasn’t prepared mentally or physically to come up with a more convincing excuse to get out of class today. 

7:03AM

Sensei:  Okay, noted. I will update your other teachers. Thanks for letting me know. 

Huh? Kaminari felt like a balloon with its air let out. That was it? Was it really that easy? Tension drained out of him and he collapsed onto his bed, not even caring about the hypersensitivity of his body. His past few interactions with Aizawa-sensei were starting to unravel the image of the Hard-Ass drill sergeant his homeroom teacher was known as. Not that he would ever tell him that... Nope. Instead he would appreciate the stroke of luck and dedicate his next several New Years wishes to Aizawa’s long and prosperous life.

Kaminari fell back asleep at some point, and when he woke up he was relieved to find that he was still in the same spot, and that he felt quite refreshed, both signs that he’d indeed just fallen asleep and not had another seizure. Grabbing his phone off the bed where it had fallen out of his hand after texting his teacher he eyed the time. Just a bit after 10, which meant he had plenty of time to walk around the dorms without threat of his classmates spotting him. The blonde had to ignore the messages and group chat notifications from his friends. He was sure they were all wondering where he was and what was going on but he didn’t have the stamina to answer those questions now. He desperately needed to do some basic necessity stuff first like shower and eat something. The last time he’d eaten anything substantial had been like two days ago and he was pretty sure he was going to starve to death if he didn’t eat soon. 

Deciding on his first order of business, Kaminari headed towards the dorm kitchen. 

By the time the blonde made it back to his room about an hour later he was already feeling exhausted. He’d been able to complete most of his tasks without issue except for a short focal seizure while he was in the shower, now he had another bruise on his upper arm to join the several others already marring his skin from this morning. After looking in the mirror for the first time he winced at the ugly purpling lump on his forehead just barely hidden by the fringe of his hair.  It was going to be really hard to explain all the bruising and scrapes considering he was skipping out on hero training today, but he’d have to deal with that later. 

Sighing the blonde flopped onto his bed, he still wasn’t sure what he was going to do about this situation. He couldn’t avoid his classmates, or class for that matter, forever. He’d had to start using his quirk at full strength again and he was quite frankly petrified at the possible consequences. 

To distract himself from his circling thoughts Kaminari picked up his phone to address the messages waiting his attention. He sent a brief explanation that he was sick and had been sleeping to his friends, hoping the mass text would be satisfying enough that he wouldn’t have to respond to all the individual messages he also had from several people asking him the same questions. It was pretty obvious from their messages that his friends were not only concerned but also suspicious of his recent behavior. Sometimes he cursed having such preceptive friends. 

7:23AM

Shinsou: I thought you were feeling better last night? 

Shinsou: Hopefully you get better soon. Stay hydrated.

9:05AM

Shinsou: You’re probably still asleep, but if you need anything just let us know, we can stop by and like bring you snacks or something. 

Kaminari couldn’t stop staring at the messages from Shinsou. He felt bad for making his friend worry, but mostly he just felt warm, touched by the caring words and gesture. Some of his other friends like Sero and Kirishima had made similar offers, but for some reason Shinsou’s struck him more, probably because it was such a rare side of the typically stoic, loner teen. Kaminari was just about to send Shinsou a response when another message popped into his feed. 

  11:54AM

Sensei: I haven’t seen the dorm building catch on fire so I assume you’re doing fine. Please avoid getting your classmates sick or else… Also if you're not feeling better by this afternoon please go see Recovery Girl. Per policy, you will need a note from the school nurse if you require another day off from class. If you are in class tomorrow remember your essay is due at 8AM sharp. 

His teachers words brought reality back much too quickly, if only today was Friday then he would at least have the weekend to see if his issue would magically go away before succumbing to his doom, but no. What was he supposed to do, risk class as is? Risk talking to Recovery Girl? She’d know right away if he tried to lie his way to an excuse note, plus he’d still be in the same situation. What would happen if he had a seizure in class? What if Aizawa-sensei wasn’t able to stop his quirk from hitting his classmates, not that it should be his burden in the first place. No matter what option he tried to think of the end result was the same every time- a one way ticket out of UA.  

Now that he was thinking more clearly, he knew he couldn't do this alone anymore. He needed someone to help him figure out what to do about this situation. The question was who? Kirishima would typically be his first choice, the red-head was empathetic and great at giving advice for personal situations, but he was much too close to Bakugou. Kirishima was tied around Bakugou’s finger, and Kaminari knew Bakugou would pry whatever information he wanted from Kirishima. Bakugou was way too straight-laced to keep this information to himself- he’d tell Sensei in an instant. Next he thought of Sero or Mina, both were also great listeners and had given him advice on plenty of occasions but Kaminari was pretty sure that this particular issue would freak them both out big time, and they would probably be just as stumped as he was. Midoriya might be a good option, they weren’t particularly close but they were on good terms. The green-haired boy was super smart, and he’d dealt with pretty harsh quirk drawbacks all the time and had been overcoming and thriving despite his struggles. Plus they all knew he wasn’t above keeping things from the teachers if he thought it was for the greater good. For some reason Kaminari really wanted to let Shinsou know as well, they hadn’t even known each other all that long, not as long as the rest of the crew at least, yet he felt a certain connection to the purple-haired boy. Kaminari also felt like he owed Shinsou a proper explanation after yesterday. Finally deciding on the pair, the blonde worked up the courage to send the two a private group chat. 

12:46PM

Kaminari: Hey guys, thanks for the well wishes. Feeling a little better now 🙂

Kaminari: If possible do you think you guys can stop by my room after class…? I need a little help with something.

As soon as he hit send he felt his heart leap into his throat, what had he done? Was this really a good idea? Shinsou was close to Aizawa after all, what if he didn’t want to keep things from their teacher? What if they though he was just being stupid and making shit up because he didn’t want to finish his homework? His destructive thoughts were distracted by his phone buzzing.

12:46PM 

Shinsou: Glad your feeling better. Sure, no problem. Class should be out around 4:30ish. Will text before I head over.

Why did everyone have to respond so soon, it didn’t give him time to digest his colossal mistakes before forcing him to commit to further atrocities. He avoided texting too much, afraid he’d chicken out. 

12:46PM

Kaminari:Thank you!

12:48PM

Midoriyia: Hey Kaminari! I would love to offer whatever help I can! Should I bring anything specific over when I come?

Kaminari: No need bro! Just your big brain please ;}

Kaminari: Also if it is not too much trouble can you please keep this on the down low?

Kaminari: Im not up for too many guests just yet 

12:50

Midoriyia: Sure, no problem!

Shinsou: 👍

Maybe keeping it light would help keep suspicion off his back and make the entire exchange as easy and painless as possible. Of course that was easier said than done. 

The next few hours felt like the longest of his entire life, anxiety for the up coming meeting slowly chipping away at his sanity. He’d spend a considerable amount of time convincing his friends that he was still sick but doing better and that they should limit contact with him so they didn’t get sick too. He hated lying to them, but he was pretty sure Sero and Mina were ready to break into his room to see him at this point. His last hour was occupied recovering from another particularly jarring tonic-clonic seizure. He’d had enough mind this time to hit his stop watch as soon as the static started pricking against his neck and the taste of chemicals burned his tongue. The aura lasted about 2 minutes, at least from what he could tell before his mind went blank, when he woke up again,  tingling all over and nauseous as hell, another 2 minutes had passed. In some annoyingly contented way he found himself wishing that the seizure had happened earlier so he wouldn’t have to be so groggy during his discussion with Midoriyia and Shinsou. Then he corrected himself and wished that he hadn’t had a seizure at all. The buzzing of his phone made Kaminari’s heart race, and sure enough it was Shinsou. 

4:40PM

Shinsou: Hey, I’m heading over now. Sorry, Just had to stop to change. 

4:41PM

Midoriya: Heading there now too!

Kaminari didn’t respond to the messages this time, it hurt his head to stare at the device for too long, plus he was afraid his inability to text coherently would tip the other two off that things were not okay. 

Before long there was a short knock on his door and Kaminari had to physically stop himself from calling the whole thing off, telling them he was just joking or needed help with his homework, but no he needed to do this. He needed someone else’s perspective on the situation, and if he needed to face Recovery Girl at least he could beg them to help him persuade the staff to let him stay at UA.

So he regulated his breathing, tried to smooth out his wrinkled clothes, and opened the door.

Chapter Text

“Hey guys, thanks for coming.” Kaminari greeted, inviting the two into his room. The pair must have met somewhere in the middle and made it to the door together because they were both there waiting to enter. “Come on in. Have a seat, anywhere is fine,” The blonde added.

The two teens looked quite different, Midoriya with clear curiosity in his large green eyes, and Shinsou- his stoic expression tinged with worry. Obviously Shinsou hadn’t forgotten about yesterday, not that Kaminari couldn’t blame him. 

“Thanks,” Midoriya stated graciously even though he settled himself on the floor, Shinsou took the desk chair. Kaminari expertly avoided Shinsou’s probing eyes as he perched himself on the edge of his bed. 

“Dude, Izuku, come sit on the bed,” Kaminari commented patting the space beside him, he was not about to have this deep discussion with Midoriya sitting on the floor looking up at him with those huge puppy dog eyes. 

The green-haired boy obliged with a grateful smile. He was way too easy to please. 

 “So what did you want to talk about?” Midoriya began conversationally, as if it wasn’t taking all of Kaminari’s willpower not to run out of his own room right now. He felt like he might throw up. God he hoped he wasn’t about to have another seizure. Hell, that would be one way to tell them. 

Shinsou seemed to sense his hesitation, “Take your time, we’re here to help however you need it.” His voice was soft and so caring. Kaminari couldn’t comprehend the people who could consider Shinsou to be even remotely associated with the word villainous. Midoriya easily caught on to the mood of the room and just nodded in silent encouraging comradery. 

 Licking at his dry lips Kaminari sucked in a shaky breath before finally speaking, “I um, kinda need your guys help with something… It’s um… If you uh…” he was trying to get the words out but nothing was coming out right. His fingers  fiddled anxiously with the sheets between his thighs. How was he supposed to do this? The other two were quiet, just waiting patiently for him to get his thoughts together. They would probably wait all night the saints, but he needed to get this over with. 

“It’s ah, kinda a private matter… So do you think you can keep this between us?” He questioned, he knew he was just delaying the inevitable at this point, but it would help his heart to hear. 

“Of course! We won’t tell anyone without your permission!” Midoriya was the first to comment, quick to reassure Kaminari. There was nothing but pure honesty in his face, the blonde didn’t doubt him for a second. 

Shinsou however looked more conflicted by the request, like he knew that there was something grievous coming that he wasn’t sure he was ready to commit too. Yet just like Midoriya, he agreed with a slight nod, probably because he could sense that Kaminari wouldn’t continue unless he agreed. Honestly, he knew that there was little hope that his secret was staying in this room after today but it was still nice to have their affirmations.  

“So I guess, I kinda need your guys advice on something?” He didn’t know why he was posing this as a question, but Midoriya nodded accommodatingly anyway.  “I uh, think I’ve been having a little issue with my quirk. Actually maybe a big issue…” He began slowly. “You know how sometimes after I overuse my quirk I get all “whey” and can’t really do much?” Kaminari questioned, figuring a little background might help pad the issue at hand. If they knew he’d always had seizures, maybe these new ones wouldn’t seem so bad.

Both teen’s nodded, inviting him to continue. Of course everyone knew about his quirk's side effects, it had been broadcast on national TV after all. “Well that happens because sometimes I’m not able to shield my brain from the high output of my quirk when I go all out, or if I use too much electricity over a short period of time. Basically my brain literally short circuits from the extra electricity.” At his explanation he could see the gears in Shinsou’s mind turning and Midoriya's fingers were twitching like he was writing the information down on an invisible notebook. 

“That does sound like a big problem. Are there long-term repercussions to that repeated exposure?” Midoriya asked promptly, a new line of worry crashing his brow. Bless him for thinking that was the big issue here. Then again maybe it was? Kaminari currently had no clue why his seizures were worsening but he’d been told when he was younger that his body was built to withstand the enormous currents, and he hadn’t accrued any permanent damage up until now that he knew of. 

“I don’t think so, at least that’s what I was told,” Kaminari informed them. Midoriya looked like he had more questions, but he held back waiting for Kaminari to continue. “So I know it’s kinda weird to think about it like this cause it’s because of my quirk and all, but when electricity affects the brain like that…its like…”

“It’s a seizure right?” Shinsou finally spoke, speaking the words that seemed to refuse to leave Kaminari’s mouth. The blonde swallowed hard before giving a weak guilty nod. Midoriya looked confused for a second, looking between Kaminari and Shinsou like he was still missing something important before the dots seemed to connect and his eyes widened. 

“Yes, of course. That makes so much sense. All the symptoms fit that too, and your recovery time accounts for a postictal period as well. It’s a common side effect of electric quirks after all, how could I not have connected that sooner?” Midoriya was muttering to himself at this point, making Kaminari squirm. He knew the green-haired teen was almost obsessively compulsive in his note writing on Heroes, including their classmates, but he hadn’t realized he’d been watching him that closely. Shinsou clearing his throat seemed to snap Midoriya back to reality. 

“Oh, sorry!” Midoriya apologized with a odd half-bow from the bed, “I’m so sorry I never realized Kaminari! I wonder if there is some way I could’ve helped you recover faster after?” There was sincerity in his voice and he seemed legitimately distressed with the new information.  

“Oh, no man, it’s totally fine. I don't really mind. Heck, I mean I prefer it that way to be honest. Wouldn't want everyone to get all weird about it, you know?” Kaminari attempted to pacify his friend but Midoriya hardly looked better for it. Anyway, there were starting to digress a little, and Kaminari didn’t have the stamina to get stuck on all the little details. He’d been dealing with his quirk drawback seizures for years, these new seizures were the pressing matter he needed to get too. 

“That’s not really the problem I’m having though. I mean it kinda sucks that I’m useless for a while sometimes after using my quirk, but I’ve dealt with that like forever and it’s been getting better as I learn to control my quirk. But now its um, a little different.” Kaminari hesitated again, was it too late to abort? Shinsou’s critical gaze on him told him that yes, it was far too late. 

 “What’s different? Your quirk drawback?” Midoriya prompted inquisitively, but not insensitivity.  

Kaminari shook his head no, fighting the raging instincts that told him to stop, stop right now and run for it. “No the seizures.” He finally forced out, the words feeling thick and wrong in the air. For some reason he had expected to feel a little better after getting that huge secret off his chest but instead he felt like the weight of the world was crushing him. Before the other two had a chance to question, Kaminari started explaining. It was now or never. 

“The seizures aren’t just happening after I use my quirk anymore.” He began suddenly in a rush, “ I don’t know why it’s happening, or even when it started really. Just all of a sudden in the last week or so I started to get more seizures. Like at first they were just little ones, you probably couldn’t even tell -like in class when I zone out for a bit. But they just seem to keep getting worse and I started to get these focal seizures where I could still like see things going on but I couldn’t move or talk or my fingers and feet would twitch. That wasn’t that bad though cause I could just pretend I was spacing out or something but it makes me feel really shitty after, and I started to get so many throughout the day that I’ve been feeling sick like all day. Now in the last like two days..? I’ve had a few big seizures- like grand mal seizures! I was too afraid to go to class today cause this morning I had one of the big ones and my quirk went off and burned the carpet!” Kaminari was huffing and nearly in tears by the end of his frantic revelation. He hadn’t meant to give away quite so many details, but once the words started coming he couldn't stop himself and the word vomit kept coming. He was supposed to keep this reasonable, to convince his friends that this was just a stupid overreaction and he’d he fine–  not a liability. Their expressions boarding on horror told him that he’d been successful in doing the complete opposite and scaring the shit out of them. Well at least they were all in the same boat now. 

“Seriously?” Shinsou muttered quietly under his breath, “So yesterday in the bathroom you were having a seizure?” The purple-haired boy questioned his brows furrowing further in concern. Midoriya for his part looked confused by the question but didn’t comment. 

“Uh, well not in the bathroom. I think...? I don't really remember all that well. Pretty sure I had a seizure in the hallway right before you found me though…” Kaminari clarified, sinking further into his spot on the bed wishing he would just disappear all together. 

“Shit. I knew something was up…”  Shinsou commented morosely, running his fingers through his hair. 

“How many seizures have you had?” Midoriya rejoined the conversation, sounding tentative but thoughtful. 

Kaminari couldn’t count, sometimes he didn’t even know they were happening and there were so many different types he couldn’t keep track. “I’m uh, not sure…? A few I guess. Like three or four today.” He estimated, deciding that the absences didn’t count. 

  “Oh wow…” 

“Have you talked to Aizawa about this?” Shinsou questioned, Kaminari felt like he was personally attacked by that, Shinsou knew he hadn’t. 

“No… I can’t. Him or Recovery Girl!” The blonde countered hotly, “that’s why I need your help, I don’t know what to do!” His fists were clenched and he had to press his hands into his thighs to stop them from shaking. 

“I’m sorry, I can see this is upsetting for you but I guess I just don’t really understand… Why can’t you tell them?” Midoriyia pressed gently, he placed a warm scarred hand on Kaminari’s arm which helped ground the blonde a bit. 

“We want to help Denki, but you have to let us know what you’re thinking. Why are you so against seeing Recovery Girl about this?” After a few beats of silence, Shinsou probed again. 

“Because I’ll get kicked out…” Kaminari muttered, finally voicing his deepest fears, even worse than the seizures themselves or the sudden decline of his health, getting kicked out of UA was the one thing that scared him the most.

“What?” Midoriya was the first to respond, he looked so confused that Kaminari figured he hadn’t heard his lackluster confession, then the teen continued, “Kicked out? Kicked out of where? School?”  The shorter boy didn’t sound skeptical or condescending just genuinely asking for clarification. 

“Well yeah…” Kaminari responded despondently, he had thought about this so much that at this point there didn’t seem to be any other alternative route. But that was why he required his friends' help, Midoriyia and Shinsou were some of the smartest guys he knew, if anyone could change fate it was these two.

“I’m sure you can imagine, but having seizures is a pretty shitty experience, but more than that it's a huge liability. How am I supposed to become a hero and save people if I need to be saved first?” Kaminari began his rant, not giving the other time to refute his point. “Plus my quirk is already hard to control, and like this it is even worse… If I lose control in class, or practice, or in the field I could seriously hurt someone! Aizawa and Recovery Girl will know all this! There's no way they're going to let me continue in the Hero course, how could they? I won't even pass the medical quirk exam now!”  

The other two were quiet for a bit after that, digesting the information in their own way, Shinsou was the first to break the silence, “Seems like you’ve already decided what’s going to happen, what do you need our help for?” Kaminari wilted at the cold comment.

“Shinsou!” Midoriya was quick to chide the other teen, hands up in a defensive yet placating manner. “I’m sure we can still help out!”

“I’m not sure about you, but I know close to nothing about seizures, and even less about electricity.  We have an extremely limited amount of medical knowledge, and I don’t think splinting is going to be of much use here. If helping out means keeping this secret from Sensei and Recovery Girl, I don’t think I’m going to be able to do it.”

Kaminari felt like the ground had opened up and he was suddenly in freefall. So it really was hopeless after all? The two were arguing about it now but all the blonde could hear was static. He should have known there was no help for it, he may as well start packing up his bags now. It had been a stupid and selfish request to make in the first place.

“Denki are you listening?” Shinsou’s beckon recaptured Kaminari’s attention, suddenly the purple-haired teen was addressing him again rather than Midoriya. They must have come to some conclusion then. 

“Huh?” He responded appropriately to his current mental status, lost and completely overwhelmed. 

“I said I won't help with keeping this a secret, it's too important for that. But we do want to help you. I want you to take my advice.” Purple eyes held him in place, even without words Kaminari could hear the begging in Shinsou’s request. Kaminari could only nod numbly, he knew what Shinsou wanted him to do. 

“I think you should talk to Recovery Girl about this.” Came his verdict. 

“I agree Kaminari.” Midoriya hammered the last nail in his coffin. “Recovery Girl is amazing, she might be able to figure out whatever is going on.”

“Listen,” Shinsou began again, “I know you don’t want to, and I’m not saying your reasons aren't sound. Trust me, I know how important the Hero course is, so I wouldn’t say this lightly. But this isn’t something you can do on your own. You have to let Sensei and Recovery Girl know what’s going on. This could be causing serious damage to your body.”

He’d thought about that point, of course he had, yet it wasn’t enough to convince him. “But I can’t…” Kaminari made one last desperate plea. On some level he figured that it would come down to this, but he was still holding on to the last hope that they would come up with some miracle. 

“I know you think that they're going to expel you, but that's what you’ve decided. They didn’t make that decision.” Shinsou stated firmly and it made Kaminari look up in question. “Honestly I don’t think it's fair that you pass that judgment on them without even giving them the chance to consider the issue themselves.”

“That’s right Kaminari, we all know that you're going to make a great Hero, this is just another hurdle you have to jump over. Aizawa-sensei always says that he wouldn’t keep anyone in the Hero course that didn’t belong there. They wouldn’t kick you out just like that. Don’t give up before you even try!”

“It's not like I'm giving up…” It’s not like he had a choice in the matter. He was doing everything in his power to keep things together right now. 

“Accepting that you’re going to get kicked out of school sounds like giving up to me.” Shinsou countered back without missing a beat. Kaminari hadn’t thought about it that way. It’s not like he planned to go without a fight, but how could he argue against being medically unfit to continue in the program?

“How about this. You take my advice and go talk to Recovery Girl and I’ll promise to do everything in my power to make sure you stay right here if, in the very unlikely case, that they do try to expel you.”

“Me too, of course!” Midoriya added passionately, “It would be completely unreasonable to expel someone for a medical condition after-all, I think it might even be illegal.” 

Somehow, even though nothing really had changed, he was still obligated to talk to Recovery Girl, the threat of being kicked out was still there, it no longer seemed so daunting. Maybe they were right, maybe Recovery Girl would be able to fix this, and all of his worrying would have been for nothing. God he hoped so.   

“Okay. I’ll talk to her…” Kaminari finally agreed. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but with his friends by his side he knew it at least might be possible. 

“Do you guys think you could possibly come with me? I don’t want to go alone…” He made one last request of his friends. He knew he was already putting so much on them right now, but he still couldn’t quite convince himself that he wasn’t heading towards his own destruction despite their encouragement to the contrary.  

“I’d be happy to come if you really don’t mind me being there!” Midoriya agreed easily. 

“Same. And thanks for trusting us with this, I know it wasn’t easy.”

At Shinsou’s humbled tone Kaminari couldn’t help but smile, he felt like it had been ages since he had smiled for real. “No, I have to thank you guys for helping me with this, I know it’s super crazy.”

“Maybe don’t thank us until after we’ve talked to Recovery Girl? She might be kicking you to the streets tonight,” Shinsou rebuffed with a smirk and he got up from the desk chair. 

“Shinsou, don’t joke about that!” Midoriya saved Kaminari the rebuke. Seriously, was he trying to make Kaminari run for it? 

“Well, shall we?” The taller boy questioned, obviously anxious to get going. Someone had to be because if it were up to the blonde none of them would ever leave his room again. 

“I guess so…” Kaminari breathed, his heart was still hammering. He felt Midoriya rubbing gentle, calming circles against his back. He offered the shorter teen a grateful smile before finally plucking up the courage to get up off the bed. “Okay, let's go.”

Chapter Text

“So you have been having uncontrolled seizures for over a week and didn’t think to tell until now?” Recovery Girl summarized after Kaminari, Shinsou, and Midoriya had invaded her office after hours and unloaded the story onto her. Kaminari felt shame crawling over his back and resting like a physical weight on his shoulders. As if just telling her hadn’t been bad enough. 

“Yeah, that about sums it up…” Kaminari responded halfheartedly.

“So… umm…” The blonde began but the words died in his throat. He couldn’t stand the thought of not knowing whether they would kick him out of school for this, but he just couldn’t bring himself to ask. 

“What is it Sonny? You have something else to fess up too?” Recovery Girl responded to his stutter without missing a beat, she sounded exasperated. Kaminari could see his hope shriveling up before his eyes. 

“No! It’s just… do you think… um…” It was no use, he couldn’t ask her, it was like if he phrased the question it would make it real; his worst fear would be confirmed and he’d be doomed. He would rather live in the purgatory of ignorance. 

“Just spit it out sweetheart,” the older woman demanded in a scary mixture of strict and motherly. All Kaminari could do was look down at his toes wishing he could be anywhere else in the world but here. 

“He wants to know if you're going to expel him.” Shinsou’s comment made Kaminari’s head whip up so fast he felt like he got whiplash. He was supposed to be his friend and ally in here, how could Shinsou betray him like this? 

“Is that what has you so stressed? Of all the things happening? My goodness, you kids are all the same. I blame Shota for putting that fear into you all.” The woman began ranting a bit under her breath. It didn’t answer the question and Kaminari felt like he was slowly dying with each passing second. 

“So…? Will I?” Kaminari finally asked when he couldn’t take the pressure anymore. 

“Of course not, you silly boy. Good grief.” Recovery Girl exclaimed as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire world. Shinsou sitting in the seat behind her had the audacity to look smug. Ignoring the taller teen Kaminari released a shaky sigh and fell back onto the cot behind him as if the tension and stress keeping him taut was suddenly snapped. He couldn’t believe it. A part of him wanted to laugh but he was afraid if he did he’d start crying and he couldn’t let his friend see him in an even more pathetic state. 

 “Are you okay Kaminari?” Midoriya leaned over the bed, his worried face appearing within Kaminari’s field of vision. 

“Yeah, I’m good. Great really!” The blonde allowed Midoriya to help pull him back up into a sitting position and he felt like he could breathe again. Recovery Girl was going to help him, his friends were sitting beside him, and he wasn’t going to be expelled. It was even better than his best daydream. 

“Well good, now that that is out of the way,” Recovery Girl redirected, grabbed a stack of papers off her desk before squeezing herself between Kaminari and Midoriya. “I need to ask you some more questions Kaminari-kun.”

“Oh, ah, yeah. Of course.” The blonde agreed, turning his attention back to the nurse. He figured she would have more questions, he just hoped he could answer them. He didn’t exactly have the best memory. 

“Would you like your classmates to step out while we talk?” The older woman replied as she settled into the chair in front of him. Kaminari looked between his friends and Recovery Girl in question. “I will be asking questions about your medical history.” She clarified. 

“Oh, no it’s fine. I think they already know my deepest secrets anyway.” The boy concluded with a shrug. Well maybe they didn’t know everything but they already knew about the seizures so not much left to hide in that regard. 

“Okay then, first of all I need to know if you’re ever had seizures like this before?” The questions began. 

“Yeah, back when I was just a kid, after I first got my quirk. It got better after I learned to control it though. I haven’t had a tonic tonic seizure in like 2-3 years…” Kaminari revealed, he still wasn’t sure if telling her everything was really going to help or hurt his case. 

“Do you still have other seizures, besides when you overuse your quirk?” The older woman asked, jotting some notes down on her stack of papers. 

“Um, sometimes… Just absence seizures though. They were pretty rare before… all this. Maybe I’d get them like once or twice a month or something. A little more if we have thunderstorms. ” The boy admitted hesitantly. She was writing more notes, Midoriyia beside her looked like he wished he could be writing too. At least Shinsou wasn’t making him feel like some weirdo science exhibit. 

“Okay. Do you have medication for these seizures?” 

“Oh, umm, I did…I used to.” He should have known she would ask about that.  

“Did you stop taking them for some reason?” Recovery Girl asked but from her tone he could tell that she already knew how he was going to respond. 

“…Well I kinda ran out…and never picked up more?” He responded quietly, accepting the look of disappointment that flitted over the older woman’s face. He’d rather take that look and have the nurse blame his negligence than let them know that his father had refused to sign for continued refills. According to his father he didn’t have seizures. The man just blamed his episodes on being lazy or spacing out, which he couldn’t exactly prove wasn’t true without testing, although he’d been much better while on the meds. That really wasn’t something he wanted to get into right now. 

“You should always discuss with me or your doctor before stopping any medications,” Recovery Girl tsked. Kaminari just bowed his head in embarrassment with a slight nod of acknowledgment. “How long have you been off your medications?”

“Um… maybe…” Suddenly his words petered out as his thoughts turned staticky and his stomach swooped. He’d been so distracted by everything that he hadn’t even noticed the aura, or maybe there hadn’t been one this time. Either way he found himself trapped behind a wall of haze while the figure of Recovery Girl blurred into disorienting colors against the white backdrop of the medical bay. Vaguely he could make out a shock of purple moving closer to him,  but it didn’t stay long. Kaminari thought his hands might be moving, he could feel a flicker of something but he couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t do anything. Nothing but hope that his quirk didn’t accidentally activate while the others were this close to him. 

 At some point the clouds obscuring his mind finally began to clear and he was able to squeeze his dry eyes closed. There was some shuffling around him, someone talking- to him or someone else he couldn’t tell. The voices were muffled, like trying to listen through a wind tunnel. 

“Give him a minute Shinsou-kun,” Recovery Girl, his brain supplied. Kaminari turned in her direction and blinked his eyes open gingerly, squinting to minimize the bright lights of the room. He was still sitting up in the medical cot, although he’d fallen against the wall beside the bed. The three others were still standing nearby so he figured he hadn’t been gone that long. 

“Did I shoc’ anyone…” The blonde asked, his voice was still a little slurred but he was glad he was able to get his question out. His hands didn’t have the tingling sensation he usually got after using his quirk but he could never be too careful. It didn’t take much electricity to stop a human heart. 

“No, sweetheart, you didn’t shock anyone.” The older woman reassured him and he sighed in relief. He didn’t get much time to relax before Recovery Girl picked up his hand to take his pulse and shoved her stethoscope against his chest with her free hand. Kaminari was still too dazed to do more than slowly follow her instructions as she completed her checkup on him. Midoriyia and Shinsou were standing not far away, watching anxiously, the blonde just offered them a small apologetic smile. This was not at all like he had imagined this situation would play out, yet somehow this was still much better than he’d been expecting. 

“Okay, that’s enough questions for now,” Recovery Girl spoke again, regaining Kaminari’s attention, “You're probably not feeling very well after that.” 

Kaminari just shrugged a little, while he was feeling tired and a little queasy, compared to his previous seizures even just today, he wasn’t feeling too bad. He didn’t feel like contradicting her so that’s all he offered.

“I want you to rest for a bit.” Recovery Girl directed, gesturing to the bed with a look of expectation. “And you boys can head back to the dorms now, I think we’ve all had enough excitement for today.” 

His two friends looked hesitant to leave, which Kaminari found really sweet. He gave them a nod to let them know he’d be alright and they eventually slipped out of the room. 

“I’m assuming you haven’t told Aizawa about this yet?” Recovery Girl asked even though she had said there would be no more questions just a few seconds ago. Kaminari stopped getting comfortable and was immediately guilty and anxious again. He shook his head no, but when he tried to get back into a seated position, preparing to bare his soul to his homeroom teacher,  Recovery Girl pushed him back down.

“No, you rest now. I’ll talk to him.” The elderly woman announced patting him on the knee in a rather comforting gesture. Kaminari was still hesitant but he settled back down slowly. He wasn’t sure how she expected him to sleep after she’d brought up Aizawa-Sensei. One of the main reasons he was in this mess was because of his fear of telling his teacher what was going on. Of course Recovery Girl already knew that. 

The woman continued to give him a critical look until he finally shut his eyes to pacify her. He'd forgotten how stubborn she was. With a short hum of approval, she hobbled away from his cot towards her work space. He didn’t know if she was going to get Aizawa in person or talk with him over the phone. Either way, he just hoped she would do it where he couldn't hear, he wouldn’t be able to bear listening to his weakness listed out again. He just wanted this day to be over with already. 

Despite what he had thought about not being able to rest, he’d fallen asleep rather quickly after lying down. He supposed anxiety could only win out for so long against his exhaustion. When he woke up it was to the sound of hushed voices floating in the abyss of his awareness. Once the voice sharped and he could make out his teacher's characteristic monotone, he found himself fully awake all at once. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you Sensei,” Kaminari exclaimed as he fumbled to sit up on the cot. As soon as he was sitting upright he felt like the world kept shifting forward even though he was pretty sure he wasn’t moving anymore. The blonde had to close his eyes for a second to get the feeling of vertigo to settle. 

“It’s fine, Kaminari. You don’t need to apologize.” The two adults turned in his direction at his outburst and when he opened his eyes again Aizawa was standing closer to his bedside. Despite his teachers' reassuring words, Kaminari could hear the real message betrayed by the man’s less-than-enthused tone. He was in so much trouble. 

Even though every fiber of his being was telling the blonde to start groveling, to beg his teacher not to expel him, he held his tongue. The look Aizawa was giving him told him that he’d be at much higher risk of digging his own grave if he opened his mouth right now. 

“Please don’t get him riled up,” From behind his teacher Kaminari heard Recovery Girl’s reprove. At first the blonde wasn't sure who she was reprimanding, but a few seconds later she made it abundantly clear when she smacked her cane lightly into the back of one of Aizawa-Sensei’s leg.

“I was being comforting.” The dark-haired man complained, running a hand through his hair in an irritated fashion. 

“You’re about as comforting as a cactus,” Recovery Girl shot back, “I already told you your methods are creating harmful misunderstandings.”

Kaminari felt weird watching his teacher get lectured right in front of him. He wasn’t sure if he should say anything, this was all his fault after all, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak up. 

“It’s okay sweetheart, I already told you you're not going to be expelled.”  Recovery Girl comforted, already knowing what he was thinking about, because his thoughts were obviously completely transparent.   

“She’s right. I’m not expelling you Kaminari.” Finally Aizawa said the words he’d been praying he’d hear since this whole disaster began. He could hug the man if it wouldn't put his life in jeopardy, instead, he settled with nodding rather dumbly- still not quite trusting his voice enough to speak.   

“Alright Kid, pull yourself together,” Aizawa-Sensei directed, “We’re going to the hospital now.”

Kaminari looked up in surprise, even though he knew he really shouldn’t be. Recovery Girl had already stated that there was little she could do for him here, and it was probably a reasonable response to get a medical evaluation after a single unprovoked seizure let alone however many he had had in the last week. Still it was an odd and terrifying notion. He hadn’t been to see an actual Neurologist since he was a kid- what if they told him that something was seriously wrong with his brain? Robotically the blonde shuffled off the medical cot when Aizawa-Sensei beckoned for him again. He needed to stop worrying about every horrible what-if scenario that could happen. Things had already turned out way better than he’d expected, maybe this would be the same? The look Aizawa was giving him now was more patient than he had any right to receive, he just wished Recovery Girl would have let one of his friends come with him too. 

Kaminari didn’t ask any questions, not wanting to press his luck, he just silently followed his teacher out of the office and towards the staff parking lot. It was after class so the hallways were deserted.  From the window beside him, the blonde estimated that it was probably around 6 or 7pm as the sun was just beginning to set. It would have been a beautiful sunset if he wasn't potentially walking to his own doom right now. 

Once they reached the parking lot Aizawa-Sensei led him to the most innocuous black car in the lot. It fit his teacher almost too well. The haggard sedan, which had obviously seen too many miles and too few washes, reminded him way too much of his homeroom teacher. He’d have to tuck that nugget away to tell his friends later, or maybe to tease Shinsou for not telling him about it sooner. 

Inside the car wasn’t much different, boring, worn but clean, until Kaminari’s eyes landed on the small dangling maneki-neko figure hanging from the rearview mirror. The blonde smiled a bit at the unexpected find, it gave him something to focus on other than his silent, foreboding teacher climbing into the driver seat. 

It wasn’t until the doors were closed, seatbelts buckled, and the car was pulling smoothly out of the parking lot that Aizawa finally spoke.

 “Recovery Girl filled me in on the situation,” the man began, like he had been waiting until Kaminari had no possible means of escape. Without the cover of Recovery Girl or his friends to bail him out this time, Kaminari braced himself for Aizawa’s wrath. 

“I’m sure you know by now that what you did was dangerous and ill-advised. You not only put yourself in danger with your actions but your classmates as well.” It wasn’t a question, just a statement. 

Kaminari looked down, his heart hammering, and stomach sinking. He hated the disappointment in his teacher's voice. “I know-I just… I dunno… I’m sorry…” his voice escaped, morose.

Aizawa-Sensei sighed, making Kaminari sure that his lackluster response was not what his teacher wanted to hear. The problem was he didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know what to do, or how he could have handled the situation differently. The blonde felt his eyes burn as he drilled holes in the passenger glove box, blinking hard to rid himself of the sensation. 

“No, I’m sorry.” Aizawa’s voice made Kaminari look up suddenly, double-checking that his teacher hadn’t morphed into someone else. The scruffy black-haired male was still sitting in the driver's seat, eyes focused on the road, not giving any hints that he’d just said something totally insane and not to mention out of character. 

“Um…?” Kaminari was about to ask for clarification, he must have heard wrong, or maybe Aizawa was trying to tell him that his pathetic apology was not going to cut it- yet his tone was too contradictory for that. He didn’t understand. Aizawa interrupted him before his confusion could fester.

“Like I said before, you don’t need to apologize. I’m your Homeroom teacher. I’m in charge of not just your learning but your overall well-being and of course your health too. It’s obvious that I’ve created an atmosphere that made you feel unsafe or uncomfortable bringing up your concerns and that’s on me.” Aizawa revealed, his voice calm and clear. “I’ve also noticed that you’ve been off during class and training and I failed to reach out to help you, and for that I apologize.” Kaminari couldn’t believe what he was hearing right now, he must have entered an alternate reality when he stepped into Aizawa’s car because this couldn’t possibly be his teacher. Now it’s not like he thought his teacher was heartless, he knew Aizawa has a soft side, Shinsou had let slip plenty, plus he had to have the capability for comfort and compassion to take Eiri in after her ordeal. But Kaminari had never been on the receiving end of his good graces. He didn’t know what to say to this. 

Luckily it didn’t seem like Aizawa was expecting a response and he spoke again, “So let’s sum it up that we have both made mistakes in this situation, and we’ll use this as a learning experience to grow and avoid events like these from happening again, okay?”

His teacher glanced at him from the side when he failed to respond, still too bewildered by the sudden turn of events. 

“Oh, uh, yeah…” Kaminari replied uncertainly, feeling quite overwhelmed by the entire situation. 

Aizawa lapsed into his usual quiet after that which Kaminari was secretly thankful for. He was grateful, beyond relieved really that he wasn’t in trouble, but he hadn’t expected Aizawa’s response and needed time to process the emotions of their short exchange. 

Unfortunately he didn’t get enough time to sort through his thoughts before that familiar feeling of doom began creeping over him and his stomach turned sour. At this point he easily recognized the aura starting to settle over the forefront of his mind. Usually aura’s meant seizures worse than his typical absence seizures, he needed to let Aizawa know. 

“Sensee’...” Kaminari’s words were already slurred and suddenly his mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Would that be enough to alert his teacher? What if his quirk activated and he shorted out the car and they crashed? No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t seem to form any words, his mind was quickly becoming fuzzy, and an acrylic tang coating his tongue. Kaminari was vaguely aware of something pressing against his shoulder, when he forced his eyes to focus he found his teacher pushing him back into the passenger seat. He must have started falling forward or something, it was getting hard to concentrate. Sensei was saying something, he tried to follow but it seemed muffled and muted. 

“-nari… look…ome on! …ok at me kid…” It made no sense to his wire-crossed brain, still he forced his mind to focus and he turned in his teacher’s direction hoping to understand. As soon as he met his teacher’s bright red eyes it clicked that the man was trying to erase his quirk. Relief washed over him as soon as the buzzing in his fingertips stopped, but he didn’t get much time to enjoy the feeling before his thoughts turned blank and his world went dark.

Chapter Text

Returning to the waking world was rough. 

The first thing he became aware of was the soreness in his limbs. He felt like he’d been stretched too far then crumpled up like a piece of garbage, and when he tried to reposition his arms they were liden. There were people in the room with him but he ignored them for the time being, it didn’t sound like they were that close to him anyway. Instead he pried his eyes open a crack only to be immediately assaulted by an unforgivingly bright light. Hissing slightly he shut his eyes and decided that vision was overrated anyway, content to reorient himself without. From the strong smell of antiseptic and the scratchy feeling of the sheets against his sensitive skin he figured this wasn’t his room. That thought sparked another and slowly the events in Recovery Girls office, and being in Aizawa’s car came floating back. Some memories were clearer than others. He found that he couldn’t remember much else after getting into his teacher’s car, so he figured he’d had another seizure which is why he was so disoriented now.   

“Kaminari, are you awake?”

Kaminari’s eye popped open and he jumped at the sudden voice by his side, he didn't hear them approach, but now that his attention was on them the voices had stopped. 

The culprit was Aizawa-Sensei, looking down at him like he’d keep him waiting for much too long. 

The blonde just grunted instead of giving an actual response since that seemed a bit redundant at this point. He noticed that the lights had been dimmed a bit, but that only helped his headache a little.

“Hello Kaminari-Kun, nice to meet you.” The owner of the other voice appeared next to Aizawa and introduced himself, he was wearing a white coat and stethoscope so Kaminari figured he was the doc.  “My name is Dr. Takuma.” He confirmed the blonde’s suspicions. “Mr. Aizawa here has been filling me in on some of the symptoms you have been having recently. Sounds like you’ve been having some more frequent seizure activity? It’s not uncommon for Electric-type quirk users to have some issues like this, so I want you to be reassured that we’ll take good care of you. I’ve gotten some of your records from one of my colleagues Dr. Masumoto, maybe you remember him? Looks like you’ve been treated before with Keppra and ethosuximide. We’ll be doing some of our own tests here to find the best combination for you at this point.” 

The man crammed so much stuff into one long sentence that Kaminari wasn’t even sure if he was actually talking to him or reading some invisible script somewhere, or maybe his brain was still more scrambled than he thought. Not sure if he was supposed to answer or not, the blonde just offered an uncertain, “Okay…” 

Without giving him much time to think about his last few statements the doctor began to launch into a series of questions to which Kaminari did his best to answer. It wasn’t until the man seemed satisfied and his questions stopped that Kaminari had a chance to breathe. Slowly he sat up in the bed, noticing for the first time the IV pulling at the elbow of his right arm and the matching black bracelets locked around his wrists. 

The doctor seemed to notice him staring at the new additions and offered an unprompted explanation, “Oh, these are one of the newest models of quirk suppressant accessories.” His voice was rather excited, like he was boosting about the device. “Obviously with a quirk like yours, we have to take some special precautions. These will block expression of your quirk gene, so you won't be able to manifest your quirk while they are on.  I’m sure you’ve worn something similar in the past.”

That statement made Kaminari pause, the doctor kept talking at him, but didn’t seem to realize that the blonde wasn’t paying attention anymore. He didn’t remember ever wearing any kind of quirk suppressant technology growing up, in fact he didn’t even know something like this existed. Absently he reached out and touched the black band, it was small and closed with a plastic latch- so simple. Could this thing really keep 1.3 million volts of electricity in check, he wondered, highly tempted to test the device. This could have saved him so much grief over the years he’d struggled to keep his quirk under control, the strife he’d faced ensuring that he never sent more than the tiniest shocks to those around him, lest he unintentionally hurt someone… or worse. Vaguely he wondered how long he’d be able to keep the device, it was likely just a special hospital tool, since he hadn’t heard of them for commercial sale. 

Kaminari was about to refocus on the conversation when an old memory struck him. He was young, probably only 5 or 6, soon after his quirk manifested and he’d been crying. It was after one of his short-circuit episodes, he was in pain- scared of his new and terrifying power that he couldn’t control. But his mother had been there, comforting him and holding him, then she’d given him a necklace- a simple black choker that she said would protect him. At first he didn’t want to wear a necklace because he thought only girls were supposed to wear them, but she insisted, “This is a special necklace, one that will keep you safe. Me and your Papa want you to wear it every day. Never take it off okay?” Of course he did, he wore it every day without question, even when his friends made fun of it or it clashed with his outfits. He wore it with pride because his mother gave it to him. It wasn’t until the day of her funeral that he finally yanked it off, unable to stand the constant reminder of his mother’s loss clasped around his own neck- strangling him. Once he got into UA and the loss wasn’t so fresh he regretted losing the necklace, he’d even incorporated the design into his Hero costume in memorial. Now, however, it suddenly became clear what the special power of that necklace had been, it was a quirk suppressor band, it had to be. It hadn’t been all that strong, but he distinctly remembered that he stopped shorting out as often after he got it and there were fewer accidents at school with him shocking other kids while playing. 

More damning was in middle school, after he took the choker off, his quirk had been unbearable, stronger and more uncontrollable than ever. He thought it had been his emotional turmoil from losing his mother, that or puberty or something but now in hindsight it was probably just his power unrestrained for the first time in years. The sheer scale of this power was the only real reason he’d been encouraged to apply to UA in the first place. He could still remember how mad his father had been the day he’d come home without it, which was odd because the man had never given the impression that it was anything other than a cheap trinket given to a child to stop him from crying every time he zapped himself with his own quirk. Things had been different at home after that as well though, his father avoided him more but he had also finally allowed Kaminari to pursue his dream of becoming a pro-hero- something he’d been vehemently against before his mother passed. The blonde wasn’t 100% sure it was because his father was afraid of him, or more specifically his quirk, but it was highly likely. 

Honestly he could hardly blame them, how was anyone supposed to handle a five-year-old with the potential to short-circuit an entire block? It did kinda suck though because if that were the case, that would probably explain why he was still having such a difficult time controlling his quirk while others in his class had already mastered theirs years ago. Even other people with strong emitter quirks like Tokoyami and Shoto (although with his upbringing he was a different story entirely) didn’t have as much trouble as he did. He’d missed out on so much time to develop his skills with his quirk.

“Kaminari?” Aizawa-Sensei’s voice drew the blonde’s attention and he realized he was still staring at the bracelet on his wrist, he’d probably been that way for a while. Blinking away the dryness of his eyes the teen looked up to find his teacher now sitting in the chair beside his bed and the doctor no-where to be seen.  He looked around in confusion for a second before his gaze finally settled on his teacher, wondering if he should ask for an explanation or not. Had he really been that deep in thought that he didn’t even notice them moving around him? He seriously needed to work on his perception skills.

“Are you back with us?” The dark-haired man questioned, his tone was oddly soft and he didn’t look at all mad that Kaminari had completely ignored most of the doctor’s visit. Not that he was personally getting much out of that interaction anyway.  

“Oh, yeah… Sorry.” Kaminari apologized, not really understanding Aizawa’s mood, but fully aware that he needed to get his head together if he had any hope of getting out of this place soon. He didn’t even know if the doctor said he was good to go or not.

“Umm?” He was going to ask what else the doctor had said but he hesitated, unsure if his teacher would want to repeat everything for him just because he hadn’t been paying attention. It was probably too soon to go home anyway and he could probably get a nurse to fill him in later if it was really important. 

“The doctor said you were having an absence seizure. Are you feeling alright?” His teacher questioned, and oh boy, he thought he’d been having a seizure. To be fair, given the circumstances, it was a reasonable assumption, and Kaminari couldn’t exactly be sure that he hadn’t given how much had changed without his notice, but most of it was definitely just him spacing out.

“Oh, no I'm good. I was just thinking and got distracted,” He explained with embarrassment, his eye flicking back to the quirk suppressor around his wrist briefly, threatening to pull his attention there again. 

The teacher seemed to notice his distraction and he sighed rather unhappily, his eyebrows furrowing as he too examined the bracelets. “Unfortunately they are a requirement for the hospital as a precaution while they figure out the right medications to give you. I’m sure we can find a better way to control your quirk without completely inhibiting your power once we’re back on campus.” Aizawa explained, obviously having a much different opinion of the device than Kaminari did. Of course Kaminari absolutely loved his quirk, it was exhilarating, beautiful, strong and complex, but it would honestly be such a huge relief to go back to school without having to worry about electrocuting his friends. He’d gotten so much better at controlling it and rarely zapped anyone without meaning to anymore, but this whole seizure fiasco had thrown everything so far out of his control that he didn’t trust himself to be in the classroom or around his friends. He’d been so scared when he’d invited Shinsou and Midoriya over, scared he could accidentally hurt them. 

“Actually I don’t mind them…” Kaminari stated quietly, softly fingering one of the bracelets, “You know, for now.” He added, not wanting Aizawa-Sensei to think he was crazy or something. Still the man gave him a critical look, like he was trying to read his mind, before he just shrugged and thankfully moved on. 

“The doctor wants to run some tests tonight, and said that we will have more answers in the morning. Before you ask, no I’m not sure when they will let you out yet.” Kaminari closed his mouth when Aizawa answered the exact question he was about to ask. The man was scary. 

“We’ve reached out to your father already,” The man added and Kaminari tensed, his sore muscle protesting the action. His father deeply distrusted hospitals and didn’t believe Kaminari’s seizures were an actual medical issue in the first place, so he was bound to make a stink about the situation. “But I haven't heard anything back yet, so in the meantime I’ll be your proxy.” At his teacher's next statement the blonde breathed a sigh of relief. Despite his gruff and closed-off exterior, Kaminari knew his teacher would make sure he got the best care, he was here after all, spending his Thursday night (or was it Friday already?) cooped up in this little hospital room. He hadn’t expelled him either, which was by far the best outcome of this entire ordeal. 

“That means I don’t want any more secrets, okay? If you need something, tell me. If you have a question, ask it. Got it?” Somehow Kaminari felt both reassured and threatened by his teacher's directions, it wasn’t an uncommon dichotomy with Aizawa-Sensei, but this situation was a lot different from class or Hero training. 

Swallowing dryly, Kaminari gathered his courage to speak, “If that’s the case…Do you think, maybe, if you don’t mind…”

“Spit it out, Kid.” Aizawa pressed when Kaminari trailed off with uncertainty. The blonde didn’t know why this was so hard. He hated asking for things, especially from adults, but Aizawa had already seen him at his lowest, this was stupid in comparison. 

“Can you ask if I can get something…for my stomach?” He finally requested rather lamely, pressing one of his hands against his midsection. His stomach had been turning since he woke up, he was usually nauseous after his seizures but the uncomfortable feeling usually resolved as he came out of his postictal period, however, this time it was annoyingly persistent. He hadn’t puked yet, but wasn’t sure things would stay that way long with how he was feeling. 

Aizawa-Sensei’s eyebrows furrowed at the request, “Your stomach? Are you having pain or something?” He clarified suspiciously, like he thought the blonde was hiding some other huge medical secret right under his nose. 

With a defeated, wearily shrug Kaminari quelled, “Well kinda feels like I've been hit by a truck, so yeah? But also I’m like really nauseous…” 

At that Aizawa-Sensei pinched the bridge of his eyebrows with an exacerbated sigh before he slowly stood up from his spot on the bedside chair. “Why didn’t you say something sooner, problem child?…I’ll see what they can do for you.” The teacher announced in a rather tight voice, like he was barely keeping his sanity in check. Kaminari shrunk back against his bed awkwardly, but didn’t dare apologize lest Aizawa-Sensei really blow his top. 

After his teacher disappeared through the door, Kaminari took a minute to survey his room for the first time. It was a modest size, cold and lonely in its emptiness, with drab white walls accented only by the equal stale pale blue blanket on his bed. There were a few monitors in the room with him, the screen with his vitals, something nearby scribbling weird zig-zag lines across the monitor, and another machine that didn’t seem to be in use right now pushed into the corner. Still plenty of room for his friends to come visit if Aizawa would let them. He was sure most of them had heard what had happened by now, or they definitely would in the morning anyway when he didn't show for class again. He really should text the group and let them know what was happening and that he was okay, but when his hand went for his pocket he quickly realized that his phone was gone. In fact his regular clothes were gone too, at some point he must have been changed but he didn’t have any recollection of that at all which was unsettling to say the least- just how bad had his last seizure been? 

He scanned the room again but didn’t see his stuff anywhere obvious or within reach. He briefly thought about rifling through the cupboards but he didn’t want to get in trouble with Aizawa-Sensei still on the premises. Instead he laid back down and closed his eyes, hoping the darkness would help ease his headache and settle his stomach a bit while he waited for his teacher to come back. 

 Despite how exhausted he was, body and mind, Kaminari couldn’t fall asleep.  He just kept thinking about everything that had happened today. It was too full, too long for just one day, and he was having trouble keeping his memories and timelines straight especially with how many gaps he had which he couldn’t seem to fill no matter how hard he tried to remember. It was frustrating.

Lucky he didn’t have to wait too long before he heard the door opening. Opening his eyes again he was relieved to see Aizawa-Sensei followed by a friendly-looking nurse with her hair pulled back into a tight bun. 

“Hello Kaminari-kun, I’m Riza Haruno. I’ll be taking care of you tonight.” She introduced herself, but he knew he wouldn't remember her name, he didn’t have space for that too in his crowded mind. Still he smiled and nodded his head in greeting. “I heard you were having some nausea?” After his confirmation, she wasted little time prepping a syringe of clear fluid and injecting it into the line attached at his elbow. 

“Did you also want something for pain?” She questioned once her first task was complete.  

“Oh, that’s okay. Just the nausea stuff is fine,” Kaminari responded, even though he still felt sore and achy, he’d felt worse after training on most days, he could handle it. 

“Okay, just let me know if you need anything then. You can just press that button there.” She announced, pointing to the remote hanging from the top of his bed that he hadn’t noticed before. 

“Okay will do, thanks!” The blonde agreed and she left again. Aizawa was quietly sitting beside him again, monitoring the conversation, but he didn’t say anything about it. 

“Sensei, do you know where they put my stuff?” The blonde asked, hoping to derail whatever perceptions his teacher was forming from that short encounter. That seemed to do the trick and Aizawa’s eyes finally left him to flick about the room. 

“They put it all in a bag for you. Somewhere…” He stood up with a short groan and started looking through some of the cabinets without a shred of the same hesitation Kaminari had. It didn’t take him long to locate the said bag and he set it down on the bed beside Kaminari’s leg. 

“Thank you!” Kaminari enthused, reaching for his stuff to see if any damage had come to his favorite band tee he’d been wearing before getting here. When he stumbled on his phone tucked between his pants and shoes his excitement stalled and the guilt and anxiety returned in full force. He was going to have to tell his friends and classmates something, it had seemed easy just minutes ago to tell them, but now that his phone was in his hand he realized he had no idea what to say. Should he just be frank and tell them everything? All at once, or in pieces? Should he just tell his closer friends or the whole class?  It was overwhelming just to think about it and he could feel sweat pricking against his back and palms, his heart was also beating faster if the annoying monitor beside his bed was any indicator. 

“Why don’t you leave contacting your friends for tomorrow and rest for tonight.” Aizawa-Sensei’s voice cut through the growing panic and Kaminari’s eyes jumped to the man. Was he that easy to read? How had he gotten away with keeping his seizures secret from this guy for a whole week he wondered, rather impressed with his teacher's mind reading abilities.

 “I'm sure they're super worried. I don’t know if Mido or Shin said anything but I’ve got a bunch of messages and calls…” Kaminari offered an explanation, but somehow it ended up coming out almost like a question, like he was asking permission to ignore them for the night. 

“I doubt Midoriya or Shinsou would say anything to anyone. Your other classmates know because I informed them that you were in the hospital.” Aizawa reported and Kaminari gave him a desperate look, pleading with him to continue. “I just told them you were ill and needed to be checked out, which is the truth.” He added which didn’t really help matters. That made it sound like this was a big deal, like he was super sick or something. Although being in the hospital pretty much signed him up for that in the first place. Kaminari sighed in dismay, having Aizawa tell them was probably the worst possible scenario. Everything was like 1000% more serious when Aizawa was involved. No wonder they were blowing up his phone. 

“Relax, I also already told them that you were doing fine, and that you will be needing rest for the night. They are as up to date as they need to be, so leave it for tonight.”  Even though Kaminari had an inkling that his teacher was trying to be reassuring, he also knew an order when he heard one. Aizawa did not want him on his phone, but couldn’t technically stop him once he left.  To appease his teacher Kaminari set his phone down which earned him a small nod from the man. It was kinda nice that he didn’t have to do anything tonight, but the fallout tomorrow was going to be hellish. 

“Listen Kaminari,” Aizawa began again in a serious voice prompting Kaminari’s undivided attention, “When you do talk to your classmates, you’re not obligated to tell them anything you are not comfortable sharing. Of course that’s not the case with me or Recovery Girl- you will answer all of our questions and follow all of our requirements without fail. But with your friends and classmates, your health is your own business. Whether you want to tell them everything or nothing at all, is up to you.  We still don’t know how well these new medications will control your seizures, which as you know will be a challenge moving forward.  You already have two classmates who know about your epilepsy which is going to be helpful, you might find it more of a benefit than a hindrance to have some people around who know your needs.  But I will leave that up to you to decide.” Kaminari listened to his teacher in awe, not only had he predicted exactly what the teen was concerned about but his advice was so empathetic, like he’d been through this exact situation himself before. He didn’t know anything about his teacher's mysterious past but this was obviously the side of Aizawa that Shinsou and Eri knew. 

Kaminari didn’t really know what to say, he really wasn't used to Aizawa, or any adult, being this nice to him, it was weird, but nice. “Thanks Sensei, I’ll think about it carefully…” He finally settled on, “Seriously thanks for everything Aizawa-sensei. This whole week has been like super awful and crazy, but today was soo much better. It was so stupid to try to deal with it on my own, I should have just told you sooner…” Somehow his gratitude morphed into his brain’s guilty rambling which left him feeling shaky and vulnerable. 

“Like they say hindsight is 20/20 Kid. I can’t say that I would have done anything differently if I were in your shoes. So let's just leave it at that, what’s done is done.” 

The blonde nodded his head in agreement, vaguely remembering his teacher telling him not to apologize. The two lapsed into a comfortable silence after that, the older male pulling out his own phone and busying himself with it. Kaminari sank against the scratchy sheets tiredly, the nausea medication was finally kicked in and now that he was feeling better the fatigue was settling in. The teen had nearly nodded off when Aizawa shifted beside him, scooting forward and slipping his phone back into his pocket. 

“Well its getting late. I’m going to head back now. I expect you to get some rest tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow after school.” Aizawa announced standing from his spot and stretching out a bit, “Do you need anything before I go?” He asked before moving anywhere else. 

Shaking the hazy visages of sleep from his mind Kaminari sat up a bit straighter from where he had slumped back onto the backrest of the bed, to wish his teacher a good night. “I’m good. Thanks Sensei.” The blonde responded airily, stifling a yawn behind one of his hands. 

“Alright. Get some sleep kid. Good night.” His teacher bid, flicking the overhead light off on his way out, leaving Kaminari with just the soft ambient light behind his bed.  

Kaminari was about to roll over and pass out for the night, but his phone caught his eye and he couldn't stop himself from reclaiming the device and navigating to his friends group chat. This was the most active thread, with the most messages and the majority of his closer friends in it. He avoided reading any messages or looking at the missed calls for the time being as Aizawa had suggested and sent a simple message to the group. 

To: Home Bro’s and Gal’s

9:49PM

From DenkiyaBoi: Hey guys sory for the radio silence. i know oyur worried, but im doing much better. Im going to bed now, but i talk with you all in the morning. gn

The blonde didn’t wait for any responses, not wanting to get dragged into a night of texting which was all too common for him. He needed sleep. Changing his phone to silent mode he set it face down onto the table beside his bed before finally settling back into the foreign, uncomfortably stiff mattress below him. Sleep took him quickly. 

Chapter Text

The next morning started in an unpleasant, groggy haze after a rather noisy, unrestful night. After Aizawa’s reassuring words Kaminari had the audacity to think that things were looking up after his long week, but fate just loved to prove him wrong. According to the nursing staff, who seemed determined to come in at least once an hour (or just as he was about to fall asleep, whichever came first), he’d had another grand mal seizure last night. Which meant several things, each scary in their own way. First was that the seizures didn’t seem to be directly tied to manifestations of his quirk after all, since his new cuffs negated his power, although he was sure it wasn't helping things. Next, per the doctor, he was requiring uncommonly high doses of medication to stop his seizures, which wouldn't really mean much to him if the medication didn’t make him so nauseous. 

He had bruises on both his arms from some blood draws they did during the night that he could hardly remember, and they’d woken him up at like 5 in the morning to get an MRI of his brain. He’d probably only had about 20 minutes of peace since then, not enough time to actually fall back asleep before some else came into his room for something.    

So overall today wasn’t starting out great.

He missed his friends, he missed his bed, he even missed class, which was saying a lot. He couldn't wait to get out of here and hoped the doctor and the rest of the team would figure out his drug cocktail and release him today as unlikely as that probably was.

 Figuring he wasn’t going to get anymore sleep with the sun now merrily streaming in through his bedside window, Kaminari sat up gingerly. While the soreness he was used to from daily heroic training, the nausea was a different story. There was a tray of breakfast sitting untouched next to him which he pointedly ignored, wishing they would just take it away so the smell would stop aggravating his stomach even worse. 

The blonde grabbed his phone, hoping that finally responding to his classmates' messages would help take his mind off the dreary last few hours he’d had.  Kaminari knew he would have to explain some things, which would definitely stress him out, but Aizawa’s advice from last night made him a bit more confident.  He would do this at his own pace. 

It was already almost 9:30 so everyone would still be in 2nd period right now. Cemento’s class, not exactly an easy class to get away with texting. Kaminari began reading through the messages instead of adding anything to the group chat yet. 

Most of the messages were well wishes for his speedy recovery, others from his closer friends were requests for more information on what the heck was going on, or in Mina’s case 25 texts and 4 missed calls with progressively more desperate pleas for him to call her ASAP. 

8:02PM MyManHitoshi: Hey Kaminari, I know you're resting. Just wanted to say goodnight and wish you well. Ps hope my dad wasn’t too cringe…   

8:45PM Jirou: Hospital srsly? Must be some flu Jamingway. Feel better soon. Call me when you can. 

8:46PM Hanta<3: Aizawa said you were sick?? In the hospital sick? Bro what is going on?? Sorry… Aizawa said you were resting, you don’t need to respond now, but please for my sanity call me soon! 

He particularly like Bakugou’s message: 

8:48PM ExplodiBoi:What the hell is wrong without you? All the extra’s are flipping out, it’s fucking annoying. 

He could just feel the love

9:10PM Eijiro: Denki is everything goood man? Please feel better soon!! Call me when your up to it! Get plenty of rest and stay hydrated! Please be okay man! Sorry I know your sleeping, sorry! 

Obviously, the others were worried about him and he felt bad making them freak out like this. He'd have to make it up to them somehow. Tapping over to their group chat he quickly scrolled through the thread of text from before he sent his message. It seemed like Aizawa had dropped the news around 8:45ish since that’s when the mass panic text from Mina started on his private messages and their group chat, asking if anyone had heard from him, if they knew anything, and of course asking for his response.  Midoriya and Shinsou were both conspicuously quiet on the chat that night, bless their upstanding moral fiber. He skipped past the various conspiracy theories his friends were tossing out on his predicament, to the more current material. After his message last night, which caused him to cringe when he saw all the typos now in the light of day with his mental faculties working somewhat better, the feed quieted and they seemed content that he’d responded at all. The messages picked up again around 7AM, with some asking if he was feeling better, and others asking for an update. 

Deciding to end their torment he sent another message to the group chat. 

To: Home Bro’s and Gal’s

9:45AM 

Denki: Hey guys, thanks for all the reading material. All the well wishes and concern for little old me has touched my heart! 

Denki: Why didn’t anyone tell me the hospital would be a bad vacation choice? The room service is fast, but privacy is totally a 0/10. Also pretty sure it’s full of vampires cause someone totally snuck in last night and took some of my blood, freaky! 

Humor was his usual go to when avoiding awkward situations and things he didn’t know how to address, so he hoped it would work in this case. Even though they were supposed to still be in class until 10, his phone buzzed instantly with a response. 

9:46AM QueenMina: OMG Denki!

9:46AM QueenMina: Thank god! 

9:46AM QueenMina: I’ll so glad your okay, weve been worried sick!!

9:46AM QueenMina: Wait are you okayy?? What happened love?

9:46AM Hitoshi: Good to hear from you Kaminari. Hope you’re feeling better. 

9:46AM Hanta<3: Buddy! You good man?

9:46AM Denki: Sorry for worrying everyone, I’m good. Feeling much better, can’t wait to get out of here!

So that was kind of a lie, he was still feeling super sick to his stomach, but they didn’t need to know that. Medication side effects didn’t count anyway since it’s not the reason he had to go to the hospital in the first place. As soon as they got the seizures under control he could go back to normal and forget this whole thing ever happened. 

 9:47AM Hanta<3: what happened man? Aizawa just sent us that message last night saying something about you being sick and that he was taking you to the hospital for tests? 

9:47AM QueenMina: Yeah, babe, I know you were sick yesterday but I didn’t know it was that bad!! you should have said something!

Yeah, she really hit the nail on the head there. Way to go for the throat Mina. 

9:47AM Denki: Yeah, my bad. Things happened kinda quickly yesterday so… here we are. 

9:48AM Denki: Hang on. brb

Kaminari let his phone fall out of his hand and squeezed his eyes closed, leaning forward to brace himself on the bed with his arms. Maybe it was the screen or something but he was suddenly feeling dizzy and the nausea was threatening to overwhelm him completely. He tried to regulate his breathing but saliva was quickly gathering under his tongue making him gag. Forcing his eyes open again he found the vomit bag one of the nurses had given him earlier and promptly retched. 

It took him a bit to recover from the fit, since he didn’t really have anything in his stomach to get rid of, the nausea remained annoyingly persistent. Eventually it tapered a bit and he was able to catch his breath without gagging.  Praying that what the doctor said about him adjusting to the medication and the side effects improving was true, he reclaimed his phone with shaky hands. 

It was 10 by the time he opened his messaging app and several other people contributed to the chat, so he assumed they were officially done with class for the next few minutes. 

9:49AM QueenMina: 😣

9:56AM Eijiro: It’s so good to hear from you bro! I hope you are feeling better!

10:03AM ExplodiBoi: You're an idiot for making these morons worry. Stop blowing up my phone during class you extras! 

10:03AM Glad you're not dead Jaming-way. 

10:05AM QueenMina: So are you going to tell us whats going on? When are you able to come home??

10:05AM Hanta <3: Don’t bug him too much Mina. I’m SURE he’ll tell us as soon as he gets back. Right Denki?

The uncertainty settled back over him at the conversation's direction, of course they all wanted to know what the heck was going on, but he didn’t know if he had the mental fortitude to explain everything right now (or ever). Obviously he needed to say something. Would it be too petty to not say anything until he knew they were all in class again and would need to limit their responses and questions? Yeah, probably. He’d hate it if they did that to him. With another deep breath and forceful swallow, to try and settle his stomach, he rejoined the thread. 

10:06AM Denki: Sorry about it. I’m back. 

10:06AM Denki: Wow Hanta, your guilt trip is so subtle! Flawless!

10:06AM Denki: It’s not a big deal, really. I was just having some issues with my quirk. But Doc’s getting it all straightened out. Should be back today or tomorrow hopefully! 

He chickened out at the last minute and altered his explanation. It wasn’t a complete lie, but not entirely the truth either. Aizawa’s words echoed in his head- it was his business to share… but also having people know may be helpful. He didn’t want them to think of him differently. Having well established seizures after using his quirk was much different than unpredictable epilepsy. Honestly he didn’t even know enough himself to even say anything anyway. Maybe the meds would do the trick and things would be just like before, no need to freak them out for no reason. 

Nearly as soon as he sent that message a private message from Shinsou popped up on his feed. Busted. 

10:07AM Hitoshi: Can we talk?

10:07AM Denki: Don’t you have class in a minute?

10:07AM Hitoshi: Yep 3 minutes. Call me?

Not really having an excuse not to, Kaminari pressed the call button, his heart already racing. He could be honest with Shinsou, he already knew everything, but why was this still so stressful? 

“Hey,” Shinsou greeted once the call connected. “I’m out in the hallway, so the others wont bother us.” The purple haired teen reported and Kaminari wished he could hug his friend for his incredible thoughtfulness. Kaminari could still feel his phone vibrating with the incoming message on the group chat, but with Shinsou on the line it felt fair to ignore them for now. 

“Hey…” his voice was rough from retching but he didn’t want to risk drinking water lest it aggravate his nausea. At least Shinsou had suggested calling, looking at the screen was definitely messing him up, he closed his eyes and leaned back against the bed. 

“Not that I don’t trust you or anything, but I thought there might be some things you don’t want to tell the whole group. Can I ask how you're really doing?” Shinsou cut right to the chase, like his adoptive father, never one to waste words. 

Kaminari hoped that it was just Shinsou’s uncanny intuition and not something he picked up from the blondes messages that tipped him off that things weren’t quite as peachy as he’d been trying to make it seem. 

“I’m alright, really,” Kaminari began but he heard Shinsou scoff like he didn’t believe him at all. “Well I’ve only had one seizure today, so, so far so good?” 

“Denki, it’s only 10AM, I don’t think you can count that as a win yet.” The purple haired teen countered with a huff, clearly not liking that answer either. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t actually have any good news. 

“Better than yesterday at least.” Kaminari countered back rather smugly but his bravado faltered when another strong bout of queasiness washed over him. Better in a different way he supposed as he shifted a bit to find a better position. This nausea was kicking his ass. 

“Fair enough I guess. You sound pretty tired, did you have a rough night?” The other teen questioned softly. 

Something about Shinsou made Kaminari want to spill all of his deepest darkest secrets and he announced, “You could say that,” with a sigh. “The medicine they’ve been giving me is making me seriously nauseous…” 

“Oh, sorry that sucks… They don’t have something to like give you for that too?” Shinsou questioned sympathetically. 

“Yeah, they gave it to me already, but it doesn’t really help that much…” The blonde confided quietly, it was just his luck that his body seemed to rapidly metabolize everything including drugs much too quickly. “And apparently getting too much can induce seizures, how ironic is that…” He sighed remorsefully. 

“Oh… Yeah, that’s shit. Want me to subtly ask Uraraka what she does for her nausea?” Shinsou offered like the kind, caring soul he was. 

“Pleasseee, would you? I’m kinda dying here.” Kaminari agreed quickly, anything was worth trying at this point since the doctor didn’t seem like he was willing to compromise on the dose or medicine itself. 

“Sure, I’ll report back when I have something.” The other reported back easily, even though Kaminari knew he hated making small talk with people and this favor would not be as easy for him as he was trying to make it out to be. 

“Thank you! I appreciate it!” Kaminari exclaimed, but had to quickly snap his mouth closed when he felt his stomach contents vying to escape their confines again. He took in a few deep breaths but groaned when the action proved to be futile. 

“No problem… uh, you okay?” Shinsou questioned, picking up on his uneven breathing. 

“Great…just probably gonna puke… yeah, definitely…” Kaminari forced out haltingly, rolling over onto his side so he could grab his trusty puke bag again. 

“Ah, yeah… I should let you go then. I’ll see if I can catch Uraraka next period. Talk to you later, text me if you need to talk. ” Shinsou announced, giving him an easy out to the conversation. 

“Mmh,” The blonde hummed shortly, it was the only sound he could confidently produce without gagging. He knew Shinsou would understand his gratitude even without words.

The line went dead and Kaminari sat still for a while waiting for the nausea to pass, luckily he didn’t end up actually puking. Once he was about to move again he scrolled back to his message feed to see what new damage his brief absence had created. 

10:06AM Hanta<3: Some “issues” you say… Not a big deal you say…Please buddy. Explain more. 

10:06AM QueenMina: It has to be a big deal if Aizawa had to take you to the hospital babe!

10:08AM Hanta<3: Your not really helping your case by ignoring our questions my man…

10:08AM QueenMina: Denkiii? Come back!

10:09AM Eijiro: guys, maybe he’s resting. Give him a break

10:09AM Jirou: Seriously. He’s probably ignoring you cause he doesn’t want to talk about it and you guys are prying. 

10:09AM Eijiro: Well I’m sure he’s not ignoring us… he’s probably sleeping or busy with hospital stuff

10:09AM QueenMina:Yeah but…I’m worried… 😢

10:09AM ExplodiBoi: STFU class is starting

Well, he definitely saw all of that coming. He kinda thought Sero would be a little cooler about everything given his usual laid back attitude, but obviously worry was winning out this time. Kaminari couldn’t really blame them, he’d totally be even worse if their roles were reversed- he’d freak out 100%. 

To Home Bro’s and Gal’s

10:15AM Denki: Your concern is truly touching my sweet friends. I hate to get on Katsuki’s explody list, so let's continue this chat during lunch? Also my phone is about to die 😣😓

The teen didn’t wait for a response before setting his phone aside again, he didn’t want to let them drag him into another conversation yet, he didn’t think his poor stomach could handle that. Plus his phone really was dying, he’d need to ask for a charger at some point.

Chapter Text

The next few hours were actually quite productive for Kaminari, he’d gotten one of the nurses to plug his phone into an outlet for him, a novel concept. The staff had also freed him from the EEG machine which had been stuck to his head, monitoring his brain waves all night, giving him more freedom to escape the confines of the bed with less restriction. Even the crippling nausea had eased up into a much more manageable queasiness, so all in all, things seemed to be finally looking up. 

The new positive trajectory was probably one of the reasons he was not as quick to react to the anxious feeling creeping up his spine even though all he was doing was walking small laps around his room to stretch his legs. It wasn’t until the bitter taste of chemicals assaulted his tongue that he fully realized what was happening. Without the prewarning of his electricity tingling at his fingertips, it was harder to identify the aura, and now it was too late. Before he was even able to take another step forward the world tilted and his vision went black. 

Kaminari was pulled from the darkness by someone calling his name and something sharp poking him in the arm. When he forced his eyes to open the world was blurry and distorted, the fuzzy face above him was speaking but nothing was making sense. There were hands on him and he tried to push them away but something caught his arms and held them, stopping him from moving around. Being pinned down freaked him out more and he tried to escape but lacked the strength and coordination to do much. 

“Relax, just relax. We’re here to help. It’s okay...” He heard someone saying, their voice was soft but urgent so he heeded the request and stopped struggling, focusing instead on blinking the haze from his eyes. The world cleared slowly and he found himself lying on the floor with several people hovering over him. They were moving things around and touching his arms and legs, which did little to soothe his uneasiness. The memories of the hospital finally came fluttering back when he recognized his nurse Riza as the person talking to him. The teen let them do what they needed to without fuss after that, fatigue returning now that the concern of a threat had been resolved. Even the staff lifting him off the floor and resetting him into the bed didn’t shake the firm grasp of sleep from pulling him under again. 

The first thing Kaminari became aware of was an annoying ache in his brain and the crippling nausea that had been haunting him for the past, however long he’d been here. He was feeling tired and sluggish but he forced his scattered thoughts to focus and allow him access back to the waking world. 

 Things around him seemed oddly dreamlike, the room quiet and empty. Absently he reached his hand up to prod at an itchy spot on the back of his head only to be met with a sore lump. He only just vaguely recalled being on the floor at some point so if his head was any indication he must have fallen out of bed and hit it or something.

Letting his arm fall, Kaminari sighed then slowly sat up. Nothing much had changed, but from where the sun was now he could tell that some time had passed. The teen grabbed his phone off the bedside table where it was still plugged in. Untethering the device he reclined back and opened his messages. It was already 2:30, his friends were going to roast him. Kaminari didn’t even look at the group chat, not wanting to be confronted with the rabid worry or disappointment he would surely find there. Instead he clicked on Shinsou’s private chat. 

12:50PM Hitoshi: Just wanted to check in since you told the group you would call at lunch…Everything okay? Text or call when you can.

He hated that he was causing his friends such strife, he had to write him back. Kaminari fumbled with his phone, trying to keep it steady while the world seemed to be turning more aggressively and vindictively than usual. 

2:35PM Denki: sorry was sleep

2:35PM Denki: had nothe one

2:35PM Denki: seizure

2:35PM Denki: feeling sick, tex  makes me dizzy

He had to close his eyes while waiting for Shinsou’s response,  wondering if his friend would even be able to make out his scrambled message as incoherent as it probably was. Whatever they were giving him after, or during, or maybe it was still from that first dose for his seizures, was awful. Things were turning out to be pretty bleak at the hospital, he had thought he was over the worst of it after telling Aizawa, but these meds just seemed to be making things worse. What if they never got the seizure under control and now he also had to try to live with the constant nausea too? 

The phone buzzing in his hand forced Kaminari to shut down his negative thought process. He had no right to be judgmental at the progress since he’d put himself in this situation by hiding his seizures for so long. 

Without looking at the caller Kaminari brought the phone lethargically to his ear and responded, “Hello?”

“Hey Denki,” Shinsou’s voice came through the line sounding quiet and concerned. He figured it would be Shinsou since he told him that stuff, and the other teen would be thoughtful enough not to keep texting when Kaminari couldn’t. 

“Hey Hito…” Kaminari tried to give his voice some life, but it was tough. 

“You holding up okay?” Shinsou asked, it sounded more rhetorical but Kaminari felt compelled to respond. 

“Yeah, I’ll be alright… It just sucks cause I thought going to the hospital would make things better ya know…?” The blonde confided.

“For sure… Hopefully they just need some time to figure it out?” Shinsou offered.

“Hope so… This nausea is soo bad…” 

“Speaking of that. I have a list for you.” Shinsou suddenly announced, “From Uraraka.”

“Huh?” The blonde questioned, not really sure what his friend was talking about. 

“For the nausea, I got some remedies to try.” The purple haired boy clarified easily and the memory of their prior discussion popped back into his head. 

“Oh!” He exclaimed, but had to cut the rest of his thanks short and control his breathing when his stomach lurched. 

“So she said a cool wet cloth to the forehead or neck can help, pretty straightforward and easy to do.” He began his list, “She also recommended eating or having the scent of ginger or peppermint around- That might be kinda hard at the hospital though. The other method was a little strange, not sure how it works but I guess she has this stone that eases nausea if you hold it? She gave me one to try… If you want I can see if I can send it with Aizawa when he heads over today?” The other teen reported dutifully. 

Kaminari didn’t know how he’d been so lucky making a friend like Shinsou, “Thank you so much Hitoshi, I really appreciate it.” Maybe Aizawa had been right, maybe having people on his side wasn’t such a bad thing. 

“No problem…” Shinsou replied, sounding rather bashful, Kaminari could clearly imagine the little blush he usually got when people said something nice about him, his hand ruffling his hair. The blonde loved when he did that. 

“Hey, do you think Aizawa would bring you to visit? I mean, if you want to of course!” Kaminari questioned, and then he realized what he’d just done and was immediately flustered. He blamed his lack of tact on the meds. 

“Yeah? Can I? If you're okay with it I’ll definitely ask him.” Luckily Shinsou sounded about as flustered as he did.

“Dude, I’m dying for some company here.” Kaminari sighed dramatically, braving the fluorescent lights above to open his eyes and scan the drab room as if things had somehow changed. 

“Hopefully not actually…” Shinsou replied rather tersely, as if he interpreted the blonde’s words literally for some reason. “Oh, sorry I gotta go. I’m next for the training exercise.” The other teen added a second later. 

“What? The Shinsou Hitoshi talking on the phone during class? How rebellious of you.” Kaminari teased his friend gently. 

“Che,” Shinsou scoffed, “I’m not that much of a goodie-two-shoes, I can break the rules… every once in a while…”

Kaminari laughed a little, but stopped when the action made his stomach turn and head ache,  groaning instead. “Yeah, right…”  

“Well, try to get some rest. I’ll hopefully see you later today.” The purple-haired teen excused himself but didn’t end the call until Kaminari offered up a short hum of acknowledgment.

Kaminari did rest for a bit after the line went dead. He knew he had to look at the group chat. He knew his friends were probably about to riot at his lack of answers, but he couldn’t bring himself to address the issue just yet. According to Shinsou they were still in class anyway so he had some time to spare.  

Before Kaminari had time to even try falling back to sleep, one of the nursing staff entered his room to get vitals. He hadn’t met this nurse before but he wasn’t feeling like socializing at the moment. Usually he loved to meet new people and hear their stories, but he was just too overstimulated today, plus she probably had other patients to take care of anyway and didn’t need him bothering her with small talk. So other than asking for some more nausea medication when she asked if he needed anything, he kept the interaction brief. 

Pulling the blanket up to his neck, the blond tried to settle back down after she left and he was alone again in the chilly room. The quiet acutely reminded him of how much he wished he could be back with his friends doing hero training. The sun was bright and the sky was a clear blue, perfect weather for being outdoors, and yet here he was. With a sigh Kaminari closed his eyes, hoping Aizawa-Sensei would bring Shinsou to visit, and that by some miracle they would release him from the hospital soon. 

Even though he was tired, Kaminari couldn’t seem to fall asleep. The nurse had come back a few times with his medications, and to check on some of the monitors again, which didn’t help his attempts to nap, but now that his mind was less fuzzy he wasn’t able to shut it off. He kept thinking about the classes he was missing and how far behind he was going to be. About the questions his friends were bound to ask and how he was supposed to explain things, and mostly unhelpfully, he kept thinking about the possibility that the doctors wouldn't be able to control his seizures. Finally after about an hour of lying in bed he gave up trying and sat up. 

The meds had helped a bit with his stomach and his headache had passed so he figured it was the ideal time to stop ignoring his friends and respond to their messages. Scrolling to the group chat he found an intimidating 25 messages waiting for him. 

 Home Bro’s and Gal’s

10:15AM QueenMina:Um Denki my love- you are literally a human charger how can your phone be dead??

10:16AM Hanta<3: Actually i’ve seen him short out his phone a few times and that thing was beyond dead

10:16AM QueenMina: Thats different! its not dead dead cause hes using it now sooo…

10:16AM Explodiboi: U= ☠️ Stop.

10:16AM QueenMina: *Hides*

There was a gap, because obviously no one wanted to push their luck with Bakugou’s mood. The messages picked back up during their lunch break, which Kaminari had anticipated. 

12:30PM Hanta<3: Hey Denki were waiting.

12:31PM ExplodiBoi: It’s we’re, jackass. 

12:31PM Hanta<3: Aw thanks

12:48PM Hanta<3: He’s not going to talk to us is he…

12:48PM Eijiro: Maybe he’s busy guys

There was some back and forth debate on whether he was actively ignoring them or not which he skipped over and scrolled to the end of the chat. 

To Home Bro’s and Gal’s

4:12PM Denki: Yikes. Sorry bout it. 

4:12PM Denki: Would you believe me if I told you a dog ate my phone?

4:12PM Denki: No huh? Well that was my best excuse so... 

4:12PM QueenMina: Babe! Your phone is not exploded?

4:13PM Denki: Nope! She lives. But I had to scrounge up a charger cause I forgot mine at the dorms 😣

4:13PM Hanta<3: you could have messaged while you were charging?

Leave it to Sero to get right to the heart of the matter. Kaminari could tell that Sero’s usually endless patience was wearing rather thin with all of his deferments. He supposed he owed them a few explanations. 

4:13PM Denki: Ah, astute as always Hanta my dear man. I could have normally… but today is not a normal Denki day

4:13PM Denki: 2-fold answer being: 1) I had to plug into the outlet like a plebe and thus couldn’t reach my phone  

4:13PM Denki: and 2) the reason for that→

Denki sent a photo to the group chat

Kaminari attached a photo of the back cuff clamped snuggly against his left wrist. He was pretty sure they wouldn’t know what it was, these didn’t exactly seem mainstream even if he did unwittingly have one as a kid. Or maybe he was the only one out of the loop and they were common- he had no clue.  

4:14PM QueenMina: ??

4:14PM Hanta<3: Um, what’s that? New bracelet? 

His friends confirmed his initial suspicion. So he explained. 

4:14PM Denki: No actually! It’s a quirk suppressor apparently. I gotta wear it while I’m here, so no quick charging 😞

 4:14PM Hanta<3: Quirk suppressor? is that a thing?

4:15PM QueenMina: Noo Denki why are they oppressing you?? Is your Quirk hurting you??

4:15PM Denki: No I’m not hurt! It’s more for the protection of the hospital people and electronics I think. So I don’t fry anything I’m not supposed to 😉

4:15PM ExplodiBoi: What the Hell. 

4:15PM ExplodiBoi: They’re afraid of your dumb ass quirk? Just control it better. 

4:16PM Denki: I told you I’m having issues 😢

4:16PM Eijiro: Bakugou be nice! 

4:16PM Eijiro: Kami don't listen to him, we know your doing your best! hang in there!

4:16PM Denki: Thanks! 

4:16PM QueenMina: Yeah Bakugou’s just being a big meanie ignore him!

4:17PM ExplodiBoi: Whatever. I’m going to shower. 

4:17PM Hanta<3: Sooo, back to the issues issue… Are you going to tell us about these issues?

4:17PM Denki: Umm…

4:17PM Denki: Is it okay if maybe I don’t?

Kaminari finally decided on the one thing that he knew all day, he still wasn’t ready to tell his friend about the seizures. He would tell them eventually, when he wasn’t alone and scared, in a unfamiliar place, and hopefully after he had some good news to share. 

4:17PM Denki: I’ll tell you about it soon, I promise. But not now. 

4:17PM Denki: Sorry… I just don’t really want to talk about it yet.

4:18PM QueenMina: Oh, of course baby! You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to!

4:18PM Eijiro: Take all the time you need Kami! 

4:18PM Hanta<3: That’s cool man. 

Kaminari breathed a sigh of relief once his friends confirmed that he didn’t have to open up yet. They were all being nice about it, of course they were, they were all sweet and kind and caring. Still he couldn't help but feel like he was letting them down and he wished he could be strong enough to get over his own insecurities and just tell them.  

Just seconds after Sero sent his last message, a private chat popped up on his feed from the dark haired teen. 

4:18PM Hanta<3: Hey man, I just wanted to say sorry about pestering you so much…

4:18PM Hanta<3: I was being an unreasonable ass

4:18PM Denki: It’s okay! I know you’re just worried!

4:18PM Hanta<3: Worry aside that doesn’t give me the right to pry into your business, or put pressure on you like I did... I got carried away…

4:18PM Hanta<3: You seriously dont have to tell us anything your not comfortable sharing. 

4:18PM Denki: Thanks man, for understanding. Honestly it’s been pretty stressful, but ill tell you guys about it soon. I hate keeping secrets

4:19PM Hanta<3: Also, you pretty much suck at it soo… 

4:19PM Denki: Rude. But so true 😂

4:20PM Hanta<3: You don’t need to tell me anything specific of course, but can you at least tell me honestly how you're doing? 

4:20PM Hanta<3: Should I be worried…? 😟

4:20PM Denki: They’re taking good care of me here.

4:20PM Hanta<3: Doesn’t really answer my question Denks…

4:20PM Denki: Don’t be worried! I’ll be fine!! I just don’t know that many details yet either since the doctors are still doing some work up. I know everyone’s going to have a lot of questions and I’d rather have answers before getting into that…

4:21PM Hanta<3: Dont worry about everyone else Denk. Please just focus on getting better. Thats the only thing we need to hear right now, okay?

4:21PM Hanta<3: Sorry again for before… The last thing I should be doing is adding to your stress. I was being an idiot… 

4:21PM Denki: It’s seriously okay Hanta! I’d totally be worse if you were in the hospital, its scary when our friends get hurt! 😢

4:21PM Hanta<3: Yeah. so think you’ll be released soon?

After his discussion with Sero, Kaminari felt like a weight had been lifted off his soul. Even though it was a selfish request his friends had accepted without a second thought, and it was nice not to have to worry about what he was going to say to them. At least for now. Hopefully by the time he got out of here he’d have some medications and answers to make that conversation easier. He knew his friends wouldn’t press him for details now that they knew he didn’t want to share, but as promised he did plan to tell them. If this was going to be an ongoing issue, which was likely, he’d need as many allies as he could get if he was going to have any chance at going Pro. 

The blonde texted back and forth with his friends for a while before everyone eventually dwindled away to go do their own things and he was at the mercy of his quiet room again. For a minute he contemplated playing some music from his phone, but he wasn’t sure if that was allowed in the hospital so he refrained. Sitting back to stare up at the white ceiling he contented himself to wait for his teacher to arrive, hopefully with Shinsho in tow. 

At some point Kaminari fell into a light doze but he was awakened by the sound of his door opening. The teen tried to open his eyes but his eyelids refused to move, and when he tried to move his body he found all of his muscles in a state of similar arrest. There was an annoying ringing in his ears but he could still make out Shinsou’s voice asking if he was asleep. 

He wanted to tell him that no, he was in fact awake, but his body remained stiff and unresponsive.

“He kinda looks worse than before… Are they really helping?” He heard Shinsou comment, and obviously Aizawa-Sensei was with him because his teacher started to respond back but the ringing drowned out his words. Slowly Kaminari felt his hand begin to spasm and his mind went to the fuzzy place it liked to linger in during his seizure episodes.

Chapter Text

Kaminari was sleeping when Aizawa and Shinsou arrived. The teacher didn’t comment on the subtle look of disappointment that crossed over his son’s face at finding his classmate less than animated. 

“Is he asleep?” The purple-haired teen questioned softly, not wanting to wake the other. Aizawa just offered a short shrug and continued into the room to check on his student. 

“He kinda looks worse than before… Are they really helping?” Came Shinsou’s rather disgruntled commentary as he settled down into the chair near Kaminari’s bed. He knew, of course, that the medical team was doing what they could, but he couldn’t fault Shinsou’s assessment. Kaminari looked bad, pale and more sickly than the night before. The staff had called Aizawa earlier so he knew about the two seizures today, but as far as he’d learned from the last week the blonde was about as good at springing back from his seizures as he was at hiding them. So this decompensation seemed odd. As he examined the sleeping boy more closely, however, sleeping became a more questionable term. The blonde’s brow was furrowed, his jaw and shoulders clenched in a posture that looked anything but restful. 

“I’m not sure he’s sleeping…” Aizawa commented, his own brow furrowing as he put his hand on Kaminari’s shoulder to see if he could wake the teen. The only response he got was the teen’s stiff, resistant posturing. He was clearly seizing. Since he didn’t know how long Kaminari had been seizing, Aizawa quickly picked up the call button draped against the rail of the boy's headboard and requested the nurse. 

“He’s having a seizure. I’m calling the nurse.” Aizawa informed Shinsou who was giving him a questioning look. It wasn’t even a second or two later that Kaminari’s seizure evolved into full ridged spasms. 

“I’m going to go get someone,” The teacher announced when another few stressful seconds passed without a voice coming through the little speaker or a nurse entering to check-in. 

“But, what should I do?” Shinsou stopped him before he could get to the door, the purple-haired teen looked torn, dividing his attention between his teacher and classmate. He looked horrified at the prospect of being alone with Kaminari as he continued to seize on the bed, his breath coming in awful-sounding grunts. 

“I’ll only be a second, just stay with him.” Aizawa directed poignantly, he didn’t have time to settle his son’s nerves when Kaminari was in need of immediate medical attention. 

He didn’t know why they had taken the monitors off the blonde so soon, he’d already had two other seizures, so he assumed he’d be monitored more closely for others. There was no one in the immediate vicinity but luckily the nursing station wasn’t too far and he was able to flag some down rather quickly. The young nurse hopped to attention when he saw Aizawa stalking up to the desk, and together the two went back to the room, the nurse trying to reach out to the doctor over the phone on their way. 

On returning to Kaminari’s room, Aizawa was dismayed to find the teen still unaware and jerking in his bed. Shinsou had one hand on his classmate's shoulder speaking quiet soothing words to the other even though he probably couldn’t hear him. When he approached his charge he could see the look of unbridled panic in his son’s eyes and he had to squash down the regret that came with the decision to leave him here alone. Shinsou was a Hero in training, he knew how to handle emergency situations and would understand the necessity of his actions. The teacher placed a hand on Shinsou’s shoulder, half to comfort the teen and the other to lead Shinsou a few steps back so the nurse could get in by Kaminari’s side.

“Mr. Eraser Head,” the nurse began after a quick evaluation of the situation, apparently he knew Aizawa’s hero persona, “I’m going to be calling a rapid response, to get the team in here faster. Once they get here we’ll be able to give Kaminari-kun some medication to stop the seizure.” Aizawa just nodded at the man’s words. They didn’t need his permission to do whatever they needed to do to help Kaminari. Once the nurse had initiated the response it wasn’t long before a host of people began crowding into the room, some poking and prodding at the seizing teen, trying to get his vitals and access his IV for medications, other talking and directing the chaos.

 Aizawa led Shinsou away from the scene and the two watched from the corner while the team worked, slightly surprised they hadn’t made them leave the room. Aizawa figured it had something to do with the nurse who knew his title. The teacher’s hand was still on Shinsou’s shoulder and he could feel the teen trembling under his touch, his shoulder taunt with anxiety at the events unfolding with his friend. It was a reasonable response, he was worried too, but he knew Shinsou’s underlying fear of hospitals wasn’t making the situation any easier for him. 

“Is he going to be okay?” Shinsou questioned tightly, eyes glued to Kaminari as he continued to seize despite the medications they were giving. 

Aizawa squeezed the teen’s shoulder reassuringly, “He’ll be fine.” He reported shortly. Honestly he wasn’t sure at this point. He had enough medical training to know that the situation was quickly becoming dangerous. While seizures were one thing, especially for people with epilepsy, status epilepticus was a completely different emergency. Kaminari had been seizing for well over 5 minutes at this point and he wasn’t even completely sure that the seizure hadn’t started before he arrived at the room.  

Finally, after the fourth or so injection of medication, Kaminari stilled, settling limp and responseless into the bed. The room seemed to breathe at the sudden calm, and Aizawa thanked the stars the seizure had finally stopped when it did as the team had been one step away from intubating his student to protect his airway. Kaminari seemed to be resting peacefully now, although they left the nasal canal on him for oxygen support while he recovered. Another few minutes passed before Kaminari was officially deemed stabilized and the team finally began disbanding. The doctor and Kaminari’s nurse from yesterday stayed behind to discuss. 

“Can I touch him?” Shinsou asked anxiously, inching closer to his bedridden classmate. Aizawa let the nurse field that question, since he didn’t know the answer and instead turned to the doctor for some updates. 

“Of course! Here, just come over here. Yeah. You can sit here. Kaminari-kun will be just fine.” Aizawa heard Shinsou getting situated so he gestured to Dr. Takuma to speak outside. 

“Mr. Aizawa, good to see you again.” The man began conversationally, as if he hadn’t just watched his student actively convulsing for the past 5 minutes. 

“Is the medication not working?” Aizawa cut to the chase, not at all in the mood for unnecessary pleasantries. He needed information. 

“It’s difficult to say whether it’s working or not,” The man began, although based on what he’d seen he didn’t know how it could be difficult to see at all. Still he waited for the explanation. “It seems that due to the nature of Kaminari-kun’s quirk, he appears to be rapidly metabolizing the medication. Some of our medications require titrations to get to higher doses, but we’re having some difficulties keeping up with how rapidly he converts the drug.” 

The teacher understood most of that explanation, but that didn’t mean it was acceptable, “Have you tried other medicines? This one doesn't seem like a good fit.” He commented dryly. 

“Well I was really hoping we wouldn’t have to, but I suppose after this prolonged seizure it would be prudent to add something to his regimen. We already loaded him with another medication during his seizure so we will likely continue that one in addition to the other for now. ” The doctor stated looking thoughtful, before his attention shifted, “Oh, there is also the finding on his MRI that I wanted to discuss with you.”

Aizawa beckoned him to continue, concerned at the prospect of there being some structural damage to his student’s brain from the seizures. 

“Overall his brain looks healthy,” Aizawa sighed in relief, but the doctor continued and he had to put his assurance on hold, “I did however, see a small area of concern, it’s located in the area that his seizures seem to be originating from. It’s difficult to say what the cause is, these changes can be due to a variety of different reasons including stroke, aneurysm, bleeding, or even congenital malformations, however, Kaminari-kun’s imaging suggests a more recent assault.” 

The teacher didn’t really know what to say to the news, it certainly complicated things.

“Do you know if Kaminari-kun had suffered any recent head trauma, or has been in accidents that might account for this finding?” The doctor questioned, even though he didn’t have too, Aizawa was already racking his brain for any recent injuries the resident electric user may have had in the past few weeks.  

Nothing particularly stood out, despite the power of his quirk and his propensity to overuse it, Kaminari was actually one of the most cautious students in the class. He rarely ended up in the med bay due to actual injuries and he tended to practice more long range than hand-to-hand combat styles which helped keep blunt force trauma to a minimum. “I can’t think of anything right now, but he is a UA student in the Hero course, injuries are common and it's highly likely. I will need to discuss with his internship mentors to see if they’ve seen anything in the field.” Aizawa responded. “How will that change things?” Came the teacher's next question. Aizawa had been hoping for a quick, easy solution to this problem, both for his own sanity as well as Kaminari’s, but if the teen had done some permanent damage to his brain, the conversations would have to be different. 

“I don’t believe the treatments will change much. If it is indeed due to trauma, then it is likely that we will see some improvement in the lesion, but it will take the brain time to heal and adjust. The current inflammation might be another reason why we are having such a difficult time controlling his seizures medically. Once the inflammation recedes he may respond better to the therapies.” The man tapped his chin in thought as he responded. Aizawa hummed in acknowledgment. That was reassuring at any rate, at least if offered a tangible reason for the teen's rather abrupt symptom onset. 

“One other thing the nurses brought up,” The doctor continued, “It seems like Kaminari-kun hasn’t been eating well while here in the hospital. I understand some of that is due to side effects of the medication, but if you could encourage him to try to eat more it would surely help his recovery as low blood sugar can be a trigger for seizures as well. Feel free to bring in outside foods if he prefers that over the hospital choices. No dietary restrictions from my perspective.” Aizawa felt his eye twitch with irritation at his charge’s neglect of his own basic necessities, yet somehow he wasn’t surprised. He was sure there was a reason behind it, but he’d need to correct the behavior quickly. 

“Right. I’ll talk to him about it.” Aizawa announced giving the man a nod of appreciation for his time and observations on Kaminari’s wellbeing. Once the doctor took his leave, Aizawa headed back to Kaminari’s room to reconverge with his two students. As expected the blonde was still passed out, oblivious to the waking world. Shinsou was sitting beside him clinging to one of Kaminari’s hands, his shoulders hunched and an air of worry still permeating around him. The purple haired teen straightened up a bit when he heard the door open, but he relaxed when he realized who it was. 

“Hey.” Aizawa greeted while Shinsou settled back into a comfortable position, “How’s he doing?” 

“Okay I guess… He’s just been sleeping. The nurse told me that they gave him a lot of medicine so he’ll probably be out of it for a while.” The teen explained rather robotically, refocusing his attention on Kaminari’s sleeping face. Aizawa hoped he wasn’t going to regret bringing Shinsou along, the teen had made a lot of progress in the last few months and he’d hate to reset that work. The simple check in and out visit didn’t exactly go as planned but at least Kaminari looked peaceful now, although still too pale for the teachers' liking. 

The dark-haired man settled into the other chair nearby when Shinsou’s body language told him that he didn’t plan to go anywhere anytime soon.  Since he neglected to bring anything to work on, Aizawa spent some time on his phone, updating Recovery Girl on the situation and Hizashi, who was quite distressed by the news that one of his favorite students was unwell.  He still hadn’t had any luck getting a hold of Kaminari’s father which was quite odd considering the situation so he just left another voicemail telling the man to call him back for updates. 

“I’m going to go grab some coffee and food from the cafeteria. Do you want anything?” Aizawa stood back up after he’d finished his tasks, stretching out the soreness in his knees from sitting on the uncomfortably low chairs. Shinsou looked over startled by the sudden breach in the silence of the room. 

“Coffee?” Aizawa questioned again when his son didn’t respond, obviously still lost in thought. 

“Oh, yeah sure. Thanks.” The teen agreed, offering a small nod of gratitude. Accepting that that was all he was going to get, Aizawa headed off toward the cafeteria.

 It didn’t take the man long to procure some halfway decent fare from the hospital shop since the cafeteria turned out to close at 7pm, just 20 minutes earlier. Since he knew Shinsou hadn’t eaten anything since lunch he grabbed him something in addition to some snacks to leave with Kaminari. Hopefully it would be enough to encourage him to eat something himself, although tonight would probably be a bust. 

Nothing much had changed when he got back to the room so he placed the packaged sandwich and coffee on Kaminari’s bedside table for Shinsou and returned to his own seat to allow the vigil to continue. He’d probably call it a wrap soon, while he too wanted to see Kaminari more alert before leaving, he also knew that the kid was drugged to the gills and there was a distinct possibility that he’d sleep straight through the night. Nearly as soon as that thought finished Shinsou shifted closer to Kaminari with a concerned look. 

“Hey Dad, I think he might be waking up,” The teen announced rather uncertainly, staring pointedly at the way the other boy’s eyelids were flickering. The medical team had placed the seizure monitors back on Kaminari so the fact that they weren’t storming the room again likely meant he wasn’t seizing, but it was hard to be certain. Aizawa became even less sure when the blonde’s expression became pinched and his breathing shifted from quiet and regular to something more forced. The man was about to reach for the nurse call button, not wanting to be caught off guard if his student started having another seizure, but instead of seizing Kaminari’s eyes fluttered open.  The blonde looked around but his gold eye’s were clouded and he didn’t seem to be aware of what was going on. Shinsou was speaking softly to the blonde, offering quiet words of encouragement and reassurance, but Aizawa could clearly see the discomfort growing on Kaminari’s face despite the words. When he noticed the boy begin to swallow forcefully, the teacher stepped in. 

“Shinsou, help me sit him up,” The man directed and at Shinsou’s questioning look he added, “I’m pretty sure he’s going to be sick.”

No sooner than getting Kaminari up right, the teen crumpled forward with a gag and heaved into the basin Aizawa had slipped in front of him. The teacher kept his hands firmly on the blonde's shoulders, preventing the youth from falling over since it seemed clear that Kaminari hadn’t regained his motor skills yet. Beside him, Shinsou took a few seconds to compose himself before he hesitantly reached out to rub slow gentle circles against Kaminari’s back while the teen continued to retch. It was quite a few minutes before the blonde’s breathing finally settled and Aizawa felt confident enough that the ordeal was over to help him lay back down. The teen rolled over onto his side and from his ginger, halting movements Aizawa could tell that he was sore, he’d have to ask the nurse for something for him to take once his stomach settled more. 

“Do you want some water?” Shinsou offered softly, tilting his head down and trying to make eye contact with the other teen. Aizawa wasn’t sure if Kaminari was lucid enough to respond to the question, but to his credit Kaminari shook his head negatively, so he was obviously at least somewhat aware. 

Shinsou looked a little defeated by Kaminair’s refusal, obviously wanting to be helpful but not knowing how to be in this instance. Aizawa set a reassuring hand on his son’s shoulder, silently bidding the boy to calm down and be patient with the sick teen. 

“I’ll ask the nurse to bring you some nausea medication and Tylenol,” Aizawa announced, pressing the button for the nurse again. He didn’t need to ask if he needed them at this point. 

Kaminari’s unfocused gaze turned in his direction and he blinked sleepily at him, “Sensei…?” The boy croaked, his voice rough and laced with confusion. 

“I’m here. Shinsou is here too.” He announced clearly, gesturing to where Shinsou was sitting to help orient Kaminari, who seemed to be struggling with situational awareness. The blonde followed his direction, his gaze drifting back to Shinsou who had reclaimed the seat by Kaminari’s side and was sitting quiet and still -overthinking everything as usual. 

“Hito? The blonde finally seemed to notice Shinsou’s presence, turning more fully to face him and squinting like he was having trouble seeing clearly. “‘m sorry…I was…Imma, uh, sorry…” The blonde frowned and stuttered out a slurred apology for what Aizawa could only guess.

 Shinsou for his part seemed equally confused by it and he hushed his friend consolingly. “It’s okay. Shh… You don’t need to apologize for anything Denki. Just rest now, we’re here… it’s okay.” 

The blonde nodded a bit, his expression lightening somewhat at Shinsou’s soft tones, “I’m tired…” he added brittlely, his eyes already drooping again. 

“I know. It’s okay. You can rest Denki.” The purple-haired teen urged again, reclaiming the blonde's hand and giving it a little squeeze. 

“Will you… come back?” Kaminari requested stubbornly fighting off sleep. Shinsou turned quickly to Aizawa with a look of desperation on his face. Like he really needed his permission to tell Kaminari he’d be back, more than that it was forcing Aizawa to promise to bring him back. With a sigh Aizawa nodded accommodatingly, he could hardly say no after that. 

“Of course. I’ll be back tomorrow okay?” Shinsou gave his adoptive father a grateful nod before quickly responding to Kaminari’s question. The blonde eyes had fluttered closed, but he still hummed in acknowledgment before his breathing evened out again and Aizawa knew he was asleep. 

“We should get going now,” Aizawa announced after another few quiet minutes had passed and it was clear Kaminari would not wake back up anytime soon. “It’s getting late and he needs to rest.”

Shinsou agreed albeit reluctantly, and Aizawa had no doubts that if he wasn’t here the staff would have had a hard time getting rid of the worried young man.  

Chapter Text

Kaminari woke up to the sounds of someone shuffling around beside him. It was quiet in the room and when he finally got his eyes to comply and open he found his nurse fiddling with a bag of fluids hanging near his bed. 

“Oh, well good morning!” The man announced in a much too chipper voice for the degree of aching in Kaminari’s skull. For the life of him, he couldn't remember the guy's name even though he’d probably introduced himself at least three times at this point. 

“‘mornin’,” The teen muttered back, not wanting to be rude. His mouth had an awful acrid taste in it and was about as dry as a desert in the summertime. Kaminari sat up slowly, taking stock of his body and all the aches and pains that come along with moving. He didn’t remember anything from yesterday afternoon onward but it looked like it was already some ungodly early hour in the morning now. His muscles were stiff and sore and he felt bruised all over like he’d just spent the night tumbling around in a dryer instead of a bed. 

He’d obviously had a rough night. 

The EEG machine was back at his bedside, sticky little electrodes firmly anchoring him back to the confines of his bed, not that he was up for much walking anyway. The nurse attaching the fluids to the IV line at his right wrist distracted Kaminari. That one was new. His elbow, where his last IV had been looked red, bruised and irritated. Dude, not cool. 

“How are you feeling kiddo?” The nurse’s attention was back on Kaminari now that he’d finished with the IV.

Kaminari just gave a little struggle, not really knowing how to put what he was feeling into words. He’d probably never felt worse in his entire life. 

“What’s your pain level on a scale from 1 to 10?” The man opted for a more objective tactic which made Kaminari feel bad about his minimal responses. He wasn’t trying to make this guy's job more difficult. 

“Um, maybe 5?” Kaminari had to clear his throat when his voice caught and rasped, even his throat was sore. “Can I get some water?” He added with a little cough.

“Oh, sure. Here.” The nurse was quick to pull the bedside table over into Kaminari’s reach and he pulled a few things off the back counter to place on the surface, one of them being a little pitcher of water. 

“Do you need anything for pain or nausea right now?” The nurse resumed his questioning while Kaminari greedily chugged the water he’d set down. 

“Maybe…something for nausea,” The teen responded once he finally stopped for a breath of air. The awful nausea was back and he knew he probably shouldn’t have drank so much water all at once, but he also felt like he was dying of dehydration so he’d deal with the consequences later. 

“Sure thing.” The man acknowledged, “Oh yeah, your friend left this for you.” He added picking something off the table to hand Kaminari. It looked like a rock of some kind. Also what friend? Had Shinsou been here? 

“Huh?” Kaminari stuttered lamely, just how much did he miss? “Someone came over yesterday?” The teen needed clarification. 

The man seemed to understand his position and didn’t miss a beat, “Yeah, you were pretty out of it yesterday so I’m not surprised you don’t remember. Your teacher Mr. Eraser Head and a younger guy came with him. He had purple hair, a classmate of yours maybe?” 

Kaminari had to suppress a groan, Shinsou had seen him looking all zonked out and sick, life just had to keep sucking. 

“Anyway, he asked me to give this to you. Guess to help with nausea or something. Go ahead and give it a try, but I’ll still bring the medicine too,” The man said with a wink. Kaminari would have loved this guy if he didn’t feel like his stomach was about to fall through the floor with embarrassment right now. Clenching the stone tightly in his fist Kaminari desperately racked his brains for any scrap of memory from last night, wondering what Shinsou had seen, what he’d said to the other teen. What if he’d said something embarrassing or revealed something he couldn’t take back in his stupid post-seizure haze? Trying to remember anything was an act of futility, like his brain had just shut off after his conversation with Hanta, in fact he couldn’t even remember what that had been about anymore. 

“Well I suggest you try to get some rest,” The nurse announced finishing up his duties, “You are running a little bit of a temp this morning too, so I’ll be back to check in soon.” 

Kaminari nodded quietly, appreciating that the man was giving him something to blame for how shaky and miserable he was feeling besides his own absolute mortification. 

The nurse came back a few times, to give meds and retake his temp, then to give more meds for the fever-as if the seizures weren’t enough, his body had the audacity to betray him further. So actually resting became nothing more than a pipe dream. 

Kaminari texted his friends a little, it was Saturday so most of them were free, hawking for updates from him on things like discharge and his current status. He kept it pretty brief, telling them he’d had a rough night and would be resting a lot today which they respected and gave him space that was sorely appreciated. Still, lying in his hospital bed, feeling achy and exhausted, he longed for company. He was lonely, bored, and overall tired of feeling like crap. Clutching the stone Shinsou gave him close to his chest, (well technically it was Uraraka’s, but whatever) the teen did his best to try and rest.

Luckily he didn’t have to wallow in his own self pity for too long before someone entered his room. For a second he debated not getting up, it was probably Takashi-his nurse anyway, but something made him look over and he was pleasantly surprised and also flustered to see Shinsou standing rather awkwardly in the doorway. 

“Hitoshi!” Kaminari exclaimed, quickly getting over his embarrassment in light of seeing his friend. This hellish social isolation was killing him. 

“Hey Denki,” Shinsou returned his greeting quietly and he creeped into the room, wearily like something was going to jump out and grab him. 

“Thanks for coming!” The blonde enthused, pushing himself to sit up in the bed. Even that small effort made his body shutter in protest and Kaminari almost fell forward right onto his face when a wave of vertigo tackled him at the sudden change. His struggles definitely got Shinsou’s feet moving and the purple haired teen was at Kaminari’s bedside an instant later fretting even though Kaminari had caught himself on shaky arms all on his own, thank you very much. 

“Careful. Take it slow…Maybe you should lay back down?” Came Shinsou’s cautious and worried commentary as he latched onto Kaminari’s arm and slid a hand across his back like he was about to fall over again. Whatever happened last night must have really freaked Shinsou out. He’d seen several of Kaminari’s seizures at this point so this reaction seemed a little intense. 

“It’s fine, I’m good.” Kaminari countered, shooing his anxious friend’s hands away so he could sit up on his own. Shinsou compiled but commandeered the bed remote to prop up the head of the bed. Honestly, Kaminari didn't even know it could do that, Shinsou sure knew his way around hospitals. Accepting the silent compromise, Kaminari relaxed against the propped mattress and took a few seconds to catch his breath before speaking again. He’d been feeling kinda short of breath since waking up this morning but it wasn’t that bad. 

“The nurse told me you stopped by yesterday?” Kaminari began once Shinsou sat down in the chair next to his bed and looked slightly less like he was about to run for the hills. 

“Yeah, Aizawa and I.” Shinsou confirmed, giving nothing away, his poker face game was strong as usual. 

“Guess I was only kinda here in body… I don’t really remember much from last night. Well, I don’t remember anything actually.” The blonde revealed rather sheepishly. It was probably better to get that out before rather than later to save himself from having to answer awkward questions. 

“You had a pretty bad seizure right when we got here. They had to give you a lot of med’s, and you pretty much slept through after that.” The other teen informed him, and Kaminari was surprised he didn’t have to put in more effort to pry the details from his friend. No one else had been as forthcoming about last night's events. 

“Oh… Sorry…After you came all the way over here too.” Kaminari lamented, not really knowing what to say to that. It was kinda what he’d been expecting, but luckily it seemed like he didn’t do or say anything too embarrassing. 

“Don’t. Don’t apologize for that…” The sudden sharpness in Shinsou’s voice made Kaminari look over in question. 

“Your seizures. You don’t need to apologize for having seizures.” He clarified firmly, purple eyes glistening with determination. “There not something you can control, and it’s not your fault. so please don’t apologize, okay?”

“Uh, okay…” Kaminari replied breathlessly, feeling himself getting lost in those pools of purple. He knew what Shinsou was saying was important, his smoldering look demanded it be so. It was also really distracting. While Kaminari knew Shinsou wasn’t using his power on him, he vaguely wondered if this is what it felt like to be caught by Shinsou’s control. Like the only thing in the world that mattered was Shinsou’s words and eyes. Kaminari had to shake himself free of Shinsou’s allure and refocus his brain. This topic was obviously important to the purple-haired teen, Kaminari didn’t have enough bandwidth to get distracted. Kaminari knew he couldn’t help having seizures but he did still feel bad for wasting Shinsou's precious time. Deciding to leave the issue alone for now the blonde switched topics. 

“I got this,” Kaminari announced instead, reaching out his hand to show off the stone that was still tucked into his palm. “the nurse told me you left it for me to try. The nausea trick from Uraraka right?” 

“Yeah, I’m glad he was able to get it to you.” Shinsou also resettled, the intensity of his last request simmering back down, “Do you think it’s helping?” He asked curiously. 

“You know, I think it is!” The blonde enthused, while he was still a little nauseous, it had been much more manageable today which was saying a lot compared to yesterday. “The nausea is actually much better today, thanks for bringing it for me!”

“Good, that means you’ll eat lunch today.” Kaminari and Shinsou both jumped when a new voice joined their conversation unexpectedly. 

When Aizawa-Sensei approached them Kaminari felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment. He quickly shifted away from Shinsou a bit, suddenly acutely aware of how close he’d been to his teacher’s son. Close enough to smell the subtle hint of lilac that always seemed to cling to Shinsou; their fingers almost touching. Stupid hormones, stupid pretty Shinsou. 

At least Shinsou looked about as ruffled by the intrusion as he did, so Kaminari felt slightly more justified in wishing his teacher would just turn around and give them another few minutes (or hours) alone together. Yet as the dark haired man approached, obviously not going anywhere, the blonde contented himself with shoving the desire to hold Shinsou’s hand so deep into the abyss of his soul that no one would ever be the wiser. 

“The staff said you haven’t been eating well, so I bought a few choices for you.” Aizawa announced dropping a bag of presumed “choices” onto the bedside table next to Shinsou. It was shockingly sweet and considerate of his teacher, which by now he should have expected, but his tone revealed his hidden agenda. Aizawa was going to get him to eat whether he wanted to or not, and boy did he not want to. 

His memories of the last few days were so choppy at this point that he couldn’t really be sure when he’d eaten last. He knew that was neither good nor healthy but his appetite was shot and even the thought of food made his stomach turn. 

Still, he’d told Shinsou that the nausea stone was working, and now he was arranging the bento’s on the table for Kaminari to pick one with an awfully hopeful look on his face. With much too much stacked against him, the blonde hesitantly picked the least offending option.  

Shinsou and Aizawa grabbed from the remaining boxes and Kaminari was at least relieved that he wouldn’t have to eat alone with two of the most perceptive people he’d ever met staring down his soul. 

Kaminari spent the next half an hour or so picking at his food. He was pretty sure Aizawa-Sensei thought himself quite subtle, but the blonde knew his teacher was glaring at him every time he looked away. He was doing his best here. 

“Denki, are you alright?” Kaminari blinked and suddenly Shinsou’s worried face was filling his vision. It took his brain a second to restart and he noticed that his chopsticks had slipped out of hand at some point, and even more note-worth, Aizawa had disappeared from the room. 

“Wher’d Sensei go…?” The blonde posed his own sluggish question, tongue feeling thick and annoyingly uncooperative in his mouth. He looked around the room again in case he’d missed the man somehow. He was feeling more groggy than he usually did after an absence seizure and vaguely he wondered if it had been more of a focal episode. He hated that he was getting good at identifying his various seizure types.

“He just stepped out to take a phone call…Should I call him back? He's probably not far.” Shinsou responded quickly, already scooting out of his chair, looking more and more anxious by the second. Kaminari had been hoping Shinsou wouldn’t be as freaked out by his seizures. His reaction didn’t bode well for telling the rest of the gang. This one hadn’t even been that bad.

The blonde reached out to stop his friend. “No, it’s okay. I’m okay.” He assured, catching Shinsou’s hand and tugging him weakly back toward the bed. 

“If you're sure…” Shinsou didn’t look very convinced but he sat back down anyway. “Did you still want to eat some more? I can get you a new pair of chopsticks,” The purple-haired boy offered meekly, eyeing Kaminari’s hardly touched food. 

Kaminari shook his head sleepily, “I think I’m done for now…”, he didn’t think his hands could handle that level of fine motor skills right now, and he was 100% sure his stomach couldn't. “I’ll try to eat more in a bit.” He added when Shinsou’s eyebrows furrowed in concern at his decision. 

The taller teen just nodded accommodatingly and if Shinsou wasn’t going to do anything about their still intertwined hands, Kaminari certainly wasn’t. 

The quiet he once found harsh and oppressive was now peaceful and calming with Shinsou sitting beside him, rubbing small light circles against the back of his hand. The blonde was just about to doze off when as if on cue his door opened and he forced himself back into awareness. He was feeling much too achy and shivery to try and sit up again, his prior short bout with consciousness seemed to have sapped his stamina. The blonde did spare his teacher a nod of acknowledgment but his attention was mostly taken up by Takashi, who arrived with his teacher and started taking vitals. 

“Your temperature is high again, 102.3.” The nurse announced, “Do you feel sick? Sore throat? Belly pain?”

Kaminari shook his head no, “Just achy,” his whole body was still sore, but nothing particularly was standing out. 

“Again? Did he have a fever earlier?” Aizawa joined the conversation, sounding unimpressed and rather vexed, “Why wasn’t I informed?” The blonde cringed a little, he felt bad for Takashi because he’d been on the receiving end of that tone way too many times. 

“His temp was just slightly elevated earlier this morning, not quite a fever and resolved with a little Tylenol so we were just monitoring.” The nurse reported easily, not at all unsettled by the teacher's glower.  “I’ll talk to Dr. Takuma about it, as he might want to add something since it’s higher now.”  

Aizawa hummed but didn’t sound particularly convinced. Kaminari let the conversation go on without paying too much attention, he was too tired to really care at this point as long as whatever they did helped him feel better. He turned back to Shinsou, trusting that his teacher would continue to advocate for him even without his input. Shinsou was watching the two adults but noticed when Kaminari moved and looked his way accordingly. The purple-haired boy gave him a small sympathetic smile as the adults continued their discussion over his head. The blonde returned the gesture before he allowed his eyes to slide closed, quite content with the noise in the room. 

Chapter Text

The next morning it was his doctor who woke him up. While it was possible that some other people had been in the room, his doctor was the first one he was reasonably lucid for. He vaguely remembered saying goodbye to Shinsou and Aizawa-Sensei yesterday and slept most of the rest of the day. Kaminari wasn’t sure if it was the fever, the meds, or just the last few days of physical strain on his body but he was exhausted. The world did seem a little clearer today and his body was a bit less sore so sleeping seemed to do him some good at least. 

Dr. Takuma was explaining something about aspiration pneumonia which he just nodded politely at, not having a clue what that was supposed to be. When the doctor explained further that he’d likely inhaled some vomit during his seizure a few nights ago, which was now causing an infection in his lungs, Kaminari was reasonably grossed out and also kinda wishing he hadn’t explained. So he’d choked on his own spit and made himself sick, pretty lame. 

“Anyway, we’ve started some antibiotics for you which should help clear up the infection.” The man was still speaking so Kaminari figured he should listen- Aizawa wasn’t here after all. 

“You’ve been afebrile this morning which is a good sign. We’ve also seen fewer seizures in the last 24 hours so the medication combination seems to be working. I’ll continue to monitor for now and if everything continues to improve we can start to think about getting you home soon.” Kaminari’s attention perked up at the doctor's last statement. Could he really be serious? That was like the best thing he’d ever heard. Since the prospect of leaving hadn’t been brought up at all during his last few days, the blonde had been starting to fear that they were planning to keep him until his seizures were gone or something. He didn’t know what “soon” meant for the doctor but he’d take what he could get. 

“Seriously? Like maybe today soon?” The electric user couldn’t help but ask. He’d like to give his friends some good news for a change. 

The doctor hummed thoughtfully, but it didn’t sound like a positive thing, “Probably not today.” He quickly dashed Kaminari’s blooming hope. “We will need to monitor for today, both your seizures and your fevers. The hospital has a policy that you're at least 24hrs free of fever before you go. If you do well today we can discuss the possibility of tomorrow.” The man announced. Kaminari was content with that compromise, more than content, he was overjoyed. He thanked the doctor before he headed out and wished with his whole being that they would let him out of here tomorrow. 

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully, punctuated by only a few small seizures. He was even able to eat something, so overall he called it progress. He tried not to get too excited, since the last time things seemed to be looking up he had rather dramatic worsening, but he was hopefully optimistic. 

At some point Aizawa-Sensei had stopped in to check on him, but Kaminari could only vaguely remember their conversation, he was pretty sure he’d fallen asleep midway though and when he opened his eyes again his teacher was gone. Time seemed to be moving both slowly and quickly at the same time, which was a little discombobulating and before he knew it it was already Monday and he’d spent the entire miserable weekend in the hospital. 

Thankfully the doctor seemed pleased with his progress and had allowed the EEG machine to be removed and told Kaminari he was free to get up and walk around when the nurse was around. The required supervision was a drag since he hated to bother the nurse just to watch him walk to the bathroom, but the alternative was staying stuck in bed. 

It wasn’t until midafternoon, probably after class, since his group chat was active, that Aizawa-Sensei reappeared in his room and time finally stopped melding together. 

“Alright Problem Child, the doctor said you're okay to be released.” Was the first thing the man announced after getting settled in the chair beside Kaminari’s bed. For a second Kaminari was confused, the news just seemed too good to be true, he had to be dreaming. “But first I want to go over some rules.” his teacher added and Kaminari knew that this was really happening. Only the real Aizawa-Sensei would immediate throw water on his flame of excitement before it was even fully lit.  The blonde squirmed in the bed anxious to get his stuff packed, and his street clothes on, and text his friends the good news; while Aizawa droned on about reporting his seizures, and sleep hygiene, and medication compliance, and a bunch of other things. It was all important, sure, but he was going home, how could the man possibly expect him to focus on all the boring details. 

“The quirk suppressants will be coming off once they discharge you so we will have to keep a close eye on you for the next few days. Recovery Girl is aware.” Kaminari caught that bit, he’d been kinda dreading that. It was possible nothing would happen, the meds would do their job and he and his friends would be fine… but what if it wasn’t?  The thought was sobering and Kaminari settled down and let his teacher speak his peace. 

“I will let you and Recovery Girl decide when you will come back to class. As for training, per Dr. Takuma we should avoid strenuous activity and quirk use for at least the rest of the week.” Kaminari just nodded numbly, kinda hating the special requirements that Aizawa-Sensei kept piling onto his shoulders. He understood the necessity, of course, but with every new rule he could feel his hope for life returning to normal shriveling into nothingness. Still, he knew he was lucky to even be able to go back to school, so he sucked it up and agreed to his teacher's stipulations. After what seemed like forever, and way too many rules for him to remember, Aizawa-Sensei seemed satisfied and left to find the nurse. 

While his teacher was gone Kaminari pulled out his phone to let his friends know he was heading back. He still didn’t know what he was going to tell them about this whole ordeal but the fact that he was going back was enough for now. 

To Home Bro’s and Gal’s

4:46PM Denki: Guess what everyone!?

4:46PM ExplodiBoii: You finally learned how to tell time and will stop bothering us during class?

4:46PM Denki: I’m offended. Never. 

4:46PM QueenMina: 😂

4:46PM QueenMina: Whats up Denks?

4:46PM Denki: I’m getting released today! Should be back soon!!

4:47PM ExplodiBoii: Great. There goes our peace and quiet. 

4:47PM QueenMina: OMGGG Yayayyayyyy!!! Im so happy! CAnt wait to see you babyyyy!!!

4:47PM Hanta<3: Thank god man! Bakugou’s been moping around like a lost puppy all weekend.

4:47PM ExplodiBoii: I WILL MURDER YOU

4:47PM Hanta<3: No need to be shy. 

4:48PM Eijiro: Bro! Thats great news! I’m so happy you are feeling better!

4:48PM Eijiro: Me and Bakugou are on dinner duty tonight, let us know if there is anything you want us to make!

4:48PM Denki: Aww sweet! I’ve been dreaming of Bakubro’s homecooking. 

4:48PM ExplodiBoii: Make your own goddamn food

4:48PM Denki: You know I can’t #bannedfromthekitchen 😉

4:48PM Eijiro: Anything specific you want?

4:48PM Denki: Maybe something light, no spice pleeaseee. My stomach’s not at 100%

4:49PM Eijiro: You got it! Bakugou, meet at the kitchen at 5?

4:49PM Hanta<3: So is Dad-Zawa bringing you back?

4:49PM Denki: Yee, he’s already here getting paperwork done 🙂

4:49PM Shinsou: Glad to hear your doing better

4:49PM Denki: Thanks! 💗

4:49PM QueenMina: Can we have a welcome back party??

4:50PM Jiro: Took you long enough, things were getting pretty boring around here. Will be good to see your derpy face again. 

4:50PM Denki: Aw thanks I missed you too Kyoka 👩‍❤️‍👩

4:50PM Denki: Mina, I gotta check in w/Recovery Girl when I get back, but I’ll let you know if I’m up for hanging after that.

4:50PM Denki: Hospital beds make for shitty sleep, so tired…

4:50PM QueenMina: Okayy!! If not its fine, beauty rest is #important

4:50PM Hanta<3: Not that you need it 😉

 Kaminari put his phone down when Aizawa and his nurse, Riza again today, entered the room. Riza made quick work of getting medical stuff off of him including the IV which left a nice parting bruise to remember it by. Last came the bracelets which made even Aizawa-Sensei adopt a readied stance as one by one the young woman popped off the devices. Kaminari wasn’t really sure what he’d been expecting but after a few seconds had passed and all he felt was the familiar buzz of electricity humming under his skin he released a relieved sigh. It had been so weird not feeling the slow push and pull of current running under his fingertips, and he relished in the spark of energy his quirk provided. Warmth filled his cold hands and feet and he felt comfortable in his skin again. He didn’t even realize how much he’d missed his quirk until now, even though he was still a bit scared of how much control he’d have if something happened at school. 

“Alright, we’re all set.” Riza announced happily, setting the suppressants into a box she’d brought with her.  “All of your information, including your follow up instructions, are in those discharge papers.” The woman added, gesturing to the papers in Aizawa’s hands. 

“Will you need any help getting to the car?” The nurse questioned sweetly. 

“I think we got it from here, thank you.” Thankfully Aizawa declined the offer, Kaminari would be mortified if they made him use a wheelchair or something. Riza nodded with a polite bow and took her leave.

“Well, let’s get going.” Aizawa-Sensei prompted and the blonde didn’t need to be told twice. Hopping off the bed he followed his teacher out of the room that had been his temporary home for the past few days. He couldn’t say he’d miss the place though the staff had been great. 

The ride back to the dorm was less smooth than his hospital discharge. The drive itself wasn’t doing his stomach any favors and each turn that brought them closer to the school seemed to multiply his anxiety. Aizawa-Sensei was quiet for most of the drive, which left Kaminari free to allow his mind to wander, but his brain was fixated on just one topic: his friends. At the hospital he’d felt safe, those quirk suppressants ensuring that he wouldn’t hurt anyone, but now that they were gone he was a risk again. He knew he shouldn’t be this concerned about it, he had meds now, and the last two days his seizures had been better, but he could still hurt them. Just one second of uncontrolled electricity was all it took to stop a human heart.

They made it back to the dorms much too quickly, or maybe it had taken too long and that’s why he was so overwhelmed by the fear of his unruly thoughts.  When Kaminari tried to reach for the door handle to let himself out he realized his hands were shaking and the world was suddenly too loud and too bright making it hard to see straight. The blonde only made it a few steps from the car before dread made his muscles seize up and the last thing on earth he wanted to do was walk into the dorm where his friends were. Suddenly his stomach cramped and Kaminari squatted down, clutching his midsection like he was trying to hold himself together, panting for a breath he couldn't seem to catch. Something touched his back startling a gag out of him and the next thing he knew he was puking into the grass in front of him. There was soft murmuring coming from beside him but he couldn’t make out the words beyond the rushing in his ears. The pressure against his back transformed into slow rhythmic tapping and the blonde found himself focusing on it. A single point of calm and order in his turbulent jumbled thoughts. 

“-eath. You’re okay. Breathe.” Slowly the words began to make sense and Kaminari tried to follow Aizawa’s quiet directions. Eventually, he was able to copy his teacher’s breathing pattern, in for 3 seconds, hold, out. Repeat. Slowly his senses began to reestablish themselves and he found himself sitting on the ground of the teacher’s parking lot with Aizawa still beside him, the warm weight of his teacher's palm against his shoulders anchoring him to reality. While this wasn’t exactly the way he expected his homecoming to go, he figured it wasn’t the worst way it could have gone. He didn’t puke in his teacher's car at least. That was something right? 

“Are you feeling a little better now?” Kaminari heard his teacher ask, the man’s voice was still soft and non-threatening. The blonde just bobbed his head yes, still not quite trusting his voice enough to speak. 

“Do you want to tell me what has you so worked up?” His teacher probed again but Kaminari just shook his head no. He definitely didn’t have enough words or brain power for that, he didn’t even know why he was freaking out in the first place. Aizawa was with him, it’s not like his teacher would let anything happen to his classmates. All of his conflicting emotions, excitement about finally going home, concern about his condition, and fear of hurting his friends all vying for his attention was just too much for his brain to handle.  

“That’s fine,” Aizawa-Sensei spoke up again, not at all judgmental of Kaminari’s random meltdown. He’d been half afraid his teacher would pack him up and drive right back to the hospital, either that or tell him to suck it up and stop being a child like his dad usually did. “Do you want me to clear out the common room so you're not bombarded when we walk in?” The dark-haired man added, posing his question like it wasn’t the nicest, most considerate thing Kaminari had ever heard. Even after all the trouble he’d caused his teacher, the man was still willing to go out of his way to make sure he felt safe and not overwhelmed. 

Kaminari laughed a little, a wet-sounding thing choked with gratitude. He could quickly feel himself getting overwhelmed again, this time by Aizawa-Sensei’s sheer kindness. The blonde took in a deep shaky breath and exhaled slowly, forcing back the burning sensation in his eyes. He was not going to cry. 

“No…” Kaminari announced, finally getting his voice to work. “No, I want to see everyone…Please.” At this point he wasn’t really sure if he was trying to convince himself or his teacher, but his words were true. He did want to see his friend, more than anything. 

“Alright then.” Aizawa-Sensei announced simply, climbing back up to his feet and giving the blonde an assessing look. “Can you stand?”

That was a question Kaminari didn’t know the answer to. Instead of giving his best guess the blonde forced his annoyingly wobbly legs to stop being useless and cooperate with him. He was able to stand up but his body felt like a lead weight and his bones groaned in exhaustion. Sparing one last apologetic look at the grass, feeling guilty for whoever was going to have to clean up after him, Kaminari allowed his teacher to guide him back toward the dorm building.  

For some reason even though he’d only been gone a few days, walking into the common room felt oddly foreign. Likely he didn’t quite belong there anymore, or like subconsciously he knew he shouldn’t be here. But Aizawa, Recovery Girl, and his doctor had given him the all-clear to return to school so he knew he shouldn’t be feeling this way. The entryway was quiet and as they traversed towards the main common room the unusual quiet continued. By this time the living room was typically crawling with people. 

“OMGG Denki’s home!!” All at once the peace was shattered by Mina’s excited squeal. He heard the clatter of something being knocked over, a few of his other classmates fussing about it, then he realized that the pink-skinned girl was running towards him. Unconsciously Kaminari took a hesitant step back, bumping right into Aizawa-Sensei who was standing behind him. He didn’t know why he was avoiding Mina’s hug, his body just moved on it’s own, even though he could really, really use a hug right now. Mina, as perceptive as always to people's emotions, froze a few feet from him and didn’t invade the space he’d unintentionally made between them. For a second he just stared at her unable to form words as guilt welled up inside him at the look of confusion and concern that flashed across her face from his actions.

Swallowing down his unreasonable fear the blonde offered a meek, “I’m home,” before he opened his arms up inviting Mina to give him a hug if she still wanted to after his initial rebuff. His friend didn’t miss a beat and he was wrapped in her warm embrace before he could blink. She was gentle with him in a way she’d never been before, her hold protective but lacking pressure. He knew how strong she was, so she was obviously holding back. By now the others from the living room were crowding around to welcome him back. 

“Dude you’re skin and bones, weren’t they feeding you?” He heard Sero saying and he could only shrug, “like your one to talk.” He quipped back allowing the taller boy to ruffle his hair a bit before he ducked away. After a few more greetings they were able to move a bit further into the living room where Kaminari could see what had been distracting his classmates when they’d first walked in. On the floor was a large banner with ‘Welcome back!’ in bold letters with various doodles and messages that his friends had written for him. 

“You guys…” The blonde’s voice warbled, “This is sooo sweet, you didn’t have to do anything…” He could feel the tears threatening to escape again, so touched by how much they cared for him. 

“It was my idea!” Mina boosted and Kaminari laughed, so insanely grateful for his amazing friends. 

“Alright, it’s getting late. We still need to check in with Recovery Girl.” Aizawa-Sensei finally broke up the reunion. Kaminari was honestly surprised he’d held out as long as he had. Still, enduring a sappy welcome-back meeting was probably worlds easier than the rest of the crap he’d put his teacher through in the last few days. 

Not wanting to hold his teacher or Recovery Girl up any longer than he had to, Kaminari acquiesced and waved goodbye to his classmates again, promising Mina he’d let them know if he’d come back down later. He probably wouldn’t, he was so dead tired, but he could make that decision later. 

They left his stuff in the common room and he heard Ojiro offer to bring it up to his dorm for him, ever the gentleman, as they headed off towards the nurses office. 

Chapter Text

The walk to Recovery Girl’s wasn’t long, but Kaminari felt taxed by it anyway. He followed slowly after his teacher, struggling to keep his eyes from dropping, wishing he could just skip this meeting and have a much overdue reunion with his own bed.  The blonde tried to pick up his pace when Aizawa-Sensei started to gain a few strides on him, the sooner he got this over with the sooner he could sleep, but he nearly tripped and fell on his face so he continued his safer, sluggish trudge. Eventually his teacher noticed he was lagging behind and slowed up his pacing, but luckily they were already at the nurse’s office at this point. 

Without much decorum or permission Kaminari found the first chair he saw and took a seat. His heart was beating fast and he was much too out of breath for a quick walk across campus. Recovery Girl didn’t seem to mind his actions, rolling her chair over so she could sit beside him. 

“Good to have you back Kaminari-kun,” She greeted him kindly with her reassuring closed eyed smile. 

“Oh, thanks…” He responded, but even as he spoke her expression became more critical, thin gray eyebrow furrowing in displeasure at something he could only guess at. Then the next thing he knew the older woman had both of his cheeks in her hand and was tugging his head towards her for a closer inspection. After only a second of scrutiny she tsked and released him spinning in her chair to address Aizawa-Sensei who was now lounging against one of the nearby desks. 

“Are you sure they didn’t release him too early? His color is awful.” She commented  to which his teacher just shrugged noncommittally and Kaminari felt his stomach clench with anxiety. They wouldn’t send him back would they? Recovery Girl only seemed mildly put out by Aizawa’s unhelpful contribution and she turned back to Kaminari, her face soft again. The rapid fluctuation of her expressions was making him dizzy. 

“How are you feeling sweetheart?” She addressed him again and he swallowed nervously not wanting to say the wrong thing and get sent back to the hospital, but he knew he couldn’t hide anything from them either. 

“Um, I’m alright. Just tired I guess.” The blonde responded as honestly as he could, he was still feeling rather off kilter from his recent panic so his emotions were still on edge, but physically he was just tired. 

“Hmm, alright. Yes, that’s to be expected after everything you went through,” She seemed satisfied enough and Kaminari sighed with relief. “You’ll need a few days to recuperate, and you still need to finish your antibiotic course as well.” 

“I trust Aizawa already told you that you won't be able to participate in physical training for at least a few days?” Kaminari nodded in acknowledgement. “Good. You’ll have to come see me twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening so I can give you your medications. When your condition becomes stable we can adjust that arrangement. But for now I’d like to keep a close eye on you, okay?” Recovery Girl continued, issuing her own stipulations to his returning to school. Of course he agreed, despite how much of a drag that was going to be, it wasn’t like he had any choice. Honestly it was a small price to pay to stay in school. 

“I’ll get your evening pills now,” She announced and slipped off her chair to rifle through the bag Aizawa-Sensei had left on one of the counters for her. While she was busy his teacher stalked forward requesting the blonde's attention. 

“I’m going to be heading out now. I don’t care what you decide to do after Recovery Girl is finished, but your curfew is strict. In bed by 10pm no excuses. Don’t make me regret giving you freedom.” The man began, punctuating his sentence with a stern look that made Kaminari gulp. 

“Uh-huh,” The blonde squeaked pathetically.  

Apparently satisfied with the fear tactic, his tone slipped into something more casual, “I’d prefer if you had someone with you, at least for tonight. Name someone to escort you until you head to bed.” his teacher requested. 

“Shinsou,” The name just sprung out of his mouth before his brain even had time to consider the question. Aizawa seemed equally surprised by the speed of his answer and Kaminari felt his cheeks heating rapidly in embarrassment. Why did he keep forgetting that Aizawa was Shinsou’s dad?

“Or um, Sero or Kirishima’s fine too!” Kaminari tried to salvage the situation even though he knew that Aizawa saw straight through him and into next week. 

“Right… I’ll see who’s free.” His teacher announced, turning to take his leave, and Kaminari was sure he was rolling his eyes at his sheer audacity. 

“Thanks Sensei.” Kaminari called before Aizawa could get out the door, he was acknowledged by a dismissive wave of the teacher's hand. The blonde settled down when Recovery Girl reclaimed her spot and handed him a few pills and a glass of water. 

After that, Recovery Girl resumed her lecture, setting some other rules like having a seizure log, and keeping to a strict bedtime, and not skipping meals, and other things he knew he wasn’t going to be able to do let alone remember, but he nodded along anyway. It didn’t take long before the nausea began to creep over him. At least he knew the pills were doing something, although he really wished they wouldn’t do this particular thing. Between his queasiness and the fatigue, his attention was waning and it was getting more difficult to respond appropriately to Recovery Girl’s expectant ques.  The woman seemed to realize after a bit that he wasn’t paying attention and she sighed, but not unkindly. In fact she almost looked like she expected it. 

“Do you want to lie down?” She prompted after he stifled another yawn. Shaking the fogginess from his head he looked over to the cot Recovery Girl was pointing to. He knew for a fact that bed was not even remotely comfortable, but boy was it the most tempting thing he’d ever laid eyes on. Still, he shook his head no. If he laid down now he knew he wouldn’t be getting up again anytime soon and he’d much rather pass out in his room than here, no offense to Recovery Girl. Plus he was pretty sure she’d also prefer to get back to her own place then sit around the infirmary watching him sleep. The nurse didn’t look happy with his refusal but luckily before she could bully him into the bed a tentative knock at the door distracted her.  

“Come in,” The older woman called to the visitor, finally scooting away from Kaminari and giving him a chance to breathe without scrutiny. When Shinsou stepped into the room, the blonde perked up, exhaustion suddenly forgotten. He offered Shinsou a grateful smile, both for helping him out tonight and for rescuing him from Recovery Girl. Shinsou had been in the common room when Kaminari got home earlier, but because there were so many other people around he hadn’t been able to properly greet his friend. 

“Hey, good to have you back.” Shinsou was first to speak as he approached the chair Kaminari was occupying, he had a content look and seemed much more relaxed than when Kaminari had seen him in the hospital. 

“Thanks!” The blonde replied and he was going to add more, an actual thanks for being his babysitter for the night, but the rolling in his stomach cautioned against talking too much. The nausea was a little better if he kept his breathing regular. 

“I assume you're going to be his chaperone for the night?” Recovery Girl questioned, now busying herself with cleaning up her work space, probably planning to headout when they did. 

“Yeah…If you're okay with that Kaminari?” The purple-haired boy responded but directed his latter question to the blonde. Flustered Kaminari just nodded. 

“Alright. Well, you know how to get a hold of me if anything happens,” The nurse stated to Shinsou before turning back to face the blonde. “I recommend you take it easy tonight. Come to my office tomorrow at 7:30. Okay?” 

“Yes Ma’am” Kaminari agreed before she finally gave him a nod and allowed him to get up to leave. Shinsou was hovering near his right side as he hobbled to his feet, feeling 90 years old rather than just 16. He didn’t fall over, but Shinsou didn’t look all that convinced that he wouldn’t. Neither was he. The two walked together in silence for a bit, the way back feeling just as, if not more, tortuously long as the way over had been. Shinsou was the one to break the silence just as they were rounding on the dorm building. Light at the end of the tunnel. 

“Did you want to head back to the common room or straight to your room?” The taller teen questioned lightly, there was no persuasion in his voice, but Kaminari could probably guess what Shinsou wanted him to choose. 

“I’m pretty beat…” The blonde responded rather sheepishly. He knew the others were all looking forward to hanging out, they’d even made decorations, but there was no way he’d be up for that tonight. 

“No problem, we’ll head up then,” Shinsou acknowledged with a slight nod, obviously not disappointed. Kaminari would have laughed at how obvious his friends was being if his stomach wasn’t bothering him so much. Now that he knew their course, Shinsou led them both to the elevator, avoiding the living area where voices of their classmates were as boisterous as usual. It was calm and quiet in the elevator, but the ride was anything but peaceful. Kaminari’s stomach lurched with the motion of the machine, warm saliva gathering under his tongue as he fought the urge to retch. The blonde tried to breathe through the nausea but when the elevator jerked to a halt his control wavered. Groaning, Kaminari stumbled backward into the wall behind him as his equilibrium was disrupted, one arm reaching out to support himself while the other curled around his midsection. 

“Hey, are you alright?” He could vaguely hear Shinsou’s anxious voice cutting through the din of his brain. Just breath, and don’t puke on Shinsou’s shoes, was the only clear objective Kaminari could focus on. That was enough for him as he shuttered but thankfully didn’t vomit. Shinsou’s hands were on his shoulders, supporting him, but also squeezing rather tightly. It wasn’t until the blonde was sure he could open his mouth safely that he attempted to reassure his friend. 

“I’m good…” Kaminari mumbled, still working to control his breathing. He wasn’t sure if Shinsou had asked any other questions that he didn’t hear, but he offered what he could. The taller teen was quiet for a second, stance unchanged, which made Kaminari wonder if he hadn’t been loud enough. He was about to clear his throat and try again when Shinsou finally spoke. 

“Um, I don’t mean to contradict you or anything but you don’t really look that okay to me…” The purple-haired boy revealed in a tight anxious voice. For a minute Kaminari feared that Shinsou would turn them around and march him right back to Recovery Girl’s office. He really wasn’t sure he could handle the Elevator again, and his bed was so close, he had to say something. 

“The elevator just made me nauseous…” He breathed, “I’ll be fine. Just wanna lay down for a while.” His statement was more of a plea for Shinsou to just continue forward, and since his stomach was starting to settle a little, the blonde was able to straighten up his slumped posture. Even though Shinsou still didn’t seem very convinced, he nodded dutifully and inched away to give Kaminari his personal space back. Thankfully, his room was just a few doors down from the elevator so it wasn’t long before they were standing in front of his dorm room. 

Shinsou handled the door so all Kaminari had to do was make it the last several feet to his bed before he all but collapsed onto it. He’d never been so grateful for his cheap school-issued mattress as he was right now. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Shinsou shifting his bag off the desk chair; he'd have to thank Ojiro for bringing it up later. 

“Are you going to stay?” Kaminari blurted out in surprise when Shinsou claimed the seat he’d just cleared. His friend had already wasted his precious free time making sure the blonde didn’t end up sleeping on the floor in some random hallway for the night, and Kaminari was sure he had other things he’d rather be doing than babysitting. 

“Oh… did you want me to leave?” Shinsou responded rather sullenly and Kaminari could swear he saw a brief flicker of hurt flash across his friends purple eyes before he schooled his features. 

“No wait!” The blonde exclaimed quickly, reaching out to stop the other when Shinsou shifted as if to get up off the desk chair. The quick action made his stomach flip and he shuttered, forcefully swallowing the saliva pooling under his tongue. “You can stay…” Kaminari forced out, needing to correct his prior  misconstrued question, “I mean if you want to.” He added, not waiting to sound too desperate. 

“I’ll stay if you want me too,” The purple-haired boy countered, even though he was already relaxing back into his seat again, obviously planning to stay. 

“Please stay,” Kaminari confirmed with a small grateful smile. His heart pattered when Shinsou returned the smile with one of his own.  Setting down onto his bed the blonde tried to find a comfortable position that would help ease the nausea but it was an endless struggle. He still had the nausea stone Shinsou had given him the other day in his pocket so he fished it out, at this point even what was probably just a placebo was worth something. This was his first time taking the seizure medication without the IV nausea medication as a chaser and he was definitely noticing a difference. For a while things were okay, not ideal, but okay.  He wished he could just fall asleep and wake up feeling better, but his body seemed to have other plans. After some time of restless tossing his stomach decided that enough was enough and he had to sit up suddenly when he gagged. To his credit Shinsou was quick to react, hopping off his seat to grab Kaminari’s desk trash can and offering it to the blonde.  Accepting the bin, Kaminari retched miserably. Despite several excruciating minutes of heaving, he wasn't able to bring up anything other than some spit and bile. He hadn’t eaten much so it wasn’t much of a surprise but he felt like he would feel better if he could just puke. Shinsou was beside him, rubbing comforting circles against his back, unphased in the slightest by Kaminari’s unsightly display. When his breathing finally settled, Shinsou coaxed the trashcan from his shaky hands looking both relieved and concerned at the same time. 

“I’ll get you some water.” The taller boy offered quietly, waiting until Kaminari gave him a halting nod before he slipped out of the room.  Shinsou wasn’t gone long, Kaminari didn’t even have the time to lay back down, before he was slipping back into the room. 

“Here,” He handed the blonde a glass of water, which he took gratefully. Kaminari could only take a sip, just enough to rid this mouth of the acrid taste of bile, before the nausea forced him to stop.  

“I also brought a wet towel, it's one of the things Uraraka recommended for nausea,” Shinsou added softly, offering the towel over as well. 

“Thanks…” Kaminari accepted, voice rough and weary. He was beyond grateful for Shinsou’s thoughtfulness. Slowly easing himself down again, Kaminari laid the moist cloth again his neck, hoping it would offer some relief from the constant nausea. It was quiet for a bit, Kaminari still trying to calm his rapidly beating heart, when Shinsou spoke up again.  

“Can I hold your hand?” He questioned softly, making the blonde open his eyes in surprise. When he tried to make eye contact with the taller teen, Shinsou’s eyes flicked away nervously but lingered on Kaminari’s hand rather hopefully. Smiling at his bashful friend Kaminari opened his hand in invitation. 

“Only if I can hold yours.”

Shinsou smiled, carefully intertwining their fingers. His hands were warm and somehow everything was made infinitely better with Shinsou’s comforting presence by his side. 

“When you feel better, can I kiss you?” Kaminari heard Shinsou's question, his voice so low it was nearly a whisper. The other was finally looking at him, with a look so sincere that the blonde knew he was certainly meant to hear those words. Words he never thought he’d hear. 

“I’d like that…”Kaminari replied breathlessly, feeling giddy, overjoyed, and kinda overwhelmed all at the same time. “You know, I’m feeling so much better all of a sudden.” He added slyly. 

“Liar.” Shinsou countered easily with a lighthearted roll of his eyes. Still the taller boy stood up and crouched forward to place a quick light kiss against Kaminari’s forehead.