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“Ah man…this is going to give us a hard time.” Ojiro said, looking at the fridge that was making noise for the past week, annoying them all. It was on the ground and clearly broken, but according to Ojiro, still fixable.
“Can you do it?” Mina whined. “I don’t wanna deal with its noise anymore.”
“I was taught a thing or two about this, and I think I can.” He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “I just need tools that aren’t on us right now…”
“Tools…” Ochako spoke. “Yaoyorozu’s asleep, so she can’t make us some-”
“Kaminari?” Sero looked at the blond as he made his way to the elevator without a word.
“Hm?” Denki looked back from where he was waiting.
“Where are you going?”
Denki laughed. “To get tools, obviously!”
The class blinked as they watched him enter the elevator and its doors closed.
“You know,” Mina spoke. “I would think he has some friends in the support course to get tools from, you know because he has connections with the whole school, but he just took the elevator to the dorms.”
Bakugou scoffed. “Let’s hope he gets the correct tools and not think we mean school supplies or something.”
“Bakugou!” Kirishima frowned. “That’s rude, come on, he wouldn’t.”
Sero shrugged and nudged the redhead.
“You guys are mean.”
Three minutes later and the elevator door opens, Denki steps out of it empty handed before reaching his hand inside and dragging a huge toolbox, the size of a mini shelf and takes it to Ojiro.
He smiled. “I don’t think there’s something you need that you won’t find inside.” He patted the orange box.
Ojiro was stunned, mouth agape and eyes blinking. “Thanks, Kaminari…that’s…really helpful.”
“Who just casually has a toolbox in their room?! And this size?!” Bakugou yelled, slightly annoyed.
Denki blinked. “Me.”
“Why?!”
Denki pouted. “Well, you gotta improvise!” He tried justifying himself. “I mean, what do you do when your parents don’t care to buy you a table and you need something to put your things on?”
Jirou looked at the box that Ojiro was scanning for a while before realization dawned on her eyes. “Your bedside table…is a toolbox with a tablecloth on it?!”
“Sue me!”
Sero just giggled at the idea of Denki removing all of his belongings and a tablecloth to drag a toolbox here.
Kirishima was left to ponder about every time he took a seat on the toolbox in disguise in every sleepover they had. He even imagined himself breaking it and then falling right into a wrench or worse, a drill, on his rear end.
Denki made the mistake of accidentally clicking on the number “2” on the elevator rather than the ground floor that is the common room, and had to stop at the 2nd floor where the door opened to show Midoriya and Tokoyami, that made him leave the space to check what was happening. Midoriya looked sad, complaining about something to Tokoyami’s stoic expression.
“Hey guys,” He greeted. “What’s going on?”
“Hey Kaminari,” Midoriya sighed. “You know how Eri’s been trying to improve her reading lately? She wants books to read and I can’t have anything come to mind that’s suitable for her. I tried asking Tokoyami but it seems…”
“Unfortunately I have nothing that can help a child like her.”
Denki scoffed. “You gotta be kidding, right?”
“Hm?” Midoriya tilted his head. “Do you have something in mind, Kaminari?”
“You know I do, who says ‘child’ and ‘read’ in the same sentence and doesn’t immediately think of Diary of a Wimpy Kid?”
Midoriya’s eyes lit up and he put a fist on his palm. “You’re so right! Oh my God, I’ll tell Mirio and we could definitely buy it for-”
“No need.”
“Huh?”
“Follow me.” He winked, and led the boy into his room, Tokoyami following him out of curiosity.
Midoriya and Tokoyami didn’t go further into Denki’s room as the blond crouched down after opening his closet, rummaging through a few clothes and things before pulling out a huge box, slamming it on the floor with a groan.
The two boys got closer as Denki opened the box, showing every single book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, all in Japanese.
“No way…” Midoriya smiled and got on the floor as Denki pulled out each book alone. “That’s the entire thing!”
“Mhm! It is!” Denki pulled out Rodrick Rules and Dog Days. “These are ones I read more than once as a kid, she should start with them. Don’t show her all of these at once lest she gets overwhelmed and decides she doesn’t wanna read anymore.”
“Thank you, Kaminari!”
“Of course!” He chuckled. “This is the starter pack of reading after all.”
“I didn’t know you were a reader.” Tokoyami chimed in.
“Not something lots of people expect from me, but there is a reason I got excited when Jirou offered the hero name ‘Jammingyay’ as I thought she was talking about Hemingway whose stories I’ve read.”
Midoriya laughed at that, and Tokoyami’s eyes widened. “Poe?” There was hope in them.
“Occasionally. He’s good.” Denki nodded.
“Shakespeare?”
“Always.”
“How do we not hang out more often?”
Midoriya skimmed and scanned all the books. “It means a lot, Kaminari, really. Last thing I expected was for you to pull out all of the books, she’ll really appreciate this!”
“Glad I could help.”
“Why’d you keep them around though?”
“Hmm…” Denki rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, you can’t really get over things like these…a good reminder of the past is nice every once in a while.”
Midoriya nodded and chuckled. “True, true.”
If there was one thing Kirishima, Mina, and Jirou shared, it would be their urge to accessorize themselves in any way possible.
While Kirishima enjoyed heavy accessories that included chains and chunky rings, Mina enjoyed golden ones, and Jirou had silver and occasionally black accessories, it was still one topic they could all sit and talk about over and over again. Like right now.
“I barely find golden accessories these days.” Mina whined. “I can’t find anything cute!”
“My silver rings are getting rusty too. I find good things but none compare to the ones I have had since middle school.” Jirou said as she filed her nails. “Used to find treasures back then and now? Well…”
“Tell me about it!” Kirishima groaned. “It’s so hard to find anything that’s actually chunky! I don’t wanna reach the point where I have to wear thousands of cuff bracelets to try and have the same effect. It’s not the same!”
The three of them sighed. So much for complaining about it knowing the problem still won’t vanish.
Denki walked into the common room where the three of them sat together and smiled. “Hey guys! What are you doing?”
“Mourning.” Kirishima mumbled.
“Mourning?”
“The downfall of jewellery.”
“Awh what?” Denki sat down next to his friend. “You guys are always accessorized, come on!”
“Yeah, and we can’t do that properly anymore.” Mina whined.
“Online?”
“We tried…waste of money, and never again.” Jirou replied, recalling the silver rings that lost their color under some water.
He looked at Jirou's hands. “Silver rings…” Denki hummed. “I might actually have a thing or two for you.”
“Huh?” Jirou looked at him, the other two jumping in their seats expectantly too.
“You’re awfully tiny, you know.”
Jirou scowled at him.
“Yeah…” Denki thought. “My middle school rings can definitely fit your fingers.”
Mina giggled a little.
“Wait,” Kirishima looked at him. “Middle school?”
“Yeah!” Denki exclaimed. “I wore rings and necklaces all the time back then! I used to walk around and jingle because of all the things I had on. I even wanted fake piercings but Mom said no to that.” He thought for a moment. “You know, I can find a few chunky pieces in there too for you, and colored ones for Ashido.”
“No you don’t.” Jirou rolled her eyes.
“Rude, yes I do!” Denki got up. “Follow me and I’ll prove you wrong!” He stomped towards the elevator, Jirou going after him in mockery as Mina and Kirishima did so with hope and desperation.
Denki opened the door to his (at this point, magical) room and made the three friends confused as he approached his bed.
He crouched down and groaned as he reached his arm under the bed to pull out a jewellery organizer. Two, actually.
He coughed a little at the dust and put the two boxes on the low table, sitting cross legged and ushering them to sit across from him.
He dusted off the two boxes and opened them.
Their breaths hitched as they took in the amount of jewellery inside, one whole box for silver ones, and the other was a combination of gold and heavy pieces.
Denki hand picked out a few silver rings and put them in front of Jirou. “These ones were my favourite, and I don’t have little siblings to hand-me-down it to them, so they’re all yours. I also have much more so you can have fun looking through that.” He pushed the jewellery box towards her.
“And here…” Denki turned the other box around to face himself and stare at it for a while. “Meh, you can have this whole thing honestly.” He pushed it towards his friends. “Whoever lied to me in middle school and said gold’s gonna look good on me because I’m blond sure did cost me some money all to be wasted. Chunky things looked cool, but I got overstimulated, and they can be heavy.”
“How many phases have you been through?” Kirishima chuckled.
Denki whistled. “That’s a question.”
“Kaminari.” Jirou spoke up, already wearing some bracelets to try. “I kinda wanna keep half of those.”
“Be my guest. None of them work for me anymore, I have three necklaces I always wear but nothing else, I just lost my passion for this after highschool.”
“Why’d you keep them?”
“Hopes. I thought if I found something that’s like them at the stores I’d go back to wearing jewellery, though that didn’t happen.”
“Cute!” Mina fussed. “I’ll have all this!”
Denki giggled as he rested his hand on his cheek. After a moment of silence of him just watching his friends enjoy his belongings, he murmured. “So much for the store you’d avoid.”
“Shut up.” Jirou hissed.
Denki and Sero chilled on the blond’s bed across from each other, scrolling on their own phones and minding their business.
Mina sat at the low table, texting her friend. Bakugou was next to her, reading.
Kirishima was sitting on the tabl- toolbox. On the toolbox. Legs to his chest and also on his phone.
Bakugou groaned. “Could the room be any darker? Why are the lights off?!”
“Shh…” Sero mocked. “It’s our relaxing time, don’t disturb us with your presence.”
“Yeah man!” Kirishima chimed in. “We always hangout with lights off, it’s more fun.”
“Surprised none of you losers need glasses already!”
“It’s okay, Bakugou. We know you wear glasses sometimes.”
“No I don’t!”
Denki yawned and stretched, his foot getting into Sero’s cheek, the latter didn’t mind. “What’s the big deal anyway? So what if we have the lights off?”
“I’m trying to read, Dunce Face! And my phone’s in my room, charging, and none of you want to help!”
Denki jumped slightly and gasped softly. “Ohhh!” He laughed. “Just say so, man!”
At hearing that, the four traumatized friends (from the toolbox situation) turned to look at the blond, Kirishima now turning on his flashlight on his phone to see what was happening. That blond was reaching his hand into the small space that always existed between his bed and the wall, one leg in the air for balance but he definitely almost fell into the tight area more than once, tongue sticking out at the side of his lips in concentration as he tried to feel for the thing he needed.
“Ah! There it is!” He groaned. The other four braced themselves.
Denki pulled out a flashlight. I mean, expected, right? But why was it the same model as the one spelunkers use?
“Dude.” Sero deadpanned.
“What’s up?”
“What’s up ,” Bakugou gritted his teeth. “-is you having a light torch at the side of your bed!”
Denki blinked. “And? Isn’t that what you need?”
Bakugou took a deep breath and exhaled. “Do you cave?”
“No?”
“Then there is no reason for you to have that!!”
Denki whined. “Oh my God, not this again!” He tossed the flashlight over to Bakugou. “You people just want to make fun of me at this point! So much for trying to help…”
“Well, you’re pulling out the most random objects from all corners of your room lately, that’s not our fault!” Mina protested.
“Absolutely nothing is random about owning a toolbox.”
“Yeah,” Sero scoffed. “If you’re a mechanic.”
“And yeah,” Kirishima mimicked Sero. “If you don’t use it as a table.”
“Midoriya told me about the books too.” Sero smirked.
“Okay, that’s normal.” Denki sat up in bed. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid, something we’ve all read before.”
“Not every single book, I’m afraid. And the fact that you kept them.”
“Am I calling the wrong person a nerd?” Bakugou mocked.
“What?! You’re contemplating your insult towards Midoriya because of this?! You people are boring!”
Mina looked up from her phone. “I mean, what’s next? A mannequin head?” She said, joking.
Silence.
More silence.
“No.” She looked disappointed.
“I get that one.” Denki raised his arms in surrender. “I totally get that one.”
“Kaminari.” Kirishima stood up from the toolbox. “You are not about to take a mannequin head out of some place in your room.”
The blond slowly got off the bed.
“Kaminari!” The four warned.
He slowly approached his closet. Opened it. And without looking, as if magically sensing where it was…there stood a mannequin head in the hand of Denki Kaminari.
Bakugou facepalmed. “Whatever got me into this room.”
“Friendship.” Denki replied.
“Not for longer if you keep this up.”
“Geezer.”
“For not owning a mannequin head?!”
“The tree next to my balcony has been growing too much lately.” Ochako complained as she drank tea.
“Is it getting in the way?” Tsu asked.
“Yes…and it’s frustrating getting poked in the eye by a tree branch everytime I go to my balcony.” She sighed. “Mr.Aizawa said I can cut the branches but not the tree itself if I want to, I just don’t know how.”
“Well,” Denki butted in from where he was washing the dishes. “-pruning shears would be a good idea.”
“Oh great.” Bakugou snorted. “Watch him get pruning shears from his room and leave with them in his hands.”
Denki dried off his palms and crossed his arms. “No, Bakugou.” He glared at him with a pout. “I don’t own pruning shears, actually, they’re for gardening. They didn’t come with the toolbox.”
“Finally something you don’t own!”
He rolled his eyes and sighed, then turned back to the two girls. “Would a saw work?”
Bakugou slammed the book he was reading on the desk, and flailed his arms around. “Well lo and behold.”
“Stop being dramatic.”
“A saw!! You own a saw!”
“It’s behind my door, that’s on you for not noticing!”
Bakugou started pulling at his own hair. Out of all places, there was a saw behind the door. Better observation, there’s a saw at all. “I hate stupid people.”
Midoriya knocked on the door.
Denki opened it. “Hey man.”
“Eri loved the books.”
Denki gasped and put his hands together. “Really?! Oh get in! Pick another for her!”
“I am here to do that.” He smiled. “Aside from all the trouble Kacchan is giving you for…having stuff in your room, you’ve been a great help.”
“Oh stop it!” Denki pulled out the box, oblivious to the mannequin head that rolled out of the closet. “I’m more than happy!”
“You know, I was thinking I’d get her started with biking too, I-”
Denki was already moving towards his bed.
“Uhm, Kaminari?”
Midoriya jumped at the sound of a hundred things falling and colliding from under the bed as Denki struggled to get something out of there.
A pink bicycle.
“Is that a-”
“Hand me down from my older sister.” Denki exhaled, getting up to prop the bike on the ground. “I rode that thing in confidence , and didn't care for its color. And it has a bell.”
Midoriya just stood there.