Chapter Text
It was the start of Denki's third year at UA High. And it was set to be the most normal and boring year yet.
Despite the final year at school usually being filled with excitement while heading towards graduation and their prospective hero careers, compared to their first year at UA and even most of their second, the final year would be much more mundane.
But Denki didn't mind, his life was going well, the effects of the war on their lives as well as society as a whole were still very much present. But they were recovering well.
Class 3-A was closer than they had ever been. Denki had plenty of friends, and his quirk no longer short circuited his brain except under extreme circumstances.
Denki was still doing his work study with The Lurkers alongside Sero and Ibara from Class 3-B. Mina had also joined them since there was a free spot and Yoroi Musha had retired. There was a free work study spot because of Mineta's leaving UA.
Mineta was expelled shortly into their second year when dorm renovations revealed that he had planted hidden cameras around the dorms to spy on the girls, so he wasn't doing any hero work let alone a work study.
Because of the changes to hero work, work study students would often be switched around to different agencies to give them a more well-rounded experience.
This week had Denki helping out Fat Gum's agency, where one of his best friends Kirishima was doing his work study, alongside Tetsutetsu from 3-B.
"I really appreciate the extra help Chargebolt!" Fat Gum thanked as he popped some takoyaki into his mouth. "It's been alot more difficult than I thought since Suneater started his own agency with Lemillion and Nejire."
"More than happy to!" Denki replied, eating his own takoyaki.
Denki and his friend walked through the streets alongside Fat Gum, patrolling around.
"It's always fun here, you're alot more chill than Kamui Woods and Edgeshot are." Denki explained.
"Yeah well I figure life's too short to be grumpy, save people with a smile, that's what I always told Suneater right Red Riot?" Fat Gum smiled.
"Heck yeah!" Kirishima punched his fists together. "I do miss Suneater but it's awesome to get to do hero work with my bro." Kirishima beamed with that toothy grin of his, a grin that never failed to lift people's spirits.
"I may not have even thought of bringing you in if it wasn't for how much Red Riot talks about you." Fat Gum chuckled as he finished his food.
"Fat Gum!" Kirishima cried out.
"Oh come on, if he's your friend he should know how much you respect him." Fat Gum explained.
"I'm honored." Denki giggled and Kirishima groaned.
When they got back to the agency and changed back into their street clothes Kirishima approached Denki.
"Hey Kami!" Kirishima waved him down.
"Hey Kiri, what's up?"
"So, I was wondering, if uh, maybe you'd wanna go somewhere fun with me sometime?" Kirishima blushed and avoided eye contact, his face turning nearly as red as his hair.
"Sure, that sounds awesome, where were you thinking of going?" Denki asked.
"That amusement park you always used to talk about just reopened. I was thinking we could go there." Kirishima chuckled awkwardly.
"Oh that'd be sick! Let's do it for sure!" Denki beamed with excitement.
"Great! I was thinking we could go tomorrow after class?" Kirishima suggested.
"Sounds good!" Denki cheered.
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They were back at the dorms later that day, Denki was hanging out in Kyoka's room, doing their usual weekly hangout session where they just talked about whatever.
Kyoka Jiro was probably Denki's best friend, he had alot of best friends, but Kyoka was his confidante, like his sister, someone he could always talk to about anything.
Kyoka was sitting in her desk chair, fiddling with one of her guitars, while Denki was sprawled across her bed, upside-down and facing her, telling her about his week.
"It's always fun working with Kiri and Fat Gum, they're resistant to my electricity so I don't have to worry about them getting caught up in my blasts as much. And they have such good energy it makes me happy." Denki rambled and fidgeted as he continued his recount of his week.
"And Kirishima asked me to go to that amusement park I used to like that just reopened, we're gonna go after class tomorrow!" Denki beamed.
"Quite the week you've had Denks, exciting hero work and a date to end it all off, I'm jealous." Kyoka chuckled.
Denki paused at that, he sat up slowly, going from upside-down to cross-legged sitting on Kyoka's bed.
"Date?" He asked with a quirked up eyebrow.
"Well, from the way you told it, it sounds like Kirishima asked you out on a date." Kyoka explained, putting her guitar aside.
"What? No, no it can't be, it's just two bros hanging out together." Denki denied the suggestion.
"Denki, if he wasn't asking you out, why didn't he mention anybody else going?" Kyoka smirked at him.
"Maybe he just didn't mention it, I'll text the others." Denki quickly pulled out his phone and fired out a few quick texts to the rest of the Bakusquad.
Pikachu: Hey did Kirishima mention anything about going to an amusement park tomorrow to any of you?
Alien Queen: no? I don't think so :/
Spider-Man: He mentioned it but he said he was going solo with somebody, figured he was going on a date ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Blasty: He asked me what I thought a fun date was, figured he meant somewhere loud so I said amusement park.
"And? The verdict is?" Kyoka gave a knowing grin to Denki.
"You're right, it's a date." Denki went silent after that.
"You okay Denks? Do you not want to go out with him?" Kyoka asked, her look shifting from one of teasing to one of concern as she wheeled her desk chair closer to the bed.
"No its not that, I think Kirishima is great, he's super hot and super nice and I love being around him. But I don't want to mess anything up with the rest of the Squad." Denki lamented.
"I get that, but it can't hurt to go on the date at least, see how you feel, and if you think things are gonna go further you can deal with it then." Kyoka encouraged. "No sense getting all in your head about it now."
"You're right, thanks Kyo!" Denki cheered as he launched at her with a hug.
"Everyone is in need of a lesbian's advice, we are very wise." Kyoka chuckled as she returned the hug.
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It was after class and Denki had agreed to meet Kirishima in the common room after they both got changed out of their uniforms.
Denki felt a sudden pressure now that he knew this was supposed to be a date, he had never been on a date before and didn't know what to expect.
He didn't know how he should act or what he should wear. Panic started to crawl over him, if he let his mind wander any further he was going to have an anxiety attack.
He did what he always does in these situations, call Kyoka.
"Hey Denks, aren't you supposed to be leaving for your date?" Kyoka teased as she picked up the phone.
"Kyo I don't know what to do, I'm panicking I don't know what to wear or what I should do on a date or how I should act or anything and I-"
"Denki! Breathe. I'm on my way to your room, make sure your door is unlocked." Kyoka carefully instructed.
Denki unlocked his door and continued pacing, Kyoka stayed on the phone with him while she walked from her room to his.
"Okay, I'm here, everything is fine." Kyoka said as she walked in, shutting the door behind her.
Denki was shaking and starting to tear up.
"Denki, babe, come on, sit." Kyoka put a gentle hand on Denki's shoulder and led him over to sit on the bed.
"You've gotta stay out of your head you know that?" Kyoka smiled and Denki let out a small chuckle at her remark.
"Listen, a date doesn't have to be any different than a normal hangout. It can be if you want it to be, but this is a first date, it doesn't have to be perfect or romantic or whatever." Kyoka reassured him. "And you don't have to act any differently than you normally do."
"Really?" Denki sniffled.
"Not at all. You know what I love about Momo?" Kyoka asked. "Everything about her, not the things she isn't, but the things she is. If Kirishima wants to go out with you it's because he likes you, not some idealized perfect version of you. He probably just expects you to act like yourself, just let him take the lead, he was the one who asked you out after all."
Denki wiped his tears away. "Thanks Kyo."
"No problem, now, let's pick you out an outfit!" She beamed.
The outfit Kyoka ended up picking out was a yellow t-shirt with black lightning bolt patterns on it, a pair of black basketball shorts, and a pair of sneakers.
"You sure this is enough?" Denki asked as he got changed while Kyoka turned away.
"It's late spring so it'll keep you cool and you don't want to get a nice outfit dirty on the rides." She explained her sound reasoning.
"That makes sense."
"Of course it does, I said it after all." She said smugly.
"Alright, now get downstairs Kirishima is gonna think you bailed on him." Kyoka pulled Denki out of his room and pushed him towards the elevator.
"I'm going!" Denki giggled at her attempts to rush him.
He really did appreciate her help, sometimes he'd feel lost without her.
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"Hey Kiri!" Denki called out as he got downstairs.
"Oh hey! I thought you might've changed your mind." Kirishima chuckled awkwardly.
"No not at all, I was just having trouble picking out an outfit so Kyoka helped me." Denki explained.
"Well you look good." Kirishima complimented.
"Thanks, you too." Denki blushed at the compliment and Kirishima blushed at the returned compliment.
Kirishima was wearing a very similar outfit to what Denki was wearing, except it was all red and his shirt was a tank top. He knew Kirishima ran hot so especially in the spring tank top and shorts wasn't a suprising outfit.
The two then headed off for their date.
The amusement park in question was one Denki visited as a child, but it was destroyed during the chaos caused by all of those villains being let loose near the end of their first year.
Now it had been rebuilt and was finally reopened, it still had alot of the same rides that it had when Denki was young, but everything was new and shiny.
Denki's eyes lit up when they arrived at the amusement park, it felt nostalgic but brand new to him at the same time.
Kirishima stood there for a moment looking at Denki's expression of joy with his own smile on his face.
"Kiri it looks so awesome! We should probably work up to the bigger rides, otherwise the smaller rides will feel hella boring by comparison." Denki exclaimed.
"Sounds good to me!" Kirishima beamed.
The two of them started on smaller rides, the ones that involved some strength from the people riding them were amazing to Denki. Kirishima was so naturally strong from all of his quirk training that he was able to spin them around faster than Denki thought possible.
They moved gradually up to bigger rides, there was one that spun them in what was shaped almost like a round cake tin. Gravity kept pressing them into the side as they spun, it was difficult to even lift an arm let alone move.
They finally made it up to the rollercoaster. It was much bigger than Denki remembered it being, they seemed to have expanded it during the rebuild, it now had loops, Denki had never been on a rollercoaster that had upside-down sections.
Kirishima must have been able to tell he was nervous because he took his hand in his own and gave it a light squeeze.
Denki looked at him and Kirishima was smiling his usual huge smile, and seeing it filled Denki with such warmth, and gave him the confidence to try out the rollercoaster.
Denki really liked rollercoasters, he always had, but he had to admit he may not be trying out any rollercoasters with upside-down sections in the foreseeable future.
Most of the rollercoaster was great, but those parts felt like they scrambled Denki's brain and not in a fun way.
They got off the ride and everything felt louder to him, he could hear every little noise around him and he was starting to freak out.
He quickly looked around to try and find somewhere less populated, he needed to get out of the crowd quickly.
Denki's eyes scanned the horizon of the crowd quickly, spotting a bench in the distance that wasn't near any rides that didn't have anyone near it.
Kirishima was standing next to him trying to talk to him but before he knew it Denki took off.
Denki walked at a breakneck pace and got to the bench in record time.
He sat down and started to try and breathe but he could still hear too much noise.
He was looking down at the ground, breathing heavily when he saw two shoes he recognized come to stand in front of him.
He looked up and found Kirishima kneeling in front of him with a concerned smile on his face.
"You okay Kami?" He asked.
"Too loud." Denki groaned.
"Here. These should help." Kirishima pulled two foam earplugs out of his pocket and gently placed them into Denki's ears, Denki reaching up to adjust them properly afterwards.
"Better?"
"Mmhmm." Denki nodded.
"I thought you might get overstimulated with this many people around so I brought those just in case." Kirishima smiled at him as he sat down beside Denki.
"Thank you." Denki smiled back and threaded his fingers with Kirishima's.
They sat there like that, watching the people and the rides for a few minutes.
"If you don't feel like you can stay we can head back early." Kirishima informed.
"No I'll be fine, just maybe no more big rides. And I'm gonna keep the earplugs in if that's okay?"
"Of course! You know I can be loud anyway!" Kirishima laughed as he grinned.
The two boys walked around the park, looking at smaller stalls, Kirishima buying Denki a hot dog and some popcorn.
They came across a series of smaller games, dart throwing, ring toss, and others like them.
The one that caught Kirishima's attention was the strength test. It was a simple game, you used a hammer to hit a board, that would then launch a weight upwards towards a bell, if you hit the bell you won a prize. This one was heavy-duty, many of the games were, since with some quirks they would be incredibly easy.
"Hey Kami look at this!" Kirishima exclaimed and ran over to the game. "I'm gonna win you a prize!"
"Kiri you don't have to do that." Denki blushed.
"Well I'm gonna." Kirishima grinned.
"Afternoon sir, you get one try, no quirks." The game attendant informed.
"One try is all I'll need." Kirishima said smugly.
Denki watched him ready himself, flexing his muscles. Denki thinks it should be illegal for people as buff as Kirishima to wear tank tops, it was nearing indecent exposure with how hot he looked.
Kirishima primed himself and swung with all his force, hitting the board and a moment later a loud "Ding!" He had hit the bell and won.
Denki got a large Mareep plush as his prize which he hugged tightly with a large smile on his face.
As the sun started to set Kirishima suggested they ride one more ride before heading back.
"Let's go on the ferris wheel."
"It's a little slow, but if you want to sure." Denki agreed, he normally wasn't a fan of super slow rides like ferris wheels, but for Kirishima, after the day they've had, he'd do anything.
They got on, with Denki sitting in between Kirishima and the Mareep plush.
When their seat got to the top of the wheel it stopped for slightly longer than just getting someone else on.
"Wow, look at that view." Denki gasped.
You could see alot more than he imagined from the top, it was beautiful with the rays of the setting sun bathing the city in its light.
"Hey it's been stopped awhile, what's up with that?" Denki questioned as he realized how long they had been sitting still.
"I uh, paid the guy to hold it here for a minute." Kirishima admitted.
"Why?"
"So I could do this." Kirishima put a hand gently on Denki's cheek and guided their faces close together, bringing him into a kiss.
It wasn't Denki's first kiss, but it was the first that felt like it meant something, like there were fireworks going off all around them.
The moment they separated the ferris wheel began moving again, feeling like time had been stopped while they kissed and resumed when they pulled apart.
"Wow, that was-" Denki paused mid sentence, unable to come up with the words.
"Amazing." Kirishima finished his sentence.
"Yeah, it was." The two boys blushed and laughed, joining hands and not releasing them till they got back to campus.
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When they entered the common room the remaining members of the Bakusquad plus Kyoka, Yayorozu, Shinso and Midoriya were sat around playing a board game.
"Stupid dice!" Bakugo yelled as they entered.
"Uh-oh, Monopoly again." Kirishima chuckled.
The group turned to see who had entered.
"Well I guess your date went well huh?" Kyoka teased.
"Yeah, it really did." Denki beamed. "I'm gonna go put this in my room, I call next round!" Denki ran off towards his room to drop off his prize from the park.
"Kirishima, I didn't realize your date was Kaminari." Midoriya exclaimed as Bakugo begrudgingly handed his Monopoly money to him.
"Yeah, I didn't want to make a big deal of it." Kirishima came over to join the group at the table.
The Bakusquad stayed in relative silence for a moment, the tension in the air was thick.
"Is, is something wrong?" Kirishima asked as he sat.
"Well uh, I can't speak for everybody, but I was planning on asking Kaminari out when he got back to The Lurkers agency next week." Sero announced to the room.
"What!? Me too!" Mina shouted in shock.
Bakugo grunted something under his breath and Midoriya choked on his drink. "You too Kacchan!?"
"How the hell can you translate that?" Kyoka asked with a cackle.
"So, we all want to go out with Kami?" Kirishima asked, trying to piece things together.
"I guess so." Sero slumped in his chair.
"Well, I don't want to just take him because I got to him first, why don't we ask him how he feels?" Kirishima suggested.
Just then, Denki arrived back in the common room from dropping off his Mareep. "Hi!" He greeted as he took a seat next to Kirishima.
The whole room had fallen into silence.
"Did something happen? Is there something on my face?" Denki questioned.
"Um, Kaminari, I believe your friends have something they want to ask you." Yayorozu tried to steer things in the right direction.
The room stayed silent.
"Oh forget this he's gonna panic if you keep quiet. Denks, Mina, Sero and Bakugo announced that they also all wanted to ask you out but Kirishima got to you first. Kirishima suggested they see how you feel about it and go from there." Kyoka revealed with a sigh.
"Oh." Denki seemed at a loss for words.
"None of us will be offended or stop being friends with you no matter what you decide okay Kami?" Mina assured him.
"Yeah, we're not like that dude." Sero agreed.
"I'm not really sure what to think, it's kind of alot all at once. I mean I like all of you, and I wouldn't mind going out with you, I just don't know what to think." Denki admitted sheepishly.
"Oh I have an idea!" Mina squealed. "So since Kirishima got to take him on a date, what if we all got to take him on one date and then he can make a better decision!"
"So a competition?" Shinso questioned.
"That I can get behind." Bakugo piped up.
"Well, what do you think Kami?" Kirishima asked.
"Yeah, I think it sounds like fun." Denki smiled at the idea.
"Get ready for the best date of your fuckin life Sparky." Bakugo got up from the table, bankrupt after his most recent roll anyway.
"Eeee this is so exciting! It's gonna be so much fun! I get to go first!" Mina exclaimed.
"Well I suggest we do one Saturday each, like Kirishima did, Mina can go next Saturday, then me, then Bakugo." Sero explained his plan.
"Mind if I through my hat into that ring?" Shinso spoke up, to the shock of everyone.
"Really, you wanna go out with me?" Denki asked suprised.
"Yeah, you're cute, and if you're interested in me I wouldn't mind shooting my shot before you're taken." Shinso admitted while avoiding eye contact.
"Sure! I'd love to." Denki beamed.
"So Shinso can go after me then? That sound good to everyone?" Sero suggested.
"That settles it then, better get ready to lose!" Mina exclaimed.
"Like I could possibly lose to any of you." Bakugo scoffed.
The four in the competition got up and went to their rooms to begin planning, all excited for it.
"Thank god I don't have the stress of this being a competition because I barely had the courage to ask you out." Kirishima laughed.
"Yeah he didn't even realize it was a date." Kyoka stifled a laugh.
"Wait really?"
"Well I just didn't expect it that's all." Denki blushed.
"Not a big deal I guess, I could've been more direct, I know you don't deal with subtly well." Kirishima went over the scenario in his head. "Actually, think I might head to bed now that I think of it, gotta get up early for a workout with Tetsutetsu."
Kirishima then got up and went back to his room, leaving Denki sitting at the table with Kyoka, Yayorozu, and Midoriya.
"So are you sure this is a good idea?" Midoriya asked. "Kacchan can get really competitive."
"I mean they suggested and agreed with it, im just the one being taken out." Denki shrugged.
"I just don't want anything to happen to the friendship you all have, you're the closest group at UA and I'd be very sad to see anything happen to that." Midoriya explained.
"If they say it won't affect things then I trust them." Denki affirmed his faith in his friends.
"A good attitude to have Kaminari, you can't date people you don't trust after all." Yayorozu approved.
"You said it babe." Kyoka planted a kiss on her girlfriend's cheek, who then blushed.
The four of them decided to play one game of Monopoly before bed.
Denki went to bed that night cuddling his new prize that Kirishima had won him. He was excited at the prospect of this little competition.
Maybe Denki had crushes on half the class at one point or another, it wasn't his fault for being a romantic.
So going on first dates all with people he had crushes on sounded like a good idea to him.
With a smile on his face, Denki fell asleep.
And so the stage was set for a grand competition.