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Denki had always been told he had a heart too big for the world. He loved easily, and he did it fiercely.
He was the kid at the playground who made a friend and said "Bye bye, love you!" the day they met when the time came to separate. The kid who had a tiny crush on everyone he met as he got older, got over them in a week, and befriended them anyway. Even as a teenager, he was the one who would kiss his moms' cheeks every morning before school and never left without telling them he loved them.
When he was little, his best friend, Kyouka, would tease him for getting attached to everybody. As they got older, into middle school and now into high school years, she would teasingly elbow him in the side when she saw that familiar sparkle in his eyes he got when he mooned over a new person he talked to, and call him a disaster.
She wasn't wrong, he supposed.
It wasn't his fault! Pretty people were pretty people, and anyone who was nice to him made him want to plant a big fat smooch on their forehead just because. He'd always been that way! Even though Kyouka made him stop the relentless affection that came with being his best friend when they were nine, she let him still when they had their moments. Like sad days, or something.
The day that Denki first walked into Class 1-A, on the first day of school at U.A. High, he saw Midoriya Izuku for the first time.
Cute, shy boys weren't usually his type, but then he got a glimpse of Midoriya blushing over the simple fact that a girl spoke to him, and he decided right then and there that this boy would be the end of him some way or another.
He'd gone home that night, with Kyouka at his side, and he'd flopped down onto his bed dramatically and fake sobbed, with no real tears, over the sheer adorableness of the boy with the green hair and star-like freckles on his all-too-pinchable cheeks.
If only he knew that this time, it wasn't going to be a passing Thing. The tears would come one day, and they would be beautiful.
They would be the beginning of his downfall.
Halfway through the first term of the school year, Denki walked in to see everyone crowded around Midoriya's desk. He walked over to Kyouka and looked down at her. "Hey, Jirou, what's going on?"
"Dude, apparently Midoriya's a super-genius and we were all oblivious. Those mumble-rambles he goes on? It's analyzing. He probably knows all our Quirks better than we do. The whole class is asking him for tips now."
Denki blinked. "Holy shit. You think he's got notes on me? I wanna see!"
Before his best friend could respond, or stop him, Denki pushed his way to the front of the small mob of their classmates and sat on the edge of Midoriya's desk, leaning over his shoulder. "Yo, Mido! What's the tea on me?"
Midoriya flushed and gave a small laugh. "Hi, Kaminari-kun! Here, I have yours right..." he flipped back nearly to the front. "Here!"
"Whoa, I was one of the first!" Denki grinned, seeing the page labeled with a small 7 instead of the 28 he was at before. "Suck it, guys, I'm a favorite! Let's hear it, Mido, how amazing am I?"
A few feet away, Kyouka snorted. As a good bestie does. Denki ignored her.
"Well, for starters, your Quirk is so powerful!" Midoriya's eyes lit up with his smile, and Denki's inner Simp Alarm blared. "There's so many things I thought of for improvement, and you could do so much with it! Have you ever thought about incorporating some kind of magnets into your Hero costume? Electricity charges magnetic fields, and you could totally take advantage of that with the things you can do. Imagine it! Your Quirk would charge the magnets and create a force field around you to attract anything metal around you, but you would need to work with the Support department to direct that attraction so it wouldn't be everything. That would be bad. Or have you thought about using it in a more close-range sense? Instead of being simply a distance-oriented Hero, you could direct your electricity around certain parts of your body with a low charge, and combine that with a marital art of your choosing, you could take down villains easily by stunning them! Like a human taser! It would be amazing in stealth missions, a lot less attention-grabbing and less likely to alert villains to your presence."
If he were in a cartoon, Denki's jaw would have dropped so hard it would've gone through the floor and into the classroom under them. "Holy shit."
"Oh, and protective gear!" Midoriya snapped his fingers, turning another page forward and showing Denki that he had multiple pages on him, not just the one. "I was thinking about the drawbacks of your Quirk, right? How when you use too much voltage it leaves you out of commission. I don't think the solution to that is endurance training like the teachers have been giving you in training. Honestly, I don't think that particular drawback has to do with endurance at all! If you put some more electricity-oriented protection in your costume, I think it could significantly decrease your chances of going brain-dead, as you call it. It might have something to do with the chemicals in your brain, and too much electrostimulation is bad for anyone, even those with electricity-oriented abilities like yours. Too much can activate billions of neurons at once and mess with their normal pattern, and eventually if it happens too many times, it could affect your bodily function or even memory."
"Damn," Denki whistled. "You're like. The Quirk Wizard. Thank you so much, dude, I don't even know what to say."
Midoriya grinned at him once more, and Denki couldn't tear his eyes off those stupid adorable freckles. "Of course, Kaminari-kun! I'm glad I could help! I did a lot of research for yours, I hope it pays off!"
When he eventually made it over to his own desk, just in time for Aizawa-sensei to come through the door and give them the usual 1-A Stare-Down, Denki's heart was fluttering in his rib cage uncontrollably. His head thunked against the surface and he tried to get his stupid feelings under control, but the stupid organ wasn't having it today. Like it wanted to run a 5k marathon with no water and no snacks with no walk breaks.
Kyouka was hiding her snickers into her sleeve from her desk next to him, but Denki's mind was on overdrive.
Holy shit, this is it. My first real Crush. It didn't pass in a few days like usual.
I'm falling in love with Midoriya.
When he got home, Denki's eyes were unbearably itchy. Like an eyelash was stuck under his lids that wouldn't come out no matter how many times he blinked or tried to wash them out, and rubbing at them only made them hurt. So he did the sensible thing, of course, and called Kyouka to come over.
"I don't get why they're being so annoying dude!" he complained, digging his palms into his closed eyes to try and alleviate the irritation, craving relief like his life depended on it.
"Maybe you're getting pinkeye or something?" Kyouka shrugged. "I don't know, it could be anything. You didn't sleep with eyeliner on again, did you?"
"No," Denki groaned. "I learned that lesson in our second year of middle school."
"Lemme see," she scooted closer and sat criss-cross in front of him. "Sit up, open your eyes."
Denki did as told and tried his hardest not to blink so she could look for anything weird, but it only made the stabbing pain worse and he felt like crying. "It hurts, oh my god, it hurts so bad."
Kyouka frowned and reached over to his face. Denki flinched back, not wanting anything touching his eyes but also wanting the pain to go away, and Kyouka smacked his arm. "Sit still! I'm not going to do anything bad, promise. You have something blocking your tear ducts, let me get them."
"Gross," he wrinkled his nose. "Get it out!"
"I'm trying!"
Denki, incapable of actually sitting still, fidgeted with his bedsheets under him so he wouldn't move his face. Kyouka's fingers pinched around something in his left eye and he yelped, getting a quiet apology in return, before she did the same on the right.
He blinked rapidly, feeling the itch slowly ebbing away, and sighed at the sweet, sweet freedom. When his vision cleared again, Kyouka was blank-faced and rolling something between her finger and thumb.
"What?" he asked. "Dude, what is it?"
"Kami, this... come on, we're talking to your moms. I think you need to go see an eye doctor. This... is not normal."
"What is it?! You're freaking me out!"
"Come on!" she tugged him up off the bed with a grunt. "I'll show you in the car. We need to go. I'll call my dad on the way and tell him where we went so he knows why I'll be late."
"Wh━Jirou?!"
Star Tear Disease.
Not deadly, thankfully, but really uncommon. So of course Denki just had to get it.
It would come in stages, and it would not be fun, it would hurt. A lot, apparently. Denki was in the first stage.
A disease that stemmed from unrequited love, with no cure known to man. Denki would go colorblind by the end of the final stage, and in some cases, total blindness. Great! Just his luck!
His doctor said that, even though there was no cure, he had a 40% chance of color (or his vision in general, but he was trying not to think about that) returning to him in the later stages if his feelings were requited, but Denki wasn't stupid.
There was no chance in hell that Midoriya Izuku would ever feel any sort of romantic way for him. Everyone knew he and Uraraka had some sort of Unspoken Thing developing between them, even if they were both insanely in denial about it. Even Todoroki knew that, the one in their class with the emotional intelligence and social awareness of a metal fence post covered in bird crap.
Denki watched the buildings pass outside the car window as they drove through the city back home, twiddling with the two star-shaped glass pieces in his hoodie pocket. Kyouka held his free hand in a rare show of affection he rarely got from her anymore (which was the thing about their friendship: she knew when he needed touch and when he needed distance, and right now he was in that place in between both). She wasn't big on touch like he was most of the time, so it made him feel a little better having her there. He was glad she went with him.
"We'll figure this out, Denks," she said, quietly. He tore his gaze from the window and over to her, feeling that stabbing pain at his tear ducts again. She only used her old nickname for him when she was really serious, or really emotional. He missed it, sometimes, but he took what he could get. "You're not alone."
Denki took his hand out of his pocket and looked down at the tiny, clear glass in his palm, letting out a small sob. Soon the little shards wouldn't be transparent, reflecting whichever color he would lose when he cried them. That came in the second stage. "Thanks, Kyoucchi. Love you."
"Love you too," she squeezed his fingers.
Denki's moms were uncharacteristically silent in the front seats, letting the two of them have their moment.
For once, Denki got to school before Kyouka. Usually they took the train together, but Kyouka had split off before they got to the station and said she'd meet him there. He was disappointed, but went on anyway.
His friends were all around his desk when he got there, grinning at the sight of him walking into the classroom.
"Kami, bro!" Kirishima bounded over to him and ruffled his hair, bringing a smile to Denki's face. "What's up, man? Jirou texted Ashido and said you need hugs. C'mere!"
Arms were wrapped around him before he could even say anything, and despite his confusion, Denki felt grateful for his best friend. He didn't even say anything that morning and she just Knew. Kiri playfully rocked them back and forth to get a laugh out of him, which worked, by the way, and let go so Ashido could jump on his back and give him a hug her own way. He yelped, but caught her under her knees anyway.
She gave him an upside-down forehead kiss with a giggle and let Sero hug him next. Denki didn't know what he'd done in his past life to deserve these friends, but he was really happy now. Sero's hug was short, but he gave Denki a gentle noogie when he let go that he couldn't even complain about.
Denki and Bakugou stared at each other for a few seconds, and Denki held out his arms with a grin. "You too, Blasty, come on!"
Bakugou's nose scrunched with disgust at the thought of affection, presumably. Probably thinking fuck that shit I'm too good for that or whatever his thought process consisted of. Denki, who feared naught but the smiting wrath of God and clowns, hugged him anyway and pinned his arms to his sides so he couldn't get exploded for touching him. "You're the best, Bakubro!"
"Get the fuck off'a me, Pikachu!"
Kyouka finally walked in a few minutes later, still around 10 minutes before the warning bell rang, and threw her backpack into her chair, opening it and pulling something out. She turned to Denki with a smirk and plopped it on his desk, and when he saw what it was, he grinned brighter than he had since last night. "Gasp! You got me a pineapple!"
"...Did he just say 'gasp' out loud?"
"You get used to it," Kyouka flapped her hand at Sero, and looked at Denki expectantly. "You owe me 300 yen for that."
Denki couldn't get the smile off his face, glass crystals in his backpack forgotten. "How 'bout a hug?"
"No."
"Oh, come on! You texted the gang and said I need hugs, so obviously you gotta give me one too!"
"That's what the pineapple is for, Jamming-whey."
"Ten seconds?"
"You have five."
"Yay!" Denki scooped her into his arms, laughing when she smacked his shoulder because he spun her. "You're the best, have I told you that lately?"
"You told me two days ago when I gave you the notes you missed sleeping in Ectoplasm's class."
Kirishima interrupted them, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Dudes? What's the pineapple for?"
"They're my favorite!" Denki bounced excitedly on his toes, letting go of Kyouka. "The spiky things are fun to poke and you can just pull the thingies on the sides to get a piece out! Perfect all-day snack!"
Bakugou snorted. "You're just gonna lug around a big ass fuckin' pineapple all day?"
"Yup!"
His friends all laughed, but Kyouka leveled him with a look. "You can enjoy your pineapple while you go visit Recovery Girl. You have your note for Aizawa-sensei, right?"
Denki sighed good-naturedly. "Yes, Jirou-sama, I have my note. I'm just waiting for sensei to get here."
"Good," she nodded. It warmed his heart knowing how much she cared, even if she didn't show it the way he did. "At least you get to skip your least favorite class," she snorted.
"Hell yeah, no math today!" he pumped his fist and hugged his pineapple. "...You're gonna gimme all the notes later though, right?"
Jirou shook her head with a chuckle. "Yes, dumbass, I'll take extra notes for you."
"You're the best!"
When Aizawa finally came in, he was right behind a nearly-late Midoriya, who scrambled to get to his desk before the bell, and Denki couldn't help his stare.
It was totally unfair how cute a disheveled Midoriya looked. He was absolutely adorable every day, and mouth-wateringly hot when he got serious in training, but this was a sight to see. His horribly-done tie was crooked and loose, hair more of a mess than usual, and cheeks flushed red (probably from running). His shoulders rose and fell with every deep breath he took, panting from exertion but trying to stay quiet so he wouldn't disturb anyone, and Denki watched every movement strain against his uniform from the muscle underneath.
Kyouka elbowed him and jerked her head toward their sensei, and Denki snapped out of his Mido-daze. He grabbed his backpack and his pineapple, taking his doctor's note from his pocket. "Aizawa-sensei, I have a note to go see Recovery Girl. The pineapple is totally unrelated, by the way. No worries."
Aizawa-sensei sighed and took the paper from Denki's hand. "I'm not going to ask. I'll tell Ectoplasm you'll miss first period. You're free to go."
He did, quickly, purposely avoiding looking at any of his classmates until he made it safely out the door just as the bell rang to start homeroom. He doubled over, leaning against the wall in the thankfully empty hallway, and tried not to press his hands to his eyes. His doctor told him that would only make the pain worse, not relieve it. He reached up and put repeated what Kyouka had done for him last night, picking a glass star from each of his tear ducts and hoping no more would come.
Unluckily for him, he had to sit there for ten more minutes before they stopped, and he had a handful of glass by the time it ended. Denki sniffled and opened the small pocket on his backpack that had been empty all year, waiting for something to be put in it, and added the little stars to the two already inside from the night before. He knew that eventually they would start forming too fast for him to catch, and he wouldn't be able to just pluck them out anymore, but for now it was how he was handling it.
Denki heaved a sigh and stood, swinging his bag over his shoulder and heading to the nurse's office, just glad he made it out of the classroom before anyone saw him crying literal glass. Imagine that conversation.
"Gimme the deets, doc, how long do I have?" Denki kicked his legs back and forth off the side of the bed in Recovery Girl's office he sat on.
Recovery Girl huffed, and Denki interpreted it as amusement, because he thought he was pretty funny, thank you. "Your eye doctor told you you're still in Stage One, and if you're lucky you won't have to go through anything past the third. You said you only realized that you've fallen for this person a couple of days ago, yes?"
Denki nodded. "Yup."
"You've progressed unusually quickly," she hummed, looking at her charts. "Based on that rate, I'd say you have a week at the most before you'll be entering Stage Two. That's the longest stage, unfortunately, and after that, Stage Three."
"The second is when I start losing colors," Denki wrung his fingers together. "That won't affect my hero training, right? There have to be some colorblind heroes out there I can talk to."
"Of course, dearie," Recovery Girl gave him a reassuring smile. "In fact, you could talk to Present Mic if you're comfortable enough with him. Those horrid yellow glasses of his aren't just for show. They're for color correction. He's been wearing them since he was a student here, around your age. He got them in his second year, I believe."
"Would those work for me?" Denki asked. "The glasses?"
He got a frown in response. "I'm afraid not, hon. Present Mic was born with his colorblindness, so his situation is a bit different than your own. You're going through the gradual loss of color."
Denki sighed. "Right. Figured. Well, what's the other stages of this thing? My doctor probably explained but I was like, totally zoned out after he diagnosed me."
Tapping her pencil on her clipboard, Recovery Girl walked over to him and flipped a paper over. He showed her one of the charts she had printed for him. "Stage Two is, like we've discussed today, the loss of color. You'll lose one at a time, and usually when something significant happens to do with that color. Say, the person you developed this for packed you a thoughtful lunch in a blue bento box. If you react strongly to it, you would slowly cry away your ability to see blue."
"Oh, shit, that sucks. I get emotional over everything," he groaned. "He could smile at me and I'd probably lose my shit."
Recovery Girl patted his knee sympathetically. "Stage Three is total color loss. In most cases of Star Tears, the afflicted don't go anywhere past this. In rare ones, they get to Stage Four, vision loss and effective blindness. It's more unlikely to happen than the disease itself, so I don't believe you'll get to that point."
"I hope not," Denki laughed shakily. "Doc said there's no cure for this stupid thing."
"Sadly, there isn't," Recovery Girl sighed. "But, just like those who enter Stage Four of the disease, there are rare cases where color will return, albeit slowly and in fragments, if your romantic feelings are returned. And of course, if you confess and your love is requited before you get to Stage Three, you won't lose every color."
Denki shook his head. "Yeah, that's not happening. He's totally crushing hard on this girl, and I can't even blame him. She's totally precious, a perfect fit for him. I'm just... me."
With one last pat to his leg, Recovery Girl sighed. "Well, dearie, if anything changes, you let me know. I can prescribe you some eye drops for numbing that might help with the pain, but other than that, keep me updated, yes? I won't be telling anyone about your condition that isn't absolutely necessary, so just your homeroom and heroics teachers. Anyone else you decide to tell is on your own terms."
"Right. Thanks, RG."
"Of course, hon. Here's a late pass for your class."
Everything kind of flew by in a blur after that.
His entire class stressed over upcoming exams, some of them passed and some of them (including Denki) failed the practical portion, and before they knew it, it was time for the summer training camp.
Kyouka had come over to help Denki pack, knowing that he was a disaster on a good day and would definitely need help, and had he mentioned he was eternally grateful for his best friend? Because he totally was. She was a godsend.
Then she found The Jar, and Denki was honestly didn't know what to say to that.
"Kami, what the hell is this?"
He looked over to her for a brief second, currently sitting on top of his suitcase trying to shove down his things so he could zip it closed, and he gave a small laugh and wave of his hand. "Oh, that. You know, just the tears of my mortal enemies."
"You've been keeping the glass. In a jar. On your nightstand."
"Yeah!" Denki grinned, which did nothing to convince her that he was fine, but meh, worth a shot. "Did you know they make little tinkling noises when I let them fall instead of just yanking 'em outta my eyes? It sounds so pretty!"
Kyouka blinked at him, totally unimpressed as usual. "Why the fuck are you keeping them in the first place? They're hurting you."
He stilled and shrugged. "I dunno. They're pretty. They remind me of him. I'm gonna lose my colors eventually but I think they're a nice reminder that I'm capable of loving so much that something so beautiful can come from it."
"You sound like a Shakespearean tragedy."
"Oh, shut up," Denki rolled his eyes, laughing. "Don't judge me, you asshole. I've seen how you've been looking at Yaomomo lately, you have no room to talk."
Kyouka stuttered. "W-Well, I━This isn't about me! This is about you and your crush on Midoriya! How are you going to get through the training camp, sharing a room with all of the boys, without any of them finding out? You literally just said the things make noise when you cry now. Someone's bound to notice!"
"I know, okay?!" Denki snapped, sighing immediately afterward, slumping over on his still-unzipped suitcase. "Sorry. I'm stressed. I don't know what to do."
She huffed and sat down on the floor next to him. "I'm sorry, too. I'm just worried. What's going through that pea-brain of yours right now, Denks?"
He took no offense to that, because it was such an old joke between them that it had lost its effect years ago. "I visited Recovery Girl weeks ago, and she said that I had maybe one week at the most before I made it to Stage Two. The stars are still clear, though. Which means that it's going to happen any day now, and I'm going to lose my first color, and I don't know when or what it'll be and I'm scared. I'm so scared, Kyoucchi."
Tiny pinpricks of pain in his eyes made him groan, and Kyouka handed him his eye drops without a word. "Thanks."
"...So do those eye drops Recovery Girl gave you work? For numbing, right?"
Denki blinked harshly at the first drop hitting his eye and shook his head quickly before doing the other. "Kinda? Like, it still hurts, but not as much. It doesn't fully numb them. Which sucks, 'cause that would make this so much easier."
Kyouka held out his jar, as an olive branch, and Denki took it from her with a reassuring smile. All was forgiven.
Safe to say, the first day of training camp was hell.
Denki didn't know what else he was expecting, but it was not tumbling down a cliff and beating up dirt monsters for the better part of a day. He lost count of how many times he was thrown into a tree trunk and needing to be dragged along by one of his classmates because he didn't have his protective gear on (thanks, Midoriya, love you bro) like he did in his hero costume.
By the time they all got to the camp they would be staying at with the Wild Wild Pussycats, it was the beginning of sundown, and Denki was so bone-dead tired, he could probably fall asleep right there in the dirt and sleep for the next ten years.
Unfortunately, Denki was slumped over into Sero's side with his eyes closed, so he missed what could have been the most comedic moment of his entire high school experience thus far. Sero inhaled so fast he almost choked, chest shaking with held-in laughter. "Damn, that had to hurt, dude," Sero said between laughs.
Denki looked up. "Hghuh?"
"Mandalay's kid just socked Midoriya in the nuts," Sero gave in and cackled, bending over and clutching at his ribs with one arm and holding Denki up still with the other.
"Huh?!" Denki's head snapped up fully, wide-eyed. "Where?!"
Sero sighed, still letting his laughs die down. "Man, that was gold. It happened over there," he wiggled his fingers over toward where Iida stood, by himself, "but Midoriya wandered off somewhere when everyone split off to go eat and chill down from how fucked today was."
"Fair," Denki nodded. "I don't blame him. Hey, I'mma go look for him. You mind?"
"Nah, bro, go ahead," Sero stretched both of his arms up, rubbing at his elbows. "Want me to save you some food?"
"Please. I love you."
Sero chuckled. "You too, dude. Go find Midobro, I'll make sure your stuff doesn't get cold."
With that, Denki went off to find his crush. Bad idea, perhaps? Yes. Did he particularly care? No. Oh well.
He never claimed to have the best common sense in the class.
Denki found him sitting in a clearing, staring out at the slowly sinking horizon. Midoriya looked just as tired as the rest of them were, but he looked more... at peace? than Denki had ever gotten to see him before. "Hey," he said quietly, so he wouldn't startle his friend.
Midoriya turned to him and smiled. "Hi, Kaminari-kun."
"Mind if I sit? You can say no, just saying," Denki chuckled. "I'll skidaddle if you wanna be alone, bro."
"No, I don't mind at all! I just wanted to watch the sun go down, I guess. You're more than welcome to join!"
Great, Denki's mind supplied, sounding too much like Kyouka for his liking. A romantic sunset-watching with the boy of your dreams who doesn't return your feelings for him. It's not too late to bail, dumbass.
He sat. As one does, like a total dolt.
Both of them were quiet for a few minutes, and Denki spent the entire time fiddling with rocks on the ground next to him so he wouldn't blurt out something stupid and ruin Midoriya's calmness. Surprisingly, Midoriya was the one to initiate conversation.
"I'm glad it was you who came to sit with me, Kaminari-kun," he smiled again. Denki was probably staring a little too hard, but freckles, dimples, oh my god he's so adorable I'm going to combust.
"Yeah?" Denki cleared his throat. "Why me?"
Midoriya paused, and he shrugged. "You're my friend. I know we don't talk all that much, since we both have our own little groups in class, but I like to consider you one. Is that... okay?"
"Yes!" he said, too quickly, but Midoriya didn't comment, just looked over at him with those ridiculously gorgeous green eyes, wide and sweet and caring and fuck, so gorgeous. "You're totally my friend, dude!"
"...Good," another smile, and Denki's heart was pounding so hard he was surprised the entire camp couldn't hear it. "I didn't... Growing up, I didn't have many friends. I had a few, when I was really little, but one day they all just... turned on me. Since then, I didn't really have anybody my own age until I got to U.A., and sometimes I think it's all a dream, you know? I used to just sit and watch the sunset out my window and wish for some people in my life. Sad, right?"
Denki wanted to Indiscriminate Shock anyone and everyone who was ever mean to this boy. Then hit them over the head with a heavy bat and shove their face in a dumpster. And light said dumpster on fire. Who the hell wouldn't want to be around Midoriya Izuku?
"No, I don't think it's sad," Denki settled on instead. "I had friends growing up, but none that were really close to me. Except Jirou. Sometimes she still lets me call her by her old nickname I had for her as a kid. She's my best friend. I think, if I didn't have her, I probably would have been in the same situation as you. I love both of my moms, I do, but it's different having someone around you can relate to, and not just your parents."
Midoriya nodded. "Yeah, exactly. It was just me and my mom for a long time. Me, her, and all of the heroes I looked up to from afar. Now I'm going to be a hero, and I'm scared that one day I'm going to wake up and it'll all be gone. I won't know you, or Uraraka-chan, or Tsu-chan, or Iida-kun, even Todoroki-kun. I'll just be back to the weak little kid who everyone avoided like the plague."
Denki didn't know what to say to that, but Midoriya just gave a small, sad laugh. "Wow, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to dump all of that on you. I guess I overshare sometimes. I just... I never got over the habit of watching the sunset, and I don't get to do it much now that I'm so busy with training and schoolwork and keeping up with the class."
"I'll watch the sunset with you anytime you want, dude," Denki said. "And don't worry about the oversharing thing, I do that all the time. Remember that day Jirou walked into class and gave me a pineapple? Yeah, later that day I almost had an emotional breakdown because I dropped it and some third year accidentally kicked it and there was gross shoe dirt all over my fruit. I was so sad, man."
Both of them broke into peals of laughter, and Denki was just glad he could make Midoriya feel better. For a minute, he looked really sad, and they just couldn't have that. No sad Midoriya's on Denki's watch, no sirree.
When they both finally came to a stop, Midoriya looked at him with soft, sparkling eyes again and Denki could've melted into a puddle. He felt that now-familiar pricking at his tear ducts, like someone stabbing him with a hundred tiny needles. But he kept smiling and held back the tears. The sun sank lower.
"Welp, I'm gonna head and get some food, dude," Denki stood and brushed off the back of his pants. "See you later?"
Midoriya gave Denki another smile. "See you later, Kaminari-kun. Thanks, for this. It was... really nice. You're easy to talk to."
I love you. "Yeah, no problem! Anytime!"
Denki made sure he was a good distance away from where they'd been sitting, closer to the camp where the others were, before he bolted back to the building they were staying in and hid behind it, pressing his back to the wall.
Black dots filled his vision and he hunched over, curling his fingers to try and stop himself from itching at his eyes. The first tear fell with a soft chime, and Denki's hand caught it before it could hit the ground and shatter.
"Shit," he gasped, tilting his head back and blinking to try and hurry the process along and get the stupid asshole pieces of glass out of his eyes already. They were pretty, and Denki was way more attached to them than he should be, but fuck they hurt.
When he looked up, though, Denki saw the lights of the dimming sunlight slowly fade as more of the stars fell into his palm.
The orange slowly waned to grey.
Once they'd finally stopped, Denki didn't even glance above the ground as he made his way to the girls' room to try and kind Kyouka.
He knew he wasn't supposed to be there, but it wasn't like he was going for Mineta-like reasons or anything. He just really needed a hug and Kyouka was the only one who would know why.
The door was opened within a few seconds of it being knocked on, so the girls were probably getting ready to go out, and Denki was probably quite the sight to behold, standing there with a blotchy face and sniveling and sniffling like an idiot. "H-Hey, Yaomomo. Jirou here?"
Yaomomo's face fell in concern, and she nodded and let him in (though she left the door open, she was a rule-follower down to the bone). Kyouka stood on the other side of the room, frowning when she saw him walk in and nearly tripping over her sleeping bag when she saw the state he was in. "Denki? Denks, what happened? Look at me, Jamming-whey. What's wrong?"
Denki sniffled again and held out his hand, a single one of his glass tears in his palm. The rest were all in his pocket to be put in his jar later.
She took it from him and rolled it between her fingers, glancing between it and him in obvious confusion. When she caught on, and she realized, Kyouka's eyes widened and she pulled him down onto the floor, slowly. "Hey, hey. Denki, when did this happen?"
He laid his head in her lap and shrugged. "I dunno. Stopped like five minutes ago. Wanted a hug."
The other girls were slowly led from the room by a frowning Yaomomo, and Kyouka sent her a small, but grateful nod and smile. The door was closed, left open only a crack, and Denki could hear Yaomomo leading them on despite a couple of complaints that they wanted to know what happened too, and now they were worried. He was glad they cared, but he just wanted Kyouka.
"I lost my first color, Kyoucchi."
Kyouka ran her fingers in through hair, like she used to when they were kids and he would get too overwhelmed. "I see that. You wanna talk about it?"
"...Should I really have just stayed home?" he whispered into the dark of the room. "It's not like Aizawa-sensei doesn't know. He would've probably understood. But it's too late now, right? What if I lose another one before we even go home? Or all of them?"
"I don't know, Denks. You'll get through this. I'm here."
Denki gave a watery snort. "Okay, All Might. Who am I, then? Your Sir Nighteye? David Shield?"
Kyouka chuckled and smacked his forehead (gently, of course, she wouldn't be that mean to him when he was sad). "Shut it, you dork. I'm trying to be nice here."
"...Hey, Kyoucchi?"
"Yeah?"
"Love you."
"Love you too, stupid."
The entirety of the next day, Denki didn't think about it. Or the next day, either.
Of course, though, because it was just his luck like that, his class was attacked by the League of Villains. It was like the USJ all over again, except this time Denki felt totally, absolutely useless being trapped in a classroom while his friends and classmates fought for their lives in a burning forest. Kyouka was out there. Midoriya was out there. They were targeting Bakugou. He'd never felt more stuck in his entire life.
When the villains finally retreated, and Denki and the others in the remedial lessons room were allowed to go out and help with search and rescue, they all stopped short at the sound that pierced the air. Loud enough to shatter the heavens to shards. A scream, guttural and sorrowful, like someone had just had a piece of them torn from their soul.
Midoriya, Denki's heart plummeted to his feet from the weight of his fear. Oh, God. That was Midoriya.
Denki would be the first to admit, he was not expecting Midoriya to be awake and blearily staring into space when he opened the door to his hospital room. The whole class had decided to visit him and the others who were really hurt, and Midoriya was the first on the list. Denki was a little impatient to go see Kyouka, but he was told that she was only being watched over and could go home once they're sure the gas that knocked her out wasn't lethal.
So when he opened the door to Midoriya's room and saw him staring at the ceiling blankly, Denki grinned despite his pulse thumping horribly. "Hey, Midoriya, you're awake!"
Scrambling over to his side (he wanted to get there first and be at the front, so what?), Denki kept his forced smile up when he saw both of Midoriya's arms in casts and bandages around various parts of his body, showing Denki how hurt he really was. The blue hospital gown stood out against his pale skin. "How ya feelin', dude?"
It was easy to tell how high on pain meds Midoriya was, because he only turned his head and smiled at Denki. "Hgey, Kam-? Kam... Denki. Hi. 'M okay."
Hear that? That was Denki's heart exploding. He reached over and poked Midoriya's forehead gently, mindful of the bandages. "Hey yourself."
The rest of the class trickled in behind him and Mineta bounced up and down next to him, holding a melon over his head. Their stupid little Get Well Soon gift. "Midoriya! We brought you a melon!"
"Hmng? Oh, thank. Melon... melon good. I like melons."
Denki snorted, despite himself. "We all pitched in."
"Ev'ryone came t'see me," Midoriya smiled brighter, still looking a little woozy. "So happy."
Midoriya's words from a few days ago rang in his mind: "Growing up, I didn't have many friends... sometimes I think it's all a dream... wish for some people in my life."
"We're your friends, Mido," Denki assured him, sad upon remembering what the other had told him when they'd watched the sunset together. "Of course we'd come to see you."
Closing his eyes again, Midoriya smiled. "L've you guys."
Fuck, Denki wanted to cry. "We love you too, dude. Get some sleep, we'll come back later, okay?"
"Mmm... 'Kay. G'night, Denki."
He took a deep breath as Midoriya fell asleep. "Goodnight."
Before anyone could protest, Denki took the melon and set it on the side table before he shepherded everyone out of the room, including himself. "You heard him, guys! Night night time! We've got others to visit, we can come back to Mido later! You guys go head and see Yaomomo and Hagakure, I'm gonna go check on Jirou."
Kirishima, who looked more disgruntled than Denki expected, sighed. "I wanted to talk to him about something, but fine. I guess he did look a little too out of it to hold an actual conversation. I'll ask him later."
"That's the spirit!" Denki cheered.
He refused to acknowledge the burning of his eyes as he speed-walked down the hall.
Kyouka was up and reading from a magazine when Denki got to her room, and she took one look at him and knew. She was great like that. "You visited Midoriya?"
Denki tried not to cry, he really did. This shouldn't be about him, when Kyouka was the one sitting in a hospital bed after a villain attack he couldn't even help with. But when he shakily nodded, and saw her sigh and open her arms to beckon him over, Denki let the stars out.
They still hurt like a bitch, and Denki was really hoping that the little tinkling and chiming sounds of them falling wasn't annoying Kyouka. He curled up to Kyouka's side and tangled his fingers in the sheet over her lap, trying to repress the sounds of pain he wanted to make.
Glass plinked against the sheet, one after another, and Kyouka's hand, which was rubbing his back, paused in its movement. "Denks. Denki that's..."
"Another color," he sobbed. "I'm in S-Stage Two, i-it's all gonna be colors now. I don't wanna l-look."
"...They're blue."
He nodded, sniffling. "Okay."
"Wanna tell me why you're crying?"
Denki burrowed his face in one of Kyouka's stale hospital pillows. "He called me Denki."
"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow.
"He's all doped up on pain medications. Two broken arms, head wound, other stuff. Couldn't say Kaminari with how slurry he was. So he just called me Denki. He did it so casually and innocent and cute and fuck, Kyoucchi. I wanna hear him say it for the rest of my life. This whole thing sucks some major whale balls. Like a big ass beluga whale."
"Ew," Kyouka's face twisted in disgust. "Thank you for that lovely image. I'm eternally grateful."
Denki laughed, voice warbly and small. "You're very welcome."
He really shouldn't have been surprised that, despite most of the class' disagreement, some of them went on a rescue mission for Bakugou anyway. And even less surprising, the fact that Midoriya went on said rescue mission.
Denki had sat in front of his TV and watched All Might's final battle just like everyone else in the country, presumably, had, and despite popular opinion, he wasn't completely stupid. A giant glacier? Todoroki, obviously. Their local Speedy Gonzales? Iida, duh. Green fucking lightning? Midoriya goddamn Izuku, newly released from the hospital and barely off pain meds and a total reckless but endearing idiot, as usual. And who else would be able to get Bakugou to launch himself across an entire battlefield other than Kirishima?
Surprised? He shouldn't have been. But Denki was, for some reason. And a little hurt. But hey, what else was new? His class was full of twenty teenage imbeciles, so... There was a reason Aizawa-sensei called them the things he did. Problem Children, Hell Class, Impulsive Halfwits, etc.
Point spoken and proven, sensei.
Now, Denki lay on his bed in his newly-decorated dorm room on U.A.'s campus on his first night, staring at The Jar on his desk a few feet away. It was sad, knowing that in the beginning the stars inside were only clear, but now contained three colors inside as well and to him they just looked grey grey grey.
Yeah, he had cried out another color after his class had finished their room competition. Knowing Midoriya had gone out and put himself in danger despite the fact that he should have been recovering, instead putting himself in mortal danger to save their classmate, because he's just like that, made him fall in love all over again. Then, boom, purple was gone. Which sucked, considering a lot of the things in his room were purple, but oh well, right?
He was going to be edgy and sad and turn his LED lights blue for the extra depression effect, but then he realized he couldn't even see blue anymore, so now he was just sitting in green light. Which contrasted very horribly with his furniture, but at least he could see it.
(And it was Midoriya's signature color. So what? Let him be a pitiful pining fool in peace, thanks.)
Despite his alarm clock blinking bright red numbers of the late time of night, Denki almost texted Kyouka. Then he thought better of it, because a woken-up Kyouka was not a happy Kyouka. It was almost 3 AM, and he valued his life.
Sighing, Denki grabbed the tiny remote next to his pillow and switched off the lights, rolling over to face away from the sight of The Jar.
He loved his little personal galaxy, but he needed to sleep if he didn't want to be dead on his feet in the morning for school.
Two weeks into settling into the dorms, Denki almost died.
Okay, not literally, but in his defense, it was 2 AM and Midoriya scared the buhjeezits out of him.
It was storming outside, and he had always been a little extra wired up when the weather turned south because all of the ozone in the air from lightning strikes left a slightly unpleasant buzz under his skin. Which felt sort of like how it was whenever he got overstimulated from his ADHD, but kinda worse. So instead of laying in bed and staring at the ceiling like a total bozo, he went down to the kitchen to get something to eat.
In hindsight, making a bagel when you're overly-electrically stimulated was a totally dunce move of him, but it was simple and he didn't feel like putting in effort. Not that he could cook much anyway, but still.
Then Midoriya came downstairs all silent and slinking through the shadows like fucking Slenderman, and popped into the kitchen to see who else was up at the ungodly hour it was, and thus, Denki's near-death experience.
"Hey, Kaminari-kun, what'cha making?"
"AH!" Denki honest-to-fuck squawked. Sparks flew from his hand and straight toward the nearest electrical appliance, which just so happened to be the toaster that was making his poor bagel, and the stupid thing almost exploded. "Shit! My bagel!"
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Midoriya scrambled over to the counter and wrapped a dish towel around his hand to semi-safely unplug the toaster. "I didn't mean to startle you! Are you okay?"
Denki pouted. "I'm fine, but my bagel!"
Midoriya snorted, shoulders un-tensing now that he knew Denki wasn't mad at him. "I'm sorry about your bagel, Kaminari-kun. Looks like we're going to need a new toaster now, though. I'll have Iida-kun tell Power Loader-sensei about it tomorrow, the blame's on me."
Chuckling, Denki shook his head. "Nah, dude, it's fine. I shorted the thing out, it's my bad. What are you doing up now, though? Don't you get up at ass o'clock AM to work out?"
"Can't sleep," he shrugged. "Nightmares, the storm, still not used to being away from home, you name it. Figured I'd come down and make some hot chocolate. What about you?"
He watched Midoriya grab a mug from the cabinet (All Might themed, because of course it is) and a hot chocolate mix from the counter top, and smiled to himself. Why did this stupid adorable, totally lovable, absolutely godsend of a boy have to be so nice and caring? It's 2 AM and he's worried about Denki.
"Storm's got me all messed up," he shrugged. "Too much electricity, ya know? Like, all the currents in the air outside or whatever. My body can sense them and I get too wound up, I guess. 'S why I almost Bakugou-ed our toaster when you scared me."
Midoriya laughed softly. It sounded like an angel blessing was Denki with eternal life. Fuck, his poor, simple bisexual heart could not handle that.
"I'm still sorry about that, by the way," Midoriya flushed sheepishly. "I didn't mean to be that quiet. I just didn't want to wake anyone up, and I didn't think anyone else wouldn't be sleeping either."
"No big deal, man," Denki waved it off. "Does the hot chocolate help you sleep? Usually people drink tea or something for that."
"Just a sweet tooth, I guess," Midoriya smiled. "Do you want a cup? I can make you one, too."
Goddamnit, there's the butterflies. "I will never say no to a cup of steamy choccy."
A slightly louder laugh. "Choccy? God, I haven't head anyone call chocolate that since I was in primary school. How do you want it?"
"As many marshmallows as you can put in there without killing me. Do we have whipped cream in the fridge?"
"I think so! Let me check..."
Once they'd finished their drinks and gone their separate ways, Denki had collapsed to his knees in his room, back against the cold door, and he cried for the first time in weeks.
That morning, when the rain finally stopped and the sun came from behind the clouds, Denki could no longer see yellow. There was not a single color left in the sky, in his eyes.
The day Denki lost his second-to-last color, was the day he learned just how much of an impact Midoriya had on the people he saved.
Mandalay had brought her nephew to U.A. to see Midoriya, who saved the boy at the training camp, Denki had heard, and a bunch of their classmates were all in the common room when they'd arrived.
Denki remembered how cold and hostile that little shit Kouta had been toward heroes and those training to be heroes, though he didn't know why at the time until Midoriya had told him about his parents being the Water Hose duo who'd died a while back fighting a villain. Specifically, the same villain that beat the shit out of Midoriya at the training camp before he had to be heavily sedated and several surgeries done because his bones were practically obliterated. Which was terrifying to think about, so Denki tried not to at all. Like, ever. He would probably have nightmares of Midoriya being murdered if he did.
But then he saw the same little brat that punched Midoriya in the balls walk in with very familiar bright red shoes, and he literally could not explain how fast his heart melted to anyone if they asked. It was just too cute.
Denki watched Midoriya spring out of his seat like someone put a whoopee cushion under him, practically trip over his own feet to greet them with his usual bright, blinding smile, and saw him physically hold himself back from making some kind of noise when Mandalay exposed the kid's reasoning for his new choice in shoes, which Kouta denied with his entire tiny being.
Knowing how much of a mark Midoriya left on everyone he met made Denki fall in love all over again, and he had to excuse himself in a rush at the painful, pricking feeling at his eyes so he could get back to his dorm before anyone saw. His friends worriedly called after him, asking where he was going and what was wrong. There was no good answer to give them, so Denki didn't give them one at all.
He didn't even notice Kyouka running after him until he was on the floor of his room, sobbing in her arms while she shushed and rocked him back and forth. He clung to her hands with a desperation he never had before in the entire time they'd known each other, the familiar soft trills and chimes and tinkles of his tears the only comprehensible sound in his ears besides his own ragged, heaving breaths.
Aizawa-sensei came to check on them hours later, when he'd heard from a few of their worried classmates that they hadn't returned and that Denki hadn't looked so well when he'd run off. He found them both lying on their sides on Denki's bed, his favorite weighted blanket draped on top of him and his head resting in Kyouka's shoulder, fitfully sleeping. They were breaking obvious rules, but if Aizawa-sensei cared, he said nothing of it.
The minute Denki woke, he'd cried the rest of the remaining red, starry tears, and hiccuped and panted in Kyouka's arms while she wordlessly collected them off the sheets so he could add them to his jar later, placing them gingerly in the little pile of the ones he'd excruciatingly cried the night before.
He could only see green.
Grey grey grey, and shades of green.
How fitting.
Denki felt bad for hiding his condition from the rest of his friends, he really did.
But it was times like this when he was glad that they didn't know. He wouldn't have been able to handle that kind of pity from them.
He, Kirishima, Sero and were all chilling in Sero's room for a night of Dude Talks (they had invited Bakugou, but he refused to come). Y'know, the ones where they would talk about whatever the fuck they wanted without having an earful from the girls about being disgusting pigs.
"Bros, I think for this week's prank we should mess with Mineta again. There's so many things we could do there."
"No no, you're not listening to me," Denki argued, laying upside down on his bed, head hanging over the side. "Perfect time to finally prank Blasty! Plus, we got Mineta pretty good last week when we stole his clothes while he showered and taped his skiddy underwear to his dorm door."
Sero snorted. "Midoriya's face, dude, that was gold. Poor guy's gotta live next to that human shit stain. Mido was trying so hard not to laugh, it was so funny."
Denki smiled to himself, barely aware of how dreamy his expression must have gotten. "Yeah, Midoriya's pretty."
"Bro," Kirishima's jaw dropped.
Eyes widening, Denki startled at what he'd said. Fuck. "Pretty great! He's a pretty great guy! I didn't finish my sentence!"
Both of the others grinned and leaned forward. Denki feared for his life.
"You're totally crushing on Mido!" Kirishima's cheeks had to be hurting from how wide he was smiling. Seriously, was he good?
Denki groaned. "Okay, yeah, but like, you can't tell anyone. Especially Explodo-Boy. And no meddling! The only other one who knows is Jirou, and she promised. You guys gotta promise, too."
"Dude, of course," Sero said. "Meddling is so not cool unless you know for sure that both parties are interested but just dense. Do you think he likes you back?"
Considering Denki had an incurable disease that was making him go colorblind, and possibly even completely blind, that stemmed from unrequited love, he was going to go with a big No on that one. "Nah, but it's all good. Plus, doesn't he have something going on with Uraraka that like, no one talks about because they get so embarrassed? They're so in denial about it."
Kirishima raised his eyebrows. "Dude, you mean you don't know?"
Denki sat up so fast his head spun. "Don't know what?"
"Uraraka confessed to Mido last week, after the license exams," Sero said slowly. "He... He turned her down, bro."
Denki bluescreened. Rebooting: Sparky.exe
Now that... was definitely news.
"Holy shit," he blinked. "But still, there's literally like, no way he likes me back. I'm 100% positive."
"But how can you be sure?!" Kirishima flung his hands out dramatically. "Dude, you never know!"
"Trust me," Denki sighed. "I'm sure."
So it was just him, then. Midoriya would never feel the same.
Okay, in Denki's defense, he wasn't really thinking when he asked Midoriya over one night to help him study. He needed help in the class, and if he had to study with Bakugou and Kirishima and get smacked over the head with a rolled up paper one more time for getting something wrong, he was going to scream. Bakugou was not fun to study with. He didn't know how Kirishima did it every week.
But Denki was exceptionally horrible at chemistry, and Midoriya was in the top 3 in that class under Bakugou and, kinda surprisingly, Ashido.
And so what if Denki was in love with the boy? He could deal for one night.
Now he sat on the floor in his dorm with Midoriya across from him, their notebooks and textbooks sprawled around them in a half-circle while Midoriya attempted to help him grasp the agonizing concept of stoichiometry.
He glanced down at the practice problem that Midoriya had given him on his paper, a supposedly easy one but one that was making his brain literally hurt. NaOH(aq) H2SO4(aq) → H2O(l) Na2SO4(aq). What the fuck did that even mean?
"I'm gonna be totally honest here, Mido, I have no idea what the hell to do from here."
Midoriya chuckled and scooched over so he was sitting next to Denki instead of across from him, leaning down on his elbows so he could reach the paper and write. "That's okay! Here, look. On the left side of the equation, there's three hydrogen atoms. We'll start with that. You want to have an equal amount on both sides of the arrow to balance it out."
"You're literally a godsend," Denki sighed dreamily. "Bakugou would probably have smacked me with our textbook just for admitting that."
He frowned, like Denki had just admitted to committing serial arson or something. "I will never understand Kacchan's tutoring methods. That's just... no. Did he even want you to learn?"
Denki shook his head in exasperation. "No idea how Kirishima can stand it."
"Well, I'm always willing to help!" Midoriya smiled at him. "I don't mind at all. And I'll actually explain things, I'd never hit you for not understanding. That's a little too over the top. But, from Kacchan, it doesn't surprise me."
"Yeah," Denki nodded, using every ounce of willpower in his body to not stare at Midoriya's smile like a creep.
The other's eyes flicked behind him toward his desk, and Denki tried not to let his facial expression change. He knew exactly what Midoriya was looking at, and as soon as he opened his mouth, Denki also knew he was going to ask.
"Hey, Kaminari-kun, I've been wondering... What's in that jar on your desk?"
"Forbidden sprinkles," Denki joked, because he wanted to hear Midoriya laugh. Which he did. Score. "Nah, I'm kidding. I, uh... found these little glass thingies at the dollar store one time and I thought they were pretty so I bought a pack of them every time I went. I couldn't resist. Wanna see 'em?"
The lie was almost too easy, but at the same time one of the hardest things he'd said in his entire life.
"Oh! You wouldn't... You wouldn't mind?" Midoriya's head tilted, like an eager freaking puppy. Oh god.
Denki got up to grab The Jar and sat back down, screwing the lid off and putting a couple in his hand. He still couldn't tell which ones were which color, but that was fine. "Wanna hold a couple?"
Midoriya held his own hands out like Denki was about to hand him a pile of precious gemstones. Dear fucking hell, this boy was going to Detroit Smash his heart to smithereens.
Fingertips brushed calloused palms, and Denki felt a shiver roll down his spine. Midoriya cradled the stars gently, as if the slightest wrong movement would shatter them.
"They're beautiful," he breathed. "You said they're glass? They're not acrylic?"
"Glass for sure," Denki nodded. He would know. They forced themselves out of his own tear ducts. "I haven't gotten any green ones yet, but... I'll have some eventually."
If Midoriya heard how sad Denki could tell he sounded when he said that, he said nothing. He didn't even tear his gaze away from the glass stars in his palm, staring at them like they were the most prettiest things he'd ever seen. Which Denki would absolutely argue him on, because had the guy even looked in the mirror? His eyes were like a pair of newly-polished jade stones.
Kyouka would have made so much fun of him for that thought, but Denki digresses. She'd waxed emo poetic about Yaomomo enough times for him to want to lock them in a closet together, because his best friend was so oblivious it hurt to see sometimes. Yaomomo looked at Kyouka like she gave her the answers to the universe itself, but okay Kyouka.
Midoriya held one up carefully, and though Denki couldn't properly see it, the setting sun's light coming in from the window glinted off the glass with a colorless sparkle.
He smiled sadly to himself, but seeing Midoriya's entranced gaze so fixated on the stars of Denki's love between his fingertips made it worth it. That sounded ridiculously pathetic even to him, but Denki would cry an entire universe if it meant Midoriya would ever look at him the same way he looked at the glass he held with so much care.
The metaphorical Big Bang came two weeks later, with Midoriya standing at the other side of his dorm room door once again.
Denki had figured that it was either Kyouka or one of the guys when he answered the knock in the middle of the night, haphazard pajamas and raging bedhead and all. So when he opened his door and saw a shock of green, he yelped mid-yawn. "H-Hey, Mido! What's up?"
Midoriya bit his lip, averting his gaze to the side. Silently asking if he could come in. Denki wordlessly let him do so.
"Everything okay, dude?" he asked, frowning. "It's pretty late, I'm surprised you're not in bed!"
"I was doing some... research," Midoriya started, speaking slowly. Like he didn't know where he was going with whatever he wanted to talk about. "The━The stars, in your jar. You didn't buy them... did you?"
Denki's heart dropped, and he closed the door as quiet as he could. He still had floormates who were sleeping, after all, and he wasn't that mean. "How did you..?"
"I-I remember you said you couldn't find any green ones, and they were the only ones you didn't have yet, so I thought I'd look online and see if I could find some! Christmas is coming up, so I figured maybe they would make a good present, or something," Midoriya frowned. "But none of the glass stars I found were that tiny. I figured maybe they were just a name brand thing or something, so I looked harder, and I found this... article. It was about━"
"━Star Tear Disease," Denki finished for him, quietly. He avoided looking at Midoriya, too embarrassed.
"...Yeah. Kaminari-kun, why didn't you tell anyone? We can help you! It's feelings-based, right? We can find this person for you, help you out!"
He shook his head softly, smiling. "Nah, it's fine. I really appreciate it, Mido, but... This person doesn't feel the same. If they did, the whole disease wouldn't have even developed."
"That's what I don't understand!" Midoriya's hands grabbed at his own hair, like the whole situation and Denki's revelation was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. It made Denki's heart ache. "Why wouldn't they love you back? You're amazing, Kaminari-kun! Anyone would be extremely lucky to be loved by you!"
"Midoriya, it's━"
The other had started pacing, and he cut Denki off before he could keep speaking. "No, really! I just don't get it! You're so nice, and you're insanely funny, and you make people feel better just by being there sometimes, and you're going to be an amazing hero one day, colorblind or not. Whoever they are, they're really stupid. And I hate saying that because insulting people makes me feel awful because I've been on the receiving end of that but━"
Denki's tear ducts were stinging harshly, and he dug his palms into his eye bags to try and stop them. "Please, don't..."
"━It's absurd!" Midoriya continued on, like a man on a mission. "Your smile lights up a room, your laugh is like pure sunshine in sound form, you're one of the kindest, silliest, most intoxicating people I've ever met, Kaminari-kun! This person, they don't━they don't deserve you! You don't deserve this!"
"Midoriya!" Denki's choked-up cry finally caught the other's attention, and Midoriya's eyes widened.
He rushed over to stand in front of Denki and put his hands on his face, slightly cupped outward to catch the glass before it would make a dangerous mess on the floor. "I'm so sorry! I didn't━I didn't want to make you cry! Please forgive me, Kaminari-kun!"
Denki shook his head and grabbed Midoriya's shoulders urgently. The green was slowly fading with each tear that fell, getting lighter shade-by-shade. "No, please, listen to me! Do you really feel that way? That I'm all those things?"
Midoriya flushed, he could see it in the slightly darker grey that rose to his cheeks. "Y-Yeah. Sorry if that's weird, but it's true. I-I really like you, Kaminari-kun, and it really makes me sad that whoever this person is doesn't see what I see. And angry. I kind of want to punch them, but that's not hero-like. Are they a hero student? Can I punch them in training━"
"Izuku," he sobbed out a laugh. "You━Oh my God. My final color is green. And it's going to be gone in a few minutes, but that's okay! You... You feel the same, that's all that matters."
The hands on Denki's cheeks jerked in surprise. "I━Me?! You━You love me?!"
"Yeah," he nodded, sniffling and letting Midoriya━Izuku━gently brush the stars into his waiting palms while Denki giggled like a delirious drunk. "Yeah, it's you. It's been you since the beginning. I thought you had a thing going on with Uraraka so I never wanted to━"
Izuku laughed quietly. "I turned Uraraka-chan down because I'm already in love with you, Kaminari-kun."
"Denki," he said.
"Denki," Izuku corrected himself. "Uraraka-chan and I are just friends. She knows how I feel about you. Is the only one, actually, besides you now."
"Jirou was the only one who knew mine for a long time," Denki said. "Kirishima and Sero know too, but only because we were talking about your reaction to our last prank on Mineta and I said 'Midoriya's pretty' instead of 'Midoriya's pretty great'. They figured it out pretty quick."
Izuku grinned. "Y-You think I'm pretty?"
Neither of them noticed how Denki's tears stopped falling, far too wrapped up in each other to think about them. Hands on cheeks and hands on shoulders.
"Can I prove it?" Denki returned the grin.
"I-I, uh, yeah! I-If you want to? How are you going to━"
Denki kissed him.
For first kisses, it wasn't terrible. In fact, Denki's heart felt like it was going to explode out of his chest from happiness the entire time. Neither of them really moved much, and it only lasted a couple of seconds, so in reality it was more like a lingering peck than an actual kiss. But they were both, at their cores, still awkward ass teenagers.
Izuku's eyes fluttered open at the same time as Denki's, and they both smiled giddily at each other. The green had stopped fading, and Denki was so glad for it, because he could look into Izuku's bright eyes and still see the same color he fell in love with all those months ago.
They stayed together for the rest of the night, fell asleep cuddled on Denki's horrendous leopard-print blanket, and woke to the rise of the sun nearly blinding them and Denki's alarm clock blaring in their ears.
When Denki opened his eyes, he saw green and smiled.
And when he looked up and saw the slightest traces of orange in the grey light of dawn, he cried. Silently, and painlessly.
His tears were wet, and left trails down his cheeks. Not a single star to be seen or felt.
Denki looked over at his little galaxy in a jar, nearly filled to the top, and he couldn't help but think that it was all worth it as Izuku shifted awake in his arms, burying his own content but happy grin in the shoulder of his sleep shirt.
Yeah. So worth it.