Chapter Text
If Denki didn’t know better, he’d say he had built up a little too much electricity and it was itching to jump. His skin crawled, an uncomfortable but not bad side effect of the churning storm in his chest. Under any situation, he probably would have hated the feeling, but this excitement wasn’t due to anxiety and fear and regret. It was eagerness, apprehension, impatience, hope. It was as if his body couldn’t contain everything he was feeling, and it was pushing at his skin, dragging along the inside of him, searching for a way through.
That feeling stayed with him all through the afternoon and through Tuesday’s classes. With such agitated insides, his outside reflected that. He almost didn’t even try to pay attention in class, thinking about that evening instead. He wondered what they would do, what they would say. He worried over his attire, his attitude, whether it was even a good idea in the first place. What if he decides “boyfriend” and “dating” isn’t good enough? I wouldn’t blame him if he decides he’d be better off going the friend route and dating someone else. I mean, what do I give him anyway? What makes a date any different from a friend?
Stop it! You’ve been through all this. You’ll talk it through with him. He knows what he’s getting into. It probably doesn’t even matter. It’s like how you feel! If the name is what you want, then it makes sense to date even if there isn’t any super important affection threshold or anything like that.
Heh. Affection threshold. Where is Shouto’s, I wonder? I’m going to push it higher, one way or another. I know I can do that. I think I already have, I just need to take it further.
First thing’s first, though. Shouto. I need to get used to that. I want to remind him every day that he’s got someone who loves him, and that reminder of being close is a step. Shouto. Shouto. Heh, now that the novelty is wearing off, I actually kind of like it.
When he finally got out of his after-school activities, he was pleasantly surprised to find the whole gang waiting for him at his home, already in his room and rifling through his stuff. Ashido and Bakugou were arguing over a nice-looking shirt that Denki forgot was in his closet while Sero and Kirishima watched with exasperation.
“Bakugou?” Denki exclaimed. He had expected the others to pull something like that, they had before, after all, but he wouldn’t have imagined Bakugou would show up to help him prepare for a date of all things with Todoroki of all people.
Everyone turned to face him. Bakugou vehemently threw the shirt back in the closet and went to dig through his clothes. Again, apparently. “Only here because if you screw this up and start crying, I’ll have to listen to it. Besides, I wouldn’t trust Pinky to dress a hamster. Like hell am I letting her dress you.” He pulled a hanger down, examining the shirt on it with clear disgust. “And you clearly can’t do it your-damn-self.” The hook returned to the bar with a sharp click and Bakugou went back to searching for something else.
“That’s…” Denki smiled despite himself. “Actually, that’s really mean, but thank you anyway. I appreciate you coming to help me!”
Sero sat Denki down and, with Kirishima, started chattering almost endlessly. “So, you’ve figured out what you’ll talk about?”
“At first, about dating itself?” Denki rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “Not the most romantic, I know, but it’s important that we figure it out before it distracts us both in tomorrow’s tutoring.”
Kirishima ruffled his hair. “No, it’s perfect. It shows that you’re taking it seriously. Super manly and romantic!”
“Agreed!” Sero exclaimed. “Nothing says romance like ‘I legitimately care about how you feel and want to make sure to respect your boundaries’.”
“Sero, stop it.” Kirishima said, clasping his hands together dramatically. “You’re going to make me swoon.”
“But Kirishima, I just… really want to support you and make you feel comfortable.”
Kirishima faked swooning, and Denki’s attention was grabbed by the explosive yelling on the other side of the room. “Hey! Pay attention!” A rust-colored tee sailed through the air to hit Ashido in the face. She pulled it down to examine it.
“Isn’t it a little simple?”
“They’re going to a fucking café, not an opera.” Bakugou rolled his eyes and turned back to the closet, pulling down something else, hardly even looking at it before he tossed it over his shoulder to Ashido.
“Oh! Denki! Your favorite leather jacket! Hey, Bakugou, how’d you know he feels more comfortable in this?”
“Why the fuck would I know that? It’s just a not shitty jacket and you complained about the shirt on its own.”
“I don’t buy it.”
“Everyone feels good in leather, stupid. It’s a powerful fabric.”
“Oh my god.”
Bakugou’s harsh glare met Ashido’s giggling, twinkling gaze. “What?”
“And you call us nerds.”
“I’ll fuckin’ show yo-”
“Bakugou!” Kirishima leapt in to prevent Bakugou from destroying Denki’s room in his bid to get at Ashido. “That’s a very good choice, buddy! We should find some pants to go with it, right?”
Bakugou smoldered for a moment before turning back to the closet, clicking his tongue. “You’re lucky, Pinky.”
“Well yeah, I’ve got a friend like you!”
Bakugou didn’t acknowledge her; he just started digging through the rest of Denki’s clothes. Crisis averted, Kirishima rejoined Sero to continue whispering encouragement and asking about Denki’s feelings and otherwise just making totally sure that he was prepared for what was rapidly approaching.
And in fact, to Denki it felt so rapid that he swore he had only just sat down before he was being told to hurry up and change clothes and to get going because “you don’t have all day” and “if you’re late I’ll murder you myself” and Denki wondered if maybe his friends were more invested in it than he was until he took his first step down the street. Once he had, he knew that his friends’ excitement, for all their care and love, definitely did not match his own.
Each step felt like it transported him a hundred thousand miles and he’d be on Pluto before he made it to the café down the street. Familiar terrain passed him by, but his mind was in the stars and his heart was somewhere in far-off Andromeda.
And even though he felt excited to the extreme, he wouldn’t have described himself as nervous. He was vibrating with overflowing kinetic energy, the buzzing in his chest a deep, thrumming bass that was so visceral he was almost surprised that he wasn’t shattering nearby windows with it.
He stepped into the café, smiling at the warm colors and welcoming scent of baked treats. Todoroki wasn’t there yet, so he took a seat next to a window, tracing the stuck-on lettering but not really reading it, picking at the dark denim of his pants idly, humming a quiet tune.
The bell over the door ringed. Denki looked over to meet the mismatched gaze of his date. The sight alone burned away all the oxygen in his lungs. Todoroki looked adorably awkward, red-faced and pulling at his cardigan mindlessly. His hair was beautiful as always, and it laid flat like usual, but Denki could tell someone had fussed with it like Kirishima had with his before he left. Probably Yaomomo. I’d bet his clothes are her doing, too. He grinned stupidly at the thought, finding the conjured vision of Yaoyorozu rifling through Todoroki’s closet and sitting down with him going over what he was going to say just adorable.
And when those mismatched eyes called him over, Denki decided they weren’t mismatched at all, but complimentary instead. “Sorry.” Todoroki said, meeting Denki halfway. “Have you been waiting long?”
Denki honestly couldn’t remember. “Not at all, dude! And it’s good to see you, Shouto. I’ve been so excited for this.”
Todoroki cleared his throat and rubbed his neck leading the way to the counter so they could order something. “Yeah. Me too.”
They sat in almost-awkward silence until they could get their drinks but once they sat down at the table, Denki just looked up at Todoroki, who was so big, who overpowered him and outshined him in every way, who stood at the pinnacle of their year, and saw on his normally insufferably and charmingly indifferent face a myriad of nerves and wonder and confusion and fear and Denki just started laughing because he couldn’t wrap his head around it.
It must have been something in the atmosphere, because Todoroki started chuckling too. That just made Denki laugh harder. He ended up needing to cover his mouth to stifle himself, and he couldn’t look at Todoroki without reinvigorating the fit. “This is real?” He muttered through his fingers.
Todoroki boldly reached out and took Denki’s hand in his, running his thumb along his knuckles. Physical proof that they were there together. “Yeah, Denki. It’s real.” Todoroki retracted his hand to take a sip of his tea. “That so hard to believe?”
Denki pulled both his hands into his lap and gently ran his fingers over where Todoroki had touched him. “Honestly? Yes.”
“Why?”
Denki blushed and looked at the table. He sipped his coffee (decaf – Denki was already wired, and it was getting pretty late, anyway) to buy time without stretching the awkward pause too long. “I just… You’re so…” He sighed. “You’re on a whole different level than I am. In, like, every way. Honestly, I don’t know how I tricked you into thinking I’m someone even worth considering spending time with, much less this.”
Hard lines of a frown and the pinch of eyebrows knitting together. “I don’t know how you tricked yourself into thinking all your amazing qualities are just ‘tricks’.”
He had to laugh at that. “I’m sorry. I know, I just… I’m still kind of waiting for you to realize I’m not all that great and then…” He sniffed a little. “Sorry. I’m doing my best not to think that far ahead.”
Todoroki hummed, disgruntled. “Well, you’ve given me something to do at least.”
“What’s that?”
“Making sure you know that you’re worth every ounce of attention you get.”
Denki lowered his head, just holding back a scream. Oh my god… “He’s going to kill me.”
“I hope not.” Todoroki took a sip of his tea casually, though his eyes held a shine to them that Denki wasn’t too familiar with but hoped would never go away. Fuck, I said that out loud, didn’t I? “I’d rather not kill my boyfriend.”
He couldn’t keep his hands in his lap. They moved to cover his face on their own accord. Still, he laughed. He can joke! “Boyfriend…” He chuckled deliriously. “We’re boyfriends?”
“I was under that impression. Was… I wrong?”
The worry that shot across Todoroki’s face sprung words from Denki’s lips before he could even think of them. “No! No, no, no, no, no, no. That makes me really happy! I just didn’t want to assume you’d be comfortable with that, especially so soon. I thought you might want to… I don’t know… do this a little bit before using the word. And then, you know, maybe ‘partners’ would suit you better or…”
“I think I understand.” Todoroki shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t really know how it’s supposed to work.”
“Dude, join the club. We’ll just figure out how it works for us, yeah? Just… talk. A long as we tell each other everything, we won’t have problems. Maybe.” He chuckled. “That’s what Kirishima said, anyway.”
“He’s probably right. Yaoyorozu said something similar.”
“That’s why I keep saying this, but… are you really sure you want to do this?”
Todoroki frowned and leaned back in his seat. “Kaminari… I understand your doubts. I have them, too.” He grit his teeth, like it was painful to say. “I have no idea where this will take us, and you’ve so quickly become the best friend I’ve ever had. I don’t want to mess that up. And I still think about how you looked when you told me… when you did what I couldn’t like it was the easiest thing in the world.” He… had a crush on me? He wasn’t just agreeing, he actually… “And how brave you are, pushing yourself for our sakes; how when you set your mind to something you go so far. I know you think it’s the other way around, but I find myself wondering how someone like you ended up liking me at all. We’re so different…”
“Complimentary, I think.” Denki said, swallowing down his feelings. “Opposites attract and all that. It won’t change our feelings, but can we at least acknowledge, just consciously, that we’re both really good at some things and kind shit at others?”
“And together we’re good at everything.”
Denki snorted. “Bakugou won’t like that.”
Todoroki chuckled. “Speaking of. He doesn’t really like me. Not since the sports festival.”
“You’re fine.” Denki waved him off. “He actually helped pick my outfit for tonight, believe it or not.”
Todoroki arced an eyebrow incredulously. “That seems far-fetched, but you know him better than I do.”
“Yeah. He wouldn’t say it, but you don’t have anything to worry about unless something between us goes, you know, horribly wrong. Then he might call for blood. He cares, in his own way.”
“Isn’t he supposed to give me the shovel talk?”
“Again, he wouldn’t say it.”
Todoroki laughed gently. “Well, my only friends are Yaoyorozu, Midoriya, and Iida, so… you’re probably safe.”
“Maybe, but I definitely would not want to piss off any of them. Anyway, my friends got you covered. They’d kick my ass soon as they’d kick yours.”
“I’d buy it.”
“The benefits of best friends.” Denki shrugged. “But, uh, since we both agree that we’ve snagged the best boyfriend in the world… well, first of all I do want to say that there’s no way I’m letting go.” He grinned. “Not so long as it’s my decision.”
“Ha. Right back at you.”
“But other than that, are any other concerns or… I don’t know. Anything? I know I’m touchy, so I’ll make sure to ask, but you know that. I can’t promise I won’t be talking you up all the time, though.”
Todoroki smiled and worried his lip. “You know…” His amused expression became serious. “You probably figured out I don’t talk to my parents much.” Denki shifted in his seat, every ounce of his attention hanging on Todoroki’s words. “I don’t really care one way or the other, and I’ve obviously known for a while, but… my dad is kind of big on his legacy. It’s the only reason I’m alive in the first place. There’s a chance he will be super not okay with this.”
Denki blinked. “What? Because we’re…”
“Both boys, yeah. It’s just a chance, mind you. No kids means no legacy and especially no super-quirk.” He said it flippantly, off-handedly. “Not sure how much that matters to him beyond myself, but it’s there.”
The Rube Goldberg machine in Denki’s head ran and ran, knocking things over and burning others and in the end he was pretty sure his mind was a wreck, but he did come to a single conclusion. An implication. “No super… What?!” He almost jumped out of his seat, fought to keep his voice below a scream. “Your quirk is becau- What the fuck? Who the hell does Endeavor think he is?!”
“A top hero.”
“Fuck that! He doesn’t deserve to be number two! He shouldn’t even be a hero! Who does something like that?”
Todoroki’s eyes were soft, placating. “Quirk marriages weren’t uncommon when the phenomenon first started appearing.”
“I don’t care! Who the hell breeds kids? We’re people, not a fucking pedigree!”
“Well, you understand my dislike for him.”
“Okay, okay.” Denki took a deep breath. “Okay. I’m good. Please, Shouto, tell me he at least acted like a proper dad.” Todoroki made a vague, noncommittal noise, and Denki felt his blood begin to boil. “That settles it. We’re getting married and you’re just going to live with me.”
That elicited a furious blush and a squeaky voice from Todoroki. “Wh-what?”
“I hope your dad disapproves. I hope we can flaunt our gay asses in front of him. I hope he regrets his fucking life.”
“Kaminari…”
“I will personally go over to Endeavor’s hero agency and paint the building rainbow. I will get a plane to pull a banner over him wherever he goes that says ‘Fuckass’.”
“Denki.” Todoroki laughed, stopping Denki’s ranting by reaching over the table and grabbing his hand. “It’s fine. I just wanted to warn you.”
“Consider me warned, dude. And don’t worry. It’s fine if he disapproves. I disapprove of him. I’ll fight him.”
“Please don’t fight the number two hero.”
“Endeavor can fucking fight me.”
“Denki, please.”
With a deep breath, Denki heeded Todoroki’s words. “Okay, fine.”
“Thank you.” Todoroki squeezed his hand tightly. “It does mean something that you care.”
“Dude, everyone would. Literally the whole class would fight your dad if you asked.”
A gentle, sing-song chuckle. “Maybe. Still, thank you.”
Denki squeezed the hand in his as tightly as he could, trying to force all his feelings through a few finger pads. “My parents will be fine, for the record. They’ve been dealing with my shenanigans for years.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“But uh, so your dad is the actual worst.” Todoroki hummed in response. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. Obviously. But, uh, what about your mom?”
“She’s doing better.”
“Doing… better?”
“She’s uh, in the hospital. Well, a mental hospital.”
Denki felt like his innards were withering away. “What the hell, man? So, you’ve only really had your siblings?”
“For a while, yeah. When I was younger, Mom lived with us. But living with Endeavor was… she just got worse and worse until…” He gestured nonchalantly to the scar over his eye.
“What the fuck?! She did that?”
“My left side… looked like him. She didn’t want me to be him. She wasn’t thinking clearly. By then she was already so unstable. It was after that that dad put her in the hospital.”
Denki clutched the edge of the table for fear of shattering his coffee cup. His jaw hurt from how hard he was clenching it. “No offense, dude, but I hate your family.”
“Mom’s not bad. After the sports festival, I started visiting her. We’re doing okay. And my siblings help a lot. They understand, after all.”
Denki cursed as something else clicked into place in his head. “Your siblings… they don’t have both quirks, do they?” Todoroki shook his head. “They’re just… failed experiments. I’m going to fucking murder your dad.”
“Please don’t. I mean, I wouldn’t argue against it, but he would actually put you in the hospital and I prefer my boyfriend in one piece.”
The red on Denki’s face, then, was only partially from fury. “Keep calling me your boyfriend and I’ll consider hanging back.”
“If that’s what my boyfriend wants.”
He made some sort of incoherent whine. “Only because I’d rather hold your hand.”
Todoroki chuckled. “Good.”
“It might be smart to keep tutoring when he’s not home though. Honestly I was kind of nervous to meet him before but now I’m just nervous I’d end up punching him.”
“Thank you for that image.” Todoroki laughed. “But please don’t.”
“You might have to hold me back.”
“You will never escape my arms.”
“Oh, there’s the dream.”
Both of them broke down giggling, their faces redder than ever.
Once they had calmed down, Denki ventured just a little further. “But other than your dad, you think your folks will be cool with this?”
“Oh, yeah. My siblings all know I’m not straight anyway, and Mom is… well it’s been a while. I don’t know what she’ll think, but I’m not too worried about it. Even if she doesn’t approve, which I think she will, she won’t actually be a problem for us.”
“Hmm, yeah. We might need to have date night at my place if the ‘eugenics hero’ is home.”
Todoroki snorted, barely managing not to spill his tea. “Denki, oh my god.”
“What? Don’t like it?” He grinned mischievously. “I can think of more, I’m sure.”
“No, it’s fine! Please don’t.” Todoroki was already doing his best to hold back his laughter, ducking his head cutely and biting his lip and bringing a hand to hover near his mouth and his eyes unfocused in their mirth. There it is. Denki could only watch with adoration. He needs to look like that more often.
Denki drank his coffee to allow them both time to cool down. When the atmosphere came back to ground-level, he looked up at Todoroki and said, “Thank you for telling me.”
“It’s nothing. You deserve to know.”
“It’s not nothing. I just hope I can help.”
“You already do.”
Denki smiled fondly and allowed silence to take over once more. A transition, a reset for a new tone and a new topic. “Anything else you can think of that worries you about this?”
“Only that I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Hey, same.”
“And you?”
“Nothing I haven’t said. Or implied. You’re sure you’re okay with me being cuddly with Mina and the others?”
Todoroki smiled and shook his head. “Of course, I am. That’s something that I like about you.”
Denki swallowed the lump in his throat. “Good.”
“Is that it, then?”
The fond hope in Todoroki’s eyes made Denki’s words strong. “I hope so. We’re going to do this?”
“If you want to.”
“That is all I want right now.”
“Heh, then I guess we’re boyfriends.”
“Guess so.” They smiled at each other, drank some more, smiled more. Silence stretched on. Denki’s smile was a permanent fixture, but he was still beginning to let the quiet wear on him. “So… what now?”
Todoroki laughed awkwardly. “No idea.”
“Hey, do you mind pet names? Like if I call you ‘babe’ or ‘darling’ sometimes, would that be okay?”
“Maybe ease into it.”
Denki shrugged. “I got used to ‘Shouto’ pretty quick. You’re going to need to tell me when it’s okay and not, alright?”
Todoroki ran a hand down his face. “For now, just keep it within our class. Is that okay?”
“Course, babe.”
“Oh my god. Our friends are going to freak out when they hear you say something like that.”
“Honey, our friends are freaking out right now and they don’t even know what’s going on.”
“That’s… not inaccurate.”
“Imagine their reactions the first time they see us kiss.”
Todoroki blushed even more intensely than he had been. “Do I have to?”
Denki snickered. “Mina might actually scream so maybe watch your ears.”
“Why don’t we worry about that when we get to that point.”
“Pfft. Fair.” Denki downed the last of his coffee, licking his lips. “You were right. This place is good.”
“Their muffins are the best thing in the morning.”
“Ooh, I bet you’re better.”
“Denki.”
He grinned. “Sorry. Sorry. Couldn’t help it.”
Todoroki sighed, resigned. “Well, I signed up for it.” He drained his own cup and placed it down much more gently than Denki had. After a few more minutes of talking, just about themselves – their favorite things, their hobbies, things like that, a lot of it wasn’t particularly new or surprising, but it was stuff that Denki committed to memory – Todoroki’s eyes flicked to the window. “What time is it?”
Denki looked to see that it had gotten dark. “Don’t know.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check. “Ech. Nine.”
Todoroki sighed. “We still have homework.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“And school tomorrow.”
“Why?”
Todoroki chuckled. “Come on. You need time to get your homework done. We should go.”
Denki sighed but stood along with Todoroki. They walked to the door and, once outside, linked hands. “You know,” he said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of my friends is camped out at my place right now.”
“Tell them I said you need to do your homework.”
“That’s not going to stop them.”
Todoroki hummed. “Promise me you’ll do your homework before you speak a word about tonight to anyone.”
“What? Why?”
“If you promise, your friends will help you with your homework and you might even have time to talk to them before you need to sleep.”
“Good point! I promise.”
Todoroki chuckled. “Good. And please go to sleep at a reasonable time.” They walked quietly until it became time for them to part ways, going opposite directions down the street. They turned to look at each other, awkwardly pretending that they didn’t need to let go of the other’s hand. Denki felt weird just leaving, and a hug felt strange for whatever reason, but he couldn’t conjure the courage to go for anything else so he just kind of waited for Todoroki to do something. “Can I, uh…” Todoroki said, reading Denki’s mind. “Do something a little forward?”
“You can be as forward as you want.”
In the soft lamplight, Denki saw Todoroki blush. He leaned forward, getting closer and closer and Denki panicked on the inside. And then a careful hand touched his left cheek and lips met his right. “Good night, Denki.” Denki felt the words on his skin, transcribed like a tattoo on his face. “Thank you.”
Todoroki turned away and didn’t look back as he power-walked away. Denki touched his cheek, the place where Todoroki’s lips had touched him. “Later, Shouto…” He mumbled. Todoroki waved over his shoulder to show he had heard, and Denki turned away, still caressing his own cheek, still in disbelief.
He was, frankly, surprised he made it home with the daze he was in the entire time. He kissed me? He fucking kissed me. Like, on the cheek, yeah, but he kissed me. He initiated it, as like, his idea. What the fuck? “Kaminari!”
He snapped out of it enough to see Ashido lounging in his living room. “Mina…” He sighed. Of course she’s still here. “I promised Shouto I’d do homework before telling you about tonight.”
Ashido pouted. “Oh, fine! Good thing Bakugou’s still here!”
“What?”
“Mina!” Kirishima pranced into the room. “Do you remember wher- oh! Kaminari’s back!” He shouted over his shoulder.
Denki blinked. “Are Mom and Dad asleep?”
Ashido snickered. “Yeah. You know, they really shouldn’t trust us alone like this.”
“I know. Please tell me you guys haven’t destroyed anything.”
“Okay,” Kirishima said, “we won’t tell you.”
“Denki!” Sero came barreling out of the kitchen. “How’d it go? Tell me it went well!”
Ashido answered for him. “Apparently, he promised his boyfriend to do his homework before telling us.”
“Boyfriend?” Sero asked.
“Boyfriend!” Kirishima cheered. Denki wondered if his parents were really, somehow, sleeping through this, or if they just wanted to let him suffer.
“My word, not his,” Ashido said, “but he’s not denying it.”
Denki shifted on his feet. “No… I’m not.”
Three bodies flew at him at max speed, throwing him off balance and sending all of them crashing to the floor.
“Hey! Sparky!” Strong hands grabbed his shoulders and lifted him easily out of the pile. Denki found himself face to face with Bakugou. “Get your stupid homework done so these idiots will shut up.” He placed Denki gently on his feet and his hand, for some reason found its way to Denki’s head. Holy shit. “And don’t screw it up. I’m going home.”
“Wait, Bakugou!” Kirishima grabbed his leg before he could pass by. “It’s already late. Just stay with the rest of us.”
“Why the fuck would I want to do that? I only stayed this long because you assholes wouldn’t let me leave.”
“Well, I’m still not letting you leave!”
Bakugou snarled, shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked back to the couch. “Fuckin’ fine.”
“Wait, hold on.” Denki said. “All four of you are staying over? Where are you going to sleep?”
Ashido threw her hand in the air. “I call bed with Denki!”
“I don’t mind the floor.” Kirishima said. “You’ve got room on your floor.”
“I do?”
Kirishima grinned sheepishly. “We kind of got bored.”
“Alright, then.” Sero said. “I’ll sleep with Denki and Mina on the bed and you can sleep with Bakugou.”
“Fuck you guys. You ain’t keeping me here and making me sleep on the floor.”
“You want bed with Mina and Denki?”
“I’m sleeping in the fucking bed. Fuck if I care where you all do.”
Kirishima chuckled and shrugged. “Looks like we’re cuddle buddies, Sero.”
“And do your goddamn homework, Sparky!”
Denki fled to his room to begin his homework before Bakugou made him. Ashido tailed him, and since she had already done her homework (one of the many things they had gotten up to while Denki was on his date) it was a simple task to get through it all.
In the meanwhile, his friends all set up their sleeping areas. Kirishima and Sero pulled some blankets onto the cleared floor (Where did they put all my stuff?), Bakugou curled up on the bed against the wall, Ashido, when she wasn’t helping Denki, was building some sort of fort with Sero and Kirishima in the middle of the room.
When he finally finished and put his pencil down with a sigh, the others were waiting with bated breath. Except Bakugou, who looked like he might have already been asleep. Maybe we should be quiet.
He sat at the foot of the bed, Ashido taking her place next to him and Sero and Kirishima sitting attentively in their little nest of blankets and pillows that Denki could only assume his parents gave them before they went to bed.
“Well?” Ashido prompted.
“It was… nice.” Denki said, already feeling his cheeks warming. “I mean, it wasn’t all that much. We just talked about our worries and stuff, you know? And joked a bit. Decided on some limits. That’s all.”
“Denki. Honey, I love you, but I need the play-by-play.”
“Please?” Kirishima drew out his request until Denki caved in and started recounting the nights events.
He left off the bits about Todoroki’s family, deciding that it wasn’t his business to share it, and his friends understood and respected when he told them he couldn’t say because it was personal. Past that, though, he enthusiastically freaked out right along with them. When he mentioned the conversation about the shovel talks, Bakugou sat up and growled at them, reminding Denki that he would definitely kick his butt if he did something stupid and messed it up, but not denying he’d do the same with Todoroki.
The others, wisely, chose not to point that out.
“You’re right, though. We need to go have a chat with your new boyfriend.”
“You’re also right that we’ll defend him, too.”
“Sorry bro, it’s true.”
Denki shook his head and kept going. As he recounted their flirting, his friends (obviously) felt the need to comment, a wolf whistle or a “damn!” or a “fuck, Todoroki said that?” but it wasn’t until Denki was wrapping up his story and came to the goodbye kiss that everyone jumped out of their seats to tackle him.
He was knocked back into Bakugou, who just muttered about his idiot friends but otherwise just righted him and laid back down. A few minutes into the freak-out of all his friends, Bakugou finally shouted, “Alright, story’s over! Now get the fuck to sleep, we have school tomorrow!”
I can’t believe Bakugou’s the mom friend. Denki snickered, sharing a look with Ashido that told him she was thinking the same thing. Together, they jumped to their spots on the bed. It was a bit of a squeeze, but thankfully Bakugou seemed to have accepted that and didn’t put up a fuss. So, pinned between Ashido and Bakugou, Denki decided that Bakugou was probably right. If they didn’t go to sleep soon, they’d be exhausted in the morning. Again. So, he closed his eyes and focused on keeping his breathing deep and slow and soon enough he had fallen asleep.
Waking up to Bakugou’s peaceful, dare he say content, face was good enough for him, though Denki was a little afraid that Bakugou would, in the haze of morning, forget why he was in that situation and end up blowing him to school with a single blast, but he figured Bakugou had more control than that.
And he did. When Bakugou woke up, the only real noticeable change was the scowl that planted itself on his lips. “Time…” He muttered, rubbing at his bleary eyes.
“Six.” Denki said.
“Ugh, fuck. Alright.” Bakugou sat up, all traces of his tiredness slipping away. “I’m going to go get ready. Let these guys sleep. They can fight over the bathroom when I’m done.”
Denki snickered. “Sure thing, bro.”
He stood and stepped carefully around Denki and Ashido and leapt easily over Sero and Kirishima’s fort, landing at the door to Denki’s room with just a soft thud. He didn’t look back when he left the room. Just freaking jump over them. Sure. Denki shook his head, exasperated because that was pretty much the main reason he hadn’t gotten up. With five of them and only a couple bathrooms in the house, getting ready would take a while, so he thought it would be a good idea to get up early. But stuck as he was in the corner of the room, he just shrugged and hugged Ashido close to him and dozed a little more.
Until his mother came in to wake them all up with barely enough time to brush their teeth before they were flying out the door in a mad rush to catch the train to school.
The group got an odd look when they burst into the classroom. No one really thought it was odd behavior, but they’d never seen a group so big do it at once. Iida stood to say something about punctuality and once they were free to find their seats, Denki just trudged straight past his desk to find Todoroki. “I’m so tired.” He whined.
“I told you to go to sleep.”
“Yeah, but you can’t just sleep when the whole squad is over. Come on, Shouto, who do you think I am?”
Todoroki chuckled. “All of them slept over at your place?” He eyed the four others. “I understand, then. Anyone would be tired.”
Denki took a seat on Todoroki’s desk, much to Iida’s horror. “Honestly, it’s Bakugou’s fault we got any sleep at all. Thanks, Blasty.”
“At least someone is responsible in your group.”
Denki snickered. “Hey, we do our best.”
“I’m sure.”
“Kaminari!” Iida exclaimed. “I insist you get off the desk this instant!”
“Whoops. Sorry, Class Pres.” He hopped off the desk.
“You really should return to your seat! Class is going to start in just a few minutes.”
“Can do.” He turned to Todoroki and put a hand on his shoulder. “Talk to you after class, babe.”
Todoroki hummed. “Yeah.”
Denki spun on his toes and sashayed down the aisle, grinning like a fool at the stunned look on the faces of everyone within earshot who hadn’t already been in on it.
“Kaminari!” A few different people shouted.
“Todoroki!” A few others.
“What the heck?”
“Oh my god, he called him ‘babe’!”
“When did that happen?”
Todoroki blushed and coughed awkwardly when bombarded with questions, and Denki decided to take pity on him to return and clear up everything. “It happened when he agreed to be my boyfriend, of course.”
A renewed bout of screaming.
“Everyone, please! We need to quiet down!”
“When did this happen?! You two are dating?”
Only the arrival of Mr. Aizawa and the beginning of class was enough to shush everyone, but even that couldn’t wipe the smug smirk off of Denki’s face. When he looked behind him, Todoroki rolled his eyes and sent him a playful smirk. Denki made a heart with his hands and smiled. Love you, Shouto.