Chapter Text
Kaminari Denki wasn't dumb. Sure he wasn't what people would call smart, but he wasn't dumb. The class had accepted his goofy, happy-go-lucky personality and simply left it at that. The truth was, Kaminari was a lot more complicated than others thought. He had ADHD, that they knew. They just never really took the time to understand what that meant.
So here the class are, sat in a large hall, tables spread out with groups of 5 or 6 people at each. Every student from all of the 1st year courses were here. On a stage at the front stood Present Mic, cue cards in hand.
They were having a quiz night. It was just a bit of fun, suggested by some of the students from the support course. They obviously thought they had this in the bag and that riled Bakugou up to no end.
"Dunce face, you're with us." Bakugou had said as soon as the event had been announced. Kaminari had already assumed he would group with the squad, but it was nice being included. A couple of their classmates gave them odd, judgemental looks. It was clear they hadn't planned on asking their dim goofy classmate and couldn't understand why Bakugou was so determined to have him.
Sat in the front corner Kirishima, Mina, Sero, Bakugou and Kaminari took out their pens and for what felt like the first time, the group got serious. They each had their own pieces of paper to write what they thought were the answers. Then Bakugou could write it on the answer sheet, without others overhearing. They made sure to act like they normally would, to throw others off and maybe disrupt them a bit. It may have been cruel, but they were willing to play a little dirty.
Bakugou's main goal of the night, other than answering the questions correctly, was to keep Kaminari focused. The selection of fidget toys and snacks on the table doing just the job.
"How can you tell when a strawberry is ripe for picking?" Present Mic sounded from in front of them.
"Leaves curl up," Kaminari said idly, still focused on the snake like fidget in his hands. The paper for his answers all but forgotten. He then shoots his head up and lets out a loud gasp. "We should go strawberry picking! We could pick a load and then make jam or something! I saw a video on how to do it, it can't be that hard!"
His voice was loud and probably carried over most of the room.
Mina agreed with Kaminari, her enthusiasm matching his own. It wasn't until Present Mic asked the next question, that they calmed again.
"Name the first actor to play Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter film series."
Once again Kaminari answered almost instantly.
"Richard Harris. Hey, have you guys ever read the books?" Denki then went off explaining how the original English was so much better than the Japanese translation.
The rest of the evening went the same from then. The others offering their answers every now and then. There were obviously some Kaminari didn't know the answers to but between them they could make a pretty decent guess at it.
At the end of the evening, the teams swapped their answer sheets and got to scoring them. The vibe was calm and fun, a lot of groans or moments of chaos. That was no surprise with the way Present Mic was egging them on.
What was a surprise to all, but Bakugou apparently was the results.
Working from last place up, the scores were announced. There were a few teams that took their loss gracefully, but obviously the more competitive once became somewhat aggressive. It never got further than a few flavourful words, after some rather stern looks from Aizawa and some of the others milling around the edges of the room.
All those in Bakugou's group, other than the boy himself goofed around having assumed they had missed their team’s name somewhere along the way.
"This is it everyone, second place is... drum roll please... QUIZTAIN BALE!"
There was a cheer from the second-place team as they got up and made their way to the stage. There was a silence after the initial ruckus. Everyone has expected first place to start celebrating, but there was nothing.
Bakugou smirked knowingly, leaning back to watch his idiots. They were still goofing off, looking out for whichever table had come first, making guesses at who it could be. Somehow they had started a small food fight amongst themselves with their leftover snacks. Sero had shoved a handful of marshmallows into Kirishima's face, Mina had shoved a selection of skittles up Kaminari's nose as he tipped the last of his crisps over her head. Idiots.
"Well if you're really going to make me say it myself I guess first place goes to... Drum roll please.... BLASTY AND THE BAKUBABES!"
There was an uproar throughout the hall along with polite applause. There were a few people shouting "cheats" across the room, but nobody was more shocked than those at the table.
Kirishima choked on his marshmallows, eyes streaming. Sero started slapping his back, mouth hanging open in shock. Mina jerked her hand hard, sending the skittles even further up Kaminari's nose, causing him to fall off his chair. Bakugou finally let out one loud bark of laughter. He wasn't going to admit it hut this was one of the best things he had seen in a long while.
"Well come on, I don't have all day little listeners!" Mic called to them, laughing at the reactions.
"No way! There's no way they won without cheating!" Someone called from the crowd. That someone Bakugou could tell was that gross grape he never bothered to learn the name of.
Mina was the first to make a move, helping Kaminari up and grabbing the other boys.
They made their way on stage and received a rather sad looking trophy from their English teacher.
"Right on! Tell us, what's your secret?" The teacher asked with enthusiasm.
"GOOGLE" Someone shouted from the crowd, gaining a few snickers from those around.
"Pfft as if we need that to beat you dumb extras! We had our own secret weapon!" Bakugou pushed Kaminari roughly forwards. And as if to disprove his point, a skittle chose that exact moment to shoot straight from the golden boy's nose into the crowd.
"Ewwww!" A table of girls at the front screeched. The hall filled with roars of laughter and jeers.
"No way that idiot knew any of the answers!" "I bet he can't even count to 10!" "He must have had a phone or something!"
These comments had Bakugou enraged, small explosions sparking off in his hand. The others around him sharing in his anger. Before any of them could act, Kaminari had shot off the stage. The movement being just enough to redirect their attention. The electric boy fled through a fire door to their left. Wasting no time, Bakugou sent one final death glare to the hall and bolted after him.
"Stay here." He shot back at the rest if his group.
He didn't have to look far as there, in the middle of the path was his friend. It was clear in his desperation to leave quickly, he had tripped and failed to get back up. Instead he just sat there. Blood welling in the grazes on his knees and palms. He was shaking. Not shaking, sobbing.
"Hey dun- Kaminari. Are you... Okay?" The lighter blond asked in as soft a voice as he could muster. He wasn't really very good at comforting, well anyone really. But he couldn't help feeling the tiniest bit guilty for the reaction of the crowd.
The boy before him wiped aggressively at his eyes. He looked up with the biggest, fakest grin Bakugou had ever seen.
"O-of course man, why- why wouldn't I be?" Kaminari croaked. He pushed himself to his feet, wincing as his cuts began to sting.
Bakugou grabbed his arm and dragged him over to a bench. He knelt in front of the other boy, inspecting the wounds.
"They're not right you know. Those damn extras. You're smart, just in your own way. I'm fucking smart but even I didn't know some of those answers. Just... Just don't pay attention to them, they don't know shit." Bakugou huffed, avoiding any eye contact.
"I- I- thank you Bakugou." Kaminari grinned, this time a broad, natural smile.
"Don't mention it dunc- Kaminari."
"Denki, please." Kaminari added hopefully.
Bakugou looked up into those wide, glistening eyes.
"Fine. Katsuki." He grumbled, looking away slightly pink in the face.
"Yay Kacchan!" Denki cheered.
"Nope!" Katsuki yelled as he set off a small blast in the golden boy's face.