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Denki had never felt so terrified in his life.
He was a student in class 1A at U.A high, so of course, he’d been through his fair share of terrifying villain standoffs, including with the infamous villain group known as the League Of Villains. Still, even if someone like Tomura Shigaraki were to suddenly appear right now, four fingers pressed against Denki’s neck and threatening to turn him into nothing but dust, Denki still didn’t think he’d be more scared than he was in this very moment.
He stumbled out of the red sports car, leaning against the side door while watching with half-lidded eyes as his classmates celebrated completing the drill. Tamaki and Nejire had both been apprehended, Mirio had been rescued, and they’d done it all in an acceptable amount of time. Denki however, couldn’t find the strength within him to start celebrating with the others.
All of the sounds surrounding him—the cheers and applause and furious shouts from Katsuki—seemed to fade away suddenly, leaving nothing but an empty, muffled nothingness in its place. His mind went hazy, and one of his last thoughts were “Something’s wrong,” before he lost the ability to think clearly altogether.
He wanted to form words, to try and alert the others as to what was going on, but the sentences only seemed to die on his tongue, leaving behind a bitter taste.
This was scary. He felt scared. Terrified. Yet on the outside, he just looked as if he’d gone completely motionless and blank; his normally bright, golden eyes were reduced to a dull, lifeless yellow.
This wasn’t what normally happened when he used his quirk excessively. This wasn’t his usual “short-circuiting”. This was something different. Something worse.
──★
“Come on, dude! I don’t even know how to drive a car, let alone one that’s clearly busted!”
Denki complained with exasperation, his hands buried in his golden hair and tugging anxiously on the strands. This reaction resulted in a low, frustrated growl to be drawn from Katsuki’s throat, and although Eijirou stood close by, looking like he wanted to interject, he was quickly silenced by one sharp glare from the ash blond, his crimson gaze being piercing enough to cut through diamonds.
Then, Katsuki huffed, pointing a finger at Denki before berating him.
“Then use your shitty quirk to power up the car, dumbass! It’s not that hard!”
He shouted before turning around, sauntering towards what appeared to be a red sports car. The car looked new, probably brought to the training grounds specifically for this drill, but it seemed to have been tampered with on purpose. Intriguingly, jumper cables could be found inside it, lying on the driver's seat.
The moment Katsuki saw the car and the state it was in however, an idea formed in his mind. He was not about to let it go to waste.
“Yeah, okay, but I still don’t actually know how to dri–“
“Put your damn foot on the gas, and steer,” Katsuki interrupted Denki mid-sentence, “Not that hard, dunce-face.”
Katsuki then paused for a moment, turning his head to give Denki a half-glance,
“This is one of the only things I know you’d be good at, so don’t mess this shit up.”
“Gee, thanks…”
Denki sulked, rolling his eyes at the half-assed encouragement as he began to trail behind Katsuki and Eijirou, the latter of whom giving him an apologetic smile. Both Denki and Eijirou understood that this was Katsuki’s way of being “uplifting” or even “loving”, but god, he really needed to work on his word choice.
The drill at Ground Beta was going just as class 1A had envisioned. Well, mostly. Hanta and Momo had apprehended Nejire, who was currently pouting like a frustrated toddler as she struggled against the tape she was retrained in. Mirio had been saved from “drowning” by Tsuyu and Minorou… twice. Their only obstacle now was Tamaki, who had shown up unexpectedly with a weary look on his pale face, pretending to be a villain just like Nejire was.
The only students who weren’t actually present and actively involved were the three boys: Katsuki, Eijirou, and Denki, having left everyone else early on to “leave the rescuing to the extras and search for villains instead!”, as Katsuki so delicately put it.
Now, it seemed as though the trio was due for a little joyride.
──★
“Hit the damn gas, sparks! God, is that the fastest you can go?!”
Katsuki barked, crouching on top of the hood of the car as it flew down the faux city streets, being both powered and driven by Denki. Katsuki kept his eyes open wide, scanning the area meticulously for any “villains”, or “pedestrians” for that matter.. you never knew what Nezu and the other staff members at U.A. had up their sleeves when it came to sudden drills like these.
“I’m doing my best, okay?!”
Denki replied, eyebrows furrowed in concentration and words slightly muffled by the two wires that were clenched between his teeth. By using his electrification quirk, he was able to effectively power the car and keep it running with the help of the jumper cables. However, if he wanted the car to go faster, he’d have to use a higher, stronger voltage.
It was difficult for him to drive, use his quirk, and focus on not crashing into a wall all at the same time. Katsuki’s yelling and harsh demands weren’t making this any easier, and he was trying his hardest not to get overwhelmed. After all, heroes didn’t get overwhelmed.
“You guys better hold on tight!”
He warned, causing Eijirou, who was sitting in the passenger seat, to brace himself against the door. Denki took in a deep breath before gritting his teeth and focusing hard, unleashing another strong wave of electricity into the wires as the car rumbled beneath them, quickly beginning to pick up speed.
Golden sparks of electric power danced across Denki’s fingertips as he gripped the steering wheel tighter; they had to be going well over a hundred miles an hour at this point, and Denki was starting to experience that all too familiar feeling he usually felt when he overused his quirk.
He was feeling lightheaded, his brain felt like it was buzzing, and his jaw was starting to ache from how hard he was biting down on the wires. He shook his head, narrowing his eyes. He had to keep it together. He didn’t want to be the reason why his class failed this drill.
Eijirou, ever observant, seemed to notice Denki’s growing fatigue. He reached out to touch the other boy’s shoulder— physical touch was definitely Denki’s love language—but he then swiftly halted his movement, pulling back when he realized that he might risk getting shocked if he touched him. The little sparks of aureate energy that seemed to twirl and prance near Denki’s body were a fair warning.
“Hey, Denks!”
Eijirou prompted, having to yell in order for Denki to hear his voice over the sound of the car’s roaring engine.
“You okay, man? D’ya need to slow down? You’re lookin’ a little frazzled!“
“If you slow down I’ll fuckin’ blast your ass into next week!”
Katsuki butted in before Denki could answer, having turned his head to glare at the other two teens. He was obviously getting a serious adrenaline rush from this, and Denki would’ve rolled his eyes from the absurdity of it if he wasn’t worried about breaking his concentration.
“No, I- I’m good! I can keep going!”
He declared, body stiffening as he pressed his foot down on the accelerator further. The engine screeched, clouds of smoke rising from the tailpipe and trailing behind the car as it soared and swerved. The streets were empty, thankfully, with not one villain or victim being spotted. Denki was even starting to relax a little now, finally getting into the rhythm of driving while simultaneously using his quirk.
Then, there was the sound of a crash in the distance.
The three boys reacted instantly, their heads whipping around to face towards where the sound had come from.
That was where the rest of the class had been headed.
“Shit,”
Katsuki grumbled, glancing over at Denki to give him another command, but Denki was already ahead of him, gripping the wheel and turning the car in the opposite direction. They were absolutely zooming down the street now, intense pulses of electricity radiating from Denki in rapid waves.
His arms were now tingling, the pins and needles feeling starting to spread down his body. It hurt. God, it burned, but he couldn’t lose focus now. Not when his friends could be in danger.
Denki grunted, his grip on the steering wheel being stronger than iron as he took a sharp turn back towards the main part of Ground Beta.
It didn’t take long for the trio to hone in on what had caused that loud sound from earlier. Katsuki, Eijirou, and Denki all narrowed their eyes, focusing on the indigo-haired figure that could be seen looming over Izuku in the distance. Denki gasped in realization.
“Woah, dude, is that?—“
“Amajiki.”
Katsuki finished Denki’s sentence for him, his body stiffening.
“Fuckin’ pointy-eared bastard thinks he’s better than us! Damn villain scum!”
“You’re really getting into his, huh?”
Eijirou couldn’t help but snicker, causing Katsuki to get even more worked up. The blond boy had another idea in his mind though; one that would guarantee their victory.
“Get the hell up here, red! And sparks, keep driving as fast as you can! We’re taking this bastard down!”
──★
“Is- Is that Red Riot?!”
Tamaki exclaimed, his head whipping around to see Eijirou practically flying towards him, having been propelled off the hood of the car and into the air by Katsuki’s explosive quirk. Eijirou grinned, his teeth sharp and shark-like as he used his own quirk to harden his skin before colliding into Tamaki’s back, effectively stunning him for a moment.
Denki continued to drive behind him, golden pulses of electricity pumping from his body and into the jumper cables relentlessly. Only as he watched Katsuki also jump off of the car, using his own quirk to catapult himself into the air, did Denki finally begin to slow the car down.
He came skidding to a halt, his chest hitting the steering wheel as his gaze trailed up to watch Katsuki finish “the villain” off.
Katsuki had grabbed Tamaki by the collar of his shirt, a fiery expression on his face, and he slammed him into the ground, forcefully apprehending him.
The drill was finally over.
“Attention, students of class 1A,”
Principal Nezu’s voice spoke, coming from the several intercoms placed on the faux skyscrapers of Ground Beta,
“The drill has been successfully completed. I repeat, the drill has been successfully completed.”
Everyone began to celebrate, cheering and giving each other high-fives. Katsuki of course was still very much “in character”, continuing to berate Tamaki in an attempt to get him to get back up and fight. The others reacted normally to Katsuki’s behavior, either scolding him, laughing it off, or ignoring him entirely, but Denki had remained silent and motionless in the car.
He leaned back in the driver's seat, a shaky, tired sigh escaping his lips as he removed the jumper cable wires from his mouth, allowing them to fall limply beside him. He stared down at his trembling hands, watching the sparks of electricity dance across his fingertips.
He wasn’t doing that on purpose; he couldn’t control his quirk right now, even though he wasn’t actively using it. This was mildly worrying to the yellow-haired boy, but he figured that it would stop eventually. After all, he always felt a little bit off after using his quirk in rapid succession like this.
His classmates often made light of it, laughing and joking that “Denki went dumb again”. Well, the term “made light of it” would be sugarcoating the relentless teasing and name-calling he endured, but he never said anything about it. He didn’t want to be a crybaby.
Regaining some of his strength, Denki was able to open the door, stumbling out of the car and catching himself against the side of it. His brain still felt like it was throbbing, and now, there was an odd, cloudy feeling starting to surface.
He glanced around at his surroundings, trying to focus on something. Anything, but it was as if his vision had been fogged up. He could just barely hear someone joking about how he must’ve “short-circuited” again. He couldn’t tell if that was Mina, or Kyoka, or Momo, or any of his other classmates though, since all of the sounds surrounding him were starting to blur together into one muffled amalgamation.
“Wha… w-what’s..?—“
Denki stuttered, voice trembling as a sudden and heavy wave of dread washed over him. He didn’t know what was happening. He knew what he normally felt like after he used his quirk, but this was different. This was worse.
His whole body was tingling, and now, small black dots were beginning to cloud his vision as well. There was a bad taste in his mouth.. something metallic-y.. and surges of bright yellow electricity kept jumping and flashing from his hands. He slid down the side of the car, now sitting beside it, eyes half-lidded and blinking rapidly.
He couldn’t control his face.
He couldn’t control his body.
He whimpered, half from discomfort and half from fear as he glanced up, just barely being able to make out Eijirou standing a few feet away. He opened his mouth to speak. To yell. To do anything, but it felt as if his voice had fizzled out entirely.
Again, his brain was buzzing; stronger this time. It felt like little zaps inside of his head.
He could feel his eyes fill with tears. He never considered himself to be a really “emotional” person, but he was scared. Terrified. He didn’t know what was happening. For all he knew, he could’ve been dying.
Although he was struggling to hear anything, he figured that he must’ve made another noise due to the fact that his classmates were starting to turn to look at him. He could just make out their faces—Eijirou and Katsuki’s faces—shift from confusion to horror upon seeing the state he was in.
Then, his body stiffened. As the buzzing in his head reached its peak, his eyes rolled back into his skull, mouth slightly agape as he fell unconscious.
It wasn’t long before the convulsions started.
──★
“Denki?!”
“Oh my god, he passed out!”
“Is he having a seizure?!”
“Somebody get a teacher!”
There was a sudden flurry of voices surrounding Denki’s unconscious body, his classmates all gathering around him like a colony of ants. Even Tamaki and Nejire, the “villains” who had been swiftly forgotten, were up and running to help their underclassmen.
At first, nobody moved. Nobody knew what to do. They all watched with wide, horrified eyes as Denki writhed and convulsed on the asphalt, lips and eyelids twitching uncontrollably, a streak of saliva running down the side of his mouth. Then, suddenly, Katsuki was shoving his way through the crowd, shouting expletives at whoever was standing in his way. Eijirou followed close behind, eyes wide with dread.
“Oi, sparky! What the hell are you..-“
Katsuki’s voice trailed off once he reached the front of the crowd, jaw going slack as his scarlet eyes locked onto Denki’s trembling form.
He couldn’t help but to just stare down at the boy at first. It was surreal.. even a little nauseating to see the normally bright and lively boy in such a disturbing state. Katsuki’s mind started going to dark places, immediately thinking the worst. For the first time.. ever, really, he was forced to contemplate just how much Denki meant to him. Just how much it’d hurt him if something happened to Denki, even if he’d never admit it.
Eijirou had been the first to move forward, practically lunging towards Denki as soon as he saw him. His strong arms wrapped around Denki’s limp body, trying to hold him up and keep him from choking on his own saliva. He turned Denki partially on his side, being as delicate as he could.
“Dude, what do we do?!”
Eijirou looked up at Katsuki, who was still frozen in shock. Mina had rushed over as well by this point, down on her knees in front of Denki.
“Denki?! Denki! Wake up!”
She pleaded, her pink hands moving to clutch Denki’s arm.
“Stop fucking yelling!”
Katsuki commanded, his tone of voice hypocritically elevated.
He had snapped out of his little daze, and was now also crouched down in front of Denki, beside Mina. He knew absolutely nothing about what was going on with the golden-haired boy. He could only assume that this was a seizure, but even still, he had no clue on what should be done in this type of situation.
The only reason why he was taking charge at all was because he felt like he needed to be in control. After all, his best friend could be dying right now. He needed some sort of authority. He needed to feel like he could do something.
“Hey, pointy-ears! Chatty girl!”
Katsuki whipped his head around, glaring at Tamaki and Nejire, the latter of whom having apparently annoyed Katsuki by talking too much at some point.
“Go get Eraserhead and the others! And be quick about it!”
“Already on it!”
Nejire nodded, turning to leave Ground Beta, using her quirk’s energy waves to float and propel herself forward. Tamaki followed close behind on foot, and with that, everyone’s attention shifted back towards Denki.
The boy was still being held in Ejirou’s arms, body continuing to convulse. The jerking and shaking was so violent.. Eijirou had to keep a hand underneath Denki’s head just to prevent him from potentially giving himself a concussion. Denki was making sounds though, involuntarily ones that were mostly groans and whimpers that sounded pained.
Katsuki leaned in close to Denki’s chest as the others watched with bated breaths, and he pressed his ear right where Denki’s heart was, listening closely. Denki’s heartbeat was rapid, and even through his hero costume, Katsuki could feel how warm Denki’s skin was. Katsuki’s eyebrows furrowed in frustration and worry, pulling away and silently eyeing Denki’s chest for a moment. That’s when he also noticed how shallow the other boy’s breathing was.
“Goddammit, sparky..”
Katsuki muttered under his breath, hand clenched into a fist and moving up to press against Denki’s sternum, rubbing up and down. Denki remained unresponsive.
“You’ve gotta breathe, dumbass.. c’mon..”
Eijirou and Mina followed suit, and they both made moves to comfort Denki more physically, with Eijirou running his hand up and down Denki’s back and Mina lightly squeezing Denki’s hand, the latter wincing softly as she felt the small jolts of uncontrolled electric shocks. The pain didn’t deter her from wanting to be there for Denki, though. All they could do was wait this out.
──★
Time felt like it was moving agonizingly slowly.
It had only been a minute, maybe two or three, but the longer this went on for, the more worried everyone got.
“So.. like.. how long is this supposed to go on for? If this is a seizure.. this can’t be good, right?”
Hanta had asked no one in particular, him and Kyoka having joined the rest of the “bakusquad”, as Mina so vehemently called them, on the ground beside Denki.
Katsuki growled in response, not even wanting to go there. Mina shook her head, not having a proper answer either. Eijirou’s gaze flicked from Denki’s face to Hanta’s, a look of uncertainty in his ruby-red eyes as they locked with Hanta’s black ones. The redhead wanted so badly to stay optimistic.. he needed to stay optimistic. Otherwise, what would he have left in this situation?
This wasn’t something he could physically protect Denki from. This wasn’t a villain that he could apprehend. This was internal. That fact was making him lose his mind.
“We just.. have to wait a couple more minutes.”
Eijirou finally spoke, voice wavering but determined. He adjusted his grip on Denki, making sure not to hold him too tight or restrain him in any way. He didn’t know a lot about seizures, but he did know that pinning the other boy down was probably a bad idea.. Eijirou didn’t want to accidentally hurt Denki, or cause Denki to hurt himself.
A few more good moments pass before finally, finally, the convulsions that were wracking Denki’s body seemed to taper off. There were collective gasps from everyone, followed by sighs of relief.. though there was definitely still tension in the air. Nobody wanted to celebrate too soon.
“Is.. is he?..”
Mina prompted meekly, now almost scared to touch the catatonic boy in fear of somehow triggering something.
“He’s still breathing. Shallow, but he’s fine.”
Katsuki answered the unspoken question, one hand still pressed against Denki’s chest while his other snaked down to grasp Denki’s wrist. Although he tried to appear unbothered, the worry in his tone still seeped through.
“He’s kind of warm… but at least the worst part is over, right? That felt like it was gonna last forever..”
Eijirou managed to smile, gently shifting Denki’s body again so that the boy could lie flat on the ground. Denki himself had gone completely flaccid now, his arms, legs, and head going limp as his eyes drifted shut.
“So.. when do you think he’s gonna..-“
Eijirou was about to ask something regarding when Denki might become conscious again, but he was cut off by a familiar, high-pitched voice in the distance, followed by the sound of several rapid footsteps. Everyone’s heads whipped around, and god, they all could’ve cried tears of relief upon seeing Nejire, Tamaki, and their teachers rushing towards their huddled little group.
“We’re here! Did we take too long?! I’m sorry if we did, but we brought reinforcements!”
Nejire had exclaimed from a distance, flying towards the group of younger teens with Tamaki close behind. By their sides were class 1A’s homeroom teacher: Shouta Aizawa, U.A’s school nurse: Recovery Girl, and U.A’s english teacher: Hizashi Yamada, who was carrying Recovery Girl, for whatever reason.. probably because the older woman wouldn’t be able to run that fast on her own.
“What’s the situation?”
Shouta had asked as soon as he was within earshot, eyes locking with Momo’s. He knew that class 1A’s vice president would give him a thorough, but succinct explanation of whatever the hell was going on with his most worrisome problem child.
Well, his third most worrisome problem child… besides Izuku and Katsuki, obviously. Actually, Shoto would probably be his third most worrisome problem child, moving Denki down to fourth place… but that was very much besides the point.
“Well, uhm.. we believe that Kaminari may have had a seizure a few minutes ago. It lasted about.. two to three minutes, perha—“
“He may have had one?”
Momo had begun to explain, but she was swiftly cut off by a very pissed off Katsuki.
“The damn idiot was literally shaking and twitching and drooling on the fucking ground. That’s a goddamn seizure if I’ve ever seen one.”
He retorted, positioning himself to be a bit more in front of Denki’s unresponsive form, basically shielding the other boy with his own body and staring daggers at anyone who came too close.. besides Eijirou, naturally. Regardless, Momo gestured towards the electricity user on the ground, signaling to the others to move out of the teachers’ way.
Mina stood up and moved, Hanta did the same, as did Kyoka.. but Katsuki and Eijrou remained right where they were, by Denki’s side. Shouta wasn’t surprised.
“And he didn’t have another afterwards? Just the one?”
Shouta inquired, kneeling down in front of Denki once he was near him. Hizashi did the same, crouching down beside the unconscious boy and carefully placing Recovery Girl onto the ground as well. The nurse immediately began her inspection of the teen, using her stethoscope to monitor his heart and lungs.
“Uh.. no, he only had one seizure. And Yao-momo’s right; it only lasted for 2 or 3 minutes, I think..”
Eijirou nodded, watching attentively as Recovery Girl did her assessment on Denki. After a few more moments, a low hum came from the woman, and both Eijirou and Katsuki’s heads perked up.
“Well, he seems to be stable, for the most part. Strong pulse, breathing.. though his breaths are a bit too short and shallow for my liking.. and he’s showing no signs of waking up yet. This could prove worrisome,”
She paused, turning to face Shouta and Hizashi.
“I think it’d be best to get this boy to a proper hospital, given that this is his first seizure. They’ll be able to do much more for him there than I can do in my office. We’ll airlift him, if that’s necessary.”
“What?”
Both Eijirou and Katsuki exclaimed in unison, each of them tightening their holds on Denki’s body. Again, Shouta was unsurprised. Of course the two boys would be overprotective of Denki.. the three of them behaved like this towards each other on a regular basis now, probably having started after the incident at the training camp during summer break. Shouta couldn’t blame them for acting this way; they were traumatized as hell, but that would certainly make this process a bit more tedious.
“Can we go with him? Please, Aizawa Sensei?”
Eijirou was the first to start pleading, looking over at Shouta with wide eyes, even though he already knew the most likely answer to his question. Katsuki on the other hand looked like he was two seconds away from just throwing Denki over his shoulder and running off with him.
Shouta simply sighed, glancing over at Hizashi for some kind of backup.. and only seeing a look of heartbroken empathy on his face. Yeah, looking at Hizashi was a mistake.
“C’mon, Sho…”
Hizashi lightly nudged Shouta’s shoulder, already moving to pull his phone out of his pocket so that he could call for medical assistance.
“It’s not like they’re learning anything all that important in class today! They can afford to miss one day of school.. especially if it means being there for their friend!”
Hizashi paused, leaning in closer to Shouta once he realized that a simple attempt at basic persuasion wasn’t going to work.
“Besides… you would’ve done the same thing back then, and you know it. We both would have.”
Yep. That did it.
Damn Hizashi and his guilt-tripping abilities. He was really playing dirty this time.
“Mm..”
Shouta groaned under his breath before looking back over at Eijirou and Katsuki, the former of which still giving Shouta puppy-dog eyes.
“Fine. I’ll make an exception for today, and today only.”
Shouta relented, hoping that he wouldn’t regret this decision.
“Alright! Thanks so much, Sensei! You’re the best!”
Eijirou smiled wide, his whole body practically sagging with relief. Katsuki, who had chosen to remain silent, was now also looking very relieved despite his best efforts to hide it.
“Just pick the kid up so that we can take him to the entrance. And be quick about it. This is serious.”
Shouta stood up with a sigh, already beginning to walk back towards the entrance of Ground Beta with Hizashi and Recovery Girl close behind, though not before gesturing to the other students.
“As for the rest of you, go get changed in the locker rooms. You’ll all have a 30 minute break before lunch.”
There was a litany of “Yes, Sensei!”’s from the rest of class 1A, and with that, everyone began filing out of Ground Beta. Mina, Hanta, and Kyoka waved goodbye to the other half of the Bakusquad, heading in the opposite direction.
“Make sure Denki gets lots of rest, okay?! And keep an eye on him!”
Mina called out, watching as Eijrou hoisted Denki up into his arms, holding him protectively against his chest. Katsuki stood close by—like, so close by that his shoulder was brushing against Eijirou’s—arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
“Yeah, yeah. We’ve got it, raccoon eyes. See you later.”
Katsuki grumbled, giving Mina a nod before turning to leave, already able to hear what was probably a medevac helicopter in the distance. In response, he and Ejirou picked up the pace, trying to make it to the entrance a little faster. No words were exchanged between them. In stressful situations, they were kind of prone to miscommunication on Katsuki’s part.. But what was there to say?
Everything would be fine.
Denki would be fine.
There was no need to discuss anything because it would all work out anyways.
It had to all work out.
“Hey, Kats?”
Eijirou lightly nudged Katsuki’s shoulder, eyebrows furrowed as he looked down at him. Observant again, it seemed.
“He’s gonna be fine, dude. Seriously. The doctors’ll have him up and ready to get back to training before we know it, so don’t worry about it so much. Relax.”
“Mhm.”
Katsuki nodded wordlessly, though he didn’t look all that convinced by Eijirou’s reassuring words. At this point, after going through so much already, Katsuki knew better than to just be blindly optimistic. He’d never had that mindset anyways—that was Izuku’s problem—but being a U.A student had really reinforced the fact that shit can and will go wrong, and he should always be prepared for the worst.
“You know damn well that all that Pollyanna bullshit isn’t gonna work on me.”
Katsuki huffed, hand moving up to rest on Eijirou’s shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.
“I’ll relax when dunce-face is awake and talking my ear off about some dumb shit again.”
──★
Katsuki and Eijirou had been sitting in a waiting area of the hospital for about an hour now.
It wasn’t an incredibly busy day, so it wasn’t too crowded and there weren’t too many patients.. but Katsuki still found himself feeling.. uncomfortable in this environment. It could’ve been the sterile, unfeeling atmosphere that hospitals always had. It could’ve been the way that doctors and nurses glided up and down the halls with their white coats on like ghosts. Or.. it could’ve been the reason why he and Eijirou were here in the first place. Who they were here for.
Whatever the reason was, there was no doubt that this place had a certain undertone to it, and Katsuki didn’t like it.
He shifted uncomfortably in the hard plastic seat, turning his head and glancing over to his left.
He could see Shouta speaking with someone over the phone, and judging by what he was saying, it sounded like he was speaking with Denki’s parents. Shouta looked.. somewhat frustrated with whatever was being discussed, and Katsuki could just barely hear Denki’s mother say over the phone that she and her husband wouldn’t be able to make it to the hospital today. Something about being “pressed for time”.
“That’s bullshit,”
Katsuki thought, eyebrows furrowing in anger. He might’ve talked a lot of shit, but he knew what good parents were like, and this just wasn’t it.
“How the hell could someone be “pressed for time” when their fucking son is in the hospital?”
He could feel Eijirou lightly nudge his shoulder with his hand, the look on his face indicating that he too was thinking the same thing. Before they could say anything about it however, Shouta hung up the phone and turned to walk over towards the two of them, an irritated expression on his usually indifferent face.
“Looks like I’ll be the stand in for Kaminari’s parents until further notice,”
Shouta grumbled, lightly scratching the back of his head as he walked past Katsuki and Eijirou,
“You two stay put. I have to talk to the doctors. I’ll come get you when I’m done.”
Both Eijrou and Katsuki nodded at this, with Eijirou smiling and giving Shouta a thumbs up, but they were both thinking the same thing:
“Great. More waiting.”
As Shouta walked away, there was a stretch of silence between the two boys. Then, Katsuki leaned back in his chair before mumbling:
“… I just wanna see him.”
The sheer amount of desperation in Katsuki’s voice.. the hopeless look in his dulled eyes.. it really threw Eijirou off. It was almost horrifying to hear the normally fierce and, frankly, chaotic boy sound so.. defeated.
That’s how Eijirou knew that this was bad.
Still, Eijirou was determined to stay strong. If he had to be the one to keep everyone together, then that’s just what he had to be.
“Hey.. c’mon, man.. don’t look so sad..”
Eijirou turned his body to face Katsuki, and he lightly nudged Katsuki’s shoulder.
“Kats?”
No response.
“Katsuki.”
Still, silence.
“Katsuki, you don’t get to shut me out like this. You can’t. Not when we’re supposed to be in this together.”
Eijirou’s eyebrows furrowed, and reached forward, grabbing Katsuki’s chin to force the blond to look him in the eye. Katsuki just scoffed and grabbed Eijirou’s wrist.
“Tch.. idiot.. let go of me, shitty hair, or I’ll—“
“No, Katsuki. Just listen to me for once.”
Eijirou interrupted, his tone of voice going from comforting to austere in only a few seconds. Katsuki’s eyes widened in a mixture of shock and frustration.. but Eijirou spoke again before Katsuki could say anything.
“Look, I know that you’re scared.. and I know that you’re worried about Denki.. am I too, but we can’t shut each other out right now! That’s not very manly!”
Ejirou reached forward with his free hand, grabbing Katsuki’s and holding it firmly.
“You’re not alone, Kats.. so please, stop acting like you are.”
Eijirou’s resolve was unwavering; he was never afraid to tell Katsuki the truth. He was probably one of the only people who wasn’t afraid of Katsuki, or intimidated by Katsuki’s power.. even Denki was usually a little bit nervous to tell Katsuki off.
“You don’t have to talk right now if you don’t want to.. but we’re in this together,” Eijirou leaned in closer, hoping that he was getting his point across. “We’re going to see Denki.. and we’ve gotta keep level heads for his sake. Got it?”
Katsuki was still silent and motionless, expression unreadable as he stared into Eijirou’s eyes. At first, Eijirou thought that Katsuki might pull away, yank his hand back and scoff in his face.. but to his surprise, Katsuki just nodded his head, his expression being serious, but not angry. Katsuki had grown a lot since Eijirou first met him.
“Yeah.. got it.”
Katsuki huffed, giving Eijirou’s hand a squeeze before pulling away, leaning back in his seat again. He might’ve been an aggressive asshole sometimes, but he cared. He always did.. about Eijrou and Denki, at least. What could he say? He was still growing.
“Now we just gotta wait for dry-eyes to come get us, I guess.”
──★
This time, the two teens didn’t have to wait another full hour. Only about 30 minutes passed before Shouta made his return, walking towards Katsuki and Eijirou with his hands in his pockets and a notably more relieved look on his face than when he initially left. Immediately, Katsuki and Eijirou were up and on their feet, muscles stiffening and hearts already beginning to flutter.
“He’s doing just fine.”
Shouta reassured Katsuki and Eijirou as soon as he was within earshot, and he watched as they both let out breaths that they weren’t aware they’d been holding.
“He’s been awake for a while, and he seems to be oriented and aware of his surroundings. You can see him, but try not to work him up so much, understand?”
“Yeah, yeah. Move.” Katsuki snarled as he swiftly stepped past Shouta, followed by a “Yes, sensei!” from Eijirou, who was trailing behind the blond boy like a loyal dog.
Of course, they didn’t actually know where Denki’s hospital room was, so they ended up following Shouta anyway. They were led into an elevator, which took them up to the 4th floor, and eventually, to room 629.
“Go on,” Shouta stopped in front of the door, nodding his head at the two boys. “He’s been asking about you two.”
Katsuki and Eijirou wasted no time, with the former immediately turning the knob and pushing open the door, stepping inside.
The room was clean and.. sterile, like most hospital rooms were. There was a window overlooking the courtyard, two chairs beside each other near a corner, and a small side-table beside the bed. Then, both Katsuki and Eijirou’s gazes landed on Denki.
The golden-haired boy was sitting up in the bed, dawning a hospital gown and silently gazing out of the window with an almost vacant look in his normally bright and determined eyes. It took him a moment, but eventually, he noticed the other two boys standing near the door, and his face seemed to light up.
“Eiji! Kats!”
Denki beamed, a mixture of joy and relief surging through him as he instinctively extended his arms towards them, though he stopped himself when he felt the IV in his forearm being uncomfortably tugged.
“Man.. I’ve missed you guys! As soon as I woke up, I asked Mr. Eraser if you guys were here!”
“We’ve been waiting in the lobby forever, dude! We came here with you, but we weren’t allowed to see you yet!”
Eijirou rushed forward first, leaning over the side of the bed and wrapping his arms around Denki’s waist, burying his face into the crook of Denki’s neck and just.. breathing him in.
God, he’d missed the boy.. he really had.
“Kacchan,”
Denki teased in a sing-song voice, glancing over at the blond boy, who was still standing near the door with an unreadable expression.. though an underlying look of worry was just barely visible.
“Come on and get over here.. you know you want a hug, too.”
Denki extended his hand towards Katsuki and Eijirou moved to the side, allowing Katsuki to join their little group hug if he wanted to, but Katsuki only took a few steps forward, arms crossed.
“What did the doctors say?”
Katsuki questioned, lightly chewing at his bottom lip.
“Like.. why did you start.. y’know..”
“Oh, that’s been taken care of!”
Denki waved Katsuki off, leaning back as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“The doctors say I had a seizure because I overused my quirk! Something about.. too much electricity in my brain? I’m more tolerant of it than a regular person, but.. even I have limits, I guess.”
He shrugged, head lowering as he stared down at his hands. That vacant look from before had returned, and Katsuki and Eijirou gave each other concerned glances.
“But.. you’ll be okay though, right?”
Eijirou prompted after a few beats of silence, running his hands through Denki’s hair before cupping the side of Denki’s face with his hand. Denki was fine. Everything was fine, but something still seemed.. off, somehow.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine! I just.. can’t use my quirk for a couple weeks, that’s all.. so.. I’ll be taking a little break from training and stuff.”
Denki shrugged, fingers tapping against the mattress below him as his gaze drifted off to the window again.
Both Eijirou and Katsuki knew that something was wrong now; it was rare for Denki to be so.. closed off and lost in thought. Something must have been plaguing the boy’s mind.
“Hey.”
Katsuki suddenly spoke up, tone flat and clearly unconvinced by Denki’s apparent “okay-ness”.
“Stop with the bullshit, dunce-face. We’re not idiots.”
Katsuki walked over to the side of the bed, reaching forward and grabbing Denki’s chin.
“Be honest. What the hell is really going on with you?”
Denki paused at that, his smile faltering and his eyes flicking around the room, not really focusing on anything; just trying to avoid Katsuki’s gaze. At first, Denki hesitated. His brain, which was already fried beyond belief, was going a million miles a minute trying to come up with some sort of cover-up for his odd behavior. Of course, he came up short. Nothing he thought of would convince Katsuki of all people.. and it didn’t help that he was a terrible liar in general.
“I.. Well, I.. just..”
Denki stumbled over his words, picking idly at a bandage on his arm. He absolutely loathed any kind of confrontation, but he knew that he wasn’t getting out of this. He took a deep breath in, then out.
“…I messed up. Like.. really messed up. And I know that this wasn’t my fault, and that I couldn’t have known that this was going to happen, but..”
As much as Denki tried to prevent it, he could feel a knot beginning to form in his throat; a telltale sign that tears weren’t far behind. He squeezed his eyes shut.
“This just means I’m weaker than everyone else.. I already was, but now.. I-I’ll just hold everyone back, won’t I? What if this happens again? I’ll just be a liability… I mean, how am I supposed to be a hero when I can’t even—“
“Denki.. hey..”
Eijirou interjected, tone practically dripping with worry, but Denki continued on with his ramblings.
“…When I can’t even function? What if I use my quirk during another training session and have a seizure again?.. I don’t wanna be the reason why everyone else fails.. I can’t—“
“Oi. Zip it, sparks.”
Katsuki was the one to interrupt this time, raising his voice slightly to grab Denki’s attention.
“None of what you’re saying is true. You’re not weak. You’re not holding anyone back.”
He paused, making sure that Denki was listening to him.
“Why the hell are you even worried about that shit right now? Worry about your fucking wellbeing for once, idiot.”
“Yeah, Katsuki’s right! You’re probably the strongest, most manliest man I know! You went through all of this, and bounced right back like it was nothing!”
Eijirou added, nodding along to Katsuki’s earlier statement and grabbing both of Denki’s hands now, holding them tightly. It was a grounding gesture; a gesture to show the golden-haired boy that he wasn’t going through this alone.
“And besides, we’ll help you get through this, okay? We’ll all become heroes together! This isn’t gonna stop us from reaching our goal!”
Denki was fully crying at this point, rivers of tears pouring down his cheeks as he struggled to keep eye contact with Katsuki and Eijirou, no matter what he did.
This hurt.
It didn’t hurt because of what was being said. It hurt because, even though Denki was nodding along with what the other two boys were saying, he didn’t actually believe them.
Truth be told, Denki hated his quirk.
He hated the drawbacks of it. He hated how easy it was to accidentally hurt someone with it. He hated how it made him feel.
When he got into U.A, he promised himself that he’d actually try this time; that this wouldn’t be like how things were in middle school.
But this was worse, wasn’t it?
It felt like every time he tried to be better, the universe would tap him on the shoulder and tell him that it just wasn’t meant to be.
How was he supposed to get through this?
How was he supposed to be okay with the part of himself that just made him weaker than everyone else?
He hated this. He hated living like this, and there was nothing he could do about it.
He’d always just have to settle for whatever life gave him.
“… You know,”
Denki began to speak again, voice wavering as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hands. He made a quiet sound that could’ve either been a sob, or a weak laugh—it was hard to tell.
“You guys are so corny..”
He managed to crack a smile, a snicker escaping his lips. Eijirou let out a sigh of relief in response, happy to see Denki smiling at least. On the other hand, Katsuki just looked annoyed.
“There’s our pretty boy..”
Eijirou grinned in triumph, wrapping his arms around Denki again and pressing a soft kiss to Denki’s tear-stained cheek. Katsuki was never one for physical affection, so he simply rolled his eyes.
“You don’t get to call us corny when we’re trying to make your sorry-ass feel better.”
Katsuki growled, crossing his arms and turning his head, now glancing off to the side.
“Yeah, I know..”
Denki chuckled again before his gaze drifted off to the window once more. He could feel Eijirou’s grip on him grow just a bit tighter, though he said nothing about it.
“So.. you’re okay now, right? Like, actually okay?”
Part of Eijirou knew that this was a stupid thing to ask, but he found himself wanting to hear an answer from Denki anyway.
Denki, however, didn’t give him a yes or a no. It wasn't that simple. Nothing was ever that simple.
“…I dunno,”
Denki shrugged, lightly biting the inside of his cheek.
“I just.. need some time to think.”