Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was another day with Denki staring at the floor as he walked into 1-A’s classroom. He had been texting the 1-A group chat last night, but the conversation was different than what was common of them.

Mina: omg look at this anime guy

Mina: hes super cute

Mina: Attachment: 1 image

Jiro: he isssss

Deku: Yeah he’s pretty cute

Kaminari : i dont see the appeal personally

Kaminari: hes a bit of a jerk imo

Kaminari: but whatever floats your boat

Jiro: well have you seen the newest season with him? his personality is justified 

Kaminari: i have, and i still don’t like him

Kaminari: but different strokes for different folks

The chat continued in this vein until Denki made the horrible mistake of saying “ hes an ugly b*stard imo but whatever ”

The class had been pretty cold toward him since. 

Sure, Deku, Kiri, and Todoroki were still pretty nice to him, but something was wrong. He had hurt them, but he didn’t know what he did that hurt them. He knew he was oblivious, but what happened?

School went about how he expected; no one really wanted to talk to him. 

-=+=-

Knock knock

“Come in!” Present Mic’s voice rang.

Denki opened the door slowly; was it really okay for him to be here?

“Hey; what’s up, Kaminari? You alright?” Mic’s face was full of concern.

Aizawa heard that tone and headed out to the living room to meet his husband.

“Are you okay, Kaminari?” he asked.

Denki took a deep breath and sighed. “I feel like I’ve hurt my classmates, but no one will be upfront and tell me. I want to know if I did and how, so I can make it better, if that’s even possible.” He still had not looked up since he walked in the room.

The pros shared a glance. This was all-too-familiar to them. 

“Well, have you asked them if they’re upset with you?” Mic asked.

“I have, but they deny it or blame whatever anger/coldness they’re expressing on other factors. Todoroki, Kiri, and Midoriya often step in to mediate, but then they get yelled at too.”

“Oh that’s hard; when they just get angry at you for doing something you didn’t even know hurt them. Why don’t you try apologizing and asking how you can fix things? Hopefully they’ll be open with you and explain,” Mic responded. “Everything will be okay, in time. For now, let’s have some cocoa and snacks while we watch a movie. What do you want to watch?”

“Can we watch Encanto ? I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve heard it’s good,” Kaminari asked, looking up for the first time all day.

“Of course. It is really good. Are you okay with captions? My implants are getting to me today,” Mic asked, pointing at his cochlear implants.

“You’re deaf? When did that happen?” Kaminari asked, tact never being his strong suit.

Mic chuckled softly. “Yes I am, but that’s a story for another day. For now, let’s turn on our movie and chill.” He opened Disney+ and turned it on. Luckily, Japanese captions were a default on the EraserMic profile, so they didn’t have to go through and turn them on.

As the movie played, both pros noticed Kaminari visibly relaxing. 

‘ I’m glad I can put that therapy certificate to good use, ’ Mic signed to his husband, quietly chuckling.

‘ Me too. It seems we’re going to be very popular soon, ’ Aizawa added.

Mic agreed.

When their favorite song came on, Aizawa and Mic started dancing together, while Mic softly sang. How he did that without his implants was a mystery to Denki, but he didn’t ask.

-=+=-

“Good night, Present Mic! Night Aizawa-sensei! Thanks for everything!” Denki said as he walked out of the room.

When he got to the dorms, everyone was asleep except for Midoriya and Kirishima, who were sitting on the couch.

“You okay man? You seemed off and you went to see Aizawa-sensei and Present Mic,” Kirishima asked.

“Yeah,are  you okay?” Midoriya asked.

Yellow eyes met a pair of green and of red, both full of concern. 

Kaminari let his head droop. “Yeah I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Midoriya asked.

“Yeah, you can tell us anything. We’ll listen,” Kirishima added.

Kaminari didn’t really want to get into it again, but he knew he couldn’t fix things without talking about it. “I just…. It feels like I’ve hurt all of you, but I don’t know for sure if I did, and if so, how I can fix it.” He sat down next to who he thought were his friends. 

The others looked at each other. How did they need to explain it? They weren’t mad at him; they knew that he didn’t know what hurts the class. 

Midoriya put his hand on Denki’s shoulder. “Okay, let me start this with: we know you didn’t mean to or want to hurt us, and we’re not mad. But if you really want to know, you have. Okay? Especially Todoroki, but he also knows that you didn’t know.”

Kirishima took over. “But when Ashido and Jirou were being upset at you, they were just doing what you had been doing to them. And when we were discussing that anime guy last night, it’s fine you don’t like him; it’s fine you think he’s a jerk; but when you sent that ‘ugly bastard’ text, that’s what made Jirou and Ashido upset.”

Kaminari was holding back tears. He knew they were just pointing out what he did wrong, just as he had asked, but it was hard to not cry. “Oh…”

“We all need to be better about communication. I know no one told you they were upset or that you had been not the nicest. But we’re telling you so you can be better, okay?” Midoriya said, gently rubbing Denki’s shoulder.

“This too shall pass. It might pass like a damn kidney stone, but it will pass. Seriously. Right now, it’s late, and we have finals tomorrow. Let’s get some sleep, and discuss this with the whole class tomorrow. We can see if Aizawa-sensei and Present Mic can be there so no one gets hurt and make sure it all goes smoothly. Me and Midoriya will sit with you at lunch if no one else wants to. Remember, their wounds are still raw. They’ll come around, okay?” Kirishima said, peeking under Kaminari’s bangs, forcing their eyes to meet.

Sniff “…okay.” 

-=+=-

The next day, after classes, 1-A found themselves in a familiar position: sitting in a circle of chairs with Aizawa and Mic sitting next to each other at the front. There were two empty seats since Fuyumi and Natsuo weren’t there, so Kaminari was utterly alone. 

“Okay guys. So we understand that class relations are kinda iffy right now, but Kaminari has something he’d like to say,” Aizawa said, starting it off.

Denki stood up, and was met with glares from everyone but Midoriya, Kiri, and Todoroki, who all gave him soft, encouraging, smiles.

He took a deep breath, and began. “Guys, I realize I probably hurt you. All of you. I know now that I’m really bad at making comments or jokes that don’t upset you guys and aren’t rude. I want to know what I can do to fix things, because this has been eating away at me.”

Upon hearing how he ended that, the pros, Midoriya, Kiri, and Todoroki, all knew what was going to happen next. 

“If you are just apologizing to make yourself feel better, then don’t waste our time,” Tokoyami said, scoffing.

Denki was taken aback. “I… what?”

“You heard the bird; if you’re only doing this for yourself, then shut up!” Bakugo yelled.

“I… I wasn-“

“What you said really hurt, Kaminari. It sounds like you don’t care about that though. It sounds like that you only wanna fix things so you feel better, not so we do,” Jirou added, glaring directly at Denki.

“The reason we’ve been so mad at you lately is because you constantly ignore our triggers and what we don’t wanna hear. You use us as an emotional garbage dump. We are not your therapists, Kaminari. What you need to do is listen to us and get an actual therapist,” Yao-Momo said.

“But no. You never fucking listen to us, do you? You always say you’ll go and get therapy but then don’t, and when we bring it up, you just say you’re too busy!” Bakugo yelled again, small explosions going off in his palms.

Denki sat back down, trying not to cry. No matter what Midoriya and Kirishima said, it sounded like they were mad at him. 

“That’s enough.” Aizawa was standing now, hair defying gravity. Bakugo’s hands stopped exploding. “We know you guys are upset, but please calm down.”

“Why should we?! He’s the one who’s been walking all over us and treating us like shit!”

“Bakugo. Shut up. You’ve made your point.”

“…I’m sorry. I really am. I’m just gonna take a few days off from the group chat and work on myself. I’m just gonna… go… now,” Kaminari said, shutting everyone up. 

As he got up to leave, Jirou added, “Good, because we’ve decided you don’t get a second chance.”

Chapter Text

Denki was now crying in his room. “I fucked up… its my fault… I KNEW IT! I can’t believe i was such a shitty friend-“

But what he didn’t hear was what happened once he left.

-=+=-

Midoriya, Kirishima, Todoroki, and the pros looked at Jirou, horrified.

“Wait, who's ‘we’? And don’t say the whole class, because we weren’t part of this discussion,” Kirishima asked, gesturing to Deku and Shouto.

“My thoughts exactly, Kiri,” Deku said.

“The rest of us. You three sympathize with him, so we couldn’t include you in the conversation,” Jirou said, scoffing a little.

Mic stood up. “Guys, calm down a minute. When Kaminari came to talk to us last night, he said he had no idea what he did to hurt you. Did you ever tell him he hurt you?”

It was Bakugo who spoke up. “No! Why would we?! He should know we were upset!!” When his hands started exploding again, Aizawa glared at him.

“Guys. Not everyone understands social cues the way you guys do. If you never told him you were upset, Kaminari might not’ve known. If you never told him your triggers or what you don’t want to talk about, he might not’ve known. It sounds like communication is not your guys’ strong suit,” Mic said, tone soothing.

Uraraka, Iida, Shoji, and Aoyama bowed their heads at that. They hadn’t been directly involved in any of the incidents; neither for Kaminari or against him. Yao-Momo remembered that she never told Denki that she doesn’t like talking about fighting villains because of the USJ attack, or that politics make her uncomfortable. 

Those who were sympathetic toward Denki knew this all along, hence why they weren’t super upset at him. Shouto had never once told anyone about his father or that he had cut himself. Deku didn’t hide that he doesn’t know his father, but he also never said anything unless asked. Kirishima was always pretty upfront with what he is and isn’t okay with, which made talking to him pretty easy.

“Yeah… you’re right, Present Mic. I never said I don’t like it when people talk about being poor; I just kinda expected people to just… know. Kinda bad of me, huh?” Uraraka said.

“And I never mentioned that what happened with Tensei makes me uncomfortable with the subject of death and major injury,” Iida added.

“It’s good that you guys are realizing this. And I understand that you guys are upset with Kaminari for crossing those boundaries. But Yaoyorozu, what did you mean when you said he had ‘used you as an emotional garbage dump’?” 

Yaoyorozu took a deep breath. “Whenever something bad happened to him, (which was surprisingly quite often), he would immediately text us, and then consistently text about it again and again, often really late at night. He’d text about how these events have been affecting him, but trauma dumping often triggers us, so we didn’t read those messages so we wouldn’t get triggered by it.”

Aizawa and Mic were more than a bit concerned by that. Their parental instincts were kicking in; if Kaminari was texting about major events that hurt him at like midnight, he needs help. The husbands shared a look. 

“Wow. Okay. Right now, Shouta and I are gonna go check on Kaminari. You guys need to talk this out and figure out how to proceed,” Mic said as he stood up and followed Aizawa back to Denki’s dorm.

-=+=-

Denki’s crying and self-hatred was interrupted by a knock at his door.

“Kaminari? It’s Present Mic and Aizawa… can we come in?” Mic’s voice was a little muffled by the door.

Denki’s voice wasn’t working, so he just got up and opened the door.

The pros closed the door behind them. 

“Are you okay?” Aizawa asked, crouching down to be at Kaminari’s level.

Denki shook his head no.

“Yaoyorozu told us you were texting about bad experiences really late; do you want to talk about those?” Mic asked, laying a (hopefully) comforting hand on his shoulder.

Denki nodded. He was still crying, but maybe now his voice would work? 

“Aft… after o-our cla-class discussion th- the other d-day… I- I tho- thought ab- about what y- you said, Ai-Aizawa-sensei.”

The husbands really hoped this wasn’t going where they thought it was.

“And… hic I realized that… that yeah. I’m… i’m bi… biromantic a… asexual… sniff so… so I called my… my dad and… and I told him… because he’s normally really n…nice about that kinda thing…”

Oh no …. It was going exactly where they thought it was. 

“And… and he said…” His crying resumed with a vigor.

Mic started rubbing his thumb in circles on Denki’s shoulder. “‘If you date a guy, don’t bother coming home?’” he offered.

Denki nodded.

Aizawa’s heart sank. He remembered when he told his parents he was gay, and they threw him and his stuff out the door. He hasn’t spoken to them since. 

“That is one of the toughest things to have to go through. My parents did the same thing to me. UA didn’t have dorms then, so I didn’t even have that to turn to. Luckily Hizashi’s parents love me, so I was able to live with him.” Aizawa hated that out LGBTQ+ people weren’t all that common in Japan, because it nurtured a stigma around them. Hizashi’s parents were American though, so they had more knowledge about the subject and more acceptance in their hearts.

“If UA ever gets rid of the dorms, or if you need somewhere to stay after graduation, our door is always open. Doesn’t matter who you are, who you want to da-“ Mic was cut off by loud arguing and crashing.

“You stay here, Hizashi. I’ll go check it out,” Aizawa said, standing up.

“Mmkay. Love you, Shouta.”

‘ Love you, Hizashi, ’ Aizawa signed as he walked out, hair floating.

Denki’s head drooped. “They’re fighting because of me, aren’t they? Of course it’s my fault. I hurt them so now they’re angry and-“

“Denki, I need you to slow down and breathe, okay?” Mic gently grabbed his pupil’s hand and placed it on his chest. “Follow my breathing. In…” Mic breathed in slowly. “And out.” He let it out just as slowly. 

Denki struggled a little, but trying to match his teacher’s breathing took enough mental capacity that he wasn’t overthinking anymore. 

“There…. Better?”

“A little, yeah.”

“Good. It sounds like I need to help Shouta, so I’ll send Todoroki back to hang with you, kay?”

“Mmkay.”

Hizashi stood up and left the room. Denki sat down on his bed, head in his hands.

He was completely isolated. He knew he had Mic and Aizawa on his side, but he still felt alone. If he were to disappear, would anyone know? Would anyone care ? He knew the answer was yes, but it sure as hell didn’t feel like it.

“Hey, Kaminari. Are you okay?” Todoroki had entered the room. He sat down next to his classmate. 

“Yeah I’ll be fine.”

“You know I don’t blame you for messing up, right? I never told anyone about any of that until our meeting, so you couldn’t’ve known that talking about toxic relationships triggers me. You don’t know what it looks like when I spiral, so you never would’ve known I was. You messed up, but it’s my fault for not telling you I was upset or what you did that upset me.” Shouto tried to peek under Denki’s bangs and meet his eyes.

“Yeah… but it doesn’t seem like anyone else thinks that except Midoriya and Kirishima.” Denki put his hands in his lap and started fidgeting with them.

“Uraraka, Shoji, Iida, and Aoyama came around too. They understand. Bakugo’s just always pissed, so you give him any semblance of a reason to be, and it escalates. And Midoriya’s always down to fight for his friends, so that’s why they’re fighting. Because Midoriya understands, and believes you can be better.”

Yellow eyes met mismatched ones. “He… he really believes in me that much?” Denki looked back down at his hands.

“Yes. Yes he does.”

Chapter Text

“Kacchan you take that back right now!” Deku’s body started sparking.

“Why should I?! Kaminari constantly ignores everything!!” Bakugo’s hands were exploding. It was a matter of seconds before they threw themselves at each other, knocking over a vase in the process.

“We never told him what we were uncomfortable with, Kacchan! How the hell would he have known?!” 

Sparks and explosions ceased. A stern voice called out, “ Boys. ”

Aizawa had emerged.

“Stop fighting. This isn’t the time. Right now, all of us need to talk.”

He got the class settled again.

“How many messages from Denki of him trauma dumping did you read?”

Yao-Momo was the first to speak up. “After the first time, I stopped. I couldn’t do it anymore.”

A murmur of agreement flew around the room. The pros’ expressions tightened.

“Guys, you need to check on him. He came out to his dad, and got kicked out.” His tone was stern, but soft. Everyone gasped at Aizawa’s words. “That doesn’t excuse anything. Right now, I’m going to get Kaminari and Todoroki. We’re going to wait here while you guys talk this out as a class. I will be erasing quirks if you guys get out of hand.”

The class didn’t say anything as Denki and Shouto walked out. Shouto stayed right there with Denki the whole time to be supportive. 

Denki let out a shaky breath. “Guys… I-“

“We’re sorry your dad’s homophobic, Kaminari,” Yao-Momo cut him off.

Denki stood there shocked for a minute, then responded, “It’s fine; can’t do anything about it now. But I know I said some shitty things, and I want to be better.”

They had a decently productive conversation, where everyone laid out what they do and don’t like talking about. 1-A still didn’t really want to talk to Denki, (which he understood and was okay with), but as he left, there was a familiar purple haired teen leaning against the wall.

“Hey, Kaminari,” Shinsou said casually.

Denki’s face flushed. “H- hi.”

“D- Aizawa-sensei said you were having difficulties with your class; do you wanna…” Shinsou trailed off awkwardly; he looked away from the yellow-haired boy. “Do you maybe… i dunno… do you wanna get… get coffee and talk… about it?” Finally , he thought. Got the words out .

“S…sure.”

“Alright. How about tomorrow at… three? After classes?”

“Sounds good; Brew Bros?”

“Yeah. See you then!” Shinsou threw a peace sign over his shoulder as he walked off.

That night, as Denki lay down to sleep, his mind was full of dreams of Shinsou.

-=+=-

Denki showed up about half an hour early to his hangout with Shinsou, but it turns out Shinsou had the same idea. He had a dark, long sleeved, striped shirt tucked into long black pants with a pair of black Doc Martens. He had a chain on as well, and suddenly, Denki’s yellow sweater over black button up with black pants and white hightop Converse seemed too bright.

Damn… Shinsou looks hot in tha- wait what am I thinking?? This is just a casual hangout, right? And even then, my outfit is so bold compared to his… maybe I should change?? No its too late for that, my classmates thought I left-

“Hey, K.” Shinsou’s voice shook him from his thoughts.

“H-hey, Shinsou.”

“Oh, you can call me Hitoshi.”

“O-oh. Okay. Yo-you can call me Denki.”

“Sure, sure. Wanna head inside instead of loitering outside the door?”

“Good idea,” Denki said as he ducked his head a bit.

“Welcome to Brew Bros, where my anxiety may be chronic but my coffee is iconic; what can I get started for ya?” Kirishima asked.

Denki tried to stifle his laughter but it didn’t work. “Kiri what the fuck- oh my god-“

Even Hitoshi chuckled a little. “I’ll take a large pumpkin spice latte, Kirishima.”

“Alrighty, and for Kaminari?”

“A…” He ducked his head, a tad embarrassed. “A large strawberry açai with a little bit of lemonade, please.”

Hitoshi didn’t say a word; why would he when he was getting a basic bitch drink too?

“Alrighty! Who’s name do you want me to put down?”

Both teens spoke at once. “Mine. Uh.. his… uh…” They chuckled. 

“Put Shinsou’s.”

“Okie dokie! That’ll be ¥600.”

Hitoshi unfolded a couple bills, too fast for Denki to protest.

Denki tipped Kiri an extra ¥100, though.

“So… where do you wanna sit, sunshine?” Hitoshi asked, taking great joy in Denki’s blush.

“Ah! …window seat?”

“Works for me.”

-=+=-

When they found a suitable table by the windows, they sat there awkwardly avoiding eye contact. Hitoshi was about to ask something when Denki’s phone buzzed.

Kiri: you on a date w/shinsou?

Denki couldn’t hide his surprise.

Kiri: knew it

Kiri: midoriya owes me ¥10

Chargebolt: nonono its not like that

Chargebolt: he just noticed i was sad and asked to hang out

Kiri: uh huh surrreeeeee

Kiri: no one reacts like that when asked if they’re on a date if they’re not

“Everything alright?” Hitoshi’s unusually soft voice drew his attention from his phone.

“Huh? Oh yeah everything’s fine.”

“You su-“

“Got two coffees for Shinsou!”

“I’ll get em!” Denki called out quickly. Too quickly.

When he returned with the drinks, Hitoshi put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you sure you’re alright? Something seems off.”

“What? I’m fine. What would make you think I wasn’t?” He started to sound a tad hysterical.

“That, for one.”

“No no I’m fine.”

“Denki, let’s go outside a minute, okay?” Thank fuck Papa Mic taught me a thing or two from his therapy courses.

“Okay.” Denki’s voice was way higher than normal.

Hitoshi grabbed the drinks and brought his friend(?) outside. His phone buzzed. 

Kirishima: hey is everything alright?

Shinsou: not sure

Shinsou: i’ll keep you updated

Kirishima: got it thanks

In the time Hitoshi had been texting Kirishima, Kaminari had already sat himself on the ground. He had wrapped his arms around his knees, and started gently rocking back and forth. Hitoshi grabbed his hand and held it tightly. (Though not so tightly as to make Denki uncomfortable.) 

Denki stopped rocking.

“Hey. It’ll be alright.” 

Andddd… there’s the tears. Something bigger is at play here that the dads didn’t warn me of.

“No it won’t!” Denki wailed.

“What’s going on?” Hitoshi asked as he sat down next to the lightning boy.

Denki recited what he had told Mic and Aizawa earlier in between sobs.

Oh damn. Ohhhh fuck. Uhhh… Yeah this is outta my league.

Hitoshi started scrambling for something, anything , Mic had taught him. 

He took Denki’s hand and rested it against his chest. It's shaking… oh this poor kid.

“Denki, I need you to try and match my breathing, okay? It might be hard, but you have to try, alright?”

Denki nodded.

“In….” Hitoshi watched as Denki took a shaky breath. “And out….” Denki let it out a little fast. They continued to do this, and after a few minutes, Denki felt okay again.

“S…sorry, Hitoshi.”

Hitoshi took Denki’s hand off his chest, but didn’t let go. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.” His tone was softer than usual.

“But… this was supposed to be a fun hangout and now….” Denki wiped the remnants of his tears with his free hand.

“It’s alright. P…resent Mic taught me several things when he was doing his therapy courses.”

“Wait…” sniff “is Present Mic a therapist? And a hero?”

“Yeah.”

Silence stretched between them while Hitoshi texted Kirishima to let him know that everything’s alright now.

Kirishima: thanks for the update *thumbs up emoji*

“Do you wanna go back inside, Denki?” Hitoshi stood up and offered Denki his hand.

“Yeah… it’s kinda cold.”

Even if I hurt people I love by accident, life moves on, and the universe will always bring me someone who cares and understands, Denki thought as he let Hitoshi help him up.