Archive of Our Own

Denki had always been a problem child. He had always wanted to be the center of attention because he had never been interested in paying attention to what the teachers had wanted him to learn. Making his classmates laugh was more fun than learning anyways.

His teachers would make sure to send his mother weekly reports that pleaded to make it known how important school was and how he needed to be more studious. His mother would always laugh at those, would sign and send them back when he returned to school the next week.

It continued like that for a while.

Denki would go to school, learn about what he wanted to, and not pay attention to the lessons that he hadn't cared for; he would get reprimanded and told that he wouldn't make it very far if he continued like this, that it was all for his own good.

That all changed when he heard mutters in the halls about soulmates. His interest had been piqued because it was something that he knew about but he never really heard people mention them out loud. They weren't taboo, per se, but they were more or less kept private.

So one day he decided on a whim that he was going to learn about them.

He was going to learn about something to spite the teachers who looked down at him, who thought that he wasn’t going to amount to anything. He might not have been the smartest person, nor the most motivated, but he wasn’t a lost cause.

It wasn’t anything that was taught in the school curriculum, instead left to the parents or other family members, and he wouldn’t be able to brag about how much he had he learned. But he would know how hard he worked to learn about something that he was actually interested in, and that he hadn’t been forced to learn.

Then the subject that he had randomly picked up out of curiosity had suddenly become something that he wanted to know even more about.  He found himself willingly going to the library to bring books home and his browsing history was full of saved links on the subject.

He learns about all the known markings — tattoos, phrases, names — and that they never appeared in the same place for anyone, even for the soulmates themselves.

~~

"I'm home!" Denki called as he walked through the door and dropped his backpack on the floor near the wall. His mother would yell at him for it later but he couldn't be bothered to move it.

"Ah, welcome back!" His mother said, a smile on her face as she walked to the entryway. "Are you hungry? I tried out something new, and was hoping you could do a little taste test for me."

"So that's why it smells so good in here!" Denki exclaimed. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "Anything that smells like that shouldn't even need a testing."

"Stop being a flatterer before you even have a try," she said. She sounded exasperated, but he knows that she didn't mind being told how much he enjoyed what she would make.

"Yes, ma'am!" He replied smartly, doing a mock salute, before walking towards the kitchen — his mother right behind him.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, before Denki decided to speak.

"Hey, so, I wanted to ask about the mark on your arm?" He asked, watching as his mother turned towards him with a confused look on his face.

"You mean my soulmark?"

"Yeah, if you didn't mind," he replied.

"Of course I don't mind. Ask anything you'd like to know, and I'll do my best to answer."

It wasn't anything that he hadn't already learned about from the textbooks and websites but it was interesting to hear it from someone else's point of view, to hear a first-hand explanation instead of reading studies and theories.

~~

One of the things that Denki learned in his research was that the mark was supposed to appear when someone turned fifteen.

When he had his fifteenth birthday he celebrated with gusto, excited that soon he would be getting his mark within the year.

That didn't stop him from waking up every morning and searching for it and feeling a sense of disappointment when it wasn't there.

~~

"So, you look like you're having a mid-life crisis. Aren't you little young for that?" A girl with short, dark purple hair asked as she sat down next to him, breaking through his reverie. Her lunch already sat on the table, and she acted like belonged there, indifferent to the fact that she hadn't even asked if the seat had been taken.

Denki had seen her in the hallways but had never spoken to her.

"No mid-life crisis here, I promise!" Denki replied, his smile bright and cheery, right hand raised up. "By the way, I'm Kaminari Denki."

"Yeah, I know who you are," the girl replied with a smirk. "Troublemaker extraordinaire, right?"

"The one and only," he answered, leaning in close as if telling a secret. "But you can't go saying that out loud. It would totally blow my cover."

"Whatever you say, man," she said, shaking her head. "I'm Jirou Kyouka."

After the introductions had been made they sat in a comfortable silence. Denki watched the other students laugh and joke around with each other. Every now and then though, he would see someone roll up a sleeve or lift up the hem of their shirt, obviously revealing their marks — the novelty of something new making them excited and had them wanting to show off to their friends, even if it was normally frowned upon.

He would never openly admit to being jealous of them.

They continued to sit quietly until the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period.

"Hey, thanks for sitting with me," Denki said, the and not making me talk going unsaid but it had been understood all the same.

"Yeah, wasn't a problem," she said, nodding, as she cleaned up the surrounding area before standing. "Oh, I'm also going to sit here tomorrow, so you better be here."

Kaminari laughed and then nodded in agreement. "Of course. I wouldn't dream of bailing."

He welcomed the change. It had been a nice distraction, and it helped him forget about what had been bothering in the first place.

~~

"So, what's with your obsession with soulmates?" Jirou asked once while she and Denki were in his room, music playing softly as background noise. "I swear that you have nothing else in your history."

Denki looked up from his textbook and saw that she had been searching through his bookmarks on his computer instead of actually doing research. Usually it was the other way around, and Jirou had to smack him upside the head to get any work done.

"I don't have an obsession, and I have other things in my history," Denki said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "You just haven't looked hard enough yet."

"First of all, gross," Jirou said, shaking her head. "Second, I'm being serious. There is literally nothing here but links about soulmates and their marks."

"It's not an obsession, I swear. Get me a book, any book, and I'll swear on that."

Jirou scoffed at that, and then closed the browser before she swung the chair around to face him, an expectant look on her face.

"Okay, okay. I'm not obsessed though," Denki started, his finger pointed at her, ignoring how she rolled her eyes. " But when I was younger? My teachers absolutely hated me. They basically told me that I wasn't going to amount to anything, blah blah blah. So, one day I decided that I was going to find something that I was interested in. That just so happened to be that one thing. At first, it was just to prove that I could learn if I wanted to, and then it became something that I was actually interested in."

"You can't show off though, so what was the point? They're never going to know," Jirou pointed out.

"That wasn't really the point though," he said. "The point was that I knew that I did it, that I was so interested in something that I actually sat down and learned about it."

"Huh. I never thought I would see the day that you would be so passionate about something," she said, her fingers rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "It's weird. I don't like it."

Denki groaned. "Hey, I can be interested in something that could be considered academic."

"Stop using big words too. Sounding smart doesn't suit you."

"I'm going to say something, and you're going to want to record this to keep a record of it," he began," because I am going to throw something at you if you don't get back to work."

Jirou looked at him in amusement, before she shook her head in disbelief, and said," I never, ever, thought I'd live to see the day that you would actually want to get back to our schoolwork."

~~

The school year continued like that — alternating between whose place they would be studying at, who would try their hand at cooking and trying not to burn down the place down.

It was fun.

He would still wake in the morning and check for any sign of a mark appearing. He would still be disappointed when he couldn't find anything, but it didn't eat at him like it did before.

Until he noticed that Jirou had gotten hers. It was completely by accident that he found out, her pants riding up a little when she crossed her legs, the colors a stark contrast against her skin.

"When did you get that?" He asked, pointing his pencil at it, his tone light.

"Honestly? I have no idea," she answered, shrugging her shoulders. "My mom pointed it out to me the other day."

Denki looked at her thoughtfully. "You know, that sounds just like you."

"It's just not that big of a deal for me," Jirou said, and then paused as she looked at him. “You’re not upset are you?”

“Of course not,” he replied. “I was just wondering why you didn’t bring it up, but I’m not upset.”

“Like, I said before, it’s not a big deal for me.”

There was a  moment of silence after that, a little awkward, and not what was common between them. Denki figured that it was about time to change the subject, or else the atmosphere would continue to feel like this, which is not something that he wanted.

“So… now that that’s been taken care, should we go ahead and get started?”

~~

After Denki turned seventeen he wasn’t expecting anything to be any different from previous years and, for a while, that was the case.

One morning, just one random morning, it appeared.

It took him by surprise to see it when he looked in the bathroom mirror while getting ready for school.

“Holy shit,” he muttered, fingertips gently touching the newly marked skin, completely in awe of the sight - a dragon, outlined in black, red in color, sat on his upper forearm, the tail twirling around his bicep. Only a single wing was visible, but it’s open to its full wingspan.

It looked every part of what he wanted, and he should be happy to have it finally appear, should be feeling elated — but instead of feeling butterflies, he felt nauseated.

It felt wrong on his skin, even though it was gorgeous.

There was a buzzing sound to his left, his phone lighting up as he received a text from Jirou who was impatiently waiting for him outside.

Jirou

i swear i'm going to drag you out of that bathroom of yours by your if you don't get your ass down here! we're going to be late

 “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” he said to himself, hurriedly throwing on his shirt, making sure that his mark was covered. He could smell the breakfast that his mother made earlier and laments over the fact that he sdidn’t have the time to eat any of it.

Damn his attention span; he always gets distracted when he has other things to worry, things that are more important than a mark that shows a couple years late.

As soon as he stepped outside he saw Jirou’s exasperated face as she pointed to her wrist watch, and waved her hand frantically, as if that was going to make him move any faster.

(It did.)

“You sure took your sweet time. Did you sleep late or something?” Jirou said as soon as the passenger door opened and Denki gets seated, buckling up before she can lecture him about car safety.

“Yeah, you can say that.”

Denki wanted to tell her about the mark, but he figured that in the car, on the way to school, wasn’t the best time to bring it up. Especially since they’re already running late.

There was a brief silence, and he could tell that Jirou knew that something was a little off. Though she can be brash and rough around the edges, she was quick to sense moods and act accordingly to the situation.

He always appreciated that she gives him time to work things out first before she decides that she’s waited long enough and needs to know whatever is going on in his mind.

~~

“So, are you going to tell me what’s been bothering you all day?” Jirou sat on Denki’s floor, leaned against the bed, and looked at him expectantly.

Denki sighed and sat down next to her. He didn’t say anything, just rolled up the sleeve of his shirt and waited for her reaction.

“Ah, that’s what it is then.” Her fingers brush against it. “It’s beautiful. Did you get it today?”

“Yeah, I noticed it this morning, right before you started texting me,” Denki said and he rolled the sleeve back down. “It’s why I was running late this morning.”

“Understandable, especially since I know that you weren’t expecting it.” Jirou hummed thoughtfully and she turned to look at him. “Now that you have it though, you going to look for your soulmate or anything?”

“Nah, I think I’ll pass. There’s other things to worry about, you know.” He hoped that’s enough to drop the conversation. Now that it’s out in the open, he really doesn’t want to talk about it any longer.

“Like trying to get through this school year?” It seemed that Jirou took the hint and changed the topic. Granted it’s about school, but Denki will take it.

“Like getting through this school year,” Denki agreed before he stood. “I’m going to grab something to drink. Want anything?”

“Sure, whatever you’ll be getting.”

And just like that, talks about soulmates and marks were swept underneath the rug, and forgotten.

~~

The last year of high school came and went in what felt like a blink of an eye, summer was over in a flash, and in no time at all Denki was standing at the foot of his bed in a college dorm.

The boxes he had brought with him were stacked haphazardly by the wall, looking ready to topple over at any second, yet he made no move to go and correct them. It reminded him of his room back at home - even it was messy, everything had a place where it belonged - and he figured that there would be plenty of time to unpack at a later time.

His phone began buzzing, an onslaught of messages coming through, and he could only imagine that Jirou would be the one sending them. A smile came to his face as he checked the notifications.

From Jirou

i'll be a little late.
there are these kids that are looking at me, deadset on keeping eye contact with me, and just dancing. Whyyy
we moved a little bit, so now we’re ahead of the car of kids, thank goodness. I don’t think i could have handled that for much longer
have you finished unloading your things yet? Because i’m probably going to need a hand once i get there
annnnd nope, the car of kids is back. I’m gonna die now.

Denki

you probably shouldn’t be texting in the car?? That’s not a good thing. And yeah, i can help you when you get here. Just shoot me a message.
just, get off the phone for now until you’re parked???

Jirou

spoilsport, but i’ll do it for you. See you when i get there, i guess

~~

It was around another hour before Jirou had pulled in the parking lot, irritated by having to sit stationary for long on the road, car filled to the brim with boxes.

“Did you really need to pack that much?” Kaminari asked, looking at Jirou in disbelief. “We’re only going to be here for a semester and you’ll be going home for break.”

“I like to be prepared, okay? You never know when you’re going to need something,” Jirou replied, handing over a box to Denki. “Now, let’s start taking these upstairs. I want to be able to relax sooner rather than later.”

Denki huffed out a laugh as he took the box and began heading back towards the building. It wasn’t a long trek but he was dreading the multiple trips he knew he would have to take. Jirou was only going to help for so long before she settled down for the evening.

She was serious about her relaxing.

His prediction was proven correct when, after their second trip down to the car, Jirou stated that she was done and she was going to go back up to her room to start unpacking, which left Denki alone and to his own devices.

(He was half-tempted to take her car out for a ride, leave her wondering where he was, and just not answer the phone when she would undoubtedly call.

It would be fun, but he wasn’t sure that he would want to deal with the consequences once he got back.)

Thankfully, there wasn’t much left to take up. If he loaded his arms up he could get by with one last trip.

And that’s how he found himself with his back pressed against the wall, struggling to reach the door handle without dropping anything, huffing in irritation but determined.

He would say that he would have succeeded but, at the last moment, he lost the grip he had on the boxes and they crashed down on the ground. Denki didn’t think that any of the boxes that he had grabbed were fragile, but he still found himself worried about the possibility of breaking something. He knelt down to start stacking the boxes back up and to try and assess if there was any damage.

For the same reason, he didn’t take Jirou’s car on a joy ride in protest… he didn’t want any of the contents to be broken.

“An idiot could have figured out that not carrying so many fucking boxes at once could have stopped that from happening,” a voice said from behind him, rough and slightly mocking - almost like someone stood there and had watched the whole thing from beginning to end, without deigning to help.

Which definitely wasn’t cool in Denki’s book. Sure, he could have carried less to the door, or he could have set them down before trying to turn the handle, but there was still no real cause to just sit there and mock someone; unfortunately, Denki was used to things like that being said to him - mocking words that were used to put him down or make him feel like an idiot.

However, he wasn’t going to let that bring him down this time. He was starting college, and basically living with his best friend- and a stranger wasn’t going to ruin that for him.

“Ah, but what does it say about you that you just watched it happen? That’s not very nice, you know!” Denki replied sardonically, not even bothering to take the time to turn and see who he was talking too.

There was a scoff behind him. “Never said I was a nice fucking person, now did I?”

Right after saying that, Denki felt himself being brushed against. He wasn’t close enough to actually be in the way of the path to the door, but he wasn’t quite fully off to the side, and that would mean that the person coming up behind him would either have to walk around him or just try and plow through him to get through.

Which is what Denki found happening to him - being shoved against hard enough so that he would have to brace himself, hand pressed against the wall to keep from toppling over, and he saw someone that looked slightly taller than him - taller, with spiky blonde hair, and a scowl that looked like it had to be a permanent fixture.

He had seen it coming from a mile away, so he hadn’t been all that surprised. He could also admit that he was a little bit at fault for attempting to provoke him.

But it didn’t appear to take too much to rile the other.

However, what he hadn’t been expecting was the burning sensation that his mark had started to give off. It was sudden, only lasted for a few seconds, but it was intense enough to gasp out at it. He heard a muttered “fuck” from in front of him, and he wondered what had caused that - Denki had been the one who had been run into, had been the one who had needed to brace himself against the wall, and who had a soul mark that had decided that it wanted to start burning randomly.

There hadn’t been any time to come up with a retort, or to say anything really, as the stranger had already disappeared through the door and up the stairs to where the rooms were. He was left alone, trying to figure out what had just happened, and coming to terms with the fact that he was going to be living with a person like that.

Hopefully, the other roommates weren’t as awful as he was expecting this one to end up.

Denki rubbed his mark, trying to work out that lingering uncomfortable feeling. A jolt of relief ran through him as the feeling started to fade, but he could still feel the ghost of the sensation and wondered when that would also leave.

~~

The dorms’ common room, which had been so quiet earlier — due to it being only Denki and Jirou at that time — was bustling with activity as everyone tried to make it more hospitable and inviting.

Denki learned about the two other people that were living with himself and Jirou.

Todoroki Shouto, who had the most interesting hair color — with half being red and the other half white. He was quiet and kept to himself for the most part. He had only come over to introduce himself at the behest of his boyfriend, who introduced himself as Midoriya Izuku — who was the complete opposite of Todoroki.

Even though Midoriya wasn’t one of his roommates, Denki figured that he would be seeing a lot of the other boy around, which definitely wasn’t going to be a bad thing. He seemed interesting, and he could see the two of them getting along fairly well.

The other roommate, who had yet to come down from their room, was Bakugou Katsuki, as he had been informed by Todoroki.

Now Denki had a name to go with the person he had run into earlier in the day, and he was kind of hoping that they wouldn’t be running into each other all that often.

~~

“I swear I’m going to kill the dumbass that’s been eating my food!”

The shout echoed throughout the quiet of the morning, beating the various alarms that Denki, and everyone else had set. He groaned as he opened one eye to check the time, and he decided that he had officially hated life.

6:00 A.M. Way too early for Denki to be able to function or do anything productive.

His morning class didn’t start for another few hours and he could have slept in without running the risk of being late. It seemed like this would be a typical morning for Denki now.

Bakugou wasn’t really around all that much when Denki was awake and around the common area, which he was eternally grateful for, but he still made an impact. Especially in the mornings. Something was always wrong: dishes hadn’t been done correctly, food hadn’t been put away that it was supposed to be, the common area was a mess. And if a criticism could be made, there was one yelled out through the whole living area.

There would be banging and loud cursing, every single word clearly heard. Denki didn’t know if that was just how it sounded when Bakugou ended up fixing whatever he thought was wrong or if it was being done in spite.

It was probably a little bit of both.

~~

Sometimes it appeared, to Denki at least, that Midoriya had a never-ending amount of friends, who always ended up in their dorm. He wasn’t bothered by the fact that almost every time he came home after class there would be some new person, or sometimes a group of people, sitting on their couches. It made things entertaining.

Today had been no different in that regard, complete with Denki getting assigned homework that he didn’t quite understand. He would more than likely have to beg someone to help him with especially since it had an unreasonably soon due date.

Todoroki was sitting on the couch that was furthest away from the television, book in his hand, an attempt to distance himself away from the loud volume without actually being too far away from Midoriya and whoever this new friend was. Papers were strewn about the table in front of them, and there were a few books open in front of them.

“Hey, Kaminari! Hope you don’t mind that I have someone over. I always feel a little awkward about it, since this isn’t even my place,” Midoriya said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

“Nah, it’s cool man. I don’t mind at all!” Denki replied. He smiled at Midoriya before he turned his attention to the person next to him.

The stranger had bright red hair, so bright that there was no way it was natural, and he more than likely used a whole jar of hair gel to get it to spike up like that. He had a wide smile that seemed to take up his whole face, and Denki just knew that he was one of those people that brightened the room whenever he walked in.

“Oh, yeah, sorry! This is my friend Kirishima. He’s in one of my classes,” Midoriya said quickly when he realized that he hadn’t given introductions, gesturing between the two before glancing towards Kirishima. “Or did you want to introduce yourself? I’m sorry, I didn’t even ask!”

“Ahh, it’s fine,” Kirishima replied, smile still on his face, not losing any of its luster, posture relaxed. He seemed amused by Midoriya’s antics, probably as used to them as both Denki and Todoroki were. “It’s nice to meet you… Kaminari, was it? Midoriya didn’t quite finish the introductions.”

Denki laughed as Midoriya reacted to that statement — stuttering and frantically waving his arms in front him, embarrassed that he had forgotten. Flustered Midoriya was always an entertaining sight to see.

“I think you and I are going to get along fine,” Denki said once he could get himself to stop laughing.

“Well, that’s good. I have a feeling that I’m going to be here pretty often, considering Midoriya and I are partnered for a project, and I’d hate if I didn’t get along with the people he considered a friend,” he said, pausing for a brief moment before continuing. “It would make things a little awkward if I do say so myself.”

“I told you that everyone would be fine with you here,” Midoriya said. He sounded exasperated like this was something that he had said multiple times before, like this was something that the other had worried about.

“Yeah, most everyone here is pretty cool. The only one you’d have to worry about usually isn’t here very often,” Denki added in. “Also, he seems to hate everyone equally, so it wouldn’t be a personal thing.”

At the mention of their other roommate, Midoriya seemed to freeze, but the moment was brief, and Denki wondered if he had imagined it.

“Jirou is pretty cool though. Where has she been lately?” Midoriya asked, and it seemed a little rushed —  like he was trying desperately to move the conversation in another direction.

“At the moment? I’m not sure, but I do know that she has been spending quite a bit of time at the library,” Denki replied, trying to remember the last time he had seen her in person, instead of just sending texts to one another. “I think she’s been working on some essay or something like that. I haven’t really seen her either, not even really in passing.”

“Don’t we have a day off coming up soon? We should probably plan something, so that everyone isn’t so caught in studying that they don’t take some time to themselves,” Kirishima said thoughtfully. “That way it doesn’t feel like your friend is a figment of your imagination.”

“Oh, that sounds like a great idea,” Midoriya exclaimed, and it seemed like he was about ready to burst at the seams. “Shoto, let’s plan something!”

Todoroki looked up from what he was reading, eyebrow raised. “No, thank you. I’d rather not.”

“I’m probably going to head upstairs now,” Denki said as he shook his head, and watched as Midoriya got up and walked over to Todoroki. This was his cue to leave.“I have a few things to work on myself. Plus, I really don’t want to be around while Midoriya tries to convince Todoroki to help him plan this.”

“And so you leave me alone with them? That’s cruel, bro. ” Kirishima gave a little pout, but the slight twinkle in his eyes made it obvious that he wasn’t really upset.

“It’s something that you’re going to have to learn to live with if you’re going to continue hanging around here,” Denki said with a halfhearted shrug as he turned away towards his room. “You’ll be fine, I promise.”

~~

Jirou

hey, do you remember the diner that we pass by on the to class?

Denki

the one with the name that we can’t pronounce?

Jirou

yeah, that’s the one. Would you be able to stop by
i’m there now

Denki

sure? Is everything okay?

Jirou

yeah, sorry, didn’t even think about how that would come out. everything is fine.
there’s just someone i’d like you to meet

Denki

it’s fine, just haven’t seen you in a while, so it threw me off.
give me about 15 min? Maybe a little longer?

Jirou

sounds good, i’ll see you when you get here

 ~~

Denki hadn’t known what to expect when he reached the diner, wasn’t sure just who Jirou had wanted him to meet — she hadn’t been around all that much and when she had been she hadn’t mentioned anyone. This was a little out of left field for Denki. However, he trusted her when she said that there was no need to worry.

The bell above the door rang when he opened the door but it was hard to hear above the cacophony of sounds that greeted him. He hadn’t thought that it would be so busy this late in the evening on a school night, but Denki found himself surprised.

“Denki, we’re over here!”

He turned the direction he heard his name come from and saw Jirou and another dark-haired girl sitting right next to her. Drinks, already half empty, sat before them. Denki wondered just how long they had been there before Jirou had texted him.

“Hey, sorry it took me so long. I was doing some last minute studying when I got your text,” Denki said in greeting. He took off his coat and placed it on the empty spot next to him. There was a slight chill outside, but with all the people — not to mention the heat from the grills — made keeping it on inside nearly unbearable.

“It’s fine, I’m the one that reached out kind of last minute. I wouldn’t have been surprised if you hadn’t been able to make it at all. I know that you have early morning classes.”

Denki waved off her concern. “It’s not a big deal. I would have just stayed up late to continue working. This seems like it would be a little more interesting than a textbook.”

“You have a point there,” Jirou said before she paused, a brief moment of hesitation before she gestured to the girl that sat next to her. “Okay, so this is Yaoyorozu. She’s who I wanted you to meet.”

“Pleaseed to meet you,” she said, and she gave a smile. “I’ve heard so much about you, it feels like we’re already friends, so I don’t mind.”

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry to say that it’s not quite the same for me. Jirou kept pretty quiet about you,” Denki said with a raised eyebrow and a pointed look in Jirou’s direction. She gave a sheepish smile as he said that.

“I didn’t mean for it to take so long, I just -,” Jirou cut herself off and took a breath before she continued. “I had to convince myself that you would be okay with me introducing you to my soulmate. I know you’re fine with Midoriya and Todoroki, but I also know that they’re not aware of your situation. I was waiting for a time that would be right for both of us.”

An awkward silence followed that. It hadn’t been awkward because of the reason he had been brought here, but more from the fact that Denki hadn’t known how to feel about how he had been the reason that Jirou hadn’t brought Yaoyorozu up even once before now.

“You didn’t have to keep her a secret, I would never be mad or upset at you for something you can’t really control. I would have understood,” Denki said as he rolled his eyes. “You’re my best friend. I’m beyond happy for you.”

~~

“Hey mom, do you think there’s something wrong with me?” Denki asked one evening, phone pressed against his ear as he paced around his room.

“Of course not! Why would you think even think something like that?”

“Well, let’s start with the obvious,” Denki began, bitterness seeped into his voice. “I get my mark late. Later than everyone else I know. And I told you about how it felt like it was burning when one of my roommates had run into me, right? None of that is normal.”

“Maybe not normal, but that doesn’t mean that anything is wrong with you,” she replied with a patience only a mother could have.

“I know that it shouldn’t even be a big deal either. A soulmate isn’t the be all and end all. There are more important things to worry about, like school. I’m not as smart as some of the other kids, so I need to spend more time studying than others. Instead, I’m stuck here worrying about something I know I shouldn’t care about.”

A knock sounded on the door, loud laughter coming from the other side, effectively cutting off the conversation. Denki could hear Jirou’s voice asking him to come out and join them out in the common room for some sort of get together. It was hard to hear through the door, but he figured that was the gist.

“Looks like your friends are looking for you, so I’ll go ahead and let you go,” his mother said. “But, don’t be a stranger, and call me whenever you need to, okay?”

The door burst open as soon as Denki had finished saying his goodbyes, barely able to hang up before Jirou bounded in, too impatient to wait any longer.

“You, my friend, are just taking way too long to join us,” she said as she grabbed his arm and pulled him up, intent on dragging him out of his own room.

“Chill, I was just on the phone with my mom,” Denki said as he laughed at her actions, amused at how much she acted like she was on some sort of mission. He guessed that wasn’t far from being accurate though.

“Yeah, but we have everyone here. This is a momentous occasion, and we need you out there with us now,” she replied. He rolled his eyes, but he let her drag him to where everyone else had already settled.

No one batted an eye as Jirou pushed him towards the area that she and Yaoyorozu had claimed — a little spot in the corner of the room, close to where Kirishima and Bakugou had settled. Denki wondered when they had become friends. He’d never seen them anywhere near each other, but they seemed fairly comfortable with one another as he glanced over at them.

(He ignored that little spark of jealousy that flared up, because Kirishima was allowed to be friends with other people — even if said person was probably one of the angriest and rudest people that Danki had had the misfortune of being introduced to.)

Midoriya and Todoroki weren’t anywhere to be seen, but Denki expected they would show up any minute since Jirou had said that everyone had been convinced to be here. He felt a little flicker of something that felt like unease when he had heard that, because he knew that this was the first time that everyone had gotten together.

Bakugou was never around while Midoriya was over. Denki remembered that he asked Midoriya about it once in passing, and had received a vague explanation about a falling out of sort. He didn’t get much more than that, and he didn’t press the issue. The topic seemed to make Midoriya uncomfortable so it was dropped.

“So are we ever going to do anything, or are we just going to sit here all night staring at each other?” Denki heard Bakugou ask, but he wasn’t sure if it had been directed at everyone, or if he had been talking to Kirishima and had just spoken loudly.

“We’re still waiting on Midoriya and Todoroki to get here,” Jirou said, not having the same concern that Denki had. “They’re bringing the food, so I figured we could just wait for that. But, I guess we could always get started since someone is just way too impatient.”

Her pointed tone made Denki let out a small laugh, and he could hear Yaoyorozu try to stifle her reaction as well.

“Oh, fuck it, I don’t need to deal with this,” Bakugou all but snarled out, irritation flashed across his face. He made a motion to stand up, but Kirishima grabbed his arm and yanked him back down to the couch before he quickly let go.

(Denki doesn’t know if he imagined the way that Kirishima’s eyes widened, before he pulled his hand away — it had been quick, almost like he’d been burned.

It looked similar to the way Denki had reacted when they had run into each other the first time they had met.)

“Whatever, you should feel lucky that I took the time to even consider being here with you losers,” Bakugou said as he glared at everyone in the room, mostly at Jirou and Kirishima — the one who made him want to leave and the one that made him stay, both equally guilty in Bakugou’s eyes.

“I feel blessed for sure,” Jirou said dryly, and she rolled her eyes as she looked over at Denki. A loud ding pulled Jirou’s attention away. She pulled out her phone to glance at the message she had received and then stood.  “Alright, food is here. I’m going to go help them bring it in.”

“Finally! I’m starving.”

“Didn’t you just eat like, an hour ago or something? What the fuck,” Bakugou said as he brought his gaze back to Kirishima, who just looked sheepishly back while he shrugged his shoulders.

“I can’t help it! I’m a growing boy,” he said with a pout, and then he glanced over at Denki, a pleading look on his face. “Back me up Kaminari!”

“Uh, he’s a growing boy and needs his food?” Denki said obligingly, an eyebrow raised as he turned back to look at Jirou, who just shook her head.

“You, Kaminari Denki, are a true friend, and I appreciate you.” There was a pause and then Kirishima looked at Bakugou and continued, “Look, a true friend. You should strive to be more like Kaminari. He supports me.”

The irritation seemed to roll off Bakugou in waves. He didn’t say anything this time though, opting to stay put and keep his mouth closed, the glare seemed to be a permanent fixture at this time.

Denki hoped that Jirou had known what she was doing when she set this evening up and invited everyone, because this seemed like a disaster waiting to happen.

(In the end it hadn’t been a complete disaster, but Denki couldn’t see anything like this being planned again in the near future.

Unless it was somewhere with space; a lot of space where no one had to interact with anyone else, and were mutliple feet from each other.

Denki didn’t think his hearing would ever be the same.)

~~

It had been a quiet day — no homework or errands that had to be taken care of — when Denki was subjected to being the only person available for Kirishima to come to for entertainment.

Kirishima had asked Denki to go run with him, agreeing before he could stop himself. Kirishima had looked so pleased that he had been able to convince someone to go that Denki couldn’t bring himself to change his mind, even if it was the last thing he wanted to do.

He struggled to keep up with the pace that Kirishima had set. However, more often than not, he found himself stopped on the side of the path — bent over with his hands on his knees, while he struggled to catch his breath.

Kirishima would stop and wait impatiently every time Denki would stop, and only half-heartedly gave him a hard time. Denki only rolled his eyes at every remark, knew that Kirishima hadn’t meant anything negative by it.

“You really need to get out more!” Kirishima said as he smacked Denki’s back, hard enough to almost knock him over if he hadn’t had caught himself in time. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that you’ll be able to keep up with me.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Denki huffed out. He used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe the sweat out of his eyes — it was only after he dropped his arm back down that he realized which arm he had used, and that Kirishima had definitely seen the mark that Denki was usually so diligent about not letting it be seen.

The silence that followed was deafening — neither one knew what to say or how to react.

Kirishima’s eyes were glued to the tattoo on Denki’s arm, and it looked like he wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come.

Denki found it strange that Kirishima was so fixated. He knew that he hadn’t shown anyone besides his mother and Jirou, but it shouldn’t have been that big of a deal. The attention made him feel uncomfortable, and he hurried to turn Kirishima’s attention to something else.

“So, are you looking forward to the trip back home for break?” He asked as he pulled his sleeve back down, and watched as Kirishima finally met his eyes. Denki wasn’t sure he could describe the look on his face.

“Hey, Kaminari?”

“Yes?”

Instead of voicing what he wanted to say, Kirishima lifted up the hem of his own shirt and Denki’s own eyes widened in response — he was looking at the same mark he saw every morning, only this mark was on the side of someone else.

There was a brief moment of hesitation as Kirishima reached out and touched his arm, and Denki could feel the heat spread from his mark as skin met skin which was not so jarring when it was expected.

“Huh, well, I guess that explains that.” It sounded more like a rhetorical statement to Denki, but he agreed with the sentiment all the same. Kirishima shook his head, and then he began to smile. “But dude, that’s so cool! I thought something was wrong, but looks like I was a late bloomer, eh?”

“I- I honestly thought that there was something wrong with me,” Denki said. “I just kinda accepted the fact that I had a defective mark.”

However, another thought wormed its way through Denki’s brain. If the tingling warmth came from touching your soulmate, than that meant —

“The same thing happens when we touch Bakugou, doesn’t it?” Denki asked, and the thought made his heart sink. He knew that Bakugou wasn’t fond of him — wasn’t too fond of anyone besides Kirishima, that Denki knew of — so the thought of possibly being soulmates with him as well was a hard pill to swallow.

“It does,” Kirishima replied, and he sounded thoughtful. “I mean, if he felt it too, that is. Have you noticed anything about his reactions around us?”

“Not anything in particular. He basically reacts the same to being touched by everyone the same way.”

“Do you think we should talk to him about it? See if it’s the same for him?”

Denki tilted his head to the side and thought about what he should do. The best thing would be to talk to him. However, he didn’t get along with Bakugou, so he knew that conversation would go downhill quickly. “We should, but you should be the one to bring it up. He’ll probably tolerate the conversation for longer than five seconds if you’re the one to bring it up.”

“Sure thing,” Kirishima said with a grin as he threw his arm around Denki’s shoulders without any reservations.  “You’ll be coming with me though, so don’t go thinking that you can get out of this, just because you think he doesn’t like you.”

~~

It was hard to find a good time for the three of them to get together.

Well, it was easy enough for Kirishima to find time to speak to Bakugou. As soon as Denki’s name was mentioned, or whenever he showed up in the general vicinity, there was always some sort of excuse as to why Bakugou suddenly had to go.

It was, to say the least, a little disheartening.

“You know, it’s not just you,” Kirishima said one day while they’re sitting on a park bench after yet another run, water bottle in hand. “He treats everyone like that.”

Denki nodded, but he doesn’t quite believe it. Bakugou barely tolerates him at best, and those times that he did was only because they had a mutual friend in Kirishima. “Okay, but how are we going to talk to him if he keeps running off whenever someone else, besides you, shows up?

“Don’t worry! We’ll figure something out!”

~~

It ended up happening when Denki thought he was alone.

The music was turned on to whatever was on the Top 40, turned up so loud that Denki was surprised no one had filed a noise complaint, sleeves rolled up while he set about attempting to be productive.

It was really because he didn’t want to risk having to listen to someone complaining that people weren’t cleaning up after themselves.

Purely selfish reasons, and nothing to do with the fact that it’s what he should be doing in the first place.

The music stopped suddenly, and the silence that followed was nearly overwhelming. He turns to look at where the radio was plugged in and noticed the cord was where it was meant to be. Denki frowned in confusion and then realization set in — he wasn’t alone any longer. Bakugou stood there scowling, hand still on the power button.

“Was there a reason why you had the shittiest music playing at the loudest possible volume?”

“Ah, sorry about that. I thought I was the only one here,” he replied sheepishly. “I’ll make sure that I pay more attention next time.”

“Do that.” Bakugou started to turn back towards the doorway, having accomplished what he set out to do, but then he stopped and looked back at Denki — he made a vague waving motion towards Denki, and then spoke again. “By the way. You should probably cover that up. Nobody wants to see that shit.”

Denki glanced down at his arm and decided that he probably wouldn’t get another chance to have this conversation, with how Bakugou usually avoided being in the general vicinity. “Well, someone might, y’know? Someone like my soulmate, maybe?”

“Have you found them then?” Bakugou’s eyebrow raised in disbelief .  “Or have they still not shown up?”

“Oh, come on! That’s a low blow, man,” Denki said. There was a slight tremble in his voice, but he didn’t know which emotion to give credit to; he was upset that he even had to bring this topic up at all, and hurt by the fact that he knew that Bakugou was his other soulmate and that wasn’t even being acknowledged. “I mean, I’m not the only one who hasn’t found a soulmate, am I? Where’s yours?”

“I don’t believe in that soulmate bullshit. It’s fucking idiotic to let something like that dictate your future.” A scowl found its way to Bakugou’s face, his disdain made itself well-known. “I can’t actually believe that people believe in that stuff. Absolutely ridiculous.”

“There’s nothing wrong with trusting fate. Sometimes it can be right.”

“That’s bull. Can you seriously sit there and advocate for it when you haven’t even found yours yet?”

“I have found them, though,” Denki said and he grimaced. He hadn’t planned on mentioning both yet, and he hoped that Bakugou didn’t pick up on it — which was a very unlikely scenario.

“Them? As in multiple?” Bakugou shook his head incredulously. “You have more than one and still have nothing to show for it? And you’re still on this schtick that soulmates are a good thing?”

“Hey, it’s not my fault that things haven’t gone the way they should.” Denki moved closer to Bakugou and watched as the other leaned back slightly to avoid any possible point of contact. “One of them has just been avoiding the situation, no matter how much the two of us try to talk to him about.”

“Sounds like that person is being smart. Avoiding all the unnecessary drama.”

Denki rolled his eyes. “This is so ridiculous. Being in denial isn’t  good luck. I don’t think it’s very smart either, for whatever my opinion is worth.”

He hadn’t thought this conversation would go all that well, especially without someone acting as a buffer, but with how the conversation had gone… It was obvious to Denki that Bakugou knew that they, at least, were soulmates and had no plans of admitting it. Denki had his answer to the question he hadn’t needed to ask.

“Well, I think that I’m done here. My share of the dishes are finished, so you can take over if you’d like,” Denki said and then continued to walk past Bakugou, and made sure that he shoulder-bumped him. He felt the warmth that rushed to his mark and from the muffled curse that came from Bakugou, he had felt it as well. He paused and turned back around to Bakugou, who had his hand pressed to his chest. A small and unhappy smile came to his face as he saw that. “Yeah, that’s what I was expecting would happen.”

Denki didn’t say anything as he continued out of the kitchen. He had been planning on going back to his room, but he needed to get out of the house to take a breather.

~~

The sun had begun to set by the time Denki decided to walk back; there was a slight wind, and he was  just a little upset with himself for not having had the forethought to dress a little warmer. He was feeling a little bit better about earlier, but he still felt a sense of trepidation as he walked through the front door.

Bakugou wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and Denki figured that his example had been followed.

He walked into his room and was surprised to find Jirou had made herself at home; there were bags of chips and cans of soda that sat on the floor. Jirou herself was halfway behind his television messing around with some cords that he could have sworn weren’t his.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m hooking up this console and we’re going to waste the night away. No homework, no phones. Nothing. We’ll just be enjoying blowing things up,” Jirou said as she straightened up and glanced over at him “A certain someone told me to keep an eye on you and that you might need some company.”

“Sounds like fun. I’m in,” Denki said with a smile. He conveniently didn’t ask who it had been, because it could have only been one person. Denki couldn’t believe the nerve of Bakugou to be the cause of this, and then acting like he cared by sending him Jirou.

“Like I would have given you any other choice.” A controller was thrown at him, and it bounced off his chest before he could even react. “Nice catch, hopefully you’re better at playing than that.”

“Well, I guess that you’ll have to find out.”

Not for the first time Denki appreciated the fact that Jirou was as good of a friend as she was.

She was also really good at this game, he found, as the game started up, and thoughts of soulmates and the like fled as he struggled to keep up with her.

~~

“Okay, so, we should probably talk about this?”

The area was quiet, all other occupants having already left for the break. Only the three of them were left with their bags already packed, set aside and just waiting to be taken out to their respective vehicles.

Denki’s eyes dart to Kirishima as he spoke, and he knew that Kirishima was correct. They should talk about this, have needed to since Denki and Bakugou’s encounter in the kitchen the previous week — Kirishima finding out days after the fact and only because Jirou had brouThe aftermath of that encounter leaving the atmosphere fraught with tension, and not only for those involved.

He was certain that everyone else was more than happy to be gone from the dorm, even if they hadn’t explicitly said as much.

“We don’t need to fucking talk about anything, alright?” Bakugou’s voice was tight with tension, sounding one wrong word away from an outburst. “There wasn’t anything to say before, and there isn’t anything to say now. Just drop the damn subject. Now fuck off, both of you.”

Denki moved to say something, anything, but an arm on his arm stopped him. Kirishima was slightly shaking his head, silently asking to just let it go. It’s hard, but Denki bit his tongue - both of them watching as Bakugou grabbed the rest of belongings and walked out without another word.

“Hey, Denki?”

“Hm?”

“Give me your phone for a second.” Kirishima was holding out his hand when Denki turned his attention back to him. There’s a glint in his eye that Denki wasn’t sure he liked, but he handed over his phone without question. Kirishima can be pretty persistent when he wants to be, and this seemed like it would be one of those times when no wouldn’t be taken for an answer. “So, I’m giving you an assignment for this break, alright?”

“Sure? What is it?” Denki wondered if he looked as confused as he felt.

“You’re going to talk to Bakugou. All week,” Kirishima said matter-of-factly, and handed Denki back his phone. “Just keep messaging him, and don’t listen to him when he said that he’s going to block your number. He won’t. He’s all bark and no bite. You’ll see.”

~~

Denki

i’m probably going to regret doing this… but hey

Bakugo

who the hell is this?
oh fuck, i know who this is. I’m going to get that bastard next time i see him

Denki

That’s a little extreme... but, not the point. I wanted to to let you know that you really pissed me off, especially when you asked jirou of all people to make sure that i was alright, because you couldn’t bother to do it yourself
i guess now though… i appreciate that you even took the time, so thanks for that. Enjoy your break.

 He sat there and watched those three little dots appear before they disappeared and he waited, longer than he ever wanted to wait, for a reply that might not even come.

~~

The dorm was quiet and empty, a relaxing space to return to after an eventful trip home. The others were due to return throughout the next few days, so Denki would have the place to himself for at least a little while.

He was looking forward to that. It would give him some time to think about things, let him work them over in his mind without being interrupted by his mother or neighbors taking advantage of the fact that he was back home.

Denki turned on the television, on some random channel for some background noise and began to go through his phone, looking through the texts sent and received. It was surreal to see actual conversations happening with Bakugou, even though he would never initiate on his own and would often cut the interactions short.

It was still an improvement over what it used to be.

His phone dinged with a new message. He half expected it to be from Jirou telling him when she would be coming in, but he's surprised to see that it's from Kirishima instead.

Kirishima

hey hey! Are you back yet?

Denki

yeah, i got back not to long ago. Why?

Kirishima

prepare yourself!
i’ll be bringing back a surprise with me when i get there!

Denki

okay???
what are you planning?
ughh why are you like this?

After waiting for a few minutes, Denki realized that there wasn't going to be a reply. Kirishima was pretty serious about his surprises, always wanting to bring it up and then drag out the anticipation. He should be used to it by now, but it still caught him off guard.

“Figures he would do this as soon as I get back,” he muttered to himself, both exasperated and amused. He went back to browsing his  phone, staying away from the messages this time. One surprise would be enough.It seemed like hardly any time had passed before he heard the lock turning, and he wondered who it would be; no one had mentioned that they would be coming back into town the same day he got back.

There was a loud sound — Denki figured that it’s luggage — and a loud “honey, I’m home” rang through the entrance way, followed by some muttered curses.

“Need some help?” Denki called back, leaning over the back of the couch towards the door.

“Nah, we’re good! Thanks though!” Kirishima came into view, wide smile on his face, and dragged a reluctant Bakugou into the living room with him. “Surprise! Look what I found at the train station!”

Denki bursted out laughing at the look on Bakugou’s face. He looked ready to murder someone, and Denki was happy that it wasn’t him this time.

“Shut the fuck up, dumbass.” Bakugou huffed in annoyance but there wasn’t any real heat behind the words, a glint in his eyes that Denki couldn’t quite place.

“Don’t give me that,” Kirishima said as he threw an arm over Bakugou’s shoulders. “You changed your plans and decided to come back earlier than you planned, hence it being a surprise.”

“I’m not surprising anyone. I just got annoyed by the old hag and I didn’t want to deal with it anymore. That’s all there is to it.”

“Sure, sure. Keep telling yourself that.” There’s nothing but amusement in Kirishima’s voice, but he didn’t say anything more on the subject, just turned to Denki and changed the topic. “Is there anything interesting on?”

Denki turned back towards the television and waved his hand. “I haven’t really been watching it. Feel free to change the channel, if you’d like.”

Without a moment’s hesitation Kirishima was on the couch on one side of him, hand grabbing the remote. He’s flipping through the channels so quickly Denki wondered how he even sees what’s on the screen.

“How can you even tell what shit’s even on?” Bakugou said, and he sat down on the other side of Denki, arm resting on the back of the couch, not touching, but Denki could still feel the heat radiating from him. It was not really what Denki had been expecting.

“It’s an acquired skill. I guess not everyone can be talented enough to do it.”

They were acting like everything was normal, like it wasn’t strange for them to be sitting on either side of Denki. That’s when he decided that he’s going to address the elephant in the room, because he can deal with a lot of strange; this was a little a too strange for him.

“So, are either one of you going to tell me what’s going on? Or are you guys just going to make me guess?”