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Denki couldn’t sleep. Of course that wasn’t unusual for him, sometimes his ADHD would prevent him from sleeping but tonight that wasn’t the case. Instead his right side was screaming in pain.
It was almost midnight and the right side of his waist burned like he had been dropped off three buildings.
He thought this was supposed to be what cramps felt like. Jirou often complained about those and she said the only thing that would make them better was lying on the ground in fetal position, or chocolate.
Denki tried grabbing some of his stash for when Jirou would be on her period. He unwrapped the chocolate and ate it whole.
It didn’t work. The pain still hurt and sugar didn’t do anything to calm Denki’s nerves. But eventually though the crash did knock him out and he fell into an uneasy sleep.
Denki’s alarm woke him up far too soon. He had maybe gotten seven hours of sleep. He sighed and pulled out of his bed, seven hours would have to do.
“You look like hell,” Shinso said while Denki brushed his teeth.
He looked over at the other boy. Shinso wasn’t much better himself, his eyes were bloodshot and the bags looked darker if that was possible.
“And you’re all bright and cheery in the morning as usual,” Denki said, spitting out his toothpaste. As he left to go get dressed the pain in his right side sprang up again.
He cursed and clutched his right side.
“You okay?” Shinso asked.
Denki clenched his teeth into a fake smile and said, “yeah just some cramps.”
Shinso gave him a look but didn’t say anything. Denki left the room clutching his side and trying not to make eye contact with anyone else on his floor.
The rest of the day hadn’t gone so bad. Sure Denki was half asleep but the cramps dulled to the point where he only noticed it faintly.
“Jirou can guys get cramps?” He asked her when they had a free moment in class.
“Trans guys can,” she said looking up at him. “I don’t think biological men should be getting cramps. Are you okay?”
Denki shrugged, “I’m the same as I’ve always been. I was just curious.” Jirou side eyed him but didn’t say anything. Denki smiled for real this time and punched her in the arm. “I’m fine.”
He wasn’t sure if that was supposed to assure her or himself.
That night Denki couldn’t sleep. The pain came back with a temper. Denki couldn’t even sit still, without feeling pain. Even though it was much worse when he was pacing around the room.
Denki was startled when his alarm went off with him still wide awake. He decided to run across the whole dorm to get to Jirou’s room.
“Jirou can I borrow something?” He asked, knocking on the door.
She opened the doors with blurry eyes. “Denki, it's too early to be reading Shojo manga.”
He rolled his eyes, “It’s not that this time. I just need your concealer.”
“Why?”
“Don’t question it,” he said with a grin. She sighed and gave it to him. Denki hugged her then ran out of the girls’ hall and back into the boys’ hall and up to his floor bathroom. In a matter of minutes he was doing his eyes so that he didn’t have bags.
“Oh hi, Shinso,” Denki said, waving. He hid the concealer in his other hand behind his back. No need to let him get worried. He had seen what happened when Midoryia got sick, Shinso had been the first one to notice and alerted the rest of the class in a matter of minutes.
“Hey Kaminari, did you get any sleep last night?” He asked, as he brushed his teeth.
Denki smiled and laughed nervously. “I slept like a babe,” he lied. Denki ran out of the room without another word running back to his room.
The pain persisted throughout the day. Denki kept gritting his teeth, he could get through the day, surely after a night of no sleep he would be able to fall on his bed and sleep like the dead.
Denki wasn’t sure why he hadn’t gone to Recovery Girl yet. He probably should have gotten himself checked out but that felt like too much to ask. It probably was just his body being a bitch and he could deal with it. His brain was a bitch a ton of the time but he didn’t ask for help, so he could just do the same with his body, it would all be fine, Denki just had to make it to the weekend.
“Denki can I have my makeup back,” Jirou asked as she sat down at the breakfast table beside him. He smiled shyly and handed it back.
“Breakfast is ready,” Bakugo said, putting out plates.
Kaminari took one look at the food and paled. It wasn’t like it was bad food; Bakugou always made terrific food saying that it would be pointless to fight someone who had a disadvantage over them.
“Sparky, eat the food,” Bakugo said, stopping in front of Denki.
“Sorry I’m not feeling hungry,” Denki said, blushing. His stomach turned as he stood up, “does anyone want seconds?”
Someone took the food in a matter of seconds and Denki made his way to his first class.
“Today our training will be duos,” All Might said to the group in front of the city they had built for the entrance exam. “Each team will be given one building and they can fight between the buildings. Your goal is to collect the other team's flag which they will hide in their building. Whoever finds it first wins.”
All Might proceeded to list off all the teams. Denki was with Hagakure. He already was devising a plan on how they would be defending themselves.
“Now, Kaminari and Hagakure will face off against Shinso and Kouda.” All Might said.
Denki took a step forward, his stomach turned and his side stabbed him in pain, but he still walked to their building.
“I should stay back and defend the flag,” Denki said, placing it on top of a table on the top floor.
“And I will take my gloves off and sneak inside,” Hagakure said, already taking her boots off.
“Now you need to be careful. Kouda is most likely the one to stay behind because Shinso can’t ask you a question if he can’t see you. So Kouda will have his birds and animals so do not make any kind of sound or smell.”
Hagakure smiled, “that’s why I have this perfume,” she pulled out a small bottle, Denki sniffed it, it smelled faintly of lemons and cleaning supplies. “It smells like the buildings so they will think I just fit in. The most suspicious thing for dogs is when they don’t smell anything from me.”
The buzzard went on above them. Their time had started. Hagakure’s gloves were already off and Denki was alone. Part of him wanted to pace but the pain in his side left hum strapped to the chair.
He wasn’t sure how he was going to fight Shinso but he would manage. Sure he had a strong quirk but Denki could be quiet when he wanted to. So he would just need to electrocute him without short circuiting himself in the process.
Footsteps came from the roof of the building. Shinso had arrived. Denki took a deep breath and stood up on shaky legs. He hadn’t managed to eat anything at lunch but his stomach felt like it would spill its contents everywhere any minute now.
“Hey Kaminari,” Shinso said, walking into the room. “How’s it going?”
Denki smiled but didn’t say anything. He lifted his hand and felt electricity zap in it. Shinso lunged forward, but he dodged and threw himself to the left.
That was a bad idea. Denki felt like he was floating, his head going light. The pain on his side was the only thing that he felt before hitting the ground.
“Kaminari?” Hitoshi asked. He had dodged his attack but he wasn’t getting up. Realizing something was wrong he ran over to Kaminari’s side. He was lying on the ground, clutched in a fetal position. “Kaminari please say something, I won’t use my quirk.”
The boy didn’t say anything. Panic went through Hitoshi, what had happened? Kaminari, who normally had very good reflexes and was considered athletic, was on the ground.
“Kaminari please please say something,” Hitoshi begged.
Hitoshi tried snapping his fingers in front of his eyes but the boy didn’t react. Hitoshi took in Kaminari’s skin tone and put a hand on his forehead, it was burning up.
Is he getting sick? Hitoshi wondered. Either way Kaminari wasn’t getting up, so Hitoshi scooped up the boy and began carrying him down the stairs to Recovery Girl.
Denki wasn’t sure where he was. He knew he was warm, and his eyes were closed. Denki cracked open one eye, above him was Shinso.
“Where am I?” He asked, his mind in a daze.
“Kaminari you’re awake,” Shinso let out a breath. “It’s all going to be okay, I'm going to get you to the infirmary.”
Denki only then realized he was being carried, it seemed they were walking down stairs since the wall was moving upward, or was that just Denki not paying attention, he wasn’t sure. He felt all fuzzy.
“Did I faint?” Denki asked. He never noticed how strong Shinso was, he knew he worked out and had some nice arms but he didn’t know he could carry Denki like this.
“It’s going to be okay, don’t worry about it,” Shinso said, smiling at him. Denki smiled back not really knowing why. His eyes began getting heavy again and he was asleep before he knew it.
“He’s going to need surgery,” Recovery Girl said, walking into the hallway. Half of the class was packed in the hallway since they weren’t allowed to be in the room with him.
“So his appendix burst?” Mina asked, “how did we not know?”
“I should have known,” Jirou said, pacing the hallway. “I’m his best friend and he literally asked me for my makeup this morning. I should have known he wasn’t feeling well.”
“It’s not your fault man,” Kirishima said, patting her on the back. “Kaminari can hide shit when he wants to.”
A knot of guilt began swirling in his gut. Hitoshi had also been partially to blame; he had known Kaminari wasn’t doing well but he had let him go to training and possibly make his situation worse.
“Stupid fuck,” Bakugo said, leaning against the wall. “He should have gotten help instead now he’s just made everyone more worried.”
“Wow it sounds like you don’t hate him,” Jirou snapped.
“You want to talk earlobes?” Bakugo snapped back. Jirou turned on him with a deadly glare, her ear jacks shooting out deadly.
“Guys the tensions are high, can we all take a deep breath,” Kirishima said, stepping between the two. “We all care about Kaminari and want the best for him.”
“Fine, but if Boom boom boy makes another comment about Kaminari’s intelligence I will lose it,” Jirou said, walking over to sit by Mina.
Hitoshi sat on the ground across from Sero. They would have to wait a few hours before they could see Kaminari so they had time to kill.
“Did Yaoyoroyozu say when she would bring the class notes?” Kirishima asked, he had managed to get Bakugo to sit on the ground with him.
Jirou checked her phone, “she says she’ll be here in forty minutes, she wants to make copies for all of us so we don’t have to copy her notes.”
“That’s nice of her,” Mina said.
“Maybe Denki will actually be able to read it now,” Sero joked. They all gave a small chuckle but as they did they remembered why Denki would need the notes and their moods were somber once again.
“Kaminari will push through,” Hitoshi said. Everyone in the room nodded. “If he can fight his quirk making him stupid for several hours, and all the other shit we’ve been through as a class he can do this.”
“Yeah, I think I saw him stay awake seventy two hours once and he still did Aizawa’s hero training,” Kirishima said, laughing. “I think he was trying to beat a video game.”
“Denki will be fine. Plus people get appendicitis all the time, Recovery Girl should be a pro at this,” Mina said with a smile forming on her face.
“Yeah we just need to wait.”
When the surgery was over the group was allowed to go inside. Kaminari was dead asleep on the bed and wouldn’t be getting up for several hours yet.
“He looks peaceful,” Jirou said, sitting beside his bed. Mina sat on the arm rest of the chair nearly falling into her lap.
Hitoshi sat on his other side with Kirishima sitting on the bed next to him. Bakugo and Sero sat on the edge of the bed by his feet. They spent several hours sitting like this. Ida, Deku and Yaoroyozu had brought them some stuff to do while they were waiting for him to wake up.
Bakugo and Kirishima were studying for a test in History while Sero played some mobile game on his phone making random comments about how Kaminari would love this game and hate it. Mina read magazines and Jirou was going over the notes Yaoyoroyozu had given her.
Hitoshi on the other hand was restless, he began following Recovery Girl around doing meaningless tasks like grabbing bottles and medicines.
“I can’t work with you hovering around me,” she said, checking her watch. “I think the boy will be awake soon, so you should join your friends. He’s on some heavy stuff so I would have at least a few of you watch him.”
Hitoshi sighed and walked back to his seat. He pulled out the notes Yaoyorozu had given them, they were detailed accounts of all the battles, from the training. They had continued without them remaking teams based off of who was gone.
The first set of notes had stuff on his team. There wasn’t much since they had only gone for a few minutes but Momo had still written three pages worth of notes.
When Shinso enters the room Kaminari is prepared and doesn’t say a word. But when he gets injured Shinso lets his guard down. Is this because of his feelings towards his friends if so then this could be a weakness a villain could use. The notes read. Hitoshi blushed, Momo was one to analyze what someone's strengths and weaknesses were and she would record what the class was discussing so they could learn from it but Hitoshi was still embarrassed. It was odd to have people talk about him behind his back discussing how to beat him in battle.
Shinso dropped the mission as soon as Kaminari was injured. This could also be used against him in battle if he tries to save civilians instead of neutralizing the threat. But if he can carry Kaminari I wonder what he lifts?
“Hey guys,” a drowsy voice said. Hitoshi dropped the papers and rushed to the bed.
“Denki you’re awake,” Mina said, hugging him.
“When did I go to sleep?”
“You passed out during the training,” Jirou said, also hugging him.
“Girls off of him.” Recovery Girl said, shoving them off of him. “You can hug him all you want as soon as I check him out.”
They were all rushed into the hallway for fifteen minutes, they were antagonizing, each second feeling like a year. Eventually Denki walked out of the room leaning on the wall.
“I wouldn’t leave him alone,” Recovery Girl said. “And please take his phone. None of the teachers want his drugged texts.”
Jirou nodded and placed it in her bag.
“Kiri,” Denki said, hugging the red head around the waist. “I love you bro.”
“He’s your problem now,” Recovery Girl said, as she ran back into the infirmary.
“Are you feeling better?” Kirishima said, patting his bedhead.
“I had my appendix removed,” Denki said, pulling away from Kirishima. “It was really painful.”
“Well we’re glad you’re feeling better,” Sero said as they started down the hallway to the dorms.
“Me too,” Kaminari said. He then jumped on Bakugou. “Bakubro I love you too.”
“No,” Bakugou said, shoving him off of him.
“He just got out of surgery, be easy on him,” Jirou said, rushing to Kaminari’s side.
“Aww, thanks for caring about me,” he said.
Jirou blushed, “yeah I care about you, you’re my best friend. But I swear if you don’t tell us you’re in pain again I will murder you.”
Denki laughed and hugged Jirou. He then broke away and pointed at Kirishima. “Kiri, look, Bakugou’s here.”
Kirishima burst bright red. “Denki what do you mean by that?”
“The thing you told me the other day,” Denki said with a wink.
“I’m leaving before he says all my secrets,” Kirishima said, turning around looking mortified. “I’ll come see him when he’s not on drugs anymore.”
“Bye, bye Kiri, I’ll keep you updated,” Denki said, reaching for what must have been his pocket, but not finding any phone.
“Hey sorry, I tell Denki way too much stuff that I’m not sure I want others to hear yet,” Mina said, backing away. “I think I’m going to sit this out.”
“Me too,” Sero said, and both proceeded to run down the hallway.
“Well I’m not playing nursemaid to this dumbass,” Bakugou said and it was just Hitoshi, Jirou and Denki.
“Kyo,” Denki said, hugging Jirou around the waist. “Why did everyone have to leave? I wasn't going to say Kiri liked Bakubro.”
Jirou patted his head. “I think you just did, and don’t call me Kyo.”
“But Kyooooo,” Denki whined.
“No.”
“Kyokaaaaaa,” Denki said as she shoved him off of her. That was when he noticed Hitoshi.
“Toshi,” Denki said, bounding over to him and jumping on Hitoshi. He nearly dropped the boy but caught him. “You’re really strong, you know that?”
Hitoshi sighed, “yes I can pick up your fat ass after all.”
“Kyo, Toshi just called me fat.”
“Never call me Toshi again,” Hitoshi said, gently setting Kaminari back on the ground and leading him down the hallway.
“Where should we take him?” Jirou asked.
“Back to his dorm,” Hitoshi shrugged. “It’s the place he can cause the least amount of damage.”
“Kyoooooooo, he just said I cause damage,” Denki said pointing at Hitosi
“I’m going to murder him,” Jirou said, walking faster down the hallway. Hitoshi wanted to follow her example but he knew Denki would wander off. He grabbed Denki’s wrist and started walking down the hallway to the dorms.
They eventually made it to Denki’s dorm after an hour of Kaminari pulling them or making them stop to talk to everyone in their class.
“Kyo, why do your notes have hearts on them,” Denki asked, now sitting on his bed. Hitoshi sat at the foot of his bed while Jirou sat in his bean bag chair. “Mine don’t they just say all of mine and Toshi’s flaws.”
Jirou blushed. “Don’t take my stuff.” She took the notes from his hands causing Kaminari to sit there with his hands still acting like they were holding something.
“Do you know when Recovery Girl said he would fall asleep?” Hitoshi asked. The hero had told them that the medicine would eventually make him fall asleep, but he couldn’t remember the exact time.
“Well if we really need it we can ask Midnight if she’ll put him to sleep.”
“That seems a little unethical.”
“We should leave it as a last resort,” Jirou agreed, “but I don’t know how many times I can take being called Kyo, makes me sound like a little kid.”
They both turned their heads as there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” Denki said, a huge grin on his face. “Who do you think is coming to visit me?”
Yaoyorozu walked into the room with three trays of dinner, and she was popping out blankets and pillows from her stomach, which was exposed through a sports bra underneath her sweat jacket.
“Momo why did you put hearts on Kyo’s notes and not mine?” Denki asked, putting his hands down. Hitoshi sighed; why was he still stuck on the notes thing?
Momo blushed, “I was umm, I was thinking about-”
“About Cardiographs. Yep.” Jirou said, standing next to her. “Since Tokoyami’s bird thing makes Cardiographs in his free time.”
Yaoyorozu smiled at Jirou. Hitoshi watched with one eyebrow raised.
“That sounds legit,” Kaminari said. “I just thought it was weird how much Kyo was blushing at them.”
Jirou stared at the floor and Yaoyorozu’s face turned bright red. Hitoshi cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence.
“Thanks for the food and stuff Yaoyorozu,” Hitoshi said, taking the trays from her hands and placing them on the bed. “We’re probably going to be staying here all night till Denki isn’t as loopy.”
“It’s no problem as student rep I had to come and check on him.”
Jirou shared a look with her and Yaoyorozu left the room. “Denki just eat.”
Kaminari turned to eat then paused as he brushed hands with Hitoshi as he grabbed his own tray.
“Kyoka, when did Shinso get here?” He asked, face going bright red.
“I’ve been here the whole time,” Hitoshi said, taking a few bites of his food.
Denki crawled out of the spot he had been tucked into so carefully by him and Jirou. He moved to sit shoulder to shoulder with Hitoshi.
He widened his eyes at Jirou and she widened hers at him. Whatever medicine Recovery Girl had put him on was going to fuck up their lives.
“You know you’re cute when you eat,” Denki said, wiping a few crumbs off of Hitoshi’s face with a napkin.
Jirou widened her eyes and pulled out her phone. “This is going to be such good blackmail when Kaminari is back to normal.”
“God, this is going to kill me,” he said, rolling his eyes. Kaminari was now almost in his lap while he finished the last of his food.
“Actually you're cute all the time,” Denki said, seeming to forget Jirou was in the room.
“I am?” Hitoshi asked, coming from anyone else it would have been teasing, flirty but Hitoshi meant it as an actual question. He thought he looked like some kid who hadn’t gotten enough sleep and didn’t bother with how he looked.
“Of course you are,” Denki said. He ran a hand over Hitoshi’s muscular arms. He shivered slightly, the touch seeming too intimate for friends. “You’re built well, and hella handsome.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Hitoshi said blushing.
Kaminari leaned in closer, “but maybe I think all this shit because I like you.”
Jirou’s hand shot out hitting Denki in the head. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked.
“We’re going to see Midnight,” she shot a look at Shinso. He was frozen in place. Part of Kyoka wanted to leave him to process his thoughts but she needed someone to carry Denki back to the dorms.
Shinso stood up in trance like he was being manipulated by his own quirk, “I’ll help.”
“You don’t have to, I'm sure anyone else would be happy to help,” Kyoka said, raising her hands up.
“It’s fine I can do it,” he said, his voice devoid of emotion.
Kyoka sighed, taking Denki’s hand and pulling him out of the room.
“Kyo what did I do?”
She bopped him on the head. “You're lucky you got appendicitis or I would have killed you right now.”
“Oh yeah my appendix burst,” Denki said with a smile. “Is that why everything feels fuzzy?”
“Yes and Midnight will help with that,” Kyoka said, already dragging him through the common room. She glanced behind her back, and Shinso was following; walking like a zombie.
It didn’t take them long to find the pro hero, she was on her lunch break gorging herself on a pizza.
“What do you want?” She said, barely looking at them. “I told you your essay’s wouldn’t be graded until tomorrow night.”
“Sorry Ms. It’s not about that,” Kyoka explained, pushing Denki into her line of vision. “You see I need you to use your quirk.”
“Is this some kind of weird sex thing?” she asked, looking between her, Shinso and Kaminari.
Kyoka blushed deeply, “I’m a lesbain ma’am.”
“Okay, but can you explain why you want him unconscious,” Midnight said, pushing her glasses up.
Kyoka leaned in close, “Kaminari just told his crush he liked him and he just had surgery so he won’t remember anything in the morning. I just don’t want him to ruin anything else in his life.”
Midnight smiled, “you’re a good friend.”
She placed her hand in front of Kaminari’s nose, and a bit of smoke came out of it. Denki was falling onto the floor in a matter of moments.
Shinso caught him, seeming to have shaken himself out of his stupor.
“You okay?” She asked walking back to the dorms.
“Not at all,” Shinso replied.
Denki awoke to the sound of snoring. He cracked his eyes open, he was in his bedroom, he lifted his head a little and found the source of the snoring, Jirou was sitting in his desk chair head on a pillow against his bed.
Why was she here? Denki tried to think back to his last memory, he had been in training and the pain had taken over and he must have blacked out.
“Kaminari,” Shinso said, sitting on the edge of his bed.
“Hey Shinso,” he said, waving, awkwardly. He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened after he blacked out but he was fairly certain someone had to carry him out of the building.
“Hmm?” Jirou said, a moment later she had popped up, wide awake.
“Hi Jirou,” he said, waving awkwardly at her as well.
She sobbed and hugged him. “You’re normal again.”
“What do you mean?” He asked, hugging her back.
“I’m just so happy to hear the name Jirou coming out of your mouth, never call me anything else.”
“Okay, not even Kyo?” She hit him in the head.
“That’s one for calling me that,” she hit him again in the head. “And that’s two for not telling us about the appendicitis.”
“I had appendicitis?”
“Yes dumbass, you know that pain you were feeling in your side it wasn’t period cramps dumbass.”
“Wait if I got surgery then where is everyone?”
Shinso rolled his eyes, “when you were discharged you were spilling everyone’s secrets including your own, so everyone left but us two.”
Denki blushed, had they really heard his secrets? What did they know about him now that no one was supposed to know?
“Denki can I talk to you alone?” Shinso asked.
Jirou raised an eyebrow and left the room without saying anything, forcing them to be alone.
“Um sure I guess since we’re already alone.”
“You told me you liked me when you were on drugs.”
Denki grinned, this was fucking awful and he would probably shit on himself every night thinking about this moment, but smiling was his copping mechanism so he smiled. “I did that.”
“Yeah well I wanted to tell you, after thinking about it for basically all night, I think I like you back.”
Denki grinned, out of joy this time. “Really?”
Shinso smiled, “I think so.”
“Appendicitis was the best thing that happened to me,” Denki said, dabbing.