When Kaminari tried to tease Dabi about his relationship with Hawks in his car he knew they were a thing, but he didn't know they were that much of a thing. It would explain why Hawks smiled like that at Dabi though.

He just couldn't get over the fact that he had asked for help to get away from Dabi from someone who was secret fuck buddies with Dabi. And was a hero, no less! It wouldn't be so bad if Hawks was just another random quirk user, but no, he's supposed to be the number two hero!

He knew saying anything to anyone would give away his own associations, but that seemed a little bit much to be hiding from the public. Kaminari knew that heroes weren't perfect, obviously, but hooking up with the enemy? That was way more than just working for them to gain intel.

As all these thoughts were swimming in his mind he stared back at the closed door, the empty hallway the safest place to try and process this instead of going back out to where he knew more League members were gathering. The presence of his phone burned in his back pocket, and he was this close to grabbing it and sending a message to Mr. Aizawa. Consequences be damned, he was way in over his head now, and wanted nothing more than to get out of it as fast as possible.

Still, the sound of the door opening was enough for him to keep his hands at his sides, stepping back as Hawks entered the hallway from the room. Behind him, Kaminari barely caught the sight of Dabi walking out as well, but his attention was focused on the winged-hero. If his presence wasn't intimidating before, it certainly was now.

"Do not say anything about this. You and I will talk later." Hawks hissed pointedly under his breath, his sharp, golden eyes basically staring into Denki's soul.

Kaminari nodded quickly, swallowing thickly as his voice was completely lost.

Watching Hawks' flurry of a presence turn away and leave, Denki lingered in the hallway, heart pounding as he tried to breathe slowly and calm himself down after the encounter. Briefly he closed his eyes, momentarily forgetting who else was in the hallway with him still.

"Relax, kid. He's just mad you caught us." Dabi's rough voice caused Kaminari to shoot his eyes back open, feeling the man's hand come down into his hair and ruffle it up. He didn't look at all pissed like Hawks did, in fact he actually looked pleased with what had gone down. With a smirk in passing, he left to follow Hawks, removing his fingers from messing with Denki's blonde hair.

Waiting a little bit to watch him go. Kaminari reached up to flatten his hair back down. It took him a minute before he found the ability to move his legs again, picking up his pace to follow Dabi's back as it disappeared around the corner.

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They talked about something important in the meeting, but Kaminari was not at all paying attention. Sure, he was sitting there respectfully quiet and still as was expected save for the occasional bouncing of his leg, but his mind had completely different priorities right now. He could practically feel Hawks' sharp, bird-like gaze burning a hole into him, and Kaminari purposely avoided looking in his direction.

Dabi was actually less intimidating to look at, which was saying something about Kaminari's situation if he considered Dabi's appearance to be a positive option. Denki just had one burn on his arm that wasn't even that bad but still hurt terribly, he couldn't imagine what having them all over must feel like.

Thinking about the nature of Dabi's scars was thankfully enough of a distraction from Hawks' look that Kaminari seemed to forget about it, until a glance over would remind him and he'd remember that he'd just seen the two of them getting handsy barely an hour before. Then he'd look away from Hawks and the cycle would repeat.

Fortunately, it seemed that Hawks' irritation over being found out by Denki lessened as the meeting went on, and by the time it was over Kaminari could safely say that he didn't feel quite the gaze coming from that side of the warehouse. After being dismissed, Denki lingered into his usual waiting spot for whoever was going to take him back.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, digging it out to find that it was just Shinsou texting him a picture of his cats curled up in the blankets with him. Kaminari let out a little sigh, allowing himself a sliver of a smile down at his phone. He wasn't surprised that Shinsou was still up at this hour, and it gave him a little comfort that he was the first person Shinsou thought to send the picture to.

"Let's go. I'll be taking you back tonight."

Hawks' voice brought Denki back to his current situation, the blonde looking up quickly as he pushed his phone back into his pocket to give his attention to the hero. The air was certainly awkward between them, but it looked like Hawks was trying to take back some of the aggression that he had been displaying earlier towards Denki.

"Sure thing, boss, lead the way." Kaminari attempted to lighten the mood with his joking salute, struggling to keep his calm in such a high tense situation. Thankfully, Hawks was receptive to it, possibly even relieved as he laughed and stepped outside for Denki to follow.

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"I don't need to explain myself to you, so I won't. I'm sure we're clear on the fact that no one should be told about what you saw tonight?"

Hawks was standing outside the dorms with Denki after bringing him back, the outside building lights casting a hazy yellow glow over the both of them. Denki just wanted to go inside and forget the whole night ever happened, but he couldn't leave right now. Not until Hawks had said whatever he needed to say.

"Crystal clear." Kaminari nodded, making sure that the man understood that he was one hundred percent serious as well.

"I did actually talk to Dabi, he's agreed to leave you alone if you don't ever tell anyone anything you know about the League. Also, you'll have to let me delete his number and any records of conversations from your phone." His hand was already stretched out to accept the device, which Denki supplied after digging it out of his pocket and unlocking it for him.

There was definitely the unspoken threat that if he were to say anything to anyone and the League found out Denki would be in serious danger, but he didn't need to be told that to figure it out himself.

A bit of silence stretched between them as Hawks went through his phone messages and contacts, Denki feeling like it was weird to watch and yet also not quite safe to look away. Not to say that he didn't trust Hawks, but…. his faith was starting to waver.

"Alright, here." Hawks handed Denki back his phone, his voice breaking the nighttime quiet that had settled over the two of them, "He shouldn't contact you anymore. If he does, or if you have any other problems with this, let me know."

"Okay." Kaminari acknowledged quietly, his voice sounding a little bit distant to his own ears as he grabbed back his phone and tucked it into his pocket.

The silence stretched again, Kaminari only glancing up to Hawks' face once before looking away from those sharp golden eyes. It seemed like there was more that should be said, more explaining or reassurance that Kaminari would be okay, but Hawks offered nothing. He just turned his back to Kaminari before flying off, leaving Denki to gather himself together in the aftermath.

Giving the night sky one last look as Hawks disappeared from view, Kaminari turned towards the dorms and headed inside.

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Somehow, Denki managed to fall asleep during the precious hours of night that he had before getting up for class the next morning, though it was probably just from sheer emotional exhaustion that he did so. Feeling a little more rested but a lot more nervous, Denki pulled himself out of bed.

A shower had to come first, because he still smelled like a musty warehouse permeated by people who desperately needed a shower more than he did, and showing up with that smell would at least raise some questions about his hygiene. No need for unnecessary questions right now, he really didn't want people poking into what he was trying to get rid of right now.

Speaking of poking into other people's business, there were still those lingering memories of the night before and what he saw went down. A shower might be enough to clean his body, but it certainly wasn't enough to clean his mind of that image. He knew telling someone would be a mistake if they found out he told, but not saying anything felt just as bad.

Pulling his uniform jacket over his shirt, he made sure that it covered the new bandage wrapped around his burned arm. It was getting better, but still stung pretty badly at times. Other than that, most of the scapes and cuts he'd gotten from that day had scabbed over, so they really didn't bother him anymore.

Grabbing his bag he glanced at his phone before sliding it into his pocket, seeing that he'd be fashionably late to class yet again. That's fine, at least he was showing up at all after everything that had happened to him, they should be grateful he held himself together so well.

Arriving at the classroom door, he slowly slid it open, hoping their homeroom teacher would be in the middle of something so that he could sneak in unannounced.

"Kaminari."

Shit.

"M-Mr. Aizawa, hi!" Kaminari laughed sheepishly, sliding the door closed behind himself.

"Stay a few minutes after class, alright?"

"Yes, sir." Kaminari gave a little bow, hearing a little bit of quiet chatter and laughter from some of his classmates, but it was hopefully just about how he was late again and not about the secret that he was keeping from all of them. Paranoia would get him nowhere besides a sweaty uniform, so he tried to shake it off, turning his attention down towards the floor as he navigated to his desk and sat down.

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The bell signaling the end of homeroom period couldn't come sooner, and Kaminari stared at the clock for a good portion of class. The anticipation was killing him more than his nervousness and desire to avoid whatever Mr. Aizawa was going to say to him, and that was the only reason he stayed glued in his spot and didn't dash out of the classroom at the first chance he got. He had hope that it was probably just something small, like being late or failing a test, which would both be accepted with almost rejoicing at this point.

"Kaminari. Come here."

Swallowing thickly, Kaminari grabbed his bag, heading up to the front of the classroom and standing in front of his teacher's desk. He couldn't make eye contact with him, staring down at the wood grain peeking out from between the papers spread over the surface of the desk.

"Hawks stopped to see me this morning. I assume you know what he talked about?"

At those words Kaminari froze, only shaking out of it as his body reminded him that he needed to breathe and answer him before the silence stretched too long.

"Yes."

Denki didn't know how much he knew, and exactly what either, but he really hoped that Hawks at least didn't make him sound like a terrible person for a situation that he really didn't have any say in and was trying to escape.

"And you know that we can't let behavior like that go unaccounted for, right?"

Well, this was it, he was going to get expelled.

There was no way that they would keep him on as a hero student after knowing what he did.

Denki nodded in response to the question, his mind immediately trying to figure out something to say that might at least make him reconsider Denki's punishment. He didn't think he could stand to lose everything at once; his dream, his school, his friends, his entire life was based around those things.

"I- I know that my actions are inexcusable, and- and there really should be no reason not to take me out of the hero program, but-"

"Kaminari, you're not being expelled."

There it was, the answer he was expecting, didn't even hear him out- wait. Not expelled?

"From what I understand, this wasn't a willing participation. You were threatened, and told they were going to hurt you or others if you didn't obey them."

There was a small pause here, and Denki felt like he needed to agree with the statement, so he nodded again, but didn't say anything because he could tell he wasn't finished.

"The safest place for you to be is here, where I can protect you."

Out of anything, that was the most reassuring thing that could have been said to Kaminari at this moment. Of course he knew that as Eraserhead his teacher would make sure that he was protected from villains, just like Hawks was supposed to protect him as the number two hero. But Kaminari actually believed Aizawa, and trusted him, and got comfort from the fact that Aizawa was now on Denki's side in the struggle he had been fighting all by himself until now.

"I expect that some sort of disciplinary action and probation will be determined soon and that you'll be questioned on everything you told and know about the League of Villains, but for now, I expect to see you back in my classroom tomorrow morning. Early, not late."

"Yes, sir! Thank you!" For the first time in a long time, Kaminari let out a sigh of relief, resisting the urge to celebrate excessively in front of his teacher. He knew that he still was in trouble, obviously, and would probably have to work harder to prove that he wasn't going to do it again, which he had absolutely no desire to, but at least he wasn't losing everything. Mr. Aizawa understood that he wanted to get out of it, and took the threats made seriously, and honestly there was no one Kaminari would rather be with if there came a need to protect him.

After giving one last bow he turned and booked it out of the classroom before he had a chance to take it back, hurrying to catch up with some of his friends who had already gathered at their usual between class hang out spot. Catching glances with Jiro, who had a look in her eyes that Denki knew was worry, he smiled brightly at her, plopping down his bag beside her before sitting down.

"Good news, guys! I'm not in trouble today!"