Denki watched Full Throttle from across the room, speaking in hushed whispers with a woman with brown hair and red eyes, who was very obviously not the helpless victim she seemed like she was half an hour prior. He fidgeted with the quirk-canceling cuffs encircling his wrists as the embarrassed panic burned at the back of his eyes. He blinked it away, but the guilty thoughts about how he could have walked right into their trap had lingered.
He closed his eyes and took some deep breaths, thinking about if he and Neito had switched places, what he would tell Neito.
Probably something like: "it wasn't your fault, Nei. Anyone would have fallen for it, especially in the middle of a life-or-death situation that had a time limit. You did the heroic thing. You did what any other hero would have done. You chose the only option that was available to you, and sometimes this is just how things go. Sometimes the villains are really smart. Sometimes the villains watch you closely for days and set up the perfect trap. Sometimes, whether or not you had a feeling it was a trap, you still have to walk right into it, because what if it wasn't? What if that woman really needed a hero, and she saw you walk away from her? You did the right thing—the only thing."
Denki, of course, would be harder on himself than he would be on Neito, even fully aware of the cognitive dissonance at play, but it did help. He was able to take deeper breaths and get his heartrate under control. He was able to look at the positives and realize that, because that woman was an accomplice, there wasn't anyone around to be hurt if a fight broke out, if he managed to get those cuffs off or even just to get out of the cell that they had placed him in.
Touya had drilled it into his head that he couldn't always rely on his quirk, and he was never more thankful for that than in that moment. He had back-up plans, more than one, even; all he had to do was wait them out and try to gather information to see what they wanted. He could do that.
While the two talked in hushed whispers that Denki couldn't even begin to make out, no matter how hard he strained his ears, he took the chance to take in as much detail of the room as he could. Cracked and barren concrete floors, flickering fluorescent lights, and the sturdy iron bars dividing the room were the major things. Denki noted that his own little section of the room had a walled off part and cursed when peeked around the partitioned wall to see that it was a bathroom. There was no chance that he was leaving that cell until they were good and ready for him to. There was a plain metal chair bolted to the floor next to a little shelf-like table bolted to the wall. It was like a damn prison cell, but there was no bed.
Maybe they weren't planning on keeping him alive long enough for him to need to sleep?
Denki immediately shoved that line of thinking out of his head. Instead, he thought about how it wouldn't be the first time he has ever slept on the floor, though the living room floor at the Hamabis was cushioned with thick, lush carpet, and he was cuddled up against the warm body of Hitoshi that night…
It was fine. He'd manage.
Denki used his senses to try to narrow down more information about his situation. He heard water dripping, and found an exposed, dripping pipe in the far corner of the room, outside of the reach of his cell. He smelled a faint scent of chlorine and the rich, earthy scent of soil. Another glance around, and he had to admit to himself that the place was clean for how terrifying and rundown it looked otherwise. He wondered if he was in the lower level of a building, underground, maybe.
He would have had a better idea if the villains hadn't blindfolded him and put noise-cancelling earbuds in his ears playing some, admittedly, decent music at a loud volume to mask any sounds that might give away where they were. They were prepared for him, and that scared him more than anything else.
He looked across the room, past the bars caging him in, past the arguing villains to see a filing cabinet with a chair on either side. Those chairs were armchairs, though, and looked about a million times more comfortable than the one bolted to the floor inside the cell with him.
Denki wished he had that teleportation quirk that everyone at Endeavor's agency was always teasing him about. He would totally switch out his stupid metal chair for one of those overstuffed, cushiony chairs. If they were anything like the ones in Endeavor's office, he knew he'd just sink right down in them and would be perfectly content staying there for hours.
"Chargebolt," Full Throttle greeted.
Denki looked over to meet Full Throttle's gaze, the fading footsteps of his accomplice's retreat being the only indication that she had just been there. Full Throttle's face seemed open enough, waiting to see what Denki's reaction would be. He didn't seem overly confident or cocky to have made it that far already. He didn't seem to be underestimating Denki, at least not right away.
"Full Throttle," Denki returned with a nod. "Come here often?" he tested.
Full Throttle looked at Denki up and down, a lopsided smile growing on his face as he took him in. He had never gotten to be acquainted with Denki before, never got to see the sarcastic, fun side of Denki, even when in a life-threatening and unknown situation. Last time, it was just a quirk-and-run type of thing. It was always a quirk-and-run type of thing. So, this was sure to be interesting.
"I don't get you," Full Throttle admitted, sitting down in one of the overstuffed chairs.
Denki took a step forward, wrapping his arms around the cold metal bars, pointedly ignoring the metal-on-metal clank the quirk-cancelling cuffs made as they hit the bars. "What's not to get?"
"I know we made it hard for you, and you have no idea where you are, but I thought you'd at least throw something out there for your soulmates," Full Throttle said, watching Denki closely. "To let them know that you're not coming back, at least."
It wasn't often (it was never) that Full Throttle got to know his victims on a personal level, have an actual conversation with them. He was going to take full advantage, but he was absolutely stunned with confusion when Denki laughed.
"You're not the first one to make that mistake," Denki said, still smiling. "You're talking about my boyfriends, right? Phantom Thief and Mind Jack? They're soulmates, but I'm just their add-on boyfriend. Buy two, get one free deal. Common misconception!"
Full Throttle adjusted his position in the chair so he was leaning forward, focused intently on Denki, brows furrowed in concentration, or maybe suspicion. "Lying to me won't do you any good. And I'm not sure what goal you have in mind for lying about something so obvious."
"What? You think I think you're going to ransom me off or something? No." Denki shook his head and allowed more of his weight to settle against the bars as he sighed. "This is Full Throttle versus Chargebolt, the rematch, isn't it? I'm not lying to you."
"So, then you just don't know," Full Throttle said decidedly, standing up and opening up a drawer from the filing cabinet and rifling through the files.
"Of course, I know. Well, no. I mean, if there was anything to know, I would know. You know? You're the one who doesn't know!" Denki argued, surprised that he was actually getting worked up. He took a deep breath to collect himself before continuing, not to be discouraged by Full Throttle's lack of attention as he fingered through the files, pulling his selection out before diving back in for his next intended file. "What? You think that just because I'm with them that I must be destined to be with them? Is that it? Well, you'd be surprised at how open communication and—"
"Shinsou Hitoshi and Monoma Neito," Full Throttle started, stopping Denki's rant in its tracks and drawing his eyes to the files that Full Throttle had in his hands that were opened and he was scanning and reading from. "They were admitted to Fields Mental Institution the day after you were. The reason listed was a possible soulmate bond-quirk interaction, but the notes detail that they both reported hearing another voice in their heads that very morning. Singing."
"They really need to lock their records down," Denki tried to joke, but he physically stepped back from the bars, letting his hands drop to his sides as he stared at Full Throttle. Full Throttle wasn't done, though. He closed that folder and switched it for the one underneath.
"Kaminari Denki was admitted to Fields Mental Institution after an emergency room visit after an episode at school where he had reportedly heard voices, plural," Full Throttle read, looking up after emphasizing the detail. Satisfied that Denki was paying attention, he looked back down and continued, "admitted on suspicion of early onset schizophrenia, but there's a personal note here from the emergency room doctor that the idea of potentially having two soulmates and discovering the bond early should be explored."
Full Throttle looked up once again to meet Denki's eyes. "Did they not explore that idea?"
"No," Denki whispered, taking a few steps back and flopping down onto the metal chair, putting his elbow on the metal tabletop to support the fist holding his face up. "They did not."
When he thought about it, the voices had only ever sung to him. They never insulted him or put him down or encouraged him to hurt anyone like he feared might happen when he started to research the common symptoms. Denki started to feel stupid, then, when he remembered that the 'voices' would line up with other people's voices. Where did he get that idea from? Neito.
All the songs stuck in his head, were they Hitoshi and Neito singing to each other? That didn't make sense though, because why would they sing Up by Cardi B to each other on repeat for a week straight? (Studying at night was a nightmare, and his dreams were filled with TikTok collaborations with heroes like Gang Orca doing the dances with Denki and Dabi. Super trippy.) That didn't exactly scream 'romance' to Denki, but he never heard them bicker or tease each other about it otherwise.
Denki looked up at Full Throttle from between the bars and shrugged at him. "Only one way to find out." He opened his mouth and sang. Full Throttle didn't try to stop him, and to his credit, he only looked mildly perplexed at Denki's choice of song.
Denki felt only mildly ridiculous singling Jingle Bells as he was trapped in a potentially underground cell as his captor watched on, waiting for a sign (and hopefully not a hallucination) that he actually did have a soulmate (or two). He was kind of getting into it, entertained by the barely contained wincing at Denki's obnoxiously loud and over-the-top singing that got progressively louder and more dramatic as the song progressed.
"OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE—"
Masters in this hall, hear ye news today…
Come, they told me, pa-rum pum pum pum…
It was like a bucked of ice water had been dumped over him as the déjà vu hit him, followed by the feeling of a warm blanket as the familiar lullaby then took over. Denki knew that he was going to doubt whatever happened, if anything happened, and attribute it to actually being a real hallucination. But not that. He didn't think his mind could ever devise something so cruel that would trick him so flawless that he wouldn't even realize what had happened all those years ago until after he experienced it again.
So, Denki did what anyone in his position would do. He turned in the chair, cradled his face in his arms against the smooth metal of the table, and cried.
He cried because the doctors didn't even try to mention the fact that the voices could be his soulmates, not even when he thought they were all those years ago.
He cried because he was right.
He cried for the lost years where Hitoshi and Neito struggled with their feelings toward him when they shouldn't have had to.
He cried for his futile attempts to resist his own feelings toward them.
He cried for their anxiety that he might find his own soulmate one day.
He cried because they took the chance on him anyway.
He cried and Full Throttle let him in peace. Then he pulled himself together because he had shit to do. Denki wiped his tears, took a deep breath, and nodded.
Denki inhaled and belted, "spare him his life from this monstrosity!" making Full Throttle startle. "Easy come, easy go, will you let me go? Bismillah! No, we will not let you go!"
Denki ignored the way Full Throttle winced at his overly emphasized pitch changes, not even bothering to try to hide it anymore. Denki, though, was no longer bothering to tone down just how diverse his vocal range was for how tone-deaf he was. "Uh," Denki hesitated as he thought and clapped in success when the idea hit him. "Changing up the order a little bit, so don't at me for not being a true fan," he warned Full Throttle before, "Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening me!"
"Clever," Full Throttle complimented with an appreciative nod. He'd never had the opportunity to see a soulmate realization come to fruition before, and he doubted that any would ever top this. "Though they can hear it just as clearly if you whisper it."
Denki cackled at the underhanded insult, and Full Throttle looked away at the wall to try to hide the small smile across his face.
The woman appeared once again, and Denki would have jumped if he wouldn't have been looking in that general direction already. Her footsteps were silent, and he wondered if that had anything to do with her quirk.
"I'm putting him under," she said to Full Throttle.
"You worry too much," he said, relaxing back into his chair once again. "I don't think it'll help as much as you think it will, anyway."
"I don't care. I'm doing it anyway. Are you in or out?"
Full Throttle looked down at his arm, pulling the sleeve up to check his watch. "We still have quite a few hours to go."
"Fucking druggie," she snarled, but despite the venom in her words, there was no bite in her tone.
Full Throttle laughed. "Whatever helps to pass the time! You should join us!"
"Us?" Denki asked, not liking the sound of that.
As the room filled with a cloudy haze, Denki tried to hold his breath, and he realized he severely miscalculated when he thought her silent footsteps might be her quirk.
"No use in avoiding it, Chargebolt," Full Throttle said, eyes seemingly piercing Denki through the haze. He hadn't moved from his spot on the chair. "Now that you're free from the diagnosis of schizophrenia, it'll be quite an adventure to find out what these hallucinations that you're missing out on are like, won't it?"