Denki was mortified.
After taking his morning pills (sans the antipsychotic. The doctor was true to his word), he had joined his friends in the group room. They already had their muffins but were waiting for him. He groaned but obeyed when the technician called him over to check and document his vital signs, wanting to check on Hitoshi and eat his muffin, but he figured that it was better to get it out of the way now rather than being pulled away from his friends after he sat down.
When he finally made it over to his friends, Monoma held out two muffins.
"Blueberry or chocolate chip?" he asked.
Neither wanted to choose which one, both insisting the other one choose as Hitoshi rolled his eyes but smiled as he ate his own banana nut muffin.
"Why don't you split both so that you don't have to decide?" Hitoshi joked with a snort.
To his dismay, the blondes decided to do exactly that. Denki had taken an experimental bite out of both muffins to see how they flavored together before promptly telling Neito to learn from his mistake and only eat one at a time.
Their laughing and good attitudes abruptly came to a halt because of Denki. He always screwed everything up, didn't he?
He had just asked Hitoshi if he fell back asleep okay after having a nightmare last night.
Denki though it would be bad enough to come up with that seemingly out of nowhere; Hitoshi would laugh at him and ask him what the heck he was talking about. Instead, Hitoshi went pale before a blush rapidly creeped up his cheeks.
Hitoshi quickly turned to Neito, "you told him?!"
"What? No!" Neito promised.
"Then how would he know?" Hitoshi demanded, more hurt than angry.
Hitoshi didn't want to seem like his world revolved around his soulmate when he was trying to make a lasting friend out of Denki. He didn't want Denki to think that he couldn't last a night away from his soulmate, separated by only a wall. Hitoshi might have ended up telling Denki anyway, but he felt like that was his decision to make and felt a little betrayed that the choice was taken from him.
Denki knew he had to fix this. The last thing he wanted was a stupid, impulsive comment from a stupid, impulsive boy to come between literal soulmates.
"Sorry! Sorry!" he started, hands up in a surrender, making the two look over at him. "It must have been a dream or something."
"Or something?" Hitoshi fished, sulking.
"I hear voices," Denki admitted, looking down at the ground. He hoped he didn't scare his new friends off. "They're weird. They'll match what people are saying in real life and echo it in my head at the same time. I guess they aren't above singing songs to me when I wake up in the middle of the night, especially songs that had been mentioned earlier that day."
Hitoshi and Neito shared a glance.
"I swear Neito didn't tell me anything," Denki doubled down. "One of my voices was singing your alert song to me last night, or maybe it was just stuck in my head. I don't know why I thought—" Denki cut himself off, feeling super stupid and small.
He didn't know why his brain would make the connection that Hitoshi must have had a nightmare just because he had a song stuck in his head. He wasn't Hitoshi's soulmate, so there was no connection there, so why had he gone and said something stupid like that? It would have been better if Hitoshi didn't have any nightmares because then he would be laughed at, maybe mocked, but he wouldn't have gotten between two new soulmates if that had been the case. That was the first time his stupidity caused a rift between the two soulmates who were already struggling to connect, and he would feel just as bad and stupid every time, vowing to never do it again, until of course the next instance occurred.
Denki jumped when Touya abruptly joined the group, noisily pulling out a heavy sand-chair and sitting in it like he owned the place before opening his own muffin and digging in, chasing it down with a gulp of orange juice.
"You said you'd trade your muffins for my expertise," Touya stated, glancing at the empty wrappers on the table and breaking the horrible tension that Denki had caused.
"You said—" Neito started, standing up from his own chair and slamming his palms on the table, always willing to fight back.
"I know what I said!" Touya interrupted, making Neito fume at being cut off.
But still, Neito adored his interactions with Touya.
"Are you always going to do what I say? You listened this time. What about when I tell you to do five more pushups when you think your arms are going to fall off?!" Touya quizzed.
"Fuck you, you bastard! Of course, I will!" Neito retorted automatically. "I can do anything!"
"Neito!" came the sharp warning of the technician who looked up from the blood pressure cuff around Momo's arm to make sure Neito was aware he was being scolded. "Language."
"Sorry!" he responded back easily, with an award-winning smile. "Won't happen again, miss!"
Neito usually held his tongue well when he wanted to. There was just something about Touya that set him on fire, and he bit back at full strength every time. Maybe it was because he knew Touya could handle it. Maybe he subconsciously knew that Touya liked their hostile interactions as much as he did.
He wondered if Hitoshi got this heated when dealing with him. Probably, but Neito wouldn't feel bad about it. Okay, maybe a little bad…
Hitoshi wasn't sure how Touya convinced the hospital staff to allow them access to the second, smaller group room to train to become heroes, but he had. It might have had something to do with being Endeavor's son, but maybe it was just because he was that persuasive.
They had to keep the door open, and Touya whined about needing to "hot box the attitude out of Neito" but eventually conceded to make do with what they were given, giving cheeky smiles and sarcastic waves to the technician who checked in on them every 15 minutes.
Touya immediately demanded jumping jacks from the boys, immediately starting on them himself. He wasn't about to slack off while he was training the younger teens; he was going to use every minute to his advantage.
"How many?" Denki asked before immediately starting.
"Until I say stop," Touya demanded with no room for argument.
Neito scoffed, but started his jumping jacks, remembering that he literally swore that he would listen to what Touya told him to do. Denki was just happy that he wouldn't have to embarrass himself if he lost count, getting lost in his thoughts instead about what kind of hero he might be in the future and what his hero name might be.
After jumping jacks, Touya explained the basics while they all stretched together.
Denki and Neito had to train to keep up with the physical demands of their quirks, Neito especially since he could realistically take any quirk, so his body needed to be in prime condition to use whatever he needed at the time he needed it. Denki's whole body was subject to the effects of electricity, so he needed to increase his endurance and be able to fight against the electrical impulses that zapped along his muscles so he could continue to fight and not be hindered by spasms and twitches.
Hitoshi was a little different in that his quirk was not physical. Hitoshi felt a little bad about this, but Touya was quick to reassure him that this was not a bad thing.
"Sometimes… No. Most of the time, heroes rely too heavily on their quirks. Then, when they lose their quirk, or face someone who their quirk doesn't work on, they're in big trouble because they don't have any other tricks up their sleeves. You're going to be great because you don't get any other choice. If you're going to be a hero, you'll have to be great because you won't be able to rely so heavily on your quirk. It's like built-in security that you won't start lacking and getting overconfident in your quirk's abilities and incorrectly assume that you won't ever have someone that can fight against you."
Touya turned his attention back to the blondes, "and if you guys are smart, you'll follow Hitoshi's lead. You can't relax on the close combat, even if your quirks can be long-range. What happens when a villain is right there, and you don't have an ally to borrow a useful quirk from nearby?" Touya questioned Neito. "Or the villain has an electric quirk as well, or maybe a conductor quirk and is unaffected by your electricity?" he questioned Denki.
"You need to be prepared in all circumstances when you're a hero, or you'll die," Touya lectured.
He sounded laissez faire about it, but he was serious. He wasn't about to put a regimen in place for these kids only to set them up for big heads and fatal failures. When he was satisfied that they were all taking his warning seriously, he moved onto a tried-and-true tactic of bringing out the best in everyone: Competition.
"First one to fall out of plank position is a villain," Touya declared, mischief glinting in his eyes before immediately dropping down into a plank position.
The others quickly followed, stating that this would be easy.
Hitoshi couldn't lose. He felt silly admitting it, even to himself, but this trivial way to prove that he was not a villain was too good to pass up. Without it, he would have given up long before the others, but the idea of being declared the "villain" in the competition pushed him to go past his limits like he had never done before. Yeah, Touya knew just which buttons to push, didn't he?
Denki had a pretty easy time of it, actually. It wasn't that he was strong, and he never exercised his core like that before, but he was easily distracted. He started out by glaring right into Touya's eyes in challenge, repeating to himself over and over again that he would not lose. Eventually, though, he lost the forceful look on his face. Touya could see him spacing out but didn't snap him out of it. Whether he was present in the moment or not, his body was holding up. He wasn't even shaking, just staring straight ahead, right into Touya's eyes. Denki was imagining himself swimming, reminded of the clear, blue lake in his grandparents' backyard. He didn't even feel the burn in his arms right then, but he was sure to feel it the next morning.
The three younger boys were relieved when Touya dropped first. Neito was so exhausted from the effort that he didn't even gloat, immediately dropping down onto his stomach and groaning with his face pressed against the floor. Hitoshi was relieved that the others seemed just as exhausted as he was. The last thing he wanted was to fall behind. He had to stay in line or ahead if he wanted a shot at becoming a hero with a quirk like his.
"Really good job," Touya wheezed, shaking out his arms to rid himself of the fatigue.
He didn't have to give in, but he wanted to give the boys a taste of victory that would carry them through the rest of the exercises. They deserved it because they lasted a lot longer than he thought they would with this being their first training session. And, if they were anything like him, they would be riding the high of the win for at least the rest of the day, even with something as trivial as a little competition between friends. It was worth it to him to take the loss to give an extra confidence boost to the boys and hope that they continued to work with him, and even continue later on when they left this mental hospital behind. Hell, maybe Neito would chill out a bit after getting some self-discipline and he wouldn't end up here ever again. Wouldn't that be something? Touya would feel incredible if he could do something that all of these therapists couldn't even do, and he would have a blast pushing the young boy's every button while he was at it. He made himself a goal right then to get Neito to swear in front of a technician again by the end of the next day, planning in advance of how to push Neito to and over the edge as he stands above him, gloating and egging him on.
He directed everyone to get a drink of water from the water fountain in the hallway before joining back together again.
"Sit ups?!" Neito screeched, appalled at the fact that there were more core exercises to be had.
It might be easier than he thought to get Neito riled up enough to curse in front of a technician again. And he thought that it would be a challenge!
"Just for that, you're my partner," Touya retorted, gesturing for the small blonde to come hold his feet. Before Neito could object, Touya reminded, "remember what you declared during breakfast? You're the best right? Even at taking orders while trying to become a hero?"
"Especially at taking orders while trying to become a hero," Neito corrected with a grumble, dropping down to put his hands on Touya's ankles, putting his knees over the toes of Touya's lace-less shoes, knowing that he'll need the extra leverage to give the bigger teen a more stable base. Neito gave 100% to everything he did, even if he didn't want to. That's why he would be the best.
Denki held Hitoshi's feet as he started doing his sit-ups next to Touya, quickly adjusting to Touya's pace and form to get the best out of the workout.
"I really am sorry about earlier," Denki said quietly, not wanting to accidentally embarrass Hitoshi further if Touya were to find out about his nightmare.
"Already forgotten," Hitoshi grunted out in between sit-ups, then, "will you tell me about the voices?"
Denki did. He explained to Hitoshi about how he thought that the voices were his soulmates, but quickly discovered that they were just hallucinations. When Denki started, he couldn't stop, going on to tell him about how the voices really confuse him because sometimes they will say the same thing in his head that someone else is saying out loud, or that they'll sing to him, like the night before.
"How many was that?" Denki had asked, looking over to find Touya and Neito looking at him, wide-eyed as he finished venting his frustrations of his mental disorder to Hitoshi.
Denki felt a blush come over his cheeks as he realized that they also heard everything that he said. He wasn't mad about it; they were his friends, too. He was just not expecting the rapt attention from the two who he thought would be too busy bickering with one another to pay attention to his rant to Hitoshi.
Touya let out a low whistle. "Damn, you're going to be physically and mentally strong."
Denki blushed harder, this time more pleased and elated than surprised and embarrassed. The last thing he was expecting was a compliment, and a way to view his situation in a positive light, but that was exactly what Touya threw in his face. He could already tell that Touya was going to be a great trainer.
Touya had led the boys through a cool down series just in time for one of the technicians to pop her head in and let them know that it was time for school.
Denki was mistaken when he thought this would be a getaway from school, and he feared his new friends, who had called him a genius of all things, were about to find out how dumb he could be.
Denki's worst fear had come true, but it was even worse than he imagined it would be.
Neito had let out another sigh, glancing over at Denki's work, and perked up when he realized they were working on the same things.
"Hey genius," Neito said, scooting his chair closer to Denki's and bringing his math worksheet along with him. "Will you walk me through how to do these? The order of operations make no sense!"
"What? Neito—" Hitoshi had started before being abruptly and rudely cut off.
"I'm not asking you, Hitoshi. You can't teach to save your life. I'm asking my good friend Denki if he'll walk me through the steps," Neito spat, putting force and effort behind every word, hoping to get the message across.
Denki froze, not knowing what to do to diffuse the situation between the soulmates, and also because Neito was about to find out that he was not, in fact, a genius. One problem solved itself, though, when Hitoshi glanced between the two of them, smiled a knowing little smile, and went back to his work without fighting with Neito.
That still left a major problem, though.
"Uh, I'm not the best at this stuff, either," Denki hedged, but Neito continued to insist that he couldn't make it any worse and maybe he had been taught a different way than Neito's school taught it, so he might be able to understand it in a different way.
"Well," Denki started, internally wincing, hoping to soften the blow of anything stupid that might come out of his mouth. "We use "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally," Denki started.
Neito looked intrigued instead of unpleasantly mystified, so Denki elaborated.
"The first letters of each word mean something, and it is the order that you go in. Please starts with P, so you would do anything in parentheses first. Excuse, or E, is for exponents. Where it gets complicated is that My and Dear go together, so you do multiplication and division at the same time in order from left to right. The same thing for Aunt Sally, too. Addition and subtraction happen at the same time from left to right," Denki explained.
Neito nodded as Denki explained, then asked, "I think I understand what you're saying. Will you show me?" Neito indicated toward Denki's paper.
Denki took a deep breath and started walking through problem number 3 on his worksheet that his school had sent in to the hospital for him to complete, repeating the order of the steps to Neito as he went.
Neito looked slightly confused at the end, squinting at the paper.
"I'm sorry, Denki. I think I got lost in the middle there somewhere. Would you mind doing that same problem again? One more time?"
Denki had to agree. It was terrifying knowing that he might confuse Neito further and make this topic even harder for him, but when he asked like that and insisted that Denki be the one to help over someone else like Hitoshi who probably has a better understanding, Denki couldn't allow himself to say no. Especially when he had already started. Leaving him on his own now would be rude and if they had switched places, he knew he would be more lost than ever.
Denki flipped the paper back and forth, writing the original problem on the back to redo. He went over the steps for Neito again as he worked through the problem. Denki's heart sank into his stomach when he realized that he had gotten a different answer the second time, flipping back to the front to double check and cursing himself when he saw where he went wrong the first time. Of course, he couldn't even do something like this right, not even when his new friend was depending on him to teach him how to understand this stuff—
"Great! I think I get it now! Thanks a lot, Denki!" Neito exclaimed before turning toward his own paper and writing 'Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally' across the top of the page and starting on his own problems.
Denki's heart soared at the praise, basking in the glory of not only helping a friend, but helping a friend with something that made him seem smart. Whereas before, Denki was struggling and erasing attempt after attempt, Denki was then able to fly through the rest of the worksheet, flying high on the feeling of Neito's praise and the fact that his mediocre teaching actually helped him.
Back at Denki's school, his math teacher wondered who had helped Denki with his homework that he ended up getting the first 100% on something for the entire school year.