Kaminari Denki felt like Neito more and more every day since leaving the mental hospital. He missed his friends. They weren't allowed to share family names, so he had no idea how to find them. Their quirks would be helpful to find them, but Kaminari was only 12 and did not have access to highly classified quirk registries and databases, so that was a dead end.
He wasn't even excited for the field trip to the zoo.
His friends kept flip-flopping between teasing him and avoiding him, not really sure how to react to having a friend who hears voices and spent over a week in a mental hospital. Sometimes, when his friends acted like they were afraid he would snap if they said the wrong thing, he thought that that must be how Hitoshi feels when people are nervous about his quirk. He felt that way as he boarded the bus, thinking about Hitoshi and not knowing who he was going to sit with since his friends were back in the silent treatment phase and acting scared around him.
Kaminari stopped dead in the middle of the aisle of the bus, causing one of his friends to crash into the back of him and immediately start yelling and shoving against him. If Kaminari had time to think, he would realize that that is not how someone acts when they are actually afraid of you, but Kaminari was a little distracted.
"Kaminari!" his friend had whined loudly, hitting him in the back in frustration. "You're so annoying! Why did you stop like that?"
But Kaminari wasn't paying attention because Kaminari's heart fell out of his chest and onto the dirty bus floor when he saw a mess of purple hair, purple eyes reflected in the bus window. He was already freaking his friends out enough, but now that he was hallucinating Hitoshi sitting there at the front of the bus, he knew that his mind was playing mean tricks on him, and he was nervous that he would accidentally talk to a hallucination and make his friends hate him even more.
Kaminari forced himself to keep moving toward the back of the bus where his friend group sat. Kaminari's worst nightmare happened again when his friends paired up without him, pretending that they did not want to sit at the very back so three people could sit next to each other to include Kaminari in the group, even though that seat was empty. His other classmates started maneuvering around him as he tried to convince a pair of friends to move to the very back to sit with him, and he almost cursed under his breath when he turned and realized that the back was taken.
Kaminari was going to flop down in an empty seat near the middle of the bus, dreading the two-hour bus ride to the zoo, when his teacher called for him near the front of the bus, requesting that he come sit up at the front with the new student.
Kaminari was quickly learning that he had a lot of "worst nightmares," and this was another one. He worked hard to make the friends that he had, and he was hesitant to try to start a new friendship now. What if it made his friends mad and they thought he was trying to replace them? What if the new kid gets a bad reputation after being associated with the stupid, hallucinating freak that is Kaminari Denki?
Kaminari sulked back to the front of the bus, dragging his feet, but not daring to say no to a request from his teacher.
His teacher smiled warmly at him, like he was trying to give Kaminari and the new kid a chance to form a good friendship. It wasn't a bad plan. Pairing up the bright ray of sunshine that is relentlessly picked on by his peers and who won't stand up for himself with the gloomy foster care new kid was probably a great idea. His teacher didn't know it was going to work that well and that… instantly, either. But beggars can't be choosers and he predicted that it would be the start of a beautiful and supportive friendship.
"Kaminari, this is Shinsou. He's new, and just transferred from Katsuhhiko Middle School," the teacher introduced. "Shinsou, this is Kaminari."
Denki's breath froze in his throat as the familiar face turned around to look at him, scared out of his mind that he was hallucinating Hitoshi's face over the face of a new student, but it looked so, so real.
Shinsou turned around lazily, glancing up at the student introduced as "Kaminari," ready to give the bare minimum nod of acknowledgement before going back to sulking in self-pity when he froze in his seat, eyes widening.
"Denki," Shinsou whispered in awe, automatically reaching out for his friend when Kaminari launched himself forward, arms wrapping around Shinsou who automatically squeezed back just as hard.
Shinsou was laughing, petting Kaminari's hair as Kaminari simultaneously laughed and sobbed against Shinsou's neck. This wasn't a nightmare after all.
Shinsou and Kaminari talked the whole way to the zoo, not letting a second go by now that they had actually found their way back to each other. It seemed impossible, but there they were, together again.
"So, Shinsou, huh? Shinsou Hitoshi," Kaminari tested out. "I like it," he nodded decidedly.
"Kaminari Denki," Shinsou tested out in turn. "It suits you well."
"Oh! Can you tell me Neito's full name then?" Kaminari asked, leaning closer in anticipation of getting all of the answers to all of his questions.
Shinsou laughed, automatically answering, "Monoma Neito."
"Oh! I like that," Kaminari complimented, easing back against the seat, sighing in content.
Shinsou hummed in agreement, copying Kaminari's movements and leaning back against the seat, as well.
"I just got out yesterday," Hitoshi ventured, looking straight ahead instead of in Kaminari's direction. "They took me to my new foster home right from the hospital. I didn't even get to say goodbye to my old foster family."
Kaminari sucked in a breath through his teeth, turning and placing a hand on Shinsou's shoulder.
"That sucks," Kaminari offered, feeling unhelpful, but that was exactly what Shinsou needed: Pure validation. No pity. Perfect.
"It was so busy that I didn't even get a chance to talk to Neito about it, yet," Hitoshi admitted, feeling a little guilty that he was talking about this with Kaminari before his soulmate, but ultimately knowing that Monoma really wouldn't mind as long as it was Kaminari.
"I bet we'll find him at the zoo," Kaminari declared, already planning a route in his head to cover the most ground in the most efficient way.
"Oh?" Shinsou inquired. "I can't remember if Katsuhhiko had this as an upcoming field trip or not. I was too concerned about keeping Monoma away from me and changing foster homes."
Kaminari just had to hear about keeping Monoma away, and the story ended with Kaminari and Shinsou falling over each other laughing about Monoma's antics and the lengths Shinsou went to dissuade Monoma from trying again, but always failing. Monoma was a persistent one!
"Oh!" Kaminari exclaimed, sitting up straight with the realization. "That's why you were so good at tag! Even Touya couldn't tag you because you would dodge out of the way last second. You never gave up when he got too close like we did!"
"Touya was just going easy on us," Shinsou said, rubbing the back of his neck at the compliments.
"No, Shinsou! That was all you!" Kaminari declared.
"You can call me Hitoshi," Shinsou insisted before thinking better of it, freezing when Kaminari froze. "I mean, if you want. You're, like, my best friend," he admitted. He figured he might as well go all in instead of backtracking. New foster home, new school, new Shinsou Hitoshi who actually means what he says and goes after what he wants. Too bad his cheeks didn't get the memo as they started to gather heat.
Kaminari blissfully ignored the blush spreading across Shinsou's cheeks in favor of crashing into him for another hug.
"I am so glad that you think we're best friends, too! I thought it might be just me!" Kaminari admitted.
Kaminari knew he messed up when Shinsou questioned why he would think that, and skillfully changed the subject. Shinsou noticed, of course, but allowed it, not wanting to pressure Kaminari to tell him something he wasn't ready to, yet. And especially not if it was going to ruin the mood of the upcoming manhunt for Shinsou's soulmate at the zoo.
"And now, here we are! At the zoo! In search of the elusive… Monoma Neito…" Kaminari declared, gradually decreasing his volume until it was a whisper, and waving Shinsou forward like they were sneaking in undetected, in broad daylight, surrounded by other students and teachers.
Shinsou was used to this thanks to the QQQ 'missions,' so he quickly and naturally fell behind, following Kaminari's lead of when to rush forward and when to fall back, wanting to find Monoma and sneak up on him before he could spot them. What a surprise that would be! He knew that Monoma was worried for him, so if he could see that Shinsou ended up at Kaminari's school of all places, he would feel much better.
Kaminari was so enthralled with finding his friend from the mental hospital that he did not even bother trying to sneak back in with his usual friend group. If he had thought about them at all (he hadn't), he would have wondered how long it would take them to realize that he wasn't there and figured that they probably wouldn't notice at all.
The truth was, they all noticed right away. They had been doing such a thorough job of maliciously ignoring him that they failed to realize that he had found a better, more interesting friend to spend his day with.
While Kaminari and Shinsou were already sneaking through the entrance to the zoo, off to find the elusive species that is also known as Shinsou's soulmate, Kaminari's group of friends were looking around casually, trying to spot Kaminari to avoid him when he would inevitably start walking their way and ask to join them. When they didn't spot him right away, their subtle looking around started to become frantic. They had started to joke amongst themselves, saying things like "Kaminari probably fell into the lion's den and got eaten already and we haven't even been here for 5 minutes!" Everyone would laugh boisterously, but then go right back to looking around to see if they could find the honey blonde firecracker that would normally fill the awkward silence when everyone else ran out of things to talk about. They wouldn't admit it, but it was more fun with Kaminari around.
Maybe they would learn their lesson that if you don't treat a friend nicely, they will find a new friend who will. Or maybe they wouldn't, and they would just blame Kaminari for replacing them with some purple-haired, sad-faced loser. And you know what? Kaminari would be okay with any insults flung his way. He would laugh and shrug them off, because they were probably kind of true in a way, weren't they? But insult Shinsou? That's crossing a line.
Shinsou Hitoshi is one of the kindest, warm-hearted people that Kaminari ever had the pleasure of meeting, and everyone in his school would be wise to remember that he has been sent home for quirk usage before, and he wasn't afraid to do it again! Seeing the disappointed look on his parents' faces would be well worth it to show Shinsou that he would always stand up for him because he deserved to be defended against cruel kids who didn't quite understand what torment they were putting their peers through with their relentless bullying and low-blow insults.
When Kaminari and Shinsou rounded the corner near the penguin exhibit, they both spotted Monoma at the same time and immediately fell back. There was no way that he saw them because he was actively engaged in conversation with three other boys from a different school, if their uniforms were anything to go by.
Kaminari and Shinsou went into full undercover mode, locked in on their target. The other students and chaperones probably thought they were nuts, but they only had eyes for Monoma, eyes locked in on him as they crept closer, dodging behind lemonade and cotton candy carts to shield themselves from view just in case Monoma was to suddenly turn around.
Shinsou noticed what was happening before Kaminari did, though Kaminari caught on quickly when he realized the change in Shinsou as they snuck closer. What started out as a stake out mission turned quickly into a rescue mission.
While Shinsou was the first to notice, Kaminari was the first to act. He gave a firm nod to Shinsou before stalking right up to Monoma and slinging his arm around his shoulder, plastering a huge smile on his face, and jumping right in. Basically, he did what Kaminari does best: He played the unaware idiot.
"Hey, Raion! What's the hold up? You were supposed to meet us near the polar bears five minutes ago! We had to come searching for you and everything!" Denki whined dramatically, interrupting the conversation, and not bothering to stop when one of the other boys tried to keep going with what he was saying.
Monoma had initially tensed, wrapping a hand around Kaminari's wrist in preparation of throwing his arm off of him, a scowl on his face as he turned toward Kaminari before immediately lighting up in pleasant surprise. At first, Monoma thought that there were more tormentors coming to join the fun, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
"Yeah, Rai! Don't keep us waiting forever!" Shinsou chimed in from his other side, making Monoma turn and smile even wider at his soulmate.
Monoma went from arguing with bullies to being flanked on either side by his favorite two people on the universe, so his day was officially awesome already.
"Rai?" one of the bullies repeated in question.
"I told you!" Monoma had sneered. "I look similar to this copycat guy, but I'm not him! Easy mistake! Happens all the time! Glad we could clear that up! Let's go guys," Monoma rushed through, trying to get his companions out of the mess he had found himself in, but to no avail.
"Yeah right!" the boy on the left sneered, stepping forward threateningly. "You're definitely that little copycat freak! I don't know what mind game you're trying to pull, but it won't work on us!"
"Again?!" Denki exclaimed dramatically, throwing his hands into the air. "Rai, we have to change your hair or something, so you stop getting mistaken for your look-alike!"
"He should be the one to change," Monoma pouted, fully in character and completely immersed in the ruse they had going.
"Rai here is an electric type," Shinsou explained to the group. "He's often mistaken for that other kid, Monoma, right?"
Kaminari grabbed Monoma's hand to start to lead him away like the conversation was over, but the other boys circled around, not letting them off that easily. That's okay, though; they were prepared for that. Actually, they might have been disappointed if the opportunity to shine didn't present itself so nicely.
"Wait! Prove it first!" the tallest one demanded, eyes squinting in suspicion.
"No!" Monoma pleaded. "I'll get in trouble if anyone sees!" Monoma's eyes darted around, searching the area to see if any teacher or chaperone was looking in their direction.
"C'mon, Rai!" Shinsou drawled. "Hurry up so we can move on."
"Coast is clear!" Kaminari added encouragingly, head swiveling around to check to see if anyone was paying any attention to the mismatched group.
Monoma sighed, acting annoyed, when in reality he was ecstatic to be able to use the electrification quirk once again. Lightning danced across his fingertips as he held his hands in the middle of the group of boys, displaying 'his' electric-type quirk. The boys from the other school were stupid enough to believe it and not realize that he would have had the chance to borrow a quirk from his companions to make it work. Monoma was grateful that Shinsou and Kaminari came along when they did. He had been in similar circumstances where he tried to say that he was quirkless, but that was rarely believed. He didn't know why showing a quirk was more believable, though, when they knew their intended target could copy one.
The boys muttered out non-apologies before rushing off to find someone else to torment.
When Monoma turned around to face his friend and soulmate, they both rushed forward and engulfed him in a group hug.
"We were going to sneak up on you, but we decided to come to the rescue instead," Kaminari muttered against Monoma's shoulder as he squeezed tighter.
"I didn't need rescued," Monoma grumbled, though the smile was still on his face.
"We know," Shinsou soothed, knowing that his soulmate loved his independence. "But it was the perfect opportunity to see if we could pull off an improv scenario in real life."
"Touya would have torn our story apart, but it was good enough for those losers," Monoma conceded.
Kaminari finally pulled away, shook off the tension from the ruse they had actually succeeded in, and stuck out his hand in Monoma's direction.
"My name is Kaminari Denki."