A/N: So… on Wattpad… Lightning Serenade was rated number 289 for the #MyHeroAcademia tag out of 68,600 stories! That sent me so hard that I'm living in the clouds for now, Skypiea style! AO3 has been treating me well with kudos and bookmarks and favorites and comments as well, so shout out to them! Thanks everyone for your support and time and attention toward my story. I'm always amazed when I refresh and find even more notifications than there had been the last time I checked. I'm really feeling the love and I want you guys to know that I appreciate every single one of you so, so much!
Kaminari and Shinsou continued to grow closer, but Kaminari started to grow closer to the soulmates as a pair, as well. After Monoma's birthday party, Kaminari tagged along every once in a while, when Shinsou would go to spend time with his soulmate. Kaminari was worried about this, at first. He reassured his friends over and over again that if they want time just for themselves, that he would not be offended or hurt in anyway and that he would completely understand, but both boys insisted that they loved his company and asked him to keep joining them.
Kaminari spoke to Monoma and Shinsou separately, as well, in case they didn't feel like they could voice their true opinions in front of each other without looking like a jerk, promising each one to start backing off and not let the other know that it was for any other reason than his own choice, but even in private, both boys were adamant that Kaminari continue to join them.
Kaminari felt like he was walking on clouds for the first time in his life; he was no longer walking on eggshells, nervous that one wrong subject change would annoy his friends enough for them to start a silent treatment period that he always hated, or even drop him completely as a friend if they were annoyed enough.
Kaminari's parents noticed the change in him easily and quickly. When Kaminari's grades started to rise steadily, they were even more lenient with how often they would send him across the city to spend time with the soulmates that he declared as his best friends. They didn't know if they were actually studying together, or if it was something as simple as Kaminari's self-esteem allowing him more confidence and less second-guessing that allowed his marks to rise so steadily, but they were grateful for it either way.
It was a nice, positive cycle that Kaminari had found himself in. He got better grades, so he was often less stressed and in a better mood. He was in a better mood around his soulmates, who then were also in a good mood because Kaminari's smiles and laughing fits were contagious. When the soulmates were in a good mood, their time spent studying was filled with fun and laughter. When Kaminari was taking an exam, he would think back to a joke that Shinsou had made about the subject matter, chuckle to himself, and then promptly pencil in the correct answer.
Kaminari was hesitant, however, when Shinsou brought up the idea of learning degrees, angles, percentages, and fractions on their own time without it being the subject of study in his math class. Shinsou and Monoma agreed that it would be best training-wise to get to know those areas very, very well so that they could use the commands while under Shinsou's quirk. At the beginning, if Shinsou or Monoma commanded Kaminari to turn 1/3 of the way around to his left, he would have just stood there, his brain not being able to compute what was being asked of him. But now, he could be given the same command and automatically comply… even while not under a brainwashing quirk. That is how thoroughly they dug into their studies to make giving and receiving precise instructions as efficient as possible. Kaminari was nervous for nothing, because with his best friends by his side, he could learn anything! And they never even once called him stupid, even when he struggled with associating degrees with percentages!
So, when Kaminari answered the door an hour before his birthday party was due to start and saw his two best friends standing there, both wearing their paint-covered clothes from Monoma's party a month and a half earlier, Kaminari couldn't help but double over laughing because that was what he decided to wear as well. They were just so in tune with each other.
"You guys are my soulmates!" Kaminari exclaimed as he wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes, but quickly froze when he realized what he had said and that the soulmates looked a little shocked, too. "Sorry, guys, I didn't mean like actually—"
"It's fine," Monoma soothed, pulling him into a tight hug. "Happy birthday, genius."
Shinsou took Monoma's place in Kaminari's arms as soon as Monoma went past Kaminari to put his gifts on the table, murmuring, "happy birthday, Denks," before turning him around and leading him back into his house to follow Monoma.
Kaminari was immediately relieved that the soulmates didn't take offense to his thoughtless comment. Kaminari knew that they weren't secretly stewing over it because of the bubbles in his stomach at being called a nickname by Shinsou, who still sometimes called him Kaminari instead of Denki, so a nickname was definitely a good sign!
When the other party members started showing up, Shinsou and Monoma started sharing sneaky glances that Kaminari was also being included in. Kaminari felt like all three of them were up to something mischievous, and he didn't even have any idea what was going on! He just knew that he was all in, whatever it was that his best friends had in mind.
When Kaminari's mother brought out the Pin the Tail on the Donkey poster, Kaminari almost groaned. He had already told his mother that he was too big for that kind of party game, but like usual, she didn't really ever listen and taken Kaminari's wishes into consideration.
When his friends from school started to snicker at the childishness of it, Kaminari dared a glance over at his best friends, who were staring at the poster with wide eyes and wider smiles. Kaminari let out a sigh of relief. At least his best friends weren't going to make fun of him, and by the looks of it, they had an idea that would make even Pin the Tail on the Donkey fun.
"Denki goes last because it's his birthday, and his sticker gets to be on top because he's going to win it," Monoma declared, naturally taking the role of gamemaster, and handing out the tail stickers and markers for everyone to write their names. "Every player can choose one person to give them instructions with placing the tail, but the one who is giving directions cannot be the same one that blindfolds and spins the player. Any questions or objections?"
Kaminari looked around at the members of his party to find them all staring wide-eyed at Monoma, this random, blonde, short, scrawny kid who none of them knew just coming in and giving everyone directions like he owned the place. Monoma might as well have owned the place, as far as Kaminari was concerned, because he got no questions or objections, and when he started pointing at people to indicate that it was their turn, there wasn't a single refusal or even an off comment about how it's too childish for a 13-year-old's birthday party.
Kaminari's friend group had fun giving bad instructions to each other, causing each other to pin the tails erratically around the donkey instead of where the actual objective was. They all laughed at each other, but Kaminari dreaded his turn because he knew that when he inevitably missed, they would laugh at him and not with him.
When Kaminari's friends had all had a turn and it was just the trio left that still had to go, no one had hit the target, yet, or really even got close. Kaminari wasn't even upset that they weren't taking it seriously because then maybe it would be easier to move on to something more age-appropriate without them holding this party hiccup over his head.
"Direct me?" Shinsou asked Monoma.
"Of course," Monoma said with a smile and nod, a competitive glint in his eye.
"Blindfold and spin me, Denks?" Shinsou asked, holding out the blindfold in offering toward Kaminari.
"You know it!" Kaminari chirped, skipping toward him to accept the blindfold.
Kaminari carefully blindfolded Shinsou, making sure that there was no way that he could see anything before helping him spin around ten times. Kaminari adjusted Shinsou's stance so that he stood at the center of the poster, facing it directly, and with his arm outstretched, he was only a few centimeters away from making contact with the poster.
"Perfect," Monoma complimented Kaminari as they switched places so that Monoma could be ready to give accurate directions.
Kaminari smiled in appreciation at the praise but didn't dwell on it because he was too excited to see his best friends absolutely demolish this stupid, little party game.
"Sixty degrees. Go," Monoma commanded, short and direct.
Shinsou complied immediately, his arm moving smoothly and slowly in a right-upward direction, the position of the tail right in the path of his arm.
"Stop. Target acquired," Monoma stated simply.
Shinsou, with full trust in his soulmate, didn't hesitate to press the sticker against the paper. He removed his blindfold to find the tail sticker with his name on it in the perfect position. He turned to see his soulmate's and best friend's reactions, but was met with more faces that just theirs, all staring at the poster and between himself and Monoma in awe.
"So, this is what having a soulmate can do," one of the kids from school had whispered.
Shinsou didn't bother to correct them. That is what training with people you trust can do, but they didn't seem like they would care, or even understand.
Shinsou turned with the blindfold and tied it around Monoma's eyes.
"Wait!" one of the kids objected. "You said the same one giving directions can't be the one who blindfolds and spins!"
"Denki is directing me," Monoma replied without missing a beat.
Kaminari jumped to attention at this reveal as Shinsou started to spin Monoma in place.
"What? Me? Really?" Kaminari asked, readying himself to try to get Monoma to change his mind.
"You're my best friend, Denks," Monoma deadpanned, even while he was still being spun in circles. "I trust you with my life, so this little party game really isn't anything to stress about."
Butterflies exploded in Kaminari's stomach, but he swallowed his anxiety and self-doubt, and lined up behind Monoma to give him the best instructions that he could manage.
"Uh, forty-five degrees," Kaminari supplied hesitantly.
Despite Kaminari's lack of confidence in his answer, Monoma automatically started moving his arm in the direction that Kaminari specified.
"Stop," Kaminari commanded, when he lined up with the tail, though he fell a little too below. "North," Kaminari demanded firmly, eyes closely watching Monoma's movements to tell him the perfect time to… "Stop! Target acquired!"
Monoma pressed the sticker against the poster and took the blindfold off, immediately laughing at the fact that his sticker covered Shinsou's perfectly. They all really were in sync, weren't they?
The other kids made comments among themselves as they switched places, but the trio ignored them in favor of focusing on and carrying out their self-imposed mission of pinning the tails on that donkey.
"Hitoshi, will you direct me?" Kaminari asked, looking up at him just before the blindfold was placed by Monoma.
"Of course," Shinsou stated, ruffling the top of Kaminari's hair as Monoma tied off the blindfold.
"Wait!"
The objection came from the leader of Kaminari's friend group from school. "We think you guys might be cheating, so we should be the ones to spin Kaminari."
"That's fine with me," Kaminari stated, cutting off an objection he knew was coming from Monoma a second later.
He knew his friends would try to sabotage any chance he had, and that was fine. He had been embarrassed before, and he would be embarrassed again, but nothing would ever let him swallow the shame of not being able to fend off a preventable disagreement during his birthday party.
Kaminari's friend group snickered as they all helped spin him. Kaminari felt hands all over him, but none were rough, just more disorienting that a single pair of hands would have been. They positioned Kaminari and covered their laughs with fake coughs as they backed away, giving Shinsou space to give his commands.
"Spin toward three o'clock and take one step forward," Shinsou commanded, and Kaminari complied just as automatically as if he had been under Shinsou's quirk.
"270 degrees. Go," Shinsou commanded.
Kaminari hesitated, the directions not matching up with what he imagined in his head. Kaminari quickly got over his hesitation and complied with Shinsou's directions. While his friends might have given terrible directions, he knew his best friend, Shinsou, would never lead him astray, and that the weird directions were probably due to his friend group placing him incorrectly in the first place and Shinsou was just giving the commands to correct the misplacement.
"Stop. North. Go."
Kaminari complied, moving slowly so that Shinsou would have plenty of time to tell him when to stop.
"Stop. Target acquired."
Kaminari could hear the smile and excitement in Shinsou's voice, and he pressed his sticker against the poster. Kaminari tore the blindfold off and just about wailed, because his sticker covered Shinsou's and Monoma's completely. They had all placed their tails perfectly, and Kaminari had never felt so cohesive as he did at that moment with his two best friends.
Monoma and Shinsou immediately jumped on Kaminari, praising him for following Shinsou's directions so well and the unparalleled trust that he had shown them when following Shinsou's unexpected directions in order to correct Kaminari's misplacement by his friends from school.
"I told you that Denki would win," Monoma bragged toward the slack-jawed friend group that stood, staring in amazement at the poster.
"Neito is always right," Shinsou added, throwing his arm around Monoma and shooting him a cheeky, confident smile that Monoma and Kaminari both hoped to see more of in the future.
When Kaminari dragged himself into his classroom and slumped over in his seat on Monday, he wondered why Shinsou was in such a good mood. Going back to school after spending a weekend with Monoma always seemed to drain them both of energy at first, so Kaminari didn't understand why Shinsou was looking at him with thinly veiled anticipation.
Kaminari tore his gaze away from Shinsou and looked toward the board before almost bouncing out of his seat.
"Fractions?!" Kaminari exclaimed, turning back to Shinsou in excitement.
"Fractions," Shinsou confirmed with a definitive nod, his smile never leaving his face. "Now you get to show everyone how smart you really are."
"I don't know…" Kaminari whispered conspiratively, leaning closer to Shinsou. "I think being underestimated might be one of my favorite tricks so far."
Shinsou shared a smile with Kaminari, and whispered back, "you don't want anyone to know how killer you are at fractions? Your secret is safe with me, genius."
Kaminari flushed under the praise, but smiled widely, and Shinsou couldn't wait to call Monoma after school to tell him how damn adorable their best friend was.