Denki was spacing out, like he always did when he did one of the exercises that Touya had taught him years before. Staring into the familiar icy-blue color, he imagined himself as a figure skater, even though in reality, he had horrible balance on ice skates. He had tried before, imagining himself skating backwards, skating so quickly that he passed the other skaters in a dusting of ice from his skates, and even doing cool tricks. In reality, though, he fumbled, running in place but not actually moving forward before he fell face-first onto the ice. That was back during a fun weekend when he was still best friends with Hitoshi and Neito, but it was fun to reminisce.
Denki had slept soundly throughout the night, no nightmares at all. He woke up refreshed around 5:00 a.m. and wanted to get some training in before class started, so off to the training gym he went. After a boring, lonely train ride, he walked through the school entrance and headed to the furthest gym from the entrance, hoping that he could avoid interrupting anyone else who might be up this early. Denki didn't usually train that early in the morning, and he didn't know what everyone else's routines were, so he was trying to avoid messing up someone else's morning ritual. He hadn't seen anyone as he walked, so he had thought he was in the clear.
Imagine Denki's surprise when he opened the door to find Todoroki Shouto warming up. He had attempted to excuse himself and leave, but Todoroki said that it was okay if he joined him and that he usually does better when there's a little competition. Denki couldn't argue with that logic, because he often did his best when he was competing against Hitoshi and Neito, so he stayed.
Denki was feeling a lot more like himself, even though he was sore from his destruction-fest with Bakugou the evening before. His muscles were sore, but his daydreaming really helped take the edge off. What's better on sore muscles than laying right on a huge floor made of ice?
"Why are you staring at me? Is there something on my face?" Todoroki asked, looking at Denki in question.
"Oh! No! No, no. Nothing like that," Denki reassured, shaking his head. "Just daydreaming. Sorry!"
"Daydreaming about what?" Todoroki inquired.
Todoroki didn't really care, but he wasn't the best social butterfly, and needed some practice. Who better to practice with than the electric social genius of the class?
"Ice skating," Denki answered laughingly. "Your blue eye is easy to get lost in, and it helps me focus… or rather, it distracts me so I can make it through my workouts."
"You're surprisingly competent," Todoroki attempted to compliment.
"That's not the compliment you think it is, my dude," Denki said, but laughed, so Todoroki knew he wasn't upset with him for his social misgivings.
"I just mean," Todoroki continued, actually interested in the conversation as more than just social practice and wanting to keep it going, "you're easily keeping up with me, and I was trained daily by the number two hero," he explained as he shifted his position, but not dropping out of the plank position that the two had been holding for four minutes and was still holding on strong.
Neither wanted to be the first to drop, and neither had even started to feel the strain, yet. Todoroki was surprised. Denki seemed to fly under his radar—maybe under everyone's radar, because no one seemed to see him as a threat. Under the school uniform, gym uniform, and layers of his hero costume, it's not so obvious just how fit Denki had really become from sticking so rigidly to Touya's training regimen.
"I guess you never noticed before because we've never really spent any time together," Denki pondered aloud.
Todoroki nodded his agreement. "You spend a lot of time with Bakugou, I've noticed."
"He's a good friend," Denki commented, holding steady in the plank position, grateful for the distraction of conversation.
"Is he?" Todoroki questioned flatly.
Denki couldn't decide what he meant by that, so he moved the conversation along. "You spend a lot of time with Izuku."
Todoroki quirked his eyebrow at that, and commented, "I didn't know that you two were on such friendly terms to be using given names."
"Oh! I didn't mean—" Denki started to backtrack, but Todoroki interrupted him.
"He won't tell me how he knows you, either," Todoroki admitted. "He used your given name when referring to you before, and he had the same reaction."
"How was training with Endeavor?" Denki asked to change the subject.
"Horrendous," Todoroki answered bluntly, causing Denki to let out a bark of laughter.
It was funny how the world worked sometimes. Here was Todoroki, in a prestigious high school, in one of the top hero courses in Japan, and he hated the training that helped get him there, while Touya would have been ecstatic to keep training with Endeavor if it weren't for his quirk and body being incompatible.
"Do you even want to be a hero?" Denki questioned.
"No one has ever asked me that before," Todoroki admitted, dropping his head toward the floor to think.
Denki waited patiently for an answer, feeling kind of sad for Todoroki that he had never been asked that before. What kind of life must he have lived if no one, not even a friend, had asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up?
"I think I do," he finally decided on, looking back up at Denki. "Do you?"
"So much," Denki admitted. "Honestly, I didn't think I stood a chance with something as common as an electric quirk, but here I am!"
"Others underestimate you, but maybe you underestimate yourself, too," Todoroki suggested, noticing Denki's insecurity among other top hero students.
"I like when others underestimate me, to be honest," Denki admitted, pausing to think. "But maybe you're right."
"I know I'm right," Todoroki stated. "Not just anyone can keep up with me. Who trained you anyway?"
"Oh? I'm surprised you don't know," Denki stated, looking closely at Todoroki to see if any facial expressions might give him away.
"Why would I know?" Todoroki asked flatly.
"Your brother… Touya. He trained me," Denki confessed slowly, watching Todoroki's face for any hint of a reaction.
Todoroki was a very flat, controlled individual, but even then, Denki saw the slight widening of his eyes before he quickly schooled his face back into a neutral expression. He really didn't know.
Denki hadn't wanted to admit it, but he figured Todoroki might want to know, and if he shared more information, maybe he would learn more about his late friend.
"In the mental hospital. We were patients at the same time and he trained with us to help us become heroes. He made this amazing training regimen, and I still follow it every day," Denki explained.
Todoroki's mismatched eyes trailed up and down Denki's lean, muscular body and nodded his understanding.
"So, that's why you and Midoriya are so familiar," Todoroki connected.
Denki looked away, not wanting to confirm an answer that might negatively affect his friend, but not wanting to lie because he didn't know how much Todoroki knew.
"I think half of our class has been in a mental institution at some point or another," Todoroki added, in the interest of continuing the conversation. "It's almost like a prerequisite to being accepted into UA."
Denki burst out laughing at that, the emotional tension leaving his body, even as the physical tension remained as he held his position.
"Others are being open about being patients in a mental hospital?" Denki questioned.
"It comes up randomly. Just like you, everyone is super open about their own experience, but they won't talk about anyone else they met there specifically. Only after Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, and Uraraka were all talking freely about it did any of them talk about being in the same hospital at the same time with each other. That's how I know that you're all meant to be here," Todoroki stated with a definitive nod.
"How so?" Denki inquired, the burn in his arms and abdomen all but forgotten.
"You all care about doing the right thing. You all freely admit that you were a mental health patient but treat your knowledge about others' mental health treatment with the highest confidence. It's very insightful," Todoroki supplied.
"Did Touya ever talk about the annoying electric blonde boy that he was roommates with for one night?" Denki asked, wondering if Touya told his little brother any stories about the antics they got up to. Denki wouldn't have been surprised if Touya had talked about Neito's antics without mentioning him by name, or the QQQ in general.
"I never really talked to Touya," Todoroki informed.
"What? You never talked to your own brother? That doesn't make any sense," Denki commented, furrowing his brow in thought at the new information.
"I didn't even know he was dead until a month after it happened," Todoroki admitted.
The surprise made Denki drop from his plank position and look at Todoroki with wide eyes, not caring that he lost the little competition they had going on. Todoroki elegantly lowered himself out of the position as well, stretching out his muscles as a cool down.
"A month?" Denki asked, horrified. "But that was after his funeral!" he objected, switching positions to sit crossed legged and give Todoroki his full attention.
Todoroki nodded, confirming Denki's assertation. "My father had me training constantly. If I wasn't in school or studying or sleeping, I was training. When he left to go deal with 'matters,' which I later found out was to help organize a search for Touya when he went missing, he left me to train on my own and build up my endurance. He had me working on a new technique during the funeral, and I was so exhausted from the intense training that I slept through Fuyumi's crying that night," Todoroki explained, a distant look on his face that was somehow different from the neutral expression he usually wore.
"How did you find out?" Denki whispered, trying to hold back tears from the awfulness of the whole situation.
"We had family dinners once a month," Todoroki started. "It was Fuyumi's idea, and the only time I really got to see my siblings for more than just a few seconds while passing them in the house, on my way to train. I was waiting for everyone to arrive, but everyone else started eating. Then, I realized that there wasn't an extra plate, so I asked if Touya had other plans with his friends. Fuyumi broke down sobbing, pushed her plate away, and ran from the room. Natsuo was pissed and started yelling at our father, questioning how I didn't even know that Touya was dead."
Denki's heart hurt at the new information. He knew that Touya had it rough because he had wanted more than anything to be in Shouto's place, to be trained by a Pro Hero in preparation of becoming a hero himself someday. He wasn't aware of how awful it must have been for Shouto, who never had a choice, either. Shouto, who was never even trusted with the information that his older brother had died, and who wouldn't have known even a month later if he hadn't questioned his brother's absence.
"My own brother. Dead. And I didn't know about it. I didn't join the search when he was declared missing. I wasn't there when his remains were discovered. I didn't attend the funeral. I was training. Only training. So, I stopped training, and started to spend more time with Fuyumi and Natsuo. When Endeavor would enter the room and command me to go train, I would act like I didn't even hear him. From that point on, I would only train alone or with Natsuo. If Endeavor even dropped by just to watch, I would stop mid-exercise and leave."
Denki felt a little guilty. He didn't realize it until that moment, but he had held some resentment for Endeavor and his youngest son when they weren't bothered enough to come to the funeral for Touya. He had it in his mind that the only way they wouldn't have shown up was because they didn't care as much as they should have, but with the tears gleaming in Todoroki's eyes, he came to the realization that Shouto cared and regretted that he wasn't there for Touya's life or death, and that he started to make up for that immediately by making a point to spend more time with his remaining siblings.
"You know, it hurts to think about, but without his training, I wouldn't be anything near how powerful I am today," Todoroki muttered, avoiding eye contact with Denki. "I'm trying to make it on my own from now on, though. That's why I won't use my left side. Because it's from him. I want nothing to do with him."
There was a pause then, for Todoroki to process that he just shared this information with Denki, a boy in his class who he hadn't said two words to previously, who now knows something about him that not even Midoriya had unpacked yet. Todoroki knew that Denki was a social genius, but he didn't know he was that good. He knew he was trustworthy, though, so he didn't feel insecure about what he had just disclosed. Quite the opposite, actually. He felt lighter, talking to someone who knew Touya about what he himself had gone through after Touya's death, and how much his brother's passing had impacted him and changed his outlook.
"Can you tell me about him?" Todoroki asked as they both sat on the floor, stretching out various muscle groups as they talked.
And Denki did. Denki told him about the QQQ and all of the mischief that they had gotten into on Unit Beta. Denki told him about the training and the competition that Touya instilled in his trainees to make them better, faster. Denki told him about Touya's fun, laid-back attitude and how dependable he was. Denki told him about his dreams of becoming a hero, despite his lack of control over his powerful quirk, and waking him and his friends up with a blow horn, only to have them run outside barefoot before working through the exercises.
Denki had never seen Todoroki smile, let alone laugh, until he told him stories about Touya and his warm and welcoming personality.
"I bet he felt the same way about you and Monoma, as well," Todoroki had commented after Denki expressed how much Touya's help had helped him progress, and how he never would have developed the confidence in his body without the muscle there to help control his electricity better. "Even if he never made it as a hero, I'm sure that you helped him realize that he could still impact the world if he were to become a hero trainer."
"Woah, back up," Denki commanded, furrowing his eyebrow. "I never said anything about Monoma."
"Sorry, I just assumed," Todoroki answered. "Was I incorrect?"
"What made you think that Monoma was part of the QQQ?" Denki asked, answering Todoroki's question with a question, but Todoroki didn't mind. He knew it was a sensitive topic to disclose another person's involvement in the mental health setting.
"I witnessed his performance during the entrance exam. He's very impressive," Todoroki complimented.
"That doesn't—" Denki started, but Todoroki sighed. He's always been a bad liar, and he knew that wouldn't explain how he so confidently came up with the Class 1-B student's name.
"I was trying to avoid this, because everyone is so secretive about everyone else's involvement in a mental institution except for themselves, but since he doesn't seem to be quiet about it, I guess I can tell you. You might already know," Todoroki started. "Monoma and Bakugou were arguing after class one day as I was leaving the premises. Bakugou called him crazy and unhinged, and Monoma said that he was one to talk because they both knew that Monoma wasn't the only one who had inpatient history in a psychiatric hospital. Bakugou shot back with at least he wasn't moved around through all of the units because no one could stand him for more than a few days at a time without wanting to smash his face in. Monoma started to leave, and Bakugou yelled after him, saying that he would always be second class: in a mental hospital, in Class 1-B, and later in the real world, too. I thought there was going to be a huge fight, but Monoma just continued walking away instead of turning back around."
Denki had a lot to think about with this new information, and Todoroki did, too, with new insight on his brother. Todoroki left the training gym, and Denki took the opportunity to practice building up and maintaining his charge. It was always shaky after a short-circuit, but it had to be done to rebalance and to get his confidence back. Who knew when the next training would be? He was surrounded by amazing potential heroes, so he had to be in top shape at all times if he even hoped at staying on their level.
He had started his breathing routine and building up charge in times with his breaths, but heard the door open again.
"Did you forget something?" Denki asked, turning around to warn Todoroki not to get too close to him, lest he get shocked, only to freeze when he met the familiar blue eyes of Neito.
Speak of the devil.
"Sorry," Neito apologized, reaching for the door handle to leave. "I'll leave you to it."
"Wait!" Denki asked, taking a step forward and willing his electric charge to dissipate so he could get closer without risking shocking Neito.
"If it was anyone else, they wouldn't be able to stick around because I'm working my way back up to full charge after short-circuiting, but since you're you and your quirk is yours… What I'm trying to say is, will you stay? Do you want to train with me?" Denki asked, hopefully.