The training camp was a nightmare but following Touya's training regimen religiously helped Denki stay near the front of his class as they worked their way through the forest, even though his electricity was essentially useless against the mud monsters. It was frustrating to him that the entrance exam was so easy because all he had to do was send a pulse of electricity through the metal robots, but this was so difficult because his quirk did nothing against the mud monsters, and even worse, would hinder his friends if he had tried to use it. Against all instinct, he had to not use his quirk and just keep moving, leaving the mud monsters to those more suitable.
He hated feeling useless, but he knew that his classmates all felt the same way, and in some situations, he would be the one carrying the rest of the class through, so he pushed his feelings of inadequacy down and just admired how his other classmates handled the huge muddy figures in various creative ways.
Denki dodged out of the way as a laughing Sero flung himself forward, using his tape and the branches of the trees to build up his momentum, before immediately crashing into a tree that he didn't expect to be there.
Denki fell back as his other classmates advanced as he checked on Sero, who was still laughing, and who quickly recuperated, shooting his tape out to the nearest branch, and starting to fling himself through the trees again, but more carefully that time.
When Denki finally made it out of the danger zone, Neito was there, disheveled from the unexpected task, but still having enough energy to taunt his rival class.
"Coming up near the end of the class, huh?" Neito challenged Denki.
Denki laughed as he pulled a stray twig from Neito's hair and flicked it away, grateful that they were back on friendly terms. "Yeah, my quirk and mud do not mix!" he conceded, allowing Neito to have his moment.
Instead of Kendou smacking Neito down and dragging him away, she watched the two interact with amusement in her eyes. Class 1-B was confused, but every time they stepped forward to drag Neito away, Denki would say something to pull Neito further into the conversation. Was he playing right into Neito's hands? Denki's other classmates would just roll their eyes and walk away, so why was Denki feeding into Neito's chaos instead of ignoring him?
Denki was just enjoying the view of Neito finally feeling like he was in his element for once. He had come out on top by strategizing which quirks would be most beneficial to copy and using the different ones as he maneuvered through the forest. According to Denki, Neito should always feel on top of the world like that.
Neito was left to bask in his bragging glory until he was suddenly stopped short by the pure, genuine essence of Denki. Denki wasn't just nodding along, humoring Neito, but actively adding to the list of reasons of why Neito was amazing.
"Thanks for looking out for me out there," Denki had yelled out as a last statement as he turned to catch up with his class to go shower and get changed out of his muddy costume.
When the surprise activity had first started, it took Denki a second to realize just how useless he was in that specific scenario. As a mud monster loomed over him, ready to crush him, a blast had come out of nowhere, blasting the head off of the mud monster, and Neito rushed from the direction of the blast, pulling Denki out of the way, no concern for himself if Denki would have activated his quirk.
Bakugou was not pleased that Neito had copied his quirk early on, but even he had heard about Neito's walking out of class stunt that he had pulled and decided not to put up too much of a fuss about it. Bakugou just made a mental note to try to get paired up with Neito at the next competition and show him what his quirk can really do. A few bruises and abrasions might do him some good.
Neito held his tongue when some of his classmates started saying that Denki was stupid to feed into Neito's comments instead of just walking away like the rest of Class 1-A had already learned how to do. Denki was kind, not dumb. But Denki likes for others to underestimate him, so Neito wasn't about to take that away from him. He'll just have to show everyone just how smart and strategic he could be the next time the classes were battling against each other.
Kendou was confused. She had seen Neito blush under Denki's praise, but then turn around and completely ignore when his classmates had called him stupid.
"Didn't you hear what they were saying about Kaminari?" Kendou questioned.
"Oh, yeah. That he's dumb for instigating me and feeding the fire. Right?" Neito asked, kicking at a rock on the path to where they would be staying.
"Why didn't you stand up for him?" Kendou demanded, but not harshly. She was truly curious.
"Everyone who matters to Denki knows the truth. Nothing else matters," Neito had offered as a quick explanation when she questioned him.
They had parted ways, Neito heading toward the boys' hallway and Kendou to the girls' section, so she was unable to question him further and was forced to take his answer at face value. She just hoped that Neito wasn't going to mess up the friendship that he had developed with Denki, no matter if it turned out to be more or not in the future.
After the next day full of relentless training, Neito had asked Todoroki if he had wanted help lighting the fires for the cookout they were preparing for. Neito wasn't even snarky with his offer like he normally would be, thoroughly exhausted from the full day of endless limit-testing.
Todoroki had looked at him consideringly before offering his hand. Neito had offered to help, but he was surprised that Todoroki accepted. Todoroki seemed very independent, but more naturally reclusive instead of actively repelling help like Bakugou. He had expected to be brushed off, maybe even completely ignored with how Class 1-A seems to cope with Neito's presence.
It was simple in Todoroki's mind: Todoroki likes Denki, and Denki was in the 'QQQ' with at least his late brother and Monoma, so Monoma must not be as terrible as everyone seems to think.
Plus, it would make Endeavor mad to know that Todoroki is out there, willingly sharing his quirk with someone who copies quirks.
Denki's eyes had been wandering from Bakugou's expert fingers as he diced the ingredients to Neito's delighted face as he finally had a fire quirk to play with again. It wasn't a very taxing task to wash the ingredients before handing them over to Bakugou, so his eyes and mind had a lot of free time to wander.
Denki wondered how Hitoshi was holding up. Hitoshi had surprisingly refrained from mentioning the almost-kiss, but Denki didn't really know what to make of that. He hoped that Hitoshi wasn't worried about them. He hoped that he knew that the classes were separated for the majority of the time. He hoped he knew that they were sleeping in different areas. He hoped he somehow knew that he felt the exact same way about Neito and Hitoshi, but the opportunity had presented itself first with Neito, and that was the only reason why the almost-kiss had happened in the first place. If he had found himself in the same position with Hitoshi instead, he wouldn't have been able to stop himself then, either. None of that information might make Hitoshi feel better if he didn't feel the same way about him, but Denki wished that Hitoshi at least had a hint of the full truth instead of just wondering if he wasn't good enough. He had seen the way that Neito looks at and talks about Hitoshi and knew that his feelings toward his soulmate weren't lacking. He just really needed to stop being such a coward and talk to them about what had happened and how to move forward.
Hitoshi hadn't seemed worried during the few interactions they've had, but Denki knew that all three of them tended to be more self-sacrificing than was healthy at times. That was just one of the traits that would make them excellent heroes but made navigating friendships difficult when they would tiptoe around each other instead of saying exactly what they needed and wanted from the relationship.
Denki thought that the haunted trail walk was a good idea; Bakugou thought it was very stupid and a waste of time. Even with Bakugou's endless grumbling about the pointlessness of it all, Denki still jumped at the jump scares, laughing immediately afterward, and praising the ingeniousness of the Class 1-B students who had managed to scare them. Bakugou would then grumble for him to speak for himself and that he wasn't scared at all.
When the fog started gathering in Denki's throat, and he started coughing, that was his first instinct that something was wrong. It was no longer fog from the fog machines lined up along the trail, but a dense greenish fog that got thicker and thicker as the seconds passed. Bakugou was quick to realize that no one who was supposed to be at the camp had any kind of quirk like that and quickly signaled for Denki to follow him, taking a sharp left off of the path. Denki complied easily, following Bakugou and grabbing Class 1-B students to join them as they went, strictly using sign language to stay silent to avoid any potential villains.
Chaos started once the announcement went out that there were villains on the premises, and they were after 'Kacchan.' Bakugou, of course, did the opposite of what he was supposed to do, not accepting help and protection from his classmates, believing that he could do it on his own. No villains were ever going to get the best of him. They all got separated after fighting a creepy tooth-quirk villain.
Denki froze when he came upon a wall of fire. Normally he would be on top of his game with the adrenaline pumping through his system, but the huge wall of fire was blue. Denki probably would have been a goner if it wasn't for Neito, who quickly pulled him away and snapped him out of it.
"Where's Kacchan?" Denki had asked, quickly wiping the soot and tears from the smoke and fog from his face as he ran, his other hand firmly grasped in Neito's.
'Safe,' Neito had signed quickly, ducking beneath branches, and weaving around trees.
Denki followed along easily, following Neito's lead, and trusting his instincts completely. He would have led them to safety, too, if it weren't for the blonde girl who dropped down on them from the trees, laughing manically. Denki was sure they could have taken her together, but a new wave of blue fire had separated himself from Neito and the blonde villain.
"Shit," he muttered under his breath as he tried to find a new path around, to get to Neito, attempting to steal glances through the flames to see how Neito was faring.
He ran along the blue wall of fire before stopping abruptly and just deciding to burst through to the other side when he saw Neito might need his immediate help, continuing his roll to suffocate any flame that might have ignited on his clothing. In front of him were two identical blonde girls, fighting on the ground. They were both wearing the same clothing and had the same wounds. One was pulling at the other's hair and the other was trying to pull the equipment off of the other's back.
"Neito!" Denki called, rushing forward, only to stop short when both girls answered.
Denki had quickly figured out that Neito must have copied the girl's quirk and turned himself into her carbon copy. He couldn't tell them apart, though. Who did he help?
He picked randomly and pulled the one on top off of the other, holding her tightly as she struggled, not giving up trying to tear the other blonde girl to shreds.
"How did you know it was her?" the blonde girl who was not currently restrained by Denki asked.
"Us Echo Bros have to stick together," Denki answered, tossing a smile at the blonde girl that was currently not being restrained.
She nodded, "right. Thanks, Kaminari."
At that moment, Denki released who he then knew was Neito and they both lunged toward the villain, quickly disabling her.
They were breathing heavily, the villain not going down without a fight, but they had succeeded. They looked up at each other, smiling. That was when Denki noticed the man standing behind Neito. He wore a mask and top hat and had a cane in his gloved hands. Before Denki could warn him, the man expertly slammed his cane into the back of Neito's neck, at the perfect spot to make him fall unconscious instantly.
Denki had rushed forward, to attack the newcomer or to catch Neito as he fell, he wasn't sure. He didn't have to decide in the end, because suddenly, he was surrounded by cold darkness and couldn't move.
It had felt like an eternity and no time at all at the same time by the time Denki was released, only to see the petrified faces of his classmates as he was pulled backwards through a portal of endless swirling darkness.
In front of him were his classmates and friends, and next to him, he saw out of the corner of his eye, also being pulled backwards through the portal, was Bakugou. Denki's heart sunk as Midoriya yelled out for his childhood friend, knowing that they had all failed to keep Bakugou safe, and he had ended up being collateral damage, an extra hostage to the villains who now had the two blonde hero students in their grasp.
A/N: Any theories about what's to come? I can't wait to show you guys how much of an absolute menace Neito is!