Chapter 44 Lightning Serenade
A/N: My polka-dot foot tan is getting stronger with every passing weekend. In other news, a kid decided to yeet himself off a wall into the lazy river today, so I had to yell at him for that. I was also tyrant of the slides today when kids would try to climb up them or go down headfirst. I absolutely ruined some kids' days today… maybe even their whole lives, all because I said they couldn't go up the slide and get kicked in the face, like god intended. I also received a thumbs down last weekend after telling kiddos to get away from the pool edge after we were closed and everyone was supposed to be leaving (key word: supposed). She gave me a literal thumbs down, using her actual hand, when I walked past a few minutes later.
TLDR: I'm the ruiner of kids' lives. Now, let's get started, so I can ruin some fictional kids' lives! :D
Everything had been going well.
Neito asked Denki for help with math, and Denki suggested that he just join in Bakugou's study group with him. After the offer, the blonde boys had stared at each other for two seconds before bursting out laughing, knowing exactly how much of a disaster that would turn out to be. So, Denki readily agreed to learn during Bakugou's study group, and then bring that knowledge over to Neito and Hitoshi when they studied later in the week.
Neito and Bakugou were not on friendly terms, even after teaming up to rescue Denki together. Bakugou could hold a grudge, after all. And tying him up instead of allowing him to take on the villains who were after him head-on was unforgivable. While Neito and Bakugou shared heated glares every time their eyes met, Bakugou's full of rage and Neito's full of challenge, Hitoshi and Bakugou had been getting along just fine. Well, as well as anyone can get along with Bakugou, that is.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Hitoshi asked, standing a few meters away from Bakugou in the center of the training gym.
"How many goddamn times do I have to ask before—"
And, with a smile, Hitoshi enveloped Bakugou's mind, taking over his free will completely.
It was completely foreign to Bakugou. He had never felt anything like it. The lack of control was almost liberating, in a way. He didn't have to be so damn perfect because, under Hitoshi's quirk, he couldn't be anything at all that Hitoshi didn't command him to be.
Hitoshi's quirk had been getting stronger and stronger. He could hold up to five people at once under his quirk, but the more people he added, the easier it was for the stronger ones to break free. With just one person getting all of his attention and the full force of his quirk, it was virtually impossible to escape from unless there was an outside force, like a sudden shove or some pain, that would give the clarity needed to break out of the hold he had over their mind. Even then, he was getting better at holding that down, too.
It was almost laughable how Denki could just as easily break through his brainwashing just as easily as he had that first time, back on Unit Beta. Actually, it might have been even easier and more efficient on Denki's end, now, even as Hitoshi's quirk advanced and his skill increased. It was like nothing changed how Denki experienced and interacted with Hitoshi's quirk.
After taking an extreme amount of pleasure bossing Bakugou around and having him mindlessly follow his commands, Hitoshi released his hold on Bakugou's mind.
"How the fuck can a nerd like Deku break through your quirk when I can't?" Bakugou grumbled, kicking at the ground in frustration, shoulders and arms tense with frustration.
"My quirk has advanced a lot since then," Hitoshi answered, even though Bakugou wasn't really looking for an answer and just wanted to drown in self-pity. It wasn't Hitoshi's style to let a friend drown in self-pity, though, so too bad for Bakugou. "I think I'd be able to hold him until I decided to release him if we ever got a rematch where he would answer me again."
Bakugou blew out a breath from puffed cheeks, consideringly, rolling his red eyes as he thought.
"Yeah, maybe," Bakugou finally settled on. "Even if it's impossible for everyone else, I'm still going to break through someday, though, so watch out, Mind Fuck."
"Actually, Denki can—"
Hitoshi was about to explain how Denki has always been able to easily slice through his quirk like it was nothing, but they were interrupted.
"Speak of the nerd, and he shall appear," Bakugou grumbled under his breath as Todoroki and Midoriya came into the gym.
"Oh, sorry, Shinsou! Sorry, Kacchan! We didn't know anyone was in here!" Midoriya offered, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he turned with Todoroki to leave.
"We've just finished up, actually!" Hitoshi chirped, running over to see what both of them were working on and talking about his own advances with his own quirk.
"Seriously? That's amazing, Shinsou! With that kind of advancement, and so quickly, too, I bet you'll be unstoppable!" Midoriya gushed.
Everyone in the gym knew he was itching to get his hands on his notebook to write down the new information. Hitoshi was always happy to give it to him, too. Midoriya was a genius when it came to quirk analysis, and he was the one who helped Hitoshi get from three to five being under his control so quickly.
All of the groups had started intermixing and really improving drastically, much to the surprise and delight of the teachers. They had seen it before, but rarely. After the first battle of the classes, they never thought that this group would be the ones to do it.
Neito spent a lot of time with people who had difficult quirks to copy, helping him get into the rhythm of any quirk he copied more quickly, even if just using it for the first time. He had been training with Yaoyorozu and really building up his knowledge of everything he could get his hands on to try to be able to have a more extensive arsenal of what he could make when he copied her quirk. He even spent time training with Mineta, who in turn built up his own stamina from training and practicing with his quirk. Neito almost got sick when he copied Kaibara's gyrate and ended up spinning his whole body with a single leg remaining still instead of the other way around; he was very thankful for practice with Uraraka's quirk to help push down the nausea.
Bakugou had offered to spar with him, even after the whole tying him up thing. Neito thought it was an awesome opportunity and took it right away. Bakugou knew it was half revenge, knowing that his own body was fine-tuned to his quirk in a way that Neito's wouldn't be, and he would be sore for a week afterwards. The other half, though, was because Bakugou was always saying he was the strongest and he wanted to fight the best. What better way was there to fight the best than to fight the next best thing to himself?
Of course, Neito went all out.
As a result, Neito was very sore.
Hitoshi and Denki didn't hear the end of his complaining until he was back in tip-top shape, but they didn't mind, of course. Mostly, they just laughed at Neito's expense, all in good fun.
"I'm so hungry!" Neito would whine during study group as Denki walked him through a tough math problem.
"Then go to the kitchen and get some food," Hitoshi would respond, hiding a smile because he knew what Neito wanted, but he just wanted to play dumb and make Neito work for it.
"But I'm so sore. The trek down to the kitchen and back might actually kill me. How would you live with yourself if I died such a devastatingly embarrassing death?" Neito would whine, throwing himself backwards to be sprawled out on the floor, wincing for effect.
Both Hitoshi and Denki would see Neito peek at them from the corner of his eye, trying to gauge whether they were taking the bait or not. Both Hitoshi and Denki knew that it was bait. Both Hitoshi and Denki willingly took the bait every time.
"What do you want to eat?" Hitoshi would drawl, like it was the most demanding chore in the whole world.
Neito would perk right up and tell Hitoshi what he was in the mood for. By the time Hitoshi would get back, Denki would have walked Neito through the math problem. And Neito was always generous enough to share his snack with his two favorite people.
After Neito's recovery from his all-out brawl with Bakugou, the classes decided to have some fun for team bonding. During a water balloon fight, Yanagi was kind enough to lend Neito her poltergeist quirk. Coupled with Kodai's size quirk, the water balloons suddenly turned massive right before they hit their target, and everyone was completely drenched except for the three conspirators. It was okay, though, because they were chased down by their betrayed classmates, buckets of water in hand. Soon, everyone was thoroughly drenched and happy.
Thanks to his soulmate's new connections, Neito was even able to copy Aizawa's and Present Mic's quirks a few times! And it was always fun feeling the subtle differences as he switched between Kirishima's hardening and Tetsutetsu's steel. He even got Mirio to share his permeation quirk with him, and they were both through the floor, Mirio's grip on Neito so that he doesn't sink down through to the core of the Earth, laughing, as Neito struggled to even stay upright with the quirk activated. And don't for a second think that Amajiki, who had gone to check on the bright, blonde boys, got away, either. After a quick snack, Neito was laughingly chasing the 3-A students around the gym, trying to catch them with his newly acquired tentacles for arms.
For the first time in forever, Neito had an arsenal of amazing quirks belonging to amazing people who didn't shy away from his touch. Amazing people who didn't get mad if he could use their quirk better than they could, and instead took the full opportunity to learn and better themselves, and also passing on different tips to Neito that they had learned the next time they trained together. It was absolutely refreshing.
When Hitoshi wasn't training with Aizawa, he was training with Sero or Shiozaki. Trying to dodge Sero's tape or Shiozaki's vines was almost as difficult as trying to avoid Aizawa's capture weapon.
Denki had spent a lot of time with Tetsutetsu, as he was able to withstand Denki's quirk at full force, and even use his steel as a conductor to use Denki's quirk to his own advantage, directing it in the vague direction he wanted it to go in.
By the time the next battle of the classes rolled around, Hitoshi was even invited in. It was to be a preliminary test to see if he had what it took to transfer to the hero course. What no one expected was for Midoriya to spring up out of nowhere with another quirk. What no one expected was for Hitoshi to be the one to help him get it under control. What everyone expected, and what did end up happening, was that Hitoshi was moved to the hero course shortly after that. There was discourse over which class Hitoshi would be placed with. His soulmate was in Class 1-B, but his to-be adoptive father was the teacher of Class 1-A. So, into Class 1-B Hitoshi went!
Hitoshi invited Denki and Neito over to the teachers' living quarters on campus where Aizawa and Yamada were staying for the time being, to be close to the students to respond if any other shenanigans were to occur after Denki's abduction. The boys were seated on the living room floor, cards spread out around them as they played a game. That's where Hitoshi broke the news, unable to contain it a second longer.
"Oh!" Denki exclaimed when he heard the news. "If they transfer me, then we can go from the Beta Bros to the Class B Bros!" Denki excitedly announced.
"Not a chance, problem child," Aizawa interjected from the kitchen counter where he was sipping his evening coffee. (Decaf. Yamada insisted.)
"Aw! You love me too much to let me go, Mr. Aizawa? I guess I can stay, since it means so much to you!" Denki shot back easily, cheeky smile not leaving his face, excitement about Hitoshi's good news oozing out of his pores.
Aizawa let Denki have his moment, knowing that reminding him that he didn't have a choice either way would just lead to more back-and-forth tongue-in-cheek banter.
Yes, everything had been going well, so Denki's guard was down, and that's how Neito and Hitoshi found out.
After studying and completing the assigned work, the boys settled down to play some poker. Denki had gone from absolute newbie to champion very quickly, to absolutely no one's surprise. Neito turned out the be the big risk taker, to absolutely no one's surprise. Hitoshi, when struggling with what to do, would use his quirk to make his opponents drop their cards so he could decide if he should call or fold. That surprised everyone! But it was all in good fun! And it was so nice to see Hitoshi so comfortable that he was able to use his quirk around his soulmate and best friend without warning them beforehand or apologizing afterwards. Progress was progress, after all.
"If I didn't know better, I would think that you had a poker quirk, or maybe a good luck quirk," Neito sassed, pushing all of his chips over to Denki.
Neito had gone all in, once again. And once again, he had lost to Denki.
"I'm starting to figure you out, though!" Neito warned, a huge smile spreading across his face.
"Oh, yeah? How so?" Denki asked, ready to hear about any tells he might be giving.
"When I think I should go all in, I should not. When I think I should not go all in, I also should still not. I should stop going all in," Neito said with a dramatic pout like he just came to the realization as he passed out the next hand to the remaining players that consisted of Hitoshi and Denki.
"We all know that's not going to happen! But now I'm curious. Is there a quirk specifically for playing poker?" Hitoshi asked as he intently gazed at his hand of cards.
Denki answered, "I don't know! But—"
Hitoshi commanded, "Drop your cards for me, Denki."
Immediately, Denki dropped his cards, not bothering to fight to get out of the quirk until Hitoshi release him, which he did so right after he saw the cards, puffing out a breath of frustration.
"I don't know!" Denki continued his answer from before as Hitoshi folded once again. "But we should look it up!"
Neito reached across the floor to grab his phone, swearing under his breath when he saw that the battery had died while they were playing. After asking Hitoshi for his phone, they realized that his had died, too.
Denki's was at full charge, though. Denki tossed his phone to the soulmates to use to find the answer to the question as he went downstairs to grab another phone charger. As Denki walked past Neito, Neito held out his hand and Denki automatically brushed his own fingers against Neito's as he exited the room, passing on his quirk to Neito who was already reaching for Denki's charger. Hitoshi watched with a content smile.
"You guys are so in sync," he commented when Denki had bounded off in search of an extra cable.
"I think that about you two all the time," Neito admitted, shrugging. "It always feels really nice when it happens, like we are so connected that we can almost read each other's mind."
"I don't even remember when it started happening. It was like it was instant when we all started to get along really well on Unit Beta," Hitoshi explained. "That strong connection with us is explained because we're soulmates, but it's like Denki just kind of fit right in with us, too."
"I just figured it was because we became really good friends with Denki at the same time we started to build the foundation of our relationship after we found out we were soulmates," Neito said, still scrolling through Denki's phone.
Hitoshi hummed, "maybe." Then, "did you find the answer, yet?"
"Oh? Oh, yeah," Neito chuckled, unconcerned. "It looks like there's a few, and that they are strictly documented because of the potential for exploitation." He popped the end of the charging cable back in his mouth, continuing to charge his dead phone.
"Well, that's no fun," Hitoshi said, but didn't actually sound upset about it.
"This is, though," Neito mumbled around the charger in his mouth, tilting the screen of Denki's phone in Hitoshi's direction.
"I haven't seen that one!" Hitoshi exclaimed, taking the phone from Neito.
"Because it hasn't been published, yet," Neito whispered conspiratively, a manic smile growing on his face.
"What if Denki doesn't want us looking at his drafts?" Hitoshi whisper-yelled back. That didn't stop him from scrolling to see the next one, though.
"Oh, I don't mind," Denki said from his place in the doorway, leaning against the frame and smiling at the wide-eyed soulmates who just got caught. "Let me know if there's anything embarrassing that I definitely shouldn't post, though."
Hitoshi smiled at Denki, not even sheepish about being caught. Hitoshi handed Denki his dead phone so he could charge it for him, and briefly admired the sight of Neito and Denki, both with cables in their mouths as they shuffled the cards and redistributed the poker chips to start the game over again. It would be the third new game that evening because Neito kept going all in and losing. They weren't playing with anything at stake, so they would just restart whenever that would happen.
It was nice how everyone just excepted everyone else just as they were. No one was annoyed with Neito for going all in against Denki, even though it didn't work out the last two times. No one was annoyed with Hitoshi for using his quirk to blatantly cheat. No one was annoyed that Denki kept winning, and no one got bored and decided to stop playing with Denki; Denki didn't feel the need to dumb down his playing to let the others win to keep them interested. He possibility of doing so didn't even cross his mind when it came to those two.
Hitoshi paled, then, but the two competing to see who had the better shuffling technique, cords still in their mouths as they focused, didn't notice.
"Uh, Denks?" Hitoshi whispered. "What's this?"
He turned the phone around toward Denki who lit up.
Pulling the charger out of his mouth, Denki answered, "that's one of the dances that was trending last month! I'm surprised that you haven't seen it, yet! It was all over the place!"
Neito peeked over at the screen that played the draft on loop, Hitoshi looking more and more conflicted as he watched it.
"I've seen that one before!" Neito chirped. He turned to look back at his cards to get his shuffling grip right when he immediately turned back and took the phone from Hitoshi's hand, looking at the video closer, and finally understanding what had Hitoshi looking so concerned.
"What's wrong?" Denki asked now, very aware that the mood had turned down. "Is there some kind of controversy over the song or dance that I don't know about? Should I delete it?"
"You should delete it," Hitoshi insisted.
Neito nodded in eager agreement, pressing the phone back into Denki's hands.
"It was recorded on one of the days that you spent with the League of Villains," Neito explained before Denki could ask why.
Denki opened his mouth to respond, but Hitoshi beat him to it. "And that's not a filter that's creating six of you on the screen."