A/N: On the adventures of being a lifeguard… I told these two kids to not flip each other over on the tubes in the lazy river. It's a shallow river, and I did not feel like pulling a paralyzed nine-year-old out of the river that day. This kid gave me the fucking Nazi salute the whole way around the river until he could not see me anymore (it was a good bit of river, too, around a bend, even, that he still had a visual on me). The dedication. The gusto. The knowledge of the Holocaust at nine-years-old. At least they did what I said and stopped trying to inadvertently sever each other's spines. I call that a win!
Denki was sore and exhausted. He wasn't surprised that he ended up chasing an impossibly fast Hawks all weekend during his first intern shift; Tokoyami had warned him, after all. He had no reason to complain; he knew what he signed up for. Still, he hissed in pain as he lowered himself gently onto his bed. The hot shower he had taken had provided little relief. He hoped that he didn't have practical training the next day.
Had Denki ever wished for textbook work over applied heroic lessons before? Well, there was a first for everything!
Still, he fell asleep with a smile on his face, knowing that he had gotten Hawks's attention.
When the building collapsed, another disaster caused by villain Full Throttle, Denki was already close by, so he didn't miss all the action by running all over the prefecture, trying to catch up to Hawks.
It was actually Tokoyami who passed on the message that his group needed help. It had seemed that Tokoyami and Denki had essentially switched internships. Denki was spending his days chasing after Hawks, and Tokoyami took to the skies to be the birds eye view for Thirteen and their rescue teams.
Tokoyami had shared with Denki that now he could fly, he wanted to figure out all of the ways that he could use this to better himself as a hero. It seemed that surveillance for rescue missions was first on his list. He just so happened to see Hawks flying nearby right before the building went down, so he offered to request his assistance, and Thirteen readily agreed. It was much safer to send in Hawks's feathers than actual rescuers after all. The less risk, the better they could serve those who needed help.
Denki was a little put out by the fact that he wouldn't be adventuring down dusty, crumbling hallways again, but then he remembered that he only got out unharmed because of the goodwill of a villain. He figured that his boyfriends might revive him just to kill him again if he took such a risk when there was a safer alternative.
As he was walking around the perimeter, looking for anything or anyone that might benefit from his attention, he found a gaggle of kids huddled off to the side, worried looks and tears running down their faces as two adults were trying, and failing spectacularly, to calm them down. When one of the kids bolted, Denki ran after him, waving off the frazzled adults to stay with the other children.
"Hi," Denki greeted when he saw the kid around the corner, huddled against the wall in an alleyway.
The kid startled, backing away with his hands held up, his face paling.
"Woah, it's okay," Denki reassured in a gentle voice, hands up in a placating manner as he stopped his advance. "I'm Chargebolt. I'm a hero student who is interning with Pro Hero Hawks."
"Hawks?" the kid asked, face gaining color again.
"Yeah. You saw his feathers, didn't you?" Denki asked, trying to gauge if he believed him or if he needed more convincing. When the kid nodded, Denki laughed to ease the tension and said, "I couldn't believe when the number two hero wanted me to intern with him. Pretty crazy, huh?"
"You must be good," the boy commented, starting to calm down, unknowingly copying Denki's slower and deeper breathing pattern. "To be recruited by Hawks."
"Yeah, I must be," Denki said, nodding, fostering the confidence the kid would have in Denki. "Hey, you're a big, brave kid, right? You're not one of those… baby type kids, are you?"
The kid sneered. "Do I look like a baby kid to you?!"
Denki smiled. The tears were already drying on the kid's face without any more rushing to replace them.
"No, of course not," Denki placated. "But I needed to make sure before I shared any top secret, confidential information."
"Top secret?" the boy repeated, inching closer and lowering his voice. "You can tell me."
"Only the bravest kids can handle it," Denki warned. "Otherwise, you could get all of the other kids all upset and whining."
"I can handle it!" the boy insisted, voice still quiet, but stomping his foot with his determination to hear what Denki had to say.
"The building collapsed because of a villain attack," Denki informed him, voice low.
The boy moved closer and leaned it to hear better. His breath caught in his throat for just a moment before steadying out again.
"But with the number two hero on the case…" Denki trailed off.
"Everything's going to be fine," the kid finished.
Denki beamed at him and ruffled his hair, glad that the kid came up with it on his own, so it felt like his own idea instead of something fed to him. Manipulative? Maybe a little, but there was no use in the kids worrying about something that they had no control over.
"This is Chargebolt," the kid introduced to the other children and the two adults as they wandered near the group. "He's going to be a top hero! And he needs our help!"
The kids listened intently as Denki told them that they needed to keep track of every single person that came out of the three exits that were within sight of the group.
"I need hair color and length, shoe type and color, and whether they are wearing glasses or not," Denki instructed. "It's a lot to keep track of and remember, but I'm sure with all of you working together, you can do it."
Denki sent a wink in the adults' direction, who glanced at him gratefully before encouraging the kids to get started as someone exited, covered in dust and coughing, but essentially unharmed.
Hawks had heard of what Denki had done and pulled him aside. Denki had braced himself to be reprimanded, but Hawks had praised his good idea. The kids were being cared for in the daycare portion of the building, the majority of them having parents that worked in the building. Giving them a task to focus on, given to them by an up-and-coming hero no less, had redirected their attention and greatly eased the job of the daycare employees that were at a loss on how to handle something so traumatic as it was unfolding before their eyes.
"Is Shigaraki joining soon?" Denki asked Dabi, adjusting his headset to sit more comfortably over his ears as he entered the game, his character spawning next to Fri3ndlyFir3.
"Not today," Dabi answered, immediately charging his character forward as soon as Denki was situated. "A lot has been happening lately, so he's dealing with some fallout right now," Dabi informed vaguely.
"What has—?" Denki started.
"I heard what you did," Dabi stated suddenly through Denki's headset as they maneuvered through the gamescape. "With the kids at the collapse."
Dabi was merciless, killing everything that moved without hesitation, and moving forward to do it all again.
"More villains spying on me and reporting back to you?" Denki asked lightly.
"Something like that," Dabi admitted in a mutter. "That was a lot for you to put on a kid."
"Oh. You think?" Denki asked, second-guessing if he had actually done the right thing or not.
It worked out well because, like before, the only casualty was the direct victim of Full Throttle. If any of the kids had lost parents during the collapse, Denki could have ruined their view on heroes altogether.
"Shit. I didn't mean it like that, Denks," Dabi offered. Denki could hear the frustration in his voice. "That wasn't fair of me. It's not like it's not a lot to be put on you, either. You're still just a kid who shouldn't have to make this big decisions and face these dangers."
"Oh," Denki started, surprised at the direction of the conversation. "It's no big deal, really. I feel like I was made for this."
"No offence, Denki, but you also feel like you were made to be with Hitoshi and Neito, and look how that turned out." When Denki didn't respond, Dabi knew that he had royally messed up. "Shit, Denki. I didn't mean—I'm just going to go before I ruin anything else."
And with that, Dabi's character dissolved, leaving Denki's character alone on the screen. Denki's protests entered the empty line, not heard by anyone else as Dabi had already logged off.