A/N: I don't do the character bashing thing. The more I write characters, the more I love them. For instance, I love Toga more and more every time I write her. Time to test this theory with a character that barely anyone likes… (cosplayers on TikTok might change your mind, though. Just FYI!)
If the students weren't already looking in the trio's direction due to their loud nature and small celebration of them all passing their evaluations, they were when Mineta made his loud exclamation.
"Oh, shit," Mineta repeated once again when he turned to see that Hitoshi definitely saw Denki just lay one on his soulmate.
Hitoshi lazily pulled himself to standing.
Rushing over to plant himself between Hitoshi and the blondes, Mineta shouted "run away!" at Denki, pulling two purple, sticky balls from the top of his head as he passed.
"Mineta… buddy…" Hitoshi drawled, eyes flashing with what Mineta mistook as malice that Neito and Denki knew was amusement in the purest form.
Hitoshi took a relaxed step forward, but his ease put Mineta on the verge of panic. Mineta gulped and hunkered down, folding in on himself, but to his credit, he held his ground.
"Don't you know that those with purple hair have to stick together?" Hitoshi asked playfully, taking another step forward and not letting his face give anything away.
"Now, Shinsou," Mineta tried to reason, "you know I'd be on your side for anything else, but there's no reason to go after Kaminari for some stupid mistake, right?"
Hitoshi was surprised that he got an answer so easily out of Mineta after asking him a direct question, not that he had his quirk active and ready to go, but still. He wondered if having Denki, Neito, and even Bakugou answering his questions on a regular basis had softened others to him, or maybe Mineta didn't even notice what a huge mistake he might have been making.
Mineta, a little surprised that he still had control over himself after answering Hitoshi, dared a glance backwards to gauge how far Denki had managed to get and blanched when he saw that Denki was still standing there, not trying to run away at all. After the total self-sacrifice that included answering a direct question from Hitoshi to act as the ultimate distraction? The audacity!
Denki just shrugged at him, trying very hard to keep his face schooled, and stated, "It wasn't a mistake. I just have to face the consequences of my actions this time, dude."
"I'm sacrificing myself for nothing?!" Mineta whined, voicing his thoughts aloud and stomping his foot.
Realizing that his back was to the enemy, he quickly whirled around, relieved to find that Hitoshi hadn't snuck up on him.
"Not for nothing! You look so cool and brave right now!" Denki encouraged from behind him.
"Literally not helping," Mineta muttered under his breath before pausing, considering. "You seriously think so?"
"Yeah, dude! I totally trust you to have my back!" Denki quipped. "In fact, maybe you could use your quirk to stick us all together so then they have to let me join Class 2-B."
Mineta was so stunned by the unexpected answer that he didn't try to stop Denki as he skirted around him and straight to his demise.
Standing in front of Hitoshi, Denki looked up at him through his lashes and whispered an apology. The quick switch from the teasing and excitable tone Denki had just been using to the demure and quiet behavior he took on just then threatened to give Hitoshi whiplash.
"What are you sorry for?" Hitoshi asked.
Anyone within earshot might think he was degrading Denki, having him admit out loud that he had kissed his soulmate, but Hitoshi really didn't know what Denki was apologizing so sincerely for when he hadn't done anything wrong.
"Exposing us like this. We never even talked about going public, and I kind of took that choice away without discussing it with you guys. It was an accident, and—"
"Denks, we literally couldn't care less. We were ready to scream it from the rooftops when you said that you'd go on a date with us, and again when we finally got to kiss you. We're going at your pace," Hitoshi insisted.
"Well," Denki said with a definitive nod, "this is my pace," Denki declared, and that was all the warning that Hitoshi got.
The class was expecting a huge argument, and maybe even for Hitoshi to punch Denki across the face. They figured that it was the calm before the storm, and a teenage lovers' quarrel would break out with Neito screaming, Denki pleading, and Hitoshi throwing punches.
What no one expected was for Denki to grab Hitoshi's face, hands quickly threading in his wild, purple hair at the back of his head, and pulling him in to share a kiss of their own.
Some were just plain confused, and others, mostly those in Class 2-A, figured that Denki was just pulling out all the stops before Hitoshi literally murdered him right there on the training field. They were used to Denki gushing about the soulmates, and some of them had even heard Denki say that he loved them.
When Neito wandered over at a leisurely pace to join them, Denki whipped his head around to look at Mineta once again, and yelled, "so what do you say, Mineta? Stick us all together so we have to be in the same class?"
Aizawa shouted from the doorway to one of the training examination towers, "not a chance, problem child!"
"Worth a shot!" Denki shouted back, full of giddy happiness that always seemed to radiate from him whenever he was around the soulmates. Then, more quietly, so Aizawa wouldn't hear, "maybe Sero's tape?"
"Tsuburaba's Air Prison?" Neito offered to the outlandish conversation.
"Oh!" Hitoshi exclaimed, eyes widening at an idea. "If he could get it into a spherical shape, we could travel around like hamsters in a huge ball."
At the same time Denki exclaimed, "that is the best idea I ever heard of!" Neito muttered, "that is the worst idea I ever heard of."
The group then delved into the logistics of what it would be like to be trapped together in a huge hamster ball. Denki admitted that it would suck having no access to his notes or even a desk, and that it would be hard to focus with his boyfriends literally right there. Neito, in turn, admitted that it would be hard for anyone to separate them, and it would be fun if not practical. He also mentioned that it would be super easy to cheat off of Denki if they were all trapped together like that, which had Denki snorting at the force of the unexpected laugh that escaped him. Hitoshi admitted that it might not be the best idea he had ever come up with, but it was definitely in the top five.
On the trek back to the classrooms, Denki gasped, causing Neito and Hitoshi to turn toward him immediately.
"What if we get Todoroki to make a giant ice ramp that leads down into a lake, and we took the giant hamster ball down the ramp?!"
The trio then spent the rest of the trek back across the field talking about all of the injuries that they would sustain from bumping into each other, and if the fun and experience would be worth it anyway. Consensus was yes, it would be worth it.
The rumor of the kisses transferred around from group to group for those not lucky enough to witness it themselves due to their examinations coming after, and the boyfriends' classmates trailed behind them as they all traversed back to the main academic building, looking at them incredulously and trying to figure out if this was some kind of elaborate prank.
The teachers never saw the two classes together being so quiet. Instead of being competitive over the smallest of things, or sharing about new moves they had developed, they were all following the trio in stunned and almost suspenseful silence.
Class 2-A had heard all about how Denki fancied the soulmates (Denki was shameless about his feelings toward the soulmates, and sometimes wondered how not everyone felt that way about the soulmates), but they never imagined anything would come out of it. Kendou knew that Neito liked Denki but had no inkling of Denki's returned feelings. The rest of Class 2-B had no idea what was going on, thinking that Neito and Denki must hate each other after the few interactions that they've witnessed. Some of them secretly wondered if Hitoshi was brainwashing both of the blondes to have them both to himself, but all of the ones who thought that were wise enough to keep that thought to themselves. They all decided to keep a lot of initial thoughts to themselves.
Not Bakugou, though. "Get a room, you love-sick bastards!"
The effect was immediate, the majority of the tension relaxing away from the students as the elephant in the room was properly addressed.
"We're trying," Neito snapped back without hesitation, lip curled up in a snarl.
Those who didn't know better flinched, expecting a fight to break out between the two. Denki, Hitoshi, and even Kirishima knew that that was just the way the two communicated.
"The Class 2-B classroom to be exact!" Denki added. "Hey, Sero!" he yelled, turning to walk backwards to face the rest of their classmates who had kept their distance just in case the world was about to implode with the unlikely trio at the center, raising his hand to get Sero's attention as if all of the attention wasn't already on him anyway. "Got any extra tape? We want to test a theory!"
"No," Aizawa drawled, somehow sounding both loud and lazy from behind the group.
Exacerbated, and secretly completely pleased that Hitoshi was blessed with a soulmate and a boyfriend who were completely in sync and infatuated with him, and equally worried that adding a boyfriend into the mix of a soulmate connection might end in disaster. The only way for Hitoshi to learn was to experience, Aizawa reminded himself often, whenever he felt like warning Hitoshi to guard his heart. And who knew? Maybe it would all work out after all. Stranger things have happened.
Later that evening, Denki whipped through the common room of his dorm building, trying to get by unnoticed.
"Hey, Kaminari! Want to join our study group for the history exam tomorrow?" Midoriya chirped from his spot at the coffee table, textbooks and notes littering the area around himself, Uraraka, Iida, and Tsu.
Midoriya jumped to attention when he saw the tears streaking down Denki's face when he turned to face him. Denki shook his head and waved him off.
"I'll check on you later!" Midoriya yelled the promise after him as Denki ran to the stairway, desperate to get to the third floor as quickly as possible.
Midoriya settled back down again after one last glance at the door that led to the stairwell, pushing down his urge to find out that very moment what was going on.
"I knew things with the soulmates wouldn't last," Uraraka said quietly, a sadness to her tone. She wasn't happy about being right, not this time. "Poly relationships are hard, even when they're fated. Poly relationships going directly against fate—well, it would take a miracle to work out."
"Let's hope our friend gets his miracle, then," Tsu nodded, ready to get back to studying.
"And if not, let's help him heal," Iida added.
And that was that. The group got back to studying.
Hitoshi and Neito were coming down the stairwell in the Class 2-A dorm building, having just finished up some quirk training and analysis with Yaoyorozu. Neito was getting a lot better at making more complex things, and Yaoyorozu was benefiting from relearning the basics from her more advanced level, so much so that even her more complex creations were happening faster after every training session with Neito. Yaoyorozu also found being under Hitoshi's quirk strangely meditative. He got to practice on someone new, and she got to destress before the history exam the next day. Win-win-win. Or was it win-win-win-win?
Hitoshi and Neito were blindsided as they were almost barreled over by none other than their boyfriend as they made their way to the third-floor landing in the stair well.
"Oh, hey! We were just—what's wrong?" Neito asked, reaching for Denki.
Denki gave him a look that broke his heart before darting through the door, into the hallway that led to his dorm room. Denki looked scared, terrified, and heartbroken. Helpless, hopeless, and panicky. It wasn't a look that suited Denki's face, putting stress and lines in all the wrong places.
Hitoshi and Neito didn't hesitate to follow Denki. Hitoshi blocked the door from closing when Denki tried to slam it on them, and Hitoshi and Neito slipped through into the room before closing the door firmly behind them, trapping the three of them in the room.
The electric blonde was a trapped bird, so desperate for freedom that he crashed into the bars that confined him with no regard for how it might damage his wings.
Hitoshi blocked the door, leaning firmly against it, arms outstretched to catch Denki if he happened to get within reach.
Neito snagged Denki as he tried to run past, pulling him into his lap, and squeezing him tightly, collapsing on the floor in a heap.
"Copy my breathing," Neito demanded. "It's going to be fine. You're fine. You're okay. You're among friends," he chanted rhythmically. "Only friends here. You're fine. You're okay. You're safe. No one here is against you. We're all on your side. You're fine. You're safe. I'll let you go, but you have to calm down first. You need a clear head. You understand?"
Denki stopped his struggling, panted from his effort, and buried his face against Neito's shoulder before releasing pent-up sobs that were so desperately being held back until that moment.
The figure falling apart in Neito's arms tensed when the door jiggled, held closed only by Hitoshi's body that was still tensed against it.
"Oh! You guys in there? I have the worst timing, I swear."
The blonde head lifted off of Neito's shoulder to look past Hitoshi at the door, his eyes locking on the door at the sound of the familiar voice, tears still overflowing.
After a considering look into the eyes of the blonde boy of whom he loved, Neito nodded at Hitoshi, "let him in."