"It's nothing harmful or painful or deadly or anything," Tetsutetsu reassured as they ran toward the dorm building. "We just can't handle it anymore. Tsunotori was being torn to shreds when I started over here, and everyone else has already been run through. We didn't know what else to do… Monoma's going to murder us all when this quirk wears off, but we're desperate, man!"

"Hitoshi is still out on internship?" Denki asked to confirm, pretty sure that he had just started a few hours earlier and would be out until either very late that night or even early morning the next day.

"Yeah, or we wouldn't have come to get you," Tetsutetsu informed.

No, but Hitoshi would have, Denki was sure. He felt the twinge of exclusion that came with only being a boyfriend to two literal soulmates who were destined for one another. He brushed it aside, knowing that the only ones who mattered in that regard were the soulmates themselves, and they had never treated him differently from each other. He was fully informed about major events at the same time the other soulmate was informed, and he was included in all of the dates. He had offered a few times to let them do their own thing, partly to be considerate of their already established relationship without him, and partly because he was terrified of annoying them and losing both the relationship and subsequently their friendship, but neither of them would have it. They had laughed at the idea, and reminded Denki that he was equal in this mishmash of a relationship they had all found themselves in. That was all that mattered, so Denki brushed off the small comments made by others who assumed otherwise.

Tsunotori had abandoned the small study room in tears as soon as Denki had entered. He paused briefly to watch her go before turning toward Neito, who sat on the floor in the middle of the room, completely ignoring the chairs, tables, desks, and couches in favor of sulking on the carpet. He looked numb, emotionless; it was strange to see a lack of emotion on a face that gave away every little thing that he was feeling at any given moment.

If his face could give anything away, it would show that he was terrified. Neito tried to clamp his mouth shut and force his brain to just shut down or do something other than tear Denki apart with words born from his observations of him—of which he had plenty, too many that could be turned into weapons that could leave permanent scars.

He had already torn into Tetsutetsu, conveying through insults that it was absolutely the worst possible idea to get Denki or Hitoshi involved and that he would just have to ride it out without them ever even finding out about it. However, Neito wasn't so sure if calling Tetsutetsu a dumb-fuck metal=head who pushes his problems off onto others truly got his message across.

Tetsutetsu hovered in the doorway to explain. "It happened earlier today during a rescue mission. It was an accidental thing that was started by a civilian, but… it's not a truth-telling quirk or anything. He's really going to kills us," Tetsutetsu repeated, hesitating and thinking about trying to get Denki to go back and they would find some way to manage. One look at Denki's determined face, and he knew that was not going to happen short of the whole Class 2-B dragging him forcefully back to his own dorm building, and maybe not even then. He started something that he couldn't unstart.

Tetsutetsu sighed in resignation and acceptance that his demise was near, and continued, "it's a relationship destroyer, though. We tried putting him with classmates that he doesn't spend much time with, but he's so observant that… well, the quirk makes him say really mean things. Again, it's not a truth quirk—it's not really what he thinks or anything he would say otherwise. Knowing that, we've all had our turns, thinking that we could handle it, and none of us could. We can't leave him alone because that quirk could turn around on himself—"

"I can handle it."

Denki had heard enough. Neito needed someone, he couldn't be alone, and Hitoshi was currently unreachable. He was definitely the one for the job. Besides, what could Neito ever say that would hurt Denki?

"Just like you handled your jealousy by inserting yourself into my relationship?" Neito asked from his spot in the center of the room, his face not changing.

Oh. That's what he could say.

Tetsutetsu and Denki both turned to look at Neito in shock, and Tetsutetsu was about ready to send Denki away and just try sticking earplugs in and trying to ignore any sounds that did get through. But, to Tetsutetsu's surprise, Denki laughed and stepped closer, plopping himself down on the floor in front of Neito and facing him head-on.

"The insults seem to come at a slower rate if you're not in his line of sight," Tetsutetsu offered, trying to help the situation in any way he could. Denki really was doing all of them a solid favor, here.

"I'm fine," Denki waved off, not even bothering to turn to look as he spoke to Tetsutetsu, having eyes only for Neito. No different than any other day, Tetsutetsu decided.

Yep, Neito was going to kill all of them once this quirk business was over. Tetsutetsu would have bet money on it.

"Exactly like that," Denki answered in response to Neito's first of many insults as Tetsutetsu closed the door, leaving the two alone and hoping that he didn't just destroy a good thing by getting Denki involved instead of just trying to handle Neito on his own. "I couldn't resist you two then, and I can't resist being here with you now. Being with you two is my favorite thing in the world."

"I thought your favorite thing in the world was hanging out with villains," Neito bit back. "So much for becoming a hero, huh?"

"You got me there," Denki agreed with a small smile and nod. "But I believe you when you say that this could change the whole hero society around to be more beneficial for everyone if everything goes well."

"You also believed that you were tutoring me when I ask you for help with your worst subjects, when really I just pitied how stupid you were. You've believed lies in the past, and it's no different now." Neito's voice was quick and sharp, but his face stayed flat. At that new insult, Neito's eyes shifted down and away, which Denki immediately recognized as shame.

Neito never wanted Denki to know that he was faking not knowing material when he asked for Denki's help. Neito got extra practice, extra time with Denki, and the pleasure of seeing Denki's face light up when he would tell him what grade he got on the exam. Was all of that over now? Neito felt intense self-hatred in that moment, figuring that the whole relationship could come crashing down, not just the time spent with Denki while studying. He might ruin the whole thing, but at least he could offer that Hitoshi and Denki could still be together, even if Denki no longer wanted to be with Neito, too.

Denki realized that Neito was fully aware of the mean-spirited things he was saying, but he couldn't stop himself. It was a nasty quirk indeed, not affecting his mind, but the impulse of what comes out of his mouth. His mind was still the same, suffering at the things that his mouth was putting out into the world against his will. Denki knew that Neito was suffering more than he could ever try to hurt Denki with his words.

"I knew from the beginning," Denki admitted quietly to Neito's surprise, eyes tearing up at the thought of what Neito was going through. They were in for quite a rough ride, all right. "But you were my hero that day on Unit Beta, and I wanted you to keep being my hero every day after that. I always felt so safe when I knew I had you there to rely on, whether it be for math or stealing me back from the League of Villains, you always come through for me."

"You're so pathetic," Neito responded without hesitation. "Why else would you forgive me so easily after I said those things to you during our first training exercise together?"

Denki reached out as the first tears fell from Neito's eyes, pulling his chin up to get Neito to meet his own gaze for the first time since he entered the room. Denki could see the pain in Neito's eyes as he noticed Denki's own tears.

Denki smiled through those tears like they weren't even there when he answered, "there was nothing to forgive." It would be the same answer every time Neito would bring it up because it was the truth. "Just like there's going to be nothing to forgive after this, either. I hope you remember that later."

"You're so pathetic that it's almost sad. Self-depreciation at its finest, really." Neito would have cringed at his own self-projection if the quirk hadn't forced him to continue. "And if you think you deserve this, you'd be right. Why else would you sit here as I insult you now?"

Denki smiled a watery smile. "You know the answer to that, Nei!" He laughed a watery laugh. "It's because I love you."

Neito reached up to brush away Denki's tears, even as his own continued to fall. His heart breaking in the best of ways when Denki smiled at him and said, "there's nothing you could do to change that."

"What if—"

"Nothing," Denki insisted. "What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let a little quirk mishap get in our way?"

Hitoshi entered the room then, breathing heavily, heart dropping when he saw both of his boyfriends on the floor in tears. "I got here as quick as I could! How bad is it?"

Denki opened his mouth to answer, but Neito beat him to it.

"You sure rushed to Denki's side as fast as you could," Neito sneered. "It's fine, though. I understand completely because, just like you, I love Denki more than my own soulmate."

Hitoshi's shocked face slowly morphed into a grin as he closed the door behind him and joined the two blondes, shedding the capture weapon and extra layers that kept him warm as the weather cooled as he sunk down onto the floor.

"No, it's okay, though, because I love Denki more than I love myself, too," Hitoshi reasoned with a laugh and casual shrug.

Hitoshi had had the same thought Denki had, then, because of course he did. Agree with everything Neito said instead of starting an argument. Turn it into lighthearted teasing, and hope that that will be enough to not let Neito sink too far down in the aftermath. Denki thanked Neito in his mind for dragging them both to an improv class where every answer had to start with "yes, and—" because they might not have had this cohesive combined effort otherwise.

Denki nodded, "that tracks. I'm very lovable."

"Too lovable if even the villains switch to your side," Neito snapped before turning his attention back to Hitoshi. "You're so sad with your stupid little life story, aren't you? You surround yourself with a fake family because your real one didn't think you were worth sticking around for and a fake soulmate because you know you're not good enough for your real one. You're never going to be good enough."

"Oh really?" Hitoshi mused, eyes lighting up with the ultimate amusement even as Neito's expressed that he was absolutely horrified at the lies leaving his mouth. "Well, you have to give me credit for choosing so well. Both my 'fake family' and my 'fake soulmate' are amazing, just like my real soulmate."

"That's why you and Denki need each other in this relationship," Neito added, despite his straining against the quirk, to just make it stop before he said something he couldn't come back from, if he hadn't done so already. "Neither of you will ever reach your full potential. Compared to me, who can have any quirk I want, I don't blame you. Neither of you on your own would ever be enough to keep me interested for long because you're so one-dimensional, so you're trying to keep me around by allowing me to have both of you. With Denki's way of 'solving' math problems, I can see why he would think it would work."

"Thanks to you, I've gotten a lot better with math. It might be correct this time," Denki supplied with a nonchalant shrug.

Hitoshi nodded. "I can feel it. You're totally right this time! All three of us are going to be together forever!"

"Guys! This is serious!" Neito insisted, and Denki smiled as he saw the emotions bloom on Neito's face. "What are you smiling for?!" Neito asked incredulously. "I'm insulting you and saying unforgivable things and you're just looking at me like—like—"

"Like we love you," Hitoshi supplied. "Nothing you do or say could ever be unforgivable."

"Not even forgivable because there's no forgiveness needed!" Denki chirped.

"Why the fuck are you both so good to me?!" Neito demanded, and finally, something had changed. He had started to move his hands erratically, like he always did when he was trying to get a point across, to physically put emphasis on certain words when vocal stress just wasn't enough. "You both make me love you so much that I'm terrified of losing this crazy thing that we have going for us. Even after all of this, you aren't calling it quits?"

"There's nothing that you could say or do that would change the way I feel about you," Denki insisted, swearing he would never get tired of saying that just to see the wonderous, loving expression come across Neito's face, even though it only lasted a moment before the self-destructive confusion and doubt replaced it.

"You're stuck with me. Fate said so," Hitoshi lilted. Then, "did you hear an insult in there?" Hitoshi asked Denki, "because I didn't."

After multiple unneeded apologies to everyone who had the displeasure of interacting with Neito during his time under the quirk, he locked himself away in his room, not allowing even Denki or Hitoshi inside, stating that he needed some time to himself.

The boys knew that time to himself was probably the last thing he needed, but it was what he asked for, so they reassured him that he had done nothing wrong and that they were here when he wanted company.

"Do you want to go for a walk around campus?" Denki asked Hitoshi. "I want to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, of course," Hitoshi answered without hesitation.

With one last wayward glance toward Neito's closed dorm door, the only thing that turned the trio into two and one, the boys turned around away and started downstairs.

Once outside, they had walked for a few minutes in peaceful silence under the lamps that lined the walkways that webbed all across UA. Hitoshi let his mind wander as he watched their shifting shadows against the pavement, not rushing Denki with whatever was on his mind that he wanted to talk to him about.

After taking a deep breath, Denki forced out the words that he had been repeating different variations of in his mind since they left Class 2-B's dorm building, settling on the simple "I just wanted to thank you."

"Thank me? For what?" Hitoshi asked, slowing down his walking speed to a lazy stroll.

Denki unconsciously followed suit and slowed down, too, so tuned in to Hitoshi that it was natural, maybe even instinctual.

"You never make me feel like I'm the odd one out," Denki answered, hoping that Hitoshi would understand so he wouldn't have to explain further.

Hitoshi understood, and his heart dropped at the unspoken implication.

"Someone does make you feel like that, though?" Hitoshi asked, concern written across his face.

"They don't matter," Denki said simply. "They aren't involved in this relationship, so they don't know, and their comments and opinions don't matter."

"They matter to me," Hitoshi countered gently. "You shouldn't have to thank me for something that was so obvious and right to Neito and me. Effortless, even." Yeah, that was the term he was searching for. "It was effortless to integrate you into our relationship, and it feels almost like it has always been that way, or that it should've at least. The fact that anyone says something so insensitive as to make you think you don't fully belong with us is—is—it's frustrating."

"I know," Denki placated. "I just wanted to let you know that I never feel that way when I'm with you guys, just in case you hear things like that, too, someday. It really meant a lot to me that you didn't kick me out when you got there to help with Neito. You didn't dismiss me and only let me see you both on good days. I want to be there with you two through it all, and I'm just so relieved that we all seem to be on the same page about that."

Hitoshi snorted then, immediately lightening the mood in a way that comes natural to him. "You think I was going to let you off the hook? If I was going to get verbally ripped to pieces, you sure as hell weren't getting a free pass!"

Denki laughed. Denki's laugh was contagious, it always was, so Hitoshi laughed, too.

"We're going to have to get him back on track," Hitoshi instigated, already imagining how down Neito would be for the next few days.

"If I was in Neito's position right now, I would feel horrible, too," Denki empathized. "From being on this side, I know that there's nothing for him to feel guilty about, but even then…"

"Yeah," Hitoshi agreed with a firm nod. "Same. I'm sure he knows that we mean it when we say that it was nothing, but it's still going to be rough."

Denki took a deep breath, then. "So, I wanted to bring this all up now because I don't know if we should go at this together like we do for everything else." When Hitoshi opened his mouth to respond, Denki was quick to interject, "hear me out!" When Hitoshi nodded, Denki continued his thoughts piecing together as he spoke, "he's going to be really upset. At himself, at the civilian whose quirk did that to him, at Tetsutetsu for coming to get me and notifying you, and maybe even us for responding and seeing him like that."

"You think he might feel ganged up on by us?" Hitoshi asked, tilting his head and averting his gaze as he thought about the different options they had.

"Maybe not," Denki answered with a shrug. "But he said a lot of things that would probably be very hurtful coming from anyone else under different circumstances, so it might be easier for him to address the things he said to each of us separately."

Hitoshi started to nod slowly, but soon his nodding picked up pace as he grew more confident with Denki's plan of action.

"Whoever can get him alone and stationary enough to talk to him first goes first," Hitoshi stipulated.

"Let the best boyfriend win," Denki challenged cheekily, putting his hand out for Hitoshi to shake.

Hitoshi reached out and shook Denki's hand with a smile that was widening by the second, matching the mischievous energy of his boyfriend. If there ever existed a competition where Hitoshi wanted to win so badly while also simultaneously being just as happy if he lost, it was this one. It would be a win-win-win, nothing to lose, so they were both going to give it everything they had.

It only occurred to Hitoshi as he was jogging back to the rendezvous point to meet back up with Eraserhead for the rest of his internship night that Denki had something that he didn't: contact with the League of Villains. If Neito was as slippery as he predicted he would be, Hitoshi was sure that that specific resource would be invaluable to help Denki get what he wants. Hitoshi grinned to himself as he jogged, eyes crinkling with the force of the smile as he sang his TikTok song of choice for the week under his breath to the beat of his footfalls.