As the seasons changed, Denki continued to go to school in the morning, practice overusing his quirk with Hawks in the afternoon, and spending time with his friends and boyfriends in the evening. Usually that time coincided with studying, though, so it wasn't as much fun as it could have been.
Denki tried to hide how tired he was, but the soulmates picked up on it easily. Not that it was hard to see, Denki guessed, seeing as how even Mineta had commented how run-down Denki seemed.
"You would be, too, if you had Hawks badgering you to overdo it with your quirk literally every day!" Denki said, sliding down into a lazy slouch on the common room's couch.
"Yeah," Mineta agreed. "I bet patrolling with the number two hero is stressful."
"That's the thing!" Denki complained. "We haven't been patrolling! Every afternoon, Hawks sits there and tells me to send out more electricity, and it's never enough."
Denki paused.
"But don't tell Neito I said that, okay? He'd want to talk to Hawks. I just want to talk to him," Denki mocked, pretending to be Neito. "It's not like I'm going to bury him alive for doing his job and trying to make you improve. He just needs to see that you're absolutely perfect just the way you are, and he just doesn't seem to understand that, so I'm going to force that through his thick skull with a sledge hammer."
Mineta laughed and nodded. "I can imagine him saying exactly that."
"Kaminari," Midoriya called across the classroom. "I'm studying for hero history tonight. Did you want to join me?"
"Absolutely!"
And even though Denki couldn't even speak when Midoriya brought up the League of Villains, he still shared all of his notes on them. Denki learned that Midoriya didn't have consistent contact like Denki did, and they only reached out to him sporadically.
"I'm kind of relieved, actually, but you don't seem to mind it." Midoriya didn't look up for verification, knowing that Denki couldn't give it. He knew if he assumed anything incorrectly, Hitoshi or Neito would send the message that corrected his thinking. It had been a few weeks since he had gotten anything wrong, though, now that he seemed to have a better understanding of the type of relationship Denki shared with the League of Villains.
Denki had been spending time playing games with Dabi and Shigaraki again. It seemed like things were heading in the right direction if their improved moods had any indication.
"Oh, hey!" Denki heard Dabi say through his headphones, but it was obvious he wasn't talking to him. Dabi continued, "I saw you on the news! You look great on television! I wonder how I would look…"
"You'd make it look more like a horror movie than the news," Denki offered.
Dabi barked out a laugh and moved his player on the screen as he replied, "I thought you said my scars look cool!"
"They do! Just in the really awesome girls-falling-in-love-with-the-handsome-killer kind of way."
"You know what? You have a point!"
"I always do!"
Training with Hawks was exhausting as usual.
"Higher!" Hawks sang.
Denki shot him a glare, but then he closed his eyes and the electricity around him got brighter and crackled louder at his efforts. When Denki ran out of steam and the electricity flickered out, he looked over to Hawks for feedback.
"You're doing good," Hawks complimented to Denki's surprise. "Before you go," Hawks started as Denki started packing up. "I wanted to let you know that I'll be putting in a bid for your internship again."
"Really?" Denki asked, giving Hawks his full attention. "You aren't bored watching me try and fail at something you're trying to get me to do?"
"You're not failing; you're getting closer. Progress is progress."
Now that was a familiar phrase. He heard it often enough from Neito and Hitoshi, but only because it was something they had all learned from Touya when they trained together as the QQQ. It was probably just a coincidence, but Denki wondered if Hawks might be the hero that the Commission sent to infiltrate the League, who also happened to be the same hero that was Dabi's soulmate, and the one that Shigaraki had taken an intense interest in.
"I really think I can take you to the next level if you give me another chance with you," Hawks tried, probably thinking that Denki was just going to say no without some more prompting. "Will you accept my internship for your third year at UA?"
Denki squinted at Hawks. He totally would, now that he had his suspicions, but he wasn't going to make it too easy on him.
"The year-long internship that lasts my whole last year of UA?" Denki clarified.
Hawks nodded, and Denki wondered if the League asked him to keep Denki under his literal and metaphorical wing throughout the rest of his time at UA.
"The one that is the most important for my future as a Pro Hero?" Denki asked, teasing. "After we've done nothing but sit on this mountain and test my endurance?"
Hawks winced and nodded. Denki nodded back at him.
"Yeah, okay."
Hawks did a double take. "Seriously?"
"Yeah. Why not?" Denki shrugged with a lazy smile stretching across his face.
"You won't regret this, Chargebolt!" Hawks declared.
"You mean spending my whole last year with the number two hero? And you're acting like I'm the one doing you a favor?" Denki laughed and went on his way to see his boyfriends.
During the first week of the third year, the lists and flyers were handed out for internships once again. Class 3-A and Class 3-B pushed a bunch of tables together at lunch to pour over their options together, despite the disapproving looks from Lunch Rush. Conversations weaved around and through the tables, naturally shifting to include others in the different discussions around them.
"I'm thinking about interning under Mount Lady," Uraraka offered to the table. "I have better endurance with Zero Gravity now, so I'd be able to float up to her height whenever. Mineta, didn't you shadow her during your first year?"
"Yeah…" Mineta said, thinking back. "I did nothing but chores, but it'll probably be different for you seeing as we're so close to graduation. What kept me safe then would be dangerous for you now."
"I already interned with Gang Orca, so I want someone different to get as many different experiences as I can," Neito offered. "I think I might try out some rescue stuff. I'd get to experience more disasters, even if I don't get to chase the villains that caused them. Denki, do you recommend interning with Thirteen?"
"Yeah, of course. They're great!" Denki answered with a smile. "What about you, Hitoshi?"
"You make a great point about gaining different experiences," Hitoshi said, directed at Neito, "but I think I'm going to just stick with Aizawa. I still have so much to learn from him. What about you, Denks?"
"Same. I'm sticking with Hawks."
The people closest to Denki all paused their conversations and looked over at him.
"Hawks offered to host your internship again?" Tokoyami asked.
"Not just offered," Denki answered. "Requested."
"Why?!" Neito spat. "He just runs you into the ground! You've been exhausted this past year, and you're going to do it again just because he asked you to?"
"Who knows?" Denki chirped, not phased in the slightest at Neito's fiery spirit. "Maybe he's determined to teach me to fly!" Denki winked in Tokoyami's direction.
"I would not put it past him," Tokoyami offered deadpan.
"Whatever reason, Hawks asked for another year. And who could say no to interning under the number two hero in all of Japan?"
"I could!" Neito said without hesitation, slapping his hand down next to his lunch tray.
"Well, he didn't ask you!" Denki snarked back, sticking his tongue out in Neito's direction.
"I wish he had so I could tell him no fucking way! Wait! Do you want me to tell him no fucking way for you? I will!" Neito offered.
"No!" Denki laughed. "I'm seriously excited about continuing with him. I still have no idea what he's hoping for, but he's so determined. You both trusted me when I had little explanation to offer, and everything turned out amazing. I want to give Hawks the same chance that I got, especially because it really seems like he's trying to benefit me."
The next week, Aizawa's gaze lingered on Denki's internship selection form for just a second longer than everyone else's, but to his credit, he didn't question Denki's decision.
A week after that, Denki was slightly regretting his decision when Hawks demanded he raise his voltage higher once again. Denki knew he long surpassed the little wrist dial that only went up to 3 million volts, so he had no idea where his voltage levels were. Hawks didn't really seem to care about the numbers all that much. When Denki's vision flickered, Hawks would get excited and encourage him to keep going. What was he seeing that Denki wasn't?
Instead of getting angry and frustrated, Denki took more breaths, gathered more energy, and pushed it out to zap around his body.
"Yes!" Hawks screamed. "Perfect! You're amazing!"
The next day, Hawks demanded he do it all over again, but instead of the mountain, he took him to some abandoned city ruins. Denki figured it was to see if he could get that high in a different environment or if he was a one-trick pony who could only give Hawks what he wanted under specific circumstances.
Denki wasn't as calm as he was the day before, anxious that he might not live up to Hawks's expectations. He didn't even understand what he did to make Hawks so excited. He didn't understand what arbitrary line he crossed that Hawks considered it a success. He so badly wanted Hawks to just tell him what the end goal was.
That's how Hawks and Denki got into a screaming match on top of the skeleton of an abandoned skyscraper. It wasn't even the tallest one in the cityscape. Denki could see the tallest one towering over the rubble a few blocks away. That small detail made Denki even angrier.
"What?! I'm not good enough for the tallest building?! Huh?!"
"Just focus!" Hawks encouraged, speaking loudly to be heard over the cracks of lightning shooting off of Denki's body. "You're so close!"
"Tell me what you want, and I'll give it to you! Just tell—just tell me!"
"You're doing great!" Hawks diverted. "Just push as much power out as you possibly can!"
"Are you trying to kill me?! Just let me know so I can say my damn prayers! Are you going to write down my final words or will you commit them to memory?"
"I'll record them!" Hawks joked, but he did take out his phone and aim it in Denki's direction.
Denki didn't know if Hawks was actually recording or not, but he still yelled, "tell Aizawa that it's no big deal if he wants to adopt both Eri and Hitoshi! He can do that! I looked it up! It's allowed! Tell Yamada that his radio show rocks! Tell Neito and Hitoshi that I love them, and I hope they remember me fondly! Tell Sero that he still owes me, and until that debt is repaid, I'm going to haunt his ass! Tell—"
Hawks just nodded and continued to look amused throughout Denki's rant. But then he looked distracted, almost alarmed, as he looked past Denki, toward the tallest building.
Denki turned around just in time to see a cloaked figure toss a bundle over the edge, immediately retreating, not sticking around to see the thing fall. The thing—Denki recognized the pink frills of a baby blanket, and the bundle was very human-baby sized.
The lightning that Denki had been building flashed brightly in front of his eyes, and then he was free falling. But that pink bundle was right there. He reached out for it, and as soon as it was in his hands, his lightning pulsed in his vision again. He lied on the ground, staring up at the grey, cloudy sky. His face twitched when a raindrop landed on it. With the ringing in his ears, he didn't even hear Hawks yelling to him as he flew closer. He had just lifted his head to look down at the pink bundle tucked into his arms before everything went black.