Category: Friendship Fluff

Characters: Denki Kaminari, Mina Ashido

Denki's lips were drawn up in a cheerless pout as he lay sideways on his bed, repeatedly bouncing a ball against his opposite wall. With languid, practiced motions that were more muscle memory than actual attentive efforts, he flicked his wrist to lob the ball at the same spot on the wall he had been for the last hour. He watched with dull lidded eyes as the squishy rubber toy sailed across the width of the bedroom, struck the smooth painted surface, dove down at a forty-five-degree angle to bounce once on the polished wooden floor strewn with dirty socks and worn tee-shirts, then returned to his waiting hand. Shwip. Thunk. Thwock. Slap. The sounds echoed, just as depressing and lifeless as the ambiance.

"Stupid," he muttered aloud as he hurled the ball across the room once more. "Absolutely useless. What're you even here for, Denki?" The ball slammed into the wall as he subconsciously applied more force to the throw; in turn, its arc changed dramatically and crashed into his face instead of his hand. The ball ricocheted off his nose to collide with his desk lamp, causing it to spin wildly around and knock into the plastic cup holding his writing utensils. He cursed as he rolled onto his back with both his hands tenderly holding his bruised face, trying to ignore the added insult of his pencils and pens sliding over the desk and clattering to the floor. In the background of that and his groans, he could hear the rubber ball bouncing and then rolling over the wood to come to rest somewhere under his bed. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Denki usually tried to stay positive. He really did. That was his thing, after all, being the plucky optimist. He had drained his supply of sanguinity, however; the cistern was as dry as a desert, not a drop of confidence to be found. How could he be self-assured, after making an absolute fool of himself in the third round of the Sports Festival? It had taken literal seconds for Ibara Shiozaki to obliterate him in their one-on-one battle. Denki had never suffered such a grievous insult in his life. Of course, it wasn't her fault. It was all his stupid fault.

He pushed the balls of his palms into his eyes, trying to force the tears that were brimming there from leaking out. He failed miserably at that as well. The salty liquid rolled down his flushing cheeks to bead on his chin, then drip down and absorb into the collar of his tee-shirt.

"Ungh… Goddammit," he sniffed and rolled onto his belly to shove his face into his pillow. In the back of his mind, he thought suffocating himself was preferable to the uncomfortable twisting in his gut and the stinging in his eyes. Unfortunately, the fabric of his pillow was much too breathable. The world is against me. Without removing his face from the cushiony construct, he slipped halfway off the bed to grope blindly around for the rubber ball. Continuously chunking it relieved some of his nervous energy, at least.

He stopped when someone knocked loudly and insistently on his bedroom door.

"Denki!" Mina's high-pitched voice was still loud even bleeding through the wood. She rattled the doorknob experimentally to find it locked. "Denki, lemme in! Let's talk." What the hell is she doing here?! "Me and Eiji and Hanta are all here to hang out. Your mom called us!" Of course she did… he thought sourly. "Hanta's setting his PlayStation up downstairs! Come on! Let's go play!"

He removed his face from the plush pillow to shout, "Dun wanna!" He scowled when the pink-skinned girl jiggled the metal knob again, more persistently this time.

"Denki, come on, you've been moping in here all day. It doesn't do any good to sulk like this! Come onnnn! Let's talk it out!" Denki snorted derisively and threw himself on his side, facing the wall and pouting childishly. If he were in a healthy state of mind, he might appreciate her kind gesture; however, incensed as he was, he could only be petulantly exasperated by her insistence. She continued to bleat invitational prattle before his doorway, and he decided not to waste the energy on responding. If I ignore her, she'll go away. "Denki. Denki. Denki." She began relentlessly chanting his name and punctuating each shout with a rattle of the knob. Grumbling unflattering words under his breath, he wrapped the pillow around his ears. The breathable fabric didn't muffle nearly as much sound as he wished. "Denki. Denki. Denki. Denki. Denki. Denki." He curled up so that his knees touched his chest.

Go away, he snarled in his mind. I don't want to talk about how stupid I am. Leave me alone!

"Denki, you can't ignore me forever! DenkiDenkiDenkiDenkiDenkiDen-"

"Fuck! Okay, I'm coming, just cut it out! Sheesh," he yelled and threw himself off the bed. Somehow the angry motion was coordinated, and he landed on the flats of his bare feet. His stomps were purposeful and thundering as he stalked open to the door to unlock it and throw it open. "What?" he hissed at the smiling, bubbly girl, chest heaving and cheeks flushed with misdirected self-loathing.

"Denki, are you sad?"

"No! I'm not sad! Now, will you leave me alone?!" he huffed and went to shut the door in her face. In his heart of hearts, he knew that wasn't right, but Goddammit, the last thing he wanted to do was talk about it. Sometimes a man just needed to brood in peace. Her pink hand flew up to slam against the wood, demonstrating surprising strength as it stopped it in its tracks.

"I think you're lying."

"So what if I am?!" Instantaneously, his cheeks flushed a rose color. Dammit, that isn't what I wanted to say! Her face deadly serious and those black-and-gold eyes boring into the quivering depths of his soul, Mina leaned into the doorway. Denki gulped and subconsciously leaned back in the face of such unwavering resolve.

"I'm coming in," she asserted simply. Denki deflated with a whine and trudged away from the door to throw himself face-down back on the bed. His groan of acknowledgment was muffled by that annoyingly breathable fabric of his pillow. He heard the soft scrapes of her socks over his floor. They were followed by the gentle click of the door behind her. Denki hugged his pillow as he moped over how rapidly the situation spiraled out of control; it was just par for the course for him, he supposed. Silly, stupid Denki with no spine-

"Denki. You know that none of us think any less of you for what happened at the Sports Festival, right?" He visibly cringed as she heartlessly jabbed at the core of his depression. Snorting, he rolled on his side such that his back was to her. Morosely, he curled his thin body around the pillow.

"Yeah, right. You guys probably thought it was hilarious. She wiped the floor with me." His bottom lip wobbled pitifully just talking about it. It had been so humiliating. Finally, he thought he had his chance to show that he wasn't just the dumb guy that fried his brain and mumbled "Yayyyyy," but he had blown it in the most mortifying way. Kyoka was probably sniggering into her hand while she gossiped about him to Momo-

"Well, Hanta-"

"He was up against Todoroki, and he even got a good shot in," he countered matter-of-factly. Angrily, he squeezed the plush body of the pillow but had not the raw strength to tear it to little shreds of fabric and cotton like he wanted to. "Stop lyin' to me. You can say it. I'm useless and stu-"

"You are not stupid!" He jumped violently as her voice cracked like a whip in the relatively quiet bedroom. He yelped like a wounded dog when she wrenched him onto his back by the shoulder. Like it was a shield, he kept the pillow hugged to his body and stared owlishly up at the fuming girl. Her pink lips pressed into a thin line, and her fingers clenched into her hips. "So what if you're not Bakugo or Todoroki or even Midoriya? You still earned your way into this hero course!" she scolded him. He just vehemently nodded along. Frankly, he was a little terrified she would whap him upside his head if he continued with the self-pity. Her face softened slightly, and she bent over him to ruffle his blonde-and-black hair affectionately. "You have your own merits, and believe it or not, we all know them. You're loyal and care a lot about your friends." She smiled brightly down at him as he blushed shyly. "Sure, it didn't work out this time, but you've still got so much time to prove what you're made of. Stop saying you're stupid or useless, because you're not. None of us think that."

"Really?" he asked her with big, round eyes, and she nodded firmly.

"Pinky-swear!" she grinned and held up her pinky finger emphatically. "Not even Kyoka," she added with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows, which made him gulp and flush further. Still hugging the pillow but not as tightly, he sat up from the bed and rubbed the back of his neck. He had to admit, even though she had just basically reprimanded him like a stern mother, he felt loads better. He smiled warmly when she grabbed his hand and looped her pinky with his.

"Thanks, Mina."

"No problem!" He chuckled, and she stepped away when he slung his legs around to hop of the bed. She stood on her tip-toes to muss up his already wild hair again. "Now get yourself dressed and come get some breakfast. Your mom said you haven't eaten anything."

"Mina, it's like… two in the afternoon."

"Brunch, then! Regardless, food! You need sustenance!" she insisted and jabbed him in his belly with her index fingers a few times. He squirmed at the tickling prods and skittered away from her to his closet.

"Yes, Mom!" he snorted, finally dropping the pillow to begin rifling through the closet for a suitable tee shirt. Mina hummed contentedly and strolled to the door, kicking aside a few of his discarded socks and underwear towards his dirty clothes hamper.

"Yup, that's me. Mama Mina! If you're not downstairs in five minutes, I'm coming back up to drag you by the ear," she warned as she stepped out of the door.

"I'm coming! Promise!" he laughed, and she flashed him a teasing wink before shutting the door behind her. Amused, he stared at the wooden entryway for a few seconds, just smiling admiringly. "Mama Mina," he huffed under his breath and shook his head before wrenching his shirt off and tossing it across the room into the hamper. The smile never fell from his face the entire time he was getting ready.

It just felt really nice to know he had someone looking after him.

"All right! Time to kick some ass, Denki Kaminari!" he told himself with a devilish smile. He cracked his knuckles and his neck, then did a couple pre-game stretches. He then all but bolted out of his bedroom and down the stairs. His friends greeted him with a chorus of "hello's." He snatched up a bag of Doritos from the kitchen counter and vaulted over the back of the couch, snatching up a controller and sticking out his tongue confidently.

"'Sup, guys? Ready to looooose?"

"As if!" Hanta cried and shoved him in the side of the head. "You're the one who's going down!"

"How do I play this game, Mina?" Eijirou frowned at the flickering screen.

"Just shoot the zombies, Eiji."

"Shoot the zombies," the redhead repeated unsurely under his breath and squinted at the television. Denki shoved a handful of nacho chips in his mouth and rolled onto his belly, legs still slung over the back of the couch, before holding the bag out to Mina. She took it graciously and patted him on the top of his head, making him smile widely.

I have really, really good friends.