Category: Romantic Fluff
Characters: Denki Kaminari, Kyoka Jiro
Requested By: deliathedork (Tumblr)
Denki craned his head back as he adjusted the violet bowtie secured just above the collar of his dress shirt for the thousandth time. Once he was at least partially sure he did not look a fool, he lowered his head back down and rolled his shoulders, making the black suspenders stretching down to his black slacks flex.
"All right, Denki. You got this. It's just a date with a girl. Well, not just a girl, a bomb-ass girl, but hey! No sweat! Be cool. Be suaaaave. Be swagalicious- wait, no, that's dumb. Don't do that." He babbled encouragement to himself in the mirror that hung on the back of his closet door, but it only made him feel marginally better. With a groan, he flopped forward to press his forehead into the cold glass. "Who am I kidding? How can I ever impress such a classy girl like Kyoka… She probably only agreed to go out on a date with you out of pity," he grumbled self-pityingly. He jumped, rattling the glass mirror, as his bedroom door slammed shut. He hadn't even heard it open. "What the hell-?!"
"Denki Kaminari! I will hear no such talk from you!" Mina scolded as she stomped over. Denki straightened as stiff as a board, submitting himself to her scrutiny like a private to his drill sergeant. She pursed her lips as she studied him intensely, only pausing to smooth a few creases in his dress shirt and flick some dust from his suspender straps. When she grinned brightly at him, he smiled. "You look great, Denki," she nodded and patted his upper arms. "You're going to have a great time! Don't be so nervous. It's only Kyoka."
"Yeah, it's Kyoka, who is infinitely cooler than me," he pouted. He hissed when she flicked him on the nose. He rubbed the pink spot with a babyish pout while she waggled her finger disapprovingly.
"No! I will not condone you putting yourself down! You are going to give Kyoka the night of her life, damn it, or I'll kick your keister to Kingdom Come!"
"Yes, ma'am," Denki laughed. Mina always knew how to make him feel better with her feisty mother-henning. He exhaled and smoothed his sweaty palms down his slacks before rolling his shoulders again. "It's showtime." He flashed a wink to Mina before strolling out of the bedroom, hurrying before his bravado melted away.
"Go get her, Tiger!" he heard Mina shouting excitedly after him.
He took the steps two at a time to arrive at the students' shared common room. Of course, everybody knew about Kyoka and Denki's date, so they had crammed themselves on the couches nearest the stairs to obtain an up-close and personal view of the pre-game antics. Denki blushed when a chorus of whistles, claps, and hoots greeted him.
"You ready, ya big stud?" Eijirou cackled mischievously as the blonde approached. Denki grabbed a throw pillow and whacked him in the face with it, telling him to knock it off. The redhead smirked and reclined against the couch, hugging the throw pillow to his broad chest as he watched Denki circle the sofa to sit on the coffee table. "Seriously, though! You and Kyoka! Can't believe you finally had the guts to ask her out, man."
"'Guts?'" Katsuki snorted derisively and pushed his cheek into his hand. "He was a stammering, sweaty mess. It was pitiful."
"Aw, shut up, Baku-bro. Why don't you grow a pair and finally tell Ochako you think she's cute?" Katsuki flushed bright pink and instinctively looked at the stairs, terrified the bubbly girl would be descending with Kyoka. He sighed in relief seeing the stairwell empty, and then lunged forward to grab Denki, cursing loudly. He only snatched empty air, as Denki had jumped up to prance over to Izuku and Tenya.
"Get over here, Pikachu, and lemme pluck a few of those hairs outta your head!"
"Relax, Katsuki," Eijirou chuckled with a placating hand on the volatile blond's shoulder. Katsuki growled and hunched into the couch, muttering very unflattering descriptions of what he would do to Denki when he got his hands on him. Denki grinned cheekily and leaned over the edge of the couch between Izuku and Tenya's heads.
"So, Denki, where are you taking her?" Izuku chirped.
"A café and record shop. Kyoka loves music, so I thought it would be a good place."
"Let me guess- Mina suggested it?" Tenya smirked knowingly. Denki pouted dourly, hurt that the bespectacled boy would think the pink girl to be the entire brain of his operation.
"I chose that place myself- thank you very much! … I did run it by Mina to approve it, though." The ring of students snorted in laughter, making him blush bashfully. Mina just knew so much about romantic endeavors! She had been instrumental in his courtship of the stoic hero girl from start to finish. He'd definitely be a bungling idiot without her.
"Is Denki down there already?" Momo's voice came floating from the second-story landing. Denki straightened up, feeling a numb flush pulse through every cell in his body with anticipation of what was to come. Izuku shouted affirmative, and Momo giddily replied, "Good! She's all ready to go!" Denki swallowed thickly at the first clunk of wedge heels on the stairs, feeling all the moisture in his mouth evaporate at once. He caught the peek of the shoes first, wicker wedges with black straps, followed by her shapely legs and the hem of a ruffled purple skirt. As if pulled by a magnetic force, Denki sluggishly rounded the couches, watching enraptured as more of the girl appeared with every step. A white jean jacket framed her body, hanging loose around a lavender tank top. Cunning Mina. She planned this, he thought wryly as he fingered his bluish-purple bowtie. The fringes of her hair swished around her shoulders, and then finally, he could see her bashful smile, and her eyes flickering warmly when she clapped eyes on him.
"You look beautiful," he breathed on reflex. He completely ignored the sniggers and japes circulating behind him to walk quickly to Kyoka, desperate to behold her at a much closer distance. He looked her from bottom to top to bottom again and was more stunned than before. "R-really beautiful," he continued with a pink haze to his cheeks. Flushing, she gripped her mauve clasp and bashfully swung her body from side to side.
"Thanks. You clean up pretty well yourself."
"God, get a rooooom!" Katsuki howled from behind them. Denki looked back in annoyance to see him dramatically sprawling over the arm of the couch while the others struggled to contain their giggles. He rolled his eyes and looked back to Kyoka with a small smile, offering her his arm.
"Shall we?" The girl responded with a tiny nod and hooked her hand in the crook of his elbow, squeezing his bicep slightly. Denki's heart somersaulted, and he nearly fainted from the sudden drop in blood pressure, but he held fast. The night's only just begun, Denki. His friends called farewells and good luck's behind him as he led Kyoka out of the dormitory and onto the well-tended concrete paths of U.A. High School. It was early in the evening, with the sun hovering over the horizon, preparing for its descent. In the late afternoon glow, bees hummed around the flowers for one final pollen collection, and the night birds were beginning to stir, filling the breezy air with sleepy chirps. "We'll have to take the train," he informed her as they strode through the wrought-iron gate and onto the street sidewalk. "I hope that's okay."
"Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise!" he grinned cheekily at her. She huffed and rolled her eyes to look at the passing cars, but Denki did not miss the way her glossed lips curled into a small smile.
In hindsight, Denki probably should have opted for a slightly later time, because the train was stuffed to capacity with the 5 o'clock traffic. The two of them were both red-faced within seconds of boarding, as they were forced to cram into the aisle and cling to the hanging handlebars. Kyoka's nose was pressed right into his sternum, occasionally bumping him with the rattling jostles of the heavy vehicle. During one particularly jolting shake of the train car, she gasped and used her free hand to grab him right over his ribs, making him flinch with the tickling sensation. Her cheeks flushed rosy pink, and she meekly mumbled an apology.
"It's all right," Denki laughed casually. He exuded a calm persona, but on the inside, he was squealing at the intimate touch. He prayed that he kept his cool in the awkward situation, because he would hate for their date to end on a sour note before it even began…
They breathed a collective sigh of relief when they exited the cram-packed train and were able to gulp down fresh air. The record shop-slash-café was a short jaunt from the station, thankfully. During their brief commute, the sun had sunk low into the sky, now a bubbling yellow semicircle peeking out through the gaps between the multitude of shops and businesses lining the busy street. "Here we go," Denki smiled as they approached, and he gestured at the unassuming little brick-and-mortar café with a flourish. "Ta-da!"
"Oh, wow," Kyoka blinked in appreciative shock. She took a few steps towards the tinted window lined with tour posters of various performers- pop bands, rock groups, and solo artists of numerous styles. The smile she gave him when she looked over her shoulder melted him into putty. "I've never been here before! How could I not know such a place exists?" She dashed over to grab his hand and lug him inside. "Come on, Denki! Let's go check it out!" Her slim fingers enveloped his so perfectly that it made his heart sing higher than any opera soprano. She released his hand in the aisle so she could dive into the rows of record discs stacked neatly within the confines of the shelves. Denki just watched her warmly, genuinely pleased to see her so passionate and freely enjoying herself.
"They have this on vinyl?! Oh my gosh!" she gasped as she pulled one record from the stack, admiring the casing with wide eyes. She tucked it under her arm to begin rifling through the collection again. "Wow! My dad would love this one!" she beamed breathlessly and pulled another from the stack. She held the two records up, suddenly frowning. "Oh, but they're both pretty expensive… I should only get one, but which?"
"Kyoka," he piped up suddenly. She flushed red and peeked at him through her peripheral vision.
"I'm sorry, Denki! We came here to eat, didn't we? I just got so excited," she sputtered and went to replace the records to the shelf. Denki reached out and caught her wrist, gently pulling the vinyl record from her grip to tuck it under his arm.
"I'll buy this one, and you can buy your dad that one."
"Denki!" she squeaked, flushing darker with embarrassment. Clutching her clasp to her chest and holding the other record up, she squirmed uncomfortably. "It's so much, though…"
"No, it isn't. Not for you." She wriggled around to turn her back to him, her ear jacks writhing with an overabundance of nervous energy.
"Since when did you get so smooth…?"
"Beg your pardon?"
"Nothing! Thank you!" she answered quickly and scurried to the cash register in the corner. Denki watched her in amusement, then looked at the record.
"She called me 'smooth,'" he sniggered under his breath and tossed the record up, then caught it and strode over to the cash register to pay for her gift.
The café featured a selection of light meals and morsels. The pair sat in front of the full glass window, watching the passersby, chatting amiably, and snacking on small finger-foods. The bag of records lay on the floor beside Kyoka's chair, and Denki never missed when she would glance down at it and smile, pinching her bottom lip between her teeth to keep from seeming too giddy. Every movement of hers felt like magic to Denki; the way she leaned the chair back on two legs, the way she primly held her cup of bubble tea to sip it daintily, the way she hunched into herself as she laughed at his incredibly corny jokes. He couldn't help but be enamored with her, and soon he was leaning his head into his hands just staring dreamily at her.
"Why are you looking at me like that, Denki?" Kyoka chuckled and sucked the last couple of tapioca pearls from the bottom of the plastic cup.
"Because you're the most amazing girl that I've ever met." She blushed and set the cup down, shyly hiding her face in her hands.
"Don't say things like that…"
"Why not? It's true. I'm sitting here, trying to figure out why the hell such a classy girl like you is on a date with a dork like me." She lowered her hands to rest them in her lap, smiling kindly at him.
"You are a dork," she admitted with a teasing snort. Denki took no offense, but instead smirked in amusement. She suddenly reached across the table to grasp one of his hands, flushing as she did so. She stared intently down at it, running the pad of her thumb over the skin there. "You're an amazing person, too. Your level of optimism and hope really amazes me," she answered, her eyes flickering up to meet his widening ones. "You keep striving to better yourself, and you care so strongly about your friends. What girl wouldn't fall for a guy like that?"
It was his turn to blush. As his cheeks blazed with a rosy hue, he leaned back in the chair and ran his free hand through his yellow-and-black hair.
"Now who's the smooth one?" Kyoka went redder than an apple, apparently under the assumption he had not overheard her bashful mumblings. Denki chuckled and pushed aside the empty plates and empty plastic cups to grasp her hand with both of his. "… I'm really glad, though. Part of me was afraid you just pitied me."
She narrowed her dark eyebrows and smirked seditiously at him.
"Does that seem like something I would do?"
"N-no!" he refused quickly, raising his hands in a surrendering gesture. He smiled wanly and tilted his head a little to look at the crumbs on his plate. "I just… I don't have a lot of self-confidence. Not really. It's mostly a façade. All of the other guys are so amazing, and I seem so lackluster in comparison sometimes," he sighed and dropped his arms glumly. "In the back of my mind, I thought that surely I wasn't good enough for you, and you were just being nice."
"Denki," she whispered sadly. He smiled anemically and shrugged, trying not to kill the mood completely. She ignored the conciliating gesture and scooched her chair around the small glass table so that she was seated next to him, her knee just barely brushing his. She put her hand on his lower thigh in a comforting gesture. "Let me tell you something. You have just as much right to be in Class 1-A as the rest of us. Don't you ever feel like you're not worth as much- especially in my eyes. I like you because I see how much you're worth, not out of pity."
As he attempted to swallow, a hard lump lodged in his throat. He wrung the stiff fabric of his slacks, trying not to let his lips wobble too much as he smiled.
"Thanks, Kyoka," he whispered hoarsely, looking down at his lap. Her fingers slipped under his chin to pull his face towards hers, and he offered no resistance. Her black eyes glinted like chips of onyx as they bored intently into his.
"I mean it. I really like you, Denki Kaminari."
"I like you a lot too, Kyoka," he smiled, genuinely this time. She seemed pleased with his reaction. Her hand dropped from his face to fall against the middle of his chest. "Hey, uh… Would you mind if I, um… kissed you?"
"I won't slap you, if that's what you're asking."
"Yeah," he chortled. "Please don't." Her eyelashes fluttered demurely, but her anxiety was betrayed by the faint dusting of rose blooming over her cheeks. He swept her purple-black hair from her face to tuck a swathe of it behind her ear, and as his palm settled against her cheek, she leaned into his touch. His gaze dropped down to her lips, and he momentarily wondered what flavor lip gloss she was wearing. He was dimly aware of her lips pursing and her eyes closing as he depleted the distance between them.
As his mouth enveloped hers, his heart went to somersaulting again, and the hazy fog drifted over his mind. The flavor of strawberries and tangerines, faintly accented by the vanilla bubble tea she had been drinking, leaked into his mouth as he gently kissed her. His nerves exploded like fireworks, sending crackling energy from the crowd of his head to the tips of his toes; he then grew a little scared it was actually his Quirk raging out of control, so he suddenly retreated. Thankfully, no little electrical sparks were crackling on his fingertips. Shocking the hell out of her would definitely leave the date on a sour note.
She breathed a little sigh as her eyes flipped back open. Denki smiled bashfully, slinging his arm over the back of the small café chair and running his other hand into his bangs. The clock on the wall opposite them was chiming at 6 p.m. "We'd better get outta here. Mr. Aizawa'll lecture us for half an hour if we come home late." Due to the recent encounters with villains, even approved outings had curfews. It was a shame, because Denki was in no mood to cut their date short.
Kyoka smiled chivalrously and nodded. As she got up, Denki plucked the paper bag from the floor and tossed it over his shoulder. He extended his other hand for her to hold, looking endearingly at her. With a loving smile, he slipped her hand into his and interlocked their fingers tightly.
"For the record, you're pretty smooth for a dork." Denki snorted in laughter, bonking his head against hers as they strolled together out of the café. "That isn't just to boost your confidence, either."
"Thanks," he snickered. The bag of records bounced gently against his shoulder blade as they meandered towards the station. Hands locked together, huddling close, the two young lovers enjoyed the last few moments of their sacred time under the glimmering white stars…