Everything felt heavy. Moving his limbs was like fighting off several goblins holding him down. Denki groaned tiredly, not bothering to even open his eyes as he just tried to roll over on his side. Even with his eyes closed, he could tell a lot of light was pooling into his room. How late did he sleep in? His alarm never went off…

Why was he so tired?

As he laid in bed his mind drifted back to the battle. Everything was a bit fuzzy after he used his quirk, but he could remember the events that happened if he focused and tried to retrace his steps. He got home safe, he went to bed… Then there was loud pounding, but he was too cold to go to the door. He was freezing and just felt so sad. Why was he sad?

There was warmth after that. Bakugo was there, helping warm him up.

The entire class took him to the hospital, but then they just went back and… played video games? Was he remembering that right?

Oh yeah, Bakugo won for sure. Mineta was upset about it and everything.

Then it was bed again.

Denki slowly opened his eyes, flinching at the light. Half of his curtain was gone, no wonder it was so bright. After a few long moments, Denki slowly pushed himself up. As his eyes went over his bedroom he could see almost everything was out of place, but at least it was cleaned and in piles… and oddly enough everything was taped down with Sero's quirk. That would take forever to undo.

his mind drifted away again- it was hard to focus on anything. He could remember everyone was always around him, laughing and helping him. Where were they?

"Guys!" Denki called out lightly, then flinched as he rubbed his throat. He was so parched. That's what he gets for snoring. Denki cautiously slid out of bed, his feet touching the cold floor. It was a nice jolt to help really wake him up, even if he wasn't overly fond of the cold.

"Hey, guys?" He called out again, tiredly ruffling his hair as he dragged his feet to the door. He reached for the doorknob, only to find it gone. The hell?

What did they do to his door- oh, Bakugo did that. Right. Pieces were still coming back to him.

He pulled the door open, using the hole for the doorknob as a grip spot.

He was immediately overwhelmed.

"He's back!" Turo cheered.

"About damn time," Bakugo scoffed and turned away.

"Dude, we missed you," Kirishima placed his arm around Denki, playfully jostling him.

"Thank goodness," Iida sighed happily.

"We missed you," Deku eagerly joined in.

What was going on? Why were they all outside his door, waiting? Did he really worry them that much?

"Guys… What's… What are you all doing?" It was hard to find his voice, but his curiosity was getting the better of him.

"Making sure you're okay," Shoto calmly explained.

"We were so worried about you," Momo said tearfully as she hugged him. "You gave us such a scare!" She held him tightly for a few moments, then reluctantly let him go as she wiped at her eyes. "Seriously, we were all panicked."

"Welcome back, you complete idiot!" Bakugo yelled as he got into Denki's face. "Honestly what were you thinking? You can't push your quirk that far without horrid drawbacks, you were gone for a whole day! The entire class spent all day watching you, then none of us got any damn sleep!"

Denki stammered softly, nervously stepped back with his hands held up at chest level in surrender. "I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do in the fight. You guys didn't have to stay up for me either."

"We did because we were worried," Shoto calmly explained. "Even Bakugo stayed up and stayed right by the door-"

"Shut it icy hot!" Bakugo yelled, raising a hand threatening before Iida stepped between them.

"Now that's enough! We should be happy and celebrating our classmate has returned to us." Iida reminded them.

Kirishima laughed, putting his arm around Bakugo's shoulder and gently shaking him. "Come on dude, we got out buddy back."

"About time," Sero sighed happily and gently ruffled Denki's already messy hair. "It was far too quiet, even Bakugo was sulking around. We need you, so please think about yourself too when you're fighting." Sero grinned, placing a hand on Denki's back as he gently leads him further from his room and deeper into the crowd. Things got a bit dizzying then, everyone meshing together as they hugged him or scolded him.

They must have noticed something was off because one second he was looking at Mineta, and the next he was on the couch downstairs with Deku hand feeding him bites of waffle.

"Huh?" He stopped mid-bite, tilting his head to the side curiously as his eyes drifted around the room.

"There you are," Deku softly laughed. "You got a bit dizzy upstairs and nearly fell. You better now?"

"Oh. yeah, loads." His throat didn't feel dry anymore. What did he drink? Why were they still taking care of him? "I'm just a bit tired still is all. I'm fine, really." He was Denki, he had to be fine.

"Even so, you'll spend the rest of the day resting," Iida strictly ordered as he walked over. "It's best to be safe, and classes resume tomorrow so you have to be in perfect health."

They really did care, why?

"Guys, I'm really sorry." Denki sighed softly, gently pushing Deku's hand away when he went to feed him another bite of waffle. He could eat on his own, he wasn't helpless. "I'm going to become a hero, so I shouldn't be burdening everyone."

"While it was scary," Ochaco Uraraka started as she sat down on the floor in front of them, her legs crossed so she could put her plate in her lap. "It taught us a lot. I don't want to say I'm thankful it happened, but in a way I am. We saw new sides of our classmates, and I think we all realized how much we really appreciate and rely on you. You're our classmate, and most importantly our friend."

"She's right, you know." Shoto sighed as he leaned on the back of the couch, his different colored eyes staring down at Denki who nervously sunk back into the soft cushions. "Please keep that in mind, and never say sorry for saving your classmates again. All of us will put our own wellbeing on the line if it means protecting the people we care about."

Denki looked down at the floor, his hands balled into tight fists in his lap.

"Denki," Turo softly spoke.

A shiver shot up his spine as he listed his gaze. Toru Hagakure, Yuga Aoyama, and Minoru Mineta were standing nearby.

"Thank you for protecting us," Aoyama gave a dazzling smile. "That was really brave of you, so heroic like."

"We wouldn't have lasted without you!" Mineta playfully jumped, one fist in the air. "You were amazing, a great friend."

"We really owe you," Turo gently added. "We were the only ones there to witness your fight, but last night we were telling the group about how brave you really were. You hung in there and protected us with everything you had. I don't know why you tried so hard, but it made me realize that we are friends here, maybe even a big family."

It was too much, they were being too kind! Denki slumped forward, his eyes watering as he tried to stare at the floor, trying to reel everything in. They honestly cared for him, and it hurt. He always thought he was too annoying and loud, that he could never catch up to them and get on everyone's level. Yet, they were saying all these things...

"Denki," Deku mumbled softly as he scooted closer, leaning against his side. "You're crying. You don't need to cry when we're around," he smiled.

"We will always be here for you," Shoto leaned forward more, letting his arms move from the back of the couch and instead he wrapped them around Denki's shoulders, pulling him back.

One by one his classmates piled in on the hug. One of the last people was Bakugo, who walked over and instead wapped him upside the head, but not hard.

"Get better and realize you'll be a Pro-Hero one day. You help balance out Kirishima's stupidity during study sessions so stop crying."

Even his crass words felt amazing. Denki laughed softly as tears flowed down his cheeks. He was so happy with his friends.