A/N: Sorry for the delay! My schedule has been a little more hectic, so I'm reverting back to my original schedule when I first started writing on this account. Instead of posting every 5 days, it'll be every 7 days ± 2 days (or every 5 to 9 days). When I get my motivation back, it might look the same as it has been, but otherwise, it might look weekly, with a two day grace period. At the latest (hopefully), it'll be every 9 days. It's not as predictable, but I feel like it'll take some of the pressure off as I deal with the increased frequency of my migraines (and thus the increased medical appointments made to address this, along with other medical stuff going on with me right now. Nothing serious, but still things that need to be addressed. You know how it is with these mortal bodies—so fragile!)
TW: Stabbing (exactly who you think it is, maybe), talk of prior suicide plans
Denki hummed as he scrolled down through the comments on the viral video they released, noting the concern and skepticism, and pointedly ignoring the conspiracy theories.
"You should put that down and join us," Shigaraki said from where he gamed with Dabi on the couch.
Hawks had given up an hour earlier, not used to gaming at their intensity, or at all, really, with the way his handler had run him ragged. Now, he was spread across the couch, his head on Shigaraki's lap and his legs stretched across Dabi's. When they would advance to the next level, Shigaraki would take the brief pause in the game to swirl his fingers though Hawks's feathery hair while Dabi would run heated hands over his legs. Hawks would hum with content, but Shigaraki saw how he still looked at him, even then from his lap, with barely concealed concern hiding behind the freely flowing love in his eyes.
Shigaraki knew he really scared them, the two soulmates that he somehow got to love him as if he was their third. Glancing over at Denki, he wondered if he just pushed all of that stress he was feeling onto the hero, keeping none of it for himself. That's what Denki had told him to do, but hero types weren't well-known for being balanced and sharing the workload.
Denki smiled at him then, and his fears melted away.
Maybe Denki was just damn manipulative, but maybe he was just as he seemed. Maybe it was a little of both. But Shigaraki was going to take advantage of it when it suited him well, which it did when it allowed him more stress-free time with Hawks and Dabi, especially when he never imagined he would ever find love, not like this.
He looked down as the screen played the start up sound indicating that the next round was loading, watching as Hawks's face turned into his hand to get closer, seeking more pressure instead of flinching away. He rubbed his thumb along his jaw affectionately before reluctantly gripping the controller again as the screen changed to reveal the gamescape. He didn't bother to try to smother his smile when Hawks reached up, careful not to obstruct his view of the screen, and started delicately placing feathers in his hair.
"I'm so lonely," Denki complained, feeling the envy at the love swirling in the room that he was used to being a major part of with Hitoshi and Neito there to smother him with it.
"It's been a day," Dabi said, not taking his eyes off of the character he was maneuvering through the landscape.
Tough talk for a guy weighed down by his soulmate's legs, Denki thought. Tough talk for a guy who hasn't gone two seconds without Shigaraki and Hawks by his side in months.
"When's the last time you've gone a whole day without Shigaraki and Hawks?" Denki sassed. "Huh?" he pressed when Dabi didn't answer.
He knew he wasn't going to get an answer.
"That's what I thought," he muttered, accepting it as a win, anyway.
Denki fidgeted with his phone for a minute longer, glaring over at the trio on the couch as they maneuvered through the level, his glare softening into something gentler without him realizing.
"Hey, Kurogiri?" Denki inquired, walking over to the bar where Kurogiri stood, wiping counters that already sparkled with how clean they were. "Could you send me to these coordinates? 149 meters above the ground, please."
"Well, that's oddly specific," Mr. Compress noted from his place at the bar. "Requesting to be sent free-falling?"
"To be fair," Denki said, "I can turn into lightning and get myself way higher than 150 meters if I wanted to free fall."
"Yeah. Enough to give you a fucking heart attack," Isozan muttered as he walked through the barroom, Uretori trailing after him. He shot her an unamused look when she snorted at his distress.
"Feeling cabin fever already?" Kurogiri guessed, taking note of the coordinates Denki offered on the phone screen.
"Just visiting some friends," Denki said with a shrug.
"Need any back up?" Mr. Compress offered.
Denki noticed Isozan and Uretori at the refrigerator pause. Their eyes didn't leave the contents but didn't scan their options either. Not until he answered.
"No. I'll be fine," Denki assured.
And that was enough.
Mr. Compress nodded, turning his attention back to his tea and book. Isozan and Uretori refocused and grabbed what they came to get. Kurogiri opened a portal behind Denki, and barely anyone spared him a glance. Twice waved goodbye as he passed through on his way to the back hallway, and Dabi yelled for him to be back in time for dinner if he wants soba—it was Dabi's night to cook, after all.
Denki peeked his head through the portal to make sure no hiding Hero Commission agents were anticipating this strategic maneuver. When the coast was clear, he stepped through the rest of the way and allowed the portal to close behind him.
When the portal disappeared, Denki turned around as Izuku was revealed, poised and ready to strike.
Denki held up his hands in surrender, but couldn't stop the smile spreading across his face at seeing his teammates again. Izuku immediately fell back, rubbing at the back of his neck sheepishly. Shouto stood next to him, seemingly unbothered from the beginning that a warp gate known to teleport villains had opened up in the middle of their apartment.
"Miss me?" Denki teased, but his wide smile gave away how happy he was to see his friends.
"I'll get the fork," Shouto announced, stepping past Denki toward the kitchen.
He was pretty relaxed for someone who suspected that Denki might be a clone of a villain, or Toga in disguise. He didn't even give him a wide berth as he stepped past him, almost like he subconsciously already knew that it was really Denki, or that he didn't really care either way because he knew that Denki vouched for the villains he was with.
"Bold of you to assume I won't turn into Izuku darling while you're gone," Denki teased as Shouto passed, dividing his attention between his teammates as he took a step forward toward Izuku, allowing a wicked smile to grow across his face as Izuku regarded him warily.
Shouto's steps didn't fluctuate.
"You can if you want," Shouto offered, venturing further into the apartment in search of the culinary weapon. "I'll be able to tell you apart easily. You don't know the password."
"No one is supposed to know about the password!" Izuku objected.
Denki's jaw dropped. "You have a password?!" He looked frantically between the two. "You two have a password and didn't tell me?!"
"There's no harm if no one knows what the password is," Shouto yelled from the kitchen. The metallic clang of the cutlery echoed around the apartment as Shouto opened the drawer to make his selection.
Izuku's stance relaxed as he regarded Denki, and Denki caught some of his muttered theories. "—and either Toga can seamlessly act the way Denki would in an unpredicted situation or Denki is improving at pretending to be Toga pretending to be himself. In either case—"
"Oh, no," Shouto deadpanned as he returned, holding a toaster. "I dropped my fork into my toaster. Whatever shall I do?"
Denki rolled his eyes and laughed, eyeing the impossibly long extension cord trailing behind Shouto that was connected to the toaster.
"Are you sure it's still plugged in?"
"I'm sure," Shouto said, glancing down at the reddening coils inside the toaster. "And unless you're somehow heat resistant, you should prove that you're really Denki or admit that you're not."
"Okay! Okay!" Denki conceded, smiling as he reached for the fork, electricity crackling lightly over his knuckles as he plucked the fork from the slot of the toaster. "Satisfied?"
"You should know the answer to that," Shouto said suspiciously, holding his hand out for the fork. "If you are, in fact, the real Denki."
Denki sighed, handing the fork over and holding his arm out for Shouto to stab the prongs into his skin without hesitation. Shouto nodded.
"Now I'm satisfied." He turned toward Izuku. "Do you want to add this fork to your Chargebolt collection?"
"What?! No!" Izuku objected. Then, bashfully, "well, not until after we clean it, at least. It's a biohazard, Shouto!"
"I'm assuming by your entrance that you didn't escape," Shouto said as Izuku snatched the fork and toaster from him, tripping over the extension cord as he traipsed back to the kitchen with Shouto and Izuku trailing behind. "So, you're here with their knowledge and permission, which means that the TikTok wasn't just a diversion or some kind of scheme."
Denki laughed. "Not exactly knowledge or permission, really. It's not like that. I just gave Kurogiri the coordinates I needed, and he opened the warp gate for me. They didn't even ask where I was going. We're working on a way to dispel the rumors, and I think you just gave me a great idea. Because, of course, not everyone is as perceptive as you to figure out the truth from the start like that. Some need it spelled out for them."
Shouto nodded gravely. "Amateurs."
Izuku laughed. "Good to have you back! What's the plan?"
"That's the thing," Denki said, taking a seat at the island stretching across their kitchen, placing his forearms against the cool marble of the countertop. "I'm not back. Not really. I'm going back with the League as soon as I'm done here. It's too dangerous for me to be anywhere else with the Commission after me."
"They're going to announce you officially as a villain," Izuku informed.
Denki nodded. "We didn't really leave them much of a choice, there."
Izuku grimaced. "They had plenty of choices all of the other times and chose the worst possible options thus far. They'll get no help or sympathy from Endeavor's agency."
Denki smiled hesitantly. "Endeavor's whole agency? Really?"
Shouto leaned up against the counter to regard Denki with heterochromatic eyes. "He's ready to back you publicly, even after the announcement."
Izuku added, "the public still loves you, and as long as you don't do anything to actively harm any civilians, every hero that we've talked to is ready to continue to turn a blind eye at the very least. They won't go after your or apprehend you if they see you out there, fulfilling your hero duties that everyone has seen you fulfill so naturally already."
"Even if they see me actively not apprehending known villains?" Denki asked apprehensively. "Or even helping them?"
Shouto and Izuku glanced at each other and smiled before looking back at Denki and nodding.
"Even then," Shouto confirmed. "There's been a shift in the way that villains have been acting around heroes recently. They're more hesitant to make the first move and deal any actual damage until they observe the hero's intentions first. Everyone is convinced that you have something to do with that."
"So, people aren't as blind to accurate conspiracy as I first believed," Denki responded cryptically, but that was as good as confirmation as his teammates needed.
Shouto smiled. "Mediocre at best," Shouto said with a wave of his hand.
"Speaking of conspiracy," Denki started, looking at Izuku. "I need your help with something going on with Shigaraki."
Izuku perked up at the name, eyes subtly shifting to Shouto.
"I'll start on dinner," Shouto said, turning around and reaching for a cabinet before pausing. "Unless you need me, too."
"Not right now," Denki said, wincing lightly. "After a plan of attack is figured out, though—"
"I get it," Shouto said.
And Denki was so lucky that Shouto was so damn flexible about things like that.
Then Shouto's brow furrowed, and he opened his mouth, and started to ask a question.
"Are you—?"
And Denki's mind whirred. He just might break in half if he heard the accusation of being UA's traitor come from one of his closest friend's mouth.
"I'm not a traitor. I wasn't UA's traitor," Denki said.
He figured it was quicker to get it over with and just get it out there than to hear the words leaving Shouto's mouth.
Shouto smiled gently. "I was just going to ask if you were staying for dinner."
Denki blanched. "Uh," he said eloquently, "are you making soba, by chance?"
"Yes."
Denki smiled widely. Oh, how he missed this. "I would love to stay. Thanks."
"It's not a problem."
"Not just for this," Denki said firmly, needing Shouto to understand. "For everything."
"I know," Shouto insisted, placing his necessary cooking utensils onto the stovetop. "That's what I was responding to your gratitude for."
Izuku led Denki into their library where Denki slammed the door shut and leaned against the door.
'Any bugs?' Denki signed.
'None,' Izuku signed back. 'We check every time we come home and haven't found any, yet.'
Denki sighed in relief.
"Shigaraki was planning on killing himself," Denki said, cutting right to the chase.
Izuku opened his mouth, then closed it again. He repeated this a few times as he thought about how to respond. "What?!" Izuku finally settled on.
"Kurogiri told him that All For One is going to take over his body. He wasn't raising him as a successor, but as a vessel." Izuku hissed through gritted teeth, but Denki ignored that in order to get out the information as quickly as possible. "I got him to put off his plans by getting him to think about spending time with Hawks and Shigaraki and promising that I'll finish the job once All For One takes over his body so that he can take advantage of all of the time he has left without worrying about killing himself too soon or not fast enough and missing his chance."
Izuku furrowed his brow as Denki trailed off, looking at him hopefully, waiting for any suggestions that Izuku might have to get out of this mess. Izuku's muttering this time was intense, and Denki couldn't keep up as Izuku started to pace around the library. When Izuku stopped in his tracks, standing up straight, eyes alit with a promising idea, Denki felt hope swell in his chest.
Izuku rushed over to the shelves of the far corner of the library, and Denki was quick to follow. He rounded the corner to find Izuku trailing his fingers across the spines of familiar notebooks, each numbered and in varying conditions. When he got to number fifteen, he started pulling that one out, and some others, seemingly at random, but Denki knew that there was a method to it, even if he didn't know it.
When Izuku led him over to the desk and spread out the notebooks, opened to the pages of notes taken on the League members, Denki breathed out a long breath of awe. He took a second to take in all of the writing and diagrams, his slow and shallow nodding gaining speed and depth as he looked around.
"What do you have in mind?" Denki asked.
Izuku answered Denki's question with a question of his own.
"Have you ever met All For One?"
"No. I've only heard his voice through this stupid, staticky television."
"Well, he can't stand any measures of disrespect. He once used one of his quirks to melt someone's eyes right out of their head because they rolled their eyes at him. Furthermore, if you look here," Izuku said, shoving one of the notebooks into Denki's lap as he continued to lay out his initial thoughts and alter the base plan as he gathered intel on the core members of the League of Villains from Denki.
Denki felt a lot better after talking things over with Izuku. Having a plan in place, even just the beginnings of a plan, was better than nothing. And enjoying soba that was so similar to what the League must have been enjoying that same night was uncanny. Just a few heroes and a few villains, all eating the soba within their respective groups, both meals made by brothers separated years ago.
"So, how are Shinsou and Monoma taking all this?" Izuku asked over dinner.
"I haven't heard from them, yet," Denki said.
Izuku and Shouto shared a concerned glance.
"I figured that Monoma would be limited in what public support he can offer because of his lack of standing with Bakugou's agency being so new, and we just kind of thought that Shinsou was keeping a low profile to go along with that," Izuku said.
"I'm sure they're fine," Denki waved off. "They let me know when they were being interrogated, and I know by the song that they had Tsukauchi brought in. After that, they sang a little of Crazy Train, but that wasn't something we talked about and I can't figure out what they were trying to tell me. But maybe… Broke boys don't deserve no pussy!" Denki sang loudly on impulse in his teammates' apartment.
I know that's right!
"They responded," Denki said with a shrug. "They're fine, wherever they are."
"That's your check-in?!" Izuku asked, cackling.
Shouto looked at Denki consideringly before copying the lyric, pausing to see if he would get a response from Yaoyorozu. When he frowned, Izuku opened his mouth, but what he was going to say was lost as Shouto's phone buzzed against the dining room table.
"Momo," he greeted. "You're on speaker."
"Hi, Izuku," she greeted happily before switching to a concerned, "what was that, Shouto? Are you okay?"
"Whatever. Don't greet me or anything," Denki said, pouting. "I see how it is. You go off and hide out with the League of Villains and suddenly everyone just ignores you."
There was a pause, and then, "Denki?!"
"Hi, Momo!"
"Oh! Denki, hi! Kyouka! Denki is on the phone! He's with Shouto and Izuku! Are you okay?!"
Denki laughed. "I'm fine! I'm great! Really!"
It was really nice having everyone check up on him, and then just taking his word for it that he was okay. It was great to have everyone treating him the same as they always did, even now that they knew he was friendly with a bunch of villains.
"That is so cool. I want to go through someday," Shouto said when the warp gate appeared after Denki sent a text to Kurogiri requesting a return warp gate at the same coordinates he had been sent to hours earlier.
"I'll see what I can do," Denki said.
"We'll hold you to it," Izuku promised.
Denki could see Izuku's mouth practically watering as he stepped closer to examine the portal without fear, something he had yet had a chance to do, fingers already twitching in anticipation of the notes he was sure to jot down in his latest notebook, his thoughts being silently mouthed as his eyes took in every detail.
"You missed dinner," Dabi said with an accusatory frown when Denki came into view.
"Your brother's soba is better," Denki quipped back with a shrug as he walked past.
He didn't wait a beat before running down the hallway, laughing as a seething Dabi chased him, hot on his heels at the audacity.
Dabi caught him just before he got to his room because Denki decided to not use his lightning indoors and wake up everyone, but maybe it was too late for that anyway.
Shigaraki walked out of his room with tired eyes, unsteadily gripping the doorframe with two fingers and his thumb to steady his uneasy balance.
"You're making it sound like we're under attack," he said drowsily. "Keep it up and everyone's going to be flinging their doors open on the defense."
"We are under attack," Dabi announced. "At least my pride is. Denki said Shouto's soba is better than mine."
Shigaraki gasped, playing into the dramatics, looking at Denki with wide red eyes like Denki had betrayed them all.
"I put the leftovers in the refrigerator," Denki hedged with faux innocence laced in his voice. "You can test the evidence and see for yourself tomorrow."
"Blasphemy!" Dabi cried.
"Now, wait," Shigaraki drawled, ever the peacemaker. "In the interest of fairness—"
Denki laughed and rolled his eyes.
"Since when do you care about what's fair?!" Dabi whined.
"When it comes to the Todoroki soba recipe hitting my tastebuds!" Shigaraki quipped, reaching out to grab Dabi's hand and pull him through the threshold to bring him to the bed that Hawks was so kindly keeping warm.
"My soba recipe isn't the only thing of mine you like on your tongue," Dabi growled.
Shigaraki was wide awake.