Trigger warning mentions of blood, knives, references to self harm
When Denki first woke up that morning, he never would have guessed how a little bit of harmless fun would have turned out so bad.
His eyes flickered open around 2:10 in the morning. He blinked a couple of times, staring at the red numbers on his alarm clock, double-checking his phone; thankful for the fact he kept it on dark mode and the brightness on low. Denki sighed knowing he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. So he sucked in a breath and held it. He had had the habit of holding his breath when he first wakes up since he was a child. He found that making his heart rate speed up helped him to get out of bed.
By 2:40, he was up all the way, and quickly slipped some sweatpants over his boxers and carded his fingers through his hair. At that moment, when he was done busying himself in the mirror, he decided to prank a couple of the other students, and ran over to his desk to create a list of good pranks. Tokoyami and Denki were secretly close, the poor shorter boy was shy and only stuck to a few people, but when Denki figured out that they both enjoyed horror games the two quickly bonded and began hanging out in the quieter ones room.
It was decided then that Tokoyami would be the first to get pranked, and could help Denki if need be. Kaminari quickly went over his classmates and compiled a list. Bakugou, Momo, and Iida would be extremely hard to prank, however Midoriya was close behind. He hasn't come up with that many good pranks that his friends and classmates would fall for, so he decided he was only going to prank a few of them.
Reaching for his mini fridge, Denki swiped a water bottle and chugged down half of it before using the bottom of his shirt to wipe his mouth. Shrugging his feet into a pair of slippers and grabbing his phone, Denki treaded out of his dorm and took the stairs to the kitchen, he wanted to grab a snack before heading to Tokoyami's, but saw the small bottle of Orange juice that Iida would drink from for breakfast every day. With an idea in mind, he cracked open a can of orange soda, and poured out the juice, swapping the pulp filled liquid with a carbonated one of the same flavor. It wasn't a school day so everyone would most likely be sleeping in, so Iida wouldn't know what he had done until later. But it was very nearly 3 in the morning as Denki dropped in some orange food coloring and twisted the cap back on.
So as quietly and quickly as possible, he ran back up the few levels of stairs it took. The dorms locked automatically, and could only be opened with a keycard. Sending a small string of electricity Into the card slot, the door opened. The handle turned easily under Denki's grip and slowly approached the bed where Tokoyami was still asleep. Tokoyami always looked just as tired as that brainwash kids from 1-C and training, Shin-something, Kaminari thought to himself quickly. After their friendship bloomed, Kami soon learned that Dark shadow often woke up Tokoyami between 3-4 am due to her own restlessness, so Denki wasn't the most worried about waking the lover of everything black.
Denki whipped out his phone and began playing Chop Suey by System of a Down, placing the speakers near where Tokoyami's ears would be(while Denki knows that birds have ears? The separate proportions threw him off a bit) turning up the volume at the perfect time for Serj Tankian to scream 'WAKE UP'[ Into the vicinity of a birds ear hole] at Tokoyami, shocking the bird-boy and throwing Dark Shadow into a giggling fit. Toko thrashed around for a moment and Denki turned down the music. The electric blonde gave Dark Shadow a quick head pay and Tokoyami chuckled.
"That's not a bad song, Kaminari. But what demon did you summon that gave you such an idea?!"
"I decided to prank everyone" Tokoyami looked at him sparingly " Okay okay, not everyone, just a few selective people. And guess what, I've already planted the one for Iida."
"and what was it?"
"Basically carbonated orange juice, he's gonna hate me, so as dangerous as it is, I thought I would make breakfast for everyone to try and make it up to them. Now, do you wanna help me?"
"I might as well since I'm awake now, who are we planning to disturb while they slumber, to be noticed when they awaken?"
"Let's see, I've gotten you, and we will have to wait and see with Iida, but there's Mineta, Aoyama, Sato, Todoroki, Momo, and Sero left, I'll need a little bit of help with Todoroki, but you can do the first three."
"I'm actually quite excited to be getting to plan the demise of that pervert, I believe that because of my small stature many of the girls in our class consider me a friend, it could also be the fact that I and Shoji are the only ones out as gay, although I know that at least you and a few others are among the LGBT, I feel as if I would be doing the maidens a favor."
"Yeah I'm excited too, here's the string, I was planning on taking advantage of his quirk, and like put a few around his room, then tie him up with this string and stuff, using his sticky ball things to keep it more secure"
"That's not a bad plan, what about the other two?"
"Put duct-tape over the salt and sugar containers to confuse Sato, and then basically just cover up all of Aoyamas mirrors with these sheets and pillow cases" Denki quickly explained, showing off his tape bracelet and the small stack of bedding on the floor.
"I'll take care of the mirrors first as it's the biggest task, but you said you would prepare breakfast later, how will you tell which is the salt and which is the sugar?"
" oh that one's easy, put like a pinch of each on the counter and zap 'em, the sugar will melt!"
"That's not bad thinking, people don't give you enough credit."
"Awe, thanks Toko, and you could probably help out too Shads" Denki gushed out using his private nickname for Dark Shadow.
The prank to play on Momo, was a simple one, and while a bit confusing, it was completely harmless. He snuck Into her room using the same method that he used to get Into the crow's lair. He then walked over to her bookshelf and quickly scanned them. Taking 3 off of the shelf he removed the paper covers from the hardback books, turned the selected book upside down, then placed the covering back on before sliding them back on the shelf, it wasn't guaranteed she would notice right away, but he chose the books because of the wear and tear on the paper covers and guessed that the books were it in fact old but well-loved and most likely read often, so he took the chance and guessed she would come back around to them soon. He also noticed one of them was a poetry book so he would have to talk to her about that.
Next up was Sero, and this one was simple, Denki knew that the tape boy preferred to sleep in his hammock, so with a handful of safety pins, Denki made his way into the aesthetically pleasing room and closed the boy with lathers elbows in his hanging bed, wrapped up much like a burrito. The then quickly looked around a few selective dorms, making sure he hadn't woken up before peeking into the grape male's dorm to find the red string everywhere. The two then escaped and ran towards Todorokis room the next floor up, both of them thankful for slippers because Yodoroki has completely rearranged his dorm compared to the others. Tokoyami watched on in interest as Denki lit a spark and short circuited the card-swipe again to get into the very Japanese room.
"Will it still work?"
"Yeah no worries, it will work perfectly fine after the door is shut, they lock automatically so it kinda just resets the system a little."
"Okay, so what are we doing with him?" Tokoyami jabbed his thumb at the sleeping peppermint.
"We're kinda gonna make up his hair, but with post-it notes!" And from there the two worked together to make a Pokémon ball out of red white and black sticky squares.
After they're fun, and quite literal games, Tokoyami went back to bed, and seeing as it was nearing half past 5 in the morning, Denki slipped on a hoodie, mask and shoes before placing his wallet in his pocket and heading out the door. He was planning pancakes and fruit salad for breakfast. A mask was always necessary, especially now that he went to UA and getting recognized isn't the best. With his hair pulled back and hood, more secure, he walked to the nearest supermarket. He kept his hood down while buying things like cereals eggs milk flour butter vanilla extract fruits and more; hoping to not look like a criminal. The fruits consisted of strawberries, bananas, raspberries, blackberries, watermelon, kiwis, ans apples. The woman at the cash register quirked her eyebrow at him and he just stared back, challenging her to question his large purchase. He had asked for a few reusable bags and payed the extra cash needed before walking back the few miles with arms full of groceries.
The fruits were placed in the fridge along with the milk and eggs, and the cereals in the cupboard along with the flour vanilla and Kirishima's protein powder. He placed the rest of everything on the counter and then headed to his room; where he then proceeded to throw himself on his bed. It reached the 7th hour of the day before he headed down the stairs. Momo, Tsu and Mina were downstairs on the couches. Mina was painting her nails what looked to be a coral color, Tsu was cuddled up with a blanket, and when Denki turned to look at Momo who met his gaze. She was reading the poetry book that he had messed with; glancing down at it he looked back I to her eyes and noticed her smirk looming over the now right side up book and cover. She winked at him telling him that she knew he did it, and he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment before turning around.
Denki then noticed that Kirishima and Sero we're sitting on the ground in front of the tv, playing Mario kart, ans Sero was in the lead. He watched the two boys for a moment before the aforementioned two each yelled, one in triumph, the other in defeat. Sero turned around with a tear in his eye at his loss.
"Man and just when I thought things were turning around for me!"
"What happens bro?" Kirishima asked as they both followed Denki into the kitchen. Denki shrugged around in the cupboards for a moment before he noticed Tokoyami shuffle in with a yawn, the beaked boy took a seat on the counter and narrowed his eyes at the red-head and the tape armed best friends.
"When I woke up I was trapped, it took me a while to figure it out but when I finally got out I novices that someone had use like a hundred safety pins!"
"Are you sure it was 100? It was probably more like 20," Denki exclaimed before clamping his mouth shut as Tokoyami dared a look in his direction.
"Well I picked up like 10 from my floor ans a few from inside my hammock, by the way that hurt, but your guess is probably- hey wait! We're YOU the one who did that?!"
"Sorry dude, guilty as charged" Denki exclaimed before an enraged scream came from the resting area followed by an anguished scream from the floor above. The four males ran I to the resting room to see Mineta tied up in a bright red string with a few of his grape-things dragging behind him. I'm the next moment 2 of the boys turned wide eyes towards the stairs where a clearly upset Aoyama had just marched down with a purple pillow case in his clutches.
All four of them buckled over laughing, mostly at the short grape, but also in amazement of Aoyama's bedhead
"Man, what did you do Kaminari?!" Sero shouted between laughs,
"Hey don't look at me, Tokoyami here took care of Mineta and mr sparkle pas ts over there, I just game him the stuff and the directions,"
"I enjoyed it so I will take the blame as well" Tokoyami drawled before taking a seat in the kitchen.
"So what's on the menu today, chef?" Tokoyami teased, Denki smiled to have brought the silly side out of Tokoyami today.
"Pancakes and fruit if you must know good sir."
" Yo Kami! Your cooking breakfast today bro?!" Kirishima exclaimed turning a few heads.
"Yeah, I thought it would be a good way to make it up to the few people myself and Tokoyami pranked, Dark Shadow too."
"That's super manly dude!"
People started to file in thanks to the smell of pancakes, and Denki had just finished passing out the first batch when the sweaty and breathless bodies of Izuku Midoriya and Tenya Iida waltzed into the room. Denki quickly turned to the fruit and took out a knife so the new guests couldn't see his smile. Denki heard the fridge open and Midoriya let out a breathless 'thank you' as Iida handed him what Denki guessed was a water bottle. Denki couldn't help smiling to himself as he heard the class president spit out his drink before he finally turned his head.
"Gahh- pbbbt! What on earth was that?!" He shouted in exasperation, looking around.
"Orange soda, you no like?" Denki answered, tilting his head causing everyone else to laugh.
"It's too early for this," Iida sighed, taking a seat next to Tsu who handed him a fork and allowed him to share her pancakes. Shortly after Todoroki came down the stairs staring at his phone, nobody had to ask anything before he explained.
"Somebody came into my room while I was sleeping and made this," he jutted out his phone to show the picture of the post-it pokeball two sleep deprived teenagers had made around 4 in the morning.
"I actually quite like it, thanks for not waking me up Kaminari." The mentioned teenager whipped his head around in surprise.
"How did you know it was me?!"
"Well I just assumed that only a Pikachu would be left out of its Pokeball," Todoroki said, winking at Denki causing the electric blonde to blush. Todoroki then looked up at the sound of laughter
"And a Murkrow I guess" Todoroki let out in a teasing manner, slightly shocking the group and immediately shocking Tokoyami who bowed his head in embarrassment from being caught so quickly without even saying anything.
"Shit! Ow!" Denki hissed out in pain about 15 minutes later, turning away from the cutting board with a breath through his teeth. Todoroki stood up and walked towards the boy with a bolt in his hair.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"I was trying to finish cutting the fruit but I nearly cut off my damn thumb instead!" Todoroki quickly crouched down and reached for the first aid kit under the sink.
"Ah- there's no need to do that, hnnnng that stings!" Denki whined when Todoroki began to disinfect the wound. Todoroki retaliated with a pointed look at Denki while wrapping his hand with Gauze.
"Well unless you wanna go to Recovery Girls office then I suggest you let me help."
"Todorki I swear! I'm fine! It's nothing I haven't done to myself before!" Denki quipped before his eyes widened and he slapped his hood hand over his mouth in realization of what he had just said.
"What?" Todoroki starred
"I'm clumsy?" Denki chuckled out, hoping to relieve the situation but only making it worse.
"Wait no it's not what you're thinking!" Denki squealed. Todoroki looked into Denki's eyes before Kirishima rushed over ans the both of them looked over Denki's arms. Todoroki had finished wrapping up Denki's hand so the blond took and held it against his chest with the other hand.
"Okay maybe it.. IS what you're thinking..."
"Kami?" Kirishima asked softly, receiving no answer.
"Kaminari?!" He repeated this time with tears threatening to pour over his waterline.
"Denki! Please!" he begged
"Please don't cry! Your gonna make me cry!" Denki belted out in shame.
"Kami please?!" The smaller boy turned his head, unable to look at one is his closest friends, the rest id his classmates that were awak watched with worried ans year filled eyes, Denki could tell a couple of them wanted to get up and walk over or say something.
"I used to have a bit of a cutting problem, which you might have already guessed. But I've gotten a lot better! Thanks to my therapist and actually making friends here at UA!"
"What do you mean 'actually' making friends?" Todorki asked, face still as numb as ever but fear and worry evident in his eyes.
"Um.. I used to get, bullied... a lot, back in elementary school and junior high, mostly because of my quirk but it wasn't far off to be made fun of for things like my grades, how short I am, my hair; and how it apparently made me look like a girl: and it wasn't that rare that they would throw in the fact that it's just me and my dad, they liked to say that my mom left because my dad was a cheater and I nearly killed her when I first got my quirk."
"Kami that's horrible!" Mina walked over closely followed by Midoriya. The both of them quickly wrapped Denki in a hug as he sobbed, Todoroki reaching over to lean his head on the blondes while Kirishima held his hood hand.
"The truth was so far off, my mom wanted nothing to do with me since the day I was born, and I had gotten my quirk when I was 7, she was an alcoholic who would scream and beat on both me and my dad. One day she just went missing ans I haven't seen her since I was 10. I honestly haven't even missed her a day in my life."
"Denki," Todoroki started, about to offer comfort and stories of how he could relate.
"When I was in middle school I finally realized that none of that was really normal, that's when I first started on the blade. Not long after a few of my bullies found out and encouraged me to do it.
I tried to quit after that but I've relapsed a couple times since then."
"Kami," Mina worried her bottom lip between her teeth, giving Denki a squeeze.
"You guys seriously have no idea how thankful I am for you, for being my friends, for not giving me sideways glances, for helping me with my homework and training. I know you guys like to tease occasionally, but you actually apologize and tell me it was meant as a joke when I react the opposite way you thought I would. So just, thank you.
If anyone woke up later and walked down to find Denki sobbing in the middle is a group hug containing half the class, nobody really questioned it and joined it, not saying a word as Bakugo tried to push his way through before sighing and staying on the edge where he was.
(I apologize but I have no plans for a second part. If you really want a part 2 then let me know)