The zoo was fantastic. More amazing than any of them had imagined it would be.
Hitoshi was expecting a boring day, wandering around without any friends. Or worse: being the unwilling tag-along to an uninterested group that the teacher forced to include him in. Hitoshi had sighed in resignation, sorry for whoever was being stuck with the new kid, and was pleasantly surprised that Denki stood there, staring at him like a sika deer in headlights. Hitoshi had a small moment of self-doubt, that Denki wouldn't want to be seen with a boy that he had met in a mental institution and that their friendship was only supposed to last for the duration of their stay, but those thoughts were completely erased when Denki lunged forward without hesitation and squeezed Hitoshi like he had just saved him or something.
And to Denki, Hitoshi did save him. Denki no longer had to worry about spending the field trip making sure to keep an active eye on his friend group so that they didn't leave him stranded the second he got distracted by an animal exhibit. When Denki had stared at the lions a little too long, he frantically looked around, expecting to see that Hitoshi and Neito had walked off on their own, but they were still there, just as intrigued by the lions as he was. He wondered if they looked at the lions and were listing the similarities to Neito like he had been. That is where Neito's codename, Raion, had come from, after all. When Denki got lost in thought watching the penguins, and he looked left and right after a few minutes without seeing his companions, his heart dropped down into his stomach. When he turned around though, Neito and Hitoshi were just on the other side of the exhibit, having back-tracked back to the seals. They didn't leave him the whole time, not even to duck around the corner and play a prank to make him think that they had left him. It was the best field trip ever.
Neito was hoping that Denki and Hitoshi would end up being there, too, with it being a popular destination for the local schools and with the zoo being closed to the public in the interest of attracting more schools. He didn't expect for them to come to his rescue at the same time, ready to jump in and act as a team to get him out of an annoying situation that he had found himself in. Neito noticed his classmates actively avoiding him, even more so after they saw Hitoshi next to him.
Neito wouldn't admit it to Hitoshi, but he basically became the new Hitoshi of the class. Everyone had always been so paranoid of Hitoshi and his quirk, but now that he was gone, but his soulmate who also happened to have the ability to copy quirks was still around, they avoided him. Neito figured that it had more to do with them being afraid of retaliation against them for how they had treated his soulmate before they knew they were bonded, and he would be correct. They didn't actively target Neito, but he was excluded more often than he had been previously, which was still a lot. As far as Neito was concerned, he already had two strikes against him. One was his own quirk that could copy anyone else's (except mutation quirks, of course). Two was his soulmate bond to someone that the class had always feared since learning of his quirk a year and a half ago when Hitoshi was first transferred to Katsuhhiko Middle School.
Neito didn't even really mind it, really. He felt a little heroic, actually, being able to suffer in silence and experience what Hitoshi must have felt, minus an obnoxious blonde always trying to instigate him, of course, but there was no substitute for the enigma that was Monoma Neito.
Neito was really happy that he found Denki and learned his full name and other personal details that they weren't allowed to share on the unit. He felt like he found a good friend and he was lucky that he found him again so quickly. He obviously just had to invite Denki to his birthday party that was happening in a few weeks.
"Me?" Denki asked dumbly, mind going blank at the unexpected invite.
Denki felt stupid and expected a response of either 'who else would I be talking to' or even a 'never mind.'
"It wouldn't be a party without you," Neito insisted, holding steady eye contact with Denki until he gave him an answer.
"I would love to!" Denki gushed. "But I'll have to ask my parents if I'm allowed."
"I'll send your invitation with Hitoshi, and he can give it to you in school, if that's okay," Neito stated, already planning on the logistics and knowing how some parents can be. If you don't have an invitation, some parents think that you weren't really invited.
"That's perfect! Mine is at the end of June, and of course both of you will be invited!" Denki exclaimed, a skip in his step as they walked to the next exhibit, more attention on each other than the animals for the moment.
"Really?" Hitoshi asked, glancing at Denki as they walked. "Mine is on July 1st."
"No way!" Denki squealed. "Mine is June 29th! We're two days away from being twins!"
"You'll have to tell me which weekend you're having yours, and I'll ask my foster parents if I can have my birthday party the next weekend," Hitoshi said, already smiling at the thought of two weekends in a row being taken up by spending time with his friends and eating a bunch of cake and ice cream.
"How are your foster parents?" Neito asked, turning the conversation to a more serious note.
Denki remembered that Hitoshi had told him that he hadn't even had a chance to talk to Neito about the transfer.
"They're actually really nice," Hitoshi admitted with a shrug. "They seem a little uneasy, but I think that's because I'm their first foster kid and not specifically because of my quirk." Hitoshi barked out a laugh at the thought before adding, "I haven't even seen the muzzle since I was dropped there yesterday. Usually, they like to have it out as a precaution, like a warning, if not make me wear it until I 'earn' their trust that I won't use my quirk on them."
When Hitoshi didn't get a response, he looked over at his companions to find that they were still walking in line with him, and he didn't lose them. Instead of a reply, though, they were both looking over at him with a shocked, sad look on their faces.
"Oh, no! Don't even start—" Hitoshi tried to warn but was cut off by the force of the hug from the duo, squeezing him as hard as they could from either side.
After a few minutes, Hitoshi laughingly fought his way out of it, and Denki and Neito were feeling a little bit better, too.
"Sorry," Hitoshi apologized, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sometimes I forget that what I go through isn't normal."
"Stop," Neito commanded, holding out a hand to reinforce the idea that Hitoshi should stop talking.
Denki enthusiastically nodded beside Neito, encouraging Hitoshi to hear them out.
"You can tell us anything at any time. I'm your soulmate, Hitoshi," Neito reprimanded.
"And I'm your best friend!" Denki added with a stomp, trying to match Neito's dramatics.
"Best friend?" Neito asked, whipping around to focus his intense stare on Denki and giving Hitoshi a much-needed break from the intensity. "I want to be your best friend, too!" he demanded.
"I thought we already were!" Denki yelled, stomping his foot, and throwing his hands in the air.
Denki couldn't hold up the dramatics for long, though. Seconds after, he broke down into laughter.
"You're soulmates, so you'll just have to share me as your best friend," Denki said matter-of-factly.
Denki was so comfortable with the two that he didn't even beat himself up over his cocky statement. Normally, he might think that he assumed the wrong thing and was acting overly confident, but that thought didn't even cross his mind. It probably helped that he didn't even get time to second-guess or doubt himself because his best friends were right there, hemming and hawing, and finally agreeing that maybe they could both have Denki as a best friend.
"Just remember that we established our best friendship first," Hitoshi quipped before quickly walking away toward the next exhibit and pretending to be fascinated with the animals within.
Truthfully, though, Neito had his full attention as he watched him in the reflection of the glass, mouth gaping and looking back and forth between Hitoshi and Denki. Neito would never admit it out loud, but he kind of liked the way that Denki was rubbing off on Hitoshi. He liked the cheeky, sassy retorts and the swift exit that left no room for argument. Denki was thinking the same thing about how Neito must be rubbing off on Hitoshi. And Hitoshi was just so happy that he felt comfortable enough to actually let his personality start to shine through instead of hiding behind quiet obedience. Yeah, with Hitoshi's new school being Denki's, and his new foster placement already starting out so well, and his soulmate and best friend spending the day with him, he was pretty sure that that was the best day of his life so far.
Luckily for Hitoshi, he was going to have a lot of best days ever going forward with Denki and Neito working hard to make every single day even better than the last with the common goal of making every new day Hitoshi's new favorite.
Denki's friend group spotted them after they just got out of the concession stand line with their ice cream and decided to see what was keeping Denki from sneaking around behind them and trailing after them like the sad puppy he was (or, at least, he was supposed to be) the whole field trip.
"Hi guys!" Denki greeted, just as cheerfully as ever, like his friends weren't actively trying to make him feel bad. "This is Shinsou, he's new to our school. And this is my other friend, Monoma."
"Oh, I'd love to stay and chat, but we were just off to see the zebras," the ringleader of the friend group said, turning on his heel, obviously hoping that Denki would follow along with them, and not even really caring if he let the strays follow along, too.
"Uh… zebras are that way…" Hitoshi offered, pointing in the correct direction.
Neito and Denki laughed, pleasantly surprised that witty Hitoshi seemed to be sticking around. The trio then wandered off toward their next destination, leaving Denki's friend group behind, wondering what the hell had just happened. When had Denki ever been so relaxed and comfortable in such a small group of friends? His friend group had only ever seen him be more confident in the middle of large groups, so they did not understand why he seemed to be so at ease and comfortable within the little trio. And how could they? They only saw what they wanted to see. They saw Denki as a stupid little boy who they allowed to tag along for comedic relief. He was annoying and stupid and was always talking about off-topic things.
But now that he was spending time with other people, the group was sorely lacking on topics of conversation. Their silences spread out awkwardly between chats and no laughter, that was usually either with or at Denki, was bubbling throughout the group like it usually did. They had thought that they were doing Denki a favor, but it seemed that Denki was the glue that kept the large friendship group going for so long.
By the end of the field trip, Denki's friend group was rolling their eyes and scowling at each other, annoyed with the lack of interesting conversation. They didn't even have the common courtesy to ask questions to engage the conversation and keep the topics flowing from one to another like Denki did.
By the end of the field trip, Denki was feeling grateful to have two close best friends, and he wondered why he always felt the need to have large friend groups when Neito and Hitoshi filled every second of his day with happy memories.
By the end of the field trip, Hitoshi was even more confident in his new position in life, especially now that he had his soulmate and best friend to talk to, even about his tragic time in foster care if he felt like it, and they wouldn't make it awkward or guilt trip him for it. Sure, they might send some sad eyes his way and squeeze the breath out of him, but that was nothing he couldn't handle. Actually, it was kind of exactly what he needed.
By the end of the field trip, Neito wished that he was going to Hitoshi's and Denki's school, too, because he could imagine all of the mischief that the trio could cause if they were to spend every school day together. That was a lot of hours for a lot of scheming and just plain messing around with people he enjoyed the company of. Neito had never felt so lucky before. His family was wealthy, but he had already learned that money can't buy a soulmate or a best friend. He was so grateful and would hold on tight and never let go.