Chapter 2: Kaminari's Realization
Kaminari Denki thought that the worse thing that could happen when he was put in the same group as Monoma Neito was that he would be insulted. The insults would be accurate and truthful, and that would make them hurt all the more, but he could handle it.
What he couldn't handle, though, was finding out that his boyfriend of a year was also dating Neito.
He had laughed at first, thinking that Neito sure was getting creative with his torment this year! He really had him going, acting all friendly at first only to dish out this low blow! … Right? Denki wishes that it was all a cruel joke, but the stricken look on Neito's face gave it away, and Denki had quickly caught on to the fact that Hitoshi was cheating on him. On Neito, too.
"Don't you have a hot date or something? Why would you want to study on a Friday night?" Neito had asked after they had gotten settled in Neito's dorm room.
"Nah!" Denki had brushed off. "My boyfriend is out of town. He went home for the weekend. What about you? I didn't crash any plans of yours, did I?"
"My boyfriend is gone for the weekend, too," Neito had shrugged off.
"Oh! I didn't know you were seeing anyone!" Denki inquired. That was just like Denki, to be genuinely interested in his new friend. Denki was thrilled when Neito responded instead of telling him to mind his own business and focus on the project.
"Oh, yeah. Between studying and training, I don't get much time with him," Neito had explained.
"Oh! Same, actually!" Denki had agreed. Denki was thrilled that Neito didn't make a jab about him wasting his time with studying when it wouldn't do much. Denki was less than thrilled when the truth was revealed, though. "Hitoshi's schedule has been matching up with my own less and less as our courses get more intensive."
Neito had paused and looked suddenly pale. He forced out a laugh before rasping out, "your boyfriend? Shinsou Hitoshi?"
"You got it! You remember him from UA, right?" Denki had asked, naturally maneuvering into the next phase of the conversation. That is, if the truth wasn't about to break both of their hearts. "Woah, man! Are you okay?"
Denki had rushed forward as Neito had quickly stood up. He was suddenly so pale, and he swayed on his feet. He didn't pass out; however, Denki was ready to catch him if he did.
"Denki," Neito forced out through lips that did not want to cooperate. All Neito wanted to do was scream, but what would that solve? "Hitoshi is my boyfriend, too."
That's when Denki had started to laugh. Neito must have been really involved in an acting class or something for him to be this committed to the mean joke! Denki's laugh faded quickly when he realized that Neito wasn't lying, and then Neito was reaching out to steady Denki as he took his turn swaying from the weight of the tragic information.
"How… How long have you been dating?" Neito had whispered gently.
Denki was thankful that he wasn't yelling. He was sure that anything above a whisper would knock him over onto the floor, and he wouldn't be able to get back up for a while.
"It's been a year since last month," Denki whispered back, matching Neito's melancholy tone and volume.
Neito didn't say, but Denki could tell by the look on his face that Hitoshi had been dating Neito for at least as long as he had been with Denki.
Denki felt like absolute shit. Was he the other man? Was he the homewrecker? He couldn't be if he didn't know about it, right?
Denki thought back, trying to find out if he missed any obvious clues that would have led to the discovery of Hitoshi's infidelity, but he came up with nothing.
Hitoshi always made him feel so smart, but this is the dumbest he had ever felt.
He would take the high-strung Bakugou and Neito, like how they were back at UA, taking turns dishing out the worst insults over this any day.
Could he die from heartbreak? In that moment, he sure felt like he could.
Neito had asked him to leave. Denki could see the tears gathering in the corner of his eyes and respected his request, immediately leaving. In his rush out, he had left his backpack behind that held his portion of the project that he had done since the last time they had met the Monday earlier. He was so excited to show Neito the organization of the information that he had based off of Neito's portion of the work to make it match seamlessly. He had always struggled with that, but it seemed easy when using Neito's clear, concise work as a guide.
Denki knew that if he saw the tears spill over Neito's cheeks, he wouldn't be able to make it back across campus to his own dorm before crying as well. So, Denki left urgently, not needing to be asked twice.
He lied on his bed in his dorm room, staring up at the plain off-white ceiling, and didn't even bother trying to wipe his tears away before they slid down his face, past his ears, down his neck, and left little wet spots on his blanket.
He really felt low. He realized the intrusive, self-depreciating thoughts weren't helping his situation, but he didn't know how to stop them.
I'm so stupid. I should have realized that I'd never be good enough for Hitoshi.
Why would Hitoshi ever give a dumbass like me the time of day?
Of course, Hitoshi had to cheat on me. Neito would be able to stimulate Hitoshi intellectually. It must be a nice break from having to explain every little thing to me that I don't understand.
He tried to switch his thoughts to blame Hitoshi, but it didn't work. Hitoshi was everything he ever wanted. If the relationship didn't work, it had to have been something that Denki had done, hadn't it?
Maybe Denki was never meant to find out. It would have been better that way. Ignorance is bliss, yes? The only way he had found out about Hitoshi's infidelity was because of Neito, the smartest guy in his class, and the only other one who had shown up to the scheduled group meeting.
There were five people assigned to their group, and Neito had seemed surprised that Denki had even showed up.
"I thought I'd end up doing this assignment alone," Neito had supplied. "I did my last group's all on my own."
Denki was grateful that Neito was being civil towards him. He had heard that he mellowed out since UA, but he found it hard to believe until he saw it with his own eyes.
"I know the other guys. I knew they wouldn't be here, and I knew you would be, so here I am!" Denki had declared, plopping himself down in the seat next to Neito's and looking at his laptop screen where an outline of the project was already finished.
Denki was impressed, but to be fair, it didn't take much to impress him.
Denki realized too late that he was invading Neito's personal space, but Neito didn't even flinch at the protrusion, allowing Denki time for his eyes to scan over the work he had completed so far.
"I have this covered," Neito said with a wave toward the screen as evidence to back his claim. "If you have something better to do, I won't stop you."
"I want to help," Denki had said. He mentally scolded himself immediately, though. What the hell was he thinking? This wasn't Hitoshi. Not everyone was as patient as Hitoshi was. Neito probably didn't want the extra hassle of dragging Denki through this assignment when he could very well be gliding through it on his own—
"Really? That would be great," Neito had said, finishing a sentence on the outline before turning back toward Denki.
Denki didn't pick up any hints of sarcasm. It seemed that Neito was genuinely accepting his help on the project. Denki had let out a breath he had been holding. Denki hated feeling like a burden, so he dreaded group projects. If the group leader had to drag him along, he would be a burden. If he was left out and someone else had to pick up his slack, he was a burden. No matter what Denki did, he felt like a burden.
One of the reasons he had fallen for Hitoshi so quickly was because he never made him feel like a burden. He was so patient, and kind, and always seemed so interested in whatever Denki had decided to ramble on about that day.
Neito had quickly assigned him half of the outline, sending an email invite to the shared document through his university email.
Denki was quick to hide his wide-eyed reaction to the workload.
It wasn't anything he couldn't handle. The last group assignment, he had done everything because he had been in a group with the slackers of the class. He was pleased to find that he almost preferred it. No one had bothered to double check and correct his work, making him feel inferior in the process. The only stressful part was that everyone's' grade had relied on him, but he had done a great job, just like he usually did when he had solo assignments to complete.
So, no—it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. But Neito didn't know that, did he? Denki was expecting maybe a quarter of the work—at most—to be handed off to him. Or maybe just the gathering of information and sources while Neito would leave it to himself to actually extract the useful information and compile the report. That's what other groups with overachievers had done to include him without giving him a chance to ruin anything. So, needless to say, he wasn't expecting an even split.
Denki prided himself on being go-with-the-flow, so it was no surprise when his attitude toward Neito flipped easily from 'I hope he doesn't throw too harsh of insults at me' to 'I'm going to do the best job I have ever done so he doesn't regret giving me this responsibility.'
Denki had tried to remind himself that this was not the same as studying with Hitoshi. He was sure that Neito would not be as patient and interested in his rambling tangent about the new laws surrounding rescue work in relation to provisional heroes, but when Denki caught himself rambling, Neito was fully invested in the conversation. Neito asked questions to keep the conversation going when Denki would stop, suddenly self-conscious about his muttering.
(Denki swore that Midoriya had rubbed off on him after all of those hours studying together. Denki studied best when another person was in sight was also studying, and Midoriya's study schedule had matched perfectly with his own during their third year at UA.)
Neito even found a way to work the information into the report, changing the main stance of the report from technology-focused to law-focused. Denki was so happy that he could scream. And he did. Later, in his dorm room, his face pressed against his pillow to muffle the sound.
If Denki had anything to say about it, that would be a great foundation to the start of a new friendship. If someone had told him while he was in Class 1-A and watching Neito foam at the mouth as he planned their demise that they would be close friends, he would have questioned it intensely. But now, it was entirely believable, and that excited Denki.
It had been a while since he had made a new, close friend. He was still really close with his friends from 1-A, still regularly hanging out with Bakugou, Midoriya, and Kirishima, and catching up with Mina over breakfast every third Sunday of the month. But he hadn't made any close friends at university, splitting his time between his boyfriend and studying in order to keep up with his classmates.
Neito wasn't exactly brand new to Denki, but with this personality adjustment, he might as well be. Denki wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so he accepted that Neito, although an old schoolmate, was the most qualified to become his new friend and expand his social circle.
Would Neito still want to be friends after Denki had ruined his and Hitoshi's relationship?
Denki sat straight up on his bed and reached for his phone.
If Denki was feeling like shit, he could only imagine that Neito was feeling even worse. And he had just left him in his dorm room in the middle of their group project session! Right after finding out that his boyfriend had been cheating on him!
It probably only added insult to injury that Shinsou was cheating on Neito with him of all people. If Shinsou was going to risk his relationship with Neito, it should have been with someone much more worthy than Denki.
Denki, being empathetically himself, reached out to Neito through a text to check on him and ask him if there was anything he could do.
And hell, what were they going to do about Hitoshi? He didn't even know that his boyfriends had discovered each other, yet.