Chapter Text
Shinsou hadn’t meant to overhear the conversation. Really, he hadn’t. The only reason he was still in the main school building was due to the incredible amount of catch up work he had after his transfer into class 1-A went through. He’d spent the afternoon in the library and was just packing up when he realised he’d left his notes from that day in the classroom and he’d need it for that nights assigned homework.
As Shinsou drew closer to 1-A’s homeroom he realised the door was ajar, he slowed down suddenly cautious. Aizawa usually locked up after he left so this meant his teacher or someone else was still in the classroom. Turns out he was right on both parts. Glancing through the crack in the doorway he spotted Aizawa and… Kaminari?
Kaminari was quiet, sat at his desk and facing forward. Aizawa had perched himself on the desk next to him with his back to the door. Shinsou couldn’t see Aizawa’s face but from his posture alone he could tell whatever he’d stumbled upon was serious. He really ought to have turned around then and there but the pained twinge he saw on Kaminari’s face kept him rooted to the spot. Even when his brain was fried Kaminari had a smile on his face, the way his mouth was currently turned down at the corners and his eyes fixed on the blackboard just looked wrong. His leg was bouncing and Shinsou frowned when he realised small sparks were shooting from his heel.
Aizawa sighed heavily breaking the moment of silence during which Shinsou happened upon the scene. “You may not feel comfortable talking about the details of whatever this is with me and that’s fine but I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Nothing’s going on.” Even Kaminari’s voice sounded defeated.
Aizawa lifted an arm to rub at his face. “Kaminari don’t play me for a fool. You’re an intelligent kid, you may struggle academically but you’ve been showing steady improvement over the past few months.” A nervous glance was all Aizawa got in response to that.
“This past week however you’ve been consistently distracted, more so than usual, throughout all your classes according to your other teachers. Then there’s results on Monday’s test, which were frankly appalling.” Kaminari’s shoulders curled in. “Now I wish to give you a chance to re-sit since I suspect there’s a reason for this. You don’t lack motivation, or knowledge, so logically whatever is effecting your learning is bigger than that. As your teacher, here at UA, I’m in charge of not only your education but your wellbeing. Please let me help you.”
As Aizawa waited response Shinsou studied Kaminari. He hadn’t given it much thought but now that it was brought up Kaminari really had been distracted this past week. Shinsou could recall multiple occasions of books or glasses slipping from his grasp, the small shocks he’d accidentally given his classmates and how absolutely zoned out he’d been in the morning walking to class, to the point Mina had to steer him in the right direction. If he didn’t know better Shinsou would assume he’d been in the final stages of ‘whey’ mode the entire week.
“If you’d rather talk to another teacher that’s fine, I’ll just–“ Aizawa suddenly stopped, if Shinsou hadn’t been paying such close attention to Kaminari he wouldn’t have realised he’d said anything.
“Sorry I didn’t quite catch that.”
Kaminari breathed in a shuddering breath as if fortifying himself, a singly spark trailing down the length of his hair. “There’s a storm coming sensei.”
“A storm?”
“Yeah, a big one.” He twisted his hands together anxiously more sparks travelling down his fingertips.
“Kaminari is this related to your quirk.”
The boy nodded eyes downcast. “Yeah the electrical currents created by storms, if I’m unable to shut them off from me, kinda flow through me and that extra power can sometimes mean losing control of my quirk.”
“There’s nothing about storms on your quirk report from enrolment. Is this a new development?” By the way Kaminari bit his lip Shinsou knew it wasn’t and so did Aizawa. “Why didn’t you include this Kaminari, it’s important information. This also isn’t the first storm of the year.”
Kaminari muttered something that Shinsou was too far away to hear.
“That may be the case, but it’s different this time yes?”
Kaminari finally turned to face Aizawa. “Yes.”
God, Kaminari was tearing up, Shinsou was not prepared to see that. “I have never had to focus so hard on not overloading. Usually I only feel a storm’s electrical currents a day or two before but it’s been days and this one still hasn’t hit.” Kaminari dragged a hand through his hair. “Usually when there is too much electricity in my system I just discharge some into the air but I can’t do that now. Discharging electricity just makes these currents around me stronger and harder to shut off. And when I can’t shut those circuits off that energy feeds right back into me. So I’ve been constantly influencing the currents around me to keep them at bay.”
It was hard for Shinsou to follow especially in the rushed way all this information was pouring out of Kaminari, but it was obvious he was carrying an incredible mental load.
“I know that’s been stopping me from concentrating on school but if I don’t focus on keeping my quirk in check I’ll lose control and someone could get hurt.” Kaminari took a shuddering breath. “And it’s not like I’ve been ignoring the issue completely, I got mum to send over all my old battery packs. Usually before a storm I’ll just fill a battery with excess energy and be fine. But these last few mornings I’ve been waking up so overcharged that I have to fill all ten before getting back to my average range. It’s not even worth it though because pushing that much electricity out first thing means being fried all morning. That then means can’t stop the currents from channelling in so by the time I can concentrate again I’m back to being overcharged and it’s all been for nothing!” Tears spilled over and ran down his face as more sparks gathered and danced across his skin.
Shinsou kicked himself again, he should turn around right now, his notes really didn’t matter that much. This was an invasion of privacy, Kaminari obviously hadn’t told anyone before now, hesitant to even tell their teacher, so this information was not meant to be for him. But still Shinsou remained fixed to the spot, he wouldn’t admit it to anyone but he was deeply concerned. Aizawa slouched against the desk.
“I’m not going to berate you for not saying anything because I’m sure by now you realise that is what you should have done.” Kaminari nodded sorrowfully shoulders shaking with supressed sobs. “So what we’re going to do now is find a way to help. This obviously isn’t sustainable for you and could lead to more serious outcomes than a failed test. Do you know when the storms due to be at its’ height?”
“P-probably early tomorrow morning or sometime after. It’s close.”
“Ok so then we’ve got to work fast. I’ll contact the support class and see what we can do about manually regulating the electrical currents around you, meanwhile I’d like you to go to Recovery Girl, explain the situation and get her to check your vitals do you think you can manage that?” Kaminari nodded although with the amount of sparks shooting off him Shinsou was somewhat sceptical.
Aizawa stood and Kaminari followed, taking a few deep breaths and scrubbing at his face in an unsuccessful attempt to regain composure.
“Kaminari I want to reassure you I’m not mad at you and am grateful you opened up to me. I want you to be able to trust me with this kind of stuff especially when it’s effecting you to such an extent. Next time, and hopefully there won’t be one, please don’t let it get to this point before talking to someone. Not for my sake but for yours.”
Kaminari looked like he might start crying again then and there. “I will. Thank-you Aizawa-sensei.”
“No problem now off you go. I’ll drop by as soon as I can with news from support.”
They both began to turn towards the door and it was only Shinsou’s newly honed instincts that kept him from being seen by his teacher and classmate. Silently and as fast as he dared he snuck around the corner opposite from the direction of Recovery Girl’s office.
Hearing footsteps trail away until there was nothing but silence Shinsou let out the breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding. Deeming it safe he turned the corner once again ready to return to the dorms only to come face to face with his teacher.
“It seems as though we’re going to have a talk about eavesdropping on private conversations Shinsou.” His deadpan expression gave nothing away.
“I uh- I really didn’t mean-” He stuttered mind racing a mile a minute trying to think of any excuse to get him out of trouble.
Aizawa continued not giving him a chance to speak. “Lucky for you I’ll have to postpone it in favour of more important activities as I’m sure you are aware.”
“Yes Aizawa-sensei.” There was no point in denying it now. Just as his teacher went to move past a thought struck Shinsou. “Wait! Um… I don’t suppose there’s anything I could do to help. I hate that I didn’t realise something was up with Kaminari, it’s not like he was doing a very good job of hiding it.” Aizawa hummed in agreement. “But you said yourself he needs to talk to people about this, what’s one more person to confide in?”
Aizawa rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded awfully like: “This is what I get for teaching the damned hero course.” Before sighing. “You know what, fine. Why don’t you go get the battery packs from Kaminari’s dorm room and bring them to him. You can tell him I sent you but know I’m only covering for you because he needs to open up to you on his own terms. If he doesn’t, you pretend you never heard and leave him be alright. And it should go unsaid that this information travels no further.”
Shinsou nodded eagerly. “Of course! Thank-you sensei.”
“Don’t thank me just be there for him. I think you’re right he needs to know he has someone to rely on his own age. Now go on and let’s hope he hasn’t short-circuited by the time you get there.” Shinsou bowed slightly before turning and racing down the corridor, leaving an exasperated Aizawa in his wake.
The trip to the dorms from the 1-A homeroom is usually a five to ten-minute walk, he makes it there in two. Shinsou is suddenly very thankful for all the running Aizawa made him do because he is able to slow to what could be considered a casual walk, calming his breathing to a normal pace just before entering the dorms.
He nods to Midoriya’s yelled greeting from his spot on the couch then made his way up to Kaminari’s dorm. Shinsou looked both ways before entering the room. Despite having permission from their teacher and it technically being an emergency, he didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea, whatever that idea might be. He sighed as the door shut behind him, more grateful than ever for the full dorm tour Kaminari had insisted on giving him when he entered class 1-A. Having to ask a classmate for direction would have been much too suspicious. The room itself was much the same as when he’d been shown it, if a little messier, not that Shinsou could blame Kaminari, it’d be hard to clean when you’re so busy focusing on not electrocuting anyone.
Now for the batteries, scanning the room it didn’t take Shinsou long to find what appeared to be a stack of car batteries attached to a gently whirring machine. Ten brick sized batteries. Shinsou let it sink in that Kaminari had been filling these enormous batteries and it still hadn’t been enough to contain all the power he currently had at his disposal.
Unplugging one he realised he had his work cut out for him. Shinsou wasn’t weak by any means but the weight and amount of batteries were a little beyond his arms abilities, not to mention how suspicious it’d look if he just walked out of the dorms holding them for everyone to see. After another quick search the only bags Shinsou could find was Kaminari’s Pikachu backpack that he’d gotten as a birthday gift from the Bakusquad and a reusable shopping bag. They’d have to do. Quickly but carefully he unplugged and arranged the batteries in the bags.
He was about to zip up the bag when another thought stuck him. Kaminari had still been in his uniform when he spoke to Aizawa, and if he was going to be in Recovery Girls Office for a while the uniform probably wouldn’t be the most comfortable. Without giving it too much more thought Shinsou rummaged through a pile of semi-folded laundry that seem to have been sitting there for a while, and shoved a pair of tracksuit pants, a t-shirt and a hoodie into the top of the backpack. Then he opened the door slightly to check the coast was clear and head out.
He was almost out of the dorms when Kirishima, who he hadn’t noticed sitting at the kitchen bench, looked up and called out. “Hey! Isn’t that Denki’s backpack?”
Shinsou swallowed and turned. “Yeah, he let me borrow it. I just had to grab a few more text books for some last-minute study in the library before it closes.”
“Oh ok! You’re cutting it close though with the library.” Kirishima checked the clock. “You may only have another thirty minutes if you hurry! And speaking of Denki have you seen him? He hasn’t been around since class let out.”
Shinsou nodded, half lies were always more believable. “Ah yeah sorry that’s my bad, he asked me to help him study after a bad mark from Monday’s test. We’ve been in the library all afternoon. Anyway, he’ll probably be back a bit later I think he wanted to talk to Aizawa about resitting the test after we finished.”
Kirishima grimaced. “Oh that’s rough. Thanks for helping him Shinsou I know he gets super stressed out about that stuff. Anyway, I’ll let you get on your way!”
Shinsou nodded and hurried out the door, glad to have found himself an excuse to rush. The journey back to Recovery Girls office still took longer than he’d like since Shinsou was weighed down by the batteries. Maybe Aizawa sent him off to do this as repentance for his earlier eavesdropping he thought as he switched the reusable bag to the other hand for the sixth time. Either way it was such a small weight in comparison to what Kaminari was experiencing that he pushed it to the edge of his mind and walked a little faster.
Coming to the door he knocked softly. “Come in!” Recovery Girl’s voice sounded from inside. In the nurse’s office at first it appeared to be just her but a screen drawn in front of the first bed said otherwise. “Ah Shinsou. What can I do for you?”
“I ran into Aizawa-sensei and he sent me to get these for Kaminari.” He showed her the contents of the shopping bag.
“Ah excellent, I was starting to think I’d have to go get those myself. Kaminari one of your classmates, Shinsou is here, do you want to see him?” A noncommittal hum sounded from the other side of the curtain and Shinsou breathed a sigh of relief that he still had a chance to be more useful than just bringing batteries.
Recovery Girl motioned for him to follow her and went behind the curtain. “Do you know if the batteries are all empty?”
“They were attached to something in his room but I don’t know how quickly that drains them, they could be–” Shinsou didn’t know what he expected behind the curtain but it wasn’t what he got. Kaminari had his eyes squeezed shut and sweat on his forehead, sparks ran the full length of his body. It would almost have been pretty if it wasn’t obviously causing so much tension. The bed had been covered in a thin plastic sheet and Recovery girl passed Shinsou a pair of plastic gloves.
“Kaminari?” She called but the boy didn’t answer. “Kaminari!” He startled and Shinsou had to jump back to avoid a group of sparks that flicked outwards.
Kaminari blinked a few times, almost as if a computer restarting. “Wait Shinsou?” Ah, he must have been so out of it he replied to Recovery Girl automatically. Doubt swirled in Shinsou’s gut, maybe Kaminari really didn’t want anyone else to know and here Shinsou was just butting in to his private business. Maybe he was doing more harm than good.
“Hi… uh I ran into Aizawa sensei and he said to bring the batteries from your dorm room here.” He sat the bags on the bed next to Kaminari who looked from the bags to Shinsou then back to the bags. Shinsou resisted the urge to run. Especially when Kaminari unzipped the backpack and pulled out the hoodie. “I also, um, brought you some clothes as well.” He scratched the back of his neck suddenly doubting his decision. “It’s just Aizawa mentioned he sent you here from class so I thought you might like to change out of your uniform. If not that’s fine I just…”
“No, uh, thank-you. The uniform gets rather,” Kaminari paused as if trying to find the right word, “…scratchy, when I’m all worked up like this.” He tried for a laugh but it fell flat, Kaminari’s fists tightened in the hoodie as he held it.
“Right, now why don’t you try filling some of those batteries dearie, see if we can get you to stop sparking.” Recovery Girl spoke up.
Kaminari looked nervous, eyes flicking back to Shinsou, but ultimately nodded taking one of the batteries into his hands. He took several deep breaths before the sparks running all over his body at random changed direction and began to travel through his arms and into the battery. He looked deep in concentration, eyebrows knotted together and eyes transfixed on the battery in front of him.
It was a few minutes before Kaminari lowered it to his side with a sigh and said, “Next.” Wordlessly Shinsou passed him another. There were less sparks now but it took longer for Kaminari to begin channelling the power into the battery. “This one was still half full.” He mumbled moments before dropping the second next to the first. The third went much the same and Shinsou passed him the fourth. Kaminari bit his lip this time as he began passing over the energy. His breathing grew laboured and his hands began to shake. Shinsou looked nervously to Recovery Girl but she did nothing to stop him. The next few minutes seemed to pass agonisingly slow. But when Kaminari dropped the fourth battery and slumped against his pillows the majority of the sparks were gone.
Recovery Girl pat his shoulder. “I think that’s enough for now. How are you feeling?” Kaminari shook his head and made a disgruntled noise. “Could you put that into words?”
“Mm feeling gross.” He groaned slinging an arm over his face and sighing. “Like I maybe just got hit with a truck and sat on by a whale that’s just had a three-course meal then zapped with a couple tasers. Them words enough?”
Recovery Girl rolled her eyes and turned to Shinsou. “If he’s good enough to be snarky he’ll survive. While you’re here you mind giving me a hand. I just need to step out and see where Aizawa is up to, if you could move the used batteries over there and the bags to the floor that’d be great.” He nodded as she moved toward the door before stopping again. “Watch him and press this buzzer if anything changes. Oh, and help him into those clothes if he needs.” Shinsou nodded again before realising just what he’d agreed to but Recovery Girl was already gone.
Kaminari let out another groan arm sliding from his face to give Shinsou a flat look. “So I guess your my nurse for the moment. Please do your best to make sure I don’t die.”
“You’re not dying Kaminari.” But then Shinsou paused, he was looking a lot worse than when he’d been speaking to Aizawa, and the storm hadn’t even hit. “Are you?”
“God, you need to work on your bedside manner.” Kaminari chuckled bitterly. “And no, I’m not dying I’m just…”
“Just what?”
“Weak.” Shinsou couldn’t bare how absolutely dismayed he looked. How someone so bright and enthusiastic around others could be so hard on himself.
“Kaminari you’re not weak.”
He shook his head at Shinsou pushing himself up from the pillows. “How would you know! This,” he gestured at himself, “all you’re seeing right now, is caused by a stupid storm and heightened electrical currents in the damn atmosphere. All it takes is a bit of bad weather and I’m out of commission. There’s nothing strong about that. And the real kicker is this whole thing started affecting me a week before the storm even happened! I’m so busy just not electrocuting anyone that I become bloody useless! Can’t even get a passing grade on a stupid test like this! What am I meant to do against villains? And yeah there might be some miraculous invention that can help but the weakness is still there Shinsou!” He let out a frustrated groan and collapsed back on the bed turning his face away from Shinsou. “Maybe I don’t belong in this class.”
Silence stretched between them as Kaminari was obviously done talking and Shinsou didn’t quite know what to say. As he pondered where to start and began shifting the batteries like Recover Girl had ordered the tense atmosphere dissipated. Once the bed was cleared he stood awkwardly for a moment before turning to dig out the spare clothing he’d brought. With a sigh, he sat on the edge of the bed.
“I didn’t mean to belittle your feelings. This… thing… sounds really terrible and I understand why it’d make you feel weak. But also, you just explained why you’re actually really strong.” Kaminari turned back to face him still obviously annoyed but willing to listen. “You said you’ve been dealing with this for a week, that takes incredible stamina and concentration. Give me one other example of someone with a quirk similar to yours who could maintain that level of vigilance and exertion every waking hour for days. Even pro heroes would struggle with that.” A thought struck him then and in his excitement, he reached out and grabbed Kaminari’s hand. “Iida wears glasses!”
“What?” Kaminari just looked confused now. “What does that have to do with anything.”
“You said that an invention to help in this situation wouldn’t matter because you’d still be weak. Do you think Iida is weak?”
“No! Of course not.” Kaminari frowned not quite coherent enough to get the point before Shinsou told him.
“Well you know he’s really rather blind. Without his glasses, I doubt he’d be able to so much as read a test let alone answer questions on one. He also has contacts while in his hero suit, he’d barely be able to get a hit in without them! Do you think he’s weak for needing these items? Do you think that they make him any less of a hero?”
“No but- it’s just- different for me.”
“How?”
“Well he was born like that.”
Shinsou felt like smacking his palm to his head. “So were you!”
“He can’t help it!”
“And neither can you!”
“But he’s the class rep and I’m just-” Shinsou didn’t want to hear any more of that.
“You’re not just anything Kaminari! You’re strong and smart, in more important ways than book smarts. You know how to make friends and talk to people, that’s a skill I’m really envious of. Then there’s your control and strength when it comes to your quirk, and hero training is only going to help you keep growing that. You really do belong in this class and if doing your best means adding a piece of tech to your everyday life and hero outfit that’s fine! And if even one person gives you shit for it well they’ll have me to answer to ok?” Shinsou squeezed the hand that he realised he was still holding.
“Ok.” It was said quietly, so much softer than Kaminari’s earlier interjections. He squeezed back Shinsou’s hand. “Thanks, I guess I was being a bit stupid.”
“No not stupid, just a moment of self-doubt we all get them. And this really has been quite the week for you.” At that Kaminari laughed and thankfully dropped Shinsou’s hand, before he could freak out too much about prolonged contact, in favour of running it over his face.
“Oh god you have no idea. Sero started keeping a tally of the amount of times I bumped into door frames. It’s seriously embarrassing. After this is all over and my brain cells have returned to functioning order I’ll plot my revenge.”
“I have no doubt you will.” This time around the silence was much more comfortable. Soon however Kaminari began to fidget, small sparks launching into the air around them. “Ah right!” Shinsou shoved the spare clothing at him. “You mentioned you’re uncomfortable in the uniform.”
Kaminari took the clothing. “Oh yeah I forgot about that! Thanks again for bringing them, I get really sensitive like this, nerves all working overdrive or something. I don’t know if it’s just me but even when I’m not like this they’re not the most comfortable.”
“No I agree.” Shinsou reassured. “You’d think being such a big school that pours so much money into its’ campus they’d be able to make the blazers out of something a little nicer.”
“Right! It’s a little ridiculous when you think about it. Plus, this shade of green does nothing for my hair.”
Shinsou laughed before standing. “I’ll leave you to get changed. You’ll be fine doing that by yourself, right?”
“I may be sparking like a cut cord but I can still dress myself.” Kaminari Grumbled beginning to sit up and peel off his blazer.
“Good to know.” Shinsou went to wait behind the curtain but stopped as Kaminari called out.
“You’re not leaving leaving right?”
He turned back and smiled what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Nah, I’ll just be on the other side of the curtain.”
“Ok cool.” Shinsou could read the relief behind Kaminari’s flippant reply.
Sitting by the door listening to the faint rustle of Kaminari changing, Shinsou took a moment to collect himself. All in all, that hadn’t been a train wreck. He assumed it safe to say he’d helped, if Kaminari not wanting him to leave was anything to go by. He’d at least made some sort of impact on Kaminari’s point of view but the fact remained he wasn’t in the clear yet. Fear swelled in the pit of Shinsou’s stomach. What if there wasn’t some miraculous invention to help Kaminari fight off the electrical currents brought on by the storm. What would happen when the storm reached its height and there was nothing to stop him from being overcome by it. Did U.A. even have the facilities to contain the kind of electrical bursts Kaminari was capable of? There wouldn’t be time to go anywhere else. And surely, it’d be even more dangerous for Kaminari to step outside if there was even the smallest likelihood of lighting.
Just before Shinsou could start freaking out even more than Kaminari had, the door opened and in walked Recovery Girl followed by Aizawa and a student Shinsou briefly recognised from the final battles of the sports festival. More importantly there was something in her hands.
“Shinsou, how is the patient?” Recovery girl asked.
“Still getting dressed.” Shinsou replied before adding dryly. “Resisting assistance.”
“Hey! I resent that, I can stand on my own so I can dress my god damn self.” Came the reply from behind the curtain.
Aizawa shook his head. “Well that’s good to hear.”
“Oh Aizawa-sensei you’re back!” Kaminari now dressed in his track pants and hoddie drew back the curtain. “And who are you?”
“The girl who’s about to make your life a thousand times easier, Hatsume Mei, and you can thank me later!” She rushed forward, fishing a rod from her utility belt and jabbing Kaminari with it.
“Ow! What the… Hey! Watch where you’re poking that thing.” He looked around the room pleadingly but no-one came to his aid.
“It’s funny that your teacher came when he did. I decided to stay back in class because some of my tech was acting up, turns out there was electrical interference and what not, as I’m sure you’re aware. I was just assembling a device to protect my super cute babies from being the biggest lightning strike target on this side of Japan when teach over there burst in all dramatic like…”
“I don’t do dramatic.” Aizawa stated.
“Yeah, yeah anyways. He burst in and explains that actually you’re the biggest target on this side of Japan and would really like not to be.” She finally tucked away the rod and instead started fiddling with the device she was holding. “All I had to do was remodel my plans for living matter rather than tech. Only took a few tweaks really,” she pulled out a screw driver and after removing the back of the device held it in her teeth, “an- -ow I’m jus- makin’ sure you don- die when I -urn it on.”
“Well that’s reassuring!” Kaminari quipped sarcastically.
Hatsume ignored him taking the screwdriver out of her mouth to tinker with the device’s insides. “It’s a prototype so there’s not much to be said for it’s appearances and I made this with the condition that I would be able to design you a new one after this storm passes because this is truly a disgrace to my design skills,” Aizawa gave her a pointed look that spoke of an earlier disagreement, “but for an emergency I guess it’ll do.”
Once satisfied with it she passed the machine to Kaminari who took it hesitantly. Shinsou finally got a good look at the device. It was about the size of a cd case but somewhat deeper. It was rather unassuming really, being made of a plain black metal like material with two buttons on the front and a small screen like one you might get on an alarm clock. Kaminari turned it over in his hands. “So what exactly is this and how does it help me?”
“I call it Current 245, and in simple words all the extra electricity you’ve been manually keeping from entering your electrical stores and overwhelming your quirk will instead be filtered through this automatically. You’ll still be able to draw power and release it but this should protect you from accidental acquisition of more power than you can handle. Get it?”
“Yeah, ok that’s actually really cool!” Kaminari smiled a spark or two popping off his shoulders as Hatsume also beamed at the praise. “How do I use it?”
“Well if everything’s in working order, and it is because I made it, you should be able to just clip it to your waistband and press that button there.”
Realising there was indeed a clip on the back Kaminari lifted his hoodie so he could attach it to his pants, glancing up nervously at the small crowd observing him before shrugging and hitting the button.
Several things happened at once. A snap of electricity shot out from Kaminari and the lights flickered. Almost in slow motion Kaminari’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and his legs gave out from beneath him. Both Shinsou and Aizawa rushed forwards to catch him and they ended up slowly sinking to the floor anyway, Kaminari now unconscious half sat in Shinsou’s lap.
“I thought you said this was safe.” Aizawa spoke with barely any emotion but Shinsou would rather die than be on the receiving end of that look.
Hatsume rolled her eyes either oblivious to their teacher’s gaze or ignoring it as she lent down to examine the device still attached to Kaminari’s side. “It is! And it did exactly what it was meant to.”
“Was it meant to make him pass out!?” Shinsou was panicking now, they should have asked more questions, Hatsume Mei had a reputation for crazy experiments and she had pieced this device together in just an afternoon with little to no testing.
“Well not necessarily, but it was a possible outcome.”
“What!?” Shinsou shook his head in disbelief. “And you didn’t warn him?”
“Look lover boy, I thought this was an emergency, the kind where we didn’t have the time to go through all the possible outcomes, so forgive me for not adding a disclaimer. And anyway, he’s fine. He probably just collapsed because his brain and quirk have been running at five hundred miles an hour for the past week. You would collapse too if that burden was suddenly lifted off your shoulders.”
Recovery Girl leaned down to inspect Kaminari before humming in agreement. “I do believe she is correct, it seems as though he’s merely asleep. Aizawa, Shinsou shift him back to the bed if you don’t mind.”
“But…” Shinsou looked between Recovery girl, Hatsume and Aizawa. “…he’s…” His gaze landed on Kaminari whose face was slack and body disturbingly still.
“Going to be perfectly fine my dear.”
Shinsou sighed letting the remaining tension slip from his shoulders. “Ok.” With a nod at Aizawa they shifted and gently lifted Kaminari. Recovery Girl removed the plastic sheet and drew back the covers of the bed so they could set him down properly. Shinsou without realising what he was doing pulled the sheets back up and tucked Kaminari in, hands lingering at the edge of the sheets until a cough from Aizawa made him startle and his face grew hot.
“Right well now that’s sorted I’ll be off.” Hatsume dusted her hands together. “Send him to me tomorrow or when he next wakes up so I can modify Current 245 for everyday use and run some proper experiments.” She turned to Aizawa. “Pleasure doing business with you.” And with that she walked out the door.
“Business? What exactly did you promise her in exchange for this.” Shinsou crossed his arms at his teacher.
“Extra credit and a contract with Kaminari as the sole producer of this device for the next three years.” Aizawa ran a hand over his face. Shinsou could tell he was glad not to have that particular problem student in his class.
“I guess that’s logical.”
“Look at the two of you.” Recovery Girl gave them both a firm pat on the back. “It’s getting late you should both go get some rest.”
Shinsou glanced at Kaminari nervously.
“Don’t worry about him, he’ll be alright now. I’ll be monitoring him over night and during the storm just to make sure nothing changes and if it does I’m sure your teacher will inform you.” Aizawa made a non-committal grunt in response.
“Come on Shinsou I’ll walk you back to the dorm.” He knew Aizawa probably still wanted to talk to him about earlier so he nodded his assent. Aizawa was holding the door open for him when he looked back at Kaminari sleeping.
“Ok, just wait one second.” He grabbed a piece of paper from a pad on Recovery Girl’s desk and a pen and quickly scribbled a message, folded it in half and sat it on the table beside the bed. “Right, ready to go.” Without looking back this time he walked out the door.
Aizawa and Shinsou walked in silence for a little way, before Shinsou gave in to the underlying tension. “So how much trouble am I in for eaves dropping on your conversation earlier?”
“Well that depends, were you able to talk to Kaminari?”
“Yes, kinda.”
“Did it help?”
“Well I think so...” He paused thinking over the past hour. “No, actually I know it did.”
“Then there doesn’t seem to be any issue. I trust you to, in future, make good judgements for when private matters are to be left alone and to respect your classmates wishes for privacy.” He paused sighing as if the next part was painful to admit. “As well as know when interferences are in fact necessary.” Shinsou’s eyebrows climbed his forehead in surprise.
“So essentially you’re telling me that I made the right call to listen in today.”
“What I’m saying is the actions that came from your choice were beneficial to all parties but this is often not the case so think things through next time. Oh, and remind me to work on stealth next class, you were about as subtle as a blind elephant.” Shinsou laughed.
After a moment of comfortable silence, they were drawing closer to the 1-A dorms.
“What should I tell the class about where Kaminari is? I still don’t think he’s comfortable with everyone knowing the truth and if he wants to tell them he should get to on his own terms.”
“Just say he was feeling unwell and you took him to see Recovery Girl.” Shinsou hummed and nodded. Just as they reached the dorm Shinsou turned to face Aizawa.
“Uh, thanks for letting me help,” He scratched the back of his neck, “and thanks for not getting mad at the whole listening in thing.”
“Don’t mention it. Seriously do not.”
Shinsou smirked. “Can’t have anyone thinking you’re going soft now can you.” A look from Aizawa wiped the smirk clean of his face. “Sorry, sorry, my lips are sealed!” And with that Shinsou all but ran into the dorms.
---------
The next morning when Kaminari woke to light shining through his eyelids he bolted upright ready to make a mad dash to his batteries to stop the sparks. But when his brain actually caught up with his eyes he realised he wasn’t sparking. Not only wasn’t he sparking but despite the rain that was crashing down outside there was no heavy press of the foreign electrical currents he’d been living with for the past week.
Memories came back to him as he looked around the nurse’s office. How had he gotten into bed? Last thing he remembered he’d been starting up the Current thingy-ma-gig that Hatsume had made for him. Pulling down the covers he saw it was still there, that must mean it was working. He sighed in relief and relaxed back into the bed. It was dark last he remembered but now despite the storm clouds and rain it was bright outside. Must be morning.
Looking around he noticed a folded piece of paper on the nightstand. Picking it up and reading it his face split into a grin.
Kaminari,
Hope you’re doing alright.
I wanted to say thanks for opening up to me and that I’m not going to tell anyone what we talked about unless you tell me to.
And in case you want to talk again here’s my number.
062-872-364
You can text me when you wake up if you like, no pressure.
Shinsou.
The excited whoop that Recovery Girl heard as she returned after getting breakfast from Lunch Rush set aside any remaining concerns for her charges health.
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