He Wasn't There

Chapter 1: Bakugo Katsuki Notices the Little Things (Denki Kaminari)

          This was not how Bakugou expected to be spending his evening at all. How he ended up being stuck helping the dunce face was beyond him. But of course, it really wasn't. It was shocking, it was a mystery, it was quite obvious in fact. Because no one else would. Not Aizawa Sensei, not any of their classmates, not even All Might. Everyone just left him alone, saying "Oh there goes Denki again! Stuck in stupid mode," mocking him. Maybe they wouldn't be so harsh if they knew what it was like to have roughly 2 million volts of electricity coursing through your body- and live.

          Carefully, Bakugou guided Denki back to his dorm. For once, Bakugou was thankful Denki forgot to lock his door, seeing as there was no way he could get the key from his classmates pocket and avoid getting shocked with all the electricity buzzing in and around Denki's body. He watched as Denki half walked, half stumbled around the room until he landed face first on his bed with a light thud. Bakugou deposited Denkis belongings on the floor beside the bed and his own next to Denki's desk. He couldn't very well leave Denki in this state- not with all the extra static electricity flying around him.

          Bakugou made use of Denki's desk after clearing the bit of clutter from it. He pulled out some of his homework and got working. After some time, Bakugou heard Denki beginning to stir back into a more coherent state. He turned around, Denki rubbing his eyes and leaning up on his elbows. After a moment of blinking away the drowsiness and confusion, Denki turned to see none other than his incredibly explosive companion calmly sitting at his desk.

          "Kacchan?" Denki paused to yawn, blinking up at Bakugou, "what are you doing here? Actually, how did we get here, weren't we training?" Bakugou huffed slightly at Denki's confusion.

          "How many times have I told you to stop calling me that! And we were training," Bakugou stated, putting emphasis on the word, 'were', "You overdid it again, Pikachu." Denki's face fell for a moment and he sighed, before chuckling to himself.

          "Guess I'll just have to try harder next time!" Bakugou noticed Denki rubbing and massaging his hands and then his arms.

          "What's wrong with your arms, dunce face?" Bakugou barked out, a slight scowl on his face.

          "Drawback of my quirk. My arms just hurt a bit when I use too much electricity. It's not really that big of a deal, it will usually go away after a couple hours!" Denki flashed Bakugou a large smile. He hoped it was enough, waving off the issue so easily and confidently with a smile, for his friend to drop the subject.

          "Yeah? What about your hands, then?" Bakugou raised an eyebrow at Denki. Of course Bakugou would pick up on even the most miniscule of things, like Denki's habit of wringing out his hand so often after training.

          "Oh, well, it's nothing really. My hands sort of... well, it's kind of like- you know- like pins and needles? You know that feeling? It's like that, but uh, a little more... intense? Sometimes," Denki cleared throat and wet his lips with his tongue, avoiding direct eye contact with Bakugou while he spoke, "sometimes my hands will go numb for a little bit before the pins and needles feeling sets in. But- but it's fine, seriously! It's just kind of how- how my quirk works, you know? It never really lasts for long, an hour or two at most after I snap out of my uh- my 'Yay' mode, so it's alright."

          Bakugou was quiet for a moment, with a look on his face that Denki couldn't decipher; with his mouth slightly ajar and holding a slight scowl, his eyebrows furrowed with what could be anger or concern, and his eyes downcast and glaring intensely at the floor. Denki was almost a bit afraid that Bakugou might be mad at him, until the fiery blonde finally spoke up.

          "Have you told anyone about this? You keep saying it's not a big deal but you're saying your hands go numb! That's not good Denki, you can develop permanent nerve damage. That is, if you haven't already," Bakugou's face was now more concerned than angry, his normally sharp features softening a bit. It was very rare to see him without his practically signature scowl, but what was even more shocking was the use of Denki's actual name.

          "It's fine, Bakubro, really!" Denki sent his friend a wavering smile, worried he would do something drastic. Like exploding a hole through his desk. Bakugou scoffed at that, shooting up from the chair and crossing the room to plop himself down on Denki's bed. He sat crossed legged in front of him.

          "Give me your hands, dunce face," Bakugou stated roughly, reaching out to Denki. He was surprised Bakugou didn't just grab his hands, instead holding his own out to him like he was giving him a choice to follow along or not. It didn't seem like Bakugou to be so caring and considerate, but yet here he was; helping and caring for Denki Kaminari. "Well? We don't have all day, sparky!" Well at least he was back to using his usual nicknames.

          Denki cleared his throat and decided to trust him, Placing his hands on top of Bakugou's open palms. Bakugou grabbed his hands and started massaging them, albeit a bit roughly. But that was sort of what Denki, whose hands were currently mostly numb, needed. Slowly, Bakugou started to use his quirk in intervals of every five minutes to create the tiniest of crackling explosions small enough that they won't cause any damage or pain to Denki but instead to create a bit of heat and help shock feeling back into the nerves of his hands. He kept up with his ministrations for another twenty minutes or so, until Denki stopped him, having gained feeling back into his hands with very minimal feelings of any pain left.

          "Wow, I can barely even feel any pain! Thanks Bakubro!" Denki smiled widely at him. Bakugou scoffed softly in return but had a hint of a smirk on his face.

          "Yeah, no problem, Pikachu. Anytime," he got up from the bed, stretching for a moment, "I mean that, seriously. If you need any help with your hands when you overuse your quirk. You better talk to a doctor or at least Recovery Girl about it, you know. Take care of yourself, if you ever want to be a good hero!" Bakugou gave him a pat on the head and ruffled his hair with the intent to mess it up, smirking when he succeeded. Denki gave a little squawk of protest, fixing his hair as Bakugou gathered his belongings and headed for the door.

          "Take care, Denki," he said as he walked out of the room.

          Before the door shut, Denki called back to him, "You too, Kacchan!" He smiled to himself when he heard Bakugou scoff and let off a small explosion out of protest to the nickname. As his footsteps receded down the hallway, Denki sighed softly to himself. Grabbing one of his many assignments from his bag with the plans to get some work done, with his thoughts often drifting back to the blonde who left his room moments before.