Lightning Serenade

Chapter 65: Internship IV

As the seasons changed, Denki continued to go to school in the morning, practice overusing his quirk with Hawks in the afternoon, and spend time with his friends and boyfriends in the evening. Usually that time coincided with studying, though, so it wasn't as much fun as it could have been.

Denki tried to hide how tired he was, but the soulmates picked up on it easily. Not that it was hard to see, Denki guessed, seeing as how even Mineta had commented how run-down Denki seemed.

"You would be, too, if you had Hawks badgering you to overdo it with your quirk literally every day!" Denki said, sliding down into a lazy slouch on the common room's couch.

"Yeah," Mineta agreed. "I bet patrolling with the number two hero is stressful."

"That's the thing!" Denki complained. "We haven't been patrolling! Every afternoon, Hawks sits there and tells me to send out more electricity, and it's never enough."

Denki paused.

"But don't tell Neito I said that, okay? He'd want to talk to Hawks. I just want to talk to him," Denki mocked, pretending to be Neito. "It's not like I'm going to bury him alive for doing his job and trying to make you improve. He just needs to see that you're absolutely perfect just the way you are, and he just doesn't seem to understand that, so I'm going to force that through his thick skull with a sledge hammer."

Mineta laughed and nodded. "I can imagine him saying exactly that."

"Kaminari," Midoriya called across the classroom. "I'm studying for hero history tonight. Did you want to join me?"

"Absolutely!"

And even though Denki couldn't even speak when Midoriya brought up the League of Villains, he still shared all of his notes on them. Denki learned that Midoriya didn't have consistent contact like Denki did, and they only reached out to him sporadically.

"I'm kind of relieved, actually, but you don't seem to mind it." Midoriya didn't look up for verification, knowing that Denki couldn't give it. He knew if he assumed anything incorrectly, Hitoshi or Neito would send the message that corrected his thinking. It had been a few weeks since he had gotten anything wrong, though, now that he seemed to have a better understanding of the type of relationship Denki shared with the League of Villains.

Denki had been spending time playing games with Dabi and Shigaraki again. It seemed like things were heading in the right direction if their improved moods had any indication.

"Oh, hey!" Denki heard Dabi say through his headphones, but it was obvious he wasn't talking to him. Dabi continued, "I saw you on the news! You look great on television! I wonder how I would look..."

"You'd make it look more like a horror movie than the news," Denki offered.

Dabi barked out a laugh and moved his player on the screen as he replied, "I thought you said my scars look cool!"

"They do! Just in the really awesome girls-falling-in-love-with-the-handsome-killer kind of way."

"You know what? You have a point!"

"I always do!"

Training with Hawks was exhausting as usual.

"Higher!" Hawks sang.

Denki shot him a glare, but then he closed his eyes and the electricity around him got brighter and crackled louder at his efforts. When Denki ran out of steam and the electricity flickered out, he looked over to Hawks for feedback.

"You're doing good," Hawks complimented to Denki's surprise. "Before you go," Hawks started as Denki started packing up. "I wanted to let you know that I'll be putting in a bid for your internship again."