18 Steps To Discovering Purple - Told By Kaminari Denki

Step 4: Being Noticed

First night in the dorms with Shinsou was awkward. Not that it was horrible or anything, just unbalanced and uncomfortable. The majority of the class brushed it off by pretending it was the usual, but people kept glancing back throughout the evening to the staircase where Shinsou had disappeared the moment we got back. Occasionally he'd slip through the common room on his way to and from his old dorm, bringing boxes or other items he'd left behind. When he did, heads turned and curious eyes tracked his progress through the room. He rarely glanced our way.

Eventually people lost interest in waiting for the odd Shinsou-sighting. Ochaco was the first one to go to bed, followed by Iida and the rest of their squad. The outliers were next; Tokoyami and Aoyama and Shoji and all them. If Mineta was still there he would be one of them, but he wasn't, and I found myself missing him and his tangible purple energy.

If not for the Bakusquad, I would have sat there brooding over it for the rest of the evening. But as usual, it was Sero who pulled me from my thoughts.

"Hey, Kami! My phone's died again, you have a spare charger on you?"

I forced a grin and rustled in my pocket. "Right here, bro!" I went over to hand the charger to him, but instead he handed me his phone. Oh, I thought. So that was it.

"Thanks, dude. You're always so much faster than the outlet." The second his phone was in my hands, he turned back to his conversation with Mina.

I slunk back to my corner on the floor and sank to a seating position. I was about to put the charger in my mouth when a projectile of cords and wires came hurling at my face. I barely managed to dodge the missile before it collided with my head.

"MINE TOO, DUNCE FACE!"

I sighed, smiled, and said, "Sure thing, Bakugou!"

I grabbed the ends of both chargers and stuck them in my mouth. They tasted cold and metallic, and felt uncomfortably big in my mouth. I almost wanted to gag, but I didn't, 'cause that would be gross. I carefully raised the voltage in my mouth until my teeth were buzzing and my tongue went numb. A burning sensation spread across my mouth, like the feeling you get when you eat straight jalapenos. I always hated chili.

To distract myself, I listened in to Momo and Hagakure's conversation.

"No way! How could they do that to their own dau– son?!"

Momo didn't comment on her slip of the tongue. "I know, it was terrible. But being transgender is less tolerated than you'd think."

"I just don't get that. Your personality doesn't change with your gender. I get that it's scary to have your kid transition, but reacting like that is just plain wrong!"

Momo nodded. "What ticks me off is people who say they support LGBTQ people and say they'll always love their children no matter what, and then turn around and flip the moment their kid comes out to them!"

I shuddered, remembering memories I'd rather not relive. And no, don't get the wrong idea, I'm not transgender. But my sister is.

"Hey Denki, you charging phones? You mind doing mine too? Just drop it off at my dorm before you go to bed."

I smiled like always and took Ojiro's phone cheerfully. Now I had three large rectangular objects in my mouth. Perfect.

On the bright side I couldn't feel my mouth anymore.

"Hey Jirou! I'm going to bed, remember to send me those links!"

"Sure thing!" She yelled back. A few minutes later, she left too, along with Hagakure, Koda, and most of the Bakusquad. Sero and Bakugou stayed behind.

Now it was just the five of us in the common room; Sero, Bakugou, Momo, Todoroki, and myself.

I checked all three phones; Sero's was nearing %80, but Ojiro's was still at a measly %30. Guess I'll be up for a while.

After the conversation I heard between Momo and Hagakure I didn't want to listen in anymore, so I picked at the fraying hem of my jeans and lost myself to my thoughts.

I stopped when a dark shadow fell on my hand. I looked up to see Shinsou just standing there, towering over me. I hadn't heard him come in.

"You're charging people's phones?" Shinsou asked.

I tried to say "Yep, I sure am!" but because of the chargers in my mouth it came out more as, "Yehp, I thol ahm." Great going Denki, you sound like an idiot.

He stared for a moment, then said quietly, "You have some pretty shitty friends if their idea of friendship is to use you as a charger when you're literally sitting right next to an outlet."

I froze. "Uhh... yah..." I hadn't even noticed the outlet. I take two of the plugs from my mouth. "It's all good. I charge faster than an outlet anyways, so..."

He raised an eyebrow. "But it hurts you." He said matter of factly. "It's painful to output that amount of electricity from a concentrated area. Isn't it?"

I blinked. "What gave you that idea?"

He pointed to the corner of my mouth. "You're bleeding."

And that, my friends, is the exact moment I began to fall headfirst into the terrifying abyss that is loving Shinsou. Because he noticed me, and more to the point, he noticed my pain, even before I did.

_

Here, have a chapter as proof that I'm still alive!

I have a big one coming up this week (a really devastating one shot based off of Everything's Not Ok if you're interested), so look forward to that as well...

Question from last chapter still stands,

-Laika