Electrify Me

Prologue

Six months before the beginning of Control.

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"Great job today, Denki," Hitoshi grins at his best friend. "Your control over the voltage is getting better."

Denki blushes. Even though Akio's teacher already said the same thing to him, it means a great deal more to him coming from his purple haired classmate. "You're getting better with the capture weapon Aizawa Sensei is teaching you to use, too, Toshi. Even better than Izuku, and he's been training with it longer than you."

Both oblivious boys are blushing messes from the praise they gave each other. Katsuki shakes his head at them from where he stands next to Denki's older brother, Akio.

"Come on, Denki. We gotta get back home." Akio calls out to his younger brother. "Mom and dad said they had something important to tell us."

Denki skips over to his brother and calls out a cheerful see you later to his friends over his shoulder. The pair of brothers walk home, excitedly chatting about what they think their parents plan to tell them. About half way home, Akio asks Denki how school's been going since he hasn't really had time to talk to his brother recently with his work study.

When the boys arrive home, it's quiet. Normally, they can hear their mother's laughter as soon as they reach the corner of the house. There's never a dull moment in that household with their father's obsession with finding new jokes to see how hard he can make his wife laugh, or the woman just finding some mundane item funny because it looks like it has a funny face on it. The laughter is infectious and keeps everyone happy and joyful, even on the days that Denki doubts himself, feeling like a waste of space because he can't bring home even one decent grade.

Denki and Akio don't worry too much about the silence, though, their parents might have had to run a last minute errand, so they head to the front door, unbothered until the moment that they realize that the doorknob is gone. Akio pushes Denki behind him and immediately finds Aizawa in his contacts. The man had given his entire class his number in case of emergencies, and this definitely is one. Why would the doorknob be gone? Is the culprit still in the house?

Aizawa tells Akio to stay outside and to call the police in hopes that someone will arrive before he does. Akio does as he's bid, but the operator tells him that the nearest unit won't be there for a while.

As soon as Shota hangs up his phone, he turns to the three boys in the backseat of his car. "I hate to do this, but I need you three to walk home. Katsuki, Izuku, walk Hitoshi home, then both of you go to Katsuki's. I'll pick you up from there, Izuku."

They all nod in understanding before getting out of the car that they had just climbed into. Shouta turns off the engine and starts rushing off, using his capture weapon to swing between buildings and light poles knowing that it'll be faster than trying to move through traffic in the car. There's no telling what might be going on at the Kaminari household, and he'll be damned if he's gonna risk something happening to his students by taking the longer route.

When Aizawa arrives, Akio and Denki are still waiting for the police to arrive, so he goes in telling Akio to follow him for backup, just in case, leaving Denki to watch for the police. Not even five minutes after they walk in, a tall detective with black hair arrives and asks Denki what's going on. He explains what he knows, including Aizawa and Akio having entered the house. The detective walks in after them, and Denki can't bring himself to wait anymore. He's worried about his parents, and he's worried about his brother.

The first room Denki heads to is the kitchen. His parents were supposed to be making something special for dinner to eat while they told the boys whatever it was that had them so excited, and the sight that greets him makes him throw-up. Two piles of dust and blood are the only signs that anyone had been in the room, one by the stove and the other by the table. Once his stomach is empty, Denki screams in agony, falling backwards onto his bottom. This can't be happening. Those piles can't possibly be his parents. They can't be.

Akio finds Denki first, and he nearly follows in his younger brother's footsteps when he sees what Denki had. He can't let himself show weakness, Denki needs him to be strong right now.

The older boy calls out for Aizawa, yelling to him that both boys are in the kitchen, before stepping over Denki's puddle of vomit to check for any clues as to who caused this. Instead of clues to tell them anything about the perpetrator, though, Akio finds a single picture on the table, a picture that only makes his stomach churn more. He places a hand over his mouth to control his emotions, but he's too late. Denki already realized something about the picture had upset him, and had stood to venture over to his older brother.

Denki looks around Akio to see the image in his brother's hand, and finally breaks down into the tears that had been threatening to fall since he saw the dust piles. "I was going to be a big brother," he chokes out around his sobs.

Akio turns to catch Denki before he can fall to the floor again. "It's going to be okay," he whispers into Denki's ear. "It'll be hard, but as long as we have each other, it's going to be okay."