Lightning Serenade

Chapter 20: Easy Come, Easy Go

Neito was having difficulty distinguishing the difference between his feelings for his soulmate and his feelings for his best friend. He felt bad asking Denki to not join him and Hitoshi every once in a while, so he could try to sort his feelings out. He felt worse when he heard Denki telling Hitoshi that he couldn't come with some bullshit made-up excuse, but knew it was for the best. If Hitoshi knew that Neito was asking Denki to skip out on their weekends occasionally, he would ask why, and then he would know that Neito was feeling the same type of way for Denki as he was for Hitoshi.

Hitoshi, of course, saw right through the excuses, but didn't know the reason why, figuring that Denki had other friends that he wanted to hang out with or something, and that he was hesitant to tell Neito and Hitoshi like they were hogging him for themselves. Spending time with just Neito, though, left a hole in Hitoshi's heart, and that was a problem because Neito was his soulmate, and Denki was just a friend. He shouldn't have been holding them to the same level. So, sometimes Hitoshi asked Denki to not join them on the weekends, just every once in a while, so that he could get his feelings recalibrated toward his soulmate and his best friend. Denki was always super understanding, and never even questioned Hitoshi's motive, just readily agreeing.

Denki felt like he was intruding on the soulmates and was horrified that he was getting so close to them, so when either one of them asked for some alone time, Denki immediately obliged. It was healthy for soulmates to spend alone time together, and it wasn't like they were cutting him out completely... so then why did it hurt so bad spending the weekend alone in his room, with nothing but his pile of homework for company?

All three boys kept up with their training regimen by Touya, even though it was really hard to continue at first. In a way, it made them feel connected to Touya, so they pushed through the tears and sadness until there was just a dull ache every time they started their workouts.

When it had been a good month since Denki had spent the weekend with Hitoshi and Neito, he finally made it to Friday without either of them reaching out, asking if he would pull out of the weekend so they could bond together as soulmates alone. Denki had been spending time with the friends he had made on Unit Beta, because that made him feel more included. It made him feel closer to Neito and Hitoshi because they were ultimately part of the group, too, even if they weren't there. It made him feel closer to Touya, too.

He would tag along sometimes when Kyoka and Momo would have spa days and wonder if the two would end up as soulmates with the way they seemed to thrive and ebb and flow with each other's energy. They talked about and debated everything as they braided hair and painted nails, from which hero should on the next cover of the top magazine to the ethics behind lethal injection for the villains deemed beyond rehabilitation and if there was such a thing as being beyond rehabilitation in the first place.

His parents hesitated when he first came home with painted fingernails, makeup on his face, and bows in his hair, but they quickly got used to the state he would come home in after spending time with the girls and learned that he was having fun and there was no harm, so there was no reason to put a stop to it. It was leagues better than when he was worried about whether or not his friends were going to pretend to hate him the next day or not, so his parents figured they had no room to protest. Glitter him up, they decided, as long as the mascara stays on his lashes and doesn't streak down his cheeks!

He would invite Minoru to his house to play games or go to the beach; he lived quite close to Denki even though he went to a different middle school. His debate practice with the girls helped keep him knowledgeable when Minoru would talk about his cousin, who worked in the police system and who eventually wanted to transfer to Tartarus.

"It's dangerous," Minoru said.

"We want to be heroes, dude," Denki shot back with, laughing. "What we do is dangerous, too."