Lightning Serenade

Chapter 43: Love All Around

A/N: Opening weekend at the waterpark was a success! My lifeguard tan is coming in nicely already, complete with a watch tan line, tan lines around my t-shirt and shorts, ombre face tan going from light to dark because of my hat and sunglasses, and polka-dots on my feet due to my crocs... What would it take to convince you that the polka-dot tan lines on feet is the newest trend and everyone should join in?

"I'm getting better at ice skating, though, so that's a plus," Denki chattered as he maneuvered his character through the maze-like gamescape, leading Dabi and Shigaraki for once instead of following behind.

Denki was catching up his friends on everything that had happened since the whole incident happened at Kamino Ward, including everyone throwing him a surprise party after his mood had drastically and suddenly improved after the very enlightening visit from Toga.

"Isn't the nearest ice rink, like, three hours away from UA?" Denki heard Dabi ask through his headset.

"How do you even know that?" Shigaraki asked incredulously.

"Shouto made one of the training gyms into an ice rink for us! He's seriously so cool!" Denki bragged. After a pause, he added, "pun intended?"

"Didn't sound intended to me," Dabi quipped back with a laugh. "Just lucky."

"Yeah, maybe," Denki agreed, humor laced in his voice.

It was just nice to be playing with his online gaming friends again. It felt so normal after everything had gone haywire. It was especially relieving because of the fact that Denki wasn't sure he was ever going to hear Shigaraki's voice again.

"Can we stop here? Is it safe?" Shigaraki asked, pausing his forward movement in the game.

"Sure, but we can't stay for long! If we stay in one place for too long, the demons will track us down!" Denki warned, also stopping his own forward movement to join in the huddle of characters on the screen.

"I just need to grab some water. I'll be right back," Shigaraki stated.

Before Denki could respond, he heard a shuffling through his headset, then Dabi's distant voice in the background, like he had taken his own headset off, telling Shigaraki to stay put and that he would get him his water.

"Is there anything else you want?" Dabi asked quietly, but to no avail, because Denki heard it all.

"When Toga said that you had changed after your concussion, I didn't think she meant like this," Denki teased when Dabi got back to his controller and headset.

"We all know it wasn't the concussion," Dabi admitted shamelessly.

Of course, he was referring to the fact that Shigaraki almost died. If it weren't for the human AED that Denki could turn into, they would have lost him for sure. It wasn't like they could just waltz on into a civilian hospital and get someone to help. It wasn't like the heroes would jump at the chance of saving a villain. Well, most heroes, anyway, because Denki quickly showed that he didn't really care about the norms; he was just going to save as many people as he could.

"People say that you don't know what you have until it's gone," Shigaraki added gently.

"I don't ever want to find out, because having you almost gone was bad enough. You go out like that again, and Denki will have to save both of us, because I'm going to have a fucking heart attack."

When Denki and Shigaraki snorted, Dabi insisted, "I'm serious!"

"So dramatic," Shigaraki dismissed.

But Denki didn't see the light blush dusting Shigaraki's cheeks and the small smile gracing his face as he looked over at Dabi who sat next to him on the couch. Dabi did, though, and he smiled back just as genuinely, not even trying to hide how much he felt toward Shigaraki. No, not when he had gotten a reality check that time wasn't guaranteed.