Lightning Serenade

Chapter 50: Kiss Kiss

A/N: So, I open up Wattpad today and have SEVENTY-FIVE notifications! AMAZING! You guys are awesome! Also, Lightning Serenade is #1 in the tag Hallucinations out of 2.4k stories! I'm SO excited! Thanks so much for your continued support!

"Does Neito seem a little... upset?" Denki asked from the side of the gym, pressed up against the wall to avoid the ice spikes that Neito was sending in all directions.

"Did his endless, frustrated screaming give it away?" Hitoshi asked, sending a small smile in Denki's direction right before they dived in opposite directions as a spike went right for them.

"Sorry!" Neito called out, a frown on his face as he lowered his hands and started to make his way over. "I get a little ahead of myself when I get to use Todoroki's quirk."

"Aren't you tired? You went the whole six minutes without stopping!" Denki praised in awe at his friend's progress.

"I was trying to get myself up to seven," Neito said, brow furrowed slightly in frustration at his failure.

"Seriously?! You went from five minutes to six over summer internship, and now you're already shooting for seven on top of second year schoolwork? That's amazing!" Denki praised, genuinely gushing over Neito's successes.

He knew just how to disarm Neito and get him out of his negative headspace, didn't he? Well, maybe not this time, because Denki was the reason Neito was so frustrated in the first place. And he didn't even know it because he didn't exactly do anything wrong!

"Denki," Neito started, and Denki gave him his complete and serious attention right away, knowing just from the tone of Neito's voice that what he was about to say was important. Frustrated, Neito pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes and shook his head to clear his thoughts. He had to get this right, or Denki will think that he's blaming him for something when it's the other way around. "How long have you been online friends with..." Neito hesitated, looking around to make sure the gym was empty besides them, and muttered "League members?"

"It's been years! Since middle school, really," Denki answered easily. "Shigaraki was actually the first one that I was teamed up with when I first started. How weird is that?"

"Middle school?" Hitoshi asked, eyes widening as he understood Neito's thought process, a feeling of dread washing over him. "Like when we stopped talking to you and you started to play games and make TikToks, right?"

"Yeah!" Denki chirped, turning to see the stricken look on the soulmates' faces. "Oh, no! No, guys! Don't do that! It's not like that!"

"Something bad could have happened to you because we couldn't deal with our feelings for you," Neito insisted.

"All my bad luck is used up!" Denki insisted, seemingly out of nowhere, but Hitoshi knew exactly what Denki had meant because he had had the same thoughts before. "It turned out great for everyone! So, no harm, no foul!"

"But—"

"Fine!" Denki blurted out loudly, feigning annoyance as he rolled his eyes dramatically. "Don't let it happen again!" he finished in a faux scolding tone, wagging finger and all.

The soulmates shared a glance.

"We weren't planning on it," Hitoshi answered for the both of them, reaching out to lightly grab Neito's hand in solidarity before quickly releasing again.

Hitoshi hadn't expected Neito to copy his quirk.

Hitoshi made a mental note to always suspect Neito of copying his quirk.

Heart pounding loudly in his chest, Neito asked, "do you trust us, Denki?"

Denki had started to answer immediately, no hesitation to tell them that he would always trust them, when the familiar haze of Hitoshi's quirk enveloped his mind. He relaxed into it automatically, allowing Neito to take over total control. He was giddy and amazed because he hadn't even heard the waver in his voice as he asked. They were both improving so much on so many levels, and he was truly happy and proud for his friends.