Electrify Me

Chapter 16

"I was starting to think he scared you away from coming in," Hitoshi comments as Denki enters the room. "Did he tell you what happened?"

Denki has to hold back his laugh at Hitoshi tied up on the floor. Neito wasn't kidding when he said he had to tie them up, and he did a good job too, wrapping the capture weapon around Hitoshi’s entire body from shoulders to feet, and his knees were bent with the weapon tied around their waist to then tie in front of his legs. "A little. He really only  said you were being too pushy and he had to tie you up." Denki takes a deep breath. "I took your advice."

The blonde braces himself to be yelled at. Sure, Hitoshi had suggested it, but he still felt like he betrayed his boyfriend by kissing someone else, someone he had very strong feelings for no less. Even though Hitoshi told him he should do it, he still feels like he cheated.

"And?" Is Hitoshi’s only response confusing Denki. He's ready to be yelled at, to have Hitoshi tell him he's a terrible partner, but Hitoshi didn't do anything like that. He just treated it as if he's just Denki’s best friend who suggested that he kiss his crush and wants to know what it was like.

"You're not mad? You aren't going to yell at me or break up with me?"

Hitoshi sighs. They knew Denki was self conscious and afraid of losing them, but he didn't realize just how deep that fear ran. "If I wasn't okay with it, I wouldn't have suggested it, Denks." He shrugs. "It's not cheating if you're given permission, and if Neito feels the same about you and I that we do about him, we could try being together. All three of us like my dads would have been if their best friend hadn't died in their second year."

Denki already knows what Hitoshi is talking about. They had told him about the boy who would have been their third dad if he hadn't been killed during his work study. The knowledge that Shouta and Mic had been planning on being in a polyamorous relationship was what had helped Hitoshi even know there was a word for loving more than one person at the same time.

"I don't think he likes me that way, though, just you." Denki sighs in frustration. "He basically bolted afterwards even though he was originally suggesting we pawn you off on your dad and go hang out, just the two of us."

Hitoshi shakes his head. He'll have to talk to Neito about this when he gets a chance. "Can you untie me? I swear, I'm not going to do anything."

Denki agrees and starts removing the knot that Neito had tied in the weapon to make sure Hitoshi couldn't escape it on his own.

"I hear you kissed Denki." Neito is startled by the sudden voice behind him in the hallway. He had agreed with Denki that they will meet with Aikawa after school, so he was alone for the time being.

Neito nods. "You're not upset, are you? He said you suggested it to make things even, but if you're upset or…" He trails off not really sure where he had been planning to go with that line of thoughts.

"I'm not upset," Hitoshi chuckles. "Okay, well, maybe a little, but only because I didn't get to see it, not because he kissed you."

Neito spins around, his destination forgotten for the moment. "You wanted to watch? Isn't that a bit masochistic? He's your boyfriend, and he kissed someone else. How could you want to watch him kiss another man?"

"Partner," Hitoshi corrects. They knew how much the word boyfriend bothered Denki because he didn't feel like a boy every day and didn't want to make Hitoshi swap terms as well as pronouns for him when partner encompassed both boyfriend and girlfriend. "And I'm polyamorous, Neito. Of course I want to watch two hot guys kiss. I'd like it even more if they were both MY hot guys instead of only one being my partner, but still."

Neito curses himself for not realizing Denki might use a different term than boyfriend. Of course he would. It makes sense because it's a gender neutral term. As he listens to the rest of what Hitoshi says, though, his hopes rise a little. If Hitoshi is polyamorous, could Denki he too? Then it dawns on him what exactly they had said.

"You like me? As in like me, like me?" Then Neito smacks his face before grumbling, "Of course he does. The stupid quirk forces them to."

Hitoshi rolls their eyes. "I've learned to differentiate between what the quirk makes me feel and what I actually feel, Neito. I just can't control what the quirk makes me feel."

"Well, whatever. I doubt Denki sees me that way. He probably just sees me as a problem that he has fo deal with until this quirk is gone." He does his best to hide how much it hurts knowing that only one of the two boys he cares about will ever feel the same way as he does. "I gotta get to class. Bye, Hitoshi." He darts off before Hitoshi can get the chance to see exactly where he's going.

Hitoshi sighs in exasperation. Why were both of their blondes so blind?

Neito and Denki are waiting in Shouta’s nap room. Denki had talked to Shouta earlier in the day asking if he could have Aikawa meet the pair of blondes there after classes ended for the day. They only have to wait for about ten minutes before he arrives looking very confused as if no one told him why he was being brought there.

"Were you told to come here too?" The boy's hair and eyes are the first things Denki notices. They're pink, the he sees a bit of red poking out of his shirt collar. Aikawa is wearing the full uniform with the addition of gloves effectively hiding his hands.

"Are you Aikawa? The one who accidentally hit Shinsou with your quirk?" Neito gets straight to the point. He wants to know how to fix things so that he can free Hitoshi and Denki of himself. Just because Hitoshi wants an extra partner, doesn't mean Denki does, and he's sure that Denki only tolerates him because of the quirk. He continues once the kid nods his head. "Kaminari and I are both affected by it and it's been more than a week, but it's still affecting them."

Something about hearing Neito say his family name pains Denki’s heart. He's grown so used to hearing the other blonde call him Denki in the past couple weeks, and hearing his family name almost feels like a slap to the face even though he knows it's just because Aikawa doesn't know any of them by given names.

"You must be soulmates, then." Aikawa shrugs. "Which one of you is the object of his affections?"

Denki really hates how nonchalant Aikawa is being about this. Doesn't he care that his quirk has caused Toshi to torture themself with trying to stay away from both blondes as much as possible. He can tell how much pain Hitoshi is in from keeping a physical distance from them."Both of us, actually. I was the first person he saw, and Neito," Denki gestures to the other blonde, "was the second."

Aikawa finally gets something akin to an interested look on his face. "Both of you? How? It's only ever worked on one person."

"We don't really know. We just know that he gets super anxious when he's away from either of us, and he gets really pushy about certain things, and he wants to hold us every second that he can." Denki does his best to explain. "And I know it bothers him a lot, too. They hate physical touch, and he's been forced to want to constantly hold us."

Aikawa nods in understanding. "I hate physical touch too. Mostly because my quirk activates from it." He holds up his gloved hands. "My glove had a hole in it and my hand accidentally grazed Shinsou’s as I walked past him. I could tell it activated because my eyes burned." He rolls his pink eyes. "They sparkle when my quirk activates, and it causes a burning feeling in them for me, like getting soap in your eyes."

Neito decides to get the conversation back on track. "You said something about soulmates?"

"Yeah." Aikawa takes off one glove and holds his red hand out to Denki who looks at it skeptically. "All my skin is red except my neck and face," he explains, thinking the boy's skeptical look has to do with his skin color. "Kaminari, face…" He trails off a moment. "You said his name is Neito, right?"

"Monoma." Neito glares at Aikawa. "Only certain people get to call me by my given name."

"Right, sorry," Aikawa apologizes. "Kaminari, look directly at Monoma. I'm going to touch your hand. Blink a few times afterwards."