Right Where You Left Me

Chapter 9

everything I wanted -Billie Eilish

-4 months later-

"Come on Denki. Come out with us tonight. Please?" Mina pleaded.

"No, thank you for the offer though." Denki brushed her off.

"Do you want us to have an inside night tonight?" Sero asked.

"No. You guys go out and have fun. I'll only bring you all down."

"We're coming over with alcohol, Pikachu." Bakugo grumbled as Kirishima nodded his head vigorously.

"Really, it's okay guys. I just want to be alone." Denki walked away.

"Guys I'm really worried about him. Ever since Ari died, he's been shutting himself down. All he does is come to work then go home and sleep. The only time he hangs out with us is when we go over to his and Sero's apartment. And even then he's quiet and just stares out of the window." Mina shuffled her feet. "And Midoriya and Eri are doing the same because if they had only gotten there five minutes earlier they could have saved her."

"He sleeps on the couch now. He came out one night when I was watching a movie grumbling about how it still smells like her. I've offered him to sleep in my bed but he said he'd rather just sleep on the couch. He cries every night now." Sero looked down at the ground.

"I don't really want to leave him alone though. He's only getting worse each day." Kirishima leaned his head against Bakugo. "I don't want him to end up thinking that the only way he'll be happy again is if he were to like... join her."

All four of them looked down at the ground solemnly. It was then decided that they would have a night in with Kaminari whether he liked it or not.

And he didn't like it. All he had wanted to do was pull up Ari's picture on his phone and talk to her. That had become his routine when he was home alone. He would tell the screen about his day and any gossip he had heard. He was super excited to tell the screen about how both Bakugo and Kirishima were talking about proposing to each other. Ari would have loved that. She would have hoped that they would do it at the same time, or that Kirishima did it right before Bakugo to embarrass him. But now he would have to wait to tell the screen that because at this moment, Sero was setting up the Switch to play some Smash Bros.

"I think we should just do an every man for themselves match first." Kirishima jumped up and down.

"Chill out Red. You're gonna piss on the floor like an overly excited dog." Bakugo sighed.

Denki couldn't help the huff of laughter that escaped him. The four friends caught it but didn't mention it, lest it brought up higher walls, but they smiled at the little ray of light that shone through their otherwise gloomy friend.

Once Sero passed out the controllers, the battle for best fighter began. As usual, Mina and Denki were the first to fall off the stage. Kirishima was next, followed by Sero. Bakugo threw his controller at Sero as he shouted victory.

Bakugo and Mina's phones began to ring. They both excused themselves when they saw who was on the called ID.

"Nerd. Didn't I tell you that I would be busy tonight?" Bakugo grumbled.

"Ururaka, what's up?" Mina asked.

"What?" They said in unison.

Back inside of the apartment, Denki picked up his phone. He still had his lock screen set to his favorite picture of him and Ari. It was taken a couple of moments before a particularly rough round of sex where he once again cried because it just felt so amazing to him. He could never help the tears that fell after they had been intimate, it just always felt so right. Every time he would break down like that, Ari would always pull him into her and tell him a story until he had calmed down.

He had planned on proposing to her the night she died. They were gonna bake some cookies, have sex, then he was gonna pull the ring out and do it on the spot.

"Hey man, are you okay?" Kirishima broke Denki out of his thoughts.

Denki jumped, having forgotten that there were other people in the room with him. Sero had gotten used to Denki randomly crying. Comforting him when he needed it, but usually letting Denki hash it out with himself. "Yeah, just having a moment."

"Well I'm here for you if you ever need it. It's manly to show your emotions too, you know." Kirishima rubbed Denki's shoulder.

"I know. I appreciate it." Denki showed off a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Mina and Bakugo poked their heads back into the apartment.

"Hate to end this night short. Uh. But Deku needs me and Bakubabe here to go in for mission stuff." Mina chimed.

Bakugo rolled his eyes. "Eiji don't wait up for me. I don't know how long this is gonna be."

With that, Mina and Bakugo left. Kirishima decided he would stay the night and Denki finally agreed to sleep in Sero's room so that Kirishima could sleep on the couch. Sero ended up holding Denki as he fell asleep, once again crying himself into exhaustion.