Right Where You Left Me

Chapter 10

Right where you left me -Taylor Swift

Denki woke with a start. He could feel the sweat dripping down his skin as he took in his surroundings. He had that nightmare again. The one he has relived every single night for the past four months. Ari crumbling onto the ground as he screamed her name over and over again.

"Ari! Ari! No! Please come back! We haven't even started! Ari! Don't leave me! I can't live without you..."

Denki started to sob as he remembered his frantic clawing against Kirishima as he watched Midoriya and Bakugo pick up the mud Ari had left behind and put it into a large plastic sack. He wanted to do that. Only he was allowed to touch her. Mina had to throw quirk cancelling cuffs onto him so that he would stop shocking everybody that came close to him or Ari.

Once Midoriya was satisfied that they had picked up every last bit of Ari, Denki's  friends crowded around him in a tight hug. Even Bakugo willingly joined in. Denki cried for hours. Days. Months. And every single time, his friends would be there. Like now. Sero woke up and pulled Denki down into a tight hug as Denki cried and said "Ari" over and over again.

After the funeral, the squad realized that Denki broke. He broke in an unfixable way. Because how do you properly fix something that's missing a vital piece?

Mina realized that Denki was shattered first. He kept refusing to speak at the funeral. But you were the boyfriend. I don't care, I'm not talking, get Mina to do it. So Mina did it. And she stared at Denki the entire time. He was there physically, but not mentally.

Then Sero noticed. Gone were the days of two best friends hanging out all the time. Sero seemed to stay around Denki like the old days. But he was there to make sure Denki didn't follow after Ari now. The constant chatter between the two ceased into a loud silence.

Kirishima was the next to notice, and brought Bakugo along for the discovery. They had gotten engaged a month after the funeral. But neither of them had the heart to announce it to the world, because they had helped Denki buy Ari's ring. It just didn't feel right. But one day Kirishima accidentally let the word "engagement" slip from his mouth in front of Denki. This time Denki reacted positively. He wanted to help. He didn't want their efforts to go to waste on him. So Kirishima and Bakugo decided to get reengaged as soon as Denki formulated the perfect plan. Hopefully not the same plan he had for Ari.

Denki had a few good days here and there. Midoriya would praise Denki on his excellent mission work, and Denki would preen at the praise. Denki fully devoted himself to his hero work. He gained a couple sympathy ranks from the civilian polls, and made it his mission to take Ari's old spot at number five. As time wore on, he had finally hit his goal spot last week. He thought that he should have felt so much lighter, but he had only one person he had wanted to celebrate with. So he baked some cookies and watched her favorite horror movie in silence with Sero that night.

Denki eventually fell asleep but left Sero wide awake now. He picked up his phone and clutched onto Denki closer as he mindlessly scrolled through social media. His phone dropped down a text notification.

Mina
HEY ARE YOU AWAKE

Sero
Yeah, Denki had that nightmare again. But he's asleep finally.

Mina
ERI PULLING IN CLUTCH WITH HER QUIRK

Sero
What?

Mina
Eri. She saved her quirk the past 4 months.

Sero
Eli5

Mina
Goddammit Sero. Don't tell Denki, strict orders
Sent image.

Sero gasped and dropped his phone onto his face. Was Mina being for real? Could Eri really do that? Will Denki finally be put together?