Shattered Sparks (He's Done)

Electric shock - How He Became Smart

Dressed in a dark blue hoodie and thin, loose black sweatpants, Denki looked back at the UA dorms one last time before continuing down the path.

The night air was cool and refreshing. He felt the spots where his tears had dried become frozen, and a chill rushed through him. The breeze in his hair was oddly refreshing, and it felt so nice to be away from everything.

The walk reminded him of when he and his mom would take late night trips to a gas station. If Kaminari wasn't able to fall asleep, his mother always took him through the streets of the city, shielding him from all the evil that lurked, and purchased him any snack of his choice. She always got the same thing, though, a small bag of unsalted peanuts. Denki had no idea why, the snack was so plain. Younger him could never comprehend why she wanted something like unsalted peanuts. But now he thought he understood. To escape the complexity.

As he continued along the sidewalk, lit with harsh lights blaring in his eyes, adding to an ever growing headache, he came upon a regular gas station. Without thinking he walked in.

"Hello there! Need help finding anything?"

"No I-I'm good" Denki muttered back to the store clerk. He felt suffocated in there, brightness beaming down on him, his head now pounding as he was haunted by memories.

Kaminari quickly grabbed a bag of unsalted peanuts. It was all he could stomach right now.

"That all?"

"Yeah." Denki rummaged through his pants pockets and dug up a few coins. Luckily, they were enough.

He shuffled out of the door and headed towards the nearest park. He needed to sit down. His head was killing him.

As he walked through the streets, only guided by his memory, he saw a group of what looked to be three thugs on the edge of an alleyway up ahead.

Great.

Maybe if he just kept his head down they wouldn't notice him

"Hey emo boy!" Inevitably, one of them called out to Kaminari. He just kept his head down. Hoping it would all go away. Why did he always have to be the one bothered? He felt tears well up once more, eyes shadowed by his hood

"HEY! I'm talkin' to you" The thug called out once more, Denki nearly in front of the group.

"I don't have anything." Kaminari spit out, trying his best to keep his voice from quivering.

"Yeah, sure." Another one of the thugs scoffed. Denki was trying to walk past them as far away as he could. But that failed, as the third of the group ran up and grabbed his collar, hoisting him and and farcing Denki to stand on his toes. He was too tired to fight back. He just wanted everything to be over. His arms went limp.

"Aye!" The thug holding him alerted the other two. "Empty his pockets." He threw Denki to the ground face first, and held his neck down with his foot. Kaminari could smell the blood coming out of his nose. The other two thugs rummaged through his pockets.

"I guess he doesn't have anything" The leader of the group said "Dammit." Denki didn't dare lift his head. The one holding him down lifted his foot off Denki, and the remaining member of the group kicked his limp body.

"Get your ass up and get out of here, wimp" The leader proclaimed. With that, Denki rose, and stumbled a bit while doing it. He felt a strong, forceful gush of wind behind him. "SCRAM."

Might as well just go to the park still.

Denki walked of quickly, wiping the blood from his nose

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Denki found himself sitting on the park bench, head spinning. He didn't know how long it had been. He lifted his head and found nobody. Absolutely nobody. Beside him was the previously purchased peanuts. Open and half eaten.

He lifted his arms up to rub his eyes. His vision was hazy, and tears were streaming out endlessly. He was just so tired

I hate everything. I just want it to be over.

All my friends hate me. I'm worthless. I'm stupid, and nothing good will ever come of me. I'm- I'm just a joke.

Denki was full of sobbing now, and his breath began to choke

Shit! Shit!

That's when it happened. Denki felt something welling up, deep inside him. Then, suddenly, his tears sparked.

Ow! Fuck! Ah!

Denki felt nothing but pain, light from his quirk blinding him. For the first time since he was a child, he had no control over it.

It started with just his tears, burning his cheeks. His eyelashes were singed and his eyes inflamed. But soon after, electricity was pouring out of every part of his body. And, it burned.

His skin was burning, his insides were burning, his heart was bursting, and then he felt light as air. Everything burned. Everything hurt. The only thing he could feel was pain. Pain in every way. Then, body covered in burns, everything went black.