Electric Current: Not Past

Eyes Gold, Molten and Volcanic

"Okay, so now you just need to carry it over... Yeah, like that. Then, no... Don't do that. Divide that. There you go. See, this isn't so hard." Shinsou says quietly.

I scribble down the rest of the equation sloppily and then fall back on the couch with a groan. Maths wasn't hard, per say, it was just annoying, constantly having to show my work when I already knew the answer.

As Shinsou had promised, after hero training and a... minor incident, we'd headed to the lounge and started on my maths homework. Just thinking about the "incident" made a blush creep up my pale cheeks.

Shinsou and I were walking back to the dorms, him a few paces ahead of me, when I tripped and faceplanted into the concrete. Other than a few scrapes on my hands, I was fine. My pride... Not so much. I laid on the hot asphalt for a few minutes, just embarrassed beyond belief.

Who knew how many people saw me just fall. What was worse was that I tripped over nothing. Air or something.

When I finally did get up, I saw that Shinsou was standing a few feet away. I rushed over to his side, casually dusting off my hoodie and pants like I didn't just eat it. Maybe he didn't see and only turned after it happened...

"Hey, did it hurt?"

Acting oblivious, I ask, "When I fell from heaven?"

He takes in my cheeky grin with an unamused expression and shakes his head. I was hoping he'd just drop it and we could go do homework, but no such luck.

"No, when you fell in the... parking lot... You we-were lying on the ground for like... Ten minutes."

His voice cracked slightly and I could see how hard he tried to hold back his laughter. It was appreciated, but unneeded. I already knew I was an idiot. My face turned a bright red and I hid it behind my scraped up hands.

Finally, deep laughter filtered into my ringing head and I smiled. I should've been upset that he was laughing at my expense, but it was just nice to hear him laugh. I'd never heard the sound and found that I liked it quite a lot.

"Kaminari? Kami... D—"

"DENKI!"

I jerked up at the sound of the loud voice and in doing so, hit my head against Shinsou's chin. He muttered a few curses while rubbing the sore spot, but his glare softened when he saw how genuinely scared I was.

I have never liked loud noises and, even after hanging around Bakugou for a long time, I never got used to it. Sudden noises, especially loud ones, freaked me out.

"I'm, uh... Sorry, you just kinda zoned out." Shinsou muttered sheepishly.

I didn't want him to feel like he needed to apologize for anything. That wasn't his fault. So, I quickly started waving my arms around and shaking my head while I tried to let him know that it wasn't his fault.

"No, no no no! That wasn't your fault. Ha, I was just thinking and you startled me."

He looked like he was going to say something else, when someone interrupted him. It was a loud voice I knew all too well—Bakugou. Like usual, he was coming to make fun of me, to point out everything I did wrong.

"Wow Dunce Face! I knew you were stupid, but being tutored by the new kid... That's pathetic!"

He spat the words like they were disgusting, like I was disgusting, and it took everything in me not to flinch. Bakugou was right, of course, but that didn't make hearing it any less painful. I am stupid. And lazy. And ugly. An—