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“Hitoshiiiii,” Denki drawled in a way that Hitoshi just knew he had a terrible idea.
“No,” Hitoshi deadpanned, not taking his eyes off of the paperwork he was doing at his desk, “whatever you want, no.”
Denki pouted, throwing himself onto the back of Hitoshi’s chair, “But, ‘Toshi.”
“No,” Hitoshi shook his head.
“Just hear me out-”
“No.”
“But-”
“No.”
“I just-”
“No.”
“Please hear-”
“No.”
“Can you ju-”
“No.”
“I wanna-”
“No.”
“Ugh!” Denki pushed Hitoshi’s chair a bit as he stood all the way up again, crossing his arms. He started speaking faster now, to get his point out before Hitoshi denied him again, “I wanna go to couples therapy.”
Now, that definitely intrigued Hitoshi. He spun his chair around to face Denki, “You want to go to couples therapy…?”
Denki grinned, probably pleased that he got Hitoshi to listen, “Yes!”
Hitoshi raised an eyebrow. They’ve been living together since they got out of high school, 6 years, and not once has Denki ever introduced Hitoshi to a significant other. So, why did Denki want to go to couples therapy? Was he in a secret relationship this entire time? Was he having troubles in his secret relationship? Okay, Hitoshi, stop it. Don't jump to conclusions. Just ask. “Aren’t you single?”
“Yeah,” Denki nodded, the grin never leaving his face.
Now, that just confused Hitoshi more. Did he just want to go by himself? What was he getting at?
“I want to go with you!”
Hitoshi practically choked on his spit. Him? Denki wants to go with him? They are in no way a couple. Sure, Hitoshi has been, like, in love with Denki since their 2nd year of high school but Denki didn't even know that. They are not a couple. Absolutely not a couple. Especially not a couple that needs couples therapy.
Hitoshi just stared at Denki for a moment, trying to figure him out. He’s known him for so long but, apparently, he’s never been able to figure him out, “What?” He finally managed to get out.
“I want to go to couples therapy, with my best friend, and see if the person can figure out that we’re not actually a couple,” Denki bit his bottom lip eagerly.
“Why?” Hitoshi asked, wanting to say ‘why me’, but just settled for ‘why’.
“Well,” Denki furrowed his eyebrows as if it were the most obvious thing in the world and Hitoshi should know exactly why, “because it’d be funny…?”
Hitoshi took a deep breath. Yep, sounds like Denki. Hitoshi knew that he was going to have a stupid idea the moment he walked into his office but Hitoshi didn’t know how stupid of an idea it would actually be.
“Okay, so… Let me get this straight,” Hitoshi took a deep breath, rubbing at his forehead, “basically, you want us to pretend to be in a relationship, go to counseling as a ‘couple’, and see if the therapist ever figures out that we aren’t actually a couple…?”
“Yeah, exactly,” Denki nodded eagerly, “so, you’re in?”
“I didn’t say that,” Hitoshi seethed, “where did you get this idea?”
“I saw a meme,” Denki giggled.
Hitoshi rolled his eyes. Of course he did. Of fucking course that’s where he came up with this dumbass idea.
“You’re an idiot.”
“I know!”
Hitoshi laughed, “Fuck it,” He shrugged. God, he was pretty sure he’d do anything Denki wanted him to, so what was pretending to be his boyfriend? Hell, it’d probably be the closest he’d ever get to it, anyway, “I will pretend to be your boyfriend, Kaminari Denki.”
“I think we should pretend to be engaged,” Denki corrected, “It feels more… sophisticated.”
Hitoshi blinked at Denki a few times, “When in your life have you ever been sophisticated?”
“Never!” Denki said happily, “Which is why I want to be. I want to be a sophisticated, pretentious, impressive client.” He waved his hands, making a rainbow with them in front of his face dramatically and smiled.
“I don’t think you can be that sophisticated, pretentious, and impressive when we’ll be pretending to have troubles in our fake relationship,” Hitoshi crossed his arms, bringing his hand down from his forehead, staring up at Denki.
Denki snorted, “You’re right, but still!”
Hitoshi let a huff of air from his nose, shaking his head softly, “Yeah, okay, whatever. Are you making the appointment?”
Denki picked at his fingers for a few seconds before saying, guiltily, “I may or may not have already made it. For tomorrow at 3, since I’m not patrolling tomorrow and you’ve just gotta finish some paperwork and drop it off and stuff.”
Hitoshi sighed, of course Denki had just assumed that Hitoshi would say yes, “Fine, are we coming up with a backstory or anything?”
“I think the only thing we should be consistent on is how long we’ve been together and when we got engaged. Everything else should be, like, improv!” Denki suggested eagerly and started speaking quickly, “I’ve been taking that improv class these last few months and I’ve been getting pretty good, I can teach you if you want!”
Hitoshi couldn’t help but smile at how excited Denki was. The way he spoke was so endearing and Hitoshi could listen to his voice for hours on end. So, of course, he agreed, nodding, “You can teach me all you want.”
“Well, I’m a terrible teacher, so I redact that statement, actually.”
Hitoshi laughed, “You’re an idiot.”
“I know!” Denki chimed happily, “Anyway, the most important thing in improv is that you just, like, go with everything. The ‘Yes, and’ rule!”
Hitoshi had heard about that. He took a theater class in middle school and that was one of the few things he had actually learned in that class. He hadn’t actually been allowed to do a lot of acting because people were so scared of his quirk.
Hitoshi just nodded at his best friend, his roommate, the guy he was undoubtedly in love with (even though he knew that Denki only saw him as a friend), and he smiled, “Yes, and how long have we ‘been together’?” He asked, putting finger quotes around those last two words.
Denki shrugged, “I’d say, since we moved in together after high school, we should say that we started dating in, like, our third year of high school but we’ve never said anything about our relationship since you’re an underground hero, in case the therapist gets suspicious as to why she's never seen our relationship in the public, just in case she follows heroes or something.”
Hitoshi nodded, keeping that in mind, “Alright, so we’ve been dating for… 7 years? Start of third year?”
“Yep!”
“Okay, and how long have we been engaged?”
“Uhhhhh,” Denki looked up at the ceiling, “too long would be suspicious so, like, 2 months?”
“Sounds good to me,” Hitoshi said. Really, he would have gone with anything that Denki said.
Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
***
Hitoshi was right. As per usual. He went about his day, getting paperwork done and dropping it off at his agency.
Then, it was 2:30 and Denki came to their apartment to pick him up to head to their… appointment.
Once they pulled up to the building they’d be going into, they got out of the car and began to walk towards the front door, “Should we hold hands? Or-”
“We’re supposed to be having relationship troubles,” Hitoshi muttered, “I don’t think we would be here if we could hold hands.”
“True,” Denki muttered, “Well, then, I, uh- Um- Despise you, Shinsou Hitoshi, hmph,” He crossed his arms and looked away from Hitoshi dramatically.
Hitoshi scoffed lightly with an amused grin on his face at his best friend’s antics before they got to the front door, “Okay, be serious now. We’re going in,” He held the door open for Denki, allowing him to walk in before walking in himself right behind him.
“Hi!” Denki grinned at the person at the front desk, though Hitoshi knew it wasn’t his usual grin, his genuine grin. No, this one was forced. So forced that it was almost as if Denki wanted everybody to know it was forced…
Ah, he was acting.
“H-hello,” The lady at the front smiled but her smile shook, she probably recognized Denki as the number 15 hero, “what can I do for you guys?”
Denki continued talking, Hitoshi just staying back and crossing his arms, trying to look as annoyed as possible (which wasn’t that difficult since he was, in fact, annoyed that he actually agreed to coming here and doing this stupid thing), “We’ve got a 3 o’clock appointment with Dr. Abiko.”
Hitoshi looked at his watch on the wrist that was still visible while he was crossing his arms (his right wrist), the time was 2:58.
“Oh, alright,” The lady nodded hesitantly, typing on her keyboard before stopping and looking back up at the… couple, “For Kaminari Denki and Shinsou Hitoshi?”
“Yes,” Denki confirmed, nodding his head downwards once.
“Well, Dr. Abiko is ready for you guys, so you can just head down to her room,” The lady pointed towards a hallway, “She’s in the 2nd door on the right, her room will be labeled with her name. You can just go right on in since she’s expecting you. You don’t have to knock or anything,” She seemed a little less nervous than she was just 30 seconds before.
Hitoshi nodded, as did Denki, and followed Denki down the hallway and towards the room that the lady at the front desk had told them to go to. On the left of the door, it was labeled “Dr. Hikari Abiko”, just as the lady said it would be.
They both reached for the doorknob at the same time but Hitoshi backed off to let Denki grab it at the same time that Denki backed off to let Hitoshi grab it. They both huffed out a chuckle before Hitoshi nodded at Denki and the blonde opened the door, both walking into the room and immediately being watched by a pair of eyes.
Hitoshi let his face drop from the small laugh he had outside the door and stared seriously at the therapist.
“Hello,” Dr. Abiko smiled kindly, “You can sit wherever you want,” In one swift motion she gestured towards the couch, beanbag, floor, and an armchair, “wherever you guys feel the most comfortable.”
The two glanced at each other for a moment before Hitoshi went and took the armchair, while Denki sat down by the arm of the couch, furthest away from Hitoshi.
“So, how do you guys want to start this? I’d like to go at whatever pace you’re comfortable with. Would you like to tell me about your relationship? Would you like to tell me what brought you here? Would you like to-”
Hitoshi interrupted her, thinking that that felt like a thing someone at one of these things would do, crossing his arms as he sank deeper into the chair, “I didn’t even want to come here.” He glared over at Denki.
Denki quickly shot back a, “Well, Hitoshi, I’m sorry that I actually want to fix our relationship,” He scoffed, “I love you and I just want-”
“Pfft, okay,” Hitoshi rolled his eyes as he interrupted Denki. He smirked internally as he figured out what he’d do next (he hadn't really planned for Denki to say anything back so he wasn't sure what to say next). Then he decided that if he was going to be practically forced into this thing then he would at least have some fun with it, creating the most chaotic situation, “you sure as hell didn’t think when you were in bed with somebody else.”
Denki widened his eyes, probably shocked that Hitoshi really just said that. Then he started laughing, stifling it behind her hand.
“Oh of course you think it’s funny,” Hitoshi scoffed, turning his head back to the therapist, “Of fucking course he thinks it’s funny,” He rolled his eyes, shaking his head, “because of course Denki thinks that cheating on me is funny.” Though, Hitoshi knows that Denki just thinks it's funny that Hitoshi came up with that as the reason they're here in their fake relationship.
“Well,” Denki managed to get out through some laughter, “yeah I think it’s funny,” He then turned much more serious, looking to Hitoshi and the two locked eyes, “I’ve apologized for it millions of times and you continue to hold it over my head! I just think you’re being hypocritical at thsi point, seeing as you slept with Monoma.”
Hitoshi bit his lip. Well played, Denki, well played. Where Denki had pulled that name from? Hitoshi had no idea. Sure, Hitoshi was friends with Monoma but to even think about sleeping with him disgusted him. Either way, he played along and squinted his eyes, “Yeah and you and I weren’t even together when I slept with him but we can’t say the same for you, now can we?” He huffed out in his own defense.
“We were on a break,” Denki yelled, “That doesn’t mean you get to go around sleeping with other men!”
Hitoshi laughed humorlessly (he was getting way too into this), standing up from his chair, “Oh but you can go around sleeping with your best friend while we’re still together. Right after we got engaged? Yeah, okay Denki, I get it,” Hitoshi held his hands up before falling back into the chair and slapping his hands on his thighs, he brought one of his hands up to pinch at the bridge of his nose, “you can never do any wrong. The rules don’t apply to you but they do apply to everybody around you,” He let his hand fall, looking back to the therapist who looked like she was processing everything, writing some things down, “I swear, he is so selfish. He thinks that just because he’s a pro hero he can do whatever the hell he wants in our relationship.”
“I do not!” Denki seemed to be getting very into this as well. So much so that he denied what Hitoshi said and broke the “yes, and” rule.
“Yes, you do!” Hitoshi yelled.
“Okay,” Dr. Abiko cut in, finally (Hitoshi was starting to think that she was just going to let them go on forever and Hitoshi wasn't sure how much longer he could keep that fake argument going on), “let’s go through all of this together. Correct me if I get anything wrong. Shinsou, you’re upset that Kaminari cheated on you, yes?”
Hitoshi rolled his eyes, “No, I’m fucking glad he cheated on me,” He said sarcastically before scoffing and saying, “Of course I’m upset.”
Dr. Abiko didn’t say anything about his snarky tone, she just nodded and then turned to Denki, “And Kaminari, you’re upset that he slept with somebody else while you two were on a break.”
“Yeah,” Denki crossed his arms, “it’s not fair that he went and did the same exact thing as me but expects me not to be just as mad as him. I don’t-”
Hitoshi clenched his fist, interrupting Denki, “We were together when you slept with her!” He yelled, “We had just gotten engaged!” He held up his left hand (yes, they had gone and gotten fake engagement rings to wear to the appointments, Denki was very committed to this), “I just don’t understand why you cheated on me. Did you just want to get laid one more time before you were ‘tied down’? Or what, Denki?” He sighed exasperatedly, “because I am tired of trying to figure it out and I am tired of having screaming matches with you.”
Before Denki could say anything, Dr. Abiko chimed in, “Shinsou, while I understand that you are frustrated right now, I would like to ask you to refrain from interrupting while Kaminari is speaking. The same goes for you too, Kaminari,” She turned to him, “I want you both to be able to get all of your feelings out there before the other speaks and I would prefer it if neither of you yelled.”
Hitoshi just nodded and Denki smiled briefly, “Alright.”
Dr. Abiko smiled, “Perfect, thank you. Kaminari, please continue.”
Denki took a deep breath, “He expects me not to be just as mad as him about this and I don’t understand why he’s blaming me for every single fault in our relationship. It wasn’t all me. It takes two to fuck things up.” He bit his lip, inhaling, "Not just me."
Once Hitoshi realized he was done speaking, he spoke up himself, “Well, it only took you to fuck this thing up,” Hitoshi said bitterly, feeling bad for speaking to Denki with such venom.
“Shinsou, I think it would be effective if you changed your way of speaking,” Dr. Abiko spoke directly to him, though she was speaking softly, kindly, “change your language to less incriminating words. If you want to heal this relationship you have to start simply,” She explained, “if you take every chance you have to blame and guilt him for sleeping with somebody else, then you two won’t be able to take the steps forward to become better on the other side.”
Hitoshi hesitantly nodded, “Okay,” He eventually said.
“Alright,” Dr. Abiko took a deep breath, “Shinsou, I’d like you to tell Kaminari how it made you feel when he slept with somebody else. Try to hold back on blaming him or making him feel guilty, just talk about how you felt.”
Hitoshi hesitated, he was reluctant to speak (mainly because he didn’t know what exactly to say, he’s not GREAT with coming up with things on the spo,t and his creativity was starting to die out, he’d used enough of it for the next month, at least), eventually, though, he decided on something to say, “Well…” He licked his lips, looking to Kaminari, “It hurt me a lot,” C’mon, Hitoshi, force yourself to cry. Bring on the tears.
Hitoshi took a deep breath as he forced tears to pool in his eyes, “I thought you loved me and when I saw you in bed with Jirou,” Yeah, Denki, Hitoshi can pull out a name too, “I didn’t know what to do… So I left. I stayed with Izuku and I didn’t work, like, at all, I was broken, Denki. It felt like you had just thrown away the last 7 years of our lives…” He breathed in again, forcing his breath to hitch, “I love you, Denki,” And Hitoshi genuinely meant those 4 words, it would probably be the only time he could actually say it like this, so he took it, “and I never thought you would do anything like that so when you did… I didn’t know what to do. So, yeah, after I called our engagement off, then you convinced me to agree to it just being a break and not a permanent thing, I slept with Monoma, but it meant nothing, Denki, I swear. I think… I just wanted to get back at you somehow but he meant nothing.”
“And Jirou meant nothing to me, ‘Toshi…” Denki sniffed, having forced himself to cry as well.
Hitoshi shook his head slowly, “I-” He took sighed heavily, “I’m not sure if I can believe that, Denki,” He bit his bottom lip, sniffing, “I feel like I can’t trust you anymore.”
“Hitoshi,” Denki looked into his eyes, “I promise that you can always trust me.”
Hitoshi looked down to the floor, this was so weird to be acting out, Hitoshi wasn’t sure how much longer he had it in him to be doing this (it seemed to be coming really naturally to Denki, though), “But you broke that trust, Denki. I trusted you more than anything and you threw that away,” Hitoshi said, hoping that Dr. Abiko wouldn’t chime in and chastise him for using the wrong kind of language, whatever that meant, “and- And I agreed to come here with you because I do love you and I do want to work it out and I want to spend the rest of our lives together, Denki,” Little did Denki know how true what he had just said was, “especially in our line of work, every day we spend together is special because we don’t know if it’ll be the last,” He sniffed, blinking so that one of the forced tears fall down his face (he also kind of just let it slip that he was also a hero but, well, doctor-patient confidentiality, Dr. Abiko couldn’t tell anybody, right? Right.), “but I don’t know if I can trust you not to hurt me again.”
“I’m hurt too, Hitoshi,” Denki brought his hand to his chest, clutching his shirt, “You slept with Monoma. You know I’ve always been worried about him, he flirted with you constantly in high school and you guys are always going on missions together and then you went and slept with him the moment we took a break.”
“That’s not the same, Denki, and you know it.”
Denki scoffed, “Isn’t it? You still broke my trust. You still did the very thing I was worried about.”
“But we weren’t together,” Hitoshi said desperately, “you don’t get it, Denki.”
"Don't diminish his feelings, Shinsou," Dr. Abiko chimed in.
“I do,” Denki nodded, speaking after Dr. Abiko stopped, “I do get it. Yes, we weren’t together. Yes, we were on a break. Yes, you had every right to do whatever the fuck you wanted to get back at me but him, Hitoshi? Monoma? You could’ve chosen anybody and you chose him?”
Hitoshi sighed internally. What was he even supposed to say to that? No, Hitoshi did not choose him, Denki. You did. You’re the one who brought names into it, “Yes, Denki, Monoma. Like I said, it meant nothing,” Hitoshi scoffed, “if it makes you feel better, I fucking cried because it wasn’t you.”
Denki’s eyes widened at that, “...You did?”
Hitoshi nodded, “Yes, I fucking did,” He crossed his arms, “and…” He muttered, “I’ve always been worried about Jirou too but I never voiced my thoughts about that since she was in a relationship as well…”
“Oh,” Denki gulped, realizing that his fake self messed up a lot more than he originally thought, “oh…”
They talked some more things out, Dr. Abiko chiming in to help them through a few things, ask them a few questions, etc.
Eventually, about 2 minutes before their hour was up, Dr. Abiko cut in at a stop in conversation, “Okay, I think this is a perfect time to stop. Our time today is just about up and I do have some homework for you.”
Homework? Hitoshi wasn’t expecting this to be an after-hours sort of thing. He was kind of just expecting everything to stay in this room and not leak into his personal life. Alas, he thought wrong.
Thankfully, Denki voiced his thoughts, “Homework? We’ve gotta do more stuff than just sit here and talk to each other?”
Dr. Abiko smiled that soft smile she had been giving them the entire hour, “Yes, Kaminari, homework. I just want you to write down things that you love about each other, anything at all. It could be the most simplest of things like how you love the way your fiance parts their hair. Anything you want. I want you to write each thing on a small separate piece of paper as if you are writing it to each other. Cut up a big piece of paper, get some sticky notes, whatever is convenient. After you write everything down, place it all into a jar or container of some sort. Anytime you think of something new, write it down, and place it into the container,” She explained, “and whenever you are feeling upset at each other or are feeling like giving up on each other, take a piece of paper out of that container and read it. Grab another if you need that extra push. After you read those, put them back in the container, and think of two more things to add to the container per piece of paper you took out. So if you took 2 pieces out, put 4 new ones in.”
Hitoshi nodded, he could definitely do that. There were millions of things that he loved about Denki, he’d probably need more than just one jar, honestly.
Denki nodded too, smiling a little bit, “I can do that.”
“Good,” Dr. Abiko nodded, “next session, I want you to bring in those containers.”
“For what?” Hitoshi asked but Dr. Abiko just smiled and said that the session was over.
That sneaky bastard.
Hitoshi sighed and pushed himself out of the chair, opening the door as Denki followed behind him. They stayed serious all the way until they got into the car to which they burst out laughing, “Oh my god, Hitoshi! I was not expecting those crazy acting skills from you,” Denki couldn’t stop laughing, “You were amazing.”
“You were amazing too!” Hitoshi laughed, “but why did you think it was a good idea to pull out a name? And not even a fake name either,” His laughter died down (not completely) and he looked over to Denki, “you chose one of my real friends.”
Denki just shrugged, “I dunno, I almost said Midoriya, since you too are really close, but I felt like it was probably wise not to bring the number one hero into our fake therapy sessions, I don't think that Dr. Abiko would've ever looked at the poor guy the same way,” He giggled, “And Monoma was the next person I thought of since I know you two are friends.”
Hitoshi nodded, his reasoning made sense. A lot of people thought that he was really stupid but, actually, he almost always had some pretty good logic behind his action (except for the couples therapy idea, apparently).
They drove home and the moment that Hitoshi got home, he started on his homework. Denki even said that he was going to start it as well. They both each grabbed an empty jar from the kitchen and they laughed all the way to their own rooms at the ridiculousness of this situation.
Hitoshi got out a piece of paper, cut it up into little rectangular pieces, and he grabbed a pen to write down the things he loves about Denki. It wouldn’t be hard because there were plenty of things that Hitoshi loves about Denki and, besides, it’s not like Denki would ever really read what’s inside.
For all he knew, Hitoshi just put a bunch of blank paper.
Once Hitoshi was finished, he put the lid on the jar, and let it sit on his desk for the next week.
***
The week went by and, soon, it was time for their second session. Hitoshi barely remembered what happened during the first session, what lies they told, so it would be a lot harder to keep their story straight this time.
Their second session was on the same day at the same time.
“Don’t forget your jar!” Hitoshi called out through the apartment as the two were getting ready.
“I won’t, don’t worry!” Denki called back but Hitoshi could hear him running back down the hallway to his room.
Hitoshi chuckled to himself as he grabbed the jar and made his way to the front door to get his shoes on.
Once they arrived at the building, they both took some deep breaths, ready to get into character, “Okay, you ready?” Denki asked.
“Yep,” Hitoshi nodded, “Let’s do this.”
Denki smirked and got out of the car.
It was a similar interaction with the same lady at the front desk and, eventually, they found themselves sitting down in front of the therapist again, in the same spots as last week.
“Hello,” Dr. Abiko smiled, “I see you both brought your containers,” She gestured to the jars in both of their hands.
Hitoshi nodded and Denki grinned, “Yep!” He shook it around.
“Perfect, could you open them and place them down on the coffee table please?” She gestured at the coffee table in the middle of the room.
Hitoshi and Denki both complied, unscrewing the lid and placing the jars down on the coffee table, placing the lids next to them.
“Now, whenever you guys start arguing in this room, we’re going to do the same thing that I told you guys to do. I’ll ask you guys to pick a piece of paper from your jar and read it out loud to your partner,” Dr. Abiko said, “then when you guys go home, you will write double the amount of things you read today and add them to the jar.”
Hitoshi froze. Oh shit. Oh fucking shit. He’s going to have to read these out loud? And to Denki at that? Oh shit. Oh fuck. Oh shit. He was screwed. Denki was going to figure out his feelings and everything was going to go to shit.
But acting weird would make him even more suspicious.
Okay, Hitoshi, you can play this off. Just breathe and pretend that it’s all for the act, you can do this.
They both nodded at Dr. Abiko in understanding and continued on with the session as normal.
It was going well, they were talking through some things and Hitoshi wasn’t trying to start an argument because he didn’t want to have to read one of the things he loves about Denki out loud because he had been way too honest in that jar.
So, things were going well. Until they weren’t. Except, it wasn’t even Hitoshi who decided to start the argument, it was Denki (because, of course, they couldn’t have a session without some dramatics), “I just don’t understand why Hitoshi feels the need to constantly belittle me.”
“I do not belittle you,” Hitoshi scoffed, staring at Denki who wasn’t even looking at him.
“Yes you do,” Denki shut his eyes, “I wouldn’t have begged you to move back in if I knew that you were just going to hold the ONE TIME THING with Jirou above my head every day.”
“I do not hold it above your head every day!”
“Except you do!” Denki snapped his head over to Hitoshi, opening his eyes, “Every time I do something that you don't like, you bring her up. You hold it over my head. It was a month ago, Hitoshi, but it’s like I can’t escape it.”
“You still talk to her, yeah I’m going to bring her up,” Hitoshi scoffed, “You’re still friends with her, you work with her, you go out in friend groups with her,” He crossed his arms, “I don’t talk to Monoma anymore. The moment you and I got back together, I told him we couldn’t hang out anymore. So I’m SO fucking sorry if I’m jealous of the woman you fucking cheated on me with!” He yelled.
“Okay,” Dr. Abiko interjected now, “I think it’s a perfect time for us to take a breath to calm down and reach into the jar. Kaminari, I’d like you to go first. Please pick a piece of paper from your jar and read it to Shinsou.”
Denki nodded, leaning forward to reach his jar, he stuck his hand inside and twirled it around a little bit before pulling one out and unfolding it. He smiled at it and took a deep breath before he read it out loud.
“Go on,” Dr. Abiko encouraged him.
Denki nodded, looking up and into Hitoshi’s eyes, which sent all kinds of feelings through his body, “I love the way that, even when you’re mad at me, you make sure I’m taking care of myself,” He looked up from the note, “even if you aren’t taking care of yourself properly,” He gulped, smiling softly before saying, “I added that last part there, it's not written down, but… It’s true.”
Hitoshi felt his heart flutter. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who had to worry about being vulnerable. After hearing that, he realized there were only a few of his notes that were really telling, he could play everything off as acting and it would be fine. Probably.
“Elaborate on that please,” Dr. Abiko asked.
Denki took a deep breath, folding up the paper again, and tossed it into the jar, “Well, when we were fighting…” He seemed to hesitate as if trying to figure out what to say, “when we were fighting, after I cheated on him… after he moved out,” He gulped, “he asked his friend, Midoriya, you might better know him as the number one hero," Denki smirked before getting serious again, "to check up on me because Hitoshi knew that, despite it being my fault entirely, it was hitting me really hard.”
Jeez, Denki was good at acting. Those improv classes must have really been paying off.
Hitoshi sniffed and smiled at him, “I just hate to see you unwell, Denki.” And that was true. Hitoshi wasn’t lying or improvising or anything. He was being genuine. And, to be fair, what Denki said was true as well, except for the cheating, fighting, moving out, Midoriya things. Hitoshi did tend to make sure Denki was taking care of himself even if they were fighting, even if Hitoshi wasn’t necessarily taking care of himself, he always made sure there was a meal in the fridge for Denki and gave him subtle reminders to take a shower and go to sleep.
“I know and I do really appreciate you for that, Hitoshi, thank you,” Denki smiled, and Hitoshi couldn’t help but hope that Denki was being genuine too, especially as he said, “I love you.”
Hitoshi blushed and hoped that he could still consider this just a part of the act as Dr. Abiko told him to pull out his own piece of paper. Hitoshi took a deep breath as he leaned over to the table, grabbing his jar and shaking it around a bit. He really hoped he got a normal one, one that he could pass off as just a part of the act.
He dug his hand into the jar and pulled out a piece of paper, holding his breath as he unfolded it. As he read the words on the paper, he breathed out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t that bad.
“Go ahead and read it out loud,” Dr. Abiko urged.
Hitoshi nodded, reaching to place the jar back on the table again before looking down at the piece of paper, not wanting to make eye contact with his best friend. He read what he wrote on the note, word for word, “I love the way that your eyes sparkle (especially in the sun).”
“Aw, ‘Toshi,” Denki inched closer on the couch, with the exact sparkle in his eye that Hitoshi was talking about before a look crossed his face and he decided on sinking back to the side of the couch.
“And do you want to elaborate on that?” Dr. Abiko asked Hitoshi.
Hitoshi shrugged, “I feel like it speaks for itself,” He said, “whenever he’s happy or excited, his eyes sparkle. They sparkle even brighter in the sun. The way the sun hits him is just…” He couldn’t really find the right word for it, so he just settled on, “captivating.”
Hitoshi glanced over to Denki who was staring at him with that sparkle in his eyes. It was so weird to be saying things that he thought about Denki out loud, things like this that he’d never really said to anybody before.
He silently berated himself for allowing himself to speak so much truth. It was awkward saying stuff like this knowing that there’s no way that Denki is ever going to know that he actually means it. And even if Denki ever did find out that he actually means it, he’d probably just think Hitoshi was weird because there’s no way Denki could like him back.
So, in summary, Hitoshi is an idiot who needs to learn how to shut his mouth during these appointments.
Dr. Abiko smiled softly, “That was really nice both of you. You guys love and appreciate each other, it’s why you’re here, you want to work things out, right?’’
They both nodded.
“In order to do that, we have to be able to talk things out,” Dr. Abiko said, “and I understand that it’s easy to get frustrated so sometimes you’ll need to be reminded of some things. That brings me to your homework for the week. I want you both to write a letter to each other about whatever you want. Anything at all. Then, when you think the time is right, whether it’s because you guys are arguing or because you just feel like you want each other to know what you wrote, then you guys will read it to each other together. Whenever you guys are ready.”
They both nodded again.
Soon after the doctor gave them their homework, the session was over and they were back in the car, laughing.
This went on for a couple of months, quite a few weeks, and plenty of sessions. Their story was getting very elaborate and hard to keep track of at this point. There were so many things to keep track of and Hitoshi was sure that they had many inconsistencies in their story.
For example, they’ve talked about a fake argument that they’d “gotten into” about the fact that Hitoshi “wants to keep their relationship private because he’s an underground hero and doesn’t want to bring too much attention to himself” but then during a different conversation in a different session, they talked about a fake argument that they’d “gotten into” about Denki “not wanting to reveal their relationship to the public because it might take a hit on his ratings”. Inconsistent.
Hitoshi was honestly surprised that Dr. Abiko hadn’t realized that they aren’t actually a couple yet. But then again, would she really say anything if she did realize? Because, say they actually were a couple and she had said something, that definitely wouldn’t be very professional. So, for all they knew, Dr. Abiko could've already realized. She gets paid either way.
***
One day, after about 9 sessions of couples therapy that they had together, Denki knocked on the door to his room.
“Yeah?” Hitoshi called back towards his door. He was busy filling out some paperwork for a raid he participated in that night. He had a ton of it and didn’t feel like staying at his agency to fill it all out so he’d brought it home with him.
It was a little past midnight, so he wasn’t expecting Denki to be awake but, apparently, he was. He probably shouldn’t be, seeing as he had a patrol in 7 hours but Hitoshi can’t really say anything about anybody’s lack of sleep considering his own 5 hours a night, at most. Usually a lot less, if any at all.
“Can I come in?” Denki muttered.
“Yeah,” Hitoshi furrowed his eyebrows as he spun his chair towards the door. Denki rarely ever actually asked to come in, he just barged in, and if Hitoshi was lucky, Denki knocked a second before he barged in, giving him some kind of warning.
This time, though, Denki didn’t barge in so Hitoshi was confused (and maybe kind of worried?) about him. Either way, Denki walked in, holding an envelope in his hand.
Denki stood awkwardly in the doorway, “So, uh… You know how during our second couples therapy session,” Hitoshi would never get over the fact that they can just say that so casually, “Dr. Abiko told us to write a letter to each other?”
Hitoshi recalled being told to write a letter and he glanced down at the desk drawer where he was keeping his letter. He had decided to write Denki a love letter, knowing that he’d never actually read it since they weren’t actually a couple and wouldn’t actually have a reason to read it to each other as Dr. Abiko said to.
He nodded.
“Well… Um,” It was really weird seeing Denki like this. He was… nervous and not like himself at all. Denki sighed, gulping, “I came here to read you mine but I don’t think I can so I’m just going to give it to you, let you read it, and then hope that you don’t hate me. So, here-” Denki held it out, walking forward just a little bit so that Hitoshi could reach the envelope, “I don’t expect you to give me yours to read or anything if you even actually wrote one.” Denki was starting to remind him a lot of Izuku with the way he was rambling.
Hitoshi grabbed the envelope and stared down at it as Denki stared at him for a moment as if waiting for him to open it. When Hitoshi started to open it, Denki walked into the room and sat down on Hitoshi’s bed, picking at his fingers and tapping his foot on the floor repeatedly, shaking his leg in the process.
Whatever was in this envelope had to be really big with how nervous Denki was getting.
Hitoshi carefully pulled out the piece of paper and unfolded it. The more he read, the more his eyes widened in shock because… woah.
"Dear Hitoshi.
Hi. I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to write in this because Dr. Abiko was very vague when giving us these instructions so… I’m just going to say what’s on my mind, I guess. I think I’m falling for you, Shinsou. Which, I know you probably think is creepy, seeing as we live together and stuff but hearing you talk about my eyes today made my heart flutter so goddamn much and just solidified my feelings. Or what I think are feelings. I’m 99% sure they’re feelings, at least. I thought I started catching feelings for you (I think) a few weeks ago so when I saw that meme about the couples therapy thing and I figured it was the perfect chance to sort out my feelings and see what they really were. Are? If we had to act like a couple then I would have a chance to see if that’s what I really want. I’m realizing that it was probably stupid to reel you into this, I should just figure things out on my own but we’re already two sessions in and I am WAY too much of a coward to come clean now. I’m not sure if I’ll ever end up giving you this letter, honestly. It holds more truth than I think that I can come to terms with so I’ll probably just hide this away and maybe burn it. Yeah, probably burn it. Maybe I’ll ask Katsuki or Todoroki to burn it for me. Anyway, this has been really helpful to write down. Actually admitting this was relieving. I just hope I gain the guts to actually give this to you some day if I fully figure out my feelings. Otherwise, like I said, it’s going to get burnt. Anyway, I feel really bad for dragging you into this couple therapy thing but at least my improv classes are paying off? And you’re getting better at acting too so that could help with your hero work I think? I don’t know.
I’m sorry,
Kaminari Denki”
Hitoshi took a shaky deep breath as he dropped the letter on his lap. Rereading it multiple times to see if he actually just read that correctly. Did Denki really have feelings for him? Was this actually true? Was Denki just fucking with him right now? Hitoshi knows that Denki likes to pull pranks but he’s not the type of person to pull a prank that would fuck with somebody’s feelings this bad.
Although, Denki didn’t know that Hitoshi had feelings so he might’ve thought it would be funny to watch Hitoshi squirm or something.
Still, this doesn’t seem like a prank that Denki would ever pull.
Denki does things like placing sticky notes in your room, covering your walls and any flat surface he could get to. Denki does things like move everything in a room just slightly to the side. Denki does things like switching where the cups and bowls go. Denki does things like mismatching every pair of socks you own.
Denki doesn’t do anything like this. Not as a prank.
Hitoshi looked up at Denki who was biting his lip nervously, “I decided to give it to you because I figured out my feelings and I know that they’re there and I love you, Hitoshi.”
Hitoshi’s breath hitched.
Woah.
Okay, well, it’s now or never, right?
It’s now or fucking never.
Hitoshi spun around in his chair and opened the drawer he had the letter he wrote in. He grabbed it and got up so that he could sit down on his bed next to Denki.
“Look,” Denki forced a smile, and Hitoshi knew it was forced, “we can just be friends, that’s cool. I’ll call Dr. Abiko and tell her we won’t be coming in anymore and I’ll continue being your idiotic hyperactive best friend, nothing has to change,” He forced a chuckle, “You can move out if you want to but I still want to be your friend-”
Hitoshi brought his hand up to Denki’s face, steering it towards him so that he could look Denki in the eyes. That pretty quickly shut Denki up as he just stared at Hitoshi in awe, “You aren’t idiotic, Denki,” Hitoshi whispered, inching closer to Denki’s face with his own, “and I don’t want to move out. I don’t want to be just friends, Denki.”
Denki gasped lightly, “Really?” And there was that sparkle in his eyes. That sparkle that Hitoshi adored.
Hitoshi couldn’t help but smile, nodding before he rested his forehead onto Denki’s, “Yes, really. I want to be so, so much more.” His nose nudged Denki’s and Hitoshi shut his eyes, “Can I kiss you.”
Denki answered by shutting his own eyes and connecting their lips in a soft kiss. It was everything Hitoshi imagine and more.
After a few seconds, Hitoshi pulled away, licking his lips as he let his hand fall back down to his lap where his envelope lay. He held it out to Denki, “Here… It’s, uh, my letter. From the second appointment.”
Denki grabbed it before hesitantly opening it and staring down at the words written on the paper.
Hitoshi felt his heart start to beat faster as Denki read the letter, so he resorted to also reading the letter over Denki’s shoulder so that his mind had something to occupy it and he wasn’t busy thinking about any terrible outcomes.
”Hi Denki,
Dear Denki,
To Denki,
I don’t know how to get this started if I’m being honest. I’m pretty sure I’m just stalling. I think I should just say what I decided to write about in this letter though. I love you. And I know we say that to each other all the time because we’re best friends and whatnot but it’s different this time, Denki. I love you. Romantically. I am IN love with you. I love you. So fucking much. I love you. Jeez, it feels so good to write because I’ve been keeping it to myself for so long. I love you. I have loved you since high school. I have loved you since our second year but I’m pretty sure that’s just when I realized it. I’m pretty sure I’ve loved you since I’ve known you, Denki. I love you. I can’t ever tell you, though, because you are way too important to me and, so, I’m settling on this letter. This letter that is going to stay in the bottom drawer of my desk for forever until I go through my things and end up throwing it out one day. I love you and I feel so pathetic spilling my feelings on paper like this instead of just telling you but I am way too scared to tell you so… I am going to keep my feelings to myself because I cannot lose you. I have always kept my feelings to myself. But with this couples therapy thing it is becoming so much more difficult to bury those feelings. I don’t even know why I agreed to the damn thing. I guess I just can’t say no to you, Denki. I love you. Fuck, I love you Kaminari Denki. I don’t know what the fuck you did to me to make me love you this much but I do. I love you. I hate that I love you so much when I know I can’t have you. So, thank you for being my friend. Thank you for being there for me. And thank you for allowing me to love you even if you don’t know it. Just being your best friend is more than enough for me.
Love,
Hitoshi”
Hitoshi finished reading it before Denki did. Probably because he is the one who wrote it so he knew exactly what was written there and might have ended up skimming over a few words or so. Hitoshi is also a somewhat quicker reader than Denki so it made sense that he finished reading it before him.
As soon as Denki finished reading it, though, he dropped the paper and grabbed Hitoshi’s face with both hands, “I love you too, Hitoshi. I love you too," He said, pressing a kiss onto his lips.
Hitoshi pulled away just to chuckle and say, "Dr. Abiko is going to have a field day when she figures this out."
Denki laughed and agreed before pulling Hitoshi in for another kiss.
"I love you, Denki," Hitoshi muttered, glad that he could say it again. Glad that he could say it a million times over. He kissed Denki again, glad that he could finally do that after so long of wanting to.