The shimmering curtains of the U.A. gymnasium swam before my eyes, a kaleidoscope of emerald, sapphire, and ruby. "Fantasy Land" was the theme, and the decorations were impressively over-the-top. Fairy lights twinkled like captured stars, paper dragons danced from the ceiling, and a fog machine pumped out an ethereal mist that clung to the floor. I felt entirely out of place.
This was my third and final prom. My last gasp of high school before the real world swallowed me whole. And I was here, not entirely by choice, thanks to Mina Ashido's… enthusiastic persuasion.
"Come on, Shinsou! You can't spend your entire high school career lurking in the shadows! It's PROM! Everyone deserves a magical night!" She'd practically dragged me out of the training room, my protests dissolving into the ether as she applied an unreasonable amount of glitter to my hair.
Now, standing awkwardly near the punch bowl, which was inexplicably shaped like a giant mushroom, I felt like a troll who'd wandered into the wrong kingdom. My date, a girl named Yui Kodai from Class 1-B, was perfectly pleasant, but we didn't exactly crackle with chemistry. We made polite conversation about hero training and the upcoming graduation exams, but the air between us felt thick with unspoken platonic acknowledgment.
Then, I saw him.
Denki Kaminari.
He was dressed as some sort of electric knight, a shimmering suit of armour that crackled with faint, harmless sparks. The low light of the gymnasium caught in his golden hair, turning it into a halo. My chest tightened. He was laughing, surrounded by his usual entourage of Kirishima, Sero, and Bakugo, and the sound was like a jolt of electricity straight to my heart.
I tried to look away, to pretend I wasn't staring, but it was like trying to unsee the sun. I had a… complicated relationship with Denki. We were friends, sort of. We trained together sometimes, and he always managed to make me laugh, even when I didn't want to. He was bright, energetic, and… infuriatingly attractive.
I was drawn to him like a moth to a flame, even though I knew that flame would burn me.
As the night wore on, the music pulsed louder, and the dance floor became a swirling vortex of colour and movement. Mina, true to form, materialized beside me, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Alright, Shinsou, time to loosen up! You're going to ask someone to dance!"
"Absolutely not," I mumbled, trying to blend into the faux-stone wall behind me.
"Oh, yes, you are! And I have the perfect someone in mind." Before I could protest, she grabbed my arm and steered me towards the dance floor, her eyes fixed on Denki.
"Mina, no! I can't!" I hissed, but she was already pushing me in his direction.
He turned, a surprised look on his face as he saw me approaching. "Shinsou? Hey!"
Mina gave me a not-so-subtle shove. "Go get 'em, tiger!"
I cleared my throat, my palms suddenly clammy. "Hey, Kaminari. Uh… would you… want to slow dance?" The words felt clumsy and awkward in my mouth.
He blinked, then grinned, a flash of white teeth in the dim light. "Sure, man! I'd love to."
The next few minutes were a blur of awkward steps and nervous laughter. The music was slow and melancholic, a stark contrast to the upbeat pop that had been playing earlier. I placed my hands awkwardly on his waist, and he rested his lightly on my shoulders. We swayed in time with the music, the silence between us thick with unspoken tension.
The air crackled with an energy that had nothing to do with his quirk. His eyes, usually bright and playful, were soft and serious. He was looking at me, really looking at me, and I felt a tremor run through me.
Then, it happened. I don't know who leaned in first, but suddenly our lips were touching. It was soft, hesitant, a tentative exploration. And then it deepened, became more urgent, more desperate. The world around us dissolved, the music faded away, and all that existed was the feel of his lips on mine.
It was electric.
And then, just as quickly as it began, it was over. We broke apart, gasping for air, our faces flushed. The look on his face was a mixture of shock, confusion, and… something I couldn't quite decipher.
"I… I gotta go," he stammered, and then he turned and fled, disappearing into the crowd.
Panic seized me. What had I done? What had we done? I didn't know what I felt or how to process it. I liked Denki, didn't I? Was this right? Was this wrong?
I ran. I didn't know where I was going, I just needed to get away, to escape the suffocating atmosphere of the prom and the confusing mess of my own emotions. I stumbled through the labyrinthine corridors of U.A., until I found myself in an empty classroom, the moonlight streaming through the window.
I sank to the floor, my head in my hands. I was a mess.
Then, the door opened, and Aizawa-sensei and Present Mic-sensei walked in. Their expressions were concerned.
"Shinsou? What's wrong?" Aizawa-sensei asked, his voice uncharacteristically gentle.
"I… I don't know," I choked out, the words tumbling out in a jumbled mess. "I kissed Kaminari, and he ran away, and I don't know what to do."
They exchanged a look, a silent conversation passing between them. Present Mic-sensei knelt beside me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"Hey, it's okay," he said, his voice soft. "These things happen. It's confusing, figuring out your feelings, especially when you're young."
Aizawa-sensei remained standing, his gaze steady and reassuring. "Sometimes, the most confusing thing is understanding our own hearts. Don't beat yourself up about it. Just breathe."
They talked to me for what felt like hours, offering words of comfort and understanding. They told me it was okay to be confused, okay to be scared, okay to feel whatever I was feeling.
Finally, Aizawa-sensei stood up. "Come on," he said. "Let's find out what's really going on."
He grabbed my hand and led me out of the classroom, down the hallway. We walked in silence until we reached the gymnasium. From a distance, I saw Denki, a flustered mess, talking to Sero and Kirishima, who were helping him calm down.
As they saw Aizawa-sensei and me approaching, Sero and Kirishima quickly excused themselves, leaving Denki alone.
Aizawa-sensei looked at me, a silent question in his eyes. I nodded. He took Denki by the arm and gently but firmly steered him into an empty classroom, pushing me in after him. Then he closed the door, leaving us alone.
The silence in the room was deafening. Denki refused to meet my gaze, his eyes fixed on the floor.
"Denki," I said softly, my voice barely a whisper. "What happened?"
He finally looked up, his eyes filled with a mixture of fear and… hope? "I… I don't know, Shinsou. It just… happened. And it felt… good. But it also felt… scary."
"Scary how?" I asked, taking a tentative step closer.
He ran a hand through his hair, his face flushed. "I don't know! I've never… kissed a guy before. I don't know what this means."
"Maybe it means we like each other," I said, my heart pounding in my chest.
He stared at me, his eyes wide. "You… you like me?"
"Yeah, Denki. I think I do."
He took a deep breath, and a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "I think I like you too, Shinsou."
And then, without another word, we kissed again. This time, it was less hesitant, less confused. This time, it was a confirmation, a shared acknowledgement of something real and powerful between us.
It was still electric, but now it felt… right.
We broke apart, breathless and smiling. "So," Denki said, "what does this mean?"
"It means," I said, taking his hand in mine, "that we should go on a date. If you want to."
His eyes lit up. "I definitely want to."
Maybe prom wasn't so bad after all. Maybe, just maybe, this "Fantasy Land" was starting to feel a little more real. Maybe, just maybe, I was finally finding my own happily ever after.