Denki flopped backwards on his bed. He had asked Shouto to call him to talk about the plans for their events, and had realized halfway through a sentence that neither of them had any experience in dating each other, and that their families were bound to smell something was off, and interrupted the itenerary for his family's dinner. "... So uh, yeah, I was thinking we could maybe go on a practice date or something? I mean, we're going to be surrounded by people, and if we can't make it believable then what's the point in bringing a fake date at all, you know?"

"Yeah, that makes sense. We can do that. But first tell me what we're doing for your dinner thing that you interrupted." Shouto sounded a little iritated over the phone, Denki thought, but he hadn't spent enough time with him to know if he was actually irritated or if that was just his voice.

"Oh! Right!" Denki looked back at the itinerary his mom had sent him after he told her he had gotten a date. "So, first, we go to the person's house, and before the dinner we have to like. Mingle and chat with people. It's all really stupid stuff and we have to be polite and maintain calm when everyone there has made it their mission to judge you. I went to one a couple years ago, and I hated it, everyone was really in my face about ... Everything. Anyway, we have to mingle, then eat, then we're free to mingle again but this time around it's more acceptable to stay in pairs or in groups. Some people leave during that time, but ... My parents have made it clear that we're staying the whole time."

"Alright," Shouto said, and Denki could almost see him nodding his head slightly over the phone. "Is there anything after that?"

Denki eyed the list again. "It ... Looks like there's an optional sleepover and—ah, yeah my mom wrote next to it saying to pack clothes." Denki frowned. He didn't want to spend more time at some rich stranger's house, surrounded by rich, snobbish people who would be judging his every move. "Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Shouto paused for a moment. "And what were your plans for the practice date?"

~~~

"We could have gone out for dinner, but I figured that cooking something and eating it together would be a better way for us to get to know each other better, so we don't have to worry as much about everyone finding out that we're faking." Denki smiled, as he pulled out ingredients from his fridge and set them on the countertop.

Shouto stood back and watched until everything was out. "What are we making?" He asked, finally.

Denki picked up some food. "Pasta. With chicken."

"Oh." Shouto made his way over to stand by Denki. "How can I help, then?"

"Can you start by opening the chicken and cutting it into cubes? There's a knife in the drawer by the sink, and the cutting board is already out on the counter."

"Yeah, sure." Shouto opened the drawer to see multiple knives. "Uh ... Does it matter which one I use?"

"Oh, use the one with a green handle." Denki said, putting a pot of water on the stove to boil, then grabbing the garlic cloves.

"Okay." Shouto looked back in the drawer to see the knives were all different colors. Helpful, he thought.

He grabbed the knife with the green handle, then opened the package of chicken to put onto the cutting board. He got about halfway through cutting all the chicken until—

"Oops." Shouto quickly dropped the knife on the counter and pulled his hands away from the chicken to avoid getting blood on the food.

Denki looked over to see what had happened. "Dude! Shit, Todoroki, are you alright?"

"Should you be calling me 'dude' if we're on a date?" Shouto asked, accidentally ignoring the question.

"Practice date, for our fake dates," Denki pointed out. "And your hand! Shit, we gotta clean that up, hopefully you didn't cut too deep!"

Shouto got the feeling Denki didn't like the sight of blood, or at least the idea of people he knows getting hurt, from the amount of worry in his eyes. Or maybe he cares a lot about me because we're—no, this is fake, where'd that thought come from? Denki was expressive like that. It was nice to know what people thought based on their expressions alone.

"Todoroki?" Denki prompted again, and Shouto zoned back in.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I've just gotta wash my hands and ... Do you have a first-aid kit, Kaminari?" He asked.

"Yeah! I'll show you where it is." Denki lead Shouto to his bathroom and pulled out the first-aid kit.

"Thanks." Shouto nodded. Denki started grabbing out a bandage and antibacterial cream. "Uhh ..."

"Oh, start washing your hands, I'll put this on you. It's a little difficult to do things like this one-handed." Denki laughed awkwardly.

"Oh. Thank you." Shouto felt something strange in his stomach, and when Denki put the cream on his finger, the strange feeling intensified. His cheeks felt warmer as he said, "uh. You can call me Shouto."

"What?" Denki looked up suddenly, halfway through putting the bandage on. Shouto took in his surprised appearance. Denki's eyes were wide and he could see the gold in them very clearly. Denki's lips were parted and looked ... not chapped, like his own were. And Denki's cheeks were slowly starting to turn pink, the longer Shouto looked at him.

"You ... You should call me Shouto. I should probably call you Denki, as well, since we have to pretend to be a couple." He paused for a second. "Don't couples do that?"

"Yeah. Uh. Yeah, they do, usually." Denki went back to putting the bandage on Shouto's finger. "Alright, Shouto, you're all set. ... I'll take over cutting up the chicken if you want to put the pasta in the water and lower the heat?"

Shouto's stomach flipped. "Alright."

~~~

"Hey, did you want to watch a movie while we eat?" Denki asked, plating up their food.

"Sure. I don't care what we watch."

"Sweet!" Denki lead the way to the couch and turned on the T.V. after putting in a movie.

As they watched the movie and ate, Shouto watched Denki gesture and say the lines with the characters on the screen.

After it ended, Shouto got up with his plate to take to the sink and wash.

"You can leave it, I've gotta wash everything else anyway."

Shouto eyed Denki for a moment. "I can help, if you'd like me to." I don't want to go home yet. ... To my father. I don't want to go home and see my father yet.

"Nah, you're all good. I'll walk you to the door," Denki smiled lopsidedly.

"Okay." Shouto set his plate back down on the coffee table in front of the couch and walked to the door, Denki following him.

"I had fun tonight, I hope this was enough to make us seem like a real couple at the dinner this Saturday."

"Yeah, I hope so too."

Denki quickly and awkwardly wrapped his arms around Shouto in a hug. "I'll see you Saturday. Don't forget to bring clothes."

"Yeah, I'll see you Saturday ..." As soon as he turned away, his face bloomed into a small smile.