"Denki," Shouto touched Denki's shoulder, jolting Denki out of his head, "pull over."

Denki pulled into a parking lot and put the car in park. "What?"

"Are you okay?"

"I-yeah, of course, why wouldnt I be?" Denki smiled too widely, his breathing heavy.

"You have a death grip on the steering wheel and you look like you're ready to cry at a moment's notice," Shouto deadpanned.

Denki gasped. "I'm not going to cry!"

"And?"

"... Okay, maybe I might cry. But I can't, because of my makeup."

"So, are you okay?" Shouto raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" Denki deflated when Shouto leveled him with a glare. "No. I'm just ... Really nervous. Last time I went, everyone asked so many questions and as soon as I'd say anything they didn't approve of they would just. Glare at me and then walk away. And there was only one other kid my age and they hated me because I was too hyper."

"So you're scared everyone's going to be rude? You're friends with Bakugou."

"Yeah, friends! I know he's a big softie at heart! But these people are complete strangers, I don't know what's going through their minds!" Denki paused and took a deep breath. "And this time I'm coming with a guy. For all I know, everyone there could take one look at us holding hands and immediately decide they don't like us."

"Then why did you ask a guy to come with you?" Shouto blinked.

"I-" Denki scrambled to collect his thoughts. "Well, I honestly just needed a date really badly and I wasn't thinking about how nervous I'd get at the idea of everyone hating me because of who I brought."

"Denki, I have a giant scar on my face and my asshole father is well-known. I'm sure if anyone shows any disrespect I can just glare and scare them away." Shouto tried. I'm not the best at comforting, I hope this is working.

"... I guess." Denki put the car in drive and got back on the road. "We're gonna be late."

Shouto helped ease Denki's mind a little, if his looser, but still pretty tight, grip on the wheel was anything to go by.

~~~

As they walked from the car to the front doors, Denki's sweaty hand was clutching Shouto's own like a lifeline.

Shouto gave a squeeze and Denki immediately tried to pry his away. "Sorry."

"Don't be." Shouto solidified his grasp on Denki's hand and pulled him aside just before they reached the door. "You alright?"

Denki hummed uneasily and tilted his head a bit to the side, eyes looking downward.

"I'll take that as a no." Shouto placed his free hand under Denki's chin. "Do you trust me?"

Denki still averted his gaze but nodded and hummed in affirmation.

"Denki, look at me. Do you trust me?"

When Denki looked up, he immediately found Shouto's eyes and realized, holy shit, he's beautiful.

"Denki?" Shouto snapped Denki out of his trance-like state.

"Sorry, yeah. Yeah, I trust you."

"Then everything will be okay, okay? Nothing those people can say or think is important. Their opinions of you, of us, means nothing. Okay? We're in this together."

Denki nodded silently, a small smile making way to his face. "Thank you, Shouto."

~~~

When they walked in, immediately everyone started whispering amongst themselves. Shouto could hear a bit of what some people were saying.

'Oh my god is that Todoroki Shouto?'

'Did the Kamimari kid really bring Endeavor's son?'

'How did someone so ... Hyper manage to snag someone so ... Entirely different from himself?'

'Why did he bring another guy? I thought we all had to bring dates, not friends. Unless ... Oh. Ohh.'

"I see what you mean now," Shouto whispered to Denki.

"Yeah. Let's just find my parents. After, we can just let people come to us." Denki tugged Shouto around the large room.

They ended up being dragged into conversation with a few other couples who questioned them. They seemed to ignore or brush off Denki whenever he answered, though, and that annoyed Shouto to no end.

"So, what are you planning on doing after you graduate?" One lady asked.

"I'm going to teach young kids English!" Denki smiled. "Working with children is something I've wanted to do since I was around 15! It took me a while to discover exactly, but-"

"Yeah, yeah, that's great. What about you, Todoroki Shouto?" Denki's smile and excitement about being able to share vanished when the lady cut him off.

Shouto squinted. "I think my father's made it pretty clear that I'm picking up his company no matter what major I graduate with."

"Oh that's wonderful!" The woman's date smiled. "I can't wait to see what you do with the position."

"I'm sorry, did you not hear me? I don't think my wants being put aside for the future of my asshole father is 'wonderful.'" Shouto seethed. "And I don't appreciate you brushing off what my boyfriend said and cutting him off. He wasn't done speaking. You could at the very least stop pretending you're interested in what either one of us is going to be doing in our lives if you don't even listen to what we have to say."

"O-oh. I apologize. But you don't have to be so rude about it."

"Yeah and you don't have to be an ass. Let's go, Denki." Shouto dragged Denki away from the couple to an area with fewer people. "Are you okay?"

Denki blinked a few times. "Yeah, I'm alright. You didn't have to do that, you know?"

"You don't have to sit there and let people walk all over you, either, but I guess we all have our flaws."

"... Thank you, Shouto. I appreciate you standing up for me. I'll be okay. It's, uh. It's not anything new." Denki took a breath and planced his hand on Shouto's. "I mean, I shouldn't be used to it, but I am. Unfortunately. It doesn't hurt as much as you probably think it does."

"That's bullshit," Shouto glared. Then, he softened. "I saw the happiness get sucked out of you when she cut you off. I couldn't just sit there and let you be upset when I knew I could say something. Besides, what kind of boyfriend-uh, fake boyfriend-would I be if I didn't stand up for you?"

Denki smiled, a small blush forming, then he grinned devilishly. "Awh, how sweet! Don't go falling for me now, fake boyfriend!"

Oh god, does he know? Shouto thought. I thought I was being subtle about actually liking him, even if I only like him a little.

"No worries." Shouto smirked, hopefully convincing Denki.

~~~

"Denki!" Denki's mother greeted. "We're so glad you actually showed up. And you brought a date! You ... Actually brought Mr. Todoroki?"

"Please, call me Shouto." He stuck his hand out and grimaced.

Denki smiled as his mother and father both shook Shouto's hand happily, saying how surprised they were to be on a first name basis with the son of Endeavor. "Yeah! I did! He's, uh ... He's my boyfriend."

"Oh really, now? That's wonderful!" Denki's father smiled.

He saw Shouto flit his eyes to him and then back to his parents. He saw the slight blush on his cheeks. He brushed it off as embarrassment, or shyness. Whichever of the two.

"How are you tonight, Shouto?" Denki's mother asked. "Are you having fun yet?"

Denki pulled his mouth into a tight smile. Fun. Who could have fun surrounded by people talking about you? Who could have fun pretending to be the boyfriend of an annoying guy Who could have fun at a boring event they were forced to come to with no one else their own age apart from their fake date? He didn't voice any of his thoughts, especially since he knew he couldn't speak for Shouto, and the last one didn't even apply to him.

"Yes, of course." Shouto lied. It must be a lie. Right?

"We're both so glad Denki is dating again! It's been a while since he's brought anyone over. Maybe you two could come over for dinner one day."

"Mom," Denki blushed, "we've talked about this."

"I was quite surprised when he said he was bringing a boy, and even more surprised to find out it was you," Denki's father said.

"Dad," Denki's blush was more uncomfortable.

"It's alright, my boy. Hopefully this one's a keeper, though. Wouldn't want a nasty fallout with the son of Endeavor."

"Dad." Denki's blush was gone.

"What?"

Shouto cut in. "Actually, he won't have to worry about a nasty fallout, because there won't be one."

Denki looked over to Shouto, who was back to his cold, stoic expression. He reached for Shouto's hand.

"And even if we do have a bad breakup, he wouldn't have to worry about anything because ... I don't get on great with my father, actually. I try my best not to be like him. I may be petty sometimes, but I won't drag reputations through the mud like he does." Shouto squeezed Denki's hand, what Denki interpreted as a silent thank you.

The conversation ended. It was almost time for dinner, and Denki's parents apparently wanted to talk to one more couple before sitting down to eat. That, and his parents were a little uncomfortable from unintentionally getting on Shouto's bad side. Denki could tell from their rushed goodbyes and slightly surprised expressions.

"You alright?" Denki asked, squeezing Shouto's hand like Shouto had done to him earlier, except this time it was for comfort.

Shouto nodded. "Yeah. I'm good. I'm just tired of constantly being compared to my father. It's going to be worse at the dance next weekend. There's ... Not much I can do about it until I eventually take over the company. Unfortunately."

"Hey, I'll be there for you at the dance like you're here for me here. Maybe I can take off some of the attention you'll get by getting the attention I didn't want here. I can be more annoying if need be. Then they won't be talking about you as much." Denki's heart ached. He hated being thought of as annoying, but he'd gladly be more so just to please his boyf-fake boyfriend. It would be the least he could do.

~~~

Finally, it was time for dinner. Shouto was starving, and it was getting harder and harder to keep from staring at Denki. At least now that it was dinner, and that meant he could focus on food, that the night was almost over.

Except it wasn't, really, since they'd be staying the night for some unknown reason. And he couldn't focus on his food when Denki was being so cute, talking to his parents proudly about how his previous semester at school went. Surprisingly, other people were commenting and congratulating him for getting nearly all A's in his classes.

"I only have three semesters left, and next semester I get to go to a school and be a student teacher!" Denki smiled. "I'm really excited to teach some kids some English. If I do well enough there, they might consider hiring me on after I graduate."

Shouto couldn't help but stare at the other's expression. He was so happy. It looked good on him. His small crush was starting to grow bigger, taking place in his chest and burning a fire through his veins.

What Shouto didn't know was that Denki had caught him staring at him a couple times, and that that made Denki more happy.