As Shouto predicted, his father did end up calling him to "train."

He texted Denki the moment his father had asked.

I was right. My father is having me stay with him for a week or so.

He didn't have to wait long for a text back.

Oh no!! D:

Remember u can txt me any time u need 2 get out of there

Shouto smiled softly.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Anytime dude

Should you really be calling me dude if we're still supposed to be dating?

Shhh :P i call everyone dude u shld know this by now

Or not everyone just my fave ppl

... if that wasnt clear i consider you to be one of my closest friends now

Dhhdjdhfjf i mean uhhh, yeah ure definitely arnd that staust

Status*

Shouto watched the messages pop up. He smiled at the idea of being one of Denki's favorite people. Before he could overthink it, he sent Denki a final text.

You're one of my favorite people, too. I'm going to start packing. I'll text you later.

He got a keysmash in reply, then an 'oh shit my bad,' and he smiled dopily at his phone.

He shook his head. If he wanted to avoid further issues with his father, it was best that he wasn't late. He grabbed a suitcase and started putting clothes in it. He didn't care if what he grabbed matched or not, he stopped caring what he wore over to his father's when no matter what, he'd be ridiculed for dressing sloppily. Excuse me for not wanting to wear full suits all the time, asshole.

As if Endeavor could read Shouto's mind, he got a text from him.

Where are you???

Shouto sighed. He was not looking forward to spending a week or longer with his father.

I'm almost done packing. I should be there in 30 minutes. Sorry for the wait.

When he got to his fathers house, he rang the doorbell to let his father know he had arrived—something he had forgotten to do once before, and he didn't want to forget ever again. His father had assumed he tried to sneak in and slack off—and then let himself in, setting his stuff down in the living room while he waited for his father to meet him.

He should have been nervous, should have been trying to calm himself down, but he wasn't. His breathing was steady, and he was prepared to be as passive as possible around his father.

I shouldn't be as used to this as I am.

"Shouto," Endeavor's voice boomed. Shouto stood up. "The housekeepers will bring your stuff to your room, leave it."

Shouto nodded and followed his father silently, tired of being in his house already.

~~~

Pleas ecome pick me up,

[Address]

Denki got the text when he was in the middle of a video game with Eijirou. He paused the game, despite Eijirou's protests of "dude! I was about to win!"

"Sorry, I told Shouto he could text me if he needed anything and that I'd reply as fast as I could," Denki explained, sending Shouto a message saying that he'd be there as soon as he could.

Eijirou eyed Denki. "Uh-huh. What does he need?"

"He needs me to pick him up from his father's."

"What for?" Eijirou was being eerily cryptic. Denki caught on.

"No. No! It's not like that!" He blushed.

Eijirou finally smiled. "Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure! Well—kinda. He uh, uh ... Well ... Endeavor isnt who you think he is." Denki started. "It's not really my place to tell, but basically he's making Shouto stay with him for the next week or so, and since he thinks we're actually dating, we're using that as an excuse to get Shouto, uh, to be away from him."

Ejirou's smile fell as Denki spoke. "Shit bro! Yeah, go get him! You can bring him back here and we can all hang out if he's okay with that!"

"I was already thinking of doing that, but did you just invite him to my apartment?" Denki laughed and continued when Eijirou started fishing for words. "I'm joking, but yeah you can stay here while I'm out."

He put on his coat and shoes and before leaving he shouted, "don't eat any of my chips!"

He got to Endeavor's house and texted Shouto.

Im here uwu

He had already pressed send before thinking of deleting the 'uwu,' remembering that he shouldn't be memeing in a serious situation.

Ring the doorbell, my. father or one of the housekeepers will open the door for you.

I have to pretend I forgot abojt this date to pull it off right now. He'll get the least mad that way.

About.*

Denki rang the doorbell and waited. An older woman opened the door. Oh thank god it wasn't Endeavor.

"Hello sweetie, you must be here for Shouto? You're his boyfriend, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, uh, we're supposed to go on a date tonight."

"I'll go grab Endeavor so he can be aware that Shouto is heading out."

Denki's stomach dropped. He knew it was too good to be true. Of course he'd have to face Endeavor sooner or later.

"You can wait in the living room while I go grab him, dear. It's freezing outside! Just go to your left and it's the first doorway."

At least the housekeeper was kind.

He couldn't say as much about Endeavor. When he came into the living room, Denki was immediately intimidated despite the smile on the mans face. The smile looked like it didn't belong with the rest of the man's face, now that Denki knew his true nature. The smile was practiced, and it obviously came easily, but the wrinkles of Endeavor's face showed years of anger.

"Kaminari Denki?" Endeavor asked, and Denki would have jumped up from the couch if he hadn't done that when Endeavor had first entered. "My son hasn't told me of any dates tonight."

"Uh ... What?" Denki stuttered, then remembered what Shouto said. "Oh! He must have forgotten! We planned a bunch of dates this week, but I guess he forgot to put them on his calander? He told me earlier that he was staying here for the week and seemed confused when I asked for the address."

Endeavor stayed silent for a moment, and during that moment, Denki feared for his life. I'm lying directly to his face! What if he finds out everything is a lie?

"Alright. You're lucky I didn't plan anything for him tonight. When you two get back, give me a copy of your schedule this week regarding your ... dates." Denki shivered. "Have a nice night."

"Y-yes, sir!"

~~~

Knock knock.

Shouto had half a second to prepare for his bedroom door to open and reveal his father. At least he had the decency to knock. The housekeepers tended to wait for Shouto to open the door himself or for him to tell them it was okay to enter. His father, not so much.

"Shouto, your ... Boyfriend is downstairs waiting for you."

Shouto tilted his head. "Why? Are you sure?"

"He says you have a date tonight."

"Oh no, I forgot!" Shouto winced. "I'll be downstairs in five minutes."

Endeavor lingered. "Don't stay out too long." He left, closing Shouto's door.

That sounded like a threat. ... At least the plan worked. Shouto sighed in relief and changed into the outfit he had picked out and hidden before Denki arrived. After changing, he rushed downstairs.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, I almost forgot about tonight."

"I kinda figured. Does that mean you forgot about the rest too?" Denki greeted Shouto with a small hug.

"Oh, shit, uh ..." Shouto hugged back.

Denki laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. Let's go."

The two made it halfway to Denki's apartment before saying anything.

"Oh my god, I thought I was going to burst into flames when your father said you didn't tell him about a date." Denki ran his hands through his hair, and Shouto wanted to hold them. "I was so startled I forgot everything! But it went fine. It went fine, right?"

"Yeah, it went fine. He didn't question me too much." Shouto was quiet for a couple seconds before speaking again. "He ... Did say not to stay out too long, though."

Denki looked at him. "How long is too long?"

"I assume he wants me back before eleven, so we have ... About four hours."

"I mean, I was just going to take you back to my apartment to hang out with eijirou and I if you were okay with that? We don't have to worry too much about time that way, either."

"Yeah, that's fine. Does Kirishima know about ..."

Denki nodded. "Yeah! I was actually talking to him when you first texted! He's the only one who actually knows, and we won't have to try and keep up appearances around him."

Shouto almost wished he didn't ask if Eijirou knew. If he didn't know he knew, then he'd have a perfectly sound reasoning to hold Denki's hand and sit close to him. And if he started to get tired, he'd be able to rest his head on Denki's shoulder like he did when he fell asleep watching movies when they got snowed in. But—right, he couldn't fall asleep, he had to go back to his father's house. And he knew that Eijirou knew that everything was an act for their parents.

He sighed, drawing Denki's attention. "You alright?"

Shouto thought of an excuse. "Yeah, I'm just really not looking forward to this next week. Or however long he makes me stay."

They were at the door to Denki's apartment building by now, and Shouto realized he daydreamed about Denki the whole rest of the way there.

"I was fine all day until I was finally able to get alone. I'm sorry if I sounded weird or made any typos when I texted earlier," Shouto aplogized.

"No, no! You're good! Are you okay, though?"

"Yeah, I'm—"

Denki took hold of his hands, stopping Shouto's train of thought. "No. Look at me. Are you okay? What happened?"

Shouto looked at Denki, blinked a few times, and looked down. "It's ... Just being there; it's too much. I was fine when I was doing stuff and putting on an act for my father, because I didn't have the chance to think or feel. He didn't do anything today, but I started thinking about how I'm going to be there for a whole week at least, and that gives him plenty of time to do anything under the guise of training. He ... Wants me to bulk up, by the way, did I tell you that? He wants me to be more intimidating, so he's actually having me weightlift and do boxing and stuff like that. I hate it. Any bruises or marks can be attributed to a training incident and I hate it. I don't want to do it this week, I-I can't, it's too much already and it's only the first day and nothing's even happened."

When Shouto finished, his breathing was heavy, tears were stinging at his eyes, and his hands were shaking.

He looked up to find Denki crying as well. It felt nice that he wasn't alone in his tears, as odd as that was. Denki slowly pulled him into a hug, making Shouto's tears fall as he reciprocated it.

"Shouto ... I really wish I could get you out of there. I hate that he does that to you. ... Would he be mad if we scheduled fake dates every night this week?"

Shouto laughed wetly into Denki's shoulder. "He would, but at least I'd be getting away." He sniffled. "But maybe we should stick to every other night just to ... play it safe."

"Damn."

~~~

The two finally went into Denki's apartment, eyes dry but breath still shakey.

"Ayyyyy Eijirou we're back!" Denki greeted, trying to catch glimpses of Shouto as they tried to take off their shoes. Shouto's eyes were still puffy and a little red, but hopefully Eijirou would chalk that up to the cold weather. He wondered about his own appearance and looked in the small mirror in the entryway, where he hung up his keys. His eyes were slightly less red and puffy, but again, hopefully Eijirou would think it was the cold weather.

"I definitely didn't eat any of your chips," Eijirou said as they walked into the living room. He had a bag of chips in front of him.

"Fuckin' liar," Denki laughed. He grabbed the bag away and shoved one in his mouth. He offered the bag to Shouto as he sat down on the couch next to where Eijirou was sitting on the floor.

"No, thank you."

"Oh so you offer him chips, but you say I can't have any? I thought I was your best friend!"

"That's because he's not a pig and won't eat the entire bag in one sitting!"

"... Really?" Eijirou blinked. "You eat like. Two bags. And I'm the pig?"

"Uh." Shouto stared at the two as they bantered.

"Oh! Sorry, we're only joking around!" Denki addressed Shouto, then turned to Eijirou. "But you still can't have any of my chips!"

They continued to banter and played video games for the next two hours, leaving another hour and a half before Shouto had to head back to his father's.

"You know," Denki started during a food break, "we haven't come up with a breakup plan."

"What, you and me?" Eijirou laughed.

"No, shush, me and Shouto." Denki smiled at his friends antics.

Truth be told, he didn't want to think of a breakup plan, because that meant his time with Shouto would be rapidly nearing the end.

Shouto was quiet.

"Shouto?" Denki asked.

"Hm?" Shouto looked up at him.

"A breakup plan. We need one."

"Do we?"

Denki blinked and looked to Eijirou. What? "I mean, we can't pretend forever."

"You're right, we can't pretend forever. But ... Do we need a breakup plan?"

Denki was confused. "What are you asking? Of course we do."

"Oh." Shouto's slightly loosened posture tightened back up.

"Wait—what are you asking?" Denki started to piece together what the real question could be, but he didn't want to assume. Assumption would only lead to embarrassment and heartbreak.

"Nothing, just," Shouto sucked in a breath and Denki stared, hopeful. "I ... Don't want to pretend, but I don't want to come up with a breakup plan."

"He means he wants to date you for real, bro!" Eijirou finally said.

All of Denki's breath left him in one go as he gaped and stared for a moment, processing.

"So ... What do you say?" Shouto asked, gulping.

"I ... I'd like that. I'd like that a lot, Shouto." Denki smiled and pulled him in for a tight hug.

The hug felt like home.