Denki sat at the table, tapping his feet gently to the instrumental, acoustic versions of pop songs that wafted through the small cafe, as though it was aware it could never compete with something along the lines of Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts just as its music failed to deliver the same sparks the originals seemed to carry.  It was good, sure, but not great, by any means.  The same could be said as he cast a casual glance up and met Tetsutetsu's cold gray eyes.  Although the other boy didn't return the gaze - his eyes were resting on the front door of the small family business, looking for something, or rather someone, that had yet to arrive - something within Denki shifted, and he felt miniscule in comparison.  His stiff, cardboard-cutout body slumped back in his seat, chin nearly hitting the edge of the table serving as a separator between them, shoulders in and hands folded over his knees, meanwhile Tetsu casually swung an arm across the bench behind him, tilting his held-high head for an attempt at a better aspect.  It was as though the gray-haired boy was a black hole, sucking Denki's confidence away only to imbue it within himself for his own use.

Desperate for any semblance of normality, Denki reached into his pocket and swiped his phone open, falling again on the name he could never forget: [y/n].  A new text had been sent - Omw!  Sry for delay, Setsu couldn't pick an outfit :p. 

Denki debated sending a response or not, but eventually resigned from the rigor of it all and instead decided to get as comfortable as he could for the very uncomfortable delay. He shoved his nervous hands in his pockets and hooked his feet around the central stand keeping the table before him standing. He locked eyes with the tiled clay floor and took interest in the twirls and swirls of gold, red, and yellow that intermixed and intermingled with one another until looking like a heavy sunrise, bringing with it a turn of emotions for the day, illuminating the present and casting shade on the future as though whispering it will get better, it will get better.

"Hey man, just got a text. They'll be a little late." Tetsu's voice reached Denki's ears as the gray-haired boy stretched his arm over his head, and Denki's gaze returned to him.

Denki offered a nod. "Yeah, [y/n] said the same thing."

Tetsu was clearly a bit offput by this, as it was the same girl who had sent the message to him, as well - why was she texting Denki, of all people, too? Of course, not to say she shouldn't be. He'd presumably heard a good deal about their friendship and misadventures over the course of courting [y/n], but yet never had held a conversation with her counterpart in person. "So, you've got a quirk?"

Genuinely surprised by the lack of malice in his voice, Denki began to relax a bit. Perhaps simply because he was dating [y/n] didn't necessarily make him an enemy; in fact, the more he thought about it, he should probably be grateful that someone else could make her happy, and solely feel glad at the sight of her solace. "Electricity. Didn't even charge my phone overnight, but I'm already at ninety percent." He flipped his phone to face Tetsu, index finger just below the small battery symbol which sat at a nearly-full green bar. Unlike himself, Tetsu showed no outward signs of his quirk, if he did indeed have one, so to keep the conversation going Denki followed up, "And you?"

Tetsu grinned. "I can get hard as steel."

And Denki very much regretted asking.

Thankfully for him, he didn't have to ponder as to the wording to his response to such a statement (if a response was required at all, that is), for at that moment the front door elicited a small jingle as it opened, revealing Setsuna slipping in with a tight grin and a hint of faux lust in her dark eyes, heavily-mascaraed, fluttering playfully as she half-dragged the girl behind her inside.  And in the slits of sunlight sneaking across Setsuna's skin, illuminating her perfect porcelain complexion popped with a bright red lipstick framing a flawless smile, tresses of dark hair trailing into a short pink crop-top and tight-fitting jeans that clung to her figure as though silken garments concealing a pure treasure beneath, there was nothing but wrongness, nothing but regret, nothing but simple astonishment as Denki's curious eyes traveled to you.

It was clear Setsuna had chosen your own outfit - there was little left of the comforting garments you usually sported, rather, emphasizing all the right curves as though a landscape perfectly planted, cultivated for the sole purpose of hills and valleys that would ensnare any onlookers with a sense of deep obligation to scale up the short denim skirt ending midway down your thighs, high-waisted and under a beautiful shade of [f/c] babydoll shirt that hung on every crevice without fold, as though designed solely for you, to emphasize you, to showcase you, and your beauty, and oh how the slight blush was beginning to spread across your face and your thoughtful eyes became gentle pools of light in the midday luminescence.  The reverse of a moth and a lantern, the sun seemed instead to gravitate towards you, capturing you in an innocent ethereal but not necessarily evanescent glow as though you had descended from the heavens with the sole purpose of becoming a beacon of beauty for those of the earth to admire like a shrine, and if you had told Denki those very worlds he would have easily believed them.

His eyes met yours but yours met Tetsu, whose astonished expression morphed into something confident and prizing, the face of someone rendered nearly speechless with their own successes and disbelief at such a sensation of a situation.  Whatever words had initially frozen in his throat melted into a welcome.  "You both look amazing," he blinked.

Setsuna winked in response and broke in between the two, shattering Tetsu's view of you and sliding into a chair across from Denki.  "No, you save all that sweet talk for her," she admonished, a smirk setting itself upon her lips, "[y/n] is a goddess.  A bit new to love and all - and that's where I come in, of course - but one can't simply ignore the gifts they've been given, no?"

"I should have brought gifts," Denki breathed absentmindedly, not truly comprehending what he'd said until you took a seat across from Tetsutetsu and Denki reluctantly switched his focal point to Setsu, who'd begun to laugh.

You joined in the joys of your friend, shaking your head vehemently.  "Just being able to come here with you all is a gift."

"She's such a catch," Setsuna whispered, forming her hands into the shape of a heart and holding it up until you were caught between the faux lenses of her make-believe camera, a poster rendered in the shape of love and then adding, "you're a lucky one, Tetsu."

You quickly shook your head, blushing at your friend's compliments, embarrassed over how much she doted upon you like a mother hen to her chicks.  "If anything, Denki's lucky to have you, Setsu!" came your jubilant reply, eliciting laughter from the whole group except perhaps Denki himself, who was very intently watching the way your face lit up when it met Tetsutetsu's.

"We're all lucky," the other boy quickly corrected after his chuckling grew to an end.  

Setsuna nodded fervently.  "You weren't lying about your friend, [y/n]!  He's snatched my wig and - oh, god, you've made me bald, [y/n]!" 

"Only the best for you," Denki stuttered very awkwardly, redness flooding his cheeks. 

"My heart," Setsuna breathed, "oh my god, this isn't fair, I didn't get a warning!"

Tetsu jumped in and quipped, "I bet you got a barrage of trashy January memes," under his breath, in a whisper meant to be just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"The poor thing can't let go of her memes.  Every now and then, when we hang out," the flirtatious girl began, her eyes growing soft as though speaking of a deceased loved one, lost in memories and re-counting reminiscence, "she still lets out a-"

"My name e Jeff," you and Denki declared, simultaneously, although Denki's voice was merely a silent echo in time with your glorious proclamation.

Tetsu lost his bearings and slammed his head down on the table, the muffled sound of laughter drifting up from his squished face as you reached over and ran a hand through his soft hair, careful of his laughter convulsions, giggling a bit yourself as your dear best friend exposed you. 

"That's not even the worst of it!" Setsuna protested, rolling her eyes until she fixed them on Denki, as he appeared the only viable person to continue a conversation with.  "She still won't shut up about the doge memes, either!  Though her favorite is the subreddit -"

"Boneappletea," Denki finished, remembering the good old meming days when the two of you would spend lunch using Denki's quirk to jam past the school's website restrictions.  Bone smack the teeth, chicken permission, hand soup, merci Goku, and your personal favorite -

"Jobs should higher you weather you have a fella knee or a mister meaner!" you exclaimed, exasperated at these fools' lack of intellect.  

"That's your favorite one?  Didn't know.  Alright, I know what I'm getting you for Valentine's Day," Tetsutetsu quickly noted, placing his chin in his hand. 

Denki knew.  He'd known for awhile.

In fact, most of the conversation - primarily initiated by Setsuna, followed by either you or Denki, and generally concluding with Denki's short input - revolved around things that Denki knew but which Tetsutetsu hadn't known.  It was like reliving all the memories, taking time for himself to sit and not talk, not because he didn't want to but rather because the silence let him hear the remnants of your clear voice, didn't want to look at anything but rather watch the show parading on within his own mind, the days when he and you were just that - he and you.  The world was there but it was not he and you and the world, rather the world was a background, a backdrop, props and stilts and settings supplied for the stars the burned brightly with the incandescence of youth and innocence and everything joyous, and those stars were not stars but rather just that, just he and you, two friends that had taken the test of time but were now teetering on the edge of shattering.  

And yet - what really had changed?

Were you not sitting there, albeit in larger numbers, but nevertheless together?  Why did it matter if it was he and you and Tetsutetsu and Setsuna, when it was still he and you?  How did he feel a sense of loss for something that was never really gone - why did he have resentment when there was nothing to resent, why did he have fear when there was nothing to fear, only Tetsu and Setsu and he and you?  You were happy - that was what mattered.

And yet.

It was always the 'and yet.' 

And yet the way your eyes became brilliant with brightness when your gaze found Tetsu's, and yet the way your voice rang soft but joyously as you spoke with him, and yet how you played with his hair and he with yours, and yet how you seemed to radiate happiness in a contamination zone awaiting cleanup, a breath of fresh air in a polluted sky, and yet how you smiled and yet how you shone and yet how your love was free and wild but only free and wild for one person, and yet how that person was not Denki.

There came a moment when, upon finishing your pastries and coffee, Tetsutetsu had leaned over and laced his hands in yours, and planted a gentle kiss upon your lips, a moment where you indulged yourself with his love because oh you did not know the passion of a kiss yet, he had taken your first and you wouldn't have had it any other way, and when you broke apart you were both smiling like schoolchildren, smiling like you once had smiled only for Denki, only for him and nobody else.

And yet was it wrong that Denki thought it should've been him that you smiled for, too?

--

[a/n]: eef i'm not big on author's notes but in all honesty i felt as though this needed one. midway i sort of found myself with no clear direction, rather an end i wanted to achieve, and the middle's probably a mess of dumb things i'll delete soon. thanks for sticking with me though. you and your comments are what keep me going; they always make me smile!  <3

also this came out way longer than i was expecting, what is happening --

With love,
   - Petri ♥