Kaminari slowly made his way back to his dorm room, not caring about the camera's or the possibility of getting into trouble, he's always liked living on the edge. Seeing how far he can push things before they break.

He unlocks his door and glides into his mess of a room, his mind replaying the events of tonight over and over again in his head. He feels his heart speed up and a wicked grin overtakes his blank expression.

'Now that was exhilarating.' He thinks to himself.

It's why he likes to hang out with Izuku, the green-haired teenager always had something exciting and interesting planned. As well as always being fun to pull around. 

Kaminari continues to pattered around his cluttered dorm room while carding his fingers through his blonde hair. Once he'd finally found his pyjamas in a pile of clothes he'd yet to give to Kirishima to wash for him he pulled them on and climbed into bed. 

He stared at his plain white ceiling and allowed his thoughts to wonder.

It had started out as a game, a stupid competition between two unfortunate, fate-hated kids who had formed a tentative bond with one another. He was the leader of their little group, dragging them along in his schemes and mischief. Izuku was at first his scapegoat, someone to blame when they got caught but he quickly became the brains of their operation and from then on they never got caught. It was Kaminari's idea to start their little bet, they were perhaps twelve at the time (maybe) age didn't really matter there. The objective was to make each other as uncomfortable as possible, he thought he would've won easily as Izuku was weak-willed and quiet. 

But he was quickly proved wrong and their verbal spars became the sport to watch for all the kids in the Slums. Izuku matched his barbs and burns with ease and often stabbed soft spots with harsh words, which he always apologised for afterwards when Kaminari let the waterworks flow. (Usually when the blond lost)

'That was about the time when this unwanted attachment started to sprout.'

•~•

His alarm screeched at him trying to get him up, and he was resisting the tempting action of launching the hellish clock at the wall so that it would smash into millions of little pieces and never see the light of day ever again. But that would cause unnecessary noise and he didn't want any of that. He reluctantly crawled out of bed and staggered over to my closet like a drunkard on roller skates.

He searched through his piles of clothes and ran over what he was doing today in his mind, 'Mina will more than likely drag us all to the mall to take us shopping and we'll most probably end up at a café and Bakugo would tutor us extras. More like torture us.' He thought with a roll of his eyes.

He pulled on some ripped black jeans, a white t-shirt with a lightning bolt on it, slipped on some tatty yellow sneakers and then he shoved the phone that he stole into his front jean pocket and slapped on his grandfather's brown leather wrist watch, which didn't even work, and started to stroll out of his room.  But then doubled back to grab his Rubik cube, it would be awhile until pink alien, tape dispenser, croc man and blasty got up so he might as well entertain himself. 

When he got to the common room there were only about five people, excluding him, up and about but majority of them were still fumbling around in their pyjamas. He didn't even bother trying to pick out who they were, Izuku was there and that was all he could bring himself to care about.

He plopped down on the old and very comfortable couch that everyone always fought over and twirled the cube on his fingers like a basketball. He sat there one handedly solving it and stared at the individual colours as they melded together to form one solid square and his thoughts began to wander.

People are like Rubik cubes, all mixed up in stereotypes, lies and truths and as soon as you figure out and solve one side of it you realise that there are other sides even more messed up than the first one you solved. But if you solve the other side you mess up the one you just solve and it infuriates most people when they don't understand or can't figure something out. Other people tend to just leave them alone and be happy they got one side not even bothering to look at the other sides. Fooling themselves.
Then there are those golden few who persevere and stay with it until the very end, not leaving until they have completed the cube, but they will mess it all up, jumble up the colours so that they are even worse than what they were in the beginning. They break the solidity and perfection of what they created and reverse all their hard work; break the bond they formed.

Then there are those who break the Rubik cube into little pieces and put them all back together, the way they want, not bothering to be patient and work through it. They just force it and more often than not the Rubik cube is never the same.

'I; however, like to play with Rubik's cubes.'

Kaminari switched the Rubik cube from his right hand to his left, spun it on his finger before letting it fall on each individual knuckle. He flips it into the air, catches it and continues to one-handedly solve it.

After about fifteen times Bakugo and Kirishima finally showed up (figures they'd be together). They weren't doing a very good job of keeping their relationship secret, do they want to get arrested? Anyone with half of a brain and knew what they were looking for could figure out that they're dating. 

No one had noticed Kaminariyet, which he was fine with , it gave him enough time to get his guards up and put his mask of Kaminari the Idiot on. 

Mina and Sero then stumbled into the room, dressed but barely awake. Soon they would be off to the mall

•~•

Mina dragged them from store to store like a greyhound chasing a rabbit but instead this one was pink and was running after sales not rabbits. The aroma of buttery popcorn and cinnamon assaulted Kaminari's nose indicating that they'd passed the theatre. 

'Where is she heading? There aren't any clothing stores down this way.'

Our ringleader for this occasion - Mina - suddenly halted in front of a quaint and rather modern looking café. It was called Weston's Café, obviously foreigner owned, there were huge, crystal clear windows in the front that allowed you to get a glimpse inside, the walls were a light gray and the oak panelled door was painted forest green. Delicious smells of cake and apple hit their senses as soon as they entered.

 Everything inside had a green, rich brown and white colour palette, very pleasing to the eye. It wasn't too formal but it certainly wasn't tacky, overall it was very nice looking. There were potted plants on the shelves behind the counter, the light bulbs hung - uncovered - from the glistening white ceiling, which boasted a recent coat of paint. The tables were scattered in the centre of the café and there were booths in the corners that were covered in a dark green leather.

The group of Heroes-in-training chose to sit at one of the booths. 
Kaminari sat next to Sero and Mina and  cracked inappropriate jokes with them and teased Bakugo, but Kaminari was secretly admiring the café and was playing one of Izuku's favourite games, the life game. He had to try to guess why people were here and what type of life they might have.

He spotted a woman sitting alone and looking very anxious, constantly tapping her foot and scanning the area, obviously anticipating something or someone. A date probably. She is heavily made up and is in tight jeans and a long sleeved, striped shirt that hugged her figure in all the right ways, and she had topped her outfit off with a thin scarf, a loose knit beanie and boots, due to the chilly winds. Definitely a date then.

The majority of the people in the café were in their early teens to late twenties, most were female and more than seventy percent of them were dressed in warm clothes. Kaminari subtly scanned the room, searching for another candidate, but was interrupted by Sero who was chortling at some guy with toilet paper rolls for hair that stood at the counter and Kaminari joined in and made some crude jokes and unintelligent comments.

They were interrupted by a waitress asking to take their order. Kaminari turned to face her and stalled mid-sentence but not for the reason his 'friends' thought. She had light lavender hair which was in twin plaits that reached just above her butt, she had large caramel, doe like eyes which shone with expectation and anticipation. Desperate to do well.  

Her starched white, short sleeved button up, was a size too small and was obviously second hand, the cheap plastic buttons barely held it together and a few were missing. The dark green pencil-skirt she wore was a size too big and the colour faded. She thankfully had on some thick, brown woollen stockings. Over her skirt loosely sat a light brown apron, that was used to store her notebook and pencil which, like everything else, was looking a little worse for wear. Her black loafers were all scuffed and obviously haven't been polished in like a year. Either she didn't care or couldn't afford such a frivolous thing like shoe polish.

"You were saying sir?" She asked, pencil poised at the ready.

Kaminari bristled at the formality, unused to be referred to in such a way. 

"Uh, I'd like a slice of carrot cake and a chocolate milkshake." He said after a hot minute, choosing the cheapest options on the menu.

He watched as she subtly flirted/fangirled with Bakugo as she took their orders, clearly enamored with the winner of the UA Sports Festival. He obviously wasn't interested and ignored her, eventually she caught on and shut up and left the table, face pink with embarrassment. 

"Why didn't you go for her Bakugo? She's super cute and clearly interested in you." Kaminari asked him before adding, "Have no idea why though."

"Aww is someone jealous?" Mina teased, a devilish grin on her face. Kaminari replied with a firm no and so Mina switched her prey and started to grill Bakugo. 

"Oh come on Bakugo! You telling me you don't have any special girl in your life?" Mina moaned and stared at Kirishima, begging him to help her but he put his hands up in surrender; not wanting to get involved. 

"Hell no! How am I supposed to come the top Hero with a stupid, extra girl holding me back." The boy grumbled, shifting slightly away from Kirishima. 

It was then that an evil idea graced Kaminari. 

"Are you gay man?" His tone was light and teasing and his posture was loose as if what he asked wasn't a loaded question. 

Everyone else at the table paled.

"Kaminari!" Mina hissed, "how could you even suggest something like that?" Her quiet tone held barely veiled disgust.

"What the fuck, hell no!" Bakugo snapped and glared at him, fear hidden behind rage. 

"Seriously bro?" Kirishima stared at him incredulously and Kaminari shrugged in a what's the matter manner. 

"Honestly you're like the densest, most dumbest smart person I know Kaminari." Mina groused, her face buried in her hands as she shook her head. Didn't he know the law? Didn't he listen in Political Analysis class? 

"Well that just proves that you idiots need more help that I thought!" Bakugo grumbled and pulled out his textbooks and notes from his backpack - which was black and had a skull on it. They started off with Maths and when they were finished with that it would then be Languages, History, and Geography, which all of them were struggling with, except Bakugo. (Whom despite his fiery temper and fowl attitude was very smart and apparently has a pair of very nerdy glasses that he has to wear but Bakugo being Bakugo refuses to wear them.) But first math. 

Then they would be moving on to the subject Kaminari hated with passion, Political Analysis, an excuse to shove propaganda down their throats. 

About half-way through the study session their food came and damn was it worth the wait.

The whipped cream on top of the slice of cake practically melted in his mouth. The cake was still warm and moist. He could the fresh carrot and every taste bud was singing a symphony in his mouth; it was pure bliss. A single cube of sugar was a prized object in his childhood, very rare and you'd only get it once a year. Sweets and cakes were even less common and were worth a whole house. 

Kaminari looked at his classmates who weren't even affected by the tastes and textures of their various dishes that danced on their tongues, as they were used to such luxuries and he was someone who had been lucky to score some fresh bread.

In the Slums they were given the most basic foods, bread, dried or canned meat and whatever fruits and vegetables they could get their hands and water of course, which had to be boiled just in case. He scowled at the injustice of it all but quickly glossed it over with a look of ignorance that all his classmates had and continued eating.

•~•

By the time they had made it back to the dorms the sun was setting, washing the school in an orange and red haze as the last rays of sunlight played in the trees. It was so tranquil and peaceful until the pink haired, rose skinned alien ruined it all by calling him inside. He begrudgingly complied and made his way inside. 

To his amusement, there weren't clustered groups of people doing some last minute cramming - the written exams started on Monday after all - instead everyone was huddled around a small table and were eagerly watching as Rikido and Izuku played poker. Kaminari felt his hands twitch. It had been so long so he'd gambled; the bets with Izuku notwithstanding.

Speaking of him he'd lost miserably. He chuckled at Iida who was trying to comfort him after his drastic loss.

'Cute.' 

'No. No. No. Kaminari don't get attached!' 

And so his internal conflict ensued. 

"As if that nerd could play poker." Bakugo scoffed as he sat down to play against Rikido, his douche mode activated - he and Kirishima must have had an argument of some sorts. Kaminari felt his blood boil, no one else was allowed to be mean to Izuku. 

Bakugo beat Rikido, who good naturedly accepted his loss. 

"Hey Bakugou, let's play." Kaminari says as coolly as humanly possible and sat down on the chair across from Bakugo.

"Okay Pikachu. Be prepared to fucking lose!" Bakugo jeered at me, his face contorting into a frightful leer.

Izuku snorted, hand hiding his smile. Bakugo glared at him and prepared to yell at the boy. 

"Now, now blasty don't count your chickens before they hatch." Kaminari smirked and picked up the brand-new pack of cards that had been very crudely mixed up and started to shuffle them expertly. 
The cards seemingly flew between his hands. He laid out the cards in one swift motion, it was so quick you could've missed it if you blinked. He then proceeded to count the chips and handed him some. Kaminari's face was a mask of seriousness, eyes glinting. Come at me they said. 

Bakugo had lost his domineering expression and picked up his cards. 

'He's in my territory and I will annihilate him.' 

Kaminari felt his Bunny's (Izuku's) presence behind him and his confidence soared. It was just like the good old days. 

He won that round and then continued to thrash every opponent that came to stand against him.