Going Up! Going Down, Down, down, down...

1 ~ The Elevator

Denki stood back and watched Mina, Hanta, and Kyoka walk into the building after Katsuki.

"Do you want to hold hands too?" Eijirou asked, holding his palm out towards Denki, smiling at him softly. Eijirou didn't know about Denki's fear of elevators. Denki had never confided in him about it, but he could always tell when Denki was upset and needed his support.

Denki threaded their fingers together, "Please."

"Don't worry, I won't let go. If you look out a window and get scared, you can use me to block the view. Okay?"

"That's not- I'm... Let's just go."

Eijirou held Denki's hand firmly as they walked into the building, "It'll be okay. The elevator will take us up so fast that you won't even realize how high we are. Just don't look out the windows."

"The elevator..." Denki took a deep breath as the elevator came into sight, their four friends standing in front of it, "The elevator will be fast. We won't be on it long. In and out."

Eijirou nodded, "You won't even notice how high up it goes."

"Yeah. Won't notice..." Denki watched as Hanta pushed the elevator call button. He watched as the doors opened.

His heart stopped.

The elevator had glass backing. They would be able to see outside as it brought them up. They'd see exactly how high they were. It was for people to see the view of the city. It was supposed to be appealing.

For Denki, it was the scariest thing he had ever seen. He could see exactly how high they were. He could see exactly how far they'd drop if the cable were to break like the one so many years ago.

This was not going to be fun.

"Oh no, um..." Mina looked at the glass backing of the elevator, then back at Denki, "Just face the doors. Okay?"

"Why does he have to face the doors?" Hanta asked.

"He's afraid of heights," Eijirou said as he guided Denki onto the elevator. Denki was too focused on not panicking to be bothered to correct him about what he was truly afraid of.

Hanta looked confused until Mina pointed at the glass backing of the elevator, then a look of realization crossed his face, "Yeah, face the doors."

Denki was honestly ready to run off the elevator, but the doors closed before he got the chance. There was no turning back now.

The elevator doors were shiny and reflected the view. A distorted reflection, but a reflection nonetheless. The others didn't seem to notice, but Denki definitely did. He could see the reflection of the outside world as the elevator took them up and up and up. He tried not to look, he tried to focus on Eijirou's hand holding his own.

It didn't work.

No matter where he looked, he could see it in his peripheral. If he looked too far to the left, he could still see the reflection. If he looked too far to the right, he could see a glimpse of the outside, which was much scarier than just seeing the reflection. It was stupid to give it a proper look, he should've just closed his eyes until they reached the top, but his eyes moved on their own, and he got a full view of how high they were. They had made it up high enough that they were above the building next door. He could see onto the rooftop. A man was sitting on the ledge smoking a cigarette with no concern for how risky it was. Denki wished he had that sort of courage. Instead, he turned around and hid his face in Eijirou's jacket sleeve, his grip on Eijirou's hand tightening as he felt his breathing get away from him.

Eijirou was quick to act. He pulled Denki close with his free arm. "Stop the elevator! He's freaking out!"

Katsuki looked over before he quickly hit the open door button. The elevator stopped just a moment later, jerking slightly as it did. The others didn't notice the movement, but Denki was hyper-aware of everything around him and the jerking caused him to shriek and put off a small spark.