⚡️STATICBOUND

⚡ STATICBOUND
CHAPTER ONE — STATIC IN THE SKULL
Denki Kaminari woke up to the sound of his own heartbeat crackling.
Not beating.
Crackling.
A dry, electric hiss pulsed behind his ears, like someone dragging their nails across a radio antenna. He lay still in the darkness of his dorm room, eyes open, breath caught in his throat, waiting for it to fade.
It didn't.
The static clung to him—thin, whispery, crawling under his skin like an insect trapped in a light fixture.
Not again, he thought.
He reached for the lamp beside his bed. The moment his fingers brushed the metal, the bulb burst with a sharp pop, showering glass across his nightstand.
"Seriously?" he muttered, but his voice came out thin and brittle.
He sat up, rubbing his temples. The room was dark except for faint moonlight slipping through the blinds. His heartbeat thudded once, then stuttered, fizzed, and dissolved into another hiss of static.
It had been happening for weeks now.
Ever since that fight in June, when he'd overcharged so badly that Aizawa thought he'd fried the classroom circuitry with his brain.
And maybe he had.
Maybe he really had.
Denki swung his legs out of bed, wincing as cold air prickled across the sweat cooling on his skin. He paused, counting his breaths like Recovery Girl taught him.
In—two—three—four.
Out—
Static.
A sharp spike of lightning escaped him without warning. The air flashed white for half a heartbeat before fading again. The posters on his wall—J-Pop bands, pro heroes, a couple of dumb memes—rippled as though from a passing train.
Denki swallowed hard.
He wasn't supposed to lose control when he wasn't using his quirk.
He pressed his palms against his eyes until he saw stars. The static swelled, then split, becoming two layers—
The usual crackling hum.
And beneath it... a murmur.
A voice.
He froze.
At first it was impossible to make out, like someone whispering underwater. He strained to hear it, heart pounding, skin prickling with cold sweat.
The voice sharpened.
"...so loud... trying so hard..."
Denki shot to his feet, chair scraping back, breath tearing from his chest.
"Nope. No. Absolutely not—"
He stumbled backward, hitting his desk. His textbooks rattled. His charger sparked and flickered like it was trying to ignite.
He pressed himself against the wall. "Who's there?"
The whisper curled behind his ear.
"...tired, aren't you?"
Denki's stomach twisted. He forced himself to laugh, but it came out warped and hollow. "Okay, great, hallucinating. Cool. Fantastic. Love that for me."
His reflection in the blackout window stared back at him—wide golden eyes, messy blond hair, cheeks too pale. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week.
Maybe he hadn't.
Time really has been weird lately.
He took a shaky step toward the bathroom. He needed water. He needed a cold shower. He needed—
Anything except this.
Another flash popped from his fingertips, uncontrolled.
He inhaled sharply.
That wasn't normal.
This wasn't normal.
"Please..." he whispered to the empty room. "I just need it to stop."
The whisper behind the static softened.
"...I can help."
Denki's breath hitched.
For a moment—just one horrifying moment—
the room felt like it leaned toward him, as though pulled by something massive and unseen.
He shut his eyes, shaking.
"I'm just tired," he whispered. "That's all."
Behind his eyelids, the static pulsed warm.
"...yes. Very tired."
Denki forced himself to take three steps to the bathroom door. His hand trembled on the handle. He flicked the light switch.
It exploded.
Glass rained down. The bulb burst so violently that his ears rang.
Denki stumbled back, clutching his hand to his chest. His nerves buzzed like frayed wires.
Something was wrong with him.
very wrong.
He grabbed his phone from the floor with shaking fingers, intending to text someone—Jirō, maybe, or Midoriya—but the screen glitched before he touched it, warping into a mess of digital static.
His reflection appeared on the black mirror-screen—
but the eyes staring back weren't his.
They were darker.
Hollow.
Filled with swirling static instead of pupils.
Denki dropped the phone. It hit the floor with a sickening crack.
His chest tightened. The whisper breathed against the base of his skull.
"...you don't have to break anymore."
Denki squeezed his eyes shut, trembling all over.
"Shut up," he whispered. "Please shut up."
But the whisper only smiled in his ears.
"...you'll realize it soon."
A sharp pain lanced through his spine like a red-hot needle. Denki gasped and fell to his knees, electricity rippling uncontrollably under his skin, lighting the floor with pale, flickering veins of gold.
Then—
Silence.
The static faded completely, leaving only Denki's ragged breathing.
He waited five long seconds.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Nothing.
The room was cold and still.
Denki slowly sank onto the floor, back against his dresser, eyes wide and staring at nothing.
He didn't sleep for the rest of the night.
Outside his window, a distant rumble of thunder rolled over the horizon—
but there were no clouds in the sky