With a Strum of My Heart Strings

Lose Control

A/N: Song used in this chapter: Lose Control by MEDUZA

Kaminari was finding it quite difficult to act cool around Shinsou. But it was okay! He'd be fine! He decided to just think about how much fun they could have on this outing, pushing down the nerves.

He continued to lead the way to the place he had chosen for them to eat lunch at, though he wouldn't tell Shinsou no matter how much he begged.

"Kaminari, we've been walking for nearly fifteen minutes. Will you please just tell me?" The blond found it entertaining that Shinsou wanted to know so badly, but he knew if he told him he wasn't going to allow it. So he stayed silent. "You're starting to worry me a little," Shinsou laughed.

"I told you that you can call me Denki," he reminded him, hoping the taller male would stop asking for a singular minute, at least. Shinsou huffed but went with it.

"I thought you were joking about that," he replied as he put a hand to his neck, something Denki had realized he did when he appeared nervous. Well, he didn't want him to be nervous! Denki decided he would do everything he could to make Shinsou more comfortable, even though the place they were going to would probably not help him with that.

"Nope!" Kaminari said as he grabbed Shinsou's arm to pull him to walk faster. Mina had only given him an hour before he had to come back, so he didn't want to waste any extra time.

Eventually, his hand on his arm slowly slipped down to hold Shinsou's hand without him even realizing it. When he noticed, he said nothing, despite the warmth creeping up to his cheeks. Denki just continued to pull his friend along as if everything was fine. Well, everything was fine! He'd never been better! That's what he was telling himself, and that's what he was going to believe!

As they started to approach their destination, Kaminari prayed that Shinsou wouldn't just stop and turn the other way. He wouldn't put it past him. And the reaction he got honestly wasn't that surprising to him either.

"Wait... you're taking us to a karaoke bar?" Denki laughed when he stopped.

"Yep! Now come on! We don't have long." He tried to grab his arm but he kept it away.

"There's no way I'm going in there," he said, though the blond wasn't giving up so easily. He walked over to where Shinsou had stepped back and, despite his resurfacing nervousness, threw an arm loosely over his shoulder, which was kind of difficult because of the height difference, but he managed.

"Please?" he looked up at him with puppy dog eyes, working his Denki charm. It never failed. Most of the time. Shinsou huffed and averted his gaze, staring at the brightly colored building in front of them instead.

"Fine," he sighed. "But not because you're making that cute-- I-I mean, that face at me." Did he just call him cute? Holy cow! No, no, he couldn't get excited. It was just a simple slip-up. Happens all the time!

"Great!" Denki cheered, oblivious to Shinsou heavily blushing behind him. "Let's go!" He pulled him behind him once again as they walked in. The blond greeted the host, who showed them to a table. The place was pretty casual, everything you'd expect from a karaoke bar. The lighting was slightly dimmed and glowing pink, giving the whole place a calmer atmosphere, despite the loud karaoke tracks and singing voices on stage surrounding everyone's ears.

Once they were sat at a table, the two could barely hear each other over all of the noise. So instead, they resorted to watching the people sing up on the stage. Shinsou and Denki were enjoying their meal when Kaminari suddenly turned to his friend.

"You should sing something up there!" he told him, beaming. Shinsou shook his head.

"No way." Denki smiled mischievously. He didn't want to have to do this, but...

"I'll do it if you do it," he tried, hoping this would work. Shinsou sat there, thinking about it for a moment, before finally answering.

"Still no." Denki huffed at that, pouting.

"Come on! What about a duet? You wouldn't even have to sing a whole song then!" Shinsou sighed.

"Fine, but I'm choosing the song." The blond smiled, silently cheering. The two, after a bit of waiting, were able to go up and sing. Shinsou had decided they would sing "Lose Control" by Meduza. He didn't want to sing one of his own songs, he said that'd be too weird.

Denki's heart was pounding as they got on stage. He really didn't want to do this, but he also really wanted to hear Shinsou sing, and that's what won over. Suppressing the fear the best he could, Denki took a deep breath as he heard the track start. He and Shinsou had already figured out who would sing which part, and he was the one who would start the song. Shinsou gave him a reassuring nod, and Denki started to sing.

"Why do I feel like I'm drowning? Like I'm running out of air?" He tried to look over at Shinsou again but he was turned away, though Kaminari didn't miss the tint of red on the tips of his ears. But he had to brush that off for now and focus. "Why do I feel like I'm falling? When I'm nowhere near the edge?" The nerves started to slowly slip away as he continued, his hands stopping their shaking.

"Just let me know," he sang on, "can you be the one to hold and not let me go?" He started to gain more confidence, enough to not just stand there frozen on the stage, starting to move around a bit. "I need to know. Could you be the one to call when I lose control?" Denki started to drift towards Shinsou as the taller man began his part, vocalizing to the music.

"I need your love. I need your love," Shinsou sang before vocalizing again. "I need your love. I need your love," he repeated as Denki stood next to him. He didn't dare look at the blond, though. Kaminari couldn't understand why.

Hitoshi and Denki both started to sing the "ah"s now, repeating the lines together. "I need your love. I need your love." Shinsou finally cast a glance at the blond and smiled. He continued as Denki sang, "Could you be the one to call when I lose control?" Hitoshi carried on with the vocalizing, leaving Denki to sing the actual words of the song.

"When I lose control?" he started, leaning up against Shinsou.

"When I lose control?" Shinsou allowed him to, turning to face him now.

"When I lose control?" Denki repeated as Shinsou sang, "Ah-ah-ah-ah. I need your love," over and over again.

"When I lose control?" They sang at each other as if they were trying to argue with the lyrics, though there was no hostility from either friend.

"When I lose control?" They smiled at each other, getting lost in the song, almost forgetting about the people watching.

"When I lose control?" Denki sang one last time as he and Shinsou now stood back to back.

"Could you be the one to call when I lose control?" they concluded together as the music cut out. Denki felt like he could fly when the people eating at the tables clapped for them before they got down from the stage.

"That was incredible!" Denki cried as they sat back down. Shinsou grinned slightly to himself.

"It was pretty fun." Kaminari beamed at that.

"See? Aren't you glad we came here now?" Shinsou opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, the waitress came back. "Oh! I can pay!" the blond said as he reached to grab his credit card.

"It's okay, I've got it." He tried to stop him, but the woman spoke up.

"Actually, that won't be necessary." Shinsou furrowed his brows at that. "The man over at that table took care of it for you. Have a great afternoon!" she told them, pointing across the restaurant before leaving.

"That was nice--" Kaminari started before being cut off by Shinsou, who was looking over to where the waitress had pointed, a look of shock on his face.

"Todoroki?"