Petition to replace Mineta with Shinsou- (signed by Kaminari Denki) - orphan_account - 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia (2024)

Chapter 1: Enlightenment the Prequel

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Shinsou will be joining the hero course as of his second year on U.A.”

Those words made Kaminari’s already lovestruck heart soar. He turns towards Shinsou, pats his broad back and congratulates him in earnest, smile wider than usual. Shinsou doesn’t really respond, but Kaminari cannot judge him for it, he can tell he is in shock. His expression is not as stone faced as usual, eyebrows wrinkling his forehead and mouth slack instead of firmly shut with determination. Shinsou fought tooth and nail to earn his place as a hero. Hell, even making a very good opponent against Midoriya even after that quirk fiasco, or whatever you could call such a phenomenon. A whistle leaves his lips just thinking about being in a situation like that. It is very hard to not be pumped for Shinsou for even surviving something so messy.

The fact he was thirsting hard did not help either. And yes, Kaminari notes to himself, he knows how sad that sounds. This might maybe have been his third time meeting the guy, and they have only had like two conversations together… But Kaminari have already thrown away his weak heterosexuality for the purple haired hunk.

He hears another blonde monologue loudly on the other side of Shinsou. A person whom might have never had a heterosexual label to begin with.

How is Kaminari going to compete with that.

Monoma is once again trying to coax Shinsou into joining the “dark side”, as most of UA students put it. Shinsou only raises an eyebrow at his attempt and Kaminari gives his usual comment about the guy’s deteriorating sanity. Jirou beside him snorts, but it is that sort of snorting that signals that she is agreeing instead of mocking him. Kaminari decides to not worry about the fact he could tell that short noise apart. Monoma goes off another tangent that makes some students from the other class apologize for him.

“Just you wait, spoiled 1-A brats; class 1-B already showed our capability, and Shinsou will only strengthen us once we join arms.”

He continues to talk and talk, until Kendou punches him out cold. Even Shinsou, the source of his monologue, is ignoring him, obviously not interested in that sort of propaganda. But his petty words makes Kaminari think.

What if Shinsou actually is put in class B, where Monoma can hit on him whenever he wants to? Kaminari pales at the mere thought of such a situation.

“What class will he be in? 1-A or 1-B?” Tsuyu croaks, probably grown fond of him too since they were all teamed together. The blonde turns his head so fast his neck cracks a little. Shinsou actually mutters a “jesus christ” at him. Yet he waits for the answer like a vulture waiting for an animal to drop dead. He knows it does not make sense for that decision to be made already, but he cannot stop that childish hope.

“That will be decided when the time comes.”

…

“Those cryptic replies never stop, huh,” Kirishima comments from somewhere.

“The surprises keep coming, and they don’t stop coming.” Sero sings underneath his breath. Count Kaminari to hear any meme in his vicinity. Kaminari wants to sing along or to even make a cool sounding reply, yet his brain fails to cooperate, too busy farting out useless and thoughts to roam his empty skull. Like for example Ah sh*t, so it is possible for Shinsou to start in B. Well, Kaminari cannot have any of that. No way crazy Monoma will get the chance to woo Shinsou. Kaminari will have to use his big brain, wherever it has been hiding these past years.

“Hey Aizawa, throw out Mineta! We don’t want’im!”

Everything goes still in Kaminari’s little brain. As if the whole world stopped. Mina. He looks over at Mina, face in a pout after telling her revolutionary opinion. He looks towards the other girls. Jirou nods along, Momo is not smiling anymore, expression more grim and serious. Kirishima shoots up, shouting a loud “YEAH!” that sounds funny in Kaminari’s slow motion brain.

Wow, Kaminari knew he was thick in the head already. Not realizing that the answer was right in front of him is a whole other level of stupid.

As a final evaluation to an already finished plan he takes a look at the two purple students. Kaminari looks at Mineta first; looking offended and shrieking about saving Mina during the challenge, snot running down his face like usual. A shiver runs up Kaminari's spine. He then looks toward Shinsou beside him, shivering for a completely different reason. Unlike Mineta, Kaminari could stare forever at Shinsou. Shinsou with his wide open, pretty lavender eyes, hands pawing at the scarf surrounding his strong shoulders in a very cute way.

Yes, Kaminari nods for himself, a love struck sigh leaving him. No doubt about it.

He will absolutely remove Mineta for this dream guy.

“Oh, that expression does not look good.” Jirou whispers towards him after stabbing Mineta through his ball hair things, sending him bawling and far away from Mina.

Ah, Jirou, always the one to call him and everyone else out on that familiar stench of bullsh*t. But Kaminari knows that this time she will be a good ally to his bullsh*t. Jirou has always been one of the students to physically handle Mineta, alongside Sero and Kirishima. He simply smirks towards the shorter girl, nodding sagely towards her remark. He sure did have a bad plan. They hold eye contact until Jirou sighs, “Come to my room after school, we’ll talk about whatever's in your head then.”

Kaminari grins like a child.

Chapter 2: Disclosure; The coming out story

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Kaminari has to say, he has not always been so ready to face what Mineta’s actions did to the girls.

They had been friends at one point, Kaminari mistaking his creepy obsession to just be a hormonal need to prove himself as a guy. Because of his optimistic view of the young incel he was quick to dismiss whenever Mineta’s actions started to go too far. Hell, he can remember when he joined in on his antics, like when they "tricked" the girls into wearing cute cheerleader outfits. He started to drift from the guy when he actually went into his dorm room for the first time. And no, he will never explain what it is he saw in there that made him drop Mineta like hot sh*t. No, he will really not.

The last straw was when he went up to hug his good friend Yaomomo. Everyone knew Kaminari was a hugger, and he and Yaomomo have a good friendship. So it shocked him when she instinctively made spikes pop from her skin, almost slicing through Kaminari like the most tragic pinata on earth. Yaomomo never used her Quirk for baseless violence.

The cold words “Mineta, stop it!” made him understand how bad the issue had gotten.

“So, the plan is the same as usual.” Jirou snaps him out of his mind. She is resting on her bean bag, head tilted backwards so she could see said guy laying on her bed. There is some rock song playing in the background, loud enough so no one can listen to their conversation through the walls. No one would bat an eye anyway, but Kaminari likes the dramatic atmosphere and Jirou simply likes music. Right, he is supposed to answer her question. He blinks hard, tries to remember what he said so he could explain himself better. Which seems like a paradox, but when he thinks he’s got it, he starts to speak again.

“Kinda. But we just got more leverage now.”

She leans closer after the statement, interest piqued.

The truth is that the class has always tried to get Mineta expelled for what he always did. And it should not have been that f*cking hard since their homeroom teacher has expelled about hundreds of students before. Aizawa even says himself he is disgusted by Mineta’s behaviour, and since he is one of the most sane teachers in this school he knows his actions runs deeper than Mineta just being gross. Yet whenever they make their way to their teacher, something happens. It might sound insane, but Kaminari feels like there is some trickster god out there doing everything in his power to keep the tiny incel in their class for some sick reason. He has only shared his theory with Todoroki, and even he did not believe the bullsh*t he was spewing. In fact, he said “That’s bullsh*t, Kaminari.” and nothing has hurt as much. Kaminari never believed in God anyway, but that would have been the very last straw if he ever did.

“We have Shinsou now.” Jirou rolls her eyes towards Kaminari’s smiley expression, “And I think we all can see that Aizawa and Shinsou have a bond. He’d of course want to have his son-person in his class.”

“You sound like Todoroki now.” Jirou comments, leaning away from him now. Uh oh. Not only did she mention Todoroki during Kaminari’s inner debate, but she is not as interested anymore. His heart breaks. “And even if that is true, wouldn’t he be distracted by having Shinsou in his class then? If I was a teacher and had my kid in class, I’d probably be more distracted to see if he’s doing good than actually being a teacher. It seems illogical. And we all know Aizawa’s opinion on illogical sh*t.”

Kaminari sighs and sinks further into the mattress, she is making a good point, as usual. It does not help that Jirou is much more likely to understand their teachers thought process, since she matches his personality more than Kaminari ever will. Then he feels it click. A smirk spreads over his face. Oh, he and his big fat brain.

“We know a person who understands Aizawa’s opinion on a deeper level, though.”

Kaminari sings out, pointer finger and thumb twirling a hair strand. His pinky even stands out. Jirou simply stares at him again, at the twirling hand and the content expression on his face. A slower, romantic songs plays. She is quiet. Then she hauls a pillow towards Kaminari’s face at full speed. “Just go and flirt with the dude, idiot!” She snaps at him, hitting him multiple times. The hits continues to come but Kaminari is not bothered enough to try to dodge. In fact, he is pleasantly surprised by the attack.

“Hey! I didn’t even come out yet!” Kaminari laughs.

“Neither did I, yet you didn’t stop wiggling your stupid tiny eyebrows whenever a girl spoke to me.” Jirou huffs out. She stopped hitting Kaminari, but is now using him as an armrest. Kaminari simply lays there smiling, pointy elbow to his face but he is still content. “So what’s the label, will you still hit on me or is Shinsou’s prowess that strong.”

“I’d still hit on you even if I was the most hom*osexual man in the world.” Kaminari speaks, wiggling his tiny stupid eyebrows again.

Jirou ruffles his hair and stands up. She finds her bass guitar and drops back to her bean bag as if she did not wreck Kaminari a few moments ago. Something in Kaminari twinges, even if he did move on. Jirou never cared if she wrecked Kaminari like that. “I know. Go and write some pick up lines now, and use them on someone available this time, wheyy.” she tells him with a smile. Kaminari smiles on his way out.

Chapter 3: Comraderie; A tale of friendships and found families

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Ah sleep, it has rarely been Kaminari’s friend. Especially not when he had love on his brain.

And other random stuff. Oh, curse his adhd squirrel brain.

Basically he stayed up late that night again, writing down messy, half-finished lines about his plan down. While he did feel like a romantic genius during those productive hours, now he had to stumble out of his room half dressed to try and make it to class. His hair was done, thank f*ck, but his socks did not match and his tie is not even around his neck, now lost in the snow behind him. The hair on his exposed arms are standing up, giving off sparks as a desperate method of keeping warmth in freezing times. Instead of picking up the winter uniform he had laid out on his floor for this exact purpose, he stepped around it and managed to dig out the summer uniform with the short sleeves, which is oh so ideal for this cold spring morning.

“Kami, chill dude.” He hears the familiar voice of a certain bro snort. Sero strolls a few feet behind him like he is walking in a field of magic flowers, hands in pockets and trademark grin on his smug face. Knowing his friend, he probably is. “You act like it’s the first time you’re coming late.”

“Yeah dude, it’s not, I know that much. Who knows how many times I’ve done, though.”

“Aizawa, probably.”

“Exactly! What if this is the day he decides that he should expel me for being late or something?” Sero rolls his eyes, already in front of Kaminari because he's got long spider legs. No wonder he is calm. He continues telling him hippie sh*t about stuff working out or something. Kaminari almost feels his nerves calm, not because of the pep talk of course, the weed air is probably rubbing off on him. He is calm until they both see Aizawa about to walk towards the building.

The teacher catches their wide gazes and stops. The air is tense. They do not dare to break eye contact. Even Sero amidst his “morning daze” realizes how serious the situation is.

Aizawa bolts, looking like the demon Kaminari saw once in his sleep paralysis. Sero throws his jacket towards Kaminari with ease, rolls up his sleeve while Kaminari shrieks his ears off. He manages to shoot tape at the classroom window and on cue Kaminari jumps into his back. Then they are flying, Kaminari still shouting. Sero is once again talking hippie sh*t midair, saying that they’ll just slide into the classroom all smooth with, no issues, everything will work out in the end, man. On cue they both smash into the window, none the wiser to check if it was open in the first place.

Sickening hues of gold and piss are everywhere, in his blind sight and deaf ear canal, making his hurt head ooze of even more agony. When he tries to pull his eyelids open he sees more of that cursed yellow color. "The f*cks that?" Kaminari manages to mumble with his teeth clattering against the glass and lips pressed flat. While he speaks, Kaminari can feel wet air touch his face in the most uncomfortable way possible. He will surely have a bloody nose after this, he knows it. Sero mumbles something completely incomprehensible, confused as to what happened to their smooth landing. With some painful blinking, they both manage to properly see what is in front of them.

Said idiots almost shriek when their faces are only centimeters away from their good, good friend Bakugou.

Kaminari manages to put his trembling palms together in a prayer towards the guy, who simply grins like a bastard at the expense of their desperation. Also, did Kaminari mention how nice Bakugou is? Midoriya and Yaomomo, bless them, tries to open the window. But Bakugou simply glares and they must decide it is not worth the trouble. He cannot blame them for that.

Bakugou does not open until the very second Aizawa nearly kicks down the door. Sero rolls gracefully in and skips to his seat, all acording to plan. Unlike Sero, Kaminari does not have the brains to be that cool. The window opens and the only thing he can feel is sudden wind coming from the classroom, blowing him back and forth between Bakugou and a future of broken bones. Kaminari giggles at that mental analogy. Hehe, Same sh*t. Once again everything goes in slow motion, sparks of electricity and static drowning both his sensible and stupid thoughts out, leaving him a mess of drool and stupidity, maybe even vomit judging by how his stomach is slushing inside his confused body.

He does not register the moment he almost topples over towards the dry, dead grass on the other side.

A hot fist grabs his unsteady collar, crumples it even more and pulls him in. His drowned ears registers that a weird “huh” sound leaves his lips at the sickening motion. That is the only thing Kaminari can register, not even his feet hitting the safe ground can reach the level of impactfulness as that choked sound had on him. Kaminari falls forward and into Bakugou’s space, further irritating him.

“Get a f*cking grip, you idiot.” He hisses out. Bakugou earns a goofy grin and his explosive friend simply rolls his eyes and shoves Kaminari to his seat.

The shove jumpstarts his brain a little, helps him not lag too far behind. Bakugou has that effect on people; turning on their flight or fight instinct, that is. But it was not like he was going to get work done anyway. That is a clear fact when he wipes the blood off with the collar of his white shirt, and he is not even ignoring Jirou when she gives him a look of disgust.

He uses the rest of the lecture to just stare at Aizawa, trying to figure out what the hell is going on inside his teachers head.

Aizawa has his back turned while he writes something on the board, slouched as usual. He calls out names when needed, voice low and slurred yet most of them understand what he is talking about. Halfway through the lecture, he seems to believe that they know what they are supposed to do and goes back to his corner. Kaminari watches in fascination as he slinks back into the yellow sleeping bag, falling asleep instantly.

Kaminari likes Aizawa.

Yeah, he might be kind of scared by him, but that is mostly because he has an air of badassery around him that Kaminari will probably never earn an ounce of. At very least he doesn’t get the vibe that Aizawa hates him. He can tell the man cares for the whole class, even the ones who do not deserve to be cared for (mineta). Their stern teacher also has a dry sort of humour that Kaminari does not see often in him. Really, whenever he cracks one Kaminari cannot help but pee his pants a little. Despite his surprisingly charming quirks, the unfortunate fact is that no matter how cool Aizawa is or how dry his jokes are, Kaminari will probably always be uneasy around teachers. Yes, even the cool ones like Present mic will make him wish to die at one point, since he has never been a teachers pet before.

Teachers pet.

Sweat starts to pile up on his neck at the word. He even zaps Jirou when she pokes him with an earlobe, but Kaminari doesn’t care about the murderous look she gives him. It is not the first time someone have come close to wanting to kill him, anyway. Yeah, Kaminari was not a damn teachers pet. He remembers when that hellish math teacher from third grade shredded his perfectly... okay test sheet for adding too many smileys everywhere, in front of the whole class. She then ratted his ass out after someone asked what dumbass f*cked up so bad on a multiplication test. Kaminari refuses to feel guilty about it, it is not his fault he had to (and still does) cope with the crippling anxiety numbers give him by doodling happy faces.

Neither was it his fault teachers hates him.

Or, well, he did talk a lot in class, a fact he has given up on hiding, and the most memorable pranks he had ever pulled was on said math teacher. Kaminari sinks into his seat and looks up at the ceiling. Okay, he deserved some of the punishment. That anal firecracker prank was a very asshole-y move of him, literally. Still does not stop him from being piss nervous around teachers to this day, though.

That is actually another question he has to ask Shinsou; how he managed to become a teacher's pet to someone who is not even lecturing him in anything school related yet.

After the lecture, Jirou pokes him with an earphone jack once again. She looks way more calm than when he had zapped her. Thank f*ck. It might not be the first time someone has glared at him like that, but it is still overwhelming every time they yell, especially when it is a friend who is pissed at him. “I take that is not a boyfriend jacket?”

Kaminari looks down on himself, surprised that he still has it on. “Nah, it’s Sero’s. He threw it at me- oh wait,” Kaminari turns around towards said friend who is now annoying Bakugou, “Hey Sero, you want your jacket back?”

Sero perks up when he hears his name, abandoning his duty for a short while so he could grin back at Kaminari.

“Nah it’s cool, you need it more than me dude.”

“Really? Thanks man! I appreciate it,”

The group continues to chat but Kaminari is not really present, too busy vibrating in his chair like every other perfectly normal human being out there. He is tired, nervous and thoughtful, and for his energetic personality that is not a good combination.

Kaminari is weird already. But with those emotions in his system he can get even weirder.

“Hey man, you okay in there?” Kirishima grins down at him, softly knocking his knuckles towards the blond’s forehead. It does wake him up somewhat. He blinks blearily towards the man, feeling a headache creep up. Kirishima is a lovely angel, the very best, but that bright red hair is a damn hazard. “The lights are flickering a little,” He adds on and points upwards and yes, they are flickering.

A nervous chuckle leaves the boy behind the flickering and he wills the lights to stop. He itches to brush through his hair or rub his eyes but he knows the electricity will go somewhat haywire again. Instead, Kaminari tries to rest his hands on his thighs, palms down. Kirishima tilts his head at him, giving him a look that reads "is it that bad?". Wow, he was really tired.

“Oops, I’m jus’ sleep, didn’t sleepy much.”

The group share glances with each other, both of the concerned and amused kinds. Bakugou speaks up.

“At least you did your f*cking homework then.” That sentence sounds like a normal, friendly statement; as friendly as Bakugou can get. Kaminari’s half-shut eyes blows wide open, and Bakugou palms start crackling in an instant, a threat. “Pikachu, what else f*cking reason is there to stay up late than to do your f*cking homework?!” The lifeless nerd who goes to sleep two hours after dinner shouts at him, as if he has never been in love before; the fool.

Instead of telling Bakugou exactly that, he sputters and electrocutes himself a little. The reason behind not telling him off is one: because he does not have a fighting chance against that war machine awake, so he will be less than ashes if he tries his luck now. The second reason is because he didn't want to drop a bomb about his guy crush just like that, and he does not want to do so while Bakugou is fuming like a chimney after saying one sentence. The third is that f*ck, Bakugou is right, he really needs to do his homework. When he manages to fish out his ugly notebook with trembling fingers he lets out a cheer. Then it drops to the floor, just like Kaminari’s hopes and dreams.

Mina appears on top of his desk, ushers Kaminari to lay his head down on her lap and pets his hair. If he zaps her she doesn’t comment about it. “It’s okay, Kami,” She hums, “The others can bullsh*t something out for you, then I can steal your homework and everything will be okay. Take a nappie first.” Kaminari wants to protest, but he is halfway asleep and Mina is soft. She is also right, he needs a nap. If he is going to go and flirt Shinsou’s way to 1-A, he has to be semi-awake in the very least.

He can hear Bakugou's nostrils flare while Sero and Kirishima starts to bullsh*t his homework.

The smile is a given when he falls asleep, feeling warm and cozy in his girl friend's lap and in the company of his other bros. Man, he got some really good friends. He cannot wait to welcome Shinsou into the bakusquad.

Chapter 4: Alone together; google 101

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Shinsou is still sort of reeling from the fact that he is going to start in the hero course in his second year. So when he sees a blonde boy he basically associates with the hero course approach him during lunch he uses very quick grounding exercises to make sure he is not hallucinating. Turns out that this time around he is fully conscious, but with his sh*t sleep schedule and migraines it would not be the first time he hallucinated blond people running at him. (Blond, zesty people are one of the most powerful forces in this earth. No one can judge Shinsou if they are also one of his long time fears.)

“Hey Shinsou, my dude!”

Kaminari drops both a peace sign and finger gun towards him, all with a dazed expression. His face is red despite being inside. Not only is his face weird, his collar is crumpled and pink with what closely resembles blood, uniform jacket too big for him and hair a barely tamed mess. Did he just wake up? Shinsou is confused already.

“Isn’t that guy from the hero course, the f*ck’s he doing here?”

“Shinsou’s a hero guy too, they are going to swarm our classroom now.”

He does not know if Kaminari is too oblivious to hear the annoyed mutterings of Shinsou’s classmates, or if he is used to the negative chatter, but he does not even hesitate to greet them too. One of the weaker self-procalimed "heroics critics" blushes when he sends a tad too flirtatious smile her way before making his way to Shinsou too ask if he is free.

“I eat alone.” He tells him while he shoves a book inside his bag, sounding more bitter than he originally intended. It does not show on his face at least, because Kaminari does not budge. Well, he is swaying a little side to side but he does not look emotionally hurt at least. Shinsou is not surprised. Kaminari is apparently friends with Bakugou Katsuki. Shinsou’s dry reply will never amount to the sheer disrespect oozing off that asshole. That he knows very well.

“Me too!” Shinsou does not believe him, “We can eat alone, together.”

Kaminari winks at him.

“Do you know what the word Alone means?” He starts to walk away but Kaminari naturally follows. When a classmate says a goodbye Kaminari takes it upon himself to grin and wave back to the person who was obviously not talking to him. He even follows Shinsou out of the warm hallways. Such dedication. Shinsou does not know why, but he doesn't call him out. Yet.

“I mean, there's a lot of different definitions to a lot of words,” he continues to blabber, “if you decide to use alone as an adverb instead of an adjective, what I meant would still make sense. In the grand words of google itself, alone as an adverb indicates that something is confined to the specified subject or recipient.”

Oh, Shinsou did not expect those smart words to come out of that loud mouth. He blinks down towards the blonde, waiting to hear what else he’ll say without looking desperate. Because he is not desperate, of course. Shinsou has stimulating conversaitions with people every day. Kaminari takes a break from his sudden transformation to a dictionary, just to smirk proudly and bump Shinsou's rib with a clumsy, sharp shoulder.

“so I could be confined by you specifically, all alone.”

…

So much for wanting to hear what he has to say.

Shinsou wants to ask Kaminari if he even understood what he just implied or if he is too much of a kid to get it. But he must know, a sultry tone like that does not come as an accident. Because of how overwhelmingly real the comment seemed, another part of him wants to let the words sizzle out of existence, school his face into a deadpan and walk away. Most of the time he would do exactly that whenever someone was saying irrational things.

Instead he finds it in him to do the opposite.

The words come as naturally as the cheshire grin curling up the corners of his mouth, the one everyone always calls creepy, “You know, that’s dangerous.”

Somehow his reply makes Kaminari shrink, eyes wide as if he actually did not know what the f*ck he was talking about until Shinsou challenged him. It rubs said challenger in a way he cannot explain, he only understands it as wrong. Not only that, but Shinsou feels like he just saw into the soul of this pikachu caricature when he heard him chuckle nervously and saw him shakily finger gun.

“And grammatically correct!”

Well, that was a ridiculous reply, the dumbest thing he has heard today, which he did expect already but not like this. It caught him off guard, smile wiped clean off his face in favour to just ogle at the blond in front of him. Kaminari stares back at him, grinning like it is the only thing keeping his escapist soul inside his body. His hands goes back to doing weird gestures, first wringing together, ok-ing, lots of finger guns and lots of thumbs ups. Shinsou looks down at the gestures, then looks back up at Kaminari. He is nervous.

Shinsou begins to power walk. Kaminari halts, and does not follow him this time around.

Yet some strangers decide to look at him, strangers who are not Kaminari, heads tilted like they absolutely must get on his dick whenever they see it fit. Shinsou hides his smirk behind a hand anyway. He knows it looks scary already, and he is not looking for someone to purposely ruin his mood by pointing it out. Quickly the amount of annoying people shortens, the weather colder the farther he walks away from school. While he walks into a familiar direction his brain zones out, looking at the wet snow ascending from the sky. It hits him in the face, washing away the warmth that used to be there. It is cold. His face twists for a second. It was rude to leave Kaminari out in the cold, literally and figuratively.

Shinsou reaches his destination, obscured by thick, tall trees and bushes. Sounds of crunching grass greets his ears like a warm welcome, and when he looks up from the minor destruction he caused with his shoes, he only sees dense tufts of leaves hiding the pale sunlight that has been giving him a headache since this morning. He settles down on the grass, dry and soft unlike any other place during this time of the year.

A sigh leaves him once he rests his back down on the grass, finally gaining some time to think in peace.

After some silence he lets himself snort like a pig, the weird conversation with Kaminari coming back to his tired mind. Because, what the actual f*ck was that response? Seems like the so-called dimwit and flirt of 1-A is a bigger nerd than people give him credit for.

Shinsou does not know why, but it is sort of charming.

His eyes snap open again from his short laughing session, surprised by that thought. Instead of gaining answers, the leaves above him only leaves him pondering.

Charming.

Shinsou turns his body around, plucking out grass and studying the green pieces half heartedly. Yeah, it makes sense that a popular guy like him would be liked by a lot of people. By girls, if that suggestive interaction with earlobe girl from yesterday is anything to go by. Maybe boys, too, if... Shinsou halts once again, woken from his sleepy trance by weird thoughts. He physically shakes his head as if he could shake those thoughts away, only sinking his head deeper into the grass.

That huge jacket he wore could not be his. Simply as that.

Chapter 5: contrast; the aftermath

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Kaminari f*cked up.

Shinsou literally ran away from him because he was so awkward. It might be a stretch because it is him, come on, and he almost did fall out of a window some hours ago, but Kaminari have never felt like such a failure before. Wide eyed, he makes sure no one is around him, even walking further away from the spot Shinsou left him at. When the coast is clear he crouches down and hides his face in his hands.

He f*cked up at flirting, too! Everyone knows he is a flirt, it is like, his legacy. If there is one thing he should have been able to do, it is charm Shinsou with his flirting skills!

So Kaminari does what anyone would do when they have made fools of themselves and given up on their pitiful love lives; he tweets about it in a very ominous way and then gives a few messages to Mina. And with a few he means 7 really short ones.

Me
“MiNaAaAaAaA”
“imma los3r”
“im gonna die alone”
“bakubro’n’eijibro gonna have to adopt me”
“cuz i cannot flirt for sh*t”
“gimme Wizdom”
“MINAAAA”

Rosy maple moth
“Denki baby what did u do :’(((((“

He is in the middle of typing a long message back when he hears a familiar, annoying voice above him.

“Oh, whatever is 1-A scum doing out here, crouched down like some pitiful dog? I cannot say i hate view, but I’d rather not see the likes of you at all.” Monoma grins down at him, reciting poetry like Kaminari is his arch nemesis or something. Oh well, they both like Shinsou, so it would not be that far off to call them that now. Ugh, just the thought of an arch nemesis right now makes Kaminari groan. Don’t take him wrong, the concept of a nemesis has always been badass to him, when he was young he always wanted to find one person to belittle with cool sounding phrases so he could feel better about himself. But he hoped it could at least be someone more decent than Monoma.

“Same, crazy guy,” Kaminari shoos him away while typing on his phone, “ Shinsou ain’t here, so you can just go and foam about Bakugou’s ass or something.”

Monoma scoffs at him and raises his nose so it points upwards, and Kaminari wonders why he has to act like such a fancy aristocrat when everyone knows that is literally all he does; foam about Bakugou’s ass. If Shinsou actually ends up dating this guy then Kaminari will rip the hairs out of his scalp. Maybe he could use Monoma's fixation on Bakugou's ass to his advantage then. During his scheming Monoma talks, “I might dislike that brute more than the rest of you, but he is not worth the thought at all. With Shinsou by my side he will be reduced to the joke he truly have always been, the same statement goes to all you arrogant idiots.”

Now that really grinded Kaminari the wrong way.

For once, he dissed his friend. Bakugou is so, so easy to diss, Kaminari knows it very well. But Monoma, of all people, is not allowed to do that.

The second thing is… Using Shinsou’s ambition like that is totally unnecessary.

“There you go, seeing people as weapons. I know Bakugou is rough as sh*t, but he is learning to be better, something you never do apparently. But no, go ahead and talk about how every person in the world are tools, real heroic of you.”

The words come out sharper than what Kaminari is used to, stumbling out of his mouth like a fountain of irritability, but he stands by them. Moments where he is genuinely irritated are rare, the moments he actually takes them out on others even rarer. But he is also sleep deprived, rejected and humiliated, so he’ll let himself be angry at his apparent arch nemesis. That is what they are there for, right?

He should however, maybe, focus on Monoma after he unloaded all that, because the guy is sure bothered. But he decides that opening some streaks sent to him by friends and random people alike would be more productive. He blocks the account who sent him an unnecessary nude pic of an old man, wondering when or why he even added this exhibitionist in the first place. Wait, does Shinsou have snapchat? Why hasn’t he checked already? Great, now he has something else to do; stalk Shinsou on all social media that exist. But here Monoma is, stopping him from doing so. Classic arch nemesis move.

Monoma’s laughter bubbles again, but it has a different edge to it this time. Uh oh. Kaminari almost puts his phone down. But now he is distracted by a game he downloaded yet never played. How unfortunate.

“Oh, so what you are saying is that people with quirks like mine are villainous?”

His phone vibrates with messages from Mina, so Kaminari exits the game and goes back to snapchat. He takes a blurry selfie of him with a sneering Monoma behind him and sends it to the group chat. A picture speaks million words, but Monoma speaks much, much more.

“I’m not calling you villainous, cause that’s rude, dude- And I’m not rude like you. I’m saying you should check out that ego issue you got there. It is real unfair of you to judge Bakugou for seeing people as stepping stones when you see people as tools. Especially for Shinsou…” Kaminari puts down his phone, deciding it is time to stand up and face him, ignoring how is knees crack. Monoma does not look as impressed as he should, nemesis or not.

“The guy has earned his chance to become a hero and here you are, trying to use his opportunity for your own stupid grudge. At least try and like him as a person.”

Monoma has a special glint in his eye but Kaminari simply shakes his head and walks away. He might be bothered, but he won’t let himself be bothered enough to pick fights. That is Bakugou’s thing, not his. “You know what, I’m not tryna’ to get my vibe killed here. So I’m just gonna leave you monologuing. Good luck with everything, I guess.”

After walking a few good metres away he takes out his phone again and sees that everyone from the group chat has given at least a message.

Bakubro
“The f*ck are you doing with that extra“

Rosy maple moth
“0.0 whut u tried to flirt w/ mononono?”

Bakubro
“You tried to f*ckING WHAT”

U used to call me on my sero phone
“bro…. dude… i know ur a Virgin but…. come on”
“u can do bettter”

Eijibro
“naahh peopel chill, let kami explaisn first”
“i got faith on my bro”

Jirobro
“you forget how thirsty ur bro is.”

Rosy maple moth
“KDLSADLSKDLSKDLKS”

Bakubro
“f*ckCODGJ PIKACHOO f*ckODGN EXPLAISNSDJKF”

Eijibro
“JIROU NO”

Jirobro
“tell me the details later tho”
“i wanna see how messy this situation is a safe distance from bakugou”

Eijibro
“YOU pissed him off!!!”

U used to call me on my sero phone
“lol”

Kaminari takes a deep breath. Who gives a damn about Monoma. He already has a lot to explain to his friends now.

“So you got the hots for Shinsou, who Monoma obviously likes too,” Kirishima sums it up, “And you were not flirting with Monoma, but you sorta have a challenge over Shinsou now? And he just suddenly appeared out of nowhere after you talked with Shinsou...?”

“Don’t forget the part about expelling Mineta.” Mina adds on excitedly. She is wearing a wide smile on her face, cheeks squished by trembling hands with elbows planted firmly on the cafeteria table.

Of course Mina, queen of love dramas and gossip, would be ecstatic over news like these.

Bakugou and Sero are listening calmly, Sero with a hand under his chin and Bakugou has his arms crossed. The blonde calmed down incredibly fast when he first set his eyes on his fellow blond, only needing ten minutes to finally hear out what Kaminari has to say. God, Kaminari really loves his friends. They are just soaking up the information like it is nothing. Honestly it should not matter anyway, since Kaminari woke them all up once just to talk about a weird dream he had involving cheese.

More on topic, it is not like he is the first to come out anyway. Mina, Kirishima and Bakugou are right there, and Sero is the most chill hetero guy Kaminari has ever met. He begins to speak again, confident despite also feeling like sh*t.

“So, in my head, Mineta being expelled is closely linked to Shinsou getting in our class. So I went to talk to him today. I had a plan in my head and stuff, so you know it’s serious, but-” Kaminari groans when he feels sparks fly around him, face red. He puts his head down on the table to hide his embarrassment. “I looked soo dumb! Dumber than usual! I think I actually did good at first with the flirting, he replied to it. In a good way, too! But then his pretty face and nice voice and everything just made my brain stop up-”

He raises his head once again, eyes wide open and face pale. Talking about what happened makes the situation dawn upon him, and he realizes exactly just how much he ruined his chance. He knew that already, lived it already, but having to tell other people about it was completely different. Sero is patting his back, but nothing can save Kaminari now.

Somehow the whole group manages to share eye contact at once. They all are staring intently into Kaminari’s eyes, waiting to hear what he was about to say. With that sort of grim expression on his face they naturally become curious.

“He said something so…” Provocative, suggestive, tempting, hot, something oh so right. But Kaminari did not want to sound too desperate right now so he chooses to not say any of those adjectives. That would only make what he has to say next much worse. He shakes his head instead, blushing for another reason. When Bakugou tells him to f*cking spill already, he stops up and smiles awkwardly. “Lets just say I could go many, many places with that line-”

“Okay loverboy, keep it pg.” Kirishima coughs. God bless Kirishima, honestly. A feeling of dread and something else was threatening to smother Kaminari’s entire being if he continued to think any more about that reply. Kaminari nods as if he has never agreed with something more in his entire life but those five words.

“But you get the picture. He was hinting at something… And do you know what I did?”

Of course they do not know what the hell he did, but Mina and Kirishima shakes their head just to make sure Kaminari was aware they did not know.

Kaminari cannot lie, he chokes up when he realizes he actually has to say what happened next and that they cannot read his mind to find out. He simply gazes at the table, relating to the piece of breadcrumb laying dormant, deprived of romantic love. As a method of connecting closer to his spirit animal crumb he lays his face flat on the table.

“I… I made a grammar joke.”

His voice sounds so heartbroken, the voice crack hitting perfectly just to highlight his utter misery. Kirishima and Sero snorts, both trying to not laugh at Kaminari’s pain. Bakugou is wheezing already, hitting the table with his head as he slowly sinks downwards. “Kami, no...” Mina has the heart to say, voice trembling with her own barely held down laughter.

Seeing, or hearing his own friends laugh made him want to laugh too, even if they did laugh at his expense. How could he blame them, he made himself look like an utter fool. A chuckle leaves him and somehow he feels better, Good enough to rise his head up and smile at them, “Thanks, guys.”

“That was somehow not sarcastic...?” Sero gives a confused smile after letting out his fair share of chuckles.

Kaminari stands up even more straight, shoveling some food into his mouth. It had been difficult to eat when his stomach was turning with humiliation. “Yeah, I know! Just talking with all of you and making you smile, makes me smile too, I guess.” He hums out while eating. Sero should have playfully chastised him for talking while eating by now, but he does not. Confused, Kaminari raises his head to look at his friends.The confusion only grows when he sees what state they all are in.

Sero is touching his hand to his chest as if Kaminari said something very beautiful. Bakugou’s face is slack with surprise but when he meets his gaze, he pulls out a scowl and avoid eye contact. Compared to other scowls, the one he was making right now was a really sh*tty one, eyebrows set too soft. Kirishima looks like he is about to cry and he is for some reason standing up now.

Before Kaminari can ask whatever is happening Mina crushes him in a hug. Then Sero joins in, Bakugou right behind Kirishima. He was probably physically forced by the redhead to join, but it still rattles the more vibrant blonde.

“what…?” He forces out through the impressive masses of friends. Mina only strengthen the impressive grip around Kaminari so he almost cannot breathe. Why is everyone so much more fit than him?

“Denki you are such a good boy…” Mina cries out.

“If Shinsou doesn’t see how manly you are then he can f*ck off, dude!” Kirishima joins, voice fierce with passion for his friend.

It catches Kaminari off guard, making him choke up. Somehow he manages to reach his arms out and hug whoever, getting emotional too. They might make some loud noise in the cafeteria with this emotional display, but Kaminari loves his friends too much to care right now. Kirishima hugs harder, and Kaminari can hear something crack. Even Bakugou, tough guy, makes a comment on it, “The f*ck was that, I’m not gonna go to jail for this sh*t.”

“You guys are gonna kill me,” A hand pats his back, “Literally. I can’t breathe.”

They all jump off him, apologizing with awkward yet happy smiles while Kaminari whines about almost throwing up the lunch he just ate. Bakugou calls him a puss* and everything is back to normal.

They are silent afterwards, a very rare occurence in their squad. Kaminari needs a breather, after all. Yet the silence never stood a chance, as Kirishima chuckles loudly, just like he does anything ludly. When the rest turns to look at him, he simply shrugs and smiles. “I thought this was just gonna be a basic crush that you always have, but you’ve never been that upset for not landing it right.” He wipes a stray tear away, “I’m proud of you, dude, I honestly got tired of your sh*t and now you have restored my faith in you once again. So proud.”

“Thanks, man!- wait, tired of me? What’s that supposed to mean-”

Chapter 6: Proximity; information given and questions answered

Chapter Text

“Ah, grammar police, hello.”

Kaminari cannot believe his sh*t luck.

He jumps out of his skin, letting out tiny zaps around him. Some of the teachers turn around to look at him and Kaminari gives a reflexive thumbs up back, the other hand clutching the stack of papers so they crease. Shinsou simply stares at him with those tired eyes, gaze making Kaminari heat up.

Two days have gone since he had that conversation with Shinsou. While Kaminari yearned to go out and seek after him, he felt like he needed time to make their next encounter perfect. He cannot afford to make the same grammar joke twice, and f*ck, was he aware of the high stakes. Apparently trickster God punished people for trying to better their faults. (Kaminari scoffs. Of course trickster God punished people for trying to better their faults.)

“Aww, did I get a nickname already? Cannot believe you beat me to the punch,” Kaminari smirks even while he is averting his gaze, face only reaching continuous hellish levels of warmth. The smile on his face is actually genuine too. God, he is such a loser. “grammar police” is a very sh*tty, very not-cute nickname, but it still flusters him. And it is coming out of Shinsou’s mouth, so how can he a hundred percent hate it then?

Okay, he sort of really missed him.

Shinsou tilts his head a little, showing more of his neck and its sturdy curve. Something that is not helping Kaminari’s breathing issues right now. “You planned on getting a nickname for me.” He states like a fact. Which it is, but Shinsou was not supposed to find out so soon. It even stood in his plan, or Kaminari thinks so- his mind blanks. He have completely forgot his plan.

The meltdown that lies ahead is dodged for the time being when Kaminari remembers what Shinsou said about nicknames, and focuses on that topic instead. When he opens his mouth to say the nicknames he realizes he should not. They are barely friends yet, so saying the nicknames “Kitten”, “My hero”, “Morgan Freeman” or “Love of my life” out loud would only be weird for them both.

“Hey, you have to earn them first, tiger.” He teases even though Kaminari knows he is not that hard to persuade anyway.

“Earn them, you say, when you just gave me a nickname,”

Right before Kaminari’s soul leaves his body after making himself look dumb again, Shinsou smiles.

Well, it is not an actual smile. A light tremble towards the corners of his lips that would go unnoticed by almost everyone but Kaminari, who made befriending stone faced people his job. The gesture makes his own smile widen even more.

He really missed Shinsou.

“Ah, Toshi-Toshi! There you are,” A loud voice blares, Present mic looking ever so amused by how Kaminari jumps, “Eraserhead’s was comin’ up, but BORING TEACHER STUFF happened so you gotta wait some more!” He makes strange hand movements while be speaks, face stretched in weird expressions that Kaminari always himself finds fascinated by. Shockingly enough Shinsou only nods, as if he was used to such an informal greeting.

“Toshi-Toshi…?” Kaminari snorts. Shinsou looks at him as if he forgot Kaminari was present and rolls his eyes when he realizes he is there, but the very slight rosyness dusting the tip of his ears tells Kaminari all he needs to feel content in life. He is flustered.

Their teasing interaction comes to a halt when Present mic turns to look at Kaminari.

“And what brings my top notch english listener back to the lounge, huh?” Oh yeah, he did come here for a reason other than spontaneously meeting Shinsou.

Kaminari smirks again and waves the layers of papers in his teachers direction, hand on hip. Teachers scares him, but english does not. “Oh, just some extra work stuff you made me do yesterday after finishing that short essay, no biggie.”

“Short essay my ass, that was a good five pages,” Mic snickers and takes Kaminari’s work from him, quickly looking through the pages while nodding. Then his flamboyance hitches up and he throws a hand up towards the ceiling. Kaminari is both intimidated and proud. “You’re on FIRE, listener! Ya sure you’re not ready to tutor some of the others who's strugglin’?”

Shinsou raises his eyebrows at his direction, and his attention makes him flustered this time around.

Mic have already asked him to be a tutor last week, but something about it seemed so silly for him. That statement continues to remain truthful to this day. He laughs and rubs the back of his neck, other hand dropping from his hip. “Me? A tutor? I know my english’s good, but that’s a lot of faith on me, of all people, to help a functioning person.” He laughs to ease himself. How is someone as messy as Kaminari supposed to teach someone else, when that person is probably much more refined than he will ever be? But Mic actually seems serious about this, as serious as he can be. His eyes are sharper and it makes Kaminari sweat, but then he laughs again. He hits Kaminari on his shoulder amidst his laughter, and the student turns to look at the other student present with confusion in his eyes. Shinsou only shrugs.

“I let ya’ sleep on it, now go and be FREE!” Mic is dancing on his way out of the door. Kaminari suspects his fellow loud blonde was singing to himself instead of him. When Kaminari turns to look around, he sees that most of the other teachers have left during their odd conversation. On cue Shinsou lazily sits down on a nearby chair, hands clasped as he stares at at the ground and not at Kaminari.

“You’re not gonna leave?” Kaminari asks for the sake of asking.

“Obviously,” Shinsou drawls out, “You heard Mic, I’ll be waiting for Aizawa-sensei.”

Then he is quiet. Kaminari is quiet too, feeling somewhat awkward and fuzzy after he was given that tutoring offer again. It also does not help that he can sense Shinsou is not in a talking mood, which bums him out. Shinsou has a nice, deep voice; a voice that could possibly melt the whole world with its deep baritone. He naturally wants to hear him say stuff.

Said owner of the beautiful voice stares at Kaminari when he clumsily sits down on mic’s desk. Kaminari only grins back. “What? I’m curious about… Lots of stuff in general, actually. Like, why does everyone think Pikachu’s tail is colored differently than it actually is,” He crosses his legs and puts his elbows on each knee, cheeks squished by his hands as he continues to stare back at Shinsou. Once he have gathered his thoughts somewhat, he continues to speak, “But you, though. You’re all mysterious’ n cool, dude!”

Shinsou’s face remains of handsome steel, but his eyes widen the slightest bit. “So you are wasting your time in the teacher’s lounge because you are curious about me.” The cute wide-eyed expression vanishes and his eyes turn to slits, oozing of suspicion as if it was that hard to believe that Kaminari liked him enough to use time on him, “Again, seems like a waste of time.”

“What? Nah it ain’t!”

“It is.”

“Nah!”

“It. Is.”

“It. AIN’T.”

“It isn’t.”

“...It’s still a nah, motherf*cker.”

Shinsou looks irritated now, which does not surprise Kaminari because that is the usual effect of being around him for more than five minutes. However the exchange doesn’t sit well with him either this time around. He clicks his tongue and leans forward, gaining Shinsou’s attention again. “Did you like, forget what I told you during that challenge? I think you’re cool, so I wanna talk with you. You seem like you got cool, philosophical stuff in your mind, and while I love my squad we’re all pretty dumb when it comes to deep stuff.”

His purple eyes are analyzing the floor, eyebrows slightly furrowed. Maybe thinking about what Kaminari said. Oftentimes that is not a good thing. Time to babble.

“I remember once I tried to spur a conversation like that, asked Kirishima if he believed in heaven and he said “Heaven is an all you can eat meat buffet” with no hesitation and no hint of a joke in his tone. That was the end of that philosophical discussion.” He almost fist pumps when he sees that hint of a smile again. God, he is going to make Shinsou die of laughter one day.

But unhinged laughter is appearantly not the mood for today's chaotic attempts of conversation with his crush, as Shinsou don an expression some ancient greek artist would carve out of perfect marble given its philosophical intensity. Hell, Kaminari will be that ancient greek artist. Shinsou is beautiful no matter what he chooses to do with his face. “Heaven is relative. An all you can eat buffet hosted by god is a reasonable definition for every hungry person out there.”

Oh Kaminari missed his voice so much he almost cries when he hears it.

God, he missed him so bad.

“Are you religious, Shinsou?” Kaminari finds himself asking, but he almost flinches afterwards. That is a question people oftentimes don’t find comfortable answering, and here he is breaking through people's comfort zones. Specifically Shinsou’s comfort zones, the guy who turned tail after Kaminari said three embarrassing, yet harmless words. But Shinsou doesn’t budge. He is looking at the wall right beside Kaminari, pondering. Kaminari visibly relaxes.

Then he chuckles dryly, straight teeth peeking underneath his Aizawa-smile. Kaminari never thought in a million years he would find that goddamn smile attractive, yet here he is. Now that he is thinking about it, being attracted to that smile is a serious issue he should address some time. Oh well.

“I did say heaven is relative.”

“Christianity isn’t everything! You could be a buddhist for all I know.” Kaminari points an accusing finger at him, one of his curled legs starting to bounce forth and back. Shinsou nods and shrugs at the same time, considering what Kaminari said.

“I am not a christian, and I was not born a buddhist either. However, the thought about believing in something magical is nice.” His expression changes in a way Kaminari cannot explain, “Doesn’t mean I am able to, though.”

His voice was made of stone, clear in what he believed and without emotion. His face hardened to its usual state, handsome and unbothered. Which does not make any sense, because that was such a depressing answer. Kaminari does not believe in religion either, but he never yearned to do so like Shinsou seems to do. His arms itches to jump him and hug the man, but instead he throws out some thumbs up to fight the urge.

“... I am just some simple atheist.” Kaminari says to counter the sadness. It manages to distract however, as Shinsou looks at him as if he grew a second head, eyebrows doing some fun acrobatics. The obvious misbelief makes Kaminari laugh when he sees it. “What, my quirk needs a very clear scientific meaning for me to understand it. Of course my parents ruined cute concepts like santa when they tried to explain electrostatics to four year old me.”

“It sounds like you are trying to flirt with Santa now.”

“Maybe I am. Why would you care; jealous much?” Kaminari replies jokingly until he realizes how bold that was. His face flushes red once again, and Shinsou’s raised eyebrows really does not help. How the hell was he going to answer to that?

Shinsou’s mouth opens, and so does the door.

“Kaminari, you are here too.” Aizawa’s low voice mumbles out and Kaminari jumps once again. f*cks sake, why is he jumping all the time? Did Midoriya’s new quirk possess him or something?

Oh and speak of the cinnamon roll devil, he is right behind their homeroom teacher. He greets them with a cheery smile, and Kaminari does the same even if he is confused out of his mind.

He forces himself to snap out of it, mustering all the confidence so he can properly half-lie to his teacher. As he fabricates his half-lie and changes his posture so he looks more proud than he actually is Kaminari cannot help but think wow, no wonder my old teachers didn’t like me.

“Yep, the one and only. I was keeping your precious little student cozy since you left him all alone in the cold.” Kaminari's smile widens when he sees Aizawa’s eyebrow twitch. Yeah, no wonder in the world. Shinsou is in his peripheral vision, looking just as unamused by his words. Teachers pets always relate too much to their teachers, to a point they start to act like one. With that thought in mind Kaminari finds himself surprised by how attracted to Shinsou he really is. “You left him for Midoriya too, what’s up with that, dude?”

Midoriya laughs and rubs the back of his head. “Aizawa’s mentoring me too, since he is the most capable when it comes to helping me control my quirks so I won’t harm anyone. I’m still very sorry about that, Shinsou.” Shinsou simply waves him away and tells him to drop the subject, as if this is normal. As if training with Midoriya and communicating with him like they are pals, is normal.

…

Midoriya, huh. Kaminari studies them for a second before jumping off the desk.

“Well, good luck with your training, try not to die or somethin'!” Kaminari throws two piece signs while he walks out the door, brain already wiring this information into his plan. He turns to give his future husband a last wink. “Seeya, Toshi-Toshi!”

Shinsou does not wave back. Or he does, if you count rolling eyes as a heartfelt goodbye. Kaminari does not falter; that hint of a smile is there once again.

Chapter 7: Coming out to the most important person; yourself

Chapter Text

Today is a wonderful day.

Kaminari got seven hours of sleep; he woke up early with the sunlight looking especially pretty through his blinds. He even had enough time to look at how the light flickered on his walls and full shelves. Ten minutes well spent, even if he could not for the life of him remember which pattern the shards of light moved in now when he tries to think about it. He looks up to the sky and ponders, eyes squinted towards the bright sun. Today was much a more sunnier day than usual. The snow was still stark white and somewhat soggy, but if he stepped enough on it, it would vanish. Also, stepping on snow happened to be really fun. It feels like he is changing the world somewhat.

“That’s stupid, wheyy.” Jirou snorts behind him when he voices his silly revelation, hands in her dark, cozy jacket. He agrees with her, but he argues back just for the sake of arguing back. She shakes her head at the reply he immediately forgot himself. “whatever, just don’t get my doc martens dirty. Or else I’ll step on you instead.”

Before he can even reply, Jirou shoves him so roughly away he slips flat on his ass. They are both laughing anyway. That is how he knows the mood today will be good.

“I didn’t even say anything!” He laughs and stands up again, clumsily reaching for Jirou.

“I can read your mind, remember? It is instinct for me to beat your ass whenever I can,” She reasons, letting Kaminari grope her arm while stabilizing himself, hands still in her pockets. The poker faced girl smiles for once, yet the tug of lips were teasing in nature. “Pretty sure I can guess why you are all giddy too.”

Right before they resume walking Mina appears from nowhere, hanging off Jirou and giving Kaminari a fistbump. Then they resume walking. “Pretty sure everyone can guess why he’s all giddy, Kyoka.” The pink girl giggles out of nowhere.

He turns his head fast to look at Mina. “What? The class didn’t even see me flirt with him!”

Jirou actually laughs at that, but not as loud as Mina. Mina is already crying and screaming, acting like she knew Kaminari was crushing on Shinsou for decades instead of just a few days. But she is extreme like that, a lover of love. If someone had a crush she would absolutely be on that person’s case, no questions asked. Those facts doesn’t stop him from wondering how the class found out about his crush though. If she didn’t…

“Mina," He whines so Jirou starts to scowl at him, "Don’t say you ratted me out already!” Kaminari’s voice turns squeaky when he realizes the possibility. Somehow they laugh even harder.

“Oh Kaminari, Mina didn’t need to say sh*t for anyone to find out, uwu.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Kaminari jumps when Ojiro and Hagakure appears to his right side, a pink mitten peeking from Ojiro’s bicep. Ojiro looks somewhat bothered, expression constipated despite his forced smile. Kaminari hopes for Hagakure’s sake that is it not because of his girlfriend’s cuddly nature. But of course that is not it. No matter how casual he tries to act, everyone knows Ojiro loves her cuddles.

Then it hits him.

Ojiro was brainwashed by Shinsou during the sports festival. Now that is awkward.

“Hey, how would you know? Can you be so sure we are even speaking of the same thing right now? Who in the entire world is the person going by SHINSOU HITOSHI?” Given the coincidence of Ojiro of all people being there while they are talking about Shinsou, Kaminari is pretty sure they know what’s up. That giggle he receives from Hagakure also tells him that they know what is up. Well, it was a valid attempt. Never hurts to try and weed out the ignorants.

“You do know everyone saw you during the exercise last time, right?”

Hagakure replies, then Ojiro speaks up for her later; So in synch. You know, normal couple things Kaminari uses way too much time thinking about. “You are very open about your flirting too. The only work our brains needed to do is figure out that gay people exist. No offense, Jirou, Mina. And Kaminari too, I guess.”

Jirou grunts and Mina beams at him, purring a “none taken”.

Kaminari is lagging behind a bit, both mentally and physically, thinking about what that implicated.

Because what Ojiro is saying makes sense. He is pretty much gay now, isn’t he? He is crushing on a guy, in all earnest too. Kaminari knows his feelings for Shinsou are much stronger than some of the other girl crushes he have had before. Not only is he crushing on Shinsou’s personality and aesthetic, but it is that masculinity that draws him in. Kaminari thinks back to when he was thirsting over his deep voice and f*cking neck. Yeah, that is so gay. He even came out to his squad too, so why is it weird to think about himself in that way all of a sudden? What would Kaminari from half a year ago say about his non heterosexual thoughts now?

Oh, that was a really weird thought to have. Not that he was a hom*ophobe, no no, that would be terrible of him. Kaminari always meant that everyone deserves to be lovey dovey and flirty. He simply never cared much about gay people before, but now he is a gay people. He wants to kiss guys. Kiss. Guys. Guy. What does that even mean? Why is he being grammatically incorrect?

While Kaminari tries to count on his fingers if he has found any girls attractive since Shinsou, Jirou calls out to him.

When he looks up he swears nature rearranged reality to his internal questions.

two pairs stand in front of him. Mina is still hanging off Jirou, cheek to cheek with different hair textures tangling together. There is still a huge grin on Mina’s face despite the confusing situation, both their faces pink from the cold. Then there is Hagakure and Ojiro, Hagakure wearing one of Ojiro’s jackets and Ojiro’s tail wags like an excited puppy, cheeks dusted red too. Hagakure is still holding his arm, both of them also close together.

He only wants him and Shinsou to be close like that. Just like the people in front of him.

Today is a wonderful day. The sun is out, illuminating what the worst part of winter was hiding. He is not suffocating in the cold, a warmth spreading inside his body. Often this would be a bad thing, maybe cause a few street lights to flicker. Actually, some does start to flicker. Kaminari still knows this is not a bad thing.

Instead he smiles, links arms with Jirou and Ojiro and forces them all to run towards campus. Of course they are caught of guard. They did not realize Kaminari reached an epiphany in just a second. He laughs at their confusion.

“Okay, so everyone knows already. But I got some new info that hopefully none of you know about, or else I need to have a serious conversation with Midoriya later!”

Chapter 8: To catch a wingman

Chapter Text

Kaminari sees Midoriya and for some reason, he can actually focus very well for once.

No, his brain is not f*cking around, he can actually think through what sort of greeting to give the guy, and how it would benefit his agenda. He is literally in the matrix right now, everything slowing down around his subject, his thoughts ringing clear in his usually stuffed head, suspicious places glowing green. Life has never granted him such power before, and it makes him even more excited to greet his friend.

Maybe he should remember to take his medicine more often, he never knew they would give him superpowers.

There Midoriya stands, in the hallway. Uraraka, Tsuyu and Todoroki is flocking him as usual. Iida must be in the classroom already, as he is the only dekusquad member absent amidst their chatter. Todoroki said something which opted Uraraka to burst with laughter, his face blank despite his friend’s amusem*nt. Then Tsuyu’s reply to what Todoroki had said made Uraraka almost roll on the floor with tears in her eyes. Midoriya gazes at his friends with a fond look, eyes looking more tired than usual. There are All might bandaids stuck on his face, maybe after over exerting himself during his training session with Shinsou and Aizawa.

Kaminari can literally see everything.

“Hey buddy, I think you’re stressing him out with the staring,” Ojiro mumbles towards him while casually waving towards a nervous looking Midoriya. Oops, too focused.

Kaminari shakes his head with vigor he knows will impress his subject, grins, waves and jogs towards him and his friends. Uraraka exclaims a loud greeting after her laughing fit calmed down and Tsuyu blinks her eyes slowly at him, a sign of cherished friendship. Todoroki continues to stare at Midoriya’s bruised face, like he wants to poke the all might bandaids. Kaminari is sure he is going to ask Midoriya later about where he got them just so he can buy a dozen.

Him and Uraraka perform their not-so-secret handshake, and while Kaminari planned to ease his intentions slowly into the conversation, Mina shouts towards them.

“Hey Midoriya! How’d training go?”

The group blinks at her, and Todoroki is the one to speak up about the obvious. “She must be referring to your quirk training with Shinsou and Aizawa.” Then he tilts his head towards his friend, “I see you got a few band aids on you as well. Is that a bad sign?”

Midoriya positively glows, smile blinding even for Kaminari’s standards.

“Don’t worry, guys, it went well! Shinsou is very quick at picking up on Aizawa’s technique, I admire his determination,”

Big, green eyes zero in on Kaminari for a second, emotions unreadable. Kaminari stares back. Fortunately for him, Midoriya’s attention turns away, eyes closed as he laughs quietly. He rubs the back of his neck, pondering about something that makes Kaminari sweat. “Though he seemed sort of… Sorry, I didn’t mean to gossip about him! I feel kind of bad now…” He exclaims, avoiding his mumbling habit gracefully, and Kaminari is impressed.

Would suppressing his muttering be a part of his training with Shinsou, maybe? So that he would not mumble along whatever Shinsou said and get brainwashed?

Man, Kaminari really wants to see them, especially Shinsou, train one day.

“It’s okay, bro. Honestly, you just seem worried. Everything good in in Eraserhead-world? Must be really tough in there.” Memories of him, Mina, Kirishima, Sero and Sato being slaved by said man during the whole summer camp makes him shiver. Although he is curious about what the training looks like he would rather not be personally attacked by their sad*stic teacher either. He pats Midoriya’s back to stabilize himself.

“Oh no, it is really not as bad as you think! Aizawa tend to focus more on stealth and quirk usage, and while Shinsou is doing better than me in those areas, I’m getting there!”

Energy and all good in the world surges through Kaminari's body. His body turns even more restless, and before Kaminari can even think he is pumping his fists in the air. Uraraka and Mina joins him and now the three of them are jumping around like energized rabbits. Todoroki and Tsuyu continues to simply stare, a more fond look in their eyes. Uraraka is even lifting Midoriya up in the air, making the boy stutter and flush pink. What can he say, Midoriya got that effect on people. “Yeah Deku, if anyone can work brainpower its you!”

“Wow, blondie can write.” Jirou sneers at Kaminari, who is scribbling intensely into his barely used notebook- or, it is used; for complicated paper planes and funny drawings of his friends, of course.

“Oh! Can I guess about what?” Mina pipes up once she sits down with her food.

Before she arrived there have only been Kaminari, Jirou, Bakugou and Kirishima sitting at their usual table in the cafeteria, Kirishima and Bakugou busy holding hands in their own corner.

Which explains the quiet Kaminari have now used to scribble down evidence about Mineta being a creep, mentioning given messages prior to their fallout, videos of him creeping on the girls and statements from said girls about his behavior around them. Yes, he does actually write about the technical, gritty stuff too. That is how a mastermind works, after all. The squad is finally whole when Sero appears behind Mina, index finger and thumb on his chin while he grins, “Or about whom?”

Kaminari winks towards his taller friend. Even though he is completely wrong about whom he is writing about at the moment, there is a lot of poetry surrounding Shinsou as well. He looks down at his notes.

They are far from the same level of Midoriya’s infamous hero notes; handwriting barely a chicken scratch that out of nowhere resembles copies of the classic comic book “pow” font, the words not following the linework of the paper. The plan is not written in chronological order, and at one point Kaminari wrote a whole paragraph about hamburgers. He could say that he is planning a future date to an american diner or something, but no. The hamburgers have literally nothing to do with his plan. Bringing Shinsou as a date to that diner downtown would actually be a good idea though... There are small sh*tty doodles of Shinsou everywhere and heart clouds with their names together. Mina, of all people, actually mutters out “the f*ck” when she sees them. Yet he puffs his chest out with pride, proud to throw out all the information he gathered in a book instead of letting them die out in his head.

“Okay I take it back, you cannot write. You’re just trying really hard.”

Jirou is holding his notebook now, eyebrows pinched upwards as she tries to decode his work. Sero and Kirishima is staring down at the book too, looking confused. Kaminari does not blame the redhead, as he still makes honest mistakes about counting sometimes. There is no way he will understand what Kaminari have schemed.

“No no, don’t you fret! It’s meant to be like that,” Kaminari sings out while he snatches the book from Jirou’s grip, said girl snorting after his response, “ No, no listen- You know how bad sh*t would turn out if a villain got his hands on Midoriya’s perfect, completely comprehensible books? All japanese heroes’ weaknesses would be totally exposed in perfect lil’ columns with detailed pictures. Hero society would be a joke! If they got this instead, their small monkey brains would never be able to fathom what sort of gold lies in here.” He explains while he waves his book around, smirk on his face.

“Why the f*ck would a villain care about your dumb book. Unlike f*cking Deku over there, you’re writing pointless sh*t, jus’ moaning bout some zombie f*ck like a damn loser.” Bakugou voices his sh*tty opinion.

“And hamburgers,” Kirishima snickers, and Bakugou nods like he made a point.

Kaminari stands up, not tolerating this bullsh*t.

“Please, you think I am the only one thirsting after him? Guys, back me up, Shinsou’s hot as hell.”

A murmur starts after the statement, but Kaminari hears more agreeing sounds than the opposite. Jirou is nodding for example, Sero looking mildly stressed by the thought, which is a good sign. Them agreeing is surprisingly good, because if none of his friends found Shinsou attractive he might actually dump them for having terrible taste.

“He is hot! If he was a girl, I’d tap that right now.” Mina exclaims proudly.

Jirou gives the girl beside her a wary look and shushes Sero when it looks like he had something to say, then she agrees with her. “He got a punker vibe, that’s always hot.”

“That I am so hammered I want to nail you to the wall pick up line sold me, dude. That’s hot as sh*t, if the guy said that to me I’d get pregnant in an instant.” Sero reads out aloud from his bonus what he’s gotta say to me at one point in our relationship-portion of his plan. Kaminari decides, with flushed cheeks and a stumbling tongue, that is a good time to finally close his book so Jirou and Mina will finally stop laughing.

Shinsou looks like he would do some sort of drug, okay. Kaminari is only respecting his man’s hypothetical habits in the best way he knows.

They all turn to look to Kirishima, awaiting his answer. He looks like he is still contemplating Kaminari’s dream man and his dreamy level, holding Bakugou’s hand at the same time- Which is an absolute killer move. “I got a type already,” Bakugou looks smug, “Shinsou is not exactly it, but he got some very manly qualities that I admire! His determination for example. Like come on, he’s starting at the bottom and has already made it far enough to enter the hero course! Thats super manly!”

Kirishima clenches his fist so the knuckles crack. Mina pinches his cheek and sings, “Oh Kirishima, sweet sweet child whom I adore, I think Kaminari also wants pointers bout’ the outside,” She wiggles her eyebrows when his expression blows up in surprise.

“Oh, so it’s like that too. I got you, bro,” Kirishima gives Kaminari an over exaggerated wink which Kaminari, of course, recopirates. Then he looks thoughtful again, “He did bulk up a lot, and a big man is the type of man I’m weak for- I guess I am also a sucker for the punk aesthetic now too,” He says while giving Bakugou heart eyes. Bakugou snorts and punches his shoulder, a really soft gesture that makes all of them belch.

Kaminari cannot believe his lovestruck friend; while he is supposed to talk about the good looks of someone else, he manages to make it all about Bakugou. Appalling. Kaminari will now make sure to only talk about Shinsou if Kirishima ever wants to talk about Bakugou ever again. Jirou rolls his eyes and tells him to focus. Kaminari does not think it is a good thing that he was unsure if she was talking to him or Kirishima.

“Right, right! He’s got a good face shape, funky eyebrows, a very deep, manly voice, and he looks like he’d pull a massacre if he ever got mad enough.”

“His eyebrows are so funky,” Kaminari almost starts to daydream after hearing such a flowery description of his future lover, but he remembers his original point. He turns to Bakugou, arms stretched out and pointing towards Kirishima, whom continues to smile like a sunshine. “See! Even Kirishima, your boyfriend, agrees that Shinsou got some intense boyfriend energy! Would it be so weird to think that some villain person would thirst, see me thirsting too and get my notebook? Me being illiterate is very helpful in such a situation!”

Kirishima yells a “yeah, dude” and gives him a high five, Sero following afterwards. Then his tallest bro stops up, and a familiar grin spreads to nearly split his face. Oh no.

“So, you got the hots for Shinsou. Does that, like, mean you lowkey got the hots for Aiza-”

“NOPE! I am NOT having this conversation-” Kaminari shuts his book and hauls his body away from the table. In his haste out of the cafeteria he stumbles into Monoma and Kendou. Monoma, the f*cker, looks somewhat delighted to see him, and Kaminari should probably turn on his matrix brain to analyze what the hell that meant. But the look vanishes the moment they collide, and he forgets it all the same.

Monoma, of course, shrieks after their contact. Kendou sighs and calls out his name in an exhausted manner. Unbothered, Kaminari simply waves him off with his head down in shame. Even after walking out of the door he can hear them laugh.

While he is on the run, unsure if he should find Shinsou and flirt with him, he sees Midoriya and All might walk out of a room together, looking as suspicious as ever.

Just like that, the matrix effect is turned on again.

Midoriya is glowing green and the background, even All might, dulls. When he laughs at whatever grey-All might said it is in slow motion. His energy levels spike up, and he uses it to greet them both, waving his arm around to catch their attention. Kaminari finds it obvious that his sight is on the glowing Midoriya. Even the pupper himself must know, given how he tilts his head and rests a knuckle to his chin.

“Young Kaminari, is everything good, my boy?” All might asks, probably confused as to why he is not with his usual friend group.

“Yeah, ‘course! I was actually tryna’ find Midoriya over here,” Kaminari explains while he makes his way to the student and teacher. He puts a hand on Midoriya’s shoulder for emphasis, while the other hand waves his notebook around, “You mind if I steal him for a bit? It’s about, like, homework an' stuff.” He lies, figuring that All might of all people does not have to know about his crush, and how important Midoriya’s judgement is for it to work out. He figures teachers love hearing about students doing homework or something like that, too.

All might laughs as heartedly as his skeleton form allows him. “No, go ahead, boys! I’m happy to see you are focusing even more on your hero work, young Kaminari,” He smiles in earnest, and Kaminari feels guilty for lying now. Ugh, All might is way too nice. When he gets back to his dorm he will actually do his homework, he swears on it.

They both wave their teacher away, smiling wide, watching him vanish behind a corner.

Midoriya turns to look at Kaminari, face tilted and open as usual. They continue to smile at each other in silence, looking as friendly as ever.

“You have questions about Shinsou, right?”

Chapter 9: idée fixe; there are so many dramatic blondes in this show I’ve lost count of them all

Chapter Text

“What is Shinsou’s favorite food.”

“Uhm, that is not the sort of thing I thought you’d be asking about,”

Midoriya wrings his hands on his lap, looking lost with his big eyes. He is sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, looking small yet all knowing. They are sitting in the empty space underneath the stairs. Most of the seats in the cafeteria are occupied by other people so they found this little place instead, and they both wanted their meeting to be private. Kaminari looks around from where he is sitting, feeling very nostalgic with his ass on the clean floor; like he is nine years old again and playing hide and seek, just to be forgotten about later because his hiding place was just that good- or that is what he would convince himself to believe. He snaps his attention back to Midoriya and he raises a brow, as if he did not bring back repressed childhod memories. “what did ya’ think I’d be asking about?”

Midoriya shrugs his shoulders and chuckles, “I don’t know, about training and maybe Monoma…” He mumbles out, scrutinizing look cast on the floor instead of on him. “Monoma has been acting strange around Shinsou after all, at least that is what he implies.”

Kaminari stops tapping the pen Midoriya gave him. He looks up and into unsure eyes, his own eyebrows furrowed at the mention of the other blonde. Monoma has been lurking around since that day, and he made sure that Kaminari was aware he was there for everything. Kaminari learned to live with it, accepting that he now had an annoying arch nemesis. It is not like they are physically fighting each other anyways, which sucks because that is one of the cool things about having a nemesis, fighting and throwing stupid nicknames and stuff. But he is doing none of that. Just gazing at Kaminari's head and sometimes smiling when he catches him on the boring act. There is so little that has changed that Kaminari forgets about their rivalry all together. To hear Shinsou being bothered by the same treatment, or that he implied he was bothered, was worrying.

“Implies?”

Midoriya looks around himself before replying, looking even more shadier than what Kaminari thought possible. Especially with the stairwell shadows cloaking his face. He turns towards Kaminari and leans forward, and naturally Kaminari does the same, that wide eyed wary look too enigmatic for him to ignore. This hide and seek vibe is really turning into something else.

“Shinsou is a very, very private person and Monoma is not exactly… Getting that. He walked in on our training yesterday, said some weird stuff that involved you and walked out. Again, Shinsou is very private, and not to toot my own horn or anything, I swear, but if he had to choose between telling me or Monoma something about himself; I believe he would not choose Monoma, nor would he tell him where he trains. His behavior worries me, given how distracted Shinsou was it bothers him enough to come in the way of training.” Midoriya straightens his back again and laughs shortly, “And he is really serious about training, you should see him some time; it is memorable.”

While Kaminari is always the man to joke around when given the chance, and he would of course kill to see Shinsou train, what Midoriya told him only leaves more questions. It leaves even more stress he cannot daydream or joke away.

“What the hell did that guy say about me?” Kaminari digs in instead, and Midoriya looks surprised at his tone. Surprised himself, Kaminari coughs in an exaggerated manner, “Y’know, Shinsou is so focused all the time, so I’m kinda worried about what Monoma said to make him that strung out; did he say I have secret cat ears or something?”

Midoriya waves his hands around with a grin, “No no, it wasn’t something that weird! Really, the comment seemed pretty ordinary; something along the lines of Remember what that Kaminari said, words have different meanings…”

They stare at each other. Then Midoriya bows his head down.

“Okay. Nothing about that was casual. That was just weird. And scary. No wonder it bothered Shinsou.”

“Yeah, no sh*t.” Kaminari snorts, leaning back against the wall. He lifts his arms so they are behind his head, and he looks at the ceiling again. Midoriya is looking at the ground with a hunched back, a question on his face but he does not ask it. After some silence, Kaminari decides to speak. “Do you think Monoma is a crazy stalker?”

Midoriya’s entire body visibly shivers at the thought, and he says that he sure as hell hopes not. It makes Kaminari chuckle. He knows the truth. The truth also happens to make him want to jump out of a window. It all makes sense now.

Midoriya has a question in his eyes, so Kaminari starts to explain what he can. He owes the guy that much for taking away his time. “I talked with Shinsou about the meaning of the word alone since it came up randomly, and me being basically google for obscure sh*t like that, talked about different meanings behind the word. We were pretty far away from any classroom by that point, and later Monoma showed up to taunt me bout’… Something.” He leaves out the fact that he humiliated himself in front of his crush. Call him rude, but he does not owe Midoriya that sort of blackmail material.

...

f*ck, why did Monoma of all people have to find out about his stupid, stupid grammar joke?

While he wallows in self pity he thinks back on Monoma's behaviour towards him. They rarely spoke together, and if Monoma spoke sh*t about their class while Kaminari was around he rarely turned his animosity towards him. Only his face would change; eyebrows raised, as if he was challenging him or if he was amused by his presence, Kaminari never bothered to read these niche looks. He only knew it was creepy and out of character for Monoma. Especially if he had declared Kaminari his enemy for a specific reason. That look in itself is creepy, just like when Kaminari bumped into him on his way out of the cafeteria and Monoma smiled.

“I saw him some minutes ago, too. He looked happy to see me, and now that I say that out loud it sounds crazy.”

Midoriya perks up, face changing through many emotions. Surprise, concern, sympathy, curiosity, thoughtfulness, and shock that almost borders unbelieving. His mouth is already going off, too fast and too low for Kaminari to get anything relevant from. He sighs, leans forward and pokes Midoriya’s ankle, giving him an easy zap. It works. The mumbling teen jumps one meter high in the air. When he lands Midoriya scrambles to grab Kaminari’s shoulders, hair even messier than usual and eyes frantic. Kaminari almost jumps himself, and for a moment he wonders if that was the final push that would send Midoriya over the edge, and straight into insanity.

“Kaminari, have Monoma tried to feed you cheese?!”

“What? No! Is that Shinsou’s favorite food though? Cheese?”

Midoriya jumps up to his feet, pulling Kaminari up with him. They run towards their classroom. At least Midoriya is running. Kaminari is simply floating on air like he is Midoriya’s balloon, and if he was to ever let go he’d just float away with the intense wind Midoriya made in his wake. Despite the fatal results Midoriya loosing his grip would cause Kaminari's body, that is the least of concerns right now. In fact, it is the opposite he is loosing his mind over. Midoriya’s iron grip nearly crushes Kaminari’s wrist, and from what he can see purple bruise marks are already forming on his arm. At least he cannot feel it, blood circulation cutting shorter than what is healthy. Damn, Kaminari winces. He forgets how buff the little guy is sometimes.

They turn directions whenever Midoriya sees it fit, sharp swings knocking out what was left of oxygen out of Kaminari’s lungs. He tries to tell Midoriya to slow down, but his lips is not even touching. Words are rendered useless.

The sudden wind stops and Kaminari collides with said buff guy.

Midoriya smiles like a fly just nuzzled him, not like an actual person hit him full force. Then with hands on his hips, he opens the door to greet Aoyama, who is eating cheese while sitting on Bakugou’s chair. He perks up when sees them, and waves his fork in small circles. There is a tiny piece of cheese stuck to the fork, which leaves Kaminari even more confused. To comfort himself he hugs Midoriya, unable to stand up anyway.

“ooh, messieurs~ You want a taste of mi fromage exquis~?”

“Uhm, uh, no thanks dude. Not to be rude but like, I’m not a fan of brie, or cheese in general, I just like hamburgers and pizza and stuff, you know, gross cheese. Oh I so want pizza right now- DUDE, Midoriya, why are we here?! I’m trying to chat up Shinsou, not Aoyama!”

“Well, Monoma is probably stalking you, so I wanted to show you someone who was definitely stalking me.”

At first Kaminari simply stares at Midoriya, still confused and dizzy from the fast and furious detachment from his human body. Then he turns to look at Aoyama, who giggles and continues to eat his cheese in peace, acting like being accused of voyeurism was completely plausible. Then he really looks at Aoyama, small eyebrows narrowed at all. He studies how he sticks his pinky out while cutting his tiny slice of cheese, how he lifts his chin in the air, his quiet, quiet giggles, as if he is having the time of his life watching Kaminari act like a toddler again. And he gets it.

“Dramatic cryptic blond stalking people syndrome?”

“I don’t think it is necessary to call it a syndrome, but yes.”

Aoyama continues to giggle and eat cheese, nodding along whatever the two said about him.

Chapter 10: Keep your unlikely buddy cop close, but the species your enemy originates from even closer

Chapter Text

The setting is as good as their classroom lets it be.

Midoriya had closed the blinds and turned the lights off, plunging the interrogation room into darkness. The only source of light comes from Kaminari almost short circuiting the tiny office lamp Aizawa never bothered to remove from his desk. Given Kaminari’s knack of making everything look ridiculous, the lamp was bound to be connected to a short wire he had to be mindful of. To compensate they forced Aoyama to sit closer to the front so the wire would not strain as much when Kaminari would wave it around.

Aoyama continues to not give a sh*t, and Kaminari finds it hard to be intimidating while pulling on an office lamp just to flicker the blinding light on the suspect’s face. On Aoyama’s face.

“So, Aoyama, you think you’re slick, huh?” Kaminari sneers up in his face, trying to channel his inner passive aggressive Bakugou. Not many people would believe such a creature existed, but Kaminari has mastered the art of annoying Bakugou on levels people rarely dared to reach and therefore only he (and Kirishima, but thats it- Okay, maybe Mina too) has lived to tell the tale.

“Kaminari, I don’t think this is working.”

Midoriya speaks from where he stands beside the door, voice unsure. And he might damn well be right, given the suspect’s tight lipped smile, taunting them without speaking a word. Kaminari visibly deflates, turning to Midoriya with a whine threatening to leave his throat.

“Well, what are we supposed to do then, you wanna be bad cop?” Despite his excessive need to feel cooler than he actually is, once the thought crosses his mind Kaminari is overcome with giddiness for such a situation to happen. Everyone, expect maybe Bakugou, finds it hella cool when Midoriya gets intense. Kaminari tries to hand him the lamp, but instead he almost falls backwards when the wire threatens to snap. That sort of failure does not stop the knowing smirk from spreading on his face. “You totally wanna be bad cop.”

Midoriya’s eyes turns big enough that Kaminari can see it from where he is standing in front of Aoyama. Then he shakes his head like a wet puppy and makes his way to Kaminari, scratching his cheek with a finger while he speaks, “uhm- no. I’m just saying that Aoyama doesn’t have much to confess to now. Really, he doesn’t have anything to lie about either.”

His careful steps echo more loudly than what should be normal. The sound stops at last, and instead of standing in front of Aoyama alongside Kaminari, he is now behind him. Midoriya puts a hand on the suspect’s shoulder, bruised knuckles paling when he squeezes. When he speaks again, his voice is calm in the same way landscapes are calm right before lightning hits. “ He already told me he stalked me and why he did it. So I know he will answer all your questions on his own anyways, bad cop aside.”

His presence causes Aoyama to fidget, and Kaminari grins.

“Sick,” Kaminari sits his ass on Aizawa’s desk, feeling powerful, “so, bad co- Midoriya, you’ll keep tabs on Aoyama then? Make sure he won’t bail all of a sudden?”

Midoriya nods with a determined look on his face. He retreats his hand from Aoyama’s shoulder, now turning to look down on the suspect with arms crossed. The room is silent as Midoriya gets into character. Kaminari feels kind of sorry for their suspect, given how he is now sweating bullets under the bad cop’s intense gaze. He realizes it has become his role to break the ice, and Kaminari does so by clapping his hands together, gaining Aoyama’s attention. The blonde turns his head quickly to look at Kaminari, his eyelids now pinched together because of the light. Yes, finally he reacted to it.

“Lets recap; Some weeks ago you already told Midoriya that you stalked him. You felt like best buds since both your bodies get wrecked while using your quirks, and you wanted to show friendly appreciation. This decision resulted in you breaching the privacy of a fellow classmate.” Kaminari speaks with a confident tone, putting that familiar drawl on his voice that he has heard plenty of times in american buddy cop movies. He flashes the light once again to the suspect’s face, “Am I right so far?”

Aoyama simply nods, still tight lipped.

Kaminari lets the silence sink dramatically before speaking, “Midoriya didn’t feel the need to ask questions at the time but you know me; unbearably confused all the time. Like a toddler, if I’m gonna quote officer Jirou here,” He tries to lighten the atmosphere, blinking his lights at the same time. It does not work. Oh well, even he cannot land a joke sometime. Kaminari sinks back to his cop persona instead.

“First of all, what about stalking sounds reasonable to you?”

“It... is not reasonable at all, évidemment. I was impossibly slow to catch up on Midoriya’s détresse, though I tried to ease his worries by offering what I love in return.”

“Cheese.” Kaminari adds on.

Aoyama looks down on the desk, a little flustered. “...Yes, cheese.”

“Well, it’s good and all that you know that was creepy. But I kinda need you to tap into past Aoyama who believed stalking nervous boys was a good idea,” he feels something click and quickly adds on “like, is it pride that stopped you from actually talking to Midoriya? Was the cheese thing actually a trick to hide the fact you actually hate him? It must be some complex.”

Midoriya breaks from his character, waving his arms around to protect his friend’s honor. “no, that cannot be it! Aoyama has been friendly and much more approachable ever since then-” His eyes go blank and he hunches in on himself. Midoriya has been so good at suppressing his habit lately, but now when he lifts his hand to cradle his chin Kaminari knows there will be no end to the mumbling. “However, making me believe this would be an incredibly good strategy if he truly did have something against me…”

Both (appearantly) police officers start to create conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory, further channeling Todoroki with every outrageous point made. When Kaminari comes up with the theory of Aoyama secretly having control over Bakugou’s brain and forcing him to be mean so he would seem much nicer in contrast, Midoriya supplied the theory with Aoyama possibly shapeshifting into his doctor that told him he was quirkless as a child even though he already had a quirk, further making Bakugou hate him. Their conspiracies started to center suspiciously a lot around Bakugou hating Midoriya, but when Kaminari mentioned trickster god that train of thought died out and was replaced with something much more terrifying.

Midoriya’s face was positively white when he then supplied with the theory of Aoyama and Monoma being trickster god’s chaotic children, given their shared interest in european culture and their similar posh body language. None of them would know much of human culture given their divine heritage, and would therefore act strange and do questionable things no mortal could explain. Kaminari’s mind was positively blown after his fellow officer’s sharp observation, almost falling off the desk multiple times during Midoriya’s in depth explanation.

At that point Aoyama finally stood up from the chair, its legs screeching against the floor. Both Kaminari and Midoriya fall silent.

“Suffit! Officers, calm down! I do not hate Midoriya~” Aoyama turns to give said boy a meaningful look, “I relate to his struggle and wanted to show this sentiment, but at that time I did not feel… Worthy, to do so. Midoriya had come so far with his quirk while I continued, or continue in all honesty, to struggle.”

Kaminari opens his mouth to share helpful words, now feeling guilty for Aoyama’s sake. But Midoriya is once again the better cop between the two of them, clasping a hand over his mouth.

Said suspect takes a moment to relax, mumbling words in french before straightening himself, chest puffed out and chin tilted upwards.

“In my familie we are affectionate, but we are also prideful. When they found out of my incompetence they were gravely disappointed, and I felt like the biggest idiot on earth. And that simply does not cut it. My pride was too damaged for me to to come upfront to Midoriya, nevertheless I did not have the social capability to do so either.” he giggles nervously, palm sliding through his hair as he poses, “I do not know if you have noticed, but I am not the very best when it comes to intermingling with my fellow classmates~”

“Oh yeah, we know,” Kaminari blurts out. Aoyama ignores him.

Instead he smiles and prances towards the door. Aoyama makes the choice to not open it like a normal person, opting to throw it wide open so the blinding light illuminates the dark interrogation room. It makes the officers cringe, Kaminari’s tiny office lamp paling in comparison to Aoyama’s extravagant flair. Aoyama only giggles in response to their pain.

“I hope what I had to say will help you when it comes to Monoma; however, that blond will probably be much harder to tackle as he does not seem particularly fond of you- like, at all. Nevertheless, good luck with the étalon violet, officer~”

“Yeah dude, thanks for your ti- Wait, how did you know about-”

Aoyama simply winks, giggles and closes the door after him. Midoriya and Kaminari continues to stand there in the darkness, lamp now turned off. Kaminari does not make a move to turn it on either, brain too busy reflecting on Aoyama’s confession.

It would not be his place to say either way, as he was only a sh*tty fake cop, but what he was told today makes sense. On par with Midoriya’s theory, even. Parts of Aoyama’s reasoning also fit with what they know of Monoma’s personality; his wounded pride especially. It would not be a stretch to say he also sucks balls when it comes to communicating with others, if his intense monologues count for anything. And they do; sh*tty fake cop or not, Kaminari cannot let a bit of speculation go to waste.

“Well,” Kaminari pops his tongue and continues to speak towards the darkness, leaning into the desk he continues to sit on, “that went well. You also think Monoma’s lurking cause’ he absolute sh*t when it comes to basic human behaviour, and that stalking a person he is attracted to is a completely normal and not-creepy thing to do?”

It would be in character for Midoriya to nod despite Kaminari not being able to see it, so he imagines that is what he is doing during the pregnant silence after Kaminari’s rhetorical question.

“Yes- Hold on, are you saying that Monoma is attracted to you?”

Kaminari blanches. “What!? No! He’s got a crush on Shinsou, and we’re competing, that’s the whole point!”

Midoriya oohs afterwards, probably nodding once again. The sounds of sneakers squeaking and accidentally hitting chair legs fill the silence and Kaminari suspects that Midoriya is trying to find the door. He manages to do so in the end, slow to open it compared to Aoyama. It was obvious that the dramatic guy wanted to blind them on purpose, but Midoriya is too nice to do that. Instead he stands beside the open door, content smile on his face as he makes a small gesture for Kaminari to walk before him. Kaminari, also a drama queen, bows before accepting his offer. He falls gracefully from the desk and in a sudden fit of energy races out of the dark classroom, grinning to a confused Midoriya whom is still holding the door open.

Midoriya reminded them both that they are supposed to change to hero gear for hero class, so they rushed to get to their lockers before making it to the changing rooms. With gym bags in hand, their pace slows down and they end up walking in relative silence. Kaminari is still thinking about Monoma and Aoyama until Midoriya pipes up, eyes wide and confused.

“You are attracted to Shinsou?”

Chapter 11: Interval; questions left unanswered

Chapter Text

“We meet again, Shinsou-”

“Nope.” Is the only reply Monoma gets. Shinsou power walks right away from him with no direction in mind.

Given Monoma interrupting his training to try and intimidate Shinsou, and succeeding, Aizawa had demanded for Shinsou to come to the teachers lounge so they could train once more, properly this time. Shinsou is now rightfully exhausted and the only thing he wants to do is go to his space and take a short yet needed nap on soft grass. But he cannot go there with Monoma on his tail. He does not want anyone to infiltrate his usual destination, but Monoma was now the person he least wanted in there. Apparently he is a stalker, and no matter how creepy Shinsou looks he does not f*ck around with stalkers.

Monoma is still right behind him, hands thrown out as he tries to explain himself. “My my, you wound me, Shinsou! I simply want to explain yesterday’s incident to you, with some compelling sources too may I add-”

“You listened in on me having a conversation even though we were far from your classroom, and interrupted my hero training just to say you did so. I never told you were I train. What f*cking sources makes you do that.” Shinsou grits out, losing all manners yet waiting for Monoma to reply so he could tell him to f*ck right off.

Clever sh*t does not reply. Instead he jumps in front of Shinsou, invading his personal space because that is exactly what Shinsou needs right now.

The only reason Shinsou has not shoved Monoma off him is because there is a glowing book between them distracting him with its obnoxious yellow color and terrible, holographic stickers. It is covered in black marker doodles, yet there is no name on it. It does not look like Monoma’s property at all. Shinsou scoffs. “A thief too, huh?”

Monoma shakes his head but then he stops, makes a so-so hand motion and shrugs.

Instead of giving Shinsou anything insightful to bite on he proceeds to open the book and tries to show Shinsou the pages. He takes a peek of decent looking pikachu and knows exactly whose book it is. Nope. That was the last straw. He turns around and walks away from Monoma, not even bothering to give him the time of his day. A strange choking sound emits from behind him and Shinsou takes it as a signal to walk even faster. Instead Monoma grabs his arm instead and yells,

“We used to talk, but now that you are seeing that fool instead you won’t even give me a glance. Am I not worth anything to you anymore?”

Technically he did not reply to anything Shinsou had said, so Shinsou cannot brainwash him to f*ck off like he wants him to. Shinsou doubts he would be able to do so anyway. There was something about that tone that made himstop. A light tremble, something desperate in there that he can relate to. He might call Monoma creepy all he wants, and he is creepy, no doubt about that, but truth is that they are more alike than most people in this enormous school.

Shinsou is not a depressed person. Tired and sometimes sad, of course, but what teenager is not prone to the casual bursts of self deprication. However the poignant yet sudden reflection of his own personality and rather sad life caused by Monoma’s desperate words really does bum him out.

With a sigh he turns around, looks back at Monoma with a look that says “You have only one chance.” and Monoma smiles. Shinsou does not want this guy to be happy for interrupting his very important, yet very short break, so he levels him a glare harsh enough that Monoma actually shrinks a little. When he speaks, his voice is cold and authoritative.

“I want to know why you are stalking me, and what Kaminari has to do with it.” He crosses his arms and shakes his head when Monoma proceeds to open the book, “and no, you will do that without opening the book. That’s invasion of privacy.”

Monoma looks like he does not understand the concept, but he shakes his head like it meant nothing and throws the book away as if it did not mean anything either.

Shinsou cannot help but eye it where it was, splayed on the floor.

“Stalk you I did not, I asked around to find out where people tend to see you. Simply enough I happened to ask the right people the right questions.” He chuckles in that posh, prideful way. Shinsou does not know if he trust the words, but he hears them out anyway. Then Monoma’s face turns serious, smile still plastered on with different intentions Shinsou cannot get behind. “However I do keep an eye on Kaminari as of late. I do not trust him in the slightest.”

“You don’t trust anyone in class A.”

“Yes, but he is different this time around. His intelligence… Reminds me of a shrimp’s, yet he managed to land in the heroics. I cannot for the life of me fathom how he could possibly do so on his own. The behaviour he exhibits reads as suspicious as well, especially with the way he looks at you. It is simply not innocent.”

...

Shinsou regrets ever letting Monoma speak.

Why are shrimps involved. Why did he call Kaminari dumb when he is so skilled in english Mic wants him to tutor other students, when his parents saw it fit to teach him about f*cking electrostatics when he was only four years old. By his wording, it seems like he actually understood it by then too. Shinsou does not even know what electrostatics is now.

Most of all, why is Monoma of all people calling Kaminari suspicious when he is out here, stalking people and stealing property? And then there is the bit about looks not being innocent. Shinsou really wonders if Monoma even knows he implied that Kaminari gives him bedroom eyes whenever they meet each other. In all honesty, he would not put it past him to not get this sort of cue even when it left his own mouth.

He is at loss for what to do with all this random, seemingly pointless, information. So he nods and stares at the ground, mouth a thin line to stop himself from cursing out loud. He only wanted a f*cking nap.

It is only be sheer politeness that Shinsou manages to bite out a reply.

“Okay... So what.”

“So what?!? Monoma looks scandalized, as if everything he said made any sense and Shinsou is the weirdo for not understanding, “You are communicating with him, even though he could very much be a threat! Do you not understand the situation? I am trying to help you.”

Shinsou simply stares ahead at Monoma, hand resting on his temple. It is both sad and weird how much Monoma’s tone reminds him of an overprotective girlfriend- or, well, stalker. The worst part is that Monoma acts like he has shared very private and deep conversations with Kaminari, when in reality they have only had three conversations in total. He was probably there for all of them too. With that thought a chill runs up his spine. It did hurt in middle school, but he sort of wishes people would just go back to not giving a sh*t about him. Then he would not deal with this, whatever this is supposed to be.

A common misconception people tend to share when it comes to Shinsou is that he is a master of psychology. That he can read people's emotions well and understand where they originate from, then manipulate them with this knowledge. While Shinsou does find such subjects interesting, no one gave him a chance to hone those interests in fear he would use it to control others. Therefore Shinsou -that scheming mastermind- finds himself completely lost in what caused this outburst. Appearantly he and Kaminari unleashed something really terrible by talking with each other, but how? Hell, maybe this has nothing to do with us, he finds himself thinking. Maybe this is a weird human thing where people push their emotions on others because they feel like they cannot deal with it on their own, or something. Maybe Shinsou has come to this conclusion because he really wants to seperate himself from Monoma at the moment, but who could judge him for that.

He rubs his eyes and drawls. “ Honestly, it just sounds like you are trying to help yourself with some unresolved inner issue here.”

Shinsou removes his hand from his face, and it hovers over Monoma’s shoulder awkwardly, unsure of what to do. He pats the shoulder once, twice, and puts it down by his own side. The look on Monoma’s face is the one of a guy who has never been touched in a comforting manner before in his entire life, and Shinsou despises how relatable it is.

“You’ll figure it out. Don’t take it out on blonde, notebook-owning pikachu fans.”

They stand there in silence, Monoma processing his words while Shinsou only wishes to disappear.

f*ck his loneliness. f*ck all the bullying from middle school, f*ck all the people who would not even spare him a glance once they found out his quirk, and f*ck all the rotten people who wanted to use him for their own disgusting pursuits of power. This situation right here, is the worst thing he has had to go through in his life.

Then Monoma nods quickly, shoulder raised to red ears as he mumbles out an excessive goodbye and an obnoxious laugh. The guy actually runs out of sight. Shinsou stands alone in the hallway. Or, well, alone is apparently subjective to the context of the situation. Shinsou is confined by the book laying on the corridor floor, all alone, or some bullsh*t. He feels like he should be worried that he remembers so much from that weird conversation with Kaminari.

Some seconds go with the book still on the floor and Shinsou hovering over it. He ponders if it is worth it to pick it up or if he should stop giving a sh*t, and find a corner to take a quick nap on.

Despite all odds, he end up picking up the neon notebook. And he starts to walk, holds it low and is careful to not even look down on it. The realization that he and Monoma are somewhat similar has now scared him from following even what vaguely reminds him of the blond’s footsteps. Shinsou stops himself from thinking of this, uh- situation, any longer, and thinks about the much safer present.

Class is starting soon and he has to hurry back despite sleep deprivation. He can probably meet Kaminari once after class to give it back to him.

For some reason, it is very hard to not be bothered by the damn book.

Chapter 12: Qui n’avance pas, recule; To stand still is to retreat!

Chapter Text

Kaminari is barely halfway during hero training when he remembers his notebook.

And just like that, all confidence he ever held in training goes out of the drain, and is replaced with pure horror.

“Woah Kaminari, what’s wrong?” Ojiro asks him after sensing sparks hitting against his tail. Thankfully the limb is strong enough to withhold the small shocks, because not only would it make Ojiro pissed if it actually hurt, it would be inconvenient to hurt his teammate during an exercise. An exercise he totally does not have the time for.

Another giggle rises before Kaminari can answer, Aoyama sliding in smoothly from his supposed hideout. “Oh, did the bachelier finally remember something? Something of importance, perhaps~”

“Ugh, how do you know everything!?”

Kaminari is surprisingly calm when it came to hanging around Aoyama after the interrogation. In fact, hearing out his reasoning behind his actions helped Kaminari understand him more as a person, too. What was stressing him out about his fellow blond is his ability to simply know everything about people’s emotional state. While they were walking to the training grounds Midoriya reassured him and said that Aoyama knows personal information about everyone. But that did not stop Kaminari from wanting to rip his hair from his scalp whenever he felt those purple eyes on him, though. Yet Kaminari stops himself from touching his hair, letting out a high pitched whine instead.

Speaking of hair ruffling and emotions, Jirou’s earlobes slaps both him and Aoyama.

“You two, shut it. Hagakure could be anywhere, so focus on the plan and you’ll get back to whatever you need to do. Got it?”

Amidst Jirou’s authoritative hiss Kaminari remembers the exercise once again.

Him, Ojiro, Jirou and Aoyama are teamed up against Bakugou, Hagakure, Kirishima and Mina. Team Bakugou is supposed to kidnap Jirou while Jirou’s team has to kidnap Bakugou. A rather low blow for Bakugou after what happened during summer camp, but Kaminari is sure there will be a deeper meaning behind this exercise that will help the entire class anyway. At least they are in a replica of a torn down city instead of a burning forest, because that choice would be way too obvious.

They are deciding to stay low, as most of the group decided that being as loud as Bakugou’s team would only cause chaos, as if that was a bad thing.

Kaminari would rather overwhelm the group. Him, Aoyama and Jirou have perfect quirks for such a huge distraction; but Aoyama was worried about overusing his quirk too fast, Jirou deemed it stupid to put the target so far out in the fighting lines, and Ojiro is a guy of tactic. Flashy quirks going off everywhere would end up distracting him too, he had said.

Their more boring plan is to keep Ojiro close to Jirou given his combat skills, while Kaminari and Aoyama will stay further away, in the shadows. Or, they are supposed to be further away, at least. Jirou scolds them and then they are walking away again, to his short lived relief because Aoyama is unbearable when he teases. And that comes from Kaminari.

They fall quiet, giving Jirou the peace to listen through her earphone jacks.

She lifts two fingers in Kaminari’s direction, but since he cannot hear the two intruders yet he knows that they don’t have to attack yet. Bummer.

Then she points at Ojiro, forms a heart with her hands and points towards a building behind him, signalling Hagakure’s presence. Ojiro blushes and Kaminari has to fight down a snort. Ugh, young love, so sweet, so foreign. Maybe he can experience it with some mysterious purple haired cutie one day; once he gets his book back of course. Damn it, he put way too much effort into it to let it get lost now.

The problem is that the book is not only about Shinsou. Or- Well, that is the provenance of his stress, but the book contains other important things he should not let go to waste. Kaminari used it to catalogue sources of Mineta’s behaviour as well, since their class agreed something about the guy needed to be done. Kaminari has a folder on his phone stock full with screenshots and videos of him acting feral. There is one screenshot in particular that is especially juicy, of Mineta sharing pictures of Yaomomo’s mom with belittling captions to said girl, even though Momo have never introduced the class to her mother. Basically Kaminari has some truly gross sh*t that can get Mineta expelled, all on his phone. Plenty of the stuff too. If he was not an accident prone person that would be enough. But f*cking up stuff is sort of his trademark now so he has to be more careful; aka cataloging some information. He did not get that far until he just started talking about Shinsou, but then that would also be all in vain.

Kaminari sends a tiny shock towards Jirou’s direction, points behind himself and shrugs his shoulders, asking who is behind him just for heads up. He needs answers so he can end this quickly. She rolls her eyes like it is obvious and makes another heart. Ah, Bakugou and Kirishima.

So Mina is still lost somewhere.

“Where the f*ck did raccoon go?! If she f*cks up our plan then that’s what we’re gonna eat for dinner; f*cking. Racoon.” Kirishima laughs in response to his boyfriend, and asks if he’ll boil or fry her. That is worrying for many reasons, one of those reasons being that Kirishima could definitely eat a person with those teeth. For a second Kaminari hopes Mina did not f*ck up their plan, even though they are on opposing sides.

If you did not know what was going on it would look like Ojiro got so scared after the mention of cannibalism he swept Jirou up in his tail and took off. But Kaminari knows that they are simply going to one of their marked hangouts.

Whenever they did that Kaminari and Aoyama were supposed to follow slowly and gather were the enemies are, possibly weaken them from a distance. Maybe finding Mina and take her out would be clever too, since she apparently snuck out from her group. Not only was Kaminari unmotivated to do so, but he really needed to get out of this situation and out in the real world where random people could pick up his book and make fun of his hopeless crush and sh*tty handwriting.

Therefore he runs towards Aoyama as quietly as he can. Thankfully Aoyama is skinny and his armour light, because even Kaminari could lift his struggling teammate further away from their supposed area.

“Sacre bleu! Bachelier, are you out of your mind?” he hisses once he is sat down in the ground, eyebrows creased upwards in worry. The two blonds are hidden underneath a flipped car, not that far off from where they were supposed to be but further away from both Bakugou and Hagakure. Kaminari can only make a so-so hand gesture, but he is back to smirking in an instant. Close or not they are much safer here, and his chatterbox ass can finally speak again.

“I know you’re scared of overusing yourself,” Kaminari starts off, still whispering and using his hands to communicate still, “But we both know what will give us the quickest win, okay? We both got that dramatic flair, we’re flashy, we got the quirks, all of it, and you know it too.”

Aoyama is not completely convinced yet, looking down at his belt in an insecure manner, which is bizarre to Kaminari. He never looked like this before, always sparkling and smiling even when no one watched him. “I know it, bachelier, even you struggle with your quirk more than most, just like me~… But there is a difference between you and me,” The twinkle was much more sad than usual, “While you found love and victory last exercise, I only found failure. I was a burden to my team, and I do not want that to be my trademark, I only want to twinkle.”

“And you will!”

Kaminari raises his voice the lightest bit, searching Aoyama’s eyes despite him still looking doubtful and sad. God, he is really not good with emotions like these. He makes jokes, he is a meme. That is his trademark. But he will be damned if he cannot be more versatile than that.

“Qui n’avance pas, recule!” Kaminari speaks in sh*tty french, hoping he did not say something completely random but if he did, that it at least involved some sort of cheese, “If you’re gonna twinkle you need to take risks and evolve, y’know! You’ve gotta stand out and be an idiot sometimes, show what you’re made of. And I know you got the soul of a dumbass in you. ”

If that sentence came from anyone but Kaminari, it would be an insult.

Aoyama seems to get his sentiment, batting his eyelashes while deep in thought. That will not do. Kaminari grabs his shoulders, also giving him a slight shock. He grins wide as he speaks.

“You’ve been a dumbass in the dark; behind Midoriya’s window and behind us all, but you don’t belong back there! You’re meant for something bigger, something flashy. Join me and be brain dead out here in broad daylight!”

Aoyama’s eyes are wide again, like he has never heard a speech more beautiful. Then his demeanor becomes much more familiar, chin raised and mouth in a tight lipped smile. Kaminari knows something has changed anyways, in the way his teeth start to peek out from said smile. His irises are different too, in a way Kaminari cannot explain. Glittering with purpose this time, like the ashes of a reborn phoenix or something else as poetic.

Simply put, he begins to twinkle again, just like he is supposed to.

“Oui~ You know men speaking français makes me weak,”

“I literally did not know that, but I totally get it, man. If Shinsou started speaking french to me I’d lose my freaking marbles.” Kaminari huffs while he stands up, giving Aoyama a helpful hand.

Something flashes on his face as he reaches out to Kaminari’s hand. Aoyama is smiling again, eyes knowing in a way that does not make Kaminari paranoid this time. The grip is tight as if they are signing a contract, but Kaminari is surprisingly enough not scared of the implications. When Aoyama is lifted up he finally drops the bomb.

“How about I offer him a cours in french then~?”

Kaminari cracks his knuckles and fingers, reading his discharge by using the memory of Shinsou’s face to hype himself up. He turns to give Aoyama a wide-eyed look, who is also stretching his arms over his head in his signature move.

“If you do that, I will let you renovate my room. Hell, Kirishima’s wardrobe too.”

Aoyama stills. Like a doll.

It is painfully quiet. So quiet Kaminari can hear Hagakure in the far off distance.

Aoyama’s knees buckle and he drops down, arms behind his head as he shoots. Directly up in the sky; a proper mad man.

And lasers are hella cool. Kaminari has seen many heroes use them in very badass, flashy ways before. It is also what he asked for when he gave that speech to Aoyama, right? For him to be flashy, and he is for sure succeeding in that. But rubble and sparkles and one singular car are flying around now. Even Kaminari is flying around, even if he does not realize it. What he does realize at the moment is that lasers are a damn hazard.

His stomach twists up and down as he is forcefully spinned back and forth, orbiting the thick laserbeam and almost losing a tiny eyebrow every time he comes too close to the glowing center. Kaminari probably threw up in his mouth already, he can honest to trickster god not tell. People are shouting, Bakugou the loudest as he exclaims “WHAT THE f*ck IS THIS DUMBASSERY?”

But the one good thing caused by this sh*tty situation is that from this height, Kaminari can see everything.

Hagakure comes in the form of a pair of big gloves running closer to Aoyama, like a moth to the flame. He sends a smaller beam from his shoulder laser in her direction, using her reflective quirk to his advantage. With his light trick he blinds Kirishima during his fist fight with Ojiro. Mina finally appeared from her hiding place, maneuvering to Jirou in the balcony of a tall apartment building.They are in the fifth story, but it does not stop Bakugou from blowing himself upwards towards his target. But he struggles, since Ojiro is doing a good job lapping at his ankles and pulling him down with his tail. That might be the reason why Kirishima is now crushing his face into the ground.

It is a mess. Not as messy as Kaminari’s intestines, but it is a mess that Kaminari is happy to see.

He checks the information on his pointers, and curses when he sees he is too far away to shoot Bakugou. Apparently if he rotates five more times he will reach a reasonable range and shoot his target.

His second spin around he looks down to see how Aoyama is doing, and realizes that he is slowly weakening his laser, looking constipated as sh*t. Automatically he checks his pointer to see if he can shoot sooner, and he grins when his suspicion is affirmative. “Good going, buddy! Lower me a lil’ will ya?”

“Whaaat? Denki, watcha’ doin’ up there? Are you a bird or something? Did Tokoyami teach you how to fly?” Mina turns around to ask and gets punched straight in the face, courtesy by Jirou. She continues to get owned for a short period of time, and while she recovers Jirou uses her earphone jacks to maneuver a few balconies away, thus closer to Kaminari and Aoyama. Basically, she is now safer.

Kaminari almost cries both because of intense motion sickness and happiness. His unplanned plan is going exactly according to plan. Two more spins, and he can shoot. And they would not even suspect the inevitable hit, since Kaminari probably looks braindead from where he is spinning. Therefore he lays his stupidity on thick; laughs loudly and throws his thumbs up, letting vomit drip a few places to fool the other team even more. All is allowed in love and war.

“You went dumb ALREADY?!” Jirou screams, also fooled by his act. Her face is red from what Kaminari can see. Hagakure giggles, sounding like she is right behind him. She is. f*ck.

One more spin. One more spin. Please don’t let Hagakure come close.

“You had ONE JOB, KAMINARI DENKI. ONE. f*ckING. JOB.”

Uh oh, Jirou is pissed. So pissed she is about to plug her earphone jacks into her stereo boots. Hagakure’s fingers brush against his hair, and she giggles out a “she’ll blast you~”.

Kaminari aims his shooter towards Bakugou before Hagakure can grab him, before Jirou can blast him to kingdom come.

He aims right between his ears, and he sees the moment the shock hits. Bakugou’s feral eyes goes blank, rolls to the back of his skull and his body trembles like he is undergoing a seizure in mid air. Then he drops like a dead fly. From five stories.

Kirishima’s eyes bug out.

Kaminari cannot lie; he pisses his pants a little when he realizes what he just did. Hagakure, his supposed enemy, whispers a curse from behind him, arms curling around his shoulders in a comforting gesture. Kaminari is not comforted at all.

Some primal animal instinct unlocks in his friend. The sharpest edges Kaminari has ever seen covers his body, making him seem much taller than he actually is; a literal mountain of anger. All soft spots are erased where he stands and snarls like he’ll bite the head off anyone in front of him. His posture is hunched like a beast and his claws are spread out. For a moment Kaminari can imagine his feral friend rip him a new one with those goddamn talons. At the very least Kirishima is stranded on the ground- Kirishima takes a leap towards the building, crushing it halfway in. He starts scaling it like a desperate reptile, the metal and glass shattering underneath each dent he makes with his claws and feet. They are so audible Kaminari can hear the building whine from where he is flying.

Before Kirishima can grab Bakugou, Jirou circles the target’s arm with a earphone jack and pulls him away, probably realizing how serious the situation have become and that throwing a hissy fit right now would be even more stupid.

But now she is stuck. With Kirishima looming even closer with his angry rock face and Mina coming closer to her. Kaminari has to do something quick, or else his plan will go to sh*t again.

He turns to Aoyama, seeing that the laser became even lower and weaker. Even if he is still 9 feet up in the sky he could maybe jump down to the ceiling of the apartment and maybe avoid breaking his legs. He could maybe use Hagakure to help him, since she has sort of given up on fighting him and would probably want to escape Aoyama’s laser by now.

“Hey, Hagakure. You wanna not die?”

As a reply she aims a punch towards his face, which he only avoids because of the sudden change in current.

“Yeah, sure I do! But I know you’ll do something dumb and very unhelpful instead!” She explains with a happy voice, wrapping her legs around Kaminari’s body midair and pressing his arms to his torso. He would panic since it is Hagakure, the invisible girl, fighting him. But she is not as invisible as before, her silhouette glowing in result to being close to the laser beam.

He headbutts her chin to loosen her hold on him, aims his sharpshooter a direction away from the apartment and shoots himself far away from the beam and Hagakure.

Kaminari has not vomited as much in his life as when he was spinning in the sky like some pathetic version of an ufo, but hitting his back against the ceiling of an apartment made to handle full force attacks from pro-heroes full speed might take the cake. Even the sound his back made on impact makes his tongue dry, pain blooming on his sore sides. He lays out like a paralyzed starfish and shouts so his throat burns,

“JIROU JUMP!”

He continues to shout through the sounds of light bulbs shattering, high electricity frying his brain; snot, blood and vomit molding into his sweaty, numb skin and ruined hero uniform. The release makes him lose control of his entire body, limbs beginning to ache when they repeatedly hit the surface he lays on. His headache splits his brain apart like it is trying to dissect itself and learn how to make this experience even more sh*tty than it already is.

Jirou must have jumped, because through his brain trying to self destruct he hears her shout Ojiro’s name, whom replies with a “gotcha’”. Quick footsteps patter away into non existence, and he is left with only himself.

His body resists, but after uncounted minutes he forces himself to turn to his side. After all this bullsh*t he pulled and somehow survived, he won’t be taken down by choking on some vomit.

Then he rests, waits for the clock to ring to see which team has won. And he knows he did all of this so he could end this exercise quickly and retrieve his beloved book, but right now he never wants the damn clock to ring. For one, it will make him dive head first into another seizure. The second thing is… Seizures are the worst. In the peace he can finally calm down, chest heaving like never before. Then he feels the familiar tingle before the alarm. Aizawa could stop the alarm from ever going off, but he knew he deserved it anyway. He mutters out a curse and tries to brace himself.

Calloused hands lifts his head a feather away from the ground, then they cover his ears.

Kaminari catches a peek of firetruck red, and despite his stupidity he manages to smile back to Kirishima.

The alarm continues to ring so Kirishima does not say anything, he only smiles gently as he protects Kaminari’s ears from the loud sound. The alarm dies off after a few minutes and that is when he retreats his hands, and waits before helping Kaminari sit up. The vertigo is not enough to make him vomit again, but he has to wipe away drool no matter what. “how long wus’ I out?” He asks only because he knew recovery girl would ask him later.

Kirishima stills, gears visibly turning as he counts on his fingers how many minutes went. God, they are both disasters.

“About three minutes, I think.”

Huh, nice. Kaminari nods until his head starts to hurt. Memories accompany the headache, and he bows his head when he remembers what he did.

“Sorry bout’ tha’, bro. Was a very dick move of me, paralyzin’ Bakubro like tha’.” He slurs out, trying his very best to make functional sentences so he could properly apologize. Kirishima smiles wider at his apology, and pats his back in the most gentle manner possible, which still rattles Kaminari’s nerve system. What can he do, Kirishima is just that strong, unbreakable or not.

“It’s okay, dude. I did get mad since, y’know, the whole kidnapping thing from before. Honestly, I was afraid to disappoint Bakugou again, that I wouldn’t be there for him, but we had a talk about this before this exercise even started,” He makes his best Bakugou impression, which was actually really spot on, “ Eijirou, I know you wanna prove yourself or whatever, but don’t haul ass to get to me if it comes down to that. This is just some dumb f*cking exercise, I don’ want it to make you an useless puddle of feelings and sh*t. Just focus on the now, not the past, got it?! ”

Kaminari blinks, eyes wide with surprise.

“Bu’ Kacchan always wanna win a challenge.”

“Of course! But he is learning to pick his battles better, ” Kirishima says, and even in his frenzied state Kaminari can tell it is sort of a lie. Kirishima’s eyes are reduced to hearts, face red, and not from exhaustion climbing a building should give you. There are classics hints of love everywhere in his expression, but it is the soft smile that sells it for him.

A wobbly grin reaches his own face, the happy feeling radiating from Kirishima really contagious. He wants to give his friend a hug, but Kirishima stops him and laughs, “sorry man, but you reek.”

Kaminari scoffs like he is offended, but even though Kirishima did call him disgusting he continues to try help Kaminari down the stairs of the building. Emphasis on try to help. All the lightbulbs are broken and the humid air from outside seeps in, all a result from Kaminari’s electricity discharge. Neither did he have time to be proud of himself for not going completely stupid after such a dramatic stunt, because walking down a set of stairs in complete darkness with glass shards spread everywhere was the most annoying thing to happen to him yet, and it was also his fault.

In the end they get out. Against all odds, covered in a new layer of sweat given the thick, warm air inside the damn building. Kirishima’s hand is still hardened where it supports Kaminari’s panting waist, but Kaminari isn’t present enough to understand why. It is not like he can feel the pops of electricity he is sending out. He is however present enough to see the rest of the two teams waiting outside.

With Aizawa. f*ck.

He looks absolutely pissed, almost like when Midoriya first pulled his dangerous stunts.

The laughter that bubbled from the two friends dies out in an instant, Kirishima biting his lip while Kaminari simply stands there like a deflated balloon. He looks to Bakugou, who despite his resting bitch face is not angry, but rather unamused. Like a disappointed parent. And that might be actually worse than him being mad. At least he knows how to make jokes with an angry Bakugou, disappointed mom Bakugou is a whole other can of worms. Jirou is pinching her nose bridge, Ojiro shrugging helplessly towards him, and Aoyama winks. Of course Aoyama was the only person happy with this situation. Kaminari tries to wink back, but blinks both eyes instead. A bad sign indeed.

Aizawa continues to stare daggers at Kaminari, forcing him to quiet down with his dominating presence.

“So. I have faith you all realize that was a terrible move to pull.” he starts to speak, and they all nod along, despite the conflicted expression on Aoyama’s face. “Not only did you leave the target unprotected by distracting your own teammates, you caused excessive property damage once again, then you left yourself susceptible for villains to attack you.” He points towards Kirishima, who stills under the sudden attention,

“If Kirishima was an actual villain determined to injure heroes, you’d be dead where you stand.”

A chill runs down his spine. His fried mind is unable to take in all the information he was receiving. He only hears a harsh tone, dangerous sounding pieces of sentences playing over and over in his full head. He can only nod his head and stare at the ground so his eyeballs almost pop out.

Kirishima decides to speak up, voice firm despite its lower volume, “Aizawa-sensei, you said it yourself- I’m not a villain, this is an exercise-”

“An exercise that could damn well be reality, and it will be. So I expect you all to act like it.”

If Aizawa’s was scary before, then Kaminari might as well face some three headed demon with a voice that could crumble the damn ground if he wanted a worse scare. His body trembles even more, weak to the authoritative tone cornering him from all sides. Always weak to scary teachers. God, he f*cked up so bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad.

Scary teacher sighs, and says the worst strings of words possible,

“Kaminari, I will talk with you after class. Go to recovery girl now, you look terrible.”

He laughs nervously, nodding his head like he is going to lose it. Kirishima pulls him away gently to the waiting room outside the simulation, then Mina joins his other side and gives him an even softer smile. Despite his blinding stress he notices that her wild hair is somewhat tamed by stark white bandages. Kaminari asks her about. If you count fumbling with his tongue and pointing a shaky index finger vaguely at her direction as asking an intelligent question about her well being, that is.

Ever the honest person, Mina grimaces like she knows the answer will not be enjoyable to hear. “Uh, while you sent that electricity an’ stuff, which is cool and all and uh, a light bulb- I swear it’s cool- fell down on- like, so cool-… on me.”

Kaminari stares at her, and then he bawls.

Chapter 13: Afterglow; this chapter will end in a weak innuendo, just so you know

Chapter Text

Kirishima decides that since there is still an hour left until class ends, they should follow Aizawa’s order and go to recovery girl. Kaminari did hurl himself at a building and is still suffering backlash from his seizure, after all. Mina nods her head and almost lifts Kaminari above her head, only stopped by Bakugou barking that she’ll break Kaminari like a twig.

“Aww, you worry,” Eijirou smiles wide and asks, “Wanna join, Katsuki?”

“And get dunce face’s gross drool on me? No f*cking thanks.” He scoffs instead, sitting down heavily beside Jirou who is looking at Kaminari with a constipated look. You know, the usual. “Now get the damn idiot away from me, his dumbass bacteria is tryna’ infect me from here.”

Both Mina and Kirishima laugh on their way out of the waiting room, carefully guiding Kaminari to recovery girl’s office. “He so cares.” Mina giggles.

It was obvious that he would have big bruises and scrape marks all over his back. But apparently Kaminari suffer minor inner bleeding too, so recovery girl hurries to give him a kiss and tells him to drink lots of water. Now, with a ridiculously huge water bottle in his hands and his ass on the hospital bed, she checks his eyes and asks him questions regarding how he feels. When she tells him to write his name down he barely manages to do so, his writing looking even worse than normal.

“You do suffer backlash from the seizure. But you know the drill already, boy, this will go away in a few hours. Remember to come to my office tomorrow anyways, though. While I did heal most of the blood clotting I want to make sure there is no chance of it turning severe. Remember to drink lots of water, and take a nap now.” Her words are only heard by the two friends standing by the door.

However Kaminari did not have to be told to take a nap for him to doze off.

When Kaminari wakes up he is reminded of a sleep paralysis he once had.

Aizawa is there. That is all he will say.

But unlike a sleep paralysis, he can fully move. With his new found, greatly appreciated power he shoves his face into his pillow and whines about the light binding him. His room is never this light, the gaudy colors on his walls and furniture battling each other so they almost cancel each other out in vibrancy. He attempted to explain the phenomenon to Sero once when they tried to have a sleepover in his room. However, the complexities of color theory apparently didn’t mean sh*t to his friend.

Kaminari can barely see that Aizawa is looking at him through the corners of his eyes. But he can guess that the man is unamused by his antics. “Kaminari, look at me.”

“I am, you’re jus’ a lil blurry,” Kaminari croaks back like a whiny toddler, but he does look up anyway. Damn Aizawa and his stern teacher methods. Recovery girl is not there anymore, probably giving Kaminari and his teacher privacy. Ugh.

Aizawa continues to stare at him like some small animal. Not like a cat though; Kaminari was not cute enough to Aizawa’s standards or so it seems, because his eyes are all beady and unsettling. The taller man crouches down to Kaminari’s eye level, looking into his eyes like recovery girl did at some point while checking his injuries. It felt like a lifetime ago since she checked on him.

“whats the time?” Kaminari asks once the question hits him.

“You’ve slept for one hour and ten minutes. How’s your head.”

Kaminari blinks, and he starts to actually wonder how his head is. He ends up just shrugging instead.

“Well, my handwriting wus’ unintelligible one hour ago, so I dunno if I’m any better now. Sorry my guy, but I’ll probs be useless in class tomorro’...”

Aizawa raises his eyebrows in reaction to the reply. “Today is friday.”

Oh, he is really proving his point right now. Kaminari always knew when it was a friday, it was his I’ll waste all my money on pizza and hamburgers day. Not even the rest of his squad joined him when he invited them over. Probably because it smelled godawful. In fact, most of the students stayed out of the entire floor, and used creative tactics to retrieve what they need from their rooms without having to actually inhale. The smell of plastic-like cheese haunting the hallways was so infamous even Aizawa, who was always asleep on the couch when he visited the dorms, knew about its everlasting taint in all their assaulted nostrils.

His face must be so scandalized Aizawa actually coughs down a snort. The man shakes his head and stands up again.

“I see you are in no condition to have a conversation about what happened today. We will talk on monday. You should head back to the dorms now.” He walks towards the door but before he opens it he stops up. Oh no. Slowly he turns his face around, that goddamn scary smile on his face. Does Kaminari even deserve to have the privilege of calling it creepy now that he found the same expression hot when it was on Shinsou?

“I forgot, you got a visitor outside. You still look terrible, so I advise you to change.”

The man walks out, leaving Kaminari’s head a mess. A visitor? And did he look so bad that even Aizawa commented on it? He turns to look down on his shirt and belches- yeah, that is fair. That is totally fair.

When Kaminari picks up his phone to look at the camera he almost throws up again. That tan, soft skin he was so proud of was grimed with sticky sweat and blood; pores screaming underneath the dust, begging to know why he had forsaken them. His eyebrows are so uneven Kaminari fears he will have to shave them off entirely. The fine hairs on his head looks like it is slathered with grease, the vibrant yellow color almost grey from the rubble and ashes he flew around with. Some of the vomit is still stuck on the lower half of his face, looking questionably dark and dry.

Kaminari stumbles out of the bed in full panic mode, and catches sight of his clean school uniform and a pack of gum laying by his bedside table. His water bottle is beside him, full and still cold to the touch. He smiles at the gesture, and feels the stress wash away now that he knows he does not have to wear his ruined hero uniform after his shower.

He takes a quick shower, washes his mouth out as thoroughly as he can before chewing half a pack of gum at once. It was necessary, Kaminari knows this, he threw up five times, all at once. But the mint burn comes fast and he has to jump around the room for quite a time until he can move on, tears in his eyes. Then Kaminari tries to down the ice cold water, ending up ironically burned by the cold once again, this time choking as well. After he is done jumping around for the second time he throws his clothes on and lets the tie hang loose around his shoulders. His hair is still wet and while the absence of a hairdryer stresses him out- given his hair’s tendency to go in funky directions when wet- he opens the door.

Knowing he had a mysterious visitor made him impatient, okay.

Shinsou stands there, looking as bored and beautiful as usual.

Kaminari has to force his bleary eyes to blink. He is always happy to see Shinsou, nonetheless he has to force his smile to widen to its maximum charm capacity. A trend he has noticed within himself is that whenever he has been thrusted into a situation where he has to greet his crush, Kaminari continues to fail at the simplest notions. It was something he had written down on his notebook- where is his f*ckING BOOK-

“I suspect this is yours.” Shinsou lifts said book up when Kaminari failed to give him a greeting again.The book is still yellow, still covered in stickers and doodles. Kaminari’s eyes almost bulges out at the sight of it.

But his happiness reaches him before anxiety can, and he grabs the book and hugs it to his chest.

“Thanks, man! Where did ya’ find it-” then that anxiety finally takes a hold off him. Grabbing him by the back of his shirt like a motherly cat, embarrasing him in front of the person he really cannot be made a fool in front of. The book is fumbled with in his trembling grip, pages full with declarations of love fluttering and Kaminari wonders if Shinsou ever took a peek inside; and he must have, the pages are right there. Trickster god might have been extra ruthless and made Shinsou drop it wide open, diving into Kaminari's brain even if he did not mean to do so in the first place.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t look inside.” Shinsou assures him with his deep wonderful voice that makes Kaminari soar.

Like that, the train of thought is dropped like hot garbage. Kaminari laughs shortly for himself, too happy, sleepy and nervous to really say anything of value. He lets himself run a hand through his flat hair, electricity going haywire as the hair fluffs up a bit. Shinsou’s eyes follows the movement with interest. Then he opens his wondrous mouth again, and Kaminari waits for words to come and for angels to sing.

“But Monoma did.”

“what-”

Shinsou sighs, hand reaching his temple. “Yes, I know. What. He ambushed me during lunch and admitted that he has been stalking you. After an excruciating exchange of words I cannot be assed to remember, he let me go. And here I am.”

Kaminari lets the words sit, thinking about them. He is not that surprised, since he did know that Monoma kept an obsessive eye on him already. Hearing what Aoyama had to say about being an easily misunderstood, insecure guy from a prestigious family with sh*t conversation skills had made him not dislike Monoma as much. It is not that likely that those two blondes would have the exact same backstory, and they surely did not have the same intentions behind their respective stalking. But if Monoma could relate to something similar then Kaminari cannot help but feel an ounce of empathy for him.

Emotions are weird like that. Sometimes you do unconventional things to get your point across. Kaminari gets that.

So he shrugs again. “Yeah I figured already.”

Now it is Shinsou’s turn to look confused, but Kaminari smiles anyway.

“Monoma wasn’t subtle bout’ it. But like, the book thing was a surprise. I’ll have to talk to ‘im bout’ tha’, and maybe the whole stalking thing too maybe. But y’know, he got his insecurities dude, can’t judge a guy for that.” He explains, but Kaminari is not even paying attention to what is coming out of his mouth, just spewing bullsh*t as he stares into Shinsou’s purple eyes. They are so purple. “People take their frustrations out differently. Like, like I draw angry faces on my old shoes’n online shop. He jus’ stalk people sometimes.”

Shinsou rolls his eyes. “Okay, so you are actually just delirious. Was hero training really that difficult.”

Kaminari laughs and waves him off before giving him finger guns. “It is difficult if you suffer from seizures and going stupid-syndrome! And remember, adhd and seizures are tight cause of the medication I forget to take anyway, so you are right: I am completely delirious right now!” He blinks his eyes again and grins for himself, pride swelling in his heavy chest. “Ooh, that rhymed!”

Shinsou shakes his head, muttering out “grammar police”. Hearing the dumb nickname warms Kaminari up, happy to know Shinsou at least remembered some of their conversations, no matter how embarrassing parts of them were at times.

Despite the teasing that gave Kaminari some happiness Shinsou remains serious, eyebrows twinged in worry and head tilted to the side once again. He is still wearing that quiet deadpan expression, watching Kaminari sway where he stands, forgetting to blink and letting out clumsy sparks of electricity. Standing up and having to move proved to make him much more clumsy than anticipated.

“...You need help back to the dorms?”

Just when Shinsou wondered if Kaminari could get any more energetic, he outright bounces. His hair goes haywire so they both almost match in volume. He bounces back to the messy hospital bed he laid on, the white sheet now beige and it makes Shinsou wonder what the hell happened to this guy during training. Apparently seizures and going stupid happened, but Shinsou does not really know what those words would suggest in the context of hero training. Then he sees his hero uniform and he almost does not want to ask anymore.

Kaminari catches sight of his bottle again and grabs it, tries to down it but stops once after the second chug. Too cold, too cold. Instead he grabs his messy hero uniform and tucks it under his armpit, other hand still holding the bottle. He has disappointed enough people, and recovery girl will not be in that list. Neither will Shinsou, so he turns and gives him the most winning smile he can muster. “Ready to go?”

Shinsou shrugs and turns around, a signal for Kaminari to follow him.

Kaminari continues to chatter his ear off on their way to the dorms, a sleepy drawl to his voice given he is still sleep deprived. Sometimes he leans closer to Shinsou because of his lack of balance, and because he would of course milk that excuse for what it is worth. If Shinsou is bothered he does not say anything. Actually, he ends up holding the messy uniform for Kaminari too. Not for a romantic reason either. The muscles in Kaminari’s twitchy fingers stopped working for a second and he dropped the uniform on a puddle. It still made Kaminari blush and stutter out a shy thanks when he picked it up for him.

When they reach the entrance Kaminari fails to open the door, so Shinsou does it for him.

Most of his classmates are outside of their rooms, watching tv and talking with each other. It was friday of course, so most of them wanted to relax after a tedious week of school. Midoriya notices the door opening and greets both Kaminari and Shinsou, surprised yet pleased to see the latter. Then the other students turns their attention to them, greeting Shinsou despite their surprised expressions.

The only exceptions is Hagakure, Mina, Jirou, and Sero, all sitting together giving Kaminari evil, knowing smirks. At least Kaminari thinks Hagakure is giving him such an expression, it would only make sense after all. She matches Mina to a tee when it comes to living for love dramas.

Kirishima joins the party when he walks out from the elevator, blinking before giving Shinsou a big smile.

“Oh, sup bro! Couldn’t wait to see the dorms, huh?”

Shinsou looks back and forth between Kaminari and Kirishima, hand scratching the back of his neck as he ends up diverting his eyes. “I had to talk with Kaminari about something. Turned out he is out of it, and I didn’t trust him to make it to the dorms on his own.”

Jirou and Sero snorts loudly at his explanation, those two always ready to humiliate Kaminari whenever they saw the opportunity to.

“Yeah, no sh*t. Once Kaminari didn’t even make it home, he almost spent the whole night out talking with some squirrels.” Jirou snorts, and no, that is unfair. She cannot embarrass Kaminari in front of his crush, that is literally illegal!

“Hey that’s uncalled for,” Sero speaks up, but Kaminari does not trust his grin one bit.

“He was catching up with his family.”

The joke causes a few chuckles, while Mina positively dies of laughter. Okay, f*ck wanting people to laugh even if it at his expense. Kaminari’s face heats up and he is tempted to touch a light switch, plunge the whole room into darkness and run away forever.

“You guys, let him off, please. It’s fun and all, but both now and then Kaminari showed very impressive usage of his quirk, even at the expense of his... uhm, perception. I know I got a lot of notes and inspiration from it!” Midoriya, always the sweetheart, pipes up and smiles. Kaminari smiles back, hands on his hips as he gestures towards Midoriya so Shinsou can understand that he is not the complete dumbass his friends make him out to be. Shinsou does not really care either way, if his unimpressed expression is anything to go by.

“Midoriya, I would rather you not take inspiration from Kaminari’s choice of actions today! For your own, and your fellow classmates safety!”

Iida shatters the magic, meaning well but it is really not what Kaminari needs right now. Because yes, he would hate to see the self destructive yet innocent Midoriya try and pull something alike to what he did, but he doesn’t want anyone to say that while Shinsou is here.

Before Kaminari can try and save himself Kirishima speaks up again, leaning against the counter in a casual manner, “Also, your pizza’n stuff is here. Jirou and Aoyama paid for it, jus’ so you know.” Kirishima grins down towards a flustered Jirou, whom tries to stab Kirishima with her earphone jack, not succeeding in the slightest.

Kirishima, you wonderful bastard.

“Yo, I forgot about that!” Kaminari turns towards Shinsou, hopeful expression on his face, “You want some? I always have way too many left overs left.”

Shinsou tilts his head again. His face is unreadable as always, but Kaminari feels like he has gained good enough understanding over Shinsou’s body language to see that he is confused about his invitation. To tell the truth Kaminari is convinced if he was ever unable to properly read him he could just google pictures of cats and take a guess. While Kaminari giggles at the thought Shinsou continues to look out to the other classmates, who are now starting to mind their own business again.

Except Kirishima, Mina, Jirou, Sero and Hagakure. They want to soak everything up.

“But you have your friends here-”

Shinsou’s face is blank. But then he smirks.

It is not the sarcastic Aizawa smile, but something much, much better. The quirk of his lips radiates confidence and it sucks Kaminari completely in. unable to keep his eyes away no matter how thirsty he must seem. The magnetic aura surrounding Shinsou have shifted into something much more powerful, and it makes Kaminari both fear and yearn for the day Shinsou will laugh out loud. The god in front of him then tilts his head playfully back to look at Kaminari, the tendons on his neck flexing with the movement and his soul leaves his body why is Shinsou so hot-

”But you think I’m cool so you wanna talk with me.”

His voice is playful and it gives him goosebumps. To distract himself Kaminari laughs loudly again, grabs his arms and pulls Shinsou towards the elevator. Probably giving him a zap, but Shinsou does not say anything. Despite his nervousness he grins wide, stomach turning comfortably and body loose.

After a very long, very terrible day he finally won something.

“Yep, you’re gettin’ it!”

Chapter 14: Fatherhood; to earn your future father in law’s blessing

Chapter Text

Kaminari doesn’t want to eat a slice of pizza ever again. Two days have passed since his entire world was engulfed in the dread that is processed cheese, but it is still the only thing he can smell. The guilt of actually not doing his homework after promising All might to do so is also present. What can he say; Kaminari is a master of bad choices and disappointing the adults in his life. At least his homework is not due during the first lesson.

“Dude, are you sure you’re not lactose intolerant or something?” Sero asks him, looking over at Kaminari who is dying inside his hammock. Kaminari continues to make dying whale sounds, clutching his stomach as he tries to make the hammock go still with sheer desperation. He already wants to throw up, and this moving death bed made of tacky fabric is not helping him.

“Noo, I got good genes, bro, s’ your dumb hammock. Its shakin’ me around like its mixin’ a milkshake.” He makes up an excuse. Sero clicks his tongue and kicks the hammock so it rocks faster, the sob leaving Kaminari making him chuckle.

While Kaminari is seconds away from making a mess of Sero’s room the owner of the room continues to dress himself, ignoring the cries of his friend once they stop being funny to him.

Sero is now fully dressed, staring down at Kaminari with a disappointed look on his face.

“Why do you always call dibs on the hammock if you can’t even get out of it?” Sero grumbles out and walks towards him, ready to save Kaminari from his self made trap. Naturally Kaminari begins to wriggle, trying to make the hammock move faster despite his complaints of it moving too much a minute ago. To no avail or so it seems, as Sero attacks the hammock with spread arms. They both hit the floor, all the air from Kaminari’s lungs is knocked right out of him, escaping through his cloth prison.

Before he dies on the spot Sero manages to open up the folds of the bed, freeing Kaminari from his death cocoon. “There you go!” He chirps while Kaminari heaves for sweet, sweet air.

“I could’ve died, man!” Kaminari chokes out, good old voice crack hitting perfectly once again. At first he choose to muster up the break of tone himself, simply to put a little kick to his comedic punchline; completely unnecessary and completely ironic. Along the lines Kaminari had somehow conditioned his vocal chords to go through a second puberty with genuine voice cracks this time. Again, completely unnecessary but unfortunately not ironic anymore. It is a development that left Kaminari bummed out for an entire week. His friends found it even funnier whenever his voice cracked now compared to before.

Uncharacteristically, Sero simply shrugs. Not even chuckling at his expense. To freak Kaminari out even more, he starts to throw his guest’s uniform at him, hitting him right in the face so he continues to lay on the ground. Taking the hint, Kaminari starts to slowly remove his “pajamas”, which was basically a enormous pikachu onesie he have had in his closet since he was 12. He peels the wide sleeves off like snake skin, taking long pauses to either cough or fix his messy hair and grin charmingly towards his exasperated friend.

“This is never gonna end, huh?” Sero sighs as he dramatically flops down on his bed, the back of his hand rested against his forehead, “We’re never gonna make it to class. We’ll never become heroes. All because you’re too embarrassed to talk with Aizawa after making yourself look like a fool again.”

His reply makes Kaminari sweat even more, looking way more offended than he deserves to.

“Hey! That is not all, dude! You think so little of me, I am also avoiding school because everyone will act weird: Aoyama is going to wink at me all the time, Midoriya will do the ssssh sign over his mouth whenever I see him, Jirou will be stuck between hitting me very hard and being weirdly nice. And Monoma will continue to exist.” Kaminari rests his head against the corner of the bed with a pout on his face, “Today just isn’t the day, man.”

Sero rolls over, once again peering at Kaminari from his bed. Kaminari was used to the sight already, since Sero was always the friend he stayed with over the weekends.

Jirou cannot handle being with Kaminari for longer periods of time so the chance of having sleepovers with her are almost nonexistent. Even Kaminari has to admit Mina’s room is atrocious, and both Kirishima and Bakugou are out of the question. Kirishima continues to act all innocent and sweet when the other squad members ask embarrassing questions about their relationship, but Kaminari has seen the look on Bakugou’s face whenever Kirishima goes unbreakable. He will not take any chances.

But Sero’s room is perfect after pizza hangover: it reeks of weed, is furthest away from his own room, he has a f*cking hammock that Kaminari will figure out someday, and given Sero’s especially fancy curtains the sunlight looks very cool through its slits.

Of course, Sero is so cool, but he is too healthy. He wakes up early, does yoga, smokes weed afterwards and makes the room stink with the stench of tangerines. Kaminari will take tangerines over pizza anyday for the moment, but still. Sero is too good for his own good, and he tries to rub off his infuriating good and healthy person habits on Kaminari too.

In fact, that is what he is trying to do now. He has that grin on his face as if he have unlocked what words will make Kaminari motivated to go to class, like some over enthusiastic dad figure.

“Y’know, Shinsou’ll be there.” Kaminari hates how he actually perks up. Sero’s grin continues to widen. “He might be wondering if he scared you off since you don’t show up to talk to him, after you spent all friday afternoon together… That might hurt your lil’ budding romance there.”

Kaminari continues to lay on the ground, and then he groans loudly. “f*ck you, Sero.”

He starts to take on his uniform, Sero whistling behind him like he is proud of himself. After lonesome grumbling coming from the usually chipper blonde Sero sits up, poking Kaminari’s thigh with his foot. When Kaminari turns to look at him with furrowed, uneven eyebrows- he is still torn between shaving them off or draw the scorched ends back on- his default smile warms up.

“Hey, you’d probably need Dadzawa’s permission to marry him anyway, and I can’t imagine him letting his son marry a puss*. Best to get the day over with and show him you got the balls.”

Kaminari finds himself grinning back, buttoning his blazer in the most enthusiastic way possible.

When he is done he turns to look down at Sero, whom is still laying on the bed. Sero groans instantly when he sees that expression on Kaminari’s face. “Man, do I really have to now? I’m also tired dude, you made me stay up all night just to stalk Shinsou’s nonexistent social media and play sims 4, remember?”

“Don’t you dare act like you didn’t miss bakusquad 0.4 and sweet little Crocugo. Though Mina’s death was nothing less than tragic.” Sims 4 Mina died by laughing too much, a feat deemed almost impossible in the game. Both Sero and Kaminari hollered out of happiness, with wide smiles and shining eyes as they watched their precious best friend die in front of them. “In fact, I am so devastated you have to this time.”

Sero sighs and lifts himself dramatically up from his bed. He turns away from Kaminari and bends his knees a little, and Kaminari jumps on his back.

“Are you happy with yourself now?” Sero grumbles out, even though a toothy smile is starting to creep up again. He has never been good at staying mad for too long either. Actually, he is rarely mad at all. Sero is a champ like that.

“Never been happier.”

They make their way out of the room, Kaminari closing the door afterwards with practised ease. The conversation comes back with ease too, Sero speaking first. “You know, I feel like once you two get kiddies and stuff, that I should be the godfather. My dad vibes are too legit for me to not get tha’ role,”

His stomach flips with Sero’s words, the topic of children melting a part of him he never thought he even had before. That Sero thought he would get so far to actually get children was heartwarming on its own.

Kaminari replies softly, “bro, of course you’ll be the godfather, you got the maddest cool dad vibes.”

Sero is grinning, Kaminari just knows it.

“Cool. So can the first kid be named hot dog water?”

“Only if you give me infinite piggy backs every day. No matter how hangover you are. And let me call your kid bong water. We’ll match.”

Sero remains silent before cursing quietly, “okay, deal.”

Todoroki is also on the way out of his own room, looking as clean as he does every morning. Both Sero and Kaminari greets him happily, and Todoroki, used to the sight of Sero piggybacking Kaminari, nods. The unusual trio makes their way to the elevator in silence. While they stand in front of the closed elevator doors, waiting for it to open, Kaminari starts to smirk. When he speaks, he speaks loudly.

“So, Sero. You think Shinsou is Aizawa’s secret love child or something?”

Chapter 15: The return of the purple f*ck

Chapter Text

“I’m just saying Kyoka, Jirou Jump is a super kickass super move name and you have to use it or else I’ll tell Kaminari you got a crush on him.” Mina mouths off the fond girl’s ear while sitting on her desk. Hagakure is giggling beside her, but when is Hagakure not giggling?

Kaminari arrives at the perfect time, eyebrow raised after hearing the very end of the threat. “Aw, Jirou, you got a crush on me? I always knew you loved my tiny eyebrows,” Then he pats the exasperated girl’s back as he starts to sit down at his own desk, “Too bad I am going to get hitched soon, oh well. You could always join, y’know, there can never be enough purple-haired hardasses in my love life.”

Hagakure whispers out an “ooh, spicy” and Mina starts laughing again. She reaches over and pinches Kaminari’s cheek, “you can start dating her if you give me a super cool kickass super move name, too.” Somehow the tongue twister rolls of Mina’s tongue and Kaminari marvels at the sentence. Jirou does the exact opposite, her red face now scandalized.

“Haah? You can’t just sell me out because you want a lame name.” She turns her glare towards Kaminari. Kaminari waits for her reply, ready to file it away to research; if she will be mean or weirdly nice.

A thing that most people don’t realize, is how similar all grumpy people are. Take Jirou and Bakugou for example. No one can be grumpier than Bakugou, and if that person somehow exists then Kaminari should fear for his life. However, the point is that those two grumpy people behave in the very same way. When they get angry at someone (Kaminari) they lash out, call out menacing names, and will threaten the person who dared to ruffle their feathers. If they feel bad about it afterwards, they will be stuck in a very strange, yet entertaining limbo. Exhibit A; because grumpy people find it hard to be kind at times, they will be weirdly nice. Aka say odd compliments with a constipated look on their face and angrily do favors that the person they lashed out on didn’t even ask them to do. Or exhibit B; Continue to be angry as is their go-to emotion, however this anger is now directed at the person they now feel indebted to instead of the general audience, which is everyone.

That is where Jirou and Bakugou differ. Bakugou knows how to remove this guilt of his, if it ever hits him, that is. First step is to cook a killer dinner so that the victim forgets the verbal abuse. The second step is to continue to be an asshole without any repercussions, until you have stepped out of line and have to make up for it, rinse and repeat. But Jirou cannot cook and she has given Kaminari enough mixtapes for a lifetime, so she will be stuck between exhibit A and B for a much longer time than her counterpart. Exhibit B is Kaminari's least favorite, but this entire conduct is entertaining on its own so he will let the very mean things said to him during this period of time slip.

“You bitch.” there it is. Exhibit B. “I hope you know I blame you one hundred percent for this. I’ll never date your stupid ass no matter what Mina says.”

“MINA MOVE!”

A shrill voice, a Mineta, shrieks at the top of his lungs. “Now I have a girlfriend! Suck it, Kaminari!”

Mineta jumps towards the three girls like raccoon high on rabies, and Jirou hurls his body away from them a moment before impact. He flies away and towards Sero, who rolls him in tape and sticks him to the wall. It all happened so fast Kaminari didn’t even get to blink. He literally forgot that Mineta exists. Mineta continues to cry from up in the ceiling. “You said you’d never date KAMINARI, I’m not Kaminari!”

“And you thought you had a bigger chance than him?” Jirou scoffs.

“You don’t even find Kyoka attractive!” Mina’s face twists with her confused words. She has her arms wrapped around Jirou, almost using the girl as a stress reliever. Mina is a hugger, especially when she is creeped out. And Mineta ranks high on the creepiness scale at times. Well, not that high, Kaminari finds a pathetic, optimistic part of him hoping.

“Jokes on you, I have developed a kink for physical abuse! I am practically drooling right now!” Mineta laughs, his snicker boarding desperate, “And for her body; Well, when I become a rich hero I’ll fix her like, five appointments. I have everything set already, baby!”

Kaminari throughly facepalms.

Kirishima is standing on a table right now, ready to teach Mineta manners once again while Sero is only tightening the rope. Jirou’s fighting mood sizzled away after hearing about Mineta’s kink, therefore she is trying to hold back Mina instead. Yaomomo looks up towards the screaming toddler, face ice cold as he begs her, of all people, to help him. Not to say Yaomomo is not a merciful goddess only capable of good, that is her literal essence. But more often than not, she is the one who has to take the brunt of Mineta’s actions. Kaminari can tell she is two seconds away from doing something dangerous. Yaomomo speaks with a loud and clear voice, the tone of an authoritarian, a teacher,

“Aizawa will be here any minute.” And as usual, she was right.

The man walks in, stops up when he sees what has happened in his absence, and sighs.

The class knows what to do. Sero loosens up the tape and hands the little guy to Kirishima. Kirishima gives one threatening smile before letting him down, the gross ball now properly scared. Then they all move to their own seats, painfully quiet as they wait for Aizawa to speak.

Aizawa continues to stare ahead towards his students, then he turns to the board.

Kaminari’s phone buzzes so low not even Aizawa’s sick teacher-skills can detect the constant vibration. It is a phone setting he crafted himself, using his utmost time and patience, and it has saved his ass multiple times before. It will now continue to save lives. He sneaks his phone out from his front pocket, still facing the board with eyes focused on Aizawa’s back. When he retrieves the phone from its pocket he sees that a few of the other student have sent the very same video to him. He saves Hagakure's version, that girl is magical with cameras, and continues to scroll through the replicas. After finding a certain student's name, he grins.

Todobroki has sent a video.

Todobroki

"It is time."

Kaminari turns his head around to look back at Todoroki. Todoroki looks right back at him. His face blank but even from a distance Kaminari can feel the mischief radiating off him. He flashes him a finger gun. Todoroki simply nods back. He always nods, but he always deliver too. Kaminari knows he will make sure of that.

Chapter 16: Father (in-law) Aizawa says f*ck e-mail lives.

Chapter Text

Aizawa calls out his name while the students are supposed to write down answers to questions in a book Kaminari had forgotten to bring with him. And for once in his life, Kaminari is excited to exit the classroom with his scary homeroom teacher.

With the notebook held tight in his fist he turns to look towards Todoroki, who is now standing up from his seat. He has turned his body towards Midoriya with his eyes set, the calm before the impending storm. Kaminari closes the door quickly after him, and Aizawa raises a brow.

He gives a crooked smile back, feigning the nervousness Aizawa probably knew him for.

That seems to please his teacher for now, as he begins to speak. “How’s your head.” He starts off with a gruff voice, arms crossed as he leans towards the wall. It looks like he is trying to act annoyed while also worrying about Kaminari, and that is super adorable. Kaminari cannot help but grin back, this time genuine.

“Still dumb, but like regular dumb. I walked into a wall on my way to class but that is also Sero’s fault, actually, totally Sero’s fault.” Kaminari backstracks when he sees the disapproving look on Aizawa’s face and yes, please excuse him for throwing his friend under the bus, but Sero is doing well in school and Kaminari needs every chance of redemption that he can get. Before Aizawa can comment Kaminari continues to speak, realizing himself that he went off track and that is not what he needs right now. “But I’ve been thinking about friday, and yes I was totally unprofessional back then but let me explain what happened. I was in a hurry you see-”

With a simple hand gesture from Aizawa, Kaminari shuts his trap.

“It is fortunate that you have been thinking, I heard it is good for your brain,” Aizawa’s voice resembles sandpaper and it scratches Kaminari in his very soul, so much that he physically cringes, “but you are going off tangent. Have you remembered to take your medication?”

Kaminari blinks. When did Aizawa ever ask about his mental stuff like that? He already asked about his headaches, and usually that would be the concerned father question of the week. Even his tone seems slightly different, although his face is still deadpan, thank god. He gets that he cares and sh*t, especially for Kaminari since he is supposed to have special care for his sh*t attention span. Kaminari appreciates that Aizawa takes his job seriously. He appreciates it so, so much. But he is also starting to get freaked out.

“uh, wha-”

“Don’t make me repeat myself.” Aizawa looks much more tired this time, as if vocalising his worry is actually draining him of his life force.

Contrary to popular belief Kaminari does not want to kill his teacher with his buffoonery, so he answers honestly instead. “Totally,” He grins, “I’ve been going strong for one weekend already, counting friday! Bu' back to my-”

“Don’t change the subject, Kaminari. I am supposed to have some idea of how your adhd affect your grades. I will ask these questions and you will answer. Then we are done.”

Kaminari feels his own life force leave him this time. The book is clutched in his grip, and his face probably resembles a child that was denied candy after being promised some. Although he was not promised anything. He simply sauntered out of the room, let Todoroki handle the heavy work, ripping open some emotional scar in that poetic way only he can pull off- and expected Aizawa to f*cking cooperate and listen to the half assed speech he had written out in his mind.

Yet he nods, tries to answer as quickly as he can and maybe lying a little bit so he won’t seem so damn stupid. Aizawa narrows his eyes towards him before nodding, and then he tries to reach for the door.

“Wait!” Kaminari shoots his hands out to cover the knob, “I didn’t get to explain myself, and I really, really want to. I’m not gonna focus at all if I don’t get this outta the way.”

He does everything in his power to convince the teacher, giving the grossest puppy (or- well, cat, given his actual eye shape resembling more of a cat’s, and the teacher he is trying to persuade at the moment preferring cats over dogs) eyes he could muster. His eyes are even watering from the sheer force of his puppy eyes. Aizawa looks half dead already, and Kaminari is halfway convinced his teacher is going to choke him so he can get through the damn door, but he does not. Instead he sighs loudly and takes a step back, because Aizawa is a wonderful father who cares for his children’s state of mind.

Kaminari does not waste a second, already lifting his book and flipping through the pages as he clears his throat.

“So for the past week I have been thinking about our class. Focusing on our class and see how we’re thrivin’ and stuff. And we’re all good, but there is this one little guy who is, uh, not that good; Mineta.” Kaminari then fishes up his phone and finds the folder he created solely for screenshots, “The class has piled up most of his misbehavior for the past weeks, and because my data storage only rival Momo- who also has lots of screenshots- the rest has just sent them all into this folder. And in this book right here I have catalogued them all so it would be easier for me to not lose all this hard work, ‘course.”

Aizawa has now taken his phone and is looking through the screenshots, eyes widened slightly as he continues to scroll with no stop, the folder not coming to an end. He is watching the proof in his hands like he is supposed to. The instinct to grab the phone and make sure he is not looking at something personal is so strong Kaminari has to actually pull his hair.

“I lost the book on friday, and with my luck it wouldn’t take much for me to delete the whole folder by accident afterwards. So I was stressin’ to get outta class and find it,” Kaminari pouts as he faces the floor. “Everyone knows I’m an idiot already, but I don’t think anyone would want to deal with me anymore if I just- lost something like that.”

He is careful to not mention the fact that the book also mentions Aizawa’s probably-son a hundred times, talking about him in a way that is not appropriate for him to read about at all. And not like that either, damn creeps- Kaminari knows his teacher finds emotions disgusting, and he would probably throw up if he read about Kaminari wanting holding Shinsou’s hand and cuddle him. He also avoids mentioning that his little breakdown was mostly prompted by this unsaid fact. So he continues to pout, hunching his shoulders the lightest bit, trying his damn hardest to activate Aizawa’s father instincts.

“Send the folder to me through email. I’ll take a look at it.”

Aizawa hates emails. Another reason as to why Kaminari knew he had to talk to him before sending the folder through email; it would simply be ignored. The students always have to print out their essays if they have to give them to Aizawa, and sending them via email is not allowed. Not even under emergencies. Midoriya has theorized that the reason for this disdain is because of his sensitive eyes, but Kaminari thinks that Aizawa is just too lazy to check his emails, too. Getting up, logging into your account and then scroll through the hundreds of unread garbage for the sake of getting rid of that long number reminding you that you are a useless piece of sh*t-human are too much work. Kaminari knows that he himself doesn’t check them for that reason, and he will be damned if he cannot relate to his future father-in-law about something, so he will hold on to that theory.

Kaminari turns to look at his teacher, eyes wide open so he resembles even more of a child. Hanging out with Midoriya and interrogating blonds last week really helped him hone his puppy-slash-cat eyes trick, and amidst his little act Kaminari wonders what else he could learn from being around his classmates. Maybe Monoma’s approach to copying and using people does make some sense after all. He shakes the thought away and grins wide to his teacher, “Will do! Thanks for hearing me out, I appreciate it!”

Aizawa rolls his eyes and orders him to go inside the classroom, and Kaminari literally hops inside. The scene he sees is memorable.

Todoroki is now sitting on his desk while all the other students are standing up, adorned with confused and shocked expressions. Bakugou is looming over his desk, a hand singing the wood while the other is twitching, like he wants to grab something. Kirishima is loosely holding the wrist of the hand clutching the desk, and he whispers calming words to his boyfriend. Iida is also standing up, stock still as if he has been a cut-out all this time. Uraraka and Tsuyu stands beside him like a barrier against the bad vibes while Aoyama gives a glance towards both him and Kaminari.

Guilt reaches for Kaminari’s heart and squeezes it the moment he sees poor, poor Midoriya. His eyes are almost empty, hand trembling in front of him. He is still trying to ingest whatever it is that Todoroki had said. The atmosphere is much heavier around him, like an invisible barrier of sad feelings, yet the students stands closest to him, looking at him for some sort answer. If this was any normal situation that would make sense, since Midoriya often knew what prompted Todoroki to have such a speech and always had the right words to reply with.

From an outsider’s perspective this feud would probably not make any sense, since everyone knew that Todoroki and Midoriya are good friends now. Kaminari is not an outsider, but even he does not know what the hell is going on.

Aizawa, praise the man, order the students to sit down, and then -scratch praise, give this man the holiest offering, a whole virgin- he takes out Mineta. Mineta looks baffled, but he steps from his desk in the end, trembling all the same. Some of the students react, already theorizing what would happen to the short little virgin the moment he is out of the door. Kaminari knows already and he is happy, but the word theorizing makes him think back to his partner in crime. He gives Todoroki a quick message.

Me
“dude, what’d u say??”

The message is instant and long. Kaminari suspects that Todoroki had planned his reply in great detail beforehand.

Todobroki
“I went a little more easy than planned. Your theory of trickster god favouring Midoriya was plausible so I directed my feeling of betrayal towards him in a much more direct way than I had before, mentioning the difficulties I had with seeing both my quirks as mine while Midoriya hid a million from me. He argued back and then I pulled in my trust issues originating from my mother’s weak moment and how she struck me to pour salt into the wound. I told him that he sort of reminded me of my brother, whom because of his defect quirk ran away from home when I was very young. Everyone started to look uncomfortable for Midoriya’s sake so I pulled in Iida and Bakugou too.”
“It felt relaxing to remove this tension though, I forgot how good it felt. Thank you for giving me this opportunity once again, Kaminari. I will make sure to monologue more often.”

Me
“.... gotdam that was more light hearted than planned..?”
“W A I T,, so u believe in trickster god now too??”

Todobroki
“I have thought the theory over, and it makes too much sense for me to not believe in him.”

He knows very well that now is not the time.

The atmosphere of the class remains dark, worry seeping through every crevice of the suffocating air. For all they know, Todoroki opened his very heart for them, and he did. He sure f*cking did. What he had said out there was not bullsh*t, he was really taking out his emotions in a way that healed him, even if the other students were left jarred and depressed by this coping mechanism.

That does not stop Kaminari from fistbumping into the air.

Chapter 17: Omnipresence; The power of a main character

Chapter Text

Shinsou sees Kaminari waiting for him when he walks out of his classroom. He smiles brightly when he catches glimpse of Shinsou, ignoring the other classmates glaring at him through the corner of their eyes. Shinsou is not surprised to see him this time. They spent a whole evening together eating sh*tty junk food after all, so the doubts Shinsou had about Kaminari actually enjoying his company is nonexistent at the moment.

So what if he cannot force a frown on his face when he sees Kaminari. So. What.

“You look energetic.” He points out because it is true. Shinsou suspects that Kaminari is a ray of sunshine most of the time, but he can tell he was exhausted that friday.

He had cuddled the piece of pizza he claimed to hate numerous times, and nearly melted into his tacky looking bed. Shinsou was also very tired after going a whole day without a nap, so at least they matched when it came to sleep deprivation. Apparently that similarity creates camaraderie between two people, opening up deep conversations and silly jokes that usually don’t come easy for someone as dry as Shinsou. It was an interesting evening, to say the least.

Exhausted-Kaminari is still in Shinsou’s mind; all messy hair, sleepy smirks and giggles, half open beady eyes devoid of any boundaries known to mankind; Proudly trying to explain electrostatics to another braindead person and somehow managing to make a dick joke out of it. That damn smile was still present on his face when Shinsou fell off the bed from shock. Kaminari is still smirking now as he approaches him, but his eyes are actually open this time, awake and bright like two whole suns. Something good happened, and if he knows Kaminari well enough he knows he will start to tell what that good thing was very soon.

“Well… Let us just say that I am the most efficient mastermind in the whole world, and when you make it to class 1-a you can thank me. And Todoroki; he was a good sport.”

Someone behind his back gags, but they both decide to ignore it for the most part. Shinsou gives a sharp look behind him for a second, though.

“I did not know Todoroki yearned for me to be in 1-A.” He says, indirectly stating that Kaminari would kill to have him in his class. It is a powerful notion that left Shinsou overwhelmed when Kaminari first said it with his sleepy, giggly voice. Having two days (and nights, but he would never admit this) to think about it made the thought less scary. Kaminari likes him as a friend. Being in the same class only makes communicating with each other much easier. That does not mean that Shinsou won’t be focusing the most on his studies once he makes it to class 1-A, but he can perhaps trust someone, at least. Perhaps.

They begin to walk in a direction that does not matter, walking for the sake of walking. Shinsou is the type of person who needs some sort of reason to do things, both goal oriented and lazy at the same time. But with Kaminari it seems to become easier to simply do things for no reason.

“He doesn’t care that much, but he’s got like, y’know, a good IQ an’ stuff so of course he’d agree with me when it comes to you.” Kaminari says like that is a normal thing to say, “Plus, the guy we are tryna kick out is a complete jackass. All of us are tired of him, the only reason he is still in our class is because some trickster god wants us to suffer.”

“Thought you did not believe in God.”

“I don’t. Trickster god is different.”

Shinsou does not understand what that means, but he is sure most people would not understand what Kaminari was talking about anyways, and he tries to use that fact to reassure himself. Somehow that does not help him at all.

Kaminari does not notice Shinsou’s confusion but he starts to explain what had happened anyways.

“So I used that book Monoma tried to expose me with to write a plan to finally expel Mineta- I mean, the little purple guy.”

So that is what the book was for. Shinsou would not peg Kaminari to be the list making type of guy, but judging people was never his strong suit. He always just shut them out. It is still strange to him that he have not shut Kaminari out yet, that he did not do it the moment the blonde opened his loud mouth. Instead he continues to listen to him speak about his weird plan and this weird, apparently gross student Kaminari and his classmates has tried to expel.

“Then I tried to write down a plan on how to show Aizawa all of it without trickster god getting in the way. And yeah, I am not religious but I am really not kidding when I say trickster god is real. Because he is. A menace, if you will. We have tried to talk with Aizawa before, but something always happens. Once a villain spoke through Todoroki’s phone and stuff, then the fire alarm went off. Just- Annoying stuff that always happens around the time we are buttering up Aizawa, y'know?”

Shinsou still remember when all of that happened. All of his classmates immediately blamed the hero course, the fire aimed especially towards 1-A. He found the baseless blaming stupid, a whole class could not possibly be that accident prone, he had said.

A headache is already coming up; how wrong he was.

“Kaminari… You already know your class is a magnet for chaos. I am sure accidents happen outside of your attempts to expel this student.”

Shinsou tries to reason to a suddenly slack Kaminari. When he regains consciousness from whatever dimension he traveled to, it becomes apparent that Kaminari is not having any of it at all. His face flushes red and his small shoulders hitches up to his chin, demeanor now completely different than what Shinsou is used to see from the boy.

“No. No, don’t distract me now.” He replies weakly, whispering something else underneath his breath before he raises his voice to its usual loud volume, “the point is that something always happens, so I had to make sure nothing would come in the way. I was supposed to plan something on my own, but then Todoroki appeared- And let me tell you, Todoroki is an absolute unit. A mad man, the most dramatic being in the world, probably a chaotic demigod for all we know, could change state of reality if he felt like it.”

The description of the aloof powerhouse catches him off guard, as Todoroki does not look like a dramatic guy compared to the rest of his colorful class. However it could be true, the sports festival did turn into quite the spectacle with aid from the guy after all.

Kaminari looks happy again when Shinsou nods along. At that moment Shinsou decides that nodding at random times is a good thing to do. He files this down while Kaminari continues to speak.

“So I knew I didn’t need an actual plan now that Todoroki was there, cause’ he got that chaotic aura that just draws trickster god to him without even trying. Also, he doesn’t really function on thought-out plans. He relies on dramatic flairs, power trips and the art of making everyone in a room uncomfortable. A tip, by the way.” He winks. Kaminari did not even have to clarify that part, Shinsou has already filed the information away for hypothetical use. sh*t, maybe he needs to invest in a bright yellow notebook, too.

“I just had to help Mineta go full sh*tstain so Todoroki could tape the whole thing. It’d also look bad for him when Aizawa walks in and sees the whole class losing their sh*ts cos of one guy. He really hates it when that happens. Then Aizawa took me out of class to discuss last Friday, meanwhile Todoroki caused a sad backstory-driven scene with both Midoriya and Bakugou in the classroom. Those three are a recipe for disaster, so trickster god would of course focus on them instead of little ol’ me workin' behind the scenes.”

Kaminari’s grin is now wide and his step has a certain bounce to it, fully content with his not-plan. “Aizawa had a talk with Mineta and the guy cried by the end of it, so I know everything went according to not-plan!”

Shinsou nods along once again, not sure how he should react to such a detailed- or, well, not detailed plan about him joining 1-A. Hearing about it in detail is different than knowing it exists, after all. If he knew it would take so much of Kaminari’s time on say, homework, then Shinsou would not act so neutral about this whole ordeal. It took him two whole weeks to be used to someone genuinely caring about him and his future when Aizawa first made him his mentee. Handling the guilt from taking up so much time from such a busy man is still difficult to this day. Taking up time from a busy hero student doesn’t make him feel any better. He looks down on the floor and rubs the back of his neck, already feeling guilt creeping up on him. “Seems like a lot of trouble.” Shinsou comments, his face carefully blank.

“Not this again.” Kaminari groans. He skips ahead and turns to look at Shinsou, walking backwards with hands on his hips and a pout on his face.

Huh, Cute.

…

Cute?

“You know where I want you already; in our class!” He speaks confidently before his demeanor changes, eyes wide as he realizes something. Kaminari manages to become smaller than he already is, a nervous smile on his face as he chuckles. “Or maybe you really don’t want to join our class and this whole time I have just ignored those signs just so I could be with you. Oh man, I feel like such an ass now.”

Somehow the guy managed to beat himself up without Shinsou having to mind control him. Actually, without him having to say anything at all.

He would be impressed if Kaminari didn’t look like he hated every fiber of his own being. Now he is just worried. “Uh, grammar police-”

“I should have known already, our class is way too extra and a chill guy like you wouldn’t want that. I just- Aizawa likes us, kinda, but I shouldn’t jus’ assume sh*t just because-” His hair starts to stand up, eyes frantically looking around as he starts to throw out hand gestures. Oh, so that was a nervous tick all this time. Memories of the numerous times Kaminari gave him erratic peace signs and thumbs up races through his head as Shinsou ingests the fact that Kaminari had been so nervous around him that often. Now he feels even worse. “I’m so, so sorry, dude, jus’ cause you are lowkey Aizawa’s kid doesn’t mean you have the same opinions like him. You’re your own person. I hope you know that. Of course you know that, sh*t, that was sooo patronizing.”

Shinsou has no idea what to do while this giddy ball of stress continues to self destruct. Kaminari’s inner tension is seeping out in the form of electric gists, and people around them are starting to glare at Shinsou. Like this is his fault- and this time it is, he won’t blame them for that.

He knows he has to fix whatever it is that he set off in Kaminari, but the people staring and whispering about him is starting to stress him out too, and Shinsou knows next to nothing on how to comfort a person. Therefore he does what most children does when they need to feel good about themselves. In his case, when baby Shinsou needed to feel in control over a confusing situation; quirk usage.

“Kaminari-”

“Yes-”

Kaminari goes completely slack, gists slowing down to nothing. Shinsou tilts his head around to look at the quiet space around the shorter male with blinking eyes, feeling embarrassed for his sake. That should not have worked as well as it did.

“Uhm, okay.” He takes a deep breath, relishing the quiet that had been murdered in cold blood by Kaminari, “Follow me, I f*cking guess.”

Chapter 18: The beginning of an era; let the pining games begin

Chapter Text

14 chapters ago, "Alone together; google 101"

While he walks into a familiar direction his brain zones out, looking at the wet snow ascending from the sky. It hits him in the face, washing away the warmth that used to be there. It is cold. His face twists for a second. It was rude to leave Kaminari out in the cold, literally and figuratively.

Shinsou reaches his destination, obscured by thick, tall trees and bushes. Sounds of crunching grass greets his ears like a warm welcome, and when he looks up from the minor destruction he caused with his shoes, he only sees dense tufts of leaves hiding the pale sunlight that has been giving him a headache since this morning. He settles down on the grass, dry and soft unlike any other place during this time of the year.

A sigh leaves him once he rests his back down on the grass, finally gaining some time to think in peace.

Oftentimes people would feel violated, possibly struck with terror when they lose control of their body. That terrible sensation is also supposed to be heightened when your body is under the control of another person. Especially heightened, even. The reason for this is because in that moment, you can only watch this empty shell of a person identical to you commit to actions you never agreed to partake in. You might beg this puppet to stop what it is doing, but you will never be heard. Your body is not yours anymore. One night Ojiro explained how that had felt, and his description of the experience made the entire room of sleep deprived yet playful students go quiet.

However Kaminari never found Shinsou unsettling because of this, always curious about other people, sometimes too much for his own good. He is an optimist like that. And even now, surrounded by fog slowing his brain down to a vegetative state, watching himself walk like a normal person instead of the caffeinated toddler he is, walking to an area he could not remember at all because his body is not his anymore; he is not afraid.

Just confused, but that is always a given.

Given Shinsou’s mildly perplexed expression, he doesn’t seem to be that much in control either despite their situation. His brow is furrowed as if he is also wondering about what is going on, and Kaminari finds himself comforted by this.

He looks around himself, watching the scenery change as they continue to walk in silence. They are much further away from school grounds, but they are not by the dorms either. Kaminari cannot properly use his senses at the moment, unable to smell and hear anything that is not Shinsou, but at least he can see that the snow is completely melted in front of him. Trees become taller and darker, looming with their new leaves in a way Kaminari finds unsettling. It is barely spring, yet some trees continues to look like that? He is absolutely flabbergasted. And if he is flabbergasted now, then this thick-ass tree standing tall in front of him did a good job at leaving him even more stupefied.

Shinsou stops walking for a second, standing in front of the huge tree. Then he disappears behind it, muttering for Kaminari to follow him again. And he does.

The leaves hovering over their heads cast suspicious shadows over them, but Kaminari does not find himself afraid anyway. Even when Shinsou stands tall and powerful in front of him, mouth a pressed line with his other features hidden, hands balled into fists. Kaminari only finds himself curious of what will happen next. Then his puppeteer sighs, closes his eyes and rubs his neck.

With a whiplash, Kaminari can finally feel himself again.

He blinks his dry eyes, inhales sharply. Now that was a trippy experience, to be surrounded by green scenery, unable to the smell old trees and wet grass. The smell is almost too strong now that he can feel it burn through his nostrils, and the hair on his arms starts to rise from the sudden temperature change. Overall, a cool experience.

Shinsou does not seem to think that, if his pinched expression is anything to go by. So he makes sure that he knows. He has to know how cool his Quirk is.

“Wow, I never realized that your Quirk would feel like that, it’s like smoking weed while hangover!”

Surprisingly for Kaminari, Shinsou did not get the reference. Instead his face is once again blank but tilted. At least he is distracted from schooling his face into a carefully blank yet guilty expression. “You’ve been hangover. And then you smoked even more.”

“I’ve had a weed hangover once, but nah. Sero is the real druggie here. He actually did that once; had a bad hangover, puked into the toilet while smoking at the same time. My guy gets poetic when he’s high, so I think I got a pretty good description of how it’d feel like, though.” Kaminari explains, acting like that happened a long time ago when it was actually last sunday. Losing your pink best friend in sims gets you f*cked up, man.

Having your brain fogged up makes a lot of clutter once it unfogs, so Kaminari cannot stop himself from asking questions of the most trivial things.

“Wait, you haven’t smoked anything before?”

“No. Did you assume that I have?”

Well, sh*t. Now Kaminari has to erase that one pickup line from his notebook. Which is unfortunate, Sero has been excited to bond with Shinsou over that hobby. Excited to have a relatable brother-in-law, really. For some reason Kaminari cannot fathom his friend’s reaction once he tells him that I am so hammered I want to nail you to the wall will not be said by either of them; if it will be reasonable or if he will grieve and tell him to get a different crush. Probably the latter, but Kaminari can only hope.

“Where are we?”

He changes topics instead, because Kaminari does not have the heart to tell Shinsou that he looks like he is recovering from heroin. Maybe one day he will tell him. He still has no suspicions. Actually, he shows a sign of trust instead. Shinsou sits down on the grass, back supported by the tree. His hair looks even more fluffier from this new angle and Kaminari aches to touch it. “Some metres away from school grounds. Other students rarely come here, so this tree is mine now. The shadows from the leaves and grass proves to be very comfortable.” He grins as he sinks further into the bark, but it looks self deprecating instead. Not like the confident smirk Kaminari had seen on friday. “Cozier than a bed, sometimes.”

There was a lot to unpack here.

First of all, Shinsou has a very, very nice smile. Even if it is sarcastic in nature, it makes Kaminari's heart clench with fondness. Second, Shinsou’s is surprisingly willing to welcome Kaminari into his apparent safe space. Kaminari does not doubt Midoriya’s readings on his character, and it seems fitting for Shinsou to be very private but here he is, showing Kaminari something personal to him. And him mentioning that people rarely come out here makes Kaminari’s body heat up to a point he actually has to loosen his tie.

Thank trickster god for that one friday evening, honestly.

“Did you love napping with me that much, dude? Cause I’m honoured you’re lettin’ me stay in your sleeping property.” Kaminari ignores his voice crack and sits down instead.

Shinsou ignores it too, in favour of looking slightly flustered. His eyes narrows and he looks away, ears tinted pink. Kaminari almost squeals. He loves confident Shinsou, he has been thinking of confident Shinsou way too much, but seeing him flustered also made him incredibly weak.

“The point is that this is a quiet place people don’t go to often, and you really needed that some minutes ago.” He explains after a cough, “It would have been an asshole move of me to let you panic out there amongst people. And I was going to come here anyways; two birds one stone.”

Kaminari nods along what he is saying, waiting for Shinsou to throw him out now that the has explained himself. But he does not. Actually, he looks confused too, unsure if he should tell Kaminari to leave him alone, or not. Kaminari, of course, does not want to leave, so he racks his brain for any half assed excuse to stay. When he finds it, his eyes pop wide open. Homework!

“Hey, you any good at history of heroes and stuff? I have an essay due in the next hour.”

Now that Kaminari thinks about it, inviting his crush to do his homework is very lame. Asking him to help him with homework for a class Shinsou doesn’t even attend is also very dumb, and he does not think that Shinsou’s type is dumb people. Shinsou looks like he has some opinions on his stupid request, and Kaminari readies himself for rejection. Because, okay. He is used to blowing his chances already, of girls finding him stupid or weird after he said something without thinking and rejecting him whenever he tried to pursue them afterwards. This could not hurt as much, right? Same as always.

Kaminari clenches his eyes shut and gives a silent prayer to trickster god. He knows it is gonna hurt real bad this time.

“I’m decent.”

His eyes snaps wide open, and he turns to look at Shinsou. He is sitting up now, leaning forward but not quite into Kaminari’s space. It is more than enough, with Shinsou looking him in the eyes like he is waiting for him, one eyebrow arched.

With his heart beating loudly in his chest, Kaminari scrambles to pull out his laptop from his backpack, mouth going off while he is at it, “I actually expected you to tell me to f*ck off but wow you didn’t and I know this kinda aids you too since you get a glimpse of what heroics homework is like but still I ain’t joking when I’m saying im honored dude thanks dude you’re the best dude-”

“Kaminari, your homework.”

Is voice kinks a thing? Because his soul almost left his body again when Shinsou said his name. Kaminari clutches his computer to his chest, trying to still his raggedy heart because a voice does not have any right to be so hot. But it manages to ground him too. This is actually real. Shinsou showed him this secret place, is calling him by his name and is willing to help Kaminari with his homework. This is real. So he lets himself grin wide, snaps open his computer and adjusts his seating. Kaminari wonders if he should try his luck and inch closer to him. Then he decides that is not a good idea, if the change of current pricking at his skin is anything to go by. He is eighty percent sure he is going to zap Shinsou if he gets any closer, so he turns to open his laptop with a smile in his face.

The smile is wiped away when he sees that he forgot to close his last tab. And the spotify tab.

And the fourteen other tabs he had left open for the past month.

f*cking “erotic cat body language” on the search engine with a nsync love song booming in the background.

Kaminari positively jumps out of his skin. He ends up zapping Shinsou, too. Kaminari tries to close the tabs as fast as he can, but instead he clicks into a buzzfeed test that told him he was a nine year old based on his ratings of kid menus, and then another buzzfeed test revealing that he is single because he acts like a man child, because that is surely damn convenient for this situation. Once he clumsily clicks away all the buzzfeed tests revealing embarrassing results he ends up on the kahoot tab he forgot to close weeks ago, showing that he wound up dead last.

Kaminari closes the laptop. He did not even find the spotify tab. Instead he had turned on a britney spears song, too. He turns to Shinsou, whom is now promptly looking away. The edges of his lips are trembling, and while that does lift Kaminari’s mood, he still feels like a burning dumbass.

“Uh, jus’ so you are aware, I know I’m asking for a lot right now. But, could you maybe take a short nap first?” He tries his best to smile back, “I got stuff to clear up first. Also, please do not judge me for comin’ last. It was a math kahoot quiz. And I did not cheat once. I lost with pride.”

Shinsou actually snorts, but he leans back towards the grass anyways. His eyes are already closed, face soft and almost ethereal in a way Kaminari did not know would be possible on a sharp face like his. The shadows from the trees run over the planes of his nose and jaw, stirring interest in Kaminari’s squirrel brain. Yet another expression Kaminari has not had the pleasure to see before, but already craves.

“What’s pride with no win to show for it? Get done with the essay and I’ll help you out with basic equations.”

Kaminari is awoken from his trance and sees that Shinsou has cracked an eye open to look at him. Despite the sharp eye contact he is still incredibly soft. Soft hair and soft shadows, soft barely-there smile. Still halfway asleep. Still so intimate Kaminari can feel the waves of trust lick at his skin, enveloping him in comfortable warmth while continuing to make him buzz. It makes him wonder what it is he did to deserve to see Shinsou like this, to make him feel like this.

Kaminari grins to him, because he doesn’t really have any useful words to say. He is also a little too afraid to open his cluttered laptop again. To ruin the mood, that is. He doesn't quite understand what power this place has over his newly found tutor, he only knows he will never want to disturb it if it gives him so much peace.

But he will get done with that essay very soon. With help, of course.

Chapter 19: Power and control gone to waste; brief chatfic

Chapter Text

All might’s smile could save the world, Kaminari thinks when he sees the teacher’s face lift at the sight of the paper in Kaminari’s hand. He raises it up, chest puffed up as he delivers his essay to All might, who ruffles his hair lovingly afterwards. After being doted on like never before Kaminari sways back to his own desk, pulls his phone up to give a message to a new number.

Me
“the Essay is delivered i repeat the Essay is delivered and i still owe u my life”

Kaminari breaks the habit of lifting his eyes from the screen on his hands, something he would always do while texting during class so to make it look like he is paying attention to whatever the teacher is doing. Instead he continues to stare down at his phone with wide eyes, waiting for his reply.

The three dots appear, and his shoulders tense up.

Hitoshi
“not if mr all might despises it tho”

Me
“nahh he is too nice, if he hates it he’ll jus give me da D”
“thats how it always goes ;D”
“W AIT”

A hand pats his cheek lightly while he debates moving to the arctics. It is pink and manicured with tacky rainbow colors, and it reminds Kaminari that he has to do his own nails soon. “Who’s our lil’ loverboy texting, huh? Big sleepy boy, maybe?” Mina sings while patting his face even more. She then makes a move to take a look at their conversation, grabbing Kaminari’s phone while he is occupied thinking about what color he should paint his nails once he fakes his death and changes his identity. “You look so lovey dovey and embarrassed it has to be him- and yuh, it is!”

While Mina is busy gushing about how smart she was right now, Jirou drawls out from her seat like a dreary cowboy,

“Mina, what’s the nickname.”

In turn, the entire bakusquad turns to look at the phone in Mina’s hands. Interest piqued with zero effort. The (extreme) few times Kaminari manages to score his crushes’ number he always gives silly, cutesy nicknames that either has the squad hollering or groaning, or both. The ones he is the most proud of, he doesn’t bother to change at all. No matter how platonic their relationship have become down the line. Genius goes beyond societal norms and relations, after all. Despite not seeing Uraraka nor Yaomomo in a romantic manner anymore, their nicknames are still “Urakutie” and “YaWOWrozu”.

The exception to this laziness is Jirou, who at one point used to be “(future) goth gf”. However that became awkward once Kaminari and Jirou became really good friends. They became so good friends Jirou found out his phone password. She used to scroll through his reddit page because “Only you can find this obscure sh*t. Trust me, I tried.” and Kaminari knew her password at one point too, before he forgot it. He knew he was playing with fire by letting the nickname stay, so he changed it before Jirou could humiliate him. Whatever, it wasn’t a thought provoking nickname anyways, even his inner voice sounds bitter.

“Actually, there’s no nickname!” Mina sounds confused by what she is saying herself, but she coos instantly afterwards, “Just Hitoshi~”

Sero had materialized behind him, and is now ruffling Kaminari’s hair too. Kirishima is cooing from a distance, calling him manly for going to first name basis so fast.

He got Shinsou’s number after they finished the essay, in the disguise of “I tell ya what grade I’ll get for it, you worked with it too, y’know. This is our baby, man.”. Kaminari was very happy to come so far to actually get his number, and when he was brainstorming what nickname to give Shinsou- he already had plenty in his head already- his mind managed to go blank. Nothing felt right at all.

“Kaminari’s a big boy now, he won’t do nicknames anymore. Before you know it, he will give his future kids normal names instead of what I, the coolest godfather, have suggested.” Sero continues to ruffle his hair, grinning despite Kaminari’s attempts at slapping him away.

“Sero. I will not let a single child in this country be legally named Hot dog water. Not even Kaminari’s snot brat.” Jirou says with a voice made of iron.

“Fair, what about Tape dispenser? Paying homage, y’know-”

“No.”

“Oh, oh oh! What about Xenomorph? Issa pretty name! What’d you say, Kyoka?” Mina pipes up, giving Jirou puppy eyes despite speaking for Kaminari and Shinsou’s future children.

The hard expression on Jirou’s face crumples the slightest bit and she turns to look towards Kaminari again. She rests her elbow on the back of her chair and locks her fingers together, legs crossed, a look of finality in her narrow eyes. He awaits with bated breath for her reply, knows he will probably have to follow her final orders no matter his opinion.

“I hope Xenomorph is not as annoying as you, drool face.”

Kaminari and Sero shouts in betrayal, although Kaminari’s scream is more aligned with pain, given Sero had pulled hard on his hair amidst his own anger. Bakugou and Kirishima snicker in the background, probably happy that the squad is not bothering them with baby names this time. Mina, the only winner in this situation, squeals in happiness and hugs Jirou around her shoulders, almost draping herself over the other girl’s lap.

“Oh, oh oh! He is finally writing back- Wait, Kami baby, what- what did you-why-”

Mina starts to stutter and Kaminari’s blood runs cold. Jirou must have seen the expression on his pale face, because now she is leaning her chin against Mina’s shoulder, reading what it is that Kaminari wrote to see what the fuss is about. Her eyebrows does a few odd movements, pupils trembling as they look towards the phone and then to Kaminari, full of disbelief.

Kaminari looks right back at her, shaking his head with wide eyes as if he could stop the impending mockery from arriving. He knows he did not stand a chance. Jirou hides her face in Mina’s shoulder, and the laughter that comes out sounds like the telltale shriek of an old horror movie actress about to be murdered in cold blood. Kouda, who is across the classroom, actually jumps from the volume. And Mina is no better, howling out a “Da D” over and over in their oh so small classroom. Sero, who had been tugging on Kaminari’s hair while huffing, scrambles over Kaminari’s dying body to reach the phone, infinitely curious to find out what the hell Kaminari wrote. Like a drowning man, Kaminari grabs a hold on his anchor of a friend, locking white fingers into hair and clothing while begging for mercy over and over.

And mercy comes in the form of All might, as usual.

The teacher, softer than the others in his profession, finally speaks up, “Now younglings, return to your desks. The volume is distracting your fellow classmates.”

Out of kindness they start to quiet down. Sero walks away, now whining to Kirishima and Bakugou, while Bakugou tells him to f*ck off. Kirishima calls him out on his crudeness, and pats Sero comfortingly on the arm. He starts to smile straight away. Mina stands up from Jirou’s lap, and to make Kaminari’s blood go still once again, she chucks the phone towards the other girl, who fortunately catches it. Mina walks away with a confident bounce to her steps and Jirou is still chortling underneath the palm of her hand.

All might continues to grade the essays, the other students are supposedly reading a book that Kaminari once again forgot to bring with him. He can only sit there, look at the clock and then at Jirou from the corner of his wide eyes. Or, you can say that he does more than just that- he also shakes his leg, taps the wooden desk with his short, blank nails and clears his throat and flashes different hand gestures and gives out some accidental yet amusing zaps and he causes the lights to flicker and-

Something sharp and familiar pokes his thigh like a blade, and Kaminari turns his gaze downwards quickly to discover Jirou’s headphone jack. Beside it is a smartphone enveloped in an even more familiar knock-off brand phone cover, also yellow. The device is held by a pale hand, knuckles even whiter. Kaminari cannot help but smirk, even though he is the beggar this time.

Exhibit A. That is all he will say.

He takes the phone from Jirou, not feeling a jist where their hands briefly touch. Not anymore.

He unlocks his phone, eyes hungrily taking in the artificial light beaming at him, to find out what he has written back. His brain spills with endless possibilities, overwhelmed by all the things Shinsou could choose to say; Shinsou could try and humiliate Kaminari even more, or he could somehow salvage his accidental dick joke and make it wholesome. Shinsou could reply with literally anything he damn well felt like, and Kaminari can only sit here in his classroom and take the hit. So many possibilities, so much power, and Kaminari is willing to give Shinsou all that power- Why is he taking so long- Kaminari’s phone vibrates in his hand, surprising him even though he was already hyperfocusing on the device.

Hitoshi
“lmao”

Kaminari sighs,the sound a mixture between dreamy and disappointed.

Chapter 20: enmity; Reality check

Chapter Text

“Hey Monoma, dude! Can I talk with you for a sec?”

Kaminari does not know if it is him who is just that dramatic, but the hallway is oddly quiet now. Monoma stands still with his back to him, and Kendou looks between them, confused. She can probably not fathom why he would need to have an actual conversation with someone from 1-A after all that mocking he has done, yet here they are; two rivals about to face one another in civil conversation.

At last he turns around, looking smug. Shocker. “I fail to see why I would need to follow orders from the likes of you, I-A scum. Because that is what you are doing here, am I wrong?”

“Pretty much. Get behind me, man.” Kaminari sighs out. Even his own endless energy drained by this guy.

“I am not following you because you told me to- in fact, I am not following you at all,” Monoma struts past him, and turns to give Kaminari a mean side glance, “Now you get behind me, oh foul fiend.”

Monoma continues to walk a whole meter in front of him, but Kaminari is not going to whine yet. This blond stalker can think he is in control for now, that having control of their location matter at all. Kaminari will bust his ass in a Wendys parking lot if he has to- actually, that sounds like way more fun than the current plan. When was the last time he went to Wendys?- After electrocuting himself Kaminari found himself really forgiving towards Monoma, but now that he is a little more logical, now that he has gotten input from his much more protective friends; that kind of stuff just can’t happen to him anymore. He is done trying to expel students now, Mineta was hard enough to remove already, but that does not mean that Monoma can go on thinking that his actions don’t deserve some form of repercussions.

Kaminari continues to stare at Monoma’s back, how he is sauntering down the hallways with no care of the world, and he finds himself sort of disturbed by how smug he looks. It makes him wonder if he is even aware of what he did. What if this guy was stealing notebooks in his sleep or something, what if he was possessed by trickster god? That would make him innocent, none the wiser when it comes to what his actions have entailed.

Kaminari finds himself trying to redeem Monoma while they continue to walk, however they take a turn to a familiar place, a place that invokes a not so forgotten childhood instinct to find the coolest hiding spot and whisper to the buddies he teamed up with during hide and seek. Soon enough they are back to the same place Midoriya and Kaminari had their private talk. Well, Kaminari thinks as he fights the urge to put his hands on his hips, that rules out the possibility for sleep stealing. S'been nice knowin' ya'.

“Yes. I did watch you while you were talking with Midoriya, too.” Monoma turns around to face Kaminari, smirk still in place.

“Wait what,really? Are you for real for real, my man? And here I thought Shinsou was lyin’ when he said you stole my book. Silly, stupid me, right? Could never figure out that you were stalking my ass outta here, too!”

He continues to rant, oozing of sarcasm and f*ck it- he puts his hands on his damn hips. Then he removes the hands so he can throw them out, feeling more annoyed the more he thinks about what Monoma had confessed. Lots of emotions go through Monoma’s face. Kaminari cannot find it in him to dissect what they mean, he only knows that they only satisfy his building irritation the tiniest bit.

In the end Monoma shakes his head lightly, even scoffs a little, “So he did give it to you in the end. I should have figured that out. What a shame.” He says like he was testing Shinsou, and that he had failed.

Ah sh*t, what were those breathing exercises Sero taught Bakugou again? I’m gonna lose my damn marbles here. Kaminari leans against a wall, breathes in and out through his nose, gives himself a thumbs up no matter how dumb it looks from another point of view. Nothing he will ever think of doing is going to reach the utter stupidity that Monoma’s logic radiates; there, he said it.

“He failed you by bein’ a nice dude, giving stolen sh*t back to the owner?” Kaminari asks once his breath is steady again, “I know I have asked this before and everyone took it as a joke, but do you need a therapist? Cos this weird ass stuff you’re doing is-”

“what is it you are going to say? villain-like? Of course you would say that, you have never-”

A high pitched groan leaves him, and then he explodes.

Kaminari shoves himself away from the wall, pulling on his hair as he bounces around the empty space underneath the stairs. He bounces in circles around Monoma, threatening him without even meaning to. His skin simply itches, his excess energy wanting to physically escape his skin. So many telligible words are stuck to his dry throat, yearning to escape and help make Kaminari better understood. When they remain stuck, their dumber siblings step out instead, coming out breathy and high pitched.

“It is some dumbass buffoonery is what it is, mister tragic backstory guy, jesus christ let a guy breathe! Not everything is about your stupid quirk, not everything’s about your damn childhood. Sometimes, it’s just you whos acting like a clown! Sometimes, you clown so hard you end up looking like the bad guy, and whos fault is that?” He spins around to face Monoma again, one hand on his hip while the other rests behind the shell of his ear. Kaminari leans forward and pursues his lips so to shut himself up. He said what he needed to say, more than that if he is being honest. Now it is Monoma’s turn. Monoma’s face resembles his own when he has to do a math equation, but they both know that the question here isn’t so hard to figure out. They both know who is behind the other blond’s creepy actions.

“So what is it you acquire for me to do?” Monoma spits out in the end.

Wow, that’s a better response than I expected. The reply makes Kaminari quirk up fast, and he shifts his pouty expression to a much more familiar grin.

“To leave me the hell alone, dude!” Despite his cold words Kaminari speaks them with such happiness he almost shines, “Don’t take my sh*t nor look at my sh*t, also, don’t stalk Shinsou either- just, just let the whole stalking business go and get help, honestly.”

Monoma sputters at his request. Apparently Kaminari asked for too much. He called it already, but he cannot help but scoff. “Really, dude?”

“I am truly tired of you addressing me as if I was deranged, when you and I are not much different in this specific situation.” He huffs in response, body revolting through his little speech, shoulders trembling and face pinched in a grimace. Kaminari gets that, because Monoma really did compare them together now, huh. For no real reason either, Kaminari feels like. He voices this sentiment and Monoma laughs.

“Don’t act innocent now, you scum. You are also scheming behind his back, aren’t you,” Monoma’s eyes narrows, and Kaminari feels the hairs on his neck stand. “I heard about your little manoeuvre to expel the smaller pest in your class, destroying a young student’s future just like the likes of your class ruins everything. And what was that for, Kaminari?”

Kaminari simply stands there, brain a few seconds late to this turn of events. He wants to reply, to explain that he and his class did not ruin sh*t, Mineta is the one who decided to be an asshole. He could choose to be a nice guy and redeem himself, but he did not. We ain’t responsible for his mess. Despite having these arguments ready to use he cannot find it in him to reply, metaphorical butter fingers try grasp at those words, but the unreasonable guilt snuck up on him too fast. So he stands there, looking stupid just like Monoma did barely a minute ago, while his rival’s expression only turns more and more smug.

“Greed, Kaminari. You did not do this for the sake of being good, but to quench the greed in your rotten, rotten heart. Because perhaps he will love you if you make him stay around you, make sure you are always there where he has to see you. Perhaps he owes you that much, and you feel entitled to his love for going through all that trouble.” Monoma’s smile turns even more sad*stic with each word he speaks. Each word swims in Kaminari’s head like intrusive, aggressive piranhas, gnawing on what's left of his brain cells like a quick snack.

When Kaminari does not say anything, when he doesn’t do anything, Monoma starts to turn around.

That is when he speaks, sounding even more pathetic than he would like.

“Jus’ let him be.”

His voice wavers a little, mirroring the confusion Kaminari feels, the words lower than his current self confidence. Which is very, very low.

Monoma must be bathing in his melancholy, because his smile softens and he hums with satisfaction as if he caught whiff of a familiar, pleasant smell in the air. Midst his sick sense of victory Monoma turns once again around to face Kaminari, and actually puts a hand on his shoulder.

When he pats the shoulder twice Kaminari notices how robotic the gesture is, as if he has never tried to “comfort” someone like this before. Monoma himself must be pleased by the odd gesture, because he nods twice before finally speaking,

“That is what I mean when I say we are alike one another. You feel that you are deserving of his attention, and so do I.”

“I’m not!-”

“Do not try to disagree with me, your actions speak louder than your futile words.”

Dumbfounded, Kaminari is left alone.

He continues to stand still until Jirou rounds the corner, phone held up and connected to her earphone jack. The girl leans against a wall, keeping her distance still.

“That did not go according to plan.” She voices the obvious, barely piercing the thick atmosphere. While she had said this, she was listening to the recording once again with a faint shake to her head, “We had him in the first half, not gonna lie, but even then you put too many words in his mouth to make it a valid confession. We could probably edit the last part out, salvaging our material and all, but that would defeat the entire point of recordin’ him confess in the first place.”

“Am I being greedy right now? And mean? And creepy? And-”

That damn pointy tip digs into his scalp and he swats the chord way with a whine, pouting towards Jirou. She simply scoffs at his reaction. “You are using your brain, dumbass. If that makes you a criminal then we normal people with working brain cells are planning the end of the world every waking moment.”

The dry jab fails to make him laugh like it usually would, hell, he does not even have a witty remark to it. Instead Kaminari’s eyes continue to look sad and eyebrows uneven. The fact that he forgot to do something about his poor eyebrows makes his lower lip tremble and shoulders sag even more. He can see it on her face that she wants to dig the earphone jack back into his sad face but the lobe remains dormant, floating awkwardly in the space between them. Words fails him once again, but he needs to force the question out. He cannot ignore what it is that Monoma said, he cannot edit it out.

“Jirou, tell me, man,” the words that were stuck to his throat are finally freed, and they continue to fall out of his mouth like a waterfall, “I have deadass ended another guys hero career cos I got a crush on a guy I talked to just last week. I’ve been writing bout’ him in notebooks even though I’ve barely spoken to him. I am being f*cking weird right now. Creepy as sh*t. But, am I as creepy as Monoma now?”

Jirou does not speak for a long time.

When she does, it is not comforting at all.

“Oh, you deadass ended a guy’s whole ass career.”

“Uhm, yeah?-”

“Shut the f*ck up. Mineta ruined his own future by being a piece of sh*t. You were the guy with most icloud storage, that’s all.” Jirou crosses her arms over her chest, eyes piercing Kaminaris. He knew to listen well to her words now. “You might have gotten to speak to Aizawa about it first, but so what. If Aizawa thought you were bullsh*ting he would have let Mineta stay. You sure as hell did not expel Mineta, that’s Aizawa’s job.”

Deep down Kaminari knew that he was no evil mastermind like Monoma said he was, but it was comforting to hear Jirou say this out loud. He cannot help but huff a little and cross his arms, because really, she doesn’t have to be that mean about it. “The notebooks are creepy, though. You can’t deny that.”

“Notebook, Kaminari. Singular. But yeah, I’m not denying anything. It was weird of you to keep on doing that, but you’re weird. It’s fitting, I suppose.”

“Aaaw, Jack!” Kaminari puts a hand over his chest, his face a little more warm and open from her answer, “why are you so nice, now that’s what I call creepy!”

Jirou stabs him but the corner of her mouth is quirked vaguely upwards. They continue to stand in silence a little more, not ready to leave this small bubble of doubt and questions. Jirou has probably been ready since she came here but Kaminari is not, and despite being mean she respects that. She is a good friend like that.

“Did I creep you out before?” Kaminari decides to step up from underneath the staircase.

Jirou narrows her eyes. She frowns too, as if Kaminari asked a dumb question, which he probably did but still. He needs to be sure of this, tired of overthinking how people see him in the middle of a school night when he could play video games or do something else just as productive. Believe it or not, he has grown tired of being the flirty loser who can’t take a hint, proud past friend of Mineta “My hobby is peeking at girls and making them uncomfortable” Minoru, too dumb for his own sake.

“Drooly, your feelings… They don’t make you creepy. Why are you letting this guy make you feel that way?”

“I dunno, maybe cause he’s right?”

Jirou’s face goes through a lot of deluded emotions right there, but she returns to the default scoff and eye roll. She walks towards him, and in a need to act out she pinches his nose, hard. He yelps, but that only inspires the sad*stic girl in front of him to move her pinching hand left and right in an odd, painful dance.

“He ain’t sh*t, you f*cking moron! He didn’t give give a damn about you before this whole rival thing, and he doesn’t care about you now either. He doesn’t know a single thing about you. You hear me? He. Ain’t. sh*t.”

Their foreheads almost knock together, and Kaminari is happy they did not because his face is starting to ache now and he does not need any more of that.

“Wheyy, repeat it. He. Ain’t. sh*t.”

“He ain’t sh*t.” His voice doesn’t not sound like his own, the nasal quality of it not the entire reason either. His energy is almost zapped, not overbearing and bright like it is supposed to be.

Therefore she pinches his nose harder. “Again.”

“He ain’t sh*t!”

“Again, puss*!”

“HE AIN’T sh*t!”

A loud rock sound starts to play from Jirou’s phone but he feels it in his veins instead, pumping into his blood in a way that makes it hard to stand still. Soon enough they both are jumping around, Jirou loose enouh to even imitate an air bass. They repeat the phase over and over until it doesn’t sound like an actual sentence anymore. Their loud voices turn into background noise to Kaminari’s ears, then they turn to energy waves, spiking up further and further. He does not hear it when Jirou calls out his name.

“HE AIN’T SHI-” Before Kaminari knows it Jirou’s earphone jacks has latched her up to the ceiling, and electric discharge leaves his body like waves of relief, but physical and much more dangerous.

After a few flickering minutes, Kaminari has successfully gone stupid.

Jirou plants her feet back on the ground again, unable to say anything but to look down on the shattered light bulbs everywhere. Kaminari is unable to do anything but giggle and drool and flash his thumbs. Then they- or, Jirou, to be more precise- hear footsteps nearing. She grabs his wrist and starts to haul ass. Despite the severity of the situation, Kaminari does not stop shouting nor laughing.

He gets knocked into walls on their way out, leaving drool on every surface possible but he is having fun anyways. They make it out of school grounds, and Kaminari’s vision starts to swim when he sees that all the students have gone out already, moving like one nauseating unit against him. Kaminari had decided to hunt down Monoma after school so something like this would not happen, yet here they are. Jirou throws his arm around her shoulder so he does not stumble and make a bigger fool of himself, grumbling about him being a menace to all buildings. It is true, so he only giggles along.

Then he catches a glimpse of a fluffy purple cloud, said cloud’s handsome face turned away from him. He is shouting before he even knows it himself.

“heeey hEY, HEY BABE!”

Jirou- bless her, smacks a hand over his mouth so he can stop embarrassing himself. He gives her a goofy grin and they continue to wrestle through the mass of students, Jirou doing all the work, of course. Kaminari forgets that interaction quickly afterwards.

Chapter 21: How to maintain the status quo; The Shinsou saga 1/3

Chapter Text

Shinsou was only making his way to the teachers lounge to meet Aizawa. He is stopped by teachers left and right telling students to leave the building, lights flickering behind their backs. Some exclaim their worries, wondering if a villain has attacked the school again despite how tranquil the past month has been. Some other students are already whining about the hero department, because those morons must have done something stupid, they always do.

At one point you simply stop caring, so Shinsou follows after the herd and is now playing a game on his phone to pass time. Aizawa will probably pick him up, maybe.

“Class 1-A, am I right?” An unfortunately familiar voice speaks over the impeding crowd. Monoma is pushing his elbow against Shinsou’s side as if they are friends. When Shinsou glares at him, he shrugs back, “I am simply instigating a friendly conversation. There is nothing ominous about that, is there now?”

Shinsou looks back down on his phone again. “You are everything but friendly.”

Because that is the truth and you cannot counter the truth, (Shinsou probably could, if he tried hard enough. Their class had a fun debate about the flat earth theory once, and Shinsou was the only one out of twenty students claiming to support it. After fifteen minutes everyone from the other team had started to tug at their hairs. Tables were flipped. Someone even started crying. He doesn’t even believe that the earth is flat himself. ) Monoma simply rolls his eyes.

The crowd does not seem to thin out just yet, and it probably won’t for a few minutes. Which sucks, because Shinsou is an awkward person and so is Monoma. I could just leave. What is he gonna do about that, he reasons to himself, but he is too lazy to move now. He even looks over the ocean of brightly colored students helplessly like a drowning man barely above the waters, trying to find a single f*ck to give. Blame him for storing his energy for actual training and not escaping awkward stalkers, those skewed priorities of his. Shinsou exhales through his nose so his chest heaves, then he continues to play this annoying phone game, trying to ignore Monoma who is also watching him play through the corners of his eyes.

“The bastard tried to attack me today.”

Shinsou prays to whatever god is out there (perhaps the one of trickster variety) before he sighs out a reply,

“A guy telling you off for stalking him is not an attack, Monoma.”

That seems to ruffle his feathers even more, “You must understand that is not all that he did. He went ahead and insulted me and my method of thinking, acting high and almighty despite being no better than I. The attention I gave him must have went over that inflatable balloon head of his, he dared to put those snotty gremlin hands on his hips while shouting at me.” He scoffs and crosses his arms, “What a character. ”

“Ugh, yeah. That Calimari guy’s coming to our classroom all the time now, acting like he owns the place. Shinsou just lets him, though. I almost wanna beat his damn teeth in.” A fellow classmate; Shio Tocha, a mean girl with a hot pink ponytail and an expensive smartphone always in hand speaks from nowhere. She looks as bored as ever while the other hand twirls her high ponytail. Her red eyes flit towards Shinsou in that way that makes him feel unreasonably judged before they move to look down on her phone again. “Not you though, baby. That pic I posted of you on snap got all my boyfriends’ jealous, can’t go and f*ck up that pretty face if its still useful.”

Jesus f*cking christ. Shinsou cannot believe that those two people are speaking together now. Tocha is an absolute fiend to those who simply wants a calm high school exerience, aka Hitoshi Shinsou. While she is not as on the nose as Monoma, she can cause just as much trouble. And now they are exhanging words. Words about Kaminari, who is appearantly disliked by them both; Poor, poor guy. Shinsou's flight and fight instinct kicks in for his sake.

Monoma’s eyes narrows and his smile does not act like a smile should. Despite talking about how rude putting hands on hips are, he turns to Shinsou and does the very same thing. He simply says a self righteous Oh? Tocha is not looking any less accusing than him.

Am I still too lazy to get the f*ck out of here? Shinsou asks himself, lifts his head up and looks around a little.

He finds that deep within himself, despite all odds, the answer is still yes.

“He always waits outside, never walked in before. What’s it to you anyways.” He says to Tocha, ignoring the blond in between them. Tocha might be a backstabbing, superficial bitch, but in contrast to Monoma, her words actually make sense.

Instead of replying, she stops playing with her ponytail. She reaches for her bright red hydro flask. He can feel himself tense, although he does not let it show. Shinsou suspects she has pulled a pavlov on their entire class, because whenever she brings that damn eyesore thing up Shinsou readies himself for an unnecessary flip of the status quo.

Then she smiles. f*ck. She never smiles. The status quo will never return to normal now.

““heeey hEY, HEY BABE!”

A voice that he is actually happy to hear shouts, and Shinsou turns his head in the direction he heard Kaminari shout from because he really needs a comfortable conversation right about now-

Kaminari is with that short girl with the ears; Jirou, if he remembers correctly. They are standing close together with arms thrown over each other. It looks like Kaminari exhausted himself out somehow, because his smile is dopey and he is leaning his full weight into her personal space. Jirou does not protest, does not even look uncomfortable. Instead she puts a hand over Kaminari’s mouth after his exclamation, looks around with alarmed eyes before giving him a stern look. He laughs and the look evaporates, Jirou rolls her eyes in an almost affectionate way instead. Then they dissapear, still holding on to each other.

Oh.

Oh, of course.

“Personally, I just don’t want my boyfriend-intimidator to get his hopes up for some damn brat named Calamari. What’s that to you.” Toucha lifts her bright red hydroflask to her smiling lips, drinking the tea within despite the hot steam escaping it. She is resistant to heat and Shinsou knows this already, but he cringes internally anyway.

Really, his entire being is cringing. Ready to cringe itself out of existence, even. Shinsou often sees himself as a calm person, no brooding storm deep in his core whatsoever, he is not nearly as edgy as people claim him to be. Really, he found such dramatic descriptions ridiculous; emotions cannot be that all compassing. Even if they were, they should have hit him way earlier in life than now. But the heavy emotions starting at the pit of his unwell stomach, spiraling and sucking him into a completely different world than the one he is used to might want to prove him otherwise. The homesickness claws for something he cannot even fathom, something completely different from the usual longing for a home. It leaves him so drained he might have to reevaluate his past thinking. He might have to reevaluate a lot of things.

“Kaminari,” Shinsou corrects her. Then he leaves.

The crowd is unbearable in the worst way possible. It is giving him a headache with the constant murmurs and movement, and the issue does not stop there, because it fails its job as background noise to distract him. Shinsou is left to deal with the equally loud truth instead; that a person like Kaminari is bound to be taken, especially by a girl. He kicks some of the snow in front of him.

Kaminari has been flirting with girls from the start, the whole Shiozaki spectacle from the sports festival a prime example of which direction he goes. He seemed to be very close to Jirou some weeks ago too, whispering to each other and keeping meaningful eye contact even back then. And here they are again, obviously a couple.

Students continue to push against each other, but some are starting to shuffle away when they see him approach. Schoolgirls pull on their distracted girl friends’ arm to let him through, whispering about being careful or whatever. They nod back with wide eyes and a gulp, too. Perks of being a natural creep, he bets. People leave you alone if you have the face of a man ready to commit manslaughter, even the happy-go-lucky ones leave you. Especially the happy-go-lucky ones; but Kaminari was special. That is what he started to think when Kaminari had continued to pursue a friendship with him, after that friday night. Now he feels like an idiot. What sunshine bastard type of guy would genuinely like a guy like him? Like him beyond being acquaintances, in need of a damn tutor? I cannot possibly be his type.

He almost groans out loud because what is that even supposed to mean? Type? Why is he talking like he has caught a damn crush?

When Shinsou breathes out a sigh the familiar scent of warmth and pine welcomes him, and when he looks up from his trance he finds himself in the same place he often went to when he needed a breather. The leaves above him moves with the colder wind, sounding like music to his ears. Much better than the chatter from before.

He circles the tree, finds his usual spot and sits down on the grass again. Then he forces his eyes to close so he can either try and fall asleep or think things properly through. Of course, he fails to fall asleep, so he resolves to thinking instead.

Shinsou continues to lay there in silence, still listening to the leaves above him. Still thinking.

Then he realizes it.

f*ck, I like him.

With eyes still closed, he covers his face with one hand, and sighs into his palm; completely exhausted by the mere thought of his realization.

This feeling he is going through is not ordinary “like” either. It is not as friendly as he thought ten minutes ago. He would be happy for his friend if it was that simple, happy that he managed to land a chick, but no. He is not happy at all. There is jealousy swimming in his blood, selfish entitlement close behind.

It is pathetic too, because if Jirou was ungrateful he might have a reason to be upset. From what he saw during the exercise that does not seem to be the case. Jirou was ready to follow orders and did not f*ck around and risk her team, a strong backbone in a sea of wishful thinkers like Shinsou. He is surely not as competent as her, Shinsou knows that much. If he was more better than her in that regard, then he wouldn’t have to start from gen-ed in the first place. She seems to care for Kaminari too, stopping him from falling in his brain dead state.

They look good together, matching chokers, too, he finds himself admit, they probably know each other much better than I know him.

Shinsou removes the hand from his face, somehow feeling a little lighter, more at peace after admitting this. He cannot mourn for sh*t when something much better is happening in front of him, when Kaminari is already happy with what he has. There is no point in that.

Jirou is competent and smooth, traits Shinsou finds himself lacking no matter what Kaminari might say to lift his spirits. She has other friends, too, a whole group and more; a healthy balance of romantic and platonic relationships. Shinsou’s only other friend is Midoriya, and he is still rocky on admitting that just yet. Kaminari and Jirou knows one another in a much deeper level, therefore it is only reasonable that they are together. He should just be happy Kaminari wants to pursue a friendship with him of all people.

I am just a creep, after all.

Aizawa finds him first, Midoriya already on his tail.

They stand a few metres away from him, Aizawa leaning against the trunk of the tree, waiting for Shinsou to stand up despite him lying comfortably. The sun had started to set in yellows, and Aizawa’s silhouette throws a cool shade over him so his eyes doesn’t burn from it. Midoriya is smiling beside him, a determined look on his face that never fails to pump him with a will to win over him. It is not enough this time, though.

If he is being honest, Shinsou does not want to train anymore. While he is somewhat at peace now compared to before when his emotions just hit him, he wants more time to think through the mess and how to cope with it. Shinsou suspects that he is walking a good road of recovery now, accepting reality and that some friendships should just stay friendships. However he knows how stubborn he can be. He needs more time to really make this coping mechanism work to its full extent; he needs it to work to its full extent. But that is not what Shinsou came here to do, what he fought and trained so hard for to do; to sulk over someone who he might be friends with... Being with someone else. Being happy. So he keeps his face blank and joins Aizawa and Midoriya instead. They start to walk in silence, until Midoriya decides to break that silence.

“Are you okay?” Midoriya asks him, quickening his steps so he can reach Shinsou’s long gait. The small bastard does not break a single sweat.

“As okay as I can be,” He replies, but his deadpan breaks when the itch to rub his eye overcomes him, “Was a lot of people there, is all.”

Midoriya nods, then another question evades his open expression. He turns to Aizawa, “I forgot to ask before, but why did we have to evacuate the school building? Did the league try to invade us again?”

Shinsou is sort of touched that Midoriya is open about talking of difficult topics in front of him, especially grateful since he suspects that there is some specific 1-A regulations taking place against just that. He does not like being clueless either, so Shinsou is a little fond of Midoriya’s habit of plappering about things he should perhaps not plapper about.

“Not at all. Some dumbass broke the lightbulbs.”

He cannot help but snort at that. Kaminari looked way too dazed for that to not be his stupid doing. It makes him wonder what got him so excited to break so many lights- His expression darkens again. Maybe he is not wondering anymore. Maybe he will stop wondering about things for the rest of his sad, sad life. Maybe it is for the better to just remain clueless and ignorant to certain things, perhaps everything- just to make sure.

While Shinsou’s spirit has been dragged through the mud by his own flawed design in a matter of seconds, Midoriya seems to be content with that answer for now. He starts to walk ahead, frame highlighted by the sunset in front of him in an almost symbolic way, probably theorizing about one thing or another; how to beat Shinsou’s ass definitely one of those things.

“You were with Kaminari last week.” Aizawa’s dark voice speaks right beside his ear, and he takes pride in the fact that he does not flinch at all. He feels like he deserves to flinch though, especially because of how the teacher had spread salt into the wound without even knowing it himself. “Before I picked you up from the teachers lounge.”

I’ve been with him ever since then, he almost finds himself saying but he stops the words from coming out. Shinsou fears he would combust then.

He nods instead, mouth a tight line.

“You must know of Mic’s offer then. Be an useful mentee and bring up the subject with him again, would you.” His mentor mumbles out, running a hand over the sore muscles of his neck. Shinsou finds himself mirroring the gesture.

“Sure,”

He says easily, it isn’t like it will be hard to track Kaminari down anyway. A message away, really. But he finds himself plenty curious of this request, so he turns to look at Aizawa properly again. “Why, though? That was a week ago, I don’t see why you’re bringing it up now. Wouldn’t it be better to make his group talk to him about it anyways? We have only met twice for all you know.”

Aizawa raises a brow at him, as if doubting his words. Shinsou feels like he was caught red handed in a secret. Then the man drops his suspicious glare and sighs in that usual manner he does when he is about to explain something. Shinsou almost sighs himself. “He wore me out. Been whining for me to bring it up day in and out. I told him to talk with Kaminari himself because he is also his damn teacher, but you know Mic; Both unreasonable and stubborn.”

“You’re stubborn, too.”

“Don’t interrupt me. He is also the one who wanted me to order you to do this for him. Never specified why, either.” When Shinsou opens his mouth, he shakes his head, “Don’t ask me to probe him about it either. I’m tired of that sh*t already.”

The shorter, more energetic student in front of them stops up, as if he sensed his teacher cursing and glitched out from the sheer shock of it.

That is fun, Shinsou thinks. He looks to Aizawa, with his lazy eyes and loose frown, and finds himself mimicking the expression. The teacher turns to look at him when Shinsou tries to flatten his big hair down to his forehead, failing miserably. Not his fault the top of his face is wider than Aizawa’s proportionally sized skull. Aizawa must see it coming, if his slightly narrowed eyes are anything to go by, but he does not do anything about it.

Shinsou sees it as free pass to clear his throat. He exhales so deeply the breath goes through his entire body and he flattens his tongue when he speaks, even furrows his brows more so veins stick out of his semi hidden forehead.

“What a f*cking nightmare.”

He grumbles out loudly, words lazy and dark in his mouth, but the curse word sticks out compared to everything else he said. Just like Aizawa would say it.

Midoriya jumps. Like a baby bird.

Aizawa punches his shoulder hard and calls him a brat underneath his breath. Midoriya continues to babble and blush from embarrassment their whole way to the training grounds. Shinsou continues to grin.

Chapter 22: Calm before the storm; The Shinsou Saga 2/3

Chapter Text

The clock is 17.40, near dinner time. Shinsou does not go back to the foster home after his training, even though he probably should. Aizawa really chewed him out this time, used his weak bones as a toothpick and all kinds of weird metaphors, and he was not invited to dinner either. He kind of deserved it all though, after mocking the stern teacher straight to his face, in front of the very, very talkative Midoriya. It was still worth the absolute bitch of a back pain though. He cannot lie, Shinsou is still proud of his seamless imitation, and he would definitely do it again, limp be damned.

Instead of going back he roams the city, going to a convenience store to buy a quick dinner. He grabs the first pack of granola bars he sees, pays and walks out before the cashier can accuse him of stealing.

While he eats he studies the scenery around him, how fast the sky turns dark and the air cold. Just a few people are walking around now; students from different schools hanging out drinking fancy coffee and exhausted adults making their way home from a long day at work. After some hours that’ll change for the worse, he muses.

Once the high school students and bone-tired adults make it home the city changes a little, especially during the weekdays. The cashiers inside stores open twenty four seven grow even more suspicious of your every move, groups of hooligans take up entire streets just to waltz around with alcohol and perhaps something else in their bloodstream. It is not as bad as he makes it out to be, sometimes couples who starts work late in the morning will leave high-end restaurants giggling in the most innocent way possible, enforcing the dying idea of pure love whenever Shinsou sees them from his own shady corner. There are more non judgemental people he can talk with and learn lessons from, and stray cats wandering around for him to bond with.

But again, that depends on which part of the city you decide to walk on. Unfortunately for Shinsou he is much more familiar with those parts with the drunks and shattered glass bottles strewn around. He moves locations whenever someone looks over to him with apprehension painting their expression. At least during the evening he is the least suspicious person walking around.

The heavy backpack wears him down enough he can almost hear his back beg for him to sit down.

He obliges by going to a familiar cafe.

It is stupid, but his heart almost elevates once he sees the pictures of cartoon cats on the clean windows from where he stands, and the sensation grows stronger once he opens the door and hear the bells above him jingle. He is hit by the smell of grounded coffee beans and clean cat hairs instantly. The scent is much better than his own at the moment. (he did change his gym shirt back to the school shirt, but the sweatpants will stay on. They simply will.) The sounds of cats purring are almost therapeutic to his ears. Some of the baristas smile when they see him. It is difficult to smile back, so he gives a short wave before sitting down on a plush sofa. Relief floods his system instantly after he removes the bag from between his shoulder blades, the ache almost enjoyable when he kneads his left shoulder to relieve some tension. It does not work, but the kneading is too much of a habit to stop now.

When a waiter arrives to his table he orders a black coffee and plain water, then he goes back to work. Phone plugged to the wall beside him, books and pencil out so he can try to finish his homework for the week. That is when the lovely menace known as Bean decides to ambush him, kneading her paws against his thigh.

Bean is a fluffy orange and black tabby who howls like a mourning widow whenever Shinsou has to leave the cafe, and Shinsou is embarrassed to say he cares more for her more than his own life.

He lifts his arm so she can curl into his lap and purr, and he goes straight back to work again. He actually finds it easier to focus on math with that little fluff purring and mewling beside him, she must have pulled a pavlov on him somehow.

Math goes by. His order of one black coffee and water arrives during history, he thanks the waiter and is reminded by the orange ball of fluff on his lap to offer a bite of the granola bar to her. Bean narrows her eyes with happiness, Shinsou just as content. The brown cat siblings Mame and Keki go by alongside modern literature, and he looks up from his english homework to see that the clock is now 21.15, and that all other customers have left the cafe.

That means that almost all the furry workers in the cafe have crowded to him, engulfing Shinsou and his homework in their warm bodies and swishing tails and curious paws. He scratches an old mixed breed underneath his purring chin, and decides that homework can wait for now.

His fully charged phone vibrates then, and he sees that Kaminari has given him a message. He picks up the phone while petting Bean, wondering absentmindedly if you could die by overload of pleasant emotions.

Kaminari did not just send him a text message, but a picture of a cat with purple dye in its thick fur as well. He tries not to smile.

Kaminari.
“THAT U!!”

Me
“impressive. but have you considered that this”

Shinsou snaps a blurry picture of Bean mid howling and sends it to him.

Me
“u”

Kaminari.
“sh*t im cute”

Oh, how true that is. It is almost criminal how true that sentence is.

Kaminari.
“you had a cat all this time and u didnt tell me >:(”

Me
“she’s not mine”
“i’m at a cat cafe rn and she likes to act like she owns me whenever i visit”

Kaminari.
“aaah rite, you guys have a social life outside of school,, forgot about dat”

Me
“if you count ten cats holwing at u because you have food yeah sure, i do have a social life. you’ve got a rich social life though, Kaminari”

Kaminari.
“it aint the same tho”
“we have to stay in the dorms AAALL the time, cant go out without Aizawa or sum other teacher hot on our heels 24/7 and liek, whats the point then? the fun part of goin out is to do stupid sh*t and not get caught u kno”
“man, i miss arcades and diners”

Shinsou thinks of Kaminari’s words thoroughly, petting the cats around him as well. He guesses he have harboured some jealousy for the heroics’ dorm system. Being allowed his own room instead of sharing with thirteen other traumatized orphans has always sounded like a dream to him. Then he would not need to kick that damn overgrown toddler Hentou off his bed before he can try and piss all over it, he would not need to avoid the petty brawls the thirteen year olds always partake in during breakfast every morning. Long, complicated train routes would be unnecessary too, since he would live close to the school anyways. He looks down to Bean, whom is purring into his chest. It never occurred to him that once he is transferred to the dorms, he wouldn’t have weird yet philosophical conversations with old men on the train anymore, he would not be able to visit this cafe and its fluffy workers every week. He will miss this place then, just like Kaminari misses his arcades and diners.

His phone vibrates again, and he writes before even reading the new message.

Kaminari.
“aaaah sry for whinin that much its not fun to listen to huh, i prolly look real spoiled rn since the dorms are here to protect us n’ sh*te”

Me
“i could take you to a diner sometime”
“since i still have that freedom”

Kaminari does not message him back for a long time. That makes his skin crawl, but the reason behind this feeling could also be caused by the bacteria eating his smelly pores clean. He read somewhere that that was a thing apparently, that the smell of sweat comes from small insects or some sh*t eating off your skin. I’ll hold on to that, Shinsou thinks for himself, putting his unfinished english homework back into his bag, Purely biological.

The cats, especially Bean, whine when they sense that he is about to leave, but he has bothered the workers here enough with his presence. Shinsou worked retail once and it was utter hell, especially when the customers refused leave at closing time. And no, he doesn't care that they tell him “It is okay! You are our most polite customer, stay for however long you’d like,” because he knows that is a lie. He surely cannot stay here forever, that is simply unrealistic.

Shinsou gives each of the cats a final neck scratch, waves the workers goodbye and leaves the cafe. His conversation with Kaminari lasted half an hour and the sky is properly black now, but he won’t trek just yet. He does not want to, now that his curfew is elongated.

Therefore he lounges around the dark streets, avoiding areas where he sees suspicious groups of people lounging with hoodies on.

“Ey, brainwash!” A drunk, distant voice shouts towards his direction. Shinsou is unsure if he was being recognized from the sports festival half a year ago or if he has actually spoken to this person wearing a hoodie and the stench of alcohol on them. It wouldn’t be the first time. He has spoken to a lot of weird people, after all.

Being associated with those kinds of people is the last thing he needs now that he is boarding the hero department. Even while they shout after him as if they ever knew him, asking him when and why he turned soft, “Live a little, ya’ posh bastard, we’re the same”, he simply turns and walks away. That rang a little too familiar, so if he hurries away a little too quickly no one can blame him. Their laughter and curses echoes off the cold brick buildings that he has already spent too much time around, and soon enough he cannot hear them anymore. It is better this way, he does not even need to convince himself of this.

Shinsou buys cheap ramen off a vending machine, then he walks into another convenience store to fill the cup with warm water, eating just to pass time. Given that the air outside has become colder he decides to stay inside the store for a bit, to soak up the heat a little. The cashier tells him to either buy something or f*ck off, so he f*cks off. When he exits the store an old man he suspects to be homeless pats him on the back with a ratty gloved hand and tells him “Been there, young man” like that would comfort him. He tells the man that he appreciates the sentiment anyways. The man makes a comment about the good ol’ days when stores were not as heavily surveillanced and cashiers more foolish, you could've easily rob’em and get away with it back then. Shinsou agrees to disagree.

Despite the man's very controversial, very criminal opinions which he surely does not agree with, Shinsou thanks him for the chat. Soon enough he won't be having any controversial chats with old homeless men in front of any stores while holding a warm cup of ramen, so he will have to appreciate these moments while they last.

He goes in for a hug and Shinsou stops him. He is not going to get robbed today. The man curses Shinsou out and aims spit at him while walking off. It does not hit. Shinsou continues to stand there while slurping on his ramen, somewhat unsure wether it is still foolish to be grateful for these moments or not.

Later he follows stray cats around and offer crumbles left of his granola bar to doves in the park. The chirps calms him, and he can finally breathe out.

The digital clock on his phone reads 23.21. Kaminari sends him a message once again.

Kaminari.
“deadass?? u would do that for me?”

Shinsou can almost see the hopeful, wide eyed look on his face when he reads the message inside his head, can almost hear his voice go soft. His heart twinges a little.

Me
“yeah”
“i’m always out after school anyway, could take you out whenever you got time. if you are willing to wait after my training, that is”

The reply is instant.

Kaminari.
“ YEAH dude that sounds tight! what about tomorro??”

Me
“see you then”

Kaminari
“nite man, and i mean it,,”
“git some sleep”
“u deserve dat”

Shinsou tries to stop himself this time, he really does. His mouth quirks up in a small smile anyway. He talked to himself about this hours ago, to not get his hopes up, but nothing is wrong with friends going out together, right? Right. Sure, he might have to force this statement into his stubborn skull all night, but it still rings true on a superficial level.

He decides to take Kaminari’s words into consideration as well, and finally he makes his way back to the train.

Chapter 23: The certain doom of the status quo; The shinsou Saga 3/3

Chapter Text

The next day, Shinsou wears a scarf. It is black, and if you step close enough to him; with grey stripes, too. No one says anything about it, because it is still winter and some of their fellow classmates are still wearing mittens inside. Whenever Tocha tries to snap a picture of him he buries his face into the scarf and flips her off. It is petty of him, but Toucha is petty all the time so he feels deserving of his rude attitude. She simply sticks her tongue out and continues to text in class.

He does what he has to do to get through the lesson, and then he gets a message. Shinsou sneaks his phone out, eyes dead set on the blackboard in front of him. Cementoss does not suspect anything, so he risks letting his sight slip down to the screen.

Kaminari
“GU ESS WHO GOT A -B”
“I GOT DA B”

A “-b” is rather weak in Shinsou’s opinion, but he cannot help but smile. Then he wills the smile away and looks behind him. It was easier to let himself smile at his messages when there wasn’t red eyes glaring holes into the back of his scarf. Tocha is staring right back at him. She arches a brow, expression the same as the day before, except she is not smiling now. Shinsou glares back to gain dominance but it does not work this time; she knows too much.

Slowly he detaches his glare from hers, not surrendering but not committing to it either.

Instead of answering the text messages he stares ahead at the blackboard instead, wondering what he should do now. Texting came more easily yesterday compared to today, that is for sure.

He did not get much sleep last night. Instead of sleeping the ache of training away like he probably should have, Shinsou stayed awake late. He had pondered about his emotions in the most objective way possible so he would not combust the next time he would face Kaminari. They were going to hang out after school today after all, and he cannot overstep their boundaries then. He forced himself to think of his and Kaminari’s friendship and see it as it is, to squash emotions lingering on anything bigger than that. He had thought all that had helped him get over these feelings, but the fluttering inside his body proves him wrong.

The class ends and he has still not given him a message back. Shinsou feels bad for ignoring Kaminari, but Present mic waltz into his classroom and he knows he can make up for it. He walks up to the teacher, who brightens up after seeing him. Mic throws his arms out as if he is expecting a hug. “There the boy of the hour is, we missed ya’ at dinner yesterday!”

“We as in only you, or we as in you and Eri?” Shinsou quirks a brow instead of quirking a smile. He, Mic and Aizawa had made an unofficial agreement to not talk freely of their visits and dinners during school time, followed by plenty of reasons; Students would become suspicious of the three of them and accuse Aizawa for favoritism and Shinsou for manipulation, and if the truth came out then Aizawa’s reputation would be completely abolished, more than it already is. Mic still fails to keep his mouth shut. Shinsou cannot blame him, it is a rather stupid thing to be so hush hush about. It is not like they are his parents or anything. He still shares his living space with countless of other abandoned orphans, sleeps in the same stuffy room with said orhans, spends most of his time out in the city instead of a stable home. He is registered as an orphan, and that will probably not change no matter what. Although he has to admit, his growth spurt was only possible due to Mic’s surprisingly good cooking.

“All three of us, buddy” Mic continues to grin, “Ya’ should know how Shouta acts by now, you’re a tiny tall version of him after all; was huffin’ and gruntin’ through the whole evening.”

That sentence makes Shinsou think of Aizawa, and thinking of Aizawa makes him think of what the man had said to him, or, to be more accurate- ordered him to do.

“You want me to talk with Kaminari about your tutor offer.”

The obnoxious shades slides down his nose, revealing wide blinking eyes. Then he slides them back up.

“Always straight to the point, just like that ole’ mentor of yours,” He chuckles and leans towards his desk, “whatta bout’ it, spurt?”

“Give Kaminari a permit to go outside first. The guy is like the damn sun, he is paling terribly inside those dorms. I’ll take him out and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

Present mic actually burst with laughter. Loud, loud laughter. His classmates jump and give him weird looks again, but Shinsou continues to stare ahead. Even though he promised Kaminari to take him out today, he never asked any of his teachers if he was allowed to do that. In fact, Shinsou doesn't even know if the rules allow that, he never asked before because he didn't think he would need to. It was impulsive and incredibly dumb for him to act like he had everything figured out while they were texting, but now he has to actually make it work. He suspected that Aizawa would be off limits for today, so either Present mic or Midnight would be his best choice.

The teacher wipes a tear from his eye, still grinning ear to ear at Shinsou. “You surprise me with every day that runs by, lil’ eraser.” He muses like he is having an inside joke with himself.

“He will probably consider your offer more thoroughly afterwards.” Shinsou ignores what Mic had said, eyebrows sinking closer to his eyes as he tries to hold his tone flat, especially not defensive. It does not help that Tocha is studying him from behind either. “We both know he wasn’t that convinced with you. That is why you are sending me to vouch for you, a task you have proven to be difficult already. Give me something to work with. A permit, for example. ”

Mic is a weird man. Shinsou likes him, appreciates him, but that does not make him less of a damn weirdo. While he does speak and move around a lot, always loud and hard to ignore, he has these moments of long silence. Shinsou often finds himself tired if someone speaks too loud, but he prefers loud Mic way more to silent Mic. Silent Mic is one hundred percent of the time analyzing you and your very movements, dropping his loud personality to search you and make assumptions that he will rarely change afterwards. He does not care about what you feel in that moment, if the silence stretches on too long or if he is being condescending- he will smile a close lipped smile and stare at you till he is content with what he has found.

Shinsou powers through the silence, glaring back at his teacher, waiting for him to snap back to his usual loud state.

Eventually he does snap out of it, pats Shinsou on the shoulder and laughs. Then he takes a loose sheet of paper and writes his “permit”. When he is done, he plasters the permit to Shinsou’s forehead. “Go ahead, kid! Have fun with your lil’ date, and make sure he uses that big brain of his for something actually productive!” He says, way too loud again. His classmates are definitely studying them now.

Shinsou takes the piece of paper back to his hands. He almost doubletakes when he sees the bills he had somehow plastered to the permit without Shinsou’s studious eyes noticing. Beside it he had written Buy him something FLASHY :D I believe in you!!. Quietly, Shinsou slips the bills into his jacket’s inner pocket.

Despite the obvious redness of his face (which is caused by the warm scarf, of course), Shinsou has the guts to lift his head and say with a deadpan, “He is not my date.”

“Whatever you say, listener!”

Kaminari is waiting outside his classroom again, looking more excited than usual. Shinsou is relieved that his lack of reply did not bum him out. When they meet in the middle, he flashes Shinsou two finger guns. He hopes that they are of the friendly variety and not the stressed one. “Nice scarf, suits ya!”

“I got the permit from Mic.” He says instead of accepting the compliment. Teaching himself to control the butterflies whenever they ambushed him is difficult on its own; he is not ready to accept sudden compliments from him just yet.

Kaminari, ignorant to Shinsou’s inner turmoil, only grins wider. “Sweet! I kinda thought you were gonna get it from Aizawa, though.”

“I upset him a little yesterday, so I didn’t bet on him this time. Mic is more laid back anyway.” Shinsou shrugs, already peppering in some praise for the english teacher. He isn't sure if he will try to sneak in the offer again or flat out tell Kaminari that Mic has sent him to do it, but a few off hand compliments never hurt such a case before, have they?

Kaminari pats him on the back and Shinsou tries his hardest to not focus too much on it.

“it’s okay, dude, sometimes dad gets mad. It happens to the coolest of us.”

“You must have a stellar relationship with your dad, then.”

He doubletakes and sputters, then calls Shinsou an asshole while laughing. Shinsou is proud of this feat so he smiles. He cannot even recall the last time he has smiled so often in just one day, and he can feel his facial muscles start to strain from it. Then he turns around for a split second, sees Tocha scroll through her phone while watching him. He starts to walk, and Kaminari follows him without second thought, already talking about something else.

“Hey, who was that chick watchin’ you?” Kaminari asks all of a sudden, thumb pointing behind them.

He actually noticed her, Shinsou finds himself a little surprised by that. Kaminari seemed really passionate in his monologue about his online shopping habit and how it is not a problem, screw you, Bakugou. “That’s Tocha, she feels entitled to the guys in our class. She probably wants you to fight for her attention like every other guy does.” He half lies, knowing she is not that interested in Kaminari himself. Somehow he is not her type, she always goes for tall assholes who chainsmokes. Shinsou has no idea how he qualifies to those standards, but he does. However he is trying to find answers about Kaminari’s relationship situation, if he will mention that he is taken or not. Maybe he will say “Nah I don’t chase chicks anymore, Jirou will get mad” or “Why should I fight for her attention when I get all the attention I need from my cute GIRLFRIEND” or something else as atrocious. Maybe he won’t say anything like that at all. Shinsou does have a tiny ounce of faith, after all. He sort of runs on faith nowadays.

But he does not clear up any of that.

“Wait, she’s in your class- you’re, do you like her, too?!”

Shinsou blinks towards the shorter male. His eyes are wide open, already sweating buckets from just saying that sentence. Shinsou really does not know what to make of it, neither that facial subtly constipated expression or loud question. He only knows that is not the reaction he had at all expected. “Uh, no, I don’t. I try to stay away from that mess. She uses my face to make her other, more devoted boyfriends jealous, though.”

Kaminari almost exhales out loud, his face looking much more relaxed now.

Shinsou really does not get it.

He tries not to think about it either, tries to focus on what Kaminari is now babbling about to distract himself from how his heart clenches. Did that make him jealous, he really thinks someone would like me that way? Does he like- Shinsou shakes it off mentally, nods along whatever Kaminari is saying, trying not to go over his own head again. He thinks back to him and Jirou hanging off each other, how well they fit together. Kaminari does not have the right to be jealous of anything along those lines when he has such a healthy relationship going on with someone else, someone better than Shinsou.

They make it to the tree and Kaminari sits down like he belongs there already. Shinsou sits down too, and they start to work on math again.

“Wait!” Kaminari starts to search for something in his backpack, and Shinsou does wait, “I kinda wanted to do my nails since yesterday and I actually remembered to bring my stuff- could we do that while studying?”

Shinsou has not thought about it before, never in a million years, but seeing Kaminari with nailpolish would probably make him scream. Instead of doing that, he nods lamely and forces out a “won’t you get distracted by that.” just to try and save himself. That seems to confuse him, and Kaminari turns to look down on the bottles of polish in his grip- dark purple and black- as if he is studying them for answers of the universe, before shaking his head.

“Nah, not really. It kinda helps me out, if I'm bein' honest.”

“So you’re a kinetic learner.”

Instead of agreeing or confirming that sentence Kaminari only tilts his head, as if he did not know what that meant. That surprises Shinsou, since Kaminari has lots of random knowledge over words that he himself does not know of. He starts explain what a kinetic learner is anyway, just to be sure. “Being a kinetic learner means you learn better by using movement.”

Kaminari ooh-s, this information apparently new to him, and Shinsou has to ask, “Weren’ you a special needs kid in middle school, shouldn’t you know of this then?”

He actually laughs, and while it confuses Shinsou, he also feels blessed. They had talked a little about Kaminari’s middle school adventure last friday, and Kaminari had explained why he needed to take special needs classes, adhd and executive function and all. He explained his school’s special classes fairy well for someone who was barely awake, but now Shinsou feels like he did not gain as much information as he thought he had.

“Pft, the teachers hated me way too much to actually teach me stuff. Mostly they put me in a corner, shouted at me and told my parents that I’m a real problem kid.” His voices pitches in mockery before lowering again, “It was legit very mean, but I guess I was mean back so it’s just karma. Though I wish they’d teach me about something helpful like that, so thanks!” Kaminari beams while unloading all this information, the dark purple nail polish now popped open.

It is almost bizarre how much Shinsou relates. Both foster care and school had been difficult for him, too. He was given up by his biological parents a year after his quirk came around, and his dozens foster parents never got the hang of him. Some muzzled him, some hit him and excepted an affection-starved orphan to just accept that as tough love and move on. Despite the power they held over him they were still afraid, even back then. Shinsou Hitoshi, age seven, a terrifying menace to society, and this statement was often shared by teachers, “caregivers” and foster parents alike. No offering family wanted to welcome a stray kid with a voice deeper than the father of the household into their homes, especially if that voice could take away your freedom for a period of time. Life was easier this way, more stable, if not fondly annoying. It still hurt to not be trusted by those who are supposed to help you.

Shinsou was never given the opportunity to read people and understand them. His caregivers figured out that it was too risky to give him that sort of knowledge, but he recognizes the way Kaminari talks about this subject- how his laughter runs short and how the silence hangs afterwards.

“That sounds awful.” Shinsou tells him, earnest.

Kaminari continues to paint, but Shinsou does not look down at his hands to see his process. He watches him instead. What he can see, at least. He watches how he chews on his lip, perhaps from both sheer focus and the nerves from sharing something personal. His hair hangs in front of his face, and it takes everything of Shinsou’s willpower to not brush the hair away, to properly see him.

“It… It was. It really was.” He stops chewing on his lip, and smiles in such a way Shinsou forgets to how to breathe, “That it sucked balls there makes me appreciate what I got here, though. The teachers are all chill and not pompous as sh*t, my friends are supportive ’n cool and you’re… You’re helpin’ me out. Even though I’ve been a dumbass around you like, every time we meet up, you haven’t told me off yet. It’s kinda incredible.” Somehow his smile turns even softer and warmer, cooking up Shinsou’s heart under seconds. The light chuckle afterwards makes him sweat. How his cheeks squishes upwards to his bottom eyelids when he grins almost sends him to a cardiac arrest.

He is taken, don’t overstep your boundaries, he is taken, don’t overstep your boundaries, he is taken, you are only friends, don’t overstep your boundaries, he is taken, you are barely friends, don’t overstep your boundaries, don’t be a creep, he is taken, don’t overstep your boundaries, please, he is taken, don’t overstep-

Before he knows it, Shinsou is holding nail polish in one trembling hand while the other sweaty palm faces up. Kaminari blinks, smile wiped away.

“Let me do the other hand.” His traitorous voice asks, almost begs, “It’ll be easier that way.”

Shinsou ignores f*ck all about kinetic intelligence. Math has left his mind a long time ago and so has Present Mic’s promise, which he could have for sure snaked in before he went and became a sappy mess, begging to paint a taken guy’s nails with the color associated with his f*cking girlfriend. The only thing in his one track mind is Kaminari, not single and not taken, just Kaminari Denki- and that he wants Kaminari to f*cking glow with happiness, drown in that sh*t and just stay protected forever.

He has overstepped a million boundaries by now, failed the most basic task of keeping his most important, wholesome friendship uncomplicated, and that becomes quickly obvious by how Kaminari’s face reddens up.

In the end, Kamiari does offer his unpainted hand. He puts it firmly on top of Shinsou’s palm.

And it is so small.

Shinsou knows he is grown for his age. It is a new phenomenon just like babies born with quirks were a phenomenon centuries ago; teenage boys are growing even taller and broader than before, rivaling their fathers after just one year of entering puberty. Shinsou is not the only guy severely hit and wasted by the puberty train, but he is certainly one of them. Sometimes women in their late twenties hit on him when he is not wearing his school uniform. Once an old man he suspected to be a part of the yakuza whined to him about teenagers these days, right after offering him a friendly cigarette (he did not take it). He knows table companies are not a part of a big conspiracy to make tables so impractical and small that they bruise his hip bones every time he forgets himself around them, it is simply him who is overgrown. But he is still shaken now. Why is Kaminari so tiny?

Why is he so soft, so soft that his hand slips perfectly into Shinsou’s own? The skin is warm too, tan. When he focuses his eyes, he can see that Kaminari has a small mole on his left wrist. He soaks the contact and the small details right up, has never felt anything like it before. It makes him wonder when was the last time he has actually held someone’s hand before- and shows over, show’s now depressing- he goes back to work.

He shifts the hand, squeezes it without meaning to and then he worries if that made Kaminari uncomfortable. Shinsou looks up to him, and he sees that Kaminari’s face is still red. He is smiling again, not uncomfortable by what Shinsou can tell. Then Kaminari opens his mouth, and fear starts to scratch him up his throat because maybe he is uncomfortable after all, maybe Shinsou is being a total creep right now and he needs to stop everything that he is doing and, I don’t know, die, I guess.

“So uh, to paint nails, you kinda have to, y’know, paint the nails.” He teases, barely holding back a snort.

Shinsou looks back down again, mutters out a “Of course”, and tentatively slicks the tiny brush over the pinkie’s fingernail. Which was probably not a good plan, because that was the smallest, most delicate nail and Shinsou did not know that the small brush could soak up so much polish, why is the entire thing purple now-

The ink slips off the nail, dripping to the tip of his fingertip and into Shinsou’s palm. Kaminari tries to move his other hand to help but Shinsou swats the hand away, determined to stop the ink from ruining his chance at redemption. He ends up soaking up the purple off with the back of his own hand, not succeeding exactly but the polish has stopped traveling to places it is not supposed to go to at least. The ink dries and Shinsou continues to paint the nails again, making sure that the brush is not as full whenever he dips it into the bottle. At least he learned something from that embarrassing accident.

They are completely quiet now, Shinsou putting all his focus on keeping his hands still, almost hissing whenever the purple touches the skin beside the nails. He is too concentrated on the task at hand to notice Kaminari gazing at him, all soft once again.

The deed is done at last, and Shinsou takes one last look at his admittedly crappy handiwork.

Then he beckons Kaminari’s other hand over without word. He holds them both close to his scrunched up face to see the stark difference, grip firm. Shinsou does not hear how Kaminari stutter, instead he watches the difference in skill to understand where he had failed.

Kaminari’s work was much more professional compared to Shinsou’s. While Kaminari did not stay completely within the supposed canvas, the coat looks more sleek, making up for his smaller mistakes. He surely did not spill the polish over an entire finger, either, which makes the finish look much better. Shinsou is still not looking up when he mumbles out , “You made it look so easy. I do have a few things to learn from you, too.”

When Kaminari does not reply, he looks up.

Kaminari’s face is much closer than what Shinsou expected it to be, even redder too. He looks seconds away from short circuiting, and that is when Shinsou actually notices that they are holding hands. Holding hands with their faces a few centimeters apart.

He retreats without a sound, feeling colder now that he is not cradling them anymore. He finds it sort of difficult to look at Kaminari, even though he is not to blame this time.

“Sorry-”

“Lemme paint yours too-”

Then they are quiet again, staring at one another, completely at loss. Kaminari breaks the silence by breaking out laughter and he laughs for a long time. Shinsou can only watch the brilliant smile and hear Kaminari snort and heave for air, his heart clenching painfully once again. He calms down, carefully wiping a tear with a painted finger. Shinsou barely has time to register how good he looks with dark nail polish, and he certainly does not have time to register that Kaminari has just grabbed his hand. He can only look down, see how Kaminari needs to use both hands to hold only one of Shinsou’s hands up, can barely stop himself from imploding from the inside out.

Kaminari works fast and almost flawless, and it probably helps that Shinsou’s fingers are broader than his own, making it difficult to accidentally color the skin around.

He is already moving to the other hand when Shinsou clears his throat and speaks, tongue still dry. “I sure wonder what happened to learning math now.

“Dude, I’m ready for ya’.”

They manage to squeeze in a few equations till Kaminari is done, or, when Shinsou thinks Kaminari are done. The madman is once again digging into his backpack, and it makes him wonder what he will do now. Then Kaminari pulls out one single needle. “I watched a tutorial on youtube once, and man- man, you gotta watch this, pure technical genius I tell ya’,” He babbles on while dipping the needle into the black polish. Then he inches closer to Shinsou, lifts his hand so them both can watch what Kaminari is going to do. He has to admit he is sort of distracted though, head swimming because they are sharing breathing space again, and Kaminari has to sit up on his knees so they are the same height, and his hands are still so incredibly tiny.

Apparently they are not tiny enough, because now Kaminari is painting a small lightning bolt to his own nails, using the even tinier needle. They are not sharing breathing space anymore, because both guys are holding their breaths.

After what feels like hours, Kaminari is done. They both breathe out deeply, not in the direction of the smaller pair of hands.

When Kaminari looks back to his work, he grins wide. He shoves his hands into Shinsou’s face, and his first instinct is to back away but then he properly sees the finished product instead; the thin, black lines blend a little to well into the dark purple background color, but Shinsou thinks that the subtlety sells it. The lines are clean and crooked in the right places, each tiny lightning bolt different yet uniform at the same time.

When Shinsou looks beyond the nail art, he sees a grinning face. Eyes that are usually wide open and golden are now shut, smile wide and dimples visible. “Total wow factor, amirite?”

“Yeah,” Shinsou breathes out lamely. He continues to look at Kaminari, falling in love once again, properly this time. “wow.”

Chapter 24: Anticipation; Mineta is nowhere to be seen

Chapter Text

When Kaminari makes it to the classroom with Sero and Mina on tow, Mineta is nowhere to be seen. When Aizawa arrives just on time to tell everyone to sit down so he can start the lecture, Mineta is still not there.

Today is gonna be a good day, Kaminari muses while sneaking excited glances to the empty seat. If he tries hard enough, he could almost see Shinsou sitting there already.

His mind drifts quickly afterwards, and Kaminari thinks back to his conversation with Shinsou from yesterday. He is still surprised of Shinsou’s texting habits even after he and his friends stayed up late studying their previous chat to find details to be fond of. Something he figured out is while Shinsou does punctuate and use commas to divide sentences he has not once ended a message with a proper period, he has yet to use an emoji or spell something wrong, even the longer words looking the way they are supposed to look (How can a guy be so perfect?). Kaminari had expected him to text like a grandpa, and compared to Kaminari he does text somewhat like a grandpa, but he was also pleasantly surprised by how alike they were in that regard, too. He wonders what else it is that Shinsou will surprise him with today.

Where will he take me? Where are we gonna eat? A dorky grin reaches his face, and he is reminded by a set of clothes he had put away for today, with aid of Bakugou, Mina, Jirou and Sero, of course. He would love to include Kirishima into this list, but he could not. Not if he was going to be honest about who helped him; that poor fashion disaster.

Kaminari was alone in his room before they ambushed him, trying on clothes despite the time being 23.01 in the evening. Sero and Mina came in first. While Mina busied herself with stealing his most colorful shirts Sero had asked him what the occasion was.

“I’m going on a date!”

Kaminari beamed while he slapped away Mina’s small raccoon hands once they became bold enough to tug on the socks he was currently wearing. They had cartoon pizzas on them so he could not blame her greed, but still, rude much.

Sero patted him on the back as if he needed comfort, “I’ll rent out the kitchen for ya’, my treat.”

Then Kaminari slapped his hand away too, he was going to end up in a fist fight at this rate. He shrugged off the shirt he was wearing to try on an orange hawaiian shirt. With a slow shake of his head, Sero took the clothing item away from him before he could even try it on. He grabbed a button up from Mina’s pile and handed it over to Kaminari instead. That fashion diva.

“Like I already said,” Kaminari said, even though he hasn’t said anything important yet, “I’m gettin’ taken out, as in actually out, out there in the real world.”

“Wait, an actual date? seriously!? Kami, I’m SO happy for you!” Mina squealed while shoving stolen shirts into her oversized sweatpants. Her smile was too charming for Kaminari to try and fight her. She won this time, but if the pink menace was to try him again then Kaminari would wrestle her (and he would lose). He had the pent energy for it, that is for sure. Instead he had turned to see himself in the mirror, and yeah, he shrugged the button up off. It was not ugly, none of his clothes were ugly- Ignore Bakugou’s entire existence now that you’re at it, too; it was far too classy. Yes, the button up was the issue here. It was far too dressy for the occasion. Perhaps he had called it a "date", but despite his excitement he knew it was not a date. Not yet, at least. Maybe if he looked good enough outside of his uniform Shinsou would take him out on a real one someday.

“I see, he’s got connections,” Sero said with an awful italian accent, thumb pressed to the pads of his fingers except his pinky, which is sticking out. He even shook the hand around for emphasis.

“He’s a damn teachers pet, not some mobster. A lame f*cking idiot either way.”

They all exclaim Bakugou’s name, surprised yet happy to see that he had invited himself into the room. He never walked in willingly before! Well, Kirishima was holding him around his waist, but still, that counted. Mina patted the space beside her that was now occupied by a pile of clothes. She was a fool to try and beckon Bakugou. “C’mere guys! We gotta dress up Kami for tomorrow, he’s got a date!”

“We know already,” Kirishima lifted up his phone, “You buttdialed me!”

Mina laughed, and the laugh pitched up after Kirishima went and tackled the bed like an over excited wrestler. The shirts flew everywhere but the two children continue to throw clothes at each other. She was surely not a fool to try and beckon Kirishima, that would always work no matter what. Kirishima threw a shirt towards Bakugou. Bakugou, already exhausted just from watching them, did neither duck nor catch it. It fell over his face like a veil, and when he had ripped it off his face Kaminari’s shoulder rose slowly up to his chin in apprehension. Instead of throwing it back to Kirishima and Mina, he had turned to take a step towards Kaminari. His expression was fierce, and every step he took towards him felt like an attack to his very being, as if he said I will destroy you as a person and build you up again through heavy footsteps alone. Real military bullsh*t.

Bakugou was content only once he had violently knocked his shoulder against Sero’s, whom was now grinning towards him. His stare shifted to the smaller blond.The two men glowered down at Kaminari. Not only was Kaminari confused, but he was also threatened. A terrible combination. Kaminari could only look up to them with a pinched expression on his face and wait for his sentence. He would fight first because he has the energy for it this time, yet while he readied his small yet energetic fists, even when he started to lift those fists up in professional boxer fashion and bounced on his heel in tight formations, he knew the breakdown would start sooner than later.

And break him down they did.

“Eyes up front, Kaminari.”

Aizawa’s dry voice snaps him out of memoryland. He turns his head to look at his teacher a few seconds afterwards, whom is not looking any impressed by his behavior. Kaminari gives him a dreamy grin. He props his elbow onto his table and leans his face into his hand, ignoring how some of his fellow classmates are looking at him. Then he shoots out his finger gun towards the teacher. Jirou mutters out a small “oh no”, flopping back into her chair while hiding her face in one hand. Smart girl.

“No problem sir. My eyes are always on ya’, if you know what I mean,” he punctuates by winking.

“This f*cking idiot.” Bakugou mutters out loud. Kaminari knows he is rolling his eyes, that hypocrite. When Kirishima asked Bakugou out he was over the moon too, even fulfilling Kaminari’s dying wish for him to cook homemade hamburgers. They tasted heavenly.

Aizawa sighs so deep he could feel the wind blow by him from his seat. He continues to wink until Aizawa has to threaten to throw him out of the classroom.

Kaminari quits down with his flirting, because if he tried to joke around anymore then it would just be weird. It is not like he wants people to think his type are insomniacs who could beat his ass, even if the claim has been proven right already. Ojiro high fives him underneath their desks, some continue to chuckle at his foolishness, a flustered Iida starts to gesture and shout to the entire class that they have to respect their teachers and to refrain from seeking out relations with adults. Jirou almost faints from the embarassment of the situation that somehow got much worse, Midoriya and Uraraka close behind her. After that spectacle the lecture goes back to normal.

The lecture is over. Mineta’s old seat remains empty.

When the last lesson is over, it continues to remain empty.

Chapter 25: Question marks; A friends' quarrel

Chapter Text

Me
“heyyy”
“i dont want u to like, walk around with ur phat backpack while i dont have mine on me so jus come over l8r and drop ur bag @ my place?”

Kaminari does not expect Shinsou to answer him now, so he drops his phone back to his bed and looks once again in the mirror. He is so occupied by straightening the front of his shirt he almost forgets about Bakugou sitting on his chair and Jirou sitting on the floor beside his bed. She stretches her arm out to take the phone. Because Jirou is a good friend, she unlocks it to see if he embarrassed himself again. She scoffs immediately. “Hey with three y-s? How desperate can you be.”

“Eh,” Bakugou grunts while abusing Kaminari’s stress ball, he can almost hear the thing cry when it hits the wall, “The zombie probably likes that needy kinda sh*t. Beat the sh*t outta the idiot for how he spells fat instead.”

That is when he turns around, pout on his face already present. He can stand being called desperate because he is desperate, but Kaminari prides himself in his spelling. Especially his texting spelling. “It’s got more emotion like that!” He argues.

“f*ck your emotions! Spell right and stop using question marks all the damn time, those are for puss*es who knows they cant get dick.”

“He’s right,” Jirou backs Bakugou up and Kaminari fixes her a scandalized expression. She just continues to twirl a headphone jack around her finger, looking like she is bored out of her mind, “I know you wanna be the pretty one in this relationship, but it is hardly a relationship- remember that date you told us about last night? Now that I’m reading through your texts I’m realizing it’s just a hang out cause he felt bad for your shut-in ass.” To punctuate she throws the phone away back to the bed, rolling her eyes at the same time. Bakugou does not act surprised by what she had revealed. He only throws the ball harder.

Kaminari stops looking at the mirror, he doesn’t look at his friends either. Instead he is looking at his shirt. It is a good shirt, and the shirt underneath that shirt just as good. He is tempted to hide underneath all his layers now.

“If you want this thing with him to actually turn into something, you need to drop the question marks.”

Something about what she had said makes him perk up, irritated despite knowing Jirou is only trying to share friendly wisdom. Her delivery is always just dry, and Kaminari never felt attacked by her rude speech patterns. They just have that understanding between them. But. Wisdom. From Jirou. Kaminari puts a hand on his hip anyways. “Drop the question mark? Rich coming from the chick who bailed out on asking both Kirishima and Momo out, Momo twice.”

Her expression changes for a hot second, a flash of betrayal. Kaminari almost belches. This conversation has turned into something else. Something he can almost taste on his tongue; salty.

“Yaomomo is straight, there’s nothing I can do about that but move on. But you.” She points a finger at him in a menacing manner, the digit trembling and all, “You actually have a chance, for once. Yet here you are, making up a date to daydream about instead of actually going for it. You f*cking coward.”

“What do you mean I have a chance, did he like, tell you that personally or what-”

“You sunshine types are so f*cking clueless-”

“STOP BITCHIN’, YOU PENT UP VIRGINS!” Bakugou “I have bitched about bitches since I was four bitching years old” Katsuki snaps. His voice causes an echo in the room. They know to shut up now, even Kaminari. Jirou’s shoulders lowers down and she levels Bakugou with an expectant yet doubting gaze, ready to argue for herself if she has to. She has always been more brave than Kaminari like that. Whenever he argued with him it was because he did not know when to stop or because he wanted to get a rise out of his fellow blond, very unlike Jirou who always had a point whenever she spoke. It hits him like a pang just then, she had a point, she only wanted to give friendly advice.

“Much f*cking better.” Bakugou grumbles out, and he stands up from the chair with the ball still in his hand, “I don’t care to listen to ya’ bullsh*t so I’m outta here. See ya’ f*cking never.” And then he exits the room, slamming the door behind him.

The silence afterwards is horrible.

Kaminari only stands there, looking at the chair where his impatient friend used to sit. Only at the chair, nowhere else felt safe at the moment.

I’m acting like such an idiot right now. I shouldn’t have bought up Kirishima and Momo, Kaminari curses himself mentally. It is not like his own crushes hasn’t been brought up in a teasing manner before, Jirou herself tended to point them out a lot; about how quickly he loses interest and how he sabotages himself most of the time. But that is safe for them to bring up. Kaminari never gets truly offended when other people point that out because it is true, he does loose interest and sabotage himself. It is a simple fact, just like how one plus one equals two. There is no reason to throw a bitch fit because one plus one equals two. Until now, that is. He has enough courage to sneak a peek at Jirou. She is also avoiding him, looking at the door with a frustrated look on her face. He knows he was mean just then and that he deserves some fire for what he said. Instead of firing back at him like she has done so many times before, she remains silent. Despite her tough girl exteriour Jirou does not come down easy from rejection. Kaminari should know that already, he comforted her back then, watched how she grimaced as if in physical pain moments before she actually broke down. Ugh, I am such an ass.

“Sorry, that was really sh*tty,” he mutters out. Jirou does not to look at him yet. “That was way outta line. I… I dunno what I was thinking.”

“You never do.” Jirou sighs out. But she is now looking at him. That is a plus, at least.

He tries a smile, “Touche.”

“Which is why it isn’t so weird that you are acting out right now,” Her voice is firm again despite looking like she wants to take a nap. The lines underneath her eyes are more pronounced than they were before. Then Jirou stands up, facing Kaminari properly. She co*cks her hip and crosses her arms over her chest. “Tell me now; Do you think you have a chance with him?”

Oh. That is embarrassing. Jirou could have asked Kaminari to strip right there and he would be just as uncomfortable as he is now.

Okay, that would be more humiliating, but still.

There was a point in that statement, somewhere.

“Uh-” sh*t, make a joke, he start to sweat, make a joke, “Thought we made it clear that I don’t think, babe,”

Jirou does not say anything, she only stares. Which is worse. He continues to stumble around with his tongue and laugh, rubbing his neck and throwing out occasional thumbs up, unable to find any other topic to change the conversation to. Then Kaminari decides to cut the bullsh*t. Her eyes look too much like a judgemental, dead fishes’ pair for him to continue on like this.

“Not really, and can you like, blame me for that? It hasn’t really worked out before.” Kaminari admits at last, still not looking at her.

“I’m neither blaming nor disagreeing with you. Your flirting is horrible.” She agrees, “I’m just saying that if you started thinking things through, you’d see that you do have a chance this time.” That is when Kaminari looks up again. His head is co*cked to the side in a classic confused puppy expression. Jirou is smiling now, a small, self-content smile but it is there. Instead of speaking (he would mouth vomit anyway) Kaminari looks her into the eyes in such a way she knows she will have to explain further. And so she does. “There’s a spectrum, and on each side of the spectrum is two kinda people; the sunshine ones and the moon ones, aka life is wonderful I am happy to be alive all the time kinda people and the I never smile because if I do people might start to think they can approach me type of people.”.

“Sounds like you’re jus’ talking about yourself there,” He quips.

“Shut up. Anyways, Shinsou is definitely deep in the moon part of that spectrum. And so am I. And so is Aizawa. So is Bakugou. We’re all grumpy as balls and people are lowkey, sometimes high key, scared of us. We also don’t like sharing stuff about ourselves, whether it be actual feels or personal space. I for one can count on one hand how many times I’ve let you touch me. Excluding my earphone jacks.” Kaminari opens his mouth to disagree, but he stops himself. Once he really thinks, even pulls out a hand to count, he realizes she is right. Even though they have been good friends for months they don’t really knock shoulders or high five, they just speak through eye contact and read through each others phones. Those habits are intimate and unique to their friendship but still, no touching. Kaminari never even found himself poking or hugging her for sh*t and giggles like he would with Bakugou. Not even when he had a crush on her and a reason to want that sort of body contact. That is simply something Jirou does not want them to do, so they don’t do it.

“Oh,” He mutters out while looking at his hand, four fingers erect while the pinky and ring finger is tucked into his palm, just a bit amazed, “I never realized that before.”

“So you see how private we moon people are. But he isn’t like that with you.” She starts to count on her hand, “He used his own time to make sure you had your damn notebook on you, then he helped you back to the dorms. Just today he asked to paint your nails and when you did the same to him, he didn’t protest. He is seeking you out after school. By moon standards he is head over heels over you already.” Jirou continues to list things and Kaminari feels like his weak little heart will implode.

“Jack, dude, babe, I’m gonna have a f*cking aneurysm if you continue.”

In casual Jirou fashion she rolls her eyes again. She waves a hand in the air in a dismissive manner. “Whatever you say. I’m tired of seeing you dance around like a lovestruck idiot, but I’m not surprised either. While you know a lot about how to push our buttons and stuff, you never got the hang of us moon folk. You’re an extreme sunshine person like that. Understanding these small details are difficult for people who cannot relate to us, but the chaos also makes the dynamic work.” Then she sits down on the chair Bakugou used to occupy. “Well, there you go, I guess. Now that you’ve heard this stuff from my perspective you might actually have the balls to go and get a boyfriend. Thank me later.”

Aw yeah, there they are- the happy emotions. The atmosphere in the room is light again, and Kaminari’s own spirits are now elevated from both the confidence boost and from ending an argument on a good note. While he does think he has a good hang on these so called moon people, he doesn’t bother to argue about that now. Instead he smirks, twirls a foot in a scheming way. The argument might be finished, but this conversation is not.

“But like, sun and moon people are opposites, and opposites attract, obviously. You said it yourself, the dynamic works.” He starts off, voice light and playful. Jirou stills. “So… What sunshine person are you attracted to?”

Her face is now bright red, and wow- okay. He didn’t really expect that. Kaminari has been to self centered lately, he has spent his lunch hours with Shinsou and has failed to pester Jirou about potential crushes. Oh well, he is always up to make up for lost time. Before he could coax out an answer, the door is slammed open again. Almost on cue.

“Heeeey babes,” Mina drawls out while Sero tries to hold her back. She is the third most fit person in their group (right behind Bakugou and Kirishima) therefore she is texting on the phone meanwhile Sero is busting a sweat to hold her back. “ya friend-birdies done fighting cause I NEED to know what my Kami-baby’s gonna wear to his DATE! And- Kami, where the HECK is the baby pink sweater we promised on?!”

When Kaminari turns to look at how Jirou is doing, she looks like she is already suffering. He only grins.

Chapter 26: The fall; The chapter before the “date”

Chapter Text

Shinsou arrives knocking on his door. Kaminari’s heart sings. He doubletakes when he sees that Shinsou is not wearing his complete uniform, his collar disheveled and lacking a tie around it. The scarf he had worn tightly around his neck is now thrown over his broad shoulders. He is wearing grey sweatpants too. Kaminari’s heart will escape its flesh prison one day, and seeing a disheveled Shinsou without his usual uniform will be the sole reason. Kaminari has to force himself to not look at the sweatpants, but Shinsou’s face isn’t any less hotter so he cannot win in this situation.

“Oh.” He says dryly once he sees Kaminari, “You look… Clean.”

That is true. Kaminari took a shower earlier than usual, and he dressed up. He had picked up the jeans that Hagakure once said made his ass look good because hey, he will need all the aid he can get, but he did not go for the baby pink sweater Mina had claimed he promised to wear. Too dressy, he decided in the end. Kaminari choose to layer oversized shirts instead, and he was careful not to use the ones who reached his thigh, even if they do look sick on him. There is no point in wearing them if his ass won’t be in view. He even put on his golden studs too, something he always forgets to do in the morning. Oh, and on the topic of forgetting small details; Bakugou fixed his eyebrows yesterday, and though they were even shorter than they used to be, they were now even. That counts as a win in his book.

Kaminari will take any compliments he can get, even if they do not sound remotely like compliments. He smiles wide and thanks him.

Shinsou looks down on himself as if he has anything to be ashamed of- and well, he does smell like sweat. Like lots of it, too. “I- uh, we don’t use the actual gym when we train, and even if we did I don’t want to stand butt naked with just Midoriya there. That sounds awfully awkward of a situation to be in.”

Shinsou explains himself, a hand on the back of his neck while the other plays with one of the strings. Stop looking, Jesus christ, dude, Kaminari has to remind himself. His gaze flits upwards to his face again. Shinsou looks so mildly awkward and flustered Kaminari almost squeals. Instead of doing just that he bites lip very, very hard. There is really no winning situation here.

He thinks back to his conversation with Jirou, about how she shone with confidence while she told her opinions about him and Shinsou. She had such a lovely energy back then, manifesting in him this time around.

Well, maybe I could make it a win win situation. Kaminari moves aside.

“It’s cool man, you can use my shower if you’ve got the energy for it!” He offers, then he looks around his messy room for a hoodie that is at least one size too big for him. Then he sees it. It is one of the most muted (and edgy) clothing items he owns: completely black with a white font that says ):sad boi hours:(. He had a phase, okay. Just to make sure that the clothing is clean he picks it up and lifts it to his nose. When he deems it worthy he lifts the hoodie up like a trophy and grins towards Shinsou. “Take my hoodie too, we’ll both look sick as hell.”

“You sure about that?” He mutters, eyes blown a little wide from all the information given. And the gifts given, too. Adorable. “It probably won’t fit, I’m way taller than you.”

“I might be small, but I like big clothes. If this won’t fit I got like, ten million other hoodies that will. If the design is the issue I could let you borrow a bee themed one instead, it's neon and has a hyperrealistic hyper horrendous bee on it," He counters him. Shinsou flares his nostrils at the offering, and Kaminari has to stop talking just to bend and laugh. When he is done he waves the edgy hoodie around a little as if that would tempt him any further. He is still chuckling when he talks again, “What do ya say, big guy?”

Cats are smart. Instead of acting like dogs who are happy to please, they think things through. If they think that someone is not worth their attention, then they will use their body language and tell you just that to your face. A cat wouldn’t actually tell you that to your face, Kaminari ponders internally. The bare thought of that makes him shiver. If a cute cat developed functioning human vocal chords just to tell him to f*ck off he would actually cry. While Kaminari probably won’t cry if Shinsou declines his offer, the look on the taller males face reads just the same as an evaluating cat.

He ends up reaching for the hoodie, giving Kaminari a polite thank you as he finally takes it in his own grip. Their hands touch for a second. His heart melts again. Cats never flock to him, never gives him the time of their day, even. His quirk makes their fur spike up and they don’t like that, but at least Shinsou doesn’t have anything for him to rise.

Kaminari shows him how to use the shower, then he leaves the bathroom for Shinsou to do his thing. While he waits he opens a messaging app.

Me
“im a d umbbas ss"

U used to call me on my sero phone
“lol true”
“why tho”

Me
“he is showering @ my place rn”
“he gunna come out wearing MY hoodie”
“AND G R E Y S W E A T P A N T S”

Eijibro
“Ground urself man, do yuo remembr the breathing exercises we went thru w/ bakubae?”

Rosy maple moth
“but Kiriii, how does a dead boi use breathing exercises”
“he dead”
“he dont breathe”

U used to call me on my sero phone
“dats true but c’mon mina, you’re the relationship enthusiast here be a lil more optimisticc”

Rosy maple moth
“sero,,,,, sero bby”
“NO ONE survives grey sweatpants”

Jirobro
“rip”

After Jirou’s message the rest spam him with rip’s. Kaminari was going to retort with something sassy to stop them, but then he heard the water run. He drops the phone back on his bed and falls down face first into his pillow.

Their condolences should be appreciated, he will need them after all.

Exactly three minutes go by before Kaminari lifts his face and reaches for the phone. The boredom is simply too infuriating to him, and so is listening to the loud shower go off with only his imagination to keep him distracted. While he was gone Mina had asked why Shinsou is showering and about to wear his clothes in the first place.

Me
“bae came str8 from training so i let him clean up coss im nice like dat”
“and coss im dummy”

Eijibro
“awee thats sweet!”

U used to call me on my sero phone
“sweat*”
“;)”

Eijibro
“noo i spelled it right this tiem :(”

Bakubro
“SOY SAUCE I WILL rIP YOUR GREASY face OFF"

U used to call me on my sero phone
">:(“

U used to call me on my Sero phone changed Bakubro’s nickname to ”BakuBITCH”

U used to call me on my Sero phone
“did an ooopsie gotta blast rn"

Jirobro
"ugh what a legend"

Eijibro
"I can haer him blastin through the hallway this is so embrrasin"

Kaminari can already hear the ruckus from inside his room, Bakugous voice barely audible but it is there, shouting after Sero. He must have abandoned his phone on his hunt. Kaminari smirks. With the tap of his keyboard he has changed Bakugou’s nickname from “bakuBITCH” to “bakudick”. Mina wrote out a long keysmash before changing it to “bakubooty” and Jirou changed it once again to “bakutit*”. When Kirishima changes it to “bakubabe :D” Kaminari changes it to “bakuwhor*” and they just continue, enticed by the adrenaline angering Bakugou thus endangering your life gives you.

The bathroom door opens and once the slow creak reaches his ears he stops breathing. He lifts his head carefully and chants don’t panic don’t panic don’t pani-

There Shinsou stands, looking snug and warm and perfect. The hoodie fits him like it is his own and his scarf makes him look even more cozier. And his hair is fluffy. That perplexes Kaminari. How is it still so fluffy and how does it continue to stand up like that after the shower? Kaminari did not even hear his hairdryer while he was waiting for him. He leans more upfront, brows furrowed while he is studying the fluff on top of Shinsou’s head.

“Did you, did you like, hardwire my hairdryer to not make a sound?” Kaminari asks him, a weak finger pointed to his head.

“Yes, I hardwired your hair dryer, which has been sitting on your desk this entire time with my bare hands, all under five minutes.” He responds, all mysterious and sarcastic.

That’s it, Kaminari cannot take it anymore. He almost throws himself away from his bed, rolls his chair so it is in front of Shinsou and plants one foot on his chair before shakily lifting the other up as well. One hand grips the closet beside him so the knuckles turn white, and he leans forward so he can see the fluff more up close. While Shinsou raises his arms instinctively so they float beside Kaminari in a protective manner he still questions what the hell it is that he is doing, and Kaminari answers. “Your hair- it can’t just that naturally big, I need to know dude, how did it dry so fast-” Then the chair moves and he trips.

But he doesn’t trip.

Shinsou catches him by the waist and pulls him close before he could fall, the chair toppling over while Kaminari has his face now full of lavender curls. They feel just as soft as they look, spare quite the amount of tangles. The smell is also doing something to his very soul, because while they carry Shinsou’s natural scent they smell like his own shampoo, too. There is something domestic about it which prompts Kaminari’s heart to beat faster. Kaminari is not the type to settle down fast. When he imagined himself having a roomate later in life he always thought it would be the bakusquad and him trying to figure out adulthood and being rowdy together. But the thought of having Shinsou there amongst his own surroundings, wearing his shirts and shampoo, smelling just an ounce of him, seems just as tempting now too. Shinsou's cheek is pressed against his collarbone, just above his beating chest. Kaminari wants to keep him there forever, but he might also die if they don’t stop hugging. But -just but- wouldn’t this be such a good way to go?

Because- Because Shinsou is holding him, and his arms are strong and he doesn’t even seem to struggle to keep him up either. They simply snuck around his torso like they were always supposed to do that. Kaminari had put his own arms around Shinsous neck during his supposed fall, and he doesn’t feel inclined to pull them away either. After a beat of actually blissful silence (those are rare for him) Shinsou speaks up. He can feel his deep voice against his own chest. “Kaminari.”

“Yeah?” He sighs out.

“You are not falling anymore."

“I’m a lil’ slow,” Kaminari mumbles out a half assed excuse, “the gust of wind’s blowing my hair back real dramatic and my back’s like, one second from hitting the floor and it’s gonna break in half and I’m gonna be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of my life. I will never be a hero. I’ll have to sell feet pics to get by in my life and my dad will say I told you so/i>. He always says that, but the I-told-you-so o’meter will double once he sees me exit the hospital in a wheelchair. The I-told-you-so o'meter will get to my head since I hate it so much and then Imma die."

Shinsou chuckles, then he adjusts his grip, sliding one hand down his spine so it is holding on to the small of Kaminari’s waist. “That is surprisingly morbid. And dramatic.” He comments and no, it is not. Not really. Kaminari’s skin is on fire, especially his back where Shinsou’s hand is cradling him, splayed fingerpads sending electricity through his body, roasting him well. He will die, just not for the reason he had explained.

He is so out of it he does not register Shinsou moving, one foot at a time, towards the bed.

“I ain’t all sunshines and rainbows dude, I can get really f*cked too,” He blurts out, “Once I almost electrocuted all the guys when we were showering after training, made a pun outta it and pissed myself laughing. Did not help the situation at all. I think my pee could aid their deaths, actually.”

“Really?”

“Really really, man. I haven’t tried my thesis out yet, because it is kinda gross. What would I even electrocute with my piss? None of my classmates, Iida would throw a fit for sure, knock me out too, because at that moment Kaminari, you became a threat to your fellow classmates. That’s actually what happened during the shower incident. Knocked the pun right outta me too.” He continues to blabber on. He deepened his voice so it would resemble Iida’s too, but his imitation resembled Goofy more than anything.

"I do hope you feel guilty for almost killing your classmates.” Shinsou teases- Kaminari suspects. The tone is different than the usual dry one. He can only explain it as more full.

Kaminari’s feet sinks into his mattress, and he pulls his face away from the purple to look down to see that he is indeed standing on his bed. Then he turns his eyes to look at Shinsou whom is still holding onto his waist, whom because of Kaminari standing on a bed is now looking upwards to him, smiling, pupils blown wide. Kaminari forgets to breathe. “Y-yeah,” He manages to stutter out with wide eyes, too busy soaking up the smile given to him instead of giving back an intelligent comeback. Kaminari knows he forgets things fast, but he also knows that he will ingrain this image into his brain, and it will stay in there for a long, long time.

They are so close right now, chest to chest, and Kaminari could just lean forward just a little and then- Then-

His knees buckle by the mere thought of it, and that is when his feet tangle up in the ratty tiger pattern blanket underneath him. Their foreheads knock together, which hurt way more than he thought should be possible. He sinks down into the bed, holding on to the top of his face while he moans in pain. Shinsou continues to stand there, completely still with his arms still reaching out as if Kaminari was still in between them. Then he looks down to him, blinking.

Ugh, you could give Tetsu a run for his money, your head’s made of literal steel, dude.”

“Sorry. It is a curse,” He comments automatically, voice completely blank of any emotion. Different from how it sounded a few seconds ago. “The bigger the forehead the bigger the headaches."

“For sure, man.”

Kaminari shimmies off the bed, standing on shaking legs. He straightens himself out and grins up to Shinsou, face still burning and mind reeling. Wasn’t I towering over him a second ago? His mind shoots out questions in rapid speed, those arms are supposed to be around me now, why are they not doing that?

“C’mon, I didn’t break my spine this time so we need to get out of here before I do!”

Shinsou nods along, and when they walk out of the door and through the dorms hallway they stand far apart. Kaminari does not know why that is.

Chapter 27: Spoiler; They do not make it to the arcade

Chapter Text

“Hey,” Kaminari tests his luck and tugs on Shinsou’s (well, technically it is his) sleeve, “I wanna meet Bean, care to introduce us?”

Fortunately for him Shinsou does not pull away, but his face is still devoid of any emotions, completely unreadable. It would be a total understatement for Kaminari to say he is discouraged by it. But he smiles anyway, searching his face for any hint on what went wrong without outright asking him. Then Shinsou looks away and shrugs. He sets a fast pace again. Shinsou doesn’t say anything, and the silence is the type of silence that makes it hard for even Kaminari to say anything. Kaminari pulls his hand away from the sleeve, shoving them deep into his own pockets.

“Are you sure you want to go to the cafe now? I thought we could eat first.”

Shinsou finally speaks up, and Kaminari almost laughs. is this the reason behind the radio silence? What order they should do things today? He must have worried over nothing.

Scratch that, Kaminari does laugh. “It’s your call dude, I’m just happy to be here.”

“It is not just my call, Kaminari,” he shivers once his name is spoken by the rich voice, but Shinsou must not have noticed. He continues on speaking, actually looking at him this time. Kaminari did not notice that Shinsou had been avoiding his gaze until now. “You might be content just standing around doing whatever I do, but I didn’t get you out of the dorms for that.”

All he can do is stare at first. What else is he even supposed to do? He sure as hell cannot say anything back, the butterflies will escape his mouth and ambush Shinsou if he opens it. Either that or he will ruin the moment, which is also likely, given his current track record. Kaminari tries to speak anyway. His mouth only opens and closes. He quietly curses Shinsou too, because talking is the only thing Kaminari can do, something he enjoys doing, but now he cannot speak either. Then he blesses him and aches to hug him, because Kaminari suspects that one thing he would like just as much as talking is shower Shinsou in well deserved affection.

Kaminari cannot help it- Instead of grabbing Shinsous sleeve he grabs his wrist instead, almost running to the first simple dining place his jumbled brain can conjure up. Shinsou does not protest against him either. His brain regains enough function for him to talk garbled nonsense about different fast foods and whatever comes to mind but Shinsou himself. Kaminari has enough common sense to figure out that will probably make their evening way more awkward than necessary. After a rocky start out of the school gates none of them will need that. Therefore he stops himself from admitting how good Shinsou looks in his hoodie, that he is welcome to steal Kaminaris whole collection, that he can do whatever he wants with his belongings, and really, do what you want with me too, dude- He stops himself again, now talking about a commercial he once saw.

Somehow Kaminari had babbled his way to front of a cashier in a mcdonalds.

The cashier is looking at him with a crumpled smile. The baggy eyes are already berating him for not giving his order the moment he walked to the counter, probably opting to burn him alive given the veins popping around them, too. Intimidated, Kaminari looks back to Shinsou, who only shrugs back at him.

He looks back to the cashier, a crooked smile on his face and a finger gun already out, brain completely empty.

They make their order. Kaminari is now a different man.

The two boys sit down in a corner table across one another, and Kaminari hides his face in his hands.

“At least you won’t starve,” Shinsou says, hands clasped in front of him and cheshire grin plastered on his face, “With your- what was it- with those 29 chicken nuggets that you ordered.”

Kaminari groans out loud, face burning hot. He had completely f*cked up his order. His eyes were watching both the menu board behind the cashier and the actual cashier, still unable to read anything because mentally, he was singing along to an old mcdonalds commercial he had seen as a little kid. Pepper in the fact he was distracted by Shinsou and how good he looked, it had been very difficult for him to focus on what to order. He didn’t even know what he paid for until he got the receipt back: A banana milkshake, large pack of fries, nacho cheese dip and exactly 29 chicken nuggets.

“I didn’t even order a burger.” He continues to groan, but what has been done has been done. The cashier had waved him away before he could think of remaking his order.

“I could give you mine if you hand over some nuggets.”

Kaminari almost falls off his seat then.

“Shinsou, my man, my hero,” He rasps out. While holding eye contact he puts both of his hands over Shinsou’s clasped ones, “I will give you all my nuggets and a cow.”

Shinsou blinks like a surprised owl, but he manages to continue to smile without it looking out of place, which for Kaminari is an absolute feat. Kaminari himself knows he is being weird now, but that is simply how enthusiastic he is about burgers. Shinsou leans forward and looks deeply into Kaminaris eyes as if searching for knowledge of the universe. He always makes everything so deep, especially when he lowers his voice even further, just like that.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with a cow.”

“Make more burgers.”

He pulls his hand away so he could cup it over his smile in an attempt to hide his snort. Kaminari smirks, not that upset anymore.

When their order comes to the table they switch. He is impressed to see Shinsou had ordered what Kaminari would have if he had been in the right state of mind. Kaminari moves to give Shinsou the whole box but he refuses. He says that he won’t be able to eat all of them anyways, let’s make it a team effort. “I can almost hear Midoriya’s spirit in you right now,” He teases him, and Shinsou kicks his shin underneath the table. Kaminari kicks back, and they continue back and forth. Kaminari thought it was a cute method of flirting until his feet got sore and he had to stop before bruises started to appear on him.

They do not finish the box, however Kaminari wanted a change of location so they walk out anyway.

“Look, I’m leading us to the arcade now, am I doing the thing you got me out of the dorms for now?” Kaminari continues to tease him, because Shinsou looks cute when he blushes and Kaminari is still a little petty about the shin kicking. Just a little petty. It didn’t even hurt. (It hurt like a bitch.)

Before his mood can turn sour Kaminari sees it, that cute pink color and pout; Kaminari is in love. He burrows his face a little more deeper into the scarf around his shoulders. He looks so much like Aizawa with the fluffy thing around him, and Kaminari finds that incredible. Maybe he will have to take a picture- His phone is already out and while Shinsou looks by some shop windows, he snaps a picture. When Shinsou turns to look at him with a suspicious stare, he only smiles charmingly back as he pockets the phone. Shinsou must not care much about it, since Kaminari forgot to turn flash off too.

He shakes his head and continues to speak. “Either it was saying that or do what I normally do; lounge around looking suspicious.”

Kaminari co*cks his head to the side, “Nuh uh, that can’t be all you do, what about Bean?”

“I visit the cafe weekly, but otherwise I do my homework, stalk cats, and walk around till some stranger has hooked me to a conversation. Sorry if it isn’t what you expected, but I’m always exhausted after school and the extra training. I don’t have the energy to do anything interesting every day.” Shinsou explains and he hums along. Even though Kaminari cannot relate he understands why someone like Shinsou would find endless activities after school difficult. He is not the kind of person to have boundless energy after all. Kaminari tries to relate though, to see how it would be difficult to do something fun in the city everyday-

Wait, did he say every day? That doesn’t make sense. Not even Kaminari could do that before, and he always hung out with his middle school friends whenever he could. Kaminaris parents even demanded him to be home after school sometimes, so how can Shinsou be out everyday-

“Cat!”

Kaminari points out, and Shinsou snaps his head around to see where he is pointing. And there the little fella is, colored mostly white with a dark snout and feet.

He is about to try meow at it to attract it over to him, which never works but hey, one day it might.

But Shinsou beats him to it.

While he is crouched down, Shinsou opens the chicken nugget box and rolls a nugget towards the cat. It catches the suspicious meat with excited claws and starts to eat. While it is eating Shinsou beckons for Kaminari to crouch down, and he follows because Shinsou has obviously more experience than him. Then he rolls another nugget, but it doesn’t go as far this time, forcing the cat to come closer to them. Shinsou made a noise with his mouth this time too, and the cat looks up with big eyes before dining. He does this occasionally, and in the end the cat starts to walk towards him. Kaminari can only marvel at the skill. The cat has spread itself across Shinsous lap, rubbing its small head against his palm. Kaminari is not jealous at all.

“How- How did you-” He tries to question, but Kaminari suspects he wouldn’t be able to understand. He only stares from far away, until Shinsou advises him to come with his free hand. Kaminari scrambles to him as quietly as he can, but he is still uncertain about touching the furry thing. “Cats don’t like me much, s’my quirk.” Kaminari clears up when Shinsou tilts his head towards him.

His response makes the cat whisperer ponder as if he is trying to find a way to let Kaminari successfully pet the cat, too. Which is very sweet of him, but also a lost cause. Not even his aunt’s cat likes him, and she is hairless. He tries to not let the constant rejection that cute animals give him hurt because hey, he is good friends with Mina’s gecko, and Kirishima’s rottweiler only tried to bite him once. He is grateful for that, because Riot is a giant and his front teeth are the size of full grown bananas.

Shinsou’s elbow hits him on the rib, waking Kaminari up from a rather unpleasant memory about when he was about to be swallowed whole by his friends dog. When the blond looks down he sees that the cat is eating again, so he shoots his shot, hand touching the tips of its ears. And it does not try to claw at him, who would have thought. “Uhm, wow” He turns to smile to Shinsou, then he looks down again, feeling the pressure dawn upon him. How the f*ck do you pet a cat? “Holy sh*t I’m petting a cat. I didn’t expect to come this far- like, dude, what am I supposed to do now? Where are the no-no zones? When will it try to eat me?”

“He.” Shinsou corrects. Kaminari has no idea how Shinsou figured that out, which only impresses him further. Kaminari does not see the smile on the cat whisperers face, he is too busy freaking out.

“sh*t, sorry man. Okay, so when will he eat me?”

Shinsou continues to explain that the cat won’t eat him, and where the so called no-no zones are. Kaminari is able to calm down. The purring helped, working like a small yet exquisite massaging chair, but instead of massaging your physical body it massages your soul.

In the end the cat walks away, and Kaminari asks Shinsou why he let it go. He only shrugs back, “He was way too friendly to us to be a stray cat. Actual stray cats rarely approach you after just two nuggets. Didn’t act like he was worried about being lost either. He is probably an outdoor cat, and outdoor cats knows their way home.”

“But he didn’t have a collar!”

“It is likely that he has a chip on him,” Shinsou turns to look at Kaminari again, “we can go and deliver him to a shelter if you’re still worried.”

That makes Kaminari stop to think, because what does he even know of cats anyways? Shinsou is literally a cat whisperer, he even knows the genitalia of a cat he just met, while this was the first time in a long time Kaminari over here ever pet one. But still, he has become attached to the little thing and he doesn’t want it to suffer and freeze out in the cold. While they are still crouched down Kaminari puts his hands on Shinsou’s shoulders, grim expression on him.

“Tell me first, cat whisperer, is my little buddy safe out there in this cold, cold world?”

Shinsou pursues his lips for a moment. He starts to look unsure too, and that alarms Kaminari. Then he sighs and stands up, “okay, let’s find the damn thing again.”

Kaminari hoots, takes out a few nuggets and they start to search.

They find him crouched under a bush sipping alcohol from a nearby bottle, and with expert-like hands Shinsou lifts him up. They talk on their way to the shelter, Kaminari dominating the conversation since Shinsou was also focusing on the road. He is enjoying himself anyway, shoulders relaxed and the grip on the cat loose yet comfortable.

“Hey, Brainwash!”

Someone very drunk shouts very loud. Shinsou stops for a second, not relaxed anymore. He resumes walking, even faster than before, and Kaminari tries to do the same. Kaminari cannot help but notice that Shinsou is pulling the cat even closer to him, too.

“How long you gonna run away, huh? Damn puss*! Come and hang a little, do a couple favours for us, bud! It won’t take long, you know that!”

They had walked fast enough for the voice to become fainter and fainter. Now Kaminari cannot hear it anymore. The only thing he can hear is his own too curious thoughts clogging up his brain.

He hesitates for a second, but Kaminari rarely gives into said hesitation.

“Old friend?” He tries to sound as casual as he can. He even takes a bite of the nugget he was supposed to feed the cat with.

“Not at all.” Shinsou stares back at him. “Don’t even think that, either.”

His face is carefully blank again, but his eyebrows are furrowed so deep the veins on his forehead might start to pulsate soon. Kaminari nods along quickly, singing out an okay and whistling a broken tune. Wow, he really stepped over a boundary there, and he only said two words. He cannot lie, he is impressed with himself. If only it wouldn’t make Shinsou so moody. Kaminari is silent for a few more second until he breaks. It is a bad habit of his. “Do you even know the guy? I won’t judge if you do, I used to know a guy who’d do tattoos on himself with a needle, and that was like, super hot, pinky promise.”

Shinsou sighs and he mutters out a dejected “we’re here.” When Kaminari looks back to what is in front of him, he realizes that Shinsou is right. The cat shelter is still open, and Shinsou has already walked in without Kaminari realizing it. Kaminari stalls, wondering if Shinsou will snap if he follows him inside, but then he decided that f*ck it, I’m cold. He opens the heavy door and walks in, and he is flooded by the heat. Sure, Kaminari was aware that it was cold outside and that he had started to shiver, but was it really that cold?

He can see Shinsou stand by the counter talking with the worker behind it, but if honesty is truly a virtue Kaminari has to admit that he is further distracted by the lone cat sitting by the window sill and its elegant, swishing tail. It is black with long fur, and therefore at first glance Kaminari decides to let it be, those with long fur hates him more than the shorthairs. But then he sees something that piques his interest again; the cat has one hind leg missing. Now he is curious again. How does it support its weight, does it stumble around like a baby horse? If it does, that would be a beautiful sight to see. Kaminari steps closer to the cat, and thinks back to what Shinsou had done to get the white cat to approach them. He crouches down and sneaks his way to the window sill, just like how the cool spies in action movies avoid lasers. Then Kaminari realizes he still has the half eaten nugget on him. He smacks the nugget down beside the cat with a little pizzazz, proud of himself for forgetting to eat it. The cat pokes on the chicken before it starts to eat and Kaminari makes the occasional weird sound to signal his presence, ready to pet and love.

Once it is done with the meal it looks up to Kaminari with big, yellow eyes, and Kaminari stares back. If this cat is at all normal it should hiss at him by now, try to get away from him, anything. But it does not. Even when its fur starts to rise, it stays seated there. It pokes its little pink tongue out. Out of pure terror Kaminari pokes out his tongue, too. Then it lifts its paw and Kaminari flinches, but instead of scratching him it bops him on the nose. He almost cries. He stays there, petting the soft cat so it purrs and swishes its tail at him. Somehow Kaminari ended up sitting on his ass, and the cat is in his arms now. Kaminari can physically feel the serotonin make its way into his brain.

When he turns to see how Shinsou is doing by the counter, he stops dead in his tracks.

Both Shinsou and the lady behind the register are looking at him. They are smiling. Shinsou is now leaning against the counter, hands inside his pocket and face not as guarded anymore, relaxed this time around. It reminds Kaminari of when Shinsou caught him during his fall, and before he can make any assumptions, embarrassment grounds him. Kaminari tries an awkward smile. Then Shinsou turns to the lady, muttering something that Kaminari cannot hear.

Minutes later Shinsou is walking to the door.

“Bring him with you.”

“What?” Kaminari yells, even though he does fix the position of the cat in his arms before running after him, “Why? Did you buy him? Only Kouda are allowed to have pets in the dorms- I have never had a cat before, they don’t like me-”

Shinsou shrugs like it is no big deal. As if he didn’t buy Kaminari his first pet, a milestone his parents never let him reach. “Teachers can have pets too I reckon, so I signed him under Aizawa’s name. Although to persuade him we will have to buy all the necessary equipment on our own first. Once he agrees I can come back here to get him chipped, and there you have it: one cat that can stand you.”

Kaminari continues to stare at him, at the self satisfied smile playing out on Shinsou’s lips.

At first glance Kaminari did not take Shinsou for a chaotic bastard, but he is quick to realize there is no other explanation to what has taken place. Pure, pure chaos. He stares in awe.

They find a supermarket and decide that since Shinsou bought the cat, Kaminari will pay for the rest of the expenses. Even though the arrangement counts as suspicious to the highest degree, he agrees. And sh*t, Kaminari did not realize how expensive cat food was. He lets Shinsou hold the cat so he can go and find a vending machine outside. On his way in he makes sure to bring a shopping cart with him.

When he finds them again he sees that Shinsou has put the fluffy ball of loveliness into his scarf, and that the fluff is now batting at the fabric with its pink paws. Before he greets them Kaminari snaps a quick picture. The flash was turned off this time. If Shinsou notices him he doesn’t say anything. Shinsou greets him with a question instead, “What will you name him?”

“Nugget.”

The answer came faster than he himself had anticipated. But he stands by it. Even when Shinsou laughs at him. In fact, he is even more confident in his choice when Shinsou laughs. Nugget only meows at them, reminding them to get back to work. Shinsou turns around, looking over the pet aisle.

“So we need a litter box, food and water bowls, collar, brushes, food, toys-”

“Oh, I’ve got some cat toys already. They’re fun.”

Kaminari speaks up, but he follows the rest and puts a litter box and a few bowls in the cart. Shinsou turns to look at him with a figurative question mark above his head. Then he turns his head away and continues to list necessities in monotone, as if he figured out he is not that surprised anyways. “Scratching posts are important, but I guess that is too much for now-”

Kaminari gasps. “I have a scratching post!”

That must be the last straw, because Shinsou turns around again and he doesn’t look back. His face is blank in the sort of way where you know there is a war going on behind it. The blank breaks for Shinsou to smile a cheshire grin.

“Let me guess: they’re fun.”

Kaminari grins back.

When all the cat necessities are put in the cart and Kaminari picks up a bike lock to buy, Shinsou does not question him. When they put the items into bags and Kaminari puts all the bags into the cart again, he does not ask questions. Once they are out in the streets and Kaminari has yet to let go off the cart, Shinsou breaks. He asks a question.

“Do you want to get in?”

Kaminari resembles royalty when he steps out of the shopping cart with Nugget underneath one arm and Shinsou holding his other to keep him steady. Like the mastermind he is he puts the bike lock around a bike rack and the cart. He feels like an absolute madman once he spikes the metal of the cart with electricity, which would then zap any thief who dare try and reach for the cart. They walk into the cafe, and once they do Kaminari understands why Shinsou visits the place so often. It smells like coffee and happiness. There are plenty of other cats in the cafe, and some perk up when they see Shinsou. Others doesn’t give a sh*t. Even some of the baristas gives more of a sh*t, one pretty girl greets him with a “You came later than usual, Shinsou!” and Kaminari cannot help but feel a little jealous. Miss, did this wonderful guy drive you around the city in a shopping cart after buying you a cat? I didn’t think so. He steps a little closer to him for good measure. When Shinsou gives him a mildly puzzled look he only smiles back.

They sit down beside a window and some cats crowd them already, one Kaminari can somewhat recognize. It is orange, and looks like a bitch. “So Kaminari, this is Bean. You are now introduced.” Shinsou says, one hand raking through the ginger fur so she purrs. She hisses at Kaminari, and exhaustion hits him hard in the gut. He knows he said he wanted to meet her, but having Monoma as a nemesis is annoying enough, but this kitty that Shinsou is fond of? This will be a tough one, an opponent that Kaminari is unsure he can ever win against. The smug look on her face shows him that she already knows this. A waitress comes to take their order, so at least Kaminari can battle off the exhaustion plaguing him with caffeine.

Bored, he stares back up to Shinsou again, ready to test the waters again. “But that guy though, the drunk one from before; did you know him?”

Shinsou does not react to his question, he continues to pet Bean instead.

“I don’t know.” He says, not even bothering to shrug this time.

“You don’t know if you know the guy?” He finds himself peeved by the vague answer. Usually the mysterious air Shinsou wears around him is attractive, but now Kaminari wants straight answers, “what does that even mean?”

Bean hisses towards him. Kaminari guesses that is fair.

Due to pettiness on his side the fur of the tail spikes up. They always hate that

“Just because I have talked to someone doesn’t mean that I know him, Kaminari. I don’t know his personality, nor his intentions, but I bet I could take a good guess without him wasting my type approaching me though. Those types always try to rope me into their bullsh*t. They relate to me, somehow. Either that or they want me to use my quirk for their own gain.” Shinsou says, the more he speaks the more clenched his teeth become. Nugget paws at Shinsou cheek as if she could read his mood and was trying to lighten him up. It works, because the lines of Shinsou’s jaw loosens and so does his shoulders. As a thank you Kaminari presses a kiss to the back of his furry head.

For once he leans back to think. It doesn’t help that he can’t relate to what Shinsou explained. The only way people have used his Quirk for their own gain was by shoving chords into his mouth, but that isn’t necessarily suspicious: Their phone needed charging, and Kaminari, their friend, functions better for this task than an actual charger, let’s ask him if he’s up, then! He is always up, too, not at all offended by being used for his quirk. In fact, people should use their quirks more. He finds the firm regulations of Quirks counterproductive. It is natural for people to want to develop their quirks, but Kaminari can still come in trouble with authorities solely for charging his phone in public. The only way you could use your abilities to its fullest potential is to either become a hero or a villain, and becoming a villain is much easier when you have nothing to lose; when you have bad intentions.

“I hope he’s relatin’,” Kaminari says, “It’d be mad dumb of him to think he would use you like that. And trust me, I know mad dumb.”

“I trust you.”

Those three words causes Kaminaris heart to flutter, but then he remembers the context and he slaps Shinsous shoulder while whining. Shinsou turns to look properly at him, and Kaminari is a little too tired to become flustered again by the expression he is wearing. His smile only softens.

Then Shinsou comments again, “You really are an optimist.”

The waitress arrives with their order just then, and Kaminari heaves for his sugary latte. After taking a few hot gulps his head clears up. The cats continue to avoid him, but Kaminari is at peace with that. He has Shinsous eyes on him and a fluffy Nugget on him, and that is pretty much all he needs for now. “Yeah, I don’t really fit the pessimist bill, so optimist it is.” He shrugs, sipping more of his coffee.

“If you’re such an optimist,” He starts off, “Why did you turn down Mic’s offer?”

Shinsou doesn’t say anything else afterwards, so Kaminari knows it is his turn to speak. He throws out his finger guns again. Even winks, action completely exaggerated.

“You saying I did a mic drop?”

Shinsou only glares at him, but Kaminari can see that he is suppressing a smile. Just for that he deserves a straight answer. Kaminari groans anyway. Just because he deserves honesty doesn’t mean Kaminari will enjoy giving it to him. “... That’s different. Teachers never give me tasks like that cos they know I’m a mess. The messiest. Teachers don’t like me.”

“That isn’t true. Mic likes you.”

“What- No! That’s just loud blond solidarity, that’s a whole other thing!”

Shinsou rolls his eyes again, taking a long sip of the coffee. He looks back at him afterwards, petting Bean and some other cat. Kaminari lets him study him. “You and Monoma are both loud blonds. But you don’t like each other. Despite your so called loud blond solidarity, you hate each other, even,” Shinsou argues back, “Much like how Mic sees you as a good student on your performance all alone, obnoxious hair colors aside.”

He doesn’t really know what to say to that. In all honesty he doesn’t know any of his teachers well enough to make such a statement, he is only going by his past experiences. However Kaminari can tell that Shinsou and Mic are close from when he saw them interact, so it is not like he can tell Shinsou that he is wrong.

Well, technically I could, if I wanted to look like an idiot, he ponders shortly but he has struggled to act more civilized around Shinsou to let the moron in him slip up now.

“Why are you bringing that up?” Kaminari asks him instead while he lifts a cup to his mouth. The question caught Shinsou off guard for a second, eyes widening before they go narrow again. He leans into Kaminaris space, one arm resting on the spine of the seating between them. He stops drinking his coffee. Of course Kaminari can feel his skin start to heat up from the proximity, his breath hitching for a second. He doesn’t avoid looking at him, even if his heart threaten to jump out off its cage. He isn’t sure he could look away even then.

“Mic made me.”

Kaminari blinks his eyes open, didn’t even realize that they had almost closed themselves. Then he registers the answer, and wow, is he disappointed. He even pulls away.

“He really has faith in you, Kaminari. He was the one who gave me the permit of letting you go outside. I even used his money to buy you Nugget. That is how much he is willing to bribe you into taking this opportunity: Enough bills for a whole pet. If that doesn’t show you how much trust he has in your potential then I don’t know what does.” Shinsou must have understood that his reply was not the one Kaminari wanted, because while he explains himself he leans even further in, as if coaxing Kaminari to look at him and focus only on him. For once Kaminari does not oblige. He turns his face further away.

The attention becomes a little too much, even for him. Yet he wants more. Kaminari did not get the the answer he wanted. Shinsou is not understanding what he should understand either; that Kaminari is numb to what they think of him.

While he harbour fear for teachers and will cry if they shout at him, he isn’t itching to prove himself either. A teachers praise would probably do him good, and while knowing that one trusts him is flattering, his friends trusts him, too. His classmates trusted him to keep evidence of Mineta’s behavior, he has a good social circle. At this point he doesn’t need some middle aged man to give him a head pat. In fact, he rarely needed confirmation from older people as a child either. That is another reason as to why the middle school teachers hated him so much, if you ignored all the pranks and misbehavior on his part; Kaminari never cared to try and please them or earn their praise, he goofed around and didn’t care if they found him annoying. To get his blood pumping he even sought the yelling out sometimes. The only reason as to why he is scared of Aizawa and wants to please him is one: Aizawa is scary on his own and a much more respectable person than his old teachers, and two: he has a close bond to Shinsou. If Kaminari wants to make it into the family he can’t piss him off too much. In fact, he might have to earn his trust. He’s done good without the praise otherwise, and isn’t dependent on it now either. No, the recognition he wants isn’t from a teacher, but… But.

How the hell is he supposed to say that?

Oh, f*ck it. He will try anyway, even if he will have to twiddle his thumbs and mumble it out.

“But, do you?”

“Do I what?” Kaminari knows he is not trying to be mean, that adorable head tilt says as much. That does not make the reply any less cruel of him. Kaminari almost winces because of it.

“Do you trust my abilities or whatever,” He continues to mumble while avoiding eye contact, “Cos I just care when they start to yell at me, but it’s different when it’s you.”

The cafe is silent afterwards, save for the occasional purrs and meows from the cats surrounding Shinsou and the one Nugget in Kaminaris arms. When Shinsou moves away the heavy atmosphere follows with him, creating more space between them all the same. His breathing had stopped due to the close proximity and he appreciates the fresh air the space gives him, but he cannot help the disappointment settling into his very skin. Kaminari chances a look up towards him, and Shinsou is truly having a battle with himself this time. He is staring at thin air, frown plastered into his hard face. His own face grimaces at the implications. Kaminari doesn’t think that twisted facial expression is a good thing at all.

His eyes go wide like he saw a ghost, and he speaks with a light tremble to his deep voice. “I do.”

“Man, not even you sound convinced by that.”

“No that’s not it, I am just processing it myself.” He explains, rubbing the back of his neck while he continues to stare into space. “I don’t believe in people most of the time. Except Aizawa and Yamada, probably, maybe.”

Kaminari cannot help how his eyebrows twinges upwards from that reply. He is getting worried by the minute.

“Shinsou, that sounds awful.”

“Yeah, I did not formulate that sentence properly,” He sighs out, “You know the drunk from before? I know a lot of people like him. I grew up with people like him. So I don’t trust easily, but you… You can make it as a part time english tutor. I trust you.”

They want to use my quirk for their own gain. His heart drops to his stomach. I grew up with people like him..

It is Kaminari’s turn to lean forward, biting his lip the entire time. He looks up to Shinsou, who doesn’t look at all bothered by what he admitted. And Kaminari knows he has a good poker face, but Shinsou has proven a poker face could only do so much. His tone turns snappy once he is agitated, he avoids eye contact, his jaw is more set and shoulders broader, like he is using his tall frame as a shield for the invulnerable inside. But now he is looking at Kaminari with none of those warning signs on him, as if thinking most people are out to get you is normal to him. That thought makes Kaminari pale even further. What if it is? Did he say that he is out late every day?

“Shinsou,” According to the usual human standards Kaminari’s voice is not above a whisper, but to Kaminaris standards it is low enough his throat itches when he speaks. He cannot even believe what he is about to say next, it is not his style at all to be the responsible one. “What does your parents think of you staying out late like this?”

There it is; the tenseness of his jaw. Kaminari wants to rub on it so the muscles relax and Shinsou stops looking upset. But instead he waits as patiently as he can.

Shinsou looks down for a moment then, playing with a striped cat’s toe beans.

“Nothing. I don’t live with them.” He admits.

That makes sense.

He berates himself for thinking that. It shouldn’t make sense that people are getting abandoned by their parents, it shouldn’t really be a thing at all, if you’re asking him. He tries to play it of cool, leaning away again and whistling. “Oh, so you don’t have curfews at orphanages?”

Shinsous face twitches a little, the movement resembling a half hearted flinch. Kaminari is ready to apologize for whatever he said that caused the reaction, he hasn’t talked to an orphan about this kind of stuff before, he isn’t even sure that he has talked to an orphan before today either -how can you know that without asking- is that even the right terminology to use, “orphan”? Did that word itself make him flinch? Kaminari is in a constant state of cluelessness, but he is starting to get overwhelmed by how little he knows of this subject.

“That depends. In my cause: No, I don’t have curfews anymore, but if you live with foster parents those rules will change, too.” He explains once he has regained his composure.

“Do you? Live with foster parents, that is,”

Shinsou snorts, “I haven’t even met a potential foster parent since I turned twelve. They always go for the younger brats since we old ones are damaged goods, can’t help us out anymore.”

Without even thinking Kaminari puts his hand on Shinsous arm. Before he can lose confidence he blurts out, “Instead of english can I be your japanese tutor? Cos you’re really not using the language properly right now.“

Shinsou must not detect the worry in Kaminaris question. “Believe it or not, I am doing well in the languages.” He replies instead. He is even smiling now. Kaminari calms down when he sees the quirk of those usually frowny lips, but he keeps his hand on his arm anyway. A part of him fear the smile will disappear if he even moves.

“We only have two.”

“Yes, and I am doing well in them.” Shinsou is not frowning anymore, his mood elevated enough to make jokes. Kaminari is relieved, yet sad because that does not erase the fact that Shinsou doesn’t have parents at home to worry about curfews and what he is doing after school, or the fact that he had called himself damaged goods. He hasn’t had foster parents in years. Did they ever hug him when he was younger, act like proper parents should? While Kaminari did often argue with his own and always managed to disappoint them with his stupid decisions, he always got hugs from his mom and shoulder pats from his dad. Well, before he lived in the dorms, of course. But that counts. That counts as family love and Kaminari wouldn’t be the same person without it.

Kaminari could very well live without teachers’ praise, but to grow up without having his mom there to hug him once he came from school is a parallel universe he does not want any part of whatsoever, and usually he is all for time warps and extra dimensions.

He cannot help himself this time, he leans his head against Shinsou’s shoulder just then, ignoring how Beans hisses at him once he evades “her” space.

Shinsou sits there stock still, and Kaminari does not dare to look up to his face. He just wants to shower him in affection and hugs, has been wanting to do that since day one and he cannot hold the affections in anymore. Well, he could probably reel in if it makes Shinsou uncomfortable, but until then Kaminari is going to focus all his willpower so he can try to telepathically transplant all his adoration from his own body to Shinsous. But the taller male does not try to shy away. They just sit there in comfortable silence, sipping on warm drinks while petting furry cats around them. Caffeine has a weird effect on Kaminari, whereas when he drinks it he doesn’t become more energized like he probably should, but calmer and more philosophical. Therefore when Kaminari tells Shinsou how strange it is that humans come with naturally bright hair color but giraffes cannot be born with purple and yellow fur, Shinsou is the only one left confused.

They do that for a while, exchanging mumbled words about things they find weird which then turns to a game of which one of them can say the longest word with the right pronunciation, and so on. Shinsou managed to cheat on all of their games. Kaminari doesn’t have a single clue to how he did it, but he is charmed.

The two of them abandon the cafe once every other customer has done so, too. Kaminari does not notice the remaining baristas winking at them on their way out.

He touches Shinsou on the arm to stop him from going for the cart. First he soaks the electricity back into his body, jumps in with Nugget in his arms. Kaminari gives Shinsou a thumbs up when he is seated properly, and then they are driving back to the UA dorms. When Kaminari asks Shinsou if he wants to switch up he shakes his head, this doubles as training he reasons. This time Kaminari is the one to fondly roll his eyes.

Chapter 28: The end;;, But not really, not yet

Chapter Text

They are facing the gates when Kaminari starts to wonder what the time is. According to Shinsou it is 22.55. He decides to trust him since he even has his phone out.

They would have come back home earlier if they didn’t take a detour to a park they saw. Oh well, Kaminari doesn’t regret anything. He steps out of the cart, and turns to look at Shinsou in a meek, hopeful manner. “I’ve got a lotta baggage, could ya’ help me with some of it?”

Shinsou is way ahead of him, taking every bag into his hands. Which isn’t that much, they really just bought a bunch of bowls. Still, it fuels the butterflies in his stomach with energy. Before he knows it Shinsou walks through the gates. Kaminari runs after him, yelling for the guy with the longer legs not to walk so fast, I have precious cargo right here, man.

Kaminari giggles a lot. Once they make it into the building Shinsou tells him to shush, which makes him giggle even more. When Kaminari remains still for the moment, Nugget is the one who starts to mewl. Shinsou doesn’t try to stop him. They try to navigate through the dark and Shinsou knocks something over with those bags of his, which opts Kaminari to grab him by the hem of his shirt and drag him to where he remembers the elevator to be. Because of his sh*t memory they are lead astray. It takes plenty of minutes before Shinsou manages to navigate the elevator by himself. While they wait Shinsou teases him, and Kaminari sticks his tongue out even though he wouldn’t be able to see the gesture. The light is blinding once the doors open, but Shinsou steps in without hesitation so Kaminari guesses he must, too.

They shush and laugh on the way out too, and the moment is simply perfect. Kaminari cannot wait to ask him if he wants to stay over for a while; they could set up Nugget’s stuff and watch a movie afterwards. His hand goes for where he thinks the handle is, the excuse at the tip of his tongue. Their night doesn't have to end yet-

“KAMI!”

“There you are, dude!”

“How did it go, how did it go?!”

Ah, Kaminari blinks towards his colorful friends. Sero, Kirishima, Mina and surprisingly enough Jirou are standing in his room and they are already shouting, maybe it’s gotta end.

Shinsou stumbles into the room, brushing his shoulder against Kaminari. The last pearls of a chuckle leaves his smiling lips when he turns his eyes to look at the group staring right back at him. He is not smiling anymore, but Kaminari can tell it is not meant in a rude way, but in a why are there people in your room and why are they staring at me type of way. Kaminari cannot judge him at all. The staring is the definition of unnecessary, creepy at its best. He leans down to Kaminaris ear while holding eye contact with the group, and he whispers, “Should I leave you alone now? I suspect that I am supposed to leave you alone now.”

Kaminari gawks. He doesn’t even have time to shiver nor think about the hot breath brushing against the shell of his ear. “Nah dude, its fine! I swear they are well behaved most of the time.”

Kaminari looks between Shinsou and his group, eyes lingering on his group to stop staring and look friendly, come on team, you are never this quiet! But it doesn’t work. Both Mina and Sero are staring, but now the gaze seems to go down to Nugget. Kirishima breaks the silence with a nervous yet loud laughter. “Ah, yeah, sorry man! Didn’t mean to stare, it’s just- It’s just, you don’t have a cat. Cats don’t like you, but now you’re holding one and you’ve got bags of cat food like it's your now, and I am really confused right now!”

Kaminari and Shinsou looks down to Nugget before looking at each other again. Shinsou holds back a smile, which makes Kaminari grin even wider. He starts to explain that he is now a proud owner of a three legged cat. Mina breaks free from the staring curse just then. The girl jumps close into Kaminaris space too coo at Nugget. Kirishima and Sero comes afterwards, taking some bags off Shinsous hand and helping him inside the room. Kaminari cannot help but stare at the three guys put away the bags, at how Sero and Kirishima are joking and inviting Shinsou into a short conversation. Jirou simply sits on the bed, looking at them all interact. They share eye contact, and Kaminari shakes his head. Afterwards Kaminari tells Mina that the cats name is Nugget, and that he is a man. Kirishima coos and calls him a manly man. When Mina puts a finger underneath his chin and he purrs she squeals, too. “Aww, he is so manly, look at him roar! So which daddy gave ‘im the name?” She questions. Very loudly, too.

“I did!” Kaminari yells out before the atmosphere even has a chance to grow tense, “That might have to change, though. We have to talk with Aizawa about keeping him in the dorms, maybe he wants Nugget to have a more dignified name,”

“Dignity goes out the window when it comes to cute things,” Shinsou comments, “You should have seen how he dresses Eri before Mic force him to change. It’s hideous.”

He warms up Kaminaris little stressed heart again.

Sero puts a hand on Shinsous shoulder and leans in to stage whisper, “dude, take pics, i’m hella curious now.”

“Yeah, I wanna see Aizawa be a softie, too! Does he swoon?”

They all start to chime in, and the warm feeling in Kaminari’s stomach begins to churn again. While he loves seeing his friends show interest in Shinsou, he doesn’t want them to scare him off, either. Oh, he really doesn’t want that. I haven’t thought of that before, Kaminari begins to muse, I need to like, integrate him into the squad somehow. They are becoming even needier since I’ve been ditchin’ them during lunch now, too. While Kaminari is thrown into another whirlwind of thoughts Shinsou has somehow managed to come closer to the door, a hand already on the knob.

He is still facing them, and he answers their demands. “That can be arranged, but don’t keep your hopes up. You of all people should know he’s a hardass.”

He turns towards the door, but stops up. His gaze flicker back to Kaminari, and he perks up automatically.

“Kaminari?”

“Yeah?” Kaminari replies instantly, curious about what he will say now. That he had a good time, that they should hang out outside of school more often, pick you up tomorrow, six? He lifts Nugget closer to his face to hide a blush. The suspense is killing him.

Then Shinsou points to something behind him. “My backpack, please.”

“Oh, oh! Yeah, forgot about that,” He laughs nervously. Mina and Sero is barely stifling their laughter behind him. Kaminari turns around to grab the backpack in an exaggerated manner, even though it is not helping his friends’ crumbling straight faces. He hands it to Shinsou with one hand, and no, he has been too cliche already, he will not focus on the fact that their hands touched briefly again. I will not. Shinsou thanks him, opens the door and says goodbye.

The door shuts, and now he isn’t there anymore. Now it is only them.

They stay silent for a few more seconds until they cannot hear Shinsous quiet footsteps. Then hell breaks loose.

Mina is squealing because of course she is. Sero and Kirishima cries with laughter while Jirou films them all. Kaminari sighs, both out of exasperation and because of the outright dreamy evening he had. He throws himself into his bed, landing on his back to make sure Nugget does not get squished. Even while Sero is mocking him he cannot help but smile.

Jirou nudges his face with her socked feet, “Well, spill it.” she demands and he does, powering through every aw and joke they throw back to him. Mina, Sero and Kirishima joins him on the bed, Nugget making his shy turns to lay on each of their laps. Even Kirishima, an avid dog person, sheds a tear when Nugget approaches him and purrs in his lap. After everything has been told Kaminari is too tired to stand up, and so are the others. They fall asleep on each other, Kirishima making a sleepy comment about how he cannot wait to tell Bakugou about this the next morning moments before he dozes off.

Chapter 29: once upon a dream; bad habits are still habits

Chapter Text

Shinsou stands beside the gates, his business now finished.

He continues to look up towards the building, all the windows dark except for one: Kaminaris. The light is still flickering inside, inhabited by one bumbling idiot and his bumbling idiot friends. This evening has shaped Shinsou into a bigger man than he was yesterday, therefore he can safely admit to himself that he really wants to be in there. He had hoped Kaminari would ask him to stay for awhile, and at one point it seemed plausible that their night might have gone in that direction, but Kaminari has other friends he has to pay attention to.

He has a girlfriend he has to pay attention to, Shinsou reminds himself. He turns away. Shinsou was taken by surprise when he walked into the bedroom and the whole group was in there, but one presence shook him the most. That presence was Jirous.

Jirou had stared right back at him like she expected him to be there, sitting on Kaminaris bed like she has done it hundreds of times before. With that thought he was quickly reminded of his place, and he had tried his hardest to stop intruding on their space and leave the room. Which was a weird experience, because Shinsou is not submissive by any means. He is neither rude nor a rebel, he often tries his best to not make anyone uncomfortable by his presence; he can take a hint, but it is not his style to walk into a room and hunch his shoulders forward. It is not at all his style to let someone put him back in his place without a fight. No one but Shinsou himself is allowed to instill inferiority in him. He shakes his head at the same time as he goes to leave.

“Monsieur, oh monsieur, don’t leave just yet!”

Trust me, I don’t want to either he doesn’t say. Shinsou turns to look at where the voice comes from instead, eyebrows carefully raised and eyes hooded.

Lo and behold, there is another blond waiting for him. The blond is dressed in a long sleeved nightgown with a matching sleeping mask propped on top of his swept hair. He is laying across a blanket on the top of the grass, one book and nightlight propped beside him.

After a long, awkward silence Shinsou gives in. “Pardon?”

“Pardon is quite right, but would you care to learn of the french word instead?” There is a very obvious glimmer in his eyes, and then Shinsou starts to remember: this is one of Kaminaris classmates, Aoyama. The one with the flashy armour who buckle his knees together. Shinsou calms down. No threat, then. Not yet.

“Isn’t it the same in french?”

“Oui Oui! My my~ Shinsou, you know so much already, would you care to learn more of the language? I see you are a homme de linguistique, and I would like to aid you in your pursuit~” Aoyama winks.

Shinsou is about to turn him down. He can sense ulterior motives when he sees it. When he looks back to the gates he starts to question why. Why should he turn him down? What would he lose by indulging Aoyama in whatever it is he is trying to do: time? He is trying to lose some of it anyways, and if he does gain basic understanding of a new language by staying then that counts as a win in his book. He turns to sit down, eyes set suspiciously on Aoyama whom starts to open his own book.

They sit there for one hour or two. By the end of the impromptu lesson Shinsou has equipped a handful of french words and proper enunciation over said words. He is also gifted with a slap to his face from his “caregiver” once he made it back to the foster home right before midnight. At least he could call her a putain afterwards.

Everything is an eyesore. The grass is too green and the sun is too bright, its yellow color bleeding into the landscape around in a way it is not supposed to.

Before Shinsou can focus on how strange his surroundings are he hears someone shout his name.

He turns around, and he sees Kaminari. Kaminari is as vibrant as usual (maybe more than usual, he does have to squint after all), arms waving back and forth, over and over. Limbs shouldn’t snap back and forth like that, Shinsou finds it in him to realize. “C’mere my dude, love of my life!” He yells.

Shinsous stomach twists up once the foggy words reach him, and he can barely stutter a reply back. His throat just doesn’t work. Everything goes black for half a second and afterwards, from the corner of his eyes, Shinsou can see the sky turn a shade warmer. It is less eyesore that way, but the hairs in his arms spike up. He is far too used to the cold to welcome the warmth. Then Kaminari shouts again, further away than he was before. When did he move away? Why did he move away? All Shinsou knows is that he sounds surprisingly exasperated.

“Come here right now, Nugget!”

Startled, he looks around, but Nugget is nowhere to be found. Then he looks down to his feet. There are no feet to be seen, at least not his own. Instead of seeing himself Shinsou sees a small cat body; black fur and three stable legs, the ground was not as close to him before as it is now. In fact, there isn’t any ground under him, but a night sky that he is floating on. Kaminari is on his back, talking his mouth off about something. The more he talks the less he understands what is coming out of him. That changes again. Kaminari is no longer on his back, instead he is on the ground beneath Shinsou, with Jirou. They are holding hands, laughing, speaking a language he cannot comprehend. He shouldn’t even be able to hear them from this height, but unfortunately he does. The gibberish continues to ring in his ears, the colors around him becoming stronger.They ambush him.

Shinsou cannot help it. He runs away. As far as his small cat body can take him.

He runs past his old kindergarten, his old middle school. He runs past the foster home, past the hooded figures in the city.

The longer he runs the slower time goes. With each breath he heaves the more his pace slows down, as if the air is trying to claw him back to uncomfortable places bone for bone.The world closes in on him. He sees this very clearly, feels it even clearer. The pressure of everything is heavy on his body, but when desperate yellow eyes search the people around him he finds that everyone else is doing fine. Classmates walks by, cashiers and homeless men refuse to give him the time of their day. Tocha even stops for a hot second, just to smile and walk away. Unhelpful. He fights against the very world around him, small heart beating like it never beat before. All of this is happening while people ignore him.

Shinsou tries to speak, to command everything to stop. He was born with the power to do it. If he really wanted to, he could stop everything around him, control it to do whatever he wants. The air will stop ripping him to pieces. He can stop those hooded people from bothering him. He can stop Kaminari from loving Jirou. It comes so natural to him, the want to have control. Nothing could make him feel better. Everything at his mercy, if he so chose to. The only thing he needs to do is to open his mouth, and it would be done.

His mouth opens, he tries to say it.

He tries to use his rightful voice and say help, but only a puny meow comes out.

No one hears him. Something closes in. He loses his clumsy footing, and in this pocket universe he doesn’t ever regain it back. No one helps him regain it back. If he had his old voice he would understand. It was deep, it held weight on it that no one else wanted to carry. But this is different. If Shnsou had his old voice he wouldn’t need to run on all fours to escape whatever it is that he has to escape. Words would never fail him like they are doing now. Shinsou has lost his potential to hurt others, yet no one reaches out to him. Now he is all but a stray cat. Dangerous to exactly no one, but not useful to anyone; not cared by anyone.

With that he relents, body falling limp.

He thought he would wake up in his bed, shake his head at his dream and face the day, but he has not earned that privilege yet.

What he sees once he “wakes up” is not real life, but a close imitation of it. The cafe looks the same as it would look in the waking life, except all the cats are gone. So are the baristas. Shinsou doesn’t mind that change, even if it is unnatural. He needs some quiet now anyways. What he does mind is the heavy hand ruffling his hair. No one would ever do that except for maybe Kaminari. Aizawa is not Kaminari, that is for sure.

That is a thing that he is doing apparently. They sit across each other on their usual booth far into the corner, where Shinsou sits only when Aizawa is with him. Shinsou is resting his upper body against his side of the table while Aizawa sits sideways. The teacher has his face tilted away from Shinsous view, looking at something Shinsou cannot see. The dark lines that keep black hair and black clothes apart mingle together. Even by squinting his eyes Shinsou cannot get a better look at his mentor. All he knows is that Aizawa is tall. He looks larger than life. To have a tall, dark figure loom over him should scare him, but that doesn’t happen. He is at peace like this, with this unrealistic black boulder of a mentor hiding him away from public view, watching out for windows and incomers and whatever else he sees.

“I’m alone.” Shinsou finds it in him to admit.

“I know,” Aizawa repeats, “Awful, isn’t it.”

Shinsou crosses his arms over the table and leans his head in the little gap he made for himself. His gaze flicker away from Aizawas figure. This conversation bores him. He has already had it before, some weeks after their training started. Just like Kaminari, Aizawa cracked and asked him what his parents thought about him staying out so late, with an adult man nonetheless. No matter how many times he tried to, Aizawa did not let him evade the subject. At last Shinsou admitted that he was abandoned a long, long time ago.

He has fond memories from the experience. It was the first time Shinsou felt like he could be honest with an adult and receive genuine support afterwards, but he has always known the conversation wouldn’t change a thing about his situation. No matter how many times he is invited to dinner, no matter what nickname Yamada cooks up, he will still be an orphan. Neither Yamada nor Aizawa can invite a teenager to properly live in their home, they cannot afford the responsibility to become his adoptive parents. They can’t even adopt a cat given their busy schedules. The fact that Eri still lives with them is a shock to the entire houshold, but given her odd situation (Whatever that is, Shinsou still doesn’t know. He doesn't prod any of them either; Eri can tell him herself once she has healed enough to do so, whenever that is.) no one else can take care of her like Aizawa can. He is given expenses for his "work" with Eri: money, less hours and a bigger living space. Shinsou could not give Aizawa expenses like that, only a lot of stress, perhaps debt.

Since this conversation is just a repeat of the past, he decides to quote himself, too. Nothing will change from it anyways, so he might as well just reminisce. “Whatever, I’m used to it.”

“Not for long.”

His body clenches. The world around him tilts. Everything is just a little bit crooked.

That was new. That is not what Aizawa had said in the waking world. Shinsou lifts his head up from his hole, waits for the words hanging in the air to rewrite themselves to something far more familiar and far less terrifying.

That does not happen. Aizawa doesn’t correct himself, nothing changes. This is it then. The world will remain crooked. The room changes, bathed in warm light. It is less colder this time, and it makes him nervous. Shinsou is used to the cold. He is scared of becoming used to anything else. Shinsou still does not know what to say, so he remains silent until Aizawa says something again.

“You won’t be alone for a long time.” Aizawa finally turns to face his mentee, “And when you are alone again, it will hurt.”

Something about that terrifies him.

“Why does this have to be so dangerous?” His voice doesn’t tremble, he has enough control over it to stop the tremble from peeking out from within him. God knows how much he wants to shake; to revert back to primal animal instincts and keep himself away from any danger, but he remains calm. His surroundings react though, the lights flicker and the table shakes underneath his arms. It doesn’t feel wrong to have control over his surrounding like this. For all he knows, he probably needs it now. No, he feels the satisfaction sink into his bones, slow the sound of his pulse down; he needs to have this type of control now.

Aizawa ignores the shake of the table. He reaches for his coffee instead. Shinsou had not noticed its presence before. It doesn’t stain the trembling desk either, even though it should have.

“If you don’t risk anything then you don’t earn anything.”

Shinsou wanted to question him some more, but the warm yellow light in this cafe turns a shade cooler, a shade much more suspicious, liquidy. When he turns back to look at Aizawa, he sees that the man has been replaced with a toilet.

“Oh no,” Shinsou whines, resting his forehead into the still table and closing his eyes. “not again.”

Like clockwork, Shinsou shoves Hentou off his bed.

He had shoved him a little harder this time, since Shinsou had taken a long nap (exactly three hours if he counted correctly. He hopes he didn’t.) while wearing Kaminari’s hoodie. Shinsou has no idea how he would explain himself to Kaminari if an “accident” actually did happen to the clothing, hey so I know you handed me your hoodie because you are a nice person, and I only had it on me for one night, but a ten year old pissed all over it. Completely drenched in the stuff. So yeah, sorry about that? Just to make sure that won’t happen, Shinsou raises his voice at him, he makes himself look bigger than he actually is. It is a short sighted answer to his everlasting problem. Shinsou has lost count of how many times he has woken up with Hentou hovering over him; he has most definitely repressed all the times the brat managed to wet his bed as well. The effect will last for a few days until he will have to shout at Hentou again. The brat lifts himself up with shaky legs and sulks off, suspiciously yellow snot already dripping down his nose.

“I don’t understand why you keep doing that.” Midori pipes up with his puberty stricken voice, “You know serial killers wet their beds for longer than normal kids, right? You’re gonna be the first person on his hit list by now.”

“Good thing he is only trying to take a piss on my bed and not his own then.” He replies. Just to be mean he imitates Midoris voice. He has heard it far too often for the imitation to not be seamless.

Midori snorts and walks out of the sleeping quarters, not at all bothered.

Shinsou feels stupid now.

Everyone is starting to stand up from their own beds; from their cramped, uncomfortable hospital beds, set too close. Way too close. They are so close a knee is already digging into Shinsous side, and no matter how many times he shoves it away he knows its owner will push it back on him. Shinsou cannot blame him, sometimes you simply need to take up space. Some broken soul of a bastard is shining his night light around the room too, as if Shinsou needs anything else to annoy him now. It is probably Kuroni, Shinsou suspects, it is always Kuroni. He’s such an attention whor*.

He lays down in his bed for a while, then he rolls over to his side to study the other kids and teenagers walk around like groaning zombies. Kaneshiro is hiding a giggling Miyazaki under a blanket, acting innocent as if they didn’t stay up the entire night sucking faces (as if anyone cares that a girl was in the boys room anyways, no one gives a sh*t about anything in here. You have nothing to hide, Miyazaki.), Kuroni is making a loud bet with whoever is willing to hear if he would survive jumping out of the window, and other boys are running to the public bathroom to catch the most clean toilet before anyone else can. Shinsou knows it is taken already, some control freak of a girl has spent entire nights camping in there just to make sure she could have it first in the morning. It wouldn’t surprise him if the same girl pulled the same stunt this week too. While Shinsou lays down he ponders if he should try and get some more shut eye while he still can. His forehead is being ambushed by a throbbing headache, after all.

The moment he does try to take a small nap a “caregiver” appears in the room to shout at the remaining kids to get the f*ck out already. Miyazaki I see you, get some clothes on you f*cking slag.

With a sigh Shinsou takes Kaminaris hoodie off him and changes back to his school uniform, slipping the finished tie over his head and tightening it afterwards. Sue him for not knowing how to tie a tie. His dad never taught him how, he didn’t even live long enough with the guy for him to teach him anyways. Few more bodies pushes against his while he changes, and Shinsou decides, amongst this sea of fellow orphans, that will be the last time his brain will mention that topic for today.

He shoves the hoodie into his backpack, makes sure he has his phone and money on him, then he ventures down the stairs and out into the cold world in the hope of a snack.

There is a broken vending machine right behind the building. For the past month Shinsou has gotten his free breakfast by snaking his arm through the locket to swipe at anything that comes close. During desperate times, he even shakes the machine off its hinges so something will drop down on its own. During even more desperate times, times where the vending machine is a lost cause and the hunger is gnawing on him, Shinsou steps into the overcrowded cafeteria. Fortunately for him today is not one of those days.

Shinsou makes his way to the train, counting the french numbers he remember from his impromptu lecture last night. Once he reaches “trente sept” his phone buzzes in his pocket.

Kaminari.
“duuuude look who im gunna take w/meee”

Kaminari has sent a picture of a wide eyed Nugget curled up in a tacky leopard print bedsheet. There is a comb stuck to his thick fur. A pink hand is attached to the handle, trying to brush the hair back. Shinsou can see by how pale the knuckles are that Mina is struggling to clean him up. If Shinsou squints he can see Sero in the background laying on the ground, well, he thinks it is Sero- his head is swallowed up by Kaminaris schoolbag. Jirou is nowhere to be seen. He wouldn’t like to think about where she is either.

(Nestled close beside Kaminari, feet tangled up together. She must be wearing one of his hoodies. He has so many of them. How many has she worn? She must have worn the one in his backpack as well. Did Kaminari ever say she looked good in it?

… Shinsou hates himself for even thinking about it.)

Me.
“You are a brave guy, Kaminari. I’ll pray that Aizawa doesn’t punish you too much when he finds Nugget in your backpack”

Kaminari.
“dont waste ur precious time on that ;3”
“if youre gonna pray at all pray he wont make us send Nug away :(“

His heart won’t stop clenching whenever this idiot says anything. Shinsou did not know that the sensation would reach him through a damn text message, but it does. He can almost see the pout in his face. He facepalms just to hide how much he burns for this cute moron.

Me.
“I’ll pray”

Me
“Fine by me.”

Shinsou had typed, but it was not. It was really not fine by him. For many reasons as well. Far too many reasons for him to sort through this early in the morning, but here he is.

Firstly, he is a father now.

Something in him clicks at that thought. Something clicks wrong. He did not know that he would become a father by showing interest in the cat, by f*cking buying the cat. While he is good with strays, properly raising one is a different matter. The relationship between a caregiver and a stray becomes far more complicated, a proper responibility Shinsou is unsure he can handle. Then he would need to give proper care, make sure Nugget is loved. Nugget is a disabled stray, God knows he will proper love to help him recover from whatever happened to him before. Parenthood is serious Shinsou pales, it is so f*cking difficult, it is so difficult when the kid is hurt from before. I of all people should know that. Why did I agree to that?

He takes a deep breath, tries to steady himself. He tries to think of the second problem instead. It will be far more manageable than this.

The second problem is that Shinsou had told the hero classes he would not make friends, and while he failed by becoming attached to Kaminari, that was one person. If anyone asked (he doubt anyone would, very few people care enough about him to do that) he would simply enough say that they are useful to one another; Shinsou offers tutoring and in turn Kaminari shares premature information about the heroics class; no friendship or buddling crushes to see there. But if he is going to spend his lunch period with his other friends then he will officially break his word.

And lastly, there is Jirou.

He lets himself stray from the road and walk towards a brick wall. He pockets the phone, squats down and cradles his face in both hands. The hoodie inside his backpack becomes even heavier than it has any right to be.

Blame him for being ashamed of his submissiveness to the girl. The truth is that Shinsou knows fully well that he is towing a tight line. That line will probably break during lunch, he knows that much, what he doesn’t know is what to do with himself because of it. Jirou will see through his pretenses, find him creepy, and probably tell him off in front of her friends, forcing him to retreat to his lonely tree with no cat, no Kaminari. All alone again.

He stills. The thought is surprisingly unbearable to him. He cannot be alone again. For some reason Shinsou cannot go back to keeping Kaminari at arms length. It would hurt too much. He can commit to many things, he is stubborn and prideful like that, but Shinsou could never make himself commit to celibacy, not again. Which is strange, because life has gone well enough for him this way. While he does thrive from having the occasional conversation, and while he cherishes every moment he spends with Aizawa and his family, Shinsou is a solitary person at heart.

Shinsou appreciates loneliness. Loneliness is safe, it is always there. It is the most stable thing he has had in his life so far. He removes his hands from his face and looks down on them, frown on his mouth.

When did loneliness become synonymous to hurt?

After he is somewhat done with his wailing he starts to walk the main road again. He is so deep in his own thoughts he bumps shoulders with a man clad in black. When he turns to face the man for the oncoming apology and drawn out conversation, he realizes that it is just Aizawa. He does not smile when he sees the man.

“You don’t live here.”

Shinsou has been to Aizawa and Yamadas house before, and he knows it is not here. It is a long train route away, Shinsou remembers because he always used it as an excuse when he broke curfew. Even if it was around the block he wouldn’t need to walk out of the home now, since he lives in the dorms with his students. Shinsou would never amdit it, but he is sort of peeved by it.

“I don’t.” He agrees, voice more of a mumble than usual, “I came from work. Now I have to go back to work.”

That worries him. It worries him enough for him to ignore his own issues.

“I want to talk about something. Same place?” He asks. Without a word Aizawa starts to speed walk towards the cafe. Shinsou follows after his mentor, an amused glint to his eye washing away his own self pity.

They end up in the cat cafe in record time, both ordering the same black coffee, with four expressos each. The barista tells them she will bring their drinks to them, so they go to sit down. The usual seat looks just the same as it had in the dream, Shinsous mind slips up before he can shake the thought away. He sits down, Aizawa soon after him. When Aizawa’s back hits the couch his eyes almost blinks completely closed. He forces away the need to sleep by leaning forward, eye twitching. He sways only slightly. Shinsou is still amused. “Spit it out, kid.” He says, but is stopped by his own yawn. Aizawa yawns like what Shinsou thinks a dad would yawn like.

I befriended someone from your class, even when I insisted I wasn’t going to.

“Nothing much, just that I bought you a cat,” Shinsou says, “He’s with Kaminari now. Three legs only. We're planning to take care of him together.”

“Mhm,” Aizawa grunts out. He starts to leans against the seat again, nestling into the cushion while making a pleased grunting sound from deep in his chest. His eyes are already closed. Aizawa looks so much smaller like this. Sometimes Shinsou forgets that his mentor is just an exhausted man, not at all larger than life like depicted in his dreams. That is what he likes about him, anyways. “That all?”

That is not all. Shinsou fights down a snort. Not at all.

I fell for him. I fell for a person completely different from me. He is living a completely different life than me. Did you know while he had a sleepover with his friends I slept in a room full of strangers? He watches Aizawa sway some more instead. Of course you know. You knew before I even told you anything. You understood it. It might be stupid, it is, but that really stuck with me.

He thinks back to his dream. He wonders if Kaminari ever had dreams like that. Did they ever feed on the basic fear of being alone with no help, of only having one person who could come close to understand you? He is not the one to draw conclusions, but he doubts it. People like Kaminari have their issues, but they usually have an easier time expressing said issues. Especially in a way other people can accept. I like someone who will never relate to me. This is risky; but it is also more of a pain. Falling for someone is a pain. His eyebrows twinges upwards. He is so friendly and nice, how could I not like him?

“Yeah.” He lies.

He doesn’t feel bad about it. The man nods until he falls asleep, snoring afterwards. Aizawa is far too proud to thank him whenever Shinsou declines to talk, but that is okay, Aizawa has done a lot for him already. He has taken him under his wing, he has managed to understand him in a way people never tried to before. The least Shinsou could do is let him take a break before school hours. Shinsou looks at the clock to make sure Aizawa wont come late to his class, and he debates against making an alarm on his phone. There will be a risk of them coming late to school if he doesn’t make one, but that is a risk he is willing to take. He doesn’t want Aizawa to be awoken by a f*cking alarm of all things, that will make his training later much harder on him.

After making his selfish decision he looks around the shop to see the cats lying around. They are much more curious about customers during the evening, now they are soaking up the rising sunrays coming from the windows. In turn he looks around the whole cafe, lets himself ponder about the little things he remember from the dream. Was the sun rising or setting in that imaginary cafe, what was the source of that glow in the room? Shinsou suspects that it doesn't matter. It is warm, and it doesn't make him as uncomfortable as before.

After some time Shinsou lets himself be lulled by Aizawa’s snores, both awake and asleep at the same time. It is a more comfortable limbo than you would think. The cushioned booth is much more comfortable than his short night back in his cramped bed.

Chapter 30: “But he doesn’t hug me.”

Chapter Text

This time Kaminari is not courting Shinsou alone. Nugget, Jirou and Mina are with him. The two girls talk about things Kaminari doesn’t care for, he is far too busy thinking about the extra weight in his backpack; and how happy Shinsou is going to be when he sees that weight again. It is unfair that Shinsou cannot see Nugget often, given they both paid lots of money for him. Nonetheless Kaminari will try to make it work by bringing the cat to school sometimes, so Shinsou can also have his fair shares of furry hugs. He smiles for himself. Shinsou deserves that much.

They make it outside the classroom. Some students walk out before Shinsou, giving them rude looks again. Jirou is spared of this treatment, which is unfair because hey, I was also a part of her band, Kaminari tuts mentally. You meanies always scowl at me when I get here, show me some appreciation too, wont ya?

The frustration is short lived because Shinsou walks out, gaze flitting to the three of them instantly. He is not wearing Kaminaris hoodie anymore, back to the usual school uniform. Kaminari is somewhat disappointed by this, since Shinsou did fit it very well. That disappointment is also short lived because he can only be that upset when Shinsou is making his way over, fitting perfectly by his side, just like that hoodie.

“Hey, big guy! Did you get the swooning Aizawa pic arranged?” Mina greets him.

“You think it’s that easy catching him swoon?” Shinsou replies, sounding like a cool bounty hunter. At least it is not at all difficult to catch Kaminari swoon. Jirou even elbows him for it. “It’s hard work, what will I get back for it anyways?”

Mina laughs. Oh no.

“Oooh, I dunno, maybe Kaminaris hand in ma-”

“My hand in martial arts!” Kaminari blurts out way too loud. He winces the moments he said those words. He sucked at martial arts. Yet he powers through, even lifts his hands up in some half assed chopping motion that he did not at all learn from those dozen useless classes. “My dad forced me to attend some jitsu class, I’ll totally beat ya’ up!”

“Just like you beat up Bakugou this morning?” Jirou snorts.

“He beat up Bakugou?” Mina is perplexed by this lie, the sarcasm probably went over her head again, “But Bakugou wiped the floor with Kaminari, he always does!”

The two girls enter their own conversation, Jirou explaining that she used sarcasm and that yes, Drooly got f*cking owned, it was humiliating just to watch. Mina laughs once she understands and hugs the girl because really, Mina just likes hugs. Especially from people who never initiate hugs. They completely ignore the fact that they made Kaminari look dumb again. Horror dawns upon him. These people are horrible, he watches them hug, no care in the world. Maybe this integrating business is a bad idea, they know me too well for this to work out. He turns to Shinsou again, putting on his most charming smile. “Trust me dude, Bakugou wipes the floor with everyone except like, Todoroki. It ain’t just me, I’m not that special.” He even winks.

Somehow Shinsou is still not tired of him, his mouth barely quirked upwards.

“I think we established that I do trust you already.” Shinsou replies, voice smooth like honey.

Kaminari shuts down for the time being. He is a blushing, sweating mess so it isn’t odd that Jirou elbows him a lot, barely holding back a snort each time. He looks straight ahead, because if he turns to look at either side he is guaranteed to be harassed in some form of way or another.

This is going to be awful.

Once they sit down at the usual table, Bakugou already staring daggers at them, Shinsou turns to Kaminari. He hasn’t even greeted his other friends yet, but his face is a little paler than the usual. His tired eyes are pinched in a serious expression, jaw set and aw, he is nervous, Kaminari realizes a little too late. For some reason that gives him some peace, shoulders starting to sag more compared to a few seconds ago. At least they are in it together.

“Where is he.” Shinsou bites out.

Just like that a meow echoes from his backpack, and Kaminari takes it off his shoulder, opens the lid and shows Nugget some light. His eyes turn into yellow slits again, head peeking out to push against Kaminaris palm. He can feel the cat vibrate against it.

“Here he is! But be careful to not lift him up and stuff, I don’t want to cause a scene around him, he’s just a baby.” Kaminari explains, and he tries to keep Nugget satisfied with simple headpats underneath the table, but the greedy thing has other plans. He ventures out of the bag, clumsily climbing into Shinsous lap this time. He curls himself up and Shinsou starts petting him, looking much calmer now compared to a few seconds ago. Kaminaris own anxiety spikes up instead when another student eyes their table for a while.

“But dude, it’s in your blood to cause a scene!” Sero comments, taking away those students attention. Kaminari thanks him, equally as loud.

They continue to talk back and forth, battling for louder volume until Bakugou tells them both to shut up. Then they continue some more until Bakugou climbs the table to put a threatening hand on them both. They dodge it, but decide to keep quiet. Bakugou sits back down, crosses his arms over his chest and grumbles about there never being any peace and quiet, like the grumpy grandpa that he is. Kirishima pats his arm, always fond of said grumpy grandpa. “Katsuki, you don’t like peace and quiet.” He points out.

Instead of cussing Kirishima out, he only gestures vaguely towards Kaminari and Sero. Then he takes Kirishimas hand in one of his own, knuckles pale as if he needed the contact to survive them. He looks so tired. Maybe he does. “Who the f*ck said I like it? I need it so I don’t go off and f*cking kill these motherf*ckers. I’m not gonna go get my ass expelled just cos’ of them being annoying as sh*t.“

“We love you too, dude.” Sero and Kaminari say at the same time. The thing is that they truly mean it.

Shinsou bristles a little, but he remains quiet, watching them interact while petting Nugget. He looks sort of like a cartoon schemer, in the most adorable way possible. Kaminari lets him study their group, goading Bakugou to stop staring at Shinsou and act like he usually does: an angry yet amusing loudmouth. It will probably help Shinsou understand him better, and you truly have to understand Bakugou on some level to get along with him otherwise any hint of a friendship will be doomed. Bakugou is just that high maintenance. Well, most of them are, if Kaminari is being honest. While most of them never argue and come into genuine fights, they have other traits that make them difficult. Like the excessive body contact, and the waking each other up in the middle of the night to talk about a weird dream. Shinsou will probably need plenty of silence (and time) so he can properly understand their group, and Kaminari will gladly give it to him if it means they will get along well in the end.

Jirou says an offhand comment and Kaminari retorts instantly with a pun. They all laugh and Jirou threatens to choke him. Shinsou has an alarmed look on his face from it, but when Kaminari jokes back he visibly calms down. Not completely, Kaminari notices. He still has that worried line engraved to his forehead.

“You make a good couple,” He finally speaks up.

What.

Jirou spits out her drink.

Almost all of them do something dramatic(Again, high maintance). Shinsou only looks back and forth, looking just the slightest bit surprised.

“A couple?!” Kaminari sputters, voice high pitched, “You mean a good couple friends, right?”

Shinsou looks at him like he is the weird one. He leans a little more forth, and Kaminari would sputter some more if he wasn’t reeling already. Shinsou repeats slowly, as if the speed of his words were the issue here and not the actual words. “No. A good couple.”

“Are you f*cking braindead?!” Bakugou ends up shouting, and Kaminari catches the exact moment Shinsou enters defense mode.

Kaminari can feel the waves of animosity roll off him. Kirishima must too.

“Hey hey hey, it’s okay man, Katsuki doesn’t mean it like that! It’s just that the day those two bone would be if they were the only people left in the world, and that’s a maybe! A very- A very, very, very weak maybe...” Kirishima explains, waving his hands back and forth while smiling a smile that resembles more of a grimace than a smile. He is visibly biting back laughter. Mina and Sero is doing much worse than him, like always. Shinsou looks confused again, looking back and forth between Kaminari and Jirou. She is still gagging, and Kaminari cannot help but scoff at her. It is not like he wants to date her either, but gagging? Now that is childish, even to him.

“But I saw you hug the other day,” He reasons. He actually reasons for them to be together.

“Kaminari hugs everyone,” Sero points out.

Shinsou looks like he is about to retort, but he bites his tongue. Kaminari is both curious and desperate to not know what he was about to say. He couldn’t possibly survive the words, whatever they were. Shinsou thought Jirou was his girlfriend this whole time, but he never looked jealous. He simply acted like nothing, like it never occurred to him he should have Kaminari for himself instead. Kaminari thinks back to when he thought Shinsou had a girlfriend. Fear had latched on to him like nothing else. He even complimented us, Kaminari chews on his lip. It might be petty of him, but Kaminari doesn’t think he could be genuinely happy for Shinsou if he ever got a girlfriend, he couldn’t make himself act like Shinsou had. He doesn’t care.

He cannot let Kaminari rest, for now he turns to him specifically. Kaminari cannot look at him this time. He just cannot believe that he is still arguing, that's all. “If you two are not together then why did you yell a pet name at her?”

Kaminari has no idea what he is talking about, however Jirou has an idea. She facepalms so deep her hand almost morphs into her face. He did sometime mock her by calling her babe, but that was never genuine, and Shinsou hasn’t been there whenever it happened- then he gets it. Kaminari had called out to Shinsou that way once, but Jirou had stopped him. She had taken the embarrassment from him, the helpful friend that she is. And then Shinsou thought that he had called- Kaminari cannot even speak. He tugs at Jirou’s sleeve instead, desperate for her to fix his mess again. Then he stops the tugging, afraid Shinsou will take it the wrongest way (again). Instead he looks at her deeply, the message help me out, but don’t tell the truth either, clear in his eyes. She understands it, steels herself and turns to Shinsou properly.

“Drooly electrocuted himself, he was just yelling stupid sh*t because he was out of it. We didn’t hug either, I had to hold him up.” Jirou explains in a manner kinder than she usually would speak, but the proper meaning is clear behind her explanation: A simple we are not a couple underlined three times. By the end of the spoken statement she looks decades older than she actually is.

The table is silent afterwards.

Shinsou sits back down, looking at the air blankly. After his digesting he “oh’s” and apologizes for assuming things, always polite until he decides to give Kaminari a heart attack. Kaminari barely manages to nod, but Kirishima helps him out, nodding and waving Shinsous worries away, keeping the peace as always. He is a good friend like that.

“Wait, I just have to ask ya’,” Mina stands up from the table and points at herself, then Kirishima, “did you think we were a couple, too?”

Poor thing looks confused all over again. “I don’t know. You could have been, probably.”

This time Kirishima breaks too.

They all laugh, even Kaminari despite his grief. Bakugou laughs the hardest though, he even holds up their interlocked hands for show, too. “Try again you f*cking idiot. This bastard is gayer than two rainbows f*cking each other in the ass.”

“Same! Just the lesbian version of… That.” Mina adds on while laughing.

Shinsou whips his head around to look at her, surprised. Most people are when they find out about Mina. She passes scary well for a straight girl.

“That is statically incorrect.” He mutters out, the loser. The absolute f*cking loser.

Kaminari loves him so much it hurts.

“Yeah!” Mina smiles wide. Kaminari just knows that she has no clue what Shinsou had just said. Statics are not her strong suit. Math in general is not her strong suit. “But the Bakusquad is like, super special! It is the straight guy, aka Sero, who’s the odd one out here!”

He turns to look at Sero, raising a brow. Sero shrugs back.

“Straight, gay, bi; Does it matter when you’re forever alone?” He says cooly, still smiling a charming smile despite the sad words. Kaminari has to cough to hide his laugh.

Shinsou nods back, as if approving him, “I suppose that is reasonable.”

Sero sits back up faster than he has ever moved before, a hand on his chest and a scandalized expression on him. His chair rattles underneath his dramatic body. “I just told you I’ll never find love, and you just agree with me. Is that how you treat a bro? you’re not gonna back me up and make feel better at all?”

“I don’t know you well enough to debunk the statement, so I’ll just agree with you.”

Kaminari cannot help but chortle. Sero punches Shinsou on the shoulder light heartedly, and the table goes back to easy chatter. All of them are a part of the conversation now, Shinsou included. Even Bakugou is open for the friendly banter, even though he takes jabs at Shinsou more often than not. Shinsou is a good sport about it. While he is happy for this easy going interaction Kaminari cannot chance a look at him yet, and when he does it only lasts two seconds. Shinsou is looking at him with a wary question knit tight between his eyebrows, because Sero, Sero who is now joking around and laying all his weight on Kirishima to Bakugous dismay, is the odd one out. Not Kaminari.

He looks away and lifts Minas water bottle to his mouth, nodding at the same time. No one but Shinsou would understand what he meant by it. They wouldn’t even understand the severity of the movement, the severity of what he just admitted to.

To be fair, not even Kaminari himself knows.

Chapter 31: Outside perspective; Shinsou you don’t look so good right now

Chapter Text

Shinsou excuses himself from the table, and Kaminari follows shortly after. His useless f*cking friends whistle after him. Nugget hisses when he gets shoved into the backpack again and Kaminari apologizes, but his main priority is still Shinsou. And Shinsous main priority between him and Nugget is apparently (yet unfortunately) Nugget, so he will need to take the furball with him if he is going to make progress.

Kaminari has a bad feeling about seeking him out now, like there is a voice inside his head saying that maybe he should leave Shinsou alone or something, but given his sh*t self control he decides to go anyway. Even with his heart beating out of his throat, he goes after him.

It is proven difficult to find Shinsou because with every second that goes the cafeteria becomes fuller and fuller. There are people everywhere. People speaking, people smelling, people with colorful hair and tall heights, people distracting him. He just saw a student with a green owl head. Another student with train tracks for arms. How does he hold cutlery with those hands? Why is everyone so damn weird? Kaminari appreciates the originality, but it sends him through a whiplash every time he is faced with the strange reality of his school. It is far too much for him sometimes, and this is one of those times. I could probably walk around with Nugget and say that he is a student too, Kaminari muses, that wouldn’t be the weirdest thing in here, not by a long shot. Kaminari almost sinks to his knees, head spinning round and round.

Someone stops him from sinking. An unfamiliar, scalding hand grabs him by the shoulder. He is yanked up and transported to a more quiet hallway with far less students around, back pressed softly against a wall. Nugget doesn’t whine yet. His eyes still ache but he mumbles out a thank you anyway.

“You don’t have anything to thank me for.”

A girl says, her voice quiet yet sharp, like an unsuspecting blade to the gut.

Kaminari twists his eyes open, and when they do open they open wide. She is pretty, with her pink ponytail and her arched brows, but she is also scary. Her red eyes match Bakugous to a tee when it comes to the amount of spite held within them, slender arms crossed over her chest.

“Ah, its harem girl! Hey hey harem girl, what do you mean by that super ominous response?” Kaminari beams at her, rubbing the back of his neck with a grin on his face.

Before she can reply he asks another question:

“By the way, have you seen Shinsou? I was tryna track him down but I got distracted again!”

Her eyes had become dull for a second, but the moment Shinsou was mentioned the intensity returns. His own excitement dulls, shoulders sagging in an uncertain way. Shinsou had said that he wasn’t interested in the girl, and that she wasn’t interested in him either. Kaminari had taken his word on it since he couldn’t be a better judge himself. It is not like Kaminari doesn’t trust Shinsous judgement either, but neither of them had seen her eyes burn just by hearing his name back then.

Well, now he has seen it.

Why do so many people want you? Kaminari cannot help but whine to himself.

“My name is Tocha,” she smirks, “and no, I haven’t seen Hitoshi. You took him away, remember?”

His soul is sucked right off his body.

The hand on his neck goes up to tug on his hair. Hitoshi. He tugs even harder, Hitoshi, Hitoshi, Hitoshi, Hitoshi, Hitoshi. He turns his feet, desperate to get the f*ck away. “Look, I’m not in the mood for the same old shovel talk, so I’ll be going-”

“Shovel talks are given to people who actually has a chance.” Tocha grabs him by the back of his collar and tugs on him. She gets close to his face, and Kaminari notices how tall she is compared to him. Tall, pretty, and threatening. His stomach continues to drop. He doesn’t stand a chance. “Don’t flatter yourself. You’re just a joke.” She spits out. Then she lets him stumble away.

Kaminari opens his mouth to retort, but nothing comes out. He tries, he really does, but he ends up walking away. If he is rubbing at his eyes with his sleeve, the reason is that the lights are still blinding him. That's it.

When he does find Shinsou outside the boys bathroom crouched down with his forehead pressed to the wall, he hesitates to approach him. His hands grip the straps of his backpack, and Tochas cruel words continue to ring clear inside his head. With what he learned today about Shinsous assumptions, it isn’t far off to say he stands no chance, so he cannot block the words out with that excuse to cover for him either. What right does he have to approach Shinsou after thinking such selfish thoughts of him before? He is about to turn away when his backpack begins to shake. Nugget jumps out. With clumsy legs he runs to Shinsou, who turns around to face them. His mouth is a hard line, but his eyes are open, more vulnerable than Kaminari has seen them before.

He can only manage a small, nervous smile and a short wave.

Shinsou doesn’t wave back, he never does. He doesn’t smile either. Not even a small quirk at the corners. Now that’s unusual, Kaminaris mind races. That stresses him out a little. Just a little. “You okay?” Kaminari asks, which is very stupid of him since if Shinsou was to answer, he wouldn’t be able to hear it over his pulse deafening his ears, “you just up and left, dude.”

Shinsou shoves himself off the wall, and Kaminari almost cries because why is that so damn attractive? Can you stop? I am way too insecure to deal with this right now.

“I’m supposed to ask you that, you look awful.”

He replies, and Kaminari feels like a fool again. While he had a short crisis because Shinsou is just so attractive to him, the man of his dreams said he looked awful. And he probably does look awful, with his hair standing on ends and his red eyes; not at all sharp as Tochas’. Kaminari laughs because he doesn’t know what else to do, the sound a little more empty than usual.

“Awfully good-looking?” Kaminari scars a pained grimace once those stupid words spill out, but he throws out his best finger guns anyway. He could make it a joke again, he is sure of it.

Shinsou waves Kaminari away and crouches down to lift the cat off the ground. The cat has his full attention, even when Kaminari had unwillingly presented Shinsou with a chance to make fun of him- maybe agree with him, too, (in a perfect world) but that did not happen at all.

“That’s unnecessary of you.” He even scoffs.

Ouch.

The very ground beneath him tilts. Kaminari tries to open his mouth, to retort with something, anything. He can do it, he knows he can. It’s his little party trick; to make everything a joke at his own expense, to make difficult situations so much easier to handle. Even when his throat wobbles he racks his brain for any little detail to make fun of. All his brain feeds him are Tochas words.

You’re a joke.

Kaminari shuts his mouth. Sometimes even he can grow tired of making jokes.

He mumbles something out and turns on his feet. Class is starting soon anyway. So he walks away. Shinsou doesn’t follow after.

Chapter 32: Teamwork; sometimes couples do it better

Chapter Text

Kaminari cannot wait for class to be over, but at the same time he doesn’t want to leave this classroom ever again.

He ignores Midnight this time around, which is odd since he is usually more verbal in her classes; her humor is just vile, and Kaminari likes bouncing around it. Even when she gives the most obvious openings for dirty jokes ever heard of, Kaminari doesn’t bite. He only pouts at his desk. Jirou pokes him. Sero, Mina and Kirishima each throws pencils and bunched paper at him, but he doesn’t bite then either. Even when Bakugou sends him a demand through text to not sulk, he continues to sulk. If he is being honest, he feels like he deserves to sulk this time around. Kaminari rarely gets mad at people, even if they insult him. He doesn’t take insults seriously at all. Ill intentioned jabs and insults only upset him if they are directed to his friends, and that is because he is the only one allowed to insult his friends and… That’s about it. Insults don’t mean sh*t to his self confidence.

It hurts to be disregarded, though. No matter what. That sh*t really hurt him.

His eyes find the locked door. He didn’t even try to go after me, Kaminari looks down again, pointedly ignores his phone in his pocket. No text messages either. Did he seriously dislike Kaminari now because of what he had admitted?

He just came to terms with his bisexuality some weeks ago, so he hadn’t really dealt with hom*ophobia before that. Is this how it is? Losing people you care about out of something so simple? It can’t be. Shinsou is far too understanding to be that much of an asshole. But, well, he did walk away from Kaminari that one time after he just said a simple sentence. If he did have discriminatory thoughts about guys like him (Kaminari doubts it. More accurately, he prays it’s not like that.) Shinsou wouldn’t have a hard time walking away.

That's scary. Kaminari continues to look downwards for the rest of the too-long class.

Class has ended. Kirishima has to lift Kaminari off his feet to make him leave the classroom. He didn’t have to go the extra mile and throw him over both his shoulders like a wrestler, but he did it anyways. Kaminari has every right to be pissy about it.

“Dude, put me down now! This sh*t ain’t funny!” Kaminari yells while he trashes around.

“But you love being lifted like this, you say it makes you feel tall!” Kirishima says back. He doesn’t even budge against Kaminaris thrashing.

Iida starts to walk towards them, probably to ask them what is going on.

He has always been a nice, helpful guy like that.

Kaminari sees his chance.

He grabs a hold of Iida. He wraps his arms around the taller guys neck and doesn’t let go, not even when Iida pulls away, especially not when Iida pulls away. In fact, he tightens his arms around him. Finally Kirishima moves, falling forward before regaining his footing. When Kaminari twists his torso around to take a look at Kirishima, he is both scared and intrigued. Kaminari recognizes the way his red eyes narrow. Despite his friends wide, otherwise friendly grin, his shark teeth are gritted with a promise for a fight. Kirishima means business now. Iida, completely blind to their competition, tries to shrug Kaminari off him. He even reasons, “Kaminari, Kirishima, this is highly dangerous! We will disturb the tables- ough-” he makes a strange sound when Kirishima pulls harder on Kaminaris legs.

The pull forces Iida to take several steps forward, and instead of acting like the responsible teenager he tries to be and detach himself from the situation, Iida pulls back. Drags Kaminari with him while Kirishima holds his stance like the stubborn bull he is.

Kaminari is in excruciating pain.

Sero shakes his head while Bakugou yells for Kirishima to power through, which unfortunately works like a charm. Jirou is filming all of it. Uraraka has joined her, but she is much more giggly about the situation.

When Kouda walks by, trying as hard as he can to avoid this whole conflict, Kaminari takes his chance. He strengthens one of his arms around Iida while loosening the other one. The limb shoots out and pulls Kouda close. Kouda squeals, but he goes to work at pulling himself and Kaminari away from Kirishimas grip. Kaminari is now holding two of the most tall, broad guys in his class in a desperate chokehold. If Shoji was to come by he would definitely win. To rub it in he turns around to Kirishima again, just to grin at and taunt him.

He laughs when he sees that Kirishima is finally struggling. “Suck it, Kirishima!”

Bakugou snaps. That is because both Kaminari and Bakugou share one trait; no one can make fun of the people they like, except for them. (This sucks because they care about pretty much the exactly same people. A lot of dumb and petty arguments has stemmed from this.) In turn Bakugou runs forward and grabs Kaminaris other leg, and- Well, Kaminari isn’t that nervous. Bakugou is strong. Of course he is strong, he is outright terrifying. But that strength stems mostly from of his fighting instincts and quirk usage, not from his raw muscle power. And that is okay. That’s valid because Bakugou can use his quirk to f*cking fly. And if he is going to fly, he won’t need the extra muscle. So raw body power is not his strongest suit. Kaminari isn’t judging him for that, god knows he doesn’t have any right to do that. Even though Bakugou is not build like a tank, he could probably punch Kaminari in his face just by flexing his pecs. And that is impressive on its own.

The thing here is that if Iida did the same, he would break Kaminaris nose. Kouda would break his entire face.

So Kaminari is not that worried. But in his naivety he forgot about one another strong trait that Bakugou is blessed with; How loud and unashamed he is. Against meek guys like Iida and Kouda, that is a massive strength to have. Therefore when he pulls on Kaminaris leg with the ferocity of a thousand raging suns, the actual kicker is that he yells, too.

“ONLY I CAN TELL EIJIROU TO f*ckING SUCK IT!”

The virgins are caught off guard after that, which gives Kirishima and Bakugou the chance to pull even harder. In the end, the two virgins lose their strong hold. Kaminari drops his hold on them as well and he falls backwards. His head barely touches the ground, but his limp arms does. He has given up. Even his shirt has given up, the hem and tie drooping down to the floor in defeat. Bakugou and Kirishima continues to hold him upside down by each leg, as if they were bullying him. They kind of were. Kaminari tells him this and Bakugou laughs, way too genuine in his amusem*nt Kaminari starts to fear for his safety. Bakugou even shakes him and threatens him to give his lunch money, and Kirishima looks over to Bakugou with a worried look on his face.

“Babe, no…” Kirishima mutters out, even touches his shoulder with one arm. (Keep in mind: he is still holding Kaminari up, with one hand.) Bakugou huffs and stops shaking him, that softie. Kaminari laughs now, long forgotten about what had upset him earlier.

That is when the door opens, and none other than Shinsou stands behind it.

Kaminari realizes that this is the first time since the day before the sports festival that Shinsou has stepped a foot into his classroom. His presence is different this time around.

That day he had meant business, with his collar proper and meanest deadpan expression put on full display. The very air around him alluded to a calculative component who knew exactly what he needed to do to win the festival, all aided by his slow speech and constant eye contact. Really, if Kaminari hadn’t know better (he hadn’t) and all he had to go by was his rude introduction, he’d think Shinsou was out for literal blood. And not in a Bakugou kind of way, which he is confident in his power and wants to flaunt it even if someone had to get hurt, but in a " corrupted bussiness man who wants to get to the top no matter what illegal act he has to do" type of way. Kaminari used to be positive that if Shinsou was in a horror movie, he would be the serial killer who would take slow steps towards his screaming, running victim. And i the end he would still manage to stab the victim to death. All ruthless and cold.

Now his shoulders are hunched and chest heaving, as if he is the one who ran away from a potential stabbing.

Shinsou had the gall to put on Kaminaris hoodie, hood all the way up to the top of his head. He is wearing the scarf at the same time, and Kaminari can see that the heat is getting to him. His face is flushed and sweating like never before. He holds none of the mean competency air around him this time, eyes wider than they usually are, and jaw slack. Just to make him seem much more out of place, Nugget peeks out from inside the lifted hoodie, eyes glowing yellow against the dark shadows.

Kaminari tries to hold on to his anger, he really does. He deserves that much. He never gets angry, so when he does he wants to savour it at least a little. He is selfish like that.

The anger washes off him before he could even start to grieve for it.

Chapter 33: Processing; wait a sec, Shinsou Hitoshi is almost ready to reboot

Chapter Text

They are not a couple. They are not a couple. How are they not a couple? I was so sure, all the signs were there. They fit so well together, I think. I was spiraling because of this sh*t, but they are not a couple. Shinsou chants inside himself, eyes wide and staring at the wall touching his forehead. He had left Kaminaris loud group to find a corner for himself to just… To just process, really.

And it is a long, long process.

Kirishima said they wouldn’t bang even if they were the last people on the planet, that is a very platonic thing to say, they are platonic. Not a couple. They are not a couple.

He lifts his head, and it hits the wall again with a soft sound.

But how?

Shinsou doesn’t know for how long he stayed there, crouched down against the wall repeating the same three sentences over and over. But when Nugget brushes against him and Kaminari waves a painted hand towards him with a nervous smile on his pretty face, he understands by the sudden dryness of his throat that it wasn’t long enough. Not enough by a long shot. When Kaminari found him the process was not finished, rendering Shinsous inner mechanisms useless. Therefore he did not smile when Kaminari waved to him, even though he wanted to. Shinsou did not properly showcase his genuine concern for how red Kaminaris eyes were either, because he was not ready. He was especially not ready when Kaminari expressed concern and asked if he was okay. Shinsou completely blacked out when Kaminari asked him if he was attractive.

(Of course you are attractive. You have the prettiest smile I have ever seen in my life. Why would I ever think that you are not attractive? Seriously, how could I not? Shinsou had gushed, but he did not actually say any of that. Or so he thinks, he hopes. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t f*cking know.)

Shinsou cannot for the life of him recall what he had said back then, but it must have been horrible if it was enough for Kaminari to simply walk away.

Shinsou was left only with a cat. A cat that he was not at all allowed to bring with him to school. And in opposition to Kaminari, Shinsou actually did his homework, so his backpack was filled with heavy books. Not a place to put any sentient being with organs and bones in, that is for sure. He could not just shove Nugget in there, no, he had to get creative. Shinsou took the damn hoodie out of the bag and put it on himself, pulled the hood up. With a sigh he lifts his hood over his head and shoves Nugget in there. He is plain lucky that the next class is just independent study with no teachers present.

Shinsou used his independent study time to pro- to reflect. Only robots have to process, not human beings with pre-existing emotions. He isn’t a robot, damnit. But he is a little slow to these kind of things, even Shinsou will admit that. He hadn’t come that far into his reflection process before Kaminari interrupted him, so he hadn’t actually realized Kaminaris non-straight sexuality and what it entailed back then. But. Now he have come way further into his reflection process. And.

Kaminari. Likes. Guys. Guys.

His blood stops, mouth dry.

Shinsou is a guy.

(And that is how he spent the class period; overthinking and panicking over pre-existing emotions. Also, he had to fake yawn to hide Nuggets occasional meows, but mostly he played hot potato with his own thoughts, and panicked once certain thoughts burned him; see what is Kaminaris type? Pure, pure agony. That is what it is. That’s his f*cking type.)

This time around Shinsou is the first one out of the door.

He walks in a straight line right towards Kaminaris classroom until he hears someone shout after him. At first he walks away even faster, but then his feet stick to the ground. Shinsou looks down to see that his shoes are stuck to purple goo. He sighs.

“Hey you! You think you can just walk away, huh?” A girl (he guesses) shouts, and Shinsou turns his torso around to watch her. She is far away, shouting at him from the end of the hall. There is nothing special about her. She has dark purple hair, the same uniform as every other girl in this school. The skirt she is wearing is more airy than usual (he guesses. It isn’t something he has noticed before now), but that isn’t annoying or anything either, just weird. Her voice is annoying, though. Somewhat familiar, if not a little haughty.

“Who are you?”

The girl tch-es loud enough so Shinsou can hear it from where he is stuck.

“I am the hall monitor, and I always make sure the hallways are peaceful, and most importantly, that everyone abides by the rules. And you sir, are not abiding by the rules!” She starts to walk towards him in a menacing manner, “ You cannot wear clothes that cover your school uniform while in school property, as you might be hiding suspicious objects that will endanger your fellow students!”

Well sh*t, Shinsou is hiding a suspicious object on him. Nugget won’t endanger anyone but those who are allergic, but he is nervous anyways. People always wants a reason to get in his way, and he can sense a challenge in the hall monitor girl across the hallway.

“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?” Shinsou goads on because he has nothing else to do. The quirk is stronger than he realized, she hasn’t let it go despite being talking (more like shouting) and walking. Shinsou would rather not use his quirk because that could get him expelled, so he will just let her show her true colors so he can manipulate that instead.

“I am now going to perform a full body inspection on you, and if I do find something suspicious I will personally take you to the principal!”

Oh, sh*t.

“Is that allowed?” He asks only to stall time. And because he is worried.

The reaction he receives only worries him more. She is close enough so Shinsou can make out her facial expression, and he grimaces once he sees it. Pale blue eyes wide open and her grin is far too gleeful. Her mannish fingers wiggle like she cannot wait to reach him. She is so excited her voice cracks into a deeper one once she speaks.

“What are you gonna do about it?”

Shinsou can do a lot about it, but he doesn’t know if he should. In the end all Shinsou knows is this: He is never going to get expelled from UA. Using his quirk on someone else could get him expelled, but she did use her own on him first. She did show her true colors as well, so everything is free game now. Also, he knew another thing, too. He is never going to get expelled for being caught with a hoodie and a cat on him. Only explosives; nothing more, nothing less- This is getting ridiculous. And depressing. And dark. He’ll stop monologuing.

So he does the least suspicious thing he could think to do, the thing that could never get him expelled.

Shinsou brainwashes her to let her quirk go and he runs.

After a while she comes back to her senses and shouts after him, but Shinsou is long gone by then. He doesn’t have the time to mull over the fact she shouted out his name.

“What, what’s…”

Shinsou looks at the scene in front of him.

Kaminari is held upside down by his two friends, filmed by two others at the same time. There are other spectators as well; some looking more worried than others while some aren’t giving any sh*ts, as if whatever this upside-down tomfoolery is, is normal for them. Shinsou never knew anything about Kaminari being a bully victim at 1-A, and he quickly rules that possibility out given the laughter breaking out of him.

While Shinsou might be confused beyond belief, that laughter calms his heaving chest the moment he registers it. He is happy, Shinsou realizes, good.

Well, he was happy for a second or so. The moment Kaminari registers his presence the smile is wiped off his face. That shouldn’t make him as nervous as now, given that the guy is still held upside down, but Shinsous heart is beating in his throat and it is not because of his run. Shinsou shakes his head, refocuses himself and faces Kaminari and his flushed face again. “What- Okay, I’m not even going to ask about it. Kaminari, follow me, please.”

Before the guy he had actually addressed can even reply, Bakugou drops him on the ground. His hands crackle with explosions, and Shinsou realizes belatedly those are supposed to be a threat directed towards him. He was too busy worrying if Kaminaris spine broke after that nasty fall to notice the obvious implications.

“Oh, it’s YOU! You did something, didn’t you?” Bakugou steps over Kaminaris body, taking wide steps towards Shinsou. His shoulders slump a little. Not again. Once he is in front of Shinsou he dares to poke a menacing, explosive finger on his chest. More than twice. “f*cking Pikachu’s been annoying ever since he talked with you today, so spill it you zombie f*ck, what the hell did you f*cking do?!”

Shinsou pats the front of his chest to remove any hint of smoke. “Don’t ruin the hoodie, s’not mine.” He grumbles out, now annoyed. Shinsou suspects Bakugou would be very skilled in annoying him.

Before Bakugou can spit him right back in the face, Nugget reaches out to bop him on the forehead. Bakugou doesn’t react, he only narrows his eyes further. Although Bakugou remained quiet someone does say, “is that a cat? Are those allowed here?” and Shinsou knows he has to go. He tilts his head so Bakugou is not obscuring his view anymore, just to peer down to Kaminari again. Kaminari is now sitting on the ground instead of laying down, a hand rubbing at the small of his back. The fall must have hurt, but that doesn’t mean they can take it easy just yet.

“Kaminari, please.”

He repeats again, and if his tone is more urgent and authoritative this time no one can blame him. Shinsou looks around him to make sure the hall monitor girl isn’t nearby. Maybe it was a poor choice to make a run for it, but that is a decision he now has to live with.

He only hopes Kaminari can make this decision easier by following after.

At last he does make a fortunate decision. Kaminari stands up, he jogs to reach Shinsou and turns to his friend to wave. He tells them that he will explain to them what is going on later, and then he is the one to drag them away from the classroom. Shinsou appreciates the energy.

Kaminari asks no questions when Shinsou picks up the pace, not even when they take a turn so sharp Shinsou hits his own forehead against some locker. Not even a snort.

(Okay, that is definitely a lie. They had taken a long break after that one. Shinsou needed to rub the pain away and regain his sight again, and Kaminari most definitely needed a break so he could wheeze to his heart's extent. He even fell down, cheek and knees flat against the floor, and stomach clenched with shaking arms as he sobbed out his laughter. Shinsou was thoroughly embarrassed from the reaction, but he let it go this time. And if he gazed adoringly at Kaminari with what he had left of his vision, then that is his own problem.)

When Shinsou can hear the faint, familiar shout of the hall monitor girl he hoists Kaminari up to his feet, and they continue to run. They have no other choice but to run, really. The wheezing blond is a good sport about it, too. Kaminari pants after him, but given the fact his pace doesn’t slow down Shinsou suspects he is only doing it for dramatic purposes. Shinsou is too tired to bite back a smile. Kaminari might have been under the weather for just an hour, and maybe Shinsou wasn’t even present for said hour, that didn’t stop him from missing those antics.

Fortunately they end up outside. Just a few feet away from the usual big tree they go to, Kaminari slips on snow. This time Shinsou is the one who laughs.

Kaminari grabs him by the leg and yanks. Shinsou was far too busy laughing to notice, and then he fell down. When he manages to wipe snow away from his eyes, all he sees is Kaminari laughing right back at him. He had no idea Kaminari could be so petty, but Shinsou finds it fitting. The fact that Kaminari is petty means Shinsou can also be petty without feeling guilty for it later. He grabs a handful of snow and shoves it down Kaminaris collar, and that wonderful laughter morphs into an even more wonderful shriek; just like music to Shinsous ears. Shinsou watches him as Kaminari manages to shake the remaining snow off his shirt, overflowing with fondness all over again, warm to an infuriating level.

“Sorry,” Shinsou says before his pride can bite the word back.

Kaminari calms down after that, but he doesn’t look fully convinced. “For what?”

He is stumped again.

Despite all his processing Shinsou still doesn’t remember what it is that he said. He just knows he never wants Kaminari to walk away from him looking like that. No, Shinsou should have stopped him and- Talked about feelings? Showed him that he cares a lot, told him that he is good looking and that he wants to make out sometime? He wrinkles his eyebrows at his own ridiculous inner monologue. I can’t really say any of that, can I? There are boundaries-

Well, that’s a lie, isn’t it? Kaminari and Jirou are not a couple, right?

Kaminari and Jirou wouldn’t bang even if they were the last people on the planet. Kirishima said so, and Kirishima looks like a person you can trust. Yes, even to Shinsou with his impossible trust issues, Kirishima looks like a person you can trust (and no, no wishful thinking is involved in this reassurement. None at all. Shut up.) Shinsou has no reason to feel guilty when he leans into Kaminaris space. He doesn’t have to think he is leaping over the tall fences of the dreaded friendzone for being insistent with his eye contact, studying Kaminaris face for more than analytical reasons. He knows he doesn’t have to feel this fear anymore, but he looks away once his eyes travel downwards to a button nose and a frowning mouth.

(Kaminari made a pained sound once he stopped looking at him, but Shinsou is far too deep in his own head to take notice of that.)

“For being cold.”

Shinsou decides to say, because he knows himself well enough to admit that is what most of his issues boil down to. He is cold, freezing like the snow around them, when it comes to people. But Kaminari is not just anyone, not anymore. Shinsou will let himself burn if it means Kaminari will understand that.

“You admitted something personal and I walked away. I, uh, I wasn’t the most welcoming person afterwards either.”

“Yeah, no sh*t.” Kaminari huffs out- and okay, he deserves that one.

He’ll let the pettiness go one sided this time.

It doesn’t mean he won’t clench his teeth next time he speaks, though.

“I didn’t think about how that looked from an outside perspective, but since you left I thought the whole thing over, and- and, well, yeah,” Shinsou is talking straight through his teeth, “There’s no excuses here, I just- I looked like an asshole. I was an asshole.”

Kaminari stops pouting

“Shinsou, I don’t want this to kill you or somethin’.”

Isn’t that ironic. Didn’t Kaminari ask Shinsou if he was okay, before Shinsou snapped at him? And he is still going to try it again so soon after? Despite the utter agony admitting his wrongdoings give him, he smiles. A genuine smile, too. Yes. Kaminari is just that nice, apparently. He is warm, and the heat isn’t scalding him anymore.

“I should ask you that, you-“

“Don’t tell me I look horrible again, I know it’s probably true but please, that was way too embarrassing first time around!” Kaminari whines, and Shinsou stills.

Is- Is that what he had said? That Kaminari looks horrible? What the f*ck, Hitoshi? He knows he is a good liar, maybe a compulsive one at times, but really? Horrible?

“I didn’t say that, did I?” He tries anyway.

Kaminari groans, hides his face with the back of his hand. “You sure did, dude.”

Shinsou doesn’t really know what to say to that but wince. He already apologized for walking away, but an apology won’t cut for lying straight through his teeth like that. Well, he looks down on himself and notices how bundled up he is. He takes the hoodie off him, ignores how Kaminari eeps. Then Shinsou shoves it down his head instead, watches how the yellow hair tuts out from the collar. After enough tugging his face gets through, and Shinsous heart clenches. His eyes are clenched shut the same way cats close their eyes, a cute wrinkle to his nose. Shinsou tries to quench that fondness by uncurling his scarf and drape it around Kaminaris cute face.

It doesn’t help. All he can do is lean back and watch Kaminari squirm into the clothing, his skin melting away particle after particle while he sits casually besides the f*cking sun.

“Sorry,” Shinsou repeats, “you’re not horrible. Not by a long shot.”

“Wow, thanks.” Kaminari scoffs, but he is smiling this time. He takes that as a win, until Kaminari bats his eyelashes and works to untangle his hair with painted fingers, hand barely poking out from the sleeves. He almost turns to dust. No matter what Shinsou does he is not going to win anything. He is going to lose the game of breathing properly instead.

Shinsou has so much to say he doesn’t even know where to begin. Kaminari isn’t just not horrible. He is wonderful. He is kind but not in an infuriating way, he is so much more than what meets the pretty eye. His throat closes up but his mind is going full speed. Shinsou can say these things now; Kaminari is not taken by anyone, he is not straight either. Hell, the guy might even fall for him too if he keeps the compliments and easy talk coming.

This shouldn’t be so damn difficult. He exhales deeply, clouds of cold air leaving his lungs. Old habits die hard, but they will die someday.

Chapter 34: Heavy shoulders

Chapter Text

“But seriously.” Shinsou starts again, “how are you feeling about it now?”

The question scares Kaminari a little, so he fickles with the scarf again. It is a good excuse to keep his hands busy. Maybe he should buy a scarf, too. “That’s kinda vague dude; You mean getting choked out by your scarf or the liking dudes thing?”

“You know what I mean.”

And yeah, Kaminari does know what he mean. But his mouth is dry and his head hollow, so he doesn’t know how to even start. How do you explain how it is to come out to your crush; to explain things in such a way so he won’t understand how much of a big part he had in you coming to terms with yourself, but just enough to empathize with you and then let it go? Kaminari never got the whole only say what you have to say gimmick. He always overshares, and people see it as a likeable trait of his so he never desired to do anything about it, but maybe he should have invested some time to learn keeping things to himself.

He continues to fickle with the scarf until it fits too perfect, and he looks up to the sky instead. The blue color is so cool you might as well call it grey, the sun only some white light Kaminari cannot find the source for. He is tempted to ask Shinsou about the weather, but not even he would stoop so low.

“It’s weird to say it now since I was really nervous about it back then, but it feels kinda nice too, y’know-” sh*t, he almost winces, don’t just assume he knows- “to be honest.”

Shinsou raises his brows.

“It’s nice to be honest.” He repeats. His voice is completely flat.

Kaminari doesn’t wince. He nods instead. It might sound stupid, and he didn’t mean to say that at all, but now that he is thinking about what he said instead of berating his dumb words: That statement is true as well. Kaminari likes being honest, but sometimes he has to lie too. Maybe he is orchestrating a drawn out prank and needs to exercise his lying abilities so no one catches onto his scheme. Maybe Kaminari has to save his own ass and to do so, he has to make up a white lie no one will care to think about later on. While he likes being honest the most, it is not like he hates lying either. The way Kaminari copes with insincerity is that after a lie comes the truth; and nothing feels better than to finally admit the truth and let his shoulders sink.

That is when Kaminari notices he hasn’t been able to relax his shoulders for a long time.

“Why you so skeptic? Lying much?” Kaminari projects just then. He doesn’t feel guilty for putting the spotlight on Shinsou so soon, he knows he will dodge the question anyways. Shinsou is just as skilled as him when it comes to turning unwanted accusations into jokes, even if they are of the dry variety. He’ll gracefully dodge the question, make Kaminari laugh, and that will be it-

“And you don’t?” Is what he ends up saying. Kaminari, for once in his life, doesn’t know what to say back.

He looks away, Shinsous eyes are too penetrative for him to look into. His shoulders weigh him down, so he lays down on the snow. He puts his arms behind his head like a cushion. Still casual, of course. Always casual.

“I do.” Kaminari admits. He blows a few hair strands from his face. “It sucks. I suck at keeping secrets.”

“If you suck at keeping them, stop doing it.”

Kaminari had closed his eyes at some point, but when he opens them all he sees is Shinsou. He stops himself from jumping up. Shinsou is not fully in his face- If he was Kaminari has no idea what he would do (Probably something very impulsive and something very, very stupid). He is simply leaning more forward from where he sits, engulfing Kaminari in a soft shadow. He is tempted to fall assleep like this, but he knows he is not allowed to. No, Kaminari has a question to answer; a difficult one, that is. “I don’t think you’d understand.” Kaminari reasons weakly. His throat has never been this dry before.

“Make me.”

Kaminari is this close to ripping yellow hairs off his scalp.

Shinsou seems obvious to the pain he is putting Kaminari through. His eyes are as studious as ever, as if Kaminari is really that interesting to learn about. He shivers a little. It is not everyday someone cares about what you have to say to that extent.

“It’s-” Kaminari swallows, “it’s about the gay thing.”

Shinsou co*cks his head to the side. Some of his hair falls downwards to his forehead, but Kaminari can still make out the way his eyebrows arch. “Yeah, I bet it is. Why wouldn’t I understand that?”

Everything stands still, but everything is also going way too fast for Kaminari to comprehend anything at all. His mind is battling itself; jumping between hope and what if he doesn’t mean it like that, control yourself man with no chance for him to catch a break. Because what does that even mean? Does Shinsou mean he understands that Kaminari is talking about his sexuality because of the prior conversation they had about it, or is he suggesting that he relates to Kaminari; as in, he relates to him? Kaminari almost groans out loud. Why did this gorgeous bastard decide now was the perfect time to be mysterious?

He goes for his first thought and hopes for the latter. “I- Cause I’m bi and you’re prolly not that?”

“Yeah, I’m prolly not that,” Kaminari deflates. So much for wishful thinking- “I’m pretty sure I am a full fledged hom*osexual, though. I would understand that part of your experience well then. Spot on, really.”

Oh.

…

.

Kaminaris heart leaps up, and so does his body.

While he scrambles to sit upwards he knocks his forehead against Shinsous, again. Believe it or not, the adrenaline is strong enough to deafen the impact from Shinsous cement forehead. Totally not in pain, he just stares back at Shinsou as if he is a ghost. Shinsou is either annoyed by it, or nervous. Kaminari cannot tell. He has gotten better at seeing the differences now, but Shinsous facial expressions are still not diverse enough. Especially so when those two possible emotions he has to decide between are both negatively inclined.

“What.”

“Deadass?”

Shinsou calms down again. “Yeah.”

Kaminari tries to calm down. Wills his body to go still. He truly, truly does try to keep calm. It doesn’t work. His excitement bubbles out from the cracks in his flawed resolve. It is obvious from how his fingers tap on his leg and how he bites down a grin. He slips up on a giggle once, too. Despite these obvious slip ups Kaminari is desperate to seem casual. Always casual. That old wipe imaginary sweat of your forehead and sigh loudly schtick always does the trick.

Then he breaks. Again. Properly this time. Laughter wells up in his chest, so hearty his entire torso quakes with it. Despite how his body trembles like a house shaken off its hinges, heavy and overwhelming, he hasn’t felt such lightheartedness in a long time. Kaminari is positive he could fling himself into the sun and continue to soar for eternity with no aid from Uraraka. Shinsou looks nervous again, and he doesn’t understand why. Then Kaminari realizes how suspicious he looks laughing for himself, and he tries to reassure Shinsou again. He moves to face him, opens his mouth to explain himself, but all that comes out is laughter. And he fails many more times, always interrupting himself with his a snort or a giggle, even a wheeze.

The numerous fails reaches a point where Shinsou is already pushing himself up, and the only reason he is not power walking away is because Kaminari latches himself to his leg.

“Hey hey hey, don’t leave!” Shinsou still tries to leave, dragging his leg and Kaminari through snow. Then he turns to frown down at Kaminari, who cannot help but laugh harder due to said frown, “Don’t look at me like that either, this is great! I’m laughin’ outta pleasant surprise here!” His yell turns high pitched when snow sneaks into his hoodie, but he continues on to explain himself. Yes he might be thrashing and shrieking, but he is also explaining himself, “Cos here I was, scared that you were a hom*ophobe, but you were just a fellow hom*o all along!”

Shinsou stops dragging his leg. Despite the cold weather, his face turns as bleak as the snow around them.

“You really thought- sh*t, I really shouldn’t have let you go.”

Kaminaris laughter dies down, but he is still smiling. Shinsous shoulders are hunched and his eyebrows knit together, and Kaminari can tell he feels bad for scaring him. It is sweet. Sweeter than Kaminari thought Shinsou could ever be. He pats him on the other leg in an attempt to comfort him. At the same time he bathes in the warmth Shinsou radiates. Who ever said that Kaminari couldn’t multitask?

“Don’t worry about it, dude. You’ll always have me now; whether you like it or not!” He leans further into Shinsous leg. Shinsou doesn’t pull away, and he almost squeals because of it, “I’m just gonna take a nap now, Nugget woke me up at buttf*ck o’clock, that beautiful little sh*t.”

He cannot see it, but Shinsou is smiling down at him. Then he sits down properly again, and instead of pulling away like Kaminari had feared, he stretches his leg further out just so Kaminari can properly use it as a pillow. Because he is Kaminaris dream guy like that.

“ I’ll wake you when I have to go.”

Kaminari doesn’t say anything afterwards. What else is there to say? Shinsou has given him one less thing to stress about now. Tocha is not an issue- really, no other girl is an issue. He doesn’t have to jump into defenses whenever a girl smiles at him. Now he just has to find the guy who made Shinsou discover himself and beg him to share his secret of making hot, tired guys fall for him. But that is an issue for another day.

For now he only grins. Then he dozes right off.

Kaminaris eyes snap open again.

“We lost Nugget.”

Chapter 35: Actions or words; Monoma is back on his sh*t

Chapter Text

In a dark hallway far away from Kaminari’s and Shinsou’s winterland, Shio Tocha and a hall monitor girl (?) lurk. A black cat with three legs lurk with them too, although he is far more confused about what is going on compared to the two students. Tocha lifts the cat up so it doesn’t have a chance to escape. He is happy for the lift, yet wary of her cold gaze. Tocha is not fond of him like his caretakers are, that is for sure.

“Of course Shinsou would go out of his way to buy a deformed cat.”

Monoma takes the purple wig off his head.

“Isn’t that just charming? He takes those oppressed and shunned with him, because he can relate to their struggle. I knew that…” And he continues to talk. Tocha is not listening, since all Monoma says is bullsh*t anyways. She doesn’t care about how nice Shinsou is. Tocha is far too selfish to even think about what he deserves. And she knows Monoma doesn’t care either. If he did care, he wouldn’t come in the way of something that obviously makes Shinsou happy. And if he does care about what he deserves, then he is an even bigger idiot than Tocha thought possible.

She looks him up and down, judging as always. “You didn’t have to wear that, though.”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“The skirt, Monoma.”

Monoma tuts. He turns to face her, swings his hips as well. The skirt blows in the still air, and Tocha knows he likes it a lot. It is obvious in the way his hands lay all dainty on the fabric. This guy is living his best life in that skirt.

“You don’t know of the bond that I and Shinsou share. If I was to wear my regular uniform and plaster a wig on top, he would spot me in an instant,” Bullsh*t, she rolls her eyes again, this time with intent. Monoma ignores it, just to point an accusing finger back at her, “And your tone is far too flat for you to act the part of the diligent hall monitor, so I did what I must for our plan to work. Really, you should thank me for doing your job for you.”

Tocha raises a perfect brow. She starts to pet the cat on its head, and ok, she understands Shinsou’s obsession with these furry things now. You feel sly simply stroking them. She is all of that already, but today she learned that there exists a certain type of class only a cat can give you.

“Where did you get those clothes from.”

“A fellow classmates’ locker. Are you done with your useless questions now?”

Tocha huffs, and that is code for yes. I cannot wait to go back to not knowing you after all of this is done. He turns away again, simply so the skirt may swish again.

“Good. Soon we will see Kaminaris true intentions when it comes to our dear Shinsou. Once they reach us it will be far too late for him to explain himself, there will only be actions for him to take. We will be able to see what those actions are and what they entail; If he will take the blame for Shinsou’s moronic decision and risk being expelled, or let that gorgeous man rot amongst you gen-ed students.”

“f*ck you too.”

God, the disrespect Tocha is willing to sit through for the drama.

“sh*t, sh*t f*ck sh*t, sh*t, sh*t.”

Two bumbling idiots run through the hallways, one cursing over and over while the other shouts the name of a kids menu fast food at the top of his lungs.

“I bet Monoma did this- The guy just can’t let me go,” Kaminari huffs out while running. Surprisingly enough, he was the idiot to curse for no damn reason instead of shouting after Nugget. “He be stealin’ my sh*t, now he be stealin’ my cat too!”

“Quick, where do childish blond guys with huge egos go when they are trying to prove a point?” Shinsou asks no one in particular. Since Kaminari loves to talk, especially when he is stressed; he decides that Shinsou is, in fact, asking him about his personal opinion regarding where childish blonde guys go when they are trying to prove a point. He suspects he would be a good judge of that anyways; him being a childish blond guy and all.

Kaminari thinks back to his conversation with Monoma a few days ago. The one that was supposed to get him to admit his creepy habits on tape, but eventually became an argument about “deserving” Shinsou's attention. Kaminari had said that he did not have any ulterior motives behind his affections, but Monoma did not agree with him. According to him, Kaminari is not at all different from Monoma himself; selfish and cunning, hiding more than what he is willing to show. And it is true that he is hiding his true feelings, but that not because he is manipulative or anything- he is just deathly afraid of rejection now that he has fallen for someone he cares about, and who wouldn't be deathly afraid? At one point Kaminari had worried that he was transforming into a manipulative person without even knowing it himself, but he has come to the conclusion that Monoma is just self-projecting to the most extreme level, dragging Kaminari's insecurities into the messy mix.

He probably wants to show Shinsou that Kaminari is selfish and cunning like him, but how was he supposed to do that? To start off, Shinsou is right here with him. Shinsou knows him better than Monoma ever will. Shinsou is also just as responsible for Nuggets purchase, and Kaminari doubts Monoma is dumb enough to not understand that- Yes, Monoma is delusional, but he is not dumb. He has watched them long enough to know Shinsou and Kaminari are on the same page about most things, especially the cat they tried to hide during lunch.

Think, Denki, he tries, the guy is targeting you. He knows a lot about you. What other person are you afraid of?

“Well, that won’t work,” He mumbles for himself. Kaminari is afraid of a lot of people.

Okay okay, that is true. What about a person whose opinion has value to you, but in an intimidating way. Who is that person to you? That question is far easier. Kaminari makes a mental list: Shinsou is already ruled out. Bakugou is scary, but in an amusing way. Kaminari can handle his judgement well. Jirou is scary in a less amusing way, but they have a good enough understanding of each other so he rules her out, too.

Of course you aren’t afraid of them, they’re your friends! Kaminari berates his simple mind, don’t think friends, think-I dunno, teach-

Ah. Oh. Oh no.

“sh*t, sh*t f*ck sh*t, sh*t, sh*t,” He repeats.

Shinsou turns his face to look at him, confused at his sudden declaration. Bless him, he still doesn’t know. Well, he will. Kaminari grabs him by the wrist and drags him away to the teachers lounge. “You remember the thing about lying? I think it’s time we stop that.” Kaminari tries to explain.

It doesn’t work. Poor thing is still confused, and Kaminari really doesn’t have time to explain what he realized properly.

Because now they can see Monoma and Tocha in front of them, right by the door to the teachers lounge. Kaminari and Shinsou stops running, not daring to take their eyes away from the other couple. Tocha stands nearest the door. She is also the one holding Nugget, as if he is a shotgun. Shinsou stands in front of her, while Kaminari stands in front of Monoma. The four of them watch each other warily, like they are in a spaghetti western film and the city isn’t big enough for them all. The sun shines through a nearby window as well, forcing Kaminari to squint. He is squinting at Monoma, the bastard deserves all the glaring he can get. And of course Monoma grins even wider, that absolute asshole- Wait, is he wearing a-

Shinsou narrows his eyes, too. Finally he understood the situation. “So it was you all along.”

“Is that a skirt?”

Kaminari blurts out right after. He turns to look at Shinsou, whom also turns to look at Kaminari. Apparently he is not that impressed with him, if that eyebrow raise is anything to go by. Kaminari gets that, Shinsou’s phrase is way cooler. He turns away to face Monoma and he mumbles out a sorry to his partner in crime. They quiet down, so Monoma must have seen it as a signal to talk again. Ugh.

“As quick as always, Shinsou.” Monoma dares to compliment Shinsou, and then he changes the subject before Kaminari can channel his sass again, “You must wonder what the occasion is.”

Ugh, he is so annoying. Kaminari still manages to interrupt him again. “Come on, why don’t you try to be more posh, huh? You’re ruining my cowboy fantasy with your corny bond villain speech.” Kaminari cannot help but whine.

Shinsou eyes him again, so he tries to keep quiet this time. He really does.

The hallways are silent for a good few seconds afterwards. A lot of staring is happening. Very little stimuli is happening. Kaminari’s foot taps against the floor. All of them are staring at him now, and he wills his foot to stop, but it won’t. He just shrugs back, tips his imaginary cowboy hat and sniffs a little. Kaminari could never make it as a cowboy.

“Enough of this clownery.” Tired of their sh*t, Tocha lifts a menacing hand to the door, “If you two don’t shut up and listen to what this corny crossdresser has to say, then I’m knocking on the door. You can talk all you want with Eraserdead.”

“It’s- It’s Eraserhead.” Shinsou corrects, because he just has to.

Tocha doesn’t care. She rests her hand against the door. Her knuckles are right there. “Did I stutter?”

The leg stops bouncing. Monoma clears his throat.

“Some days ago, Kaminari and I had a discussion. A discussion of how actions matter more than words. It left the poor thing dumbfounded in the end. I have watched him ever since, as usual, and to my dismay I saw that none of my arguments have came to fruition within him. He continues to serve himself and nobody else.” His eyes even glint, “Maybe this will teach him something, though. Most of all: This might finally teach you, Shinsou, something of his character. Something my words alone could not show you.”

Once again, the hallways are quiet. A tumbleweed could roll by. It wouldn’t be at all bizarre in this strange situation the four students have found themselves in. In the end, Shinsou is the one to break the silence.

“What the f*ck.”

Kaminari does not interrupt him this time. He doesn’t find it necessary. He would say the same thing anyways.

Monoma straightens out his back. All of them (Except Tocha, she was far too good for them apparently; her and her co*cked hip.) had crouched down into a gunslinging stance without realizing it, but Monoma finally broke the spell. He puts his hands on his hips, nods twice with his lips pursued. Considering his body language, Shinsou might have said the wrong thing. Kaminari suspects he is seconds away from outright bolting away.

“Very well. Tocha, you may knock.”

“Finally.” Tocha sighs out. Then she knocks on the door. A few seconds later, she throws Nugget towards Kaminari. Since Kaminari is still a few seconds back in time, Shinsou steps forward and throws his arms out to receive him instead.

Then Aizawa opens the door. Shinsou has his arms full of cat.

Chapter 37: Fun fact: it was never about the cat

Chapter Text

Two students, two teachers and one cat are now sitting inside an empty, quiet classroom. Or, well, the two students and the cat are sitting down. Aizawa and Yamada are standing, staring them down instead. No difference, really.

“So, what you’re are saying is… The cat is your fault.” Aizawa asks again.

“Yeah.” Kaminari lies. Shinsou turns to look at Aizawa. Quietly, he shakes his head from side to side. A clear no. The gesture makes Aizawa sigh. The teacher sits down on a chair, cups his own face in his hands. He doesn’t say anything else. Not even when Nugget marches over to him and nudges his leg. Radio silence. Kaminari tries again. “Look, we were gonna tell you-”

“There’s no need for that anymore,” Aizawa finally grunts out, he sounds tired, “Shinsou already told me. I should have taken that seriously.”

Well, he didn’t know about that. Kaminari swirls around to yell at his friend.

“Shinsou, dude! Why did you do that?”

Now it is Shinsou’s turn to look both offended and exhausted. The past hour went by too fast. First that hall monitor girl chased him down, later he found Kaminari and they had a bonding moment. When he thought that was the peak of the day Kaminari dragged him back up from the snow to find Nugget, who had been kidnapped by Monoma, who was also the f*cking hall monitor girl. All of this happened to Shinsou with no pause for him to understand the situation; absolutely no explanation either. Given everything that has happened today Shinsou doesn’t really remember telling Aizawa about Nugget. “I did it before school started.” He says, sounding unsure. He cannot even fake expertise.

“I can’t believe you!”

“What’s your problem? You said you didn’t want to make Aizawa mad so I did it for you, you should be thankful that I did it already.”

“Yeah, maybe I didn’t want to make him mad,” Kaminari starts, he could fuel this argument all day, “But I didn’t want any of us to do it alone either! We we’re supposed to do tell him all about Nugget together, cos it hits different when you’re making a teacher mad with a friend.”

Shinsou winces. Even Yamada grimaces. That was actually nice of Kaminari, and now that he thinks about it, Kaminari and Shinsou would have a fun time explaining themselves to Aizawa together. It would be way more fun than this. Shinsou feels bad now. Great. He still doesn’t relent. His fragile heart needs to argue now. He needs to distract himself from emotionally loaded subjects, even if he will look like the bad guy for it.

Before Shinsou can retort and dig himself a deeper hole, Yamada moves forwards.

He walks towards Shinsou, puts a hand on his shoulder and leans towards Kaminari, a wide grin on his face. It doesn’t fit right. “Sorry to stop your bickering, I could see you go at it all day, but could I please talk with Shinsou now?” Shinsou. He winces again. Yamada rarely calls him that anymore, it’s always Toshi-Toshi this or Toshi-Toshi that. Not f*cking Shinsou. This is not good. Yamada does something else that is also weird. It is something about his phrasing. Shinsou notices it especially when the teacher shushes him when he tries to say okay. He waits for Kaminaris reply instead, he does not wait for the person he is going to take out.

It takes Kaminari a few seconds before he understands that as well. When he gets it he just nods, unsure. “Uh, sure?”

“Great!” Yamada drags Shinsou out of the classroom by his ear. Oh. He is mad mad.

The moment the door shuts, he starts to yell.

“When I told you to buy him something flashy, i didn’t say a CAT!” He throws his arms out while pacing. His voice is loud. He might as well have left the door open, honestly. If Shinsou goes to Aizawa and Kaminari, and asks them if heard what Yamada shouted about and they say no, he is at least eighty percent sure they would be lying. Shinsou looks down to the floor. He isn’t sure if Yamada is doing it on purpose since he always yells, but Shinsou is thoroughly embarrassed now. Good job.

“Yeah, you did not.” Shinsou agrees, voice low because he is nearly not as unashamed as Yamada is, “You just told me to buy something. So I did. And he liked the gift. I really don’t appreciate that you’re trying to paint me as the bad guy for something so simple.”

His insecurity must have peaked somewhere during his argument, because Yamada stops pacing. His blonde eyebrows twinges upwards, that wrinkle on his forehead deepening. Those eyes are even shimmering now. f*ck. The argument hit Yamada right in the fatherly instinct. Shinsou rolls his eyes at himself. When Yamada moves to make grabby hands, Shinsou readies himself to make a run for it. But Yamada has already latched his hands to Shinsous shoulders. He relents to his faith. There is no escape from those fatherly instincts now.

“Oh no, Toshi-Toshi! You’ve got it ALL WRONG! I’m not calling you a bad person, of course not. You are lovely, the best son I never had, TRUE SON MATERIAL RIGHT HERE” Shinsou still tries to remove himself from Yamadas hold, since he would rather die than for the man to notice the way his face reddens from the sudden praise, “I am just saying that you can be very, very, very STUPID sometimes!”

“Thanks.” He grits out from between his teeth. He has done that a lot lately.

Somehow the teacher manages to hug Shinsou even tighter, the speaker around his neck cool and chafing against Shinsou’s cheek. Yamada’s leather jacket even creaks. It is awkward, to say the least. After some more doting, Yamada sighs deeply and pulls away. He claps Shinsou twice on the back and ruffles his hair (of course), removes the sunglasses from his face just to wipe a tear from his eye. Then he fixes his sunglasses back on. His grin isn’t as fake anymore.

“Now that I got THAT outta my system, let’s go and butter that grumpy mentor of yours up!”

Shinsou nods. He can absolutely deal with this version of Yamada. This Yamada is on his team, and that is always a good thing. That means buttering up Aizawa will be fun and lighthearted, and Shinsou needs some lightheartedness right now. Before he can move to open the door and allow himself in, Yamada shushes his actions, whatever that means. All Shinsou knows is that it worked. Instead of opening the door and escape like he actually wants to, his hand hovers over the knob, and he waits for Yamada to say what he has to say. Even though he really, really doesn't want to.

“You are datin’ that boy, aren’t ya?” Yamada ends up saying. Shinsou hunches in on himself, thoroughly embarrassed. He knew there was reason he didn’t want to hear out what the old man had to say.

“No.” He admits, feeling like a loser.

At least Yamada doesn’t tease him. That would be far too cruel.

“Well,” Yamada says instead, “Will you be datin’ him?”

Again, Shinsou is stumped. He has lost count of how many times he has been stumped today. Most of all, he is annoyed. Teeth gnashing together annoyed. What is it with people and asking him personal questions lately? Does he look like a towel or something; begging to be twisted and wrung out? The desire to lash out and give the cold shoulder is strong, but he refrains from doing so by the skin off his teeth. Yamada doesn’t deserve that. He only means well, even if his extreme doting pains him at times. Most times- Okay, a lot. Having affections thrown at him all of a sudden hurts. Yes, even after all his dinners with Aizawa’s family, it pains him. That is not Yamada’s problem.

Therefore he swallows his pride down for the hundredth time today.

“If he’ll have me.”

Mic is pleased with that. Way, way too pleased with that reply. He even giggles. When given the damned sound, Shinsou scrambles to open the door like a drowning man clambering to a lifeboat. Despite his apparent excitement, he is also ready to be embarrassed by Aizawa all over again too, because Aizawa and Yamada come as a package deal. If one wants to terrify you, the other has to as well. Same rule goes for every other emotion. What he sees instead is even worse.

The broody teacher has placed his hand on top of Kaminaris head, ruffling the hair on it. Kaminari whips his face around to look at Shinsou, and he mouths help.

“I am not mad.” Aizawa starts off by saying, and it does nothing to convince Shinsou that he is not mad, “I am surprised. I didn’t realize you were friendly enough to lie about stupid things together. I’m not surprised by Kaminari. He won’t even tell me what he ate for breakfast because he is too stubborn to admit that all he ate was dry frosted flakes.” Kaminari moves to argue, but Aizawa only tugs on his hair more. He rolls his eyes and shuts his mouth. Then Aizawa turns to glare towards Shinsou. “I am surprised by you though, Shinsou.”

Shinsou doesn’t know what to say to that. He is far too tired to say anything to that.

“Which is why,” Shinsou knows Yamada has a devious grin on his face while he is saying this, “I think we all need to catch up over dinner!”

Huh.

Dumbfounded, Shinsou turns to look back towards Aizawa. There is no way he will agree to that.

Yamada has been whining for Aizawa to take better care of his body for a long time. He had set some rules up: no grading homework during dinner, no rants about students during dinner, and no talk about work during dinner. He only started to follow said rules after the USJ incident, according to Yamada himself. Aizawa follows the rules so well he doesn’t even speak during dinner anymore, and the rest of the house followed suit. Small talk is now forbidden during dinner time. Eri is the only exception to the rule. Which is understandable, because she is a cute girl who has had a way too rough start in life, and Shinsou is not a cute girl who has had a rough start in life (Well. The second part depends on the individual you ask).

Small talk is forbidden during dinner, yet Aizawa stares back at Shinsou. And despite what the makes more sense for the man to say, Shinsou has a growing suspicion he won’t say that this time.

No, Aizawa says through gritted teeth, “I think so, too.”

Chapter 38: “Bring your almost-boyfriend to your almost-family for dinner” Day

Chapter Text

While Aizawa and Yamada used to share an apartment, they have owned seperate rooms ever since the dorm system came to be.

Their rooms both contain a futon, a miniature office and their very own bathrooms. This is where the similarities end. Shinsou hasn’t been in Yamadas room often, but he has been prompted to go in there if there was a line to Aizawa’s bathroom. Aizawa’s room is bigger than Yamadas’, with enough space for a small kitchen and a low table for a family to eat around, yet it is far more clean than his partner’s room. Yamada has colorful shirts thrown around and speakers placed in unpractical places. (Shinsou will never forget when he was making use of the toilet, and a speaker right behind the tp started blasting Yamada’s radio channel. He almost castrated himself that day.)

Aizawa’s room is not chaotic like that. The kitchen counter is wiped down and the futon made. There are no stray clothes strewn around. However there are a few drawings hanged up on the fridge, and a few cat plushies on the futon while one lone unicorn figure remains propped on the dinner table, but that is about it when it comes to messes. Shinsou suspects the reason behind the sterility is that he wants to set a good example for Eri, who spends far more time here than her own room.

There is no surprise to see her sitting by the low table, practising hiragana by herself. She turns her head to greet them, but she stops once she sees Kaminari. Her eyebrow twinges upwards, a clear question on her face. Her eyebrows almost jumps off her big forehead when she sees that he is holding Nugget.

Yamada is quick to introduce Kaminari to her, and Kaminari makes himself useful by smiling and waving. He couldn’t do much else since Yamada had decided to throw an arm over his shoulders. Once the teacher lets his grip go, Kaminari moves to sit down beside her. There is a safe distance between them, so Eri is not startled by the course of action. “Ignore him,” Kaminari says after Yamada called him an wonderful academic carcrash, “Whatcha’ got there?”

That distracts her. Eri looks down to her work with a pout. She lifts her homework with small hands to show Kaminari shaky hiragana letters. “Homework. Whatcha’ got there?” She looks down to Nugget.

“Oh, this is Nugget. Shinsou and I bought him.” Kaminari stage whispers back. As if Aizawa and Yamada doesn’t know the truth already.

Her eyes goes wide, and slowly she inches her way closer to Kaminari.

“Can I pet Nugget?”

“Of cou-” Kaminari interrupts himself when he sees the glare Aizawa throws him. Instead he shakes his head and picks up a pencil. There is a kitten eraser on the opposite end of it. His heart clenches. “First you’ve gotta do your homework, alright? I’ll help you out!”

Eri agrees to the arrangement, even though she continues to eye Nugget. It is obvious she wants to abandon her work and pet him instead, but Eri is a good kid. She starts to write down the symbols with a careful hand, and Kaminari throws her his fun facts and tips to remember them easier, which she soaks up quickly. With a nod Aizawa goes to tie his hair back. Then he walks towards the homemade miniature hero office to do research on some criminal. Yamada does the opposite. He drags Shinsou with him to the kitchen in the form of a dance.

“We’ve got a tutor here to help Eri out with her homework, so you get here and help me out with the cookin’ instead!” Yamada throws an apron towards Shinsou, and, well, he cannot argue with that logic. He shrugs and ties it around himself, and he goes to work with his teacher. Shinsou doesn’t know how to cook, but Yamada should be able to teach him. And if the meal goes to sh*t he will just abondon all responsibility and attack his teaching skills instead. Yamada must know of that risk, as he explains everything even more clearly than in an actual classroom.

He is so focused in what Yamada instructs he doesn’t notice how Kaminari goes stiff by the dinner table. Shinsou does notice the occasional staring, and the few times Eri is the one to tell him to focus, but he does not notice the proper reason for it.

Half an hour later, Shinsou and Yamada has managed to whip something up. It’s a mixture of chicken and vegetables that probably has some name to it, but Shinsou can only focus on the fact that it smells good. A job well done in his book.

Aizawa fell asleep in his chair, which shows how productive he has been with his hero work. At least Eri has done her own homework, the books closed and set aside while she pets a purring Nugget. She is also watching a video Kaminari introduced to her on his phone, asking questions which Kaminari bullsh*ts seamlessly. Eri is transfixed by whatever is shown on screen, but the moment Yamada’s shrill voice calls out a “Dinners’ ready!” she changes focus.

The girl jumps up and rushes her short legs to the kitchen. On her tippy toes, she tries to spy on every plate and see which has the least amount of vegetables. Then she pouts. She turns the pout to Shinsou. “They’re all the same.” Eri whines, as if Shinsou is the kind of person to listen to her demands anyways. She should know better at this point.

“Because around this dinner table we abide by democracy.” Shinsou lifts two plates to put on the table. Eri follows after him. She is still pouting.

“No we don't.”

“Unfair, right?” He goes back to grab two more plates. Eri continues to follow after him, but she doesn’t make said wandering useful. Shinsou snaps his fingers in front of her face. She blinks in a cute way because of it. “Now grab some tupperware, no one can combat corruption on empty stomachs.”

With a fierce nod, Eri moves to grab a small handful of spoons, then she rushes to the table.

Kaminari tries to stand up and help, but that was the moment Aizawa decided to wake up. The man orders the boy to sit his ass down. While said boy argues, he remains seated, fidgeting at the same time. Poor guy. Shinsou can tell he would do anything but sit there quietly with Aizawa. The table is ready, and when Shinsou moves to sit down beside his nervous friend, he gives Aizawa an exhausted stare. Aizawa only glares back, no answers given. Yamada cackles when he sees their intense expressions. Shinsou sighs. He really hopes those two won’t scare Kaminari away permanently.

“You’re really good with kids, Kaminari!” Yamada sits down by the table, already prompting that godawful small talk, “You have any siblings?”

“Nah, it’s just easy to communicate with someone when you’ve reached the same level in cognitive development, y’know?” Kaminari replies all casual. Shinsou suppresses a snort, and he can see that Yamada is doing the same thing. Ignoring them, Kaminari turns to Eri, who has situated herself between Shinsou and Kaminari. “Ain’t that right, Eri?”

Eri, who had just started to dig into her rice, pokes her head out of her bowl to look up at him. Confused, she just nods along. “That’s right.” She parrots back, cheeks puffed out. Kaminari nods and pats her on the head, but she doesn’t pull away. She just goes back to eating.

“She likes you already,” Shinsou points out, “I’m impressed.”

Aizawa decides to stand up from his chair and make his way over to the table.

His feet scuffle against the floor, yet it echoes against the mostly empty walls. Said table goes quiet. Even Yamada doesn’t say anything. He just raises a brow, eyes going from Shinsou to Aizawa respectively. The mentor and mentee only shares eye contact, no words needed for Shinsou to start sweating bullets. It’s all in Aizawa’s eyes, the little squint and eyebrow raise, impressed, are we? Shinsou squints back, a desperate little shut up. Aizawa doesn’t say anything after that. There is no heavy tension looming over them (yet), because Aizawa lifts his tupperware to eat with. However, Shinsou knows once Yamada opens his mouth, the tension will come back full force.

Aizawa is just waiting for the signal.

Well, Shinsou won’t let that happen.

“I texted Midoriya, he knows that training is cancelled for today.” He starts off all conversationally, twirling his spoon. Shinsou eyes Aizawa from the corner of his eyes. His jaw clenches, and it is not just because he is chewing.

Kaminari swirls around to look at him, and he makes a surprised noise with his throat. “You have Midoriya’s number?”

Aizawas jaw twitches again. Yamada looks only a little confused.

Shinsou tilts his chin towards Aizawa while he speaks with Kaminari. “You won’t catch this man give Midoriya a text, so I sort of need to have his number for that. It’s one of his ruses; make the students feel like they aren’t cared for, it will build character. When it truly comes down to it, he is just a big soft-” Before Shinsou can finish, a spoon clatters against a plate. The pair look up just to see Aizawa staring daggers at them both. His hair is one annoying statement away from floating. Kaminari visibly swallows. He snakes a hand behind Eri to tug at Shinsou’s shirt, the gesture begging him to back down.

Shinsou decides to do that, for now. He is smug about it, though. To back down now means he is showing Aizawa mercy, and that in itself shows who has the upperhand. Shinsou won’t let Aizawa have the upperhand.

After a few quiet moments, Aizawa picks up his spoon again. “When did you find him.”

“Yesterday!” Kaminari answers like he is being pop quizzed. Just to keep his confidence up Shinsou gives him a firm nod. Kaminari beams back.

“You were the one who took Hitoshi away from us?” Eri pipes up. She looks up to Kaminari with her big eyes more narrow than usual, like she has been betrayed. Maybe she has been betrayed. Shinsou wouldn’t know. He doesn’t know what kind of bond those two developed during their little study and cat petting session. Kaminari looks back to Shinsou again for help. He can only shrug and gesture for him to make up an excuse.

That shouldn’t be so hard, Kaminari is good with those.

“I only took him away so we could buy you Nugget!” He blurts out. Then he gives the girl his most charming smile. And it works.

Eri gasps. Her eyes are filled with stars as she whips her head around to stare at Shinsou for confirmation. And he gives it to her. Shinsou nods and ruffles her hair, mumbles out a congratulations just to rub it in. She continues to babble excitedly about Nugget, looking back to the cat so often Yamada has to tell her to focus on her food.

At one point her babble quiets down. Eri’s monologue did not annoy Aizawa. Her excitement could never annoy him. Even while knowing this Shinsou kept an eye on Aizawa to make sure of that, and he knows Eri did not annoy him. The knuckles around the spoon were not any paler than usual, and his face was relaxed while he ate. However, now that she stopped talking Aizawa is bracing himself from being annoyed by Shinsou and Kaminari. He is bracing himself before they even had a chance to reply to what he has to say. “I expect you didn’t forget the cat needs supplies.”

“We didn’t! We’ve got all we need back in my room, Shinsou was bein’ all responsible about it, made a list and everythin’!” Kaminari sounds almost like a politician when he talks (if politicians were full of life and always honest about what they preached), and Shinsou continues to nod in an approving way. He knows it must look like he is puppeteering Kaminari to say the things he is saying, but he is far too proud of how much control the both of them have over the conversation to stop the little bob of his head.

The two teachers try to catch up. Especially Yamada. Yamada is the one to speak up next time. He puts a hand on his cheek and leans into it, raises a blond brow too. His grin is of a calculative nature. Shinsou just knows he has an ace up his sleeve. “So you’ve got all he needs.”

“All he needs and more!” Kaminari powers through, oblivious to the implications.

Shinsou doesn’t like those implications. Especially not when Yamada, the man who questioned if they were dating yet, was the one to say them. If they play into said implications they could lose the power they have established. They are loser virgins like that.

“Even a scratching post?”

“He had one from before.”

Shinsou decides to shift the direction of the conversation. If they can shift it without much struggle, it means they can take control of the conversation. He prays they have control.

Yamada and Aizawa look Kaminari up and down, and for a second Shinsou suspects they could come out on top, maybe that statement was enough to put them off. But Aizawa just says, “of course you do.” with no surprise in his voice. Yamada looks ready to bounce back again and Shinsou mentally curses.

They have officially lost control now.

Judging the nervous way Kaminari looks back to him, he knows it too.

“I saw you lingering around school yesterday,” Aizawa changes the entire subject, “With Aoyama. Am I right?”

Huh, that did not go the way he had thought. He almost rests his shoulders, but Shinsou refuses. The question cannot be so innocent. There is something hidden in there. Shinsou scrutinizes Aizawa for a while, but he doesn’t budge. He only looks at Shinsou like he is the one acting weird. He probably is acting weird, too. Shinsou sits back down again, wills himself to calm down. As far as he can tell, there are no ulterior motives behind his question. Even if there are ulterior motives, he can accept this quiet before the storm.

“You’re right. Aoyama offered to teach me french,” For some reason, Kaminari stills beside him. Shinsou continues to speak, maybe he can distract Aizawa and Yamada from that, “Numbers and pronunciation, a few tourist sentences. Nothing special. Really, I didn’t even get the hang of the grammar.”

Yamada looks way too excited. “Don’t belittle yourself, Toshi-Toshi! C’mon, say somethin’, and don’t even TRY that I’ll sound stupid nonsense, EVERYTHING said in a foreign language will sound impressive to us!” While Yamada might be embarrassing, Shinsou silently thanks him for his overdone excitement. The more they stay on this subject, the less time the two teachers will have to embarrass them about that other thing. He can relax a little more. It sure is a good thing that Yamada is a language nerd.

When Shinsou does speak some french, the words feel foreign in his mouth. He also feels very stupid, but he won’t bring that up.

Yamada and Eri compliments him while Aizawa nods. Surprisingly enough Kaminari doesn’t say anything. It isn’t like Shinsou expects praise for every little thing he does, he knows his french isn’t impressive anyways, but Kaminari should have complimented him or asked Shinsou to translate by now. That is how they interact with each other. When Shinsou turns to look at him he sees that Kaminari is just far too busy bowing his head down and inhaling his food like a vacuum cleaner. This isn’t good, Shinsou realizes, he won’t speak, he is an easy target now.

Yamada leans towards Aizawa and whisper-shouts to him. “We really should invite your kids over for dinner more often. They always eat their food with such vigor, makes a cook feel appreciated in the house.”

“As if you aren’t appreciated already.” Aizawa manages to sound grumpy even while saying something nice.

“That’s not true, he is appreciated,” a scandalized Eri turns to look to Yamada, “pa, we all appreciate you a lot!”

“Eri, you misunderstood again.” The girl turns her head to look back to Shinsou, as if prompting him to explain whatever it is she misunderstood. With a lack of anything else to do, Shinsou does just that. He is careful to avoid any flowery words, and focuses on staying as objective as possible. Maybe Aizawa and Yamada will use his positive feelings about them to tease him into submission. It is a stretch but who knows at this point. The three of them are very competitive, he knows that at least.

Again, he doesn’t notice Kaminari staring at him, fond. But Yamada and Aizawa does.

They are more nice about it now; only sharing a knowing look before letting it go.

Before Shinsou and Kaminari knows it, dinner is finished.

“I’ll go and get him chipped.” Aizawa stands up from the table and goes to take a hold on Nugget. The cat purrs against him. “You babysit Eri for tonight. She’ll be in bed at eight, sharp.”

Just a little bewildered by the order, Shinsou nods. Now that he is thinking about it, it makes sense for Aizawa to go out with Nugget. If Shinsou was the one to go and chip Nugget, then he wouldn’t be able to give the cat a proper place to rest for the night. The orphanage would not let him take Nugget in with him, and Shinsou is not allowed to enter UA so late in the evening on his own. But Aizawa can go out of the school gates and come back without an issue. Being an underground hero who works unpredictable hours during the night gives you benefits like that.

“Wait, you’re just gonna take him that easily?” Kaminari pipes up. Because he had to. Moron, Shinsou berates him fondly.

“We can argue some more if you’d like.”

He makes a face. “Nah, I’m good.”

When Aizawa is about to go out of the door, Shinsou stops him. There is one last thing he has to ask the man about.

“Can I speak with you outside?”

He asks just to be polite. Aizawa might have acted like a hardass this evening, but he never denies Shinsou a chance to talk whenever he needs to. Aizawa leaves the door open after him and Shinsou walks out, giving the residents of the room a uncharacteristic wave after him. He hopes Yamada won’t make Kaminari uncomfortable. (He will. Of course he will.

Well, there is nothing wrong in hoping.)

Shinsou might have not even alluded to anything special with his request, but it is obvious that Aizawa has gotten his assumptions about what the talk is going to be about anyways. His arms are already crossed.

“I might seem a little harsh right now, but I am only testing his resolve.” Aizawa starts to say instantly after the door closes. Shinsou has no idea what he is talking about, but he is curious enough to lean a shoulder against the wall and nod for Aizawa to continue, “Kaminari is a good kid. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be here at all. But he’s a puss* sometimes.” Shinsou is way too amused by this explanation, “He’s grown out of it lately, s’been acting way too brave for his own good at times, but I had to make out to what extent he’s grown.”

Shinsou continues to nod as if he understands, but then he just has to ask. “But exactly why did you test his resolve?”

“To see if he is a good fit for you.”

Shinsou actually stutters.

Aizawa frowns. “Isn’t that you why wanted to talk, to whine and say I’m being too invasive.”

Incredible. He actually looks his teacher up and down in an impressed, wide eyed way. It is true that Aizawa and Yamada was far too invasive, but Shinsou had suspected that he had been gullible to the fear he had stricken in Shinsou’s friend. He thought it was just Aizawa’s instincts to be a little more scary than necessary. But that was not the case. He was putting an effort to scare Kaminari. Shinsou actually snorts.

“No.” Is all he says.

Aizawa’s arms drop to his sides. “What is it, then.”

Shinsou leans towards his mentor as if he is about to share a conspiracy. Then he mumbles out his little request. Afterwards when Aizawa looks back to him, he manages to look even more exhausted. He is so exhausted he managed to transfer a portion of said exhaustion to the Nugget resting inside his scarf. Nugget tilts his head to the side, eyes wide and empty. Truly, truly incredible.

“You will be the end of me.”

“No I won’t.”

“Why. That. Amount.” Aizawa tries to understand. It is the least he can make himself do. He is a good man like that.

“It holds sentimental value.”

And then he gives up. He lost control again. Aizawa turns around and grumbles out a good night. Before he can run away Shinsou calls out his name again.

“What did you find out?” Shinsou asks.

He feels stupid for asking. At least Aizawa stops walking away. He doesn’t turn around to face Shinsou, but that might be for the better. Shinsou would feel even more like an idiot if his mentor actually turned around to face him. With his back turned to him Shinsou can gauge his body language anyways, so that would be unecessary. Aizawas shoulders are relaxed, and in turn Shinsou calms down too.

“It will always be a risk, especially when you two are so different.” He ends up saying.

Shinsou cannot help his disappointment. He looks down. “Ah.”

“But if you want to know of my experience,” His mentor starts to speak again, “it’s worth the risk. Do what you want with that.”

Before Shinsou can co*ck his head upwards, Aizawa has already started to stalk off.

A few seconds afterwards, Kaminari pokes half of his head out of the door, eyes searching for Aizawa while the rest of him remains hidden. Shinsou tells him he has left.

“Great!” Kaminari closes the door after him, then he leans his back against it and sighs loudly, “Mic made me super uncomfortable in there but I knew Aizawa wouldn’t be any better, so I tried to hold it out. Mic made it really hard though. He asked me if I had a girlfriend.”

“How brave.”

“The very bravest,” he snorts back, and then, “hey, sorry.”

That catches Shinsou off guard. He replays the evening out in his head, but he cannot remember Kaminari explicitly failing him. Yeah, he did stop talking after the french bit. That did rack up Shinsou’s nerves. But in the end Yamada and Aizawa didn’t use his silence to embarrass them anyways, so it didn’t really matter in the long run. Shinsou debates around just accepting the apology, but he knows it wouldn’t feel right.

“What for?” He asks instead.

Kaminari looks like he just wanted Shinsou to accept the apology, but he knows how stubborn Shinsou is at this point. He sighs and pursues his lips, trying to find the right words. Uh oh. He is thinking before speaking. That doesn’t happen often. Shinsou raises a brow. This might become real offensive real quick. He readies himself.

“After you told me about you bein’ in foster care, I started to pity you.”

Ouch. Shinsou half-winces. He knew there was a chance of Kaminari being offensive, and he was still caught off guard.

“I thought you needed it, since it must be lonely being all by yourself, but you ain’t. You’re cared for by a lot of people, so it would be stupid to pity you. Honestly, I was the one too stupid to see that before now.” Kaminari powers through Shinsou’s reaction, but he is also avoiding eye contact. At last Kaminari looks up to him, smile sweet, “I guess I’m sorry for thinkin’ you ever needed that.”

Shinsou blinks.

Once again, that did not go the direction he thought. Not only that, but a jarring thought pops up in Shinsou’s mind. Right after Kaminari said the last bit.

If you are apologizing for that, then I should, too.

“Stay the night.” He chokes out.

A lot of emotions go through Kaminari’s face. Shinsou is too overwhelmed to figure any of them out. Hell, a lot of emotions are probably going through Shinsou’s face too. They must be more subdued, but they have to be there.

If Shinsou was to look inside his own heart right now, then he would see a magician pulling out endless emotions from a small, worn out hat, stretching them out like rope and toying with them before tossing said emotions aside to pull out even more of them. The audience begs for him to end the show, but he won't. The magician hasn’t been able to perform a show this big since Shinsou was five years old, and he sure as hell won’t quit now that Shinsou has become vulnerable again.

Kaminari’s mouth is a thin line. There is obviously a debate going on inside the blond’s mind, and for a moment he thinks Kaminari will grin, open the door and welcome himself in again. To Shinsou’s surprise he stays where he stands and shakes his head.

“Sorry dude, I’d really love to but we both seriously need a break.” He sighs out, also sounding disappointed in himself.

Well, that was more mature than expected.

Shinsou looks down on the floor, nodding quietly. He never thought he would be in this situation: that Kaminari had to take on the big boy pants and reject an invitation to hang out. Shinsou’s invitation to hang out. He never thought he would desire to spend the night with somebody else, either. But he would like that. He would like to talk to Kaminari, all easy banter and awkward innuendos. He could do it all night if he could. That thought ages him up twenty years. Shinsou never knew he could be so needy.

“But you can come over to my place tomorrow.” Kaminari says.

His head shoots up again, eyes wide.

Shinsou is humiliated. By himself of all people. He must look like a lost puppy now. At least Kaminari is smiling back at him, although the quirk of his mouth starts to resemble more of a smirk by the second. “What’d ya’ say?”

“Sure.” Shinsou replies, as if he has the right to act nonchalant after reeking of brain rotting desperation like he just did now.

Kaminari bounces in place, satisfied by himself. Shinsou wishes he could say the same. He stands all proper to leave, and he waves good night to Shinsou. Shinsou has to physically hold his hand to avoid waving back. Instead he watches Kaminari leave, wishing for tonight to go by fast so he can see the fool again.

Chapter 39: Q&A; Kaminari's victory and Monoma's loss

Chapter Text

When Kaminari finally steps out of the teachers’ building, he slumps against the nearest wall.

Even stepping into the building was difficult for him. He feared all the teachers would bomb him with questions about when he is going to deliver all his due homework, but at least that nightmare did not happen. That made the talk with Aizawa and Mic somewhat easier, as probably nothing could be as scary as a bunch of teachers demanding him to actually do his work, all at once. Eri's cuteness and Shinsou's validation also made the evening easier on him. He stays where he is for a few moments, and then he is ready to walk. However, someone stops him. He turns to face the person, hoping to trickster god that it is not Monoma. He cannot deal with Monoma now.

“Hey, sorry to bother you,” Kendou greets him with an kind smile, “but a certain someone wanted me to deliver this to you.”

She holds up a small note to him, folded so Kaminari cannot see the words in it. He already knows who that someone is, and he is not impressed. “What’s it say?” He tries. Maybe she will just tell him and then he can go along with his life, forget that this interaction even happened. He is good at forgetting interactions ever happened.

“He told me not to read it, but if he can’t even say whatever it is upfront to you, it is probably in your favor rather than his.” Kendou reassures him, as if she sensed Kaminari’s apprehension.

In the end, Kaminari takes the note. He grumbles as he opens it, and he grumbles some more when he is face to face with some elegant cursive bullsh*t. The kind he never managed to learn as a kid. The kanji swoop up and down in unpractical ways, light against the lined paper. Monoma apparently took the time to punctuate every sentence with a broken heart, and Kaminari cannot lie, he has the tiniest hint of appreciation for the melodrama. After noticing these unimportant details, he decides to actually read the note.

Wiliest Kaminari,
Due to what I have seen of you, I will cease to bother you and Shinsou.
Our rivalry ends here. Please continue to be good to him.
His most sincerely, Monoma Neito.

Kaminari stares at the letter. He blinks twice. He reads it again.

The words are still there. Still the same.

Huh.

“I take it was in your favor, then?” Kendou asks him. She sounds a little too knowing.

“Yeah.” Kaminari mumbles back.

With a smile on her face and her hands on her hips, the girl sighs. And that shows it. She knows too much. He almost groans right there. Of course Monoma would tell Kendou about their rivalry. Knowing Monoma, he probably said a lot of horrible lies about Kaminari, too. Kaminari squints his eyes at her, but she laughs and waves him away.

“Don’t look at me like that, I don’t need two lovestruck boys glaring at me for no reason,” She turns to walk away, “bye then, good luck with Shinsou. Don’t do anything Monoma would do.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Kaminari watches her walk away before walking off himself.

When he opens the door to his room, he sees that the whole squad (plus… Midoriya?) is already in there.

The group turn their eyes to him. Like vultures. Bakugou is sitting weirdly in his chair with Kirishima’s face against his knee, and Midoriya sits all proper on the floor while Sero lays all over it. Jirou, of course, is laying on his bed, an empty space beside her where Mina used to sit. The pink girl is now jumping in place. No one says anything. Kaminari doesn’t say anything. He just stares at them with wide eyes while he tries to understand why they are here. “You told us you were gonna explain’ what the f*ck happened back there with the zombie,” after some awkward silence, Bakugou finally growls out, “so f*cking spit it out already.”

It still takes time for Kaminari to understand what Bakugou is asking for.

When he does, he almost sinks to his knees.

So this day is still not over, huh.

“Lemme get out my conspiracy board first,” he says, weakly. Bakugou, impatient as always, raises his hand in a threat, but Kirishima lowers it right afterwards.

“Let it go, babe,” Kirishima says calmly, “let him get out his conspiracy board.”

The conspiracy board is actually just a marker board on wheels.

The wheels squeak a lot, and the board itself has a few, tiny holes on it from when Kaminari was insistent on hanging pictures on it; he always wanted to hang red threat between random pictures like in those detective movies, and once when Sero was high, they tried to do that. It didn’t work. Now the markers will just catch in a hole and annoy Kaminari, and sometimes he will accidentally use markers not meant for a marker board too, which just doesn’t make sense to him. (“It is a MARKER BOARD, what do you mean this one marker won’t do? What do you mean it won’t wipe off? IT’S JUST A MARKER, this is it’s ONE JOB IN IT’S PATHETIC LIFE!!” He would shout in anguish. “Kaminari, it’s six in the MORNING.” Jirou would shout back, irritated.) Despite all of its flaws Kaminari still loves the board, and he will take it out and use it any chance he gets to.

It is the same principle as with his notebook, really; Only that he likes using the markerboard whenever he has to explain his thoughts to someone else on the spot. Otherwise he’d just use the book. With a brain as jumbled as his, he needs to draw and write his trains of thought into safety, or else he won’t get anywhere with any of his points. It might look messy to literally everyone else, and yeah, maybe he lost his notebook once too, but he cannot lose an entire marker board, now can he? (He probably can. But he hasn’t yet. That is what counts here.)

While he explains everything from when Shinsou left the cafeteria to his dinner with Aizawa’s family, he draws out random points to keep himself in line, switching between colors and everything. When he is done, he takes some time to breathe. Kaminari was so focused on keeping his story understandable that he had started to sweat and pant.

“That’s it?” Mina has the audacity to ask, “no declarations, no nothing?”

“Aizawa was hot on my heels the entire time, when the sh*t was I gonna confess?”

“Das’ excuses and you KNOW it!” Mina crosses her arms over her chest and pouts. This f*cking brat, Kaminari of all people curses mentally.

“Fro’ the sounds of it you’re ready to, though. Confess, I mean.” Sero comes to the conclusion of. He talks in a philosophical mumble that slurs at the end, his grammar structure all over the place. Kaminari suspects he is high right now.

But he is somewhat right, though.

Kaminari looks down to the floor, lost in thought again. Confessing doesn’t sound that bad now. It did before when Kaminari feared Shinsou would walk away from his life without a second thought. They have come far enough in their friendship Kaminari doesn’t fear that anymore. He tries to imagine Shinsou change character once he confesses: that he will sneer towards Kaminari and walk away, and when Kaminari will try to contact him, he wouldn’t answer. But he is having a hard time imagining it. A memory of Shinsou asking for permission to paint Kaminari’s nails pop up. Another one of Shinsou asking him to stay the night coming right after. The facial expression in both of those memories sends an ache through Kaminari’s chest.

Kaminari looks up again. No, even if Shinsou didn’t reciprocate, he wouldn’t hurt Kaminari like that.

For once Kaminari doesn’t see any negative points in telling Shinsou how he truly feels about him. He turns to the conspiracy board and grumbles, writes random, negative words and angry faces to jog his lacking pessimism. Anything to keep him grounded. He does find some points but they are all half assed and fully forced. All Kaminari can really think about is how heavenly it would feel to finally come clean and rest his shoulders.

“Yeah,” Kaminari mumbles out, like he doesn’t quite believe himself. He turns around to face his friends, and he speaks a little louder, more confident, “I’m ready now.”

Of course, they all react.

The declaration was so surprising Jirou put her phone down. Mina and Kirishima are already crushing him in a hug, Sero hanging onto his legs. He babbles about how proud of Kaminari he is, but his soft words are deafened by Mina’s screech. Before they all can embarrass him further, Kaminari starts yelling.

“I AM SURE YOU’RE SURPRISED-”

“WE ARE PROUD, KAMINARI!” Kirishima interrupts him and shouts right back, grinning wide. Bakugou of all people tells him to calm down, and Kirishima laughs sheepishly before following his orders. Everyone follows suit just then, calming down from the sudden shock of Kaminari’s brutal honesty. They all twist their heads around to look at Kaminari with unblinking eyes, waiting for him to explain. And he is nervous again. Kaminari coughs.

“There is also one more little thing I didn’t tell ya’ll ‘bout.” He starts off, then Kaminari tries to pin Monoma’s letter to the board. It falls down. He sighs deeply and holds it out to Midoriya, his other hand covering his face, “just- read this and pass it around.”

This takes a few minutes, and Kaminari busies himself by turning his back around and drawing Nugget from memory. He misses the cat already. He sure hopes Aizawa didn’t just give him up to the cat clinic again. That would be cold, Kaminari thinks, super cold. For some reason, Kaminari is confident Aizawa would never do that. (The apple don’t fall far from the tree, y’know. Even the almost-adopted ones.)

“So the pompous f*cker lost.” Bakugou summarizes the letter.

“But did he?” Kaminari combats his summary. He sounds a little desperate, but that is okay, because he is desperate. Monoma always pull the weirdest stunts. He is creative like that. Unpredictable, too. The guy had been silent for days until he decided to kidnap Nugget and give him to Aizawa. What if this was one of his tricks to trump over Kaminari when he is not alerted? Even if he was genuine about admitting failure and letting Kaminari go; how long would it take for Monoma to decide hm, I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet and start f*cking sh*t up again? Kaminari just doesn’t trust that letter, no matter how much he wants to.

“I truly think he did.” Midoriya speaks up.

He has a determined look on his face as he says this. Kaminari decides to let his own forced pessimism go and listen to what Midoriya has to say. He nods for Midoriya to continue talking like his head is going to fall off.

“I might be remembering this a little wrong, but you told me Monoma wanted you to prove yourself, right? I think you’ve done that now,” Midoriya moves to stand up, but Bakugou tells him to sit the f*ck down and he decides to do just that instead, “Monoma thought you were going to save your own skin, but you didn’t. Instead you said buying Nugget was your idea. You proved yourself. He really doesn’t have any reason to bother you now.”

Everything he says makes sense, but Monoma doesn’t make sense. It is in his personality. Kaminari is still unsure. “I don’t really buy it. He still wants Shinsou for himself.”

“So f*cking what? That ain’t his damn choice to make. Only that zombie can decide who he wants to waste time with.” Bakugou huffs out like it is obvious, rolling his eyes to boot, “and even you are a better choice than that tryhard camp extra.”

Everyone gasps. Kaminari has the urge to hug Bakugou.

“What the f*ck- Stop looking at me like that! Drooly I’ll f*cking kill you-”

It is too late. Kaminari is a man of danger. He has already jumped Bakugou. Something is fizzling right beside his ear and there are teeth biting into his arm, but he doesn’t care. Bakugou was nice to him. Wholesome behavior like that always deserves a hug. In the end Kirishima and Midoriya force him away from Bakugou, Midoriya holding Kaminari back while Kirishima work on unlatching Bakugou’s teeth from his arm. When Kaminari gets dragged away he makes kissy noises in Bakugou’s direction. Mina joins in too, until Jirou throws a pillow at her.

“I agree with Katsuki!” Kirishima says to stop a pillow fight. Surprisingly enough it works.

“Pfft, when don’t you?” Mina laughs.

“I agree with Kacchan, too,” Midoriya says. The room goes quiet. When Bakugou doesn't blow up Midoriya opens his mouth to continue. The student turns to face Kaminari, and he actually giggles, “if Shinsou had to choose between Monoma and Kaminari, I think he would definitely choose you, Kaminari.”

With his heart in his dry throat Kaminari escapes the precious student and runs up to stand by the conspiracy board, desperate to turn the meeting into a different direction that is far less embarrassing and sappy. He faces his friends with a big, annoying blush on his face, and tries to redirect attention from said blush. “Allright, guys! Q&a: No offense, but what in the fresh hell is Midoriya doing here and why is he embarrassin’ me?”

“According to Midoriya himself: you two terrified Aoyama to death together to find out about Monoma’s intentions, and then you admitted you had a crush on Shinsou,” Jirou speaks up, looking down at her phone again, “he just grew invested. He also just learned that you are very easy to embarrass. Dangerously easy. It is just too fun.”

Midoriya opens his mouth to say something, but then he closes it. All he does is nod. He smiles towards Kaminari, all sweet and sheepish, shoulders raised to his chin in an innocent way. Aw, Kaminari melts and smiles back, I can’t be mad at him, he’s baby!

“Q&a!” Sero shouts all of sudden. He even has his hand up in the air, swaying side by side, “I gotta know: if you’ve got the hots for Shinsou do you have the hots for Aizawa too-”

“Q&a is officially over!” Kaminari grins wide, “now there are rules!”

Sero groans and throws a sock at him, and Kaminari dodges it. He points towards Jirou.

“Jirou, I need to stop hitting on you.”

“No sh*t.”

Wow, so that one was only tough on Kaminari, huh. It is not like he thinks his flirting with Jirou will go anywhere, especially not when he is so invested in Shinsou. But still. Kaminari loves flirting for sport. Kaminari thought Jirou had at least gotten fond over his merciless teasing, but appearantly that was not the case. He snaps himself out of his mind again. There are more mportant things for him to think about than that. He snaps his fingers while attempting to jog his memory.

“Also, I forgot to tell ya- But we’re havin’ a sleepover- Not you, just me and Shinsou.”

“That’s cool,” Mina says right before she shoots up again, “Wait WHAT?”

Chapter 40: Happy “Fall asleep with your crush basically right besides you” day!

Chapter Text

26 chapters ago, “Afterglow; this chapter will end in a weak innuendo, just so you know.”

Before Kaminari can try and save himself Kirishima speaks up again, leaning against the counter in a casual manner, “Also, your pizza’n stuff is here. Jirou and Aoyama paid for it, jus’ so you know.” Kirishima grins down towards a flustered Jirou, who tries to stab Kirishima with her earphone jack, not succeeding in the slightest.

“Yo, I forgot about that!” Kaminari turns towards Shinsou, hopeful expression on his face, “You want some? I always have way too many left overs left.”

The smell of carbonated cheese hits him like a brick to the face the moment he opens the door. It hits Shinsou, too, if the way he wrinkles his nose for a second counts as a sign. If it doesn’t, at least the little grimace was cute.

Today is a friday, and Kaminari invited Shinsou to eat pizza in his room, all on a whim. Shinsou had searched for him after the disastrous hero training session to give him his lost notebook back. Not only that, he had offered to follow a dizzy Kaminari home, and now here they are. He is still unsure if inviting him was a good move, since Kaminari is still exhausted from the seizure he endured. If he is being honest, Kaminari would like to flop down into the bed and sleep the whole day away. But if he did that, then he and Shinsou wouldn’t be able to bond. I can ask if he wants to join, Kaminari genuinely ponders, those eyebags are fatal, he’d probably say yes-

Boundaries, Kaminari reminds himself again. Boundaries.

“Sorry bout’ the smell, s’ a part of the experience,” Kaminari jokes and Shinsou grunts back. Kaminari goes to open one of the dozen pizza boxes. Where they always so many? He ignores that taught and takes a slice out instead, flops down onto his bed right afterwards. The slice is bright yellow, small pools of grease glistening like graceful beach water amidst a sunset. Beautiful. When he turns to face Shinsou again, he sees that he is still standing by the door, looking warily in. Kaminari laughs, “c’mon don’t be scared, the cheese won’t eat ya!”

The invitation prompts Shinsou to step into the room, like a vampire or something. He closes the door after him. The reality of the situation settles into Kaminari when he hears the door lock.

Shinsou is in his room, and the door is locked, and they are all alone.

Where the f*ck are the f*cking boundaries.

While Kaminari is having an inner crisis again, Shinsou goes to sit down on Kaminari’s chair, and right off the bat he asks Kaminari a question, “okay, so what the hell did you do to turn out this way.”

Huh. Kaminari blinks for a while. Weird question.

“Well, it all started when I wus’ born,” Kaminari starts off with a bullsh*t statement because he is unsure what Shinsou is asking about. Is he asking why Kaminari is so energetic? Stupid? Charming? Gasp, Attractive? He has no clue, but whatever the question means, Kaminari won’t ask Shinsou about it. Shinsou doesn’t have to see him act any more stupid now. Given how much his mind buzzes around and how loose his rambling mouth is, Shinsou will see too much dumbassery this evening anyways. He cannot add fuel to the fire, now can he? For now Kaminari just hopes he somewhat hit bullseye with his bullsh*t.

“I’m not asking about that,” Shinsou butts in anyways. Oh no, he curses under his breath, not bullseye, “you stumbled just getting to your bed. I know you already said something about your adhd and medication affecting your actions after you overexert yourself, but what happened. Proper hero training cannot be that life threatening.”

“It can be, too!” Kaminari finds himself huffing, “you dunno what I’ve been thru!”

The silence afterwards is threatening. Not to Kaminari, though. The guy is trying to eat his pizza while laying down, and he is failing. He is obviously far too busy to acknowledge the internal conflict Shinsou is going through after what he said.

“Well, tell me what you’ve been through.” Shinsou bites back in the end.

Kaminari’s head shoots up just as a bit of pepperoni is about to fall down his mouth. It lands on his forehead instead. Kaminari doesn’t care. He heard something he didn’t think he was going to hear so soon: Shinsou seeking out information about him. Not to say he thought Shinsou would act like a selfish prick and just talk about himself, but Kaminari thought he would have to needle out a conversation all on his own. Not for Shinsou to ask for one. At least not so soon. He tries to let it go and appreciate the opportunity, maybe he won’t ever get it again. The stress of that possibility dries his throat so the pizza bite almost lodges in his throat. He cannot let this opportunity go to waste.

But Kaminari is a brat.

Kaminari picks the pepperoni off his forehead and eats it, trying to look as nonchalant as possible. He thinks he manages to do well. “Oh, whatever happened with that I’m not planning to get to know anyone schtick you had goin’ on a few days ago?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Yeah, I tempered the quote i>down for your sake. Thank me if ya’ want.”

Kaminari uses all of his brainpower to not slur his words, and then he uses some more to not fall back against the bed in exhaustion. Shinsou narrows his eyes at him afterwards. Kaminari narrows his eyes back, although he is having a much harder time keeping a straight face than his future boyfriend over there.

In the end Shinsou sighs and leans forward. Not towards Kaminari, no, but to take a pizza slice. Kaminari’s breath still hitches, though. “Still, I didn’t say that. I said nothing against acknowledging that you exist.” Shinsou sits down again, his leg crossing the other by the knee as he slouches down on the chair again. Kaminari clenches his fist. Sitting shouldn’t be so damn attractive. “I’m not breaking my word.”

Kaminari cannot argue with that logic. He doesn’t want to, either. Despite what it seemed like a few seconds ago, he is happy Shinsou is curious about him. It makes them getting married someday more plausible than before. Therefore he starts to explain how the training went to sh*t.

“Well, it all started with ma’ book…”

“I didn’t take you for the list-making type.” Shinsou comments after Kaminari finished telling his story.

Kaminari hopes he got any information from his explanation. He has to admit it was hard to explain how he ended up losing his notebook, make Aoyama shoot massive lasers, drive Kirishima crazy by shooting down Bakugou, and then short circuit an entire building, all while fatigued. All without any surface to doodle on to further explain how sh*t today was. He almost opened the notebook to do so, but then he was reminded of all the sh*tty doodles of Shinsou he drew in the pages and decided against it.

Kaminari waves a lazy hand towards Shinsou, ditzy grin on his face. He has no control over his face. “Nah dude, lists are the best. When I remember to make’em, which ain’t that often- But I make’em when I need’em.”

“Why did you need a list now?”

Shinsou asks him, and that is a tough one. He doesn’t want to answer that one. But he knows he has to give an answer. Kaminari turns his eyes to Shinsou, Shinsou who has one leg curled to his chest while he stares at the wall. He has finally taken a bite of his slice, and he is chewing, and he looks like a tired chipmunk. Despite his relaxed posture Kaminari knows Shinsou had to break a comfort zone to ask this question. He is still wary about this friendship stuff, after all. Therefore he expects Kaminari to be truthful. Which is why it is unfortunate Kaminari cannot answer his question honestly. If Kaminari was to be honest, all he would say is you. I want you. I made a list to get you, you tall raccoon.

Kaminari is not that going to say that, though.

“Cos I wanted to have ya’ in ma’ class,” He says instead.

It is not much less desperate than his original thought, he realizes belatedly.

“Oh.” Is all Shinsou says.

Kaminari wants to sink into his bed and never resurface.

After a few long seconds of silence, and lots of seconds filled with dread and apprehension, Shinsou stands up from the chair. And that must be it, huh. This situation is a little familiar to him. A memory of the two of them standing outside of UA talking about unimportant things flashes in his mind. Kaminari can see Shinsou walk away from him, back turned as he walks into the woods surrounding the school building. Kaminari can feel the disappointment he had felt that day stir low in his stomach again. This situation is far too familiar. Shinsou will walk out of the room, close the door after him, and he probably won’t come back. Not tomorrow, not ever. He can hear the footsteps already, and Kaminari screws his eyes shut.

“Scoot over, please.”

He opens his eyes again. Shinsou is still there, looming over the bed and Kaminari himself; way closer than he was a few seconds ago. He is still chewing on his pizza slice so his voice is muffled, yet the words are clearer than ever.

All mute, Kaminari scoots over. Shinsou moves to sit down besides him, broad shoulder brushing against Kaminari.

“It was a bitch to walk over whenever I was done with a slice,” Shinsou reasons when Kaminari remains silent, like he is trying to convince himself something, not Kaminari. He even reaches his hand out to take a hold on the whole box, holding it closer to them both. While he does this, Kaminari studies his side profile. Shinsou’s ears are tinted pink. He also refuses to look back to Kaminari. In turn, Kaminari smirks and sinks further into the mattress, completely content with their predicament. It is definitely something he can work with. He leans a little closer to Shinsou, and when the taller male doesn’t pull away his smirk turns to a grin, and said grin only widens with every minute Shinsou remains by his side.

Their conversation returned again, and it jumped all over the place. Shinsou asked Kaminari about his middle school experience, and Kaminari asked him about his hair. They talked about aliens at one point. Shinsou burped once, too. It made Kaminari laugh so hard he started to snort. Then Shinsou teased him so hard Kaminari turned red and zapped him on accident.

Kaminari wouldn’t have this evening any other way.

Back in the present.

It is now 11PM. Kaminari is trying to sleep. Emphasis on trying.

It is just difficult to do so when he knows Shinsou is just a building away, babysitting Eri and probably acting all brotherly and adorable with her. And instead of watching Shinsou act brotherly to the young girl, Kaminari has to lie in his own bed and fall asleep so he won’t be so damn sleep deprived in the morning. The more Kaminari thinks about this, the more infuriating the predicament becomes. Kaminari groans into his pillow. This is so unfair, he whines. It is also his fault, as he was the one to decline Shinsou’s offer of staying the night.

Kaminari thought he was doing them both a favor being the responsible one, but no. He sucks at being the responsible one. This is why he is never the responsible friend.

“f*ck it.” He mutters out and digs his phone up from underneath his pillow. The light blinds him and makes his face contort into an ugly expression, but he powers through anyway. He will text Shinsou even if it is the last thing he will do in life. Before he could navigate and finds the message app in pure blindness, Shinsou gives him a message first.

It is a picture of Eri. She is wearing super ugly clothes with green cats on them. Kaminari gags. He automatically saves the picture. Sends it to Mina, too. He knows she will appreciate it as much as he does.

Hitoshi
“Aizawa thinks this is an acceptable outfit for Eri to wear.“

Me
“holy sh*t”
“aizawa is ridiculous”
“how does eri manage to be so cursed and so blessed at the same time???”

Hitoshi
“She says thank you”

Me
“heyyy, didn aizawa say she had to be in bed 9 sharp?”

Hitoshi
“We had an agreement. If I could take a picture of her in those horrid clothes, then she will be in bed eleven-ish, sharp-ish. Also, Eri says hello”

Kaminari smiles. He can imagine Eri turning her stubborn pout to a bargaining Shinsou. He probably held the clothes out and coaxed her into wearing them, talking about how nice the material was, there’s cats on them; you like cats, don’t you Eri? Shinsou would try every damn trick in the book, but Eri would only pout and turn her head away. And yes, the little girl might have spent most of her childhood wearing bandages than actual clothes, but Eri has standards. Their little feud could only possibly end with Shinsou sighing and following along her rules. It is an adorable image. He wishes he could see it. With that, an idea pops up in his mind. He writes said idea out without thinking about it.

Me
“wanna facetime”

Instead of getting a reply, instead of being given time to properly think about what he has requested, Kaminari gets Shinsou and Eri staring at him through his screen.

“That was fast,” Kaminari mumbles out.

The lights are still on in Eri’s room, which means Kaminari can see Shinsou’s eyebrow furrow in great detail. In turn, he smiles. Kaminari likes that eyebrow furrow. It is adorable. “Turn the lights on. I can’t see anything.”

With a groan Kaminari turns his lavalamp on. The dark room lightens up the tiniest bit, red and purple funky patterns dancing on the cluttered walls. If anything, the light only manages to further distorts Shinsou’s view of Kaminari. Shinsou doesn’t look that impressed, but Eri’s eyes goes wider, focusing on the lamp in his hands, and that is what counts: That Eri thinks he is cool. Shinsou knows far too much about him to ever think Kaminari is cool. “What, missed me so much already?” Kaminari hums while toying with the lamp. He had forgotten how fun the colors were.

“You’re the one who wanted to facetime.”

Kaminari stops toying with the lamp.

His first instinct is to deflect the statement. The statement is true, it might even reveal his feelings for Shinsou if he plays it wrong, so it has become natural for him to deflect, make it a joke. The sentence, and you didn’t wait a second either right on the tip of his tongue. But he stops himself from saying those words. He wonders instead: Do I seriously need to deflect? And the more he ponders, the more his confidence in the answer builds.

Kaminari smiles. He toys with the lamp again. “Yeah, I did.”

Shinsou doesn’t say anything to that. He probably expected a joke back, but Kaminari isn’t about that game anymore. He thinks back to his conversation with his friends, about how giddy he felt over the concept of confessing. Kaminari grins towards Shinsou, who is starting to look flustered by the minute. Eri starts talking about something, and surely enough a stable conversation blooms. They change topics often, yet Eri manages to embarrass Shinsou countless of times. Shinsou always teases her back, but she continues to be relentless. Kaminari likes standing back to watch the two of them bicker like siblings over silly things. It is a sight he never thought he would witness, but here he is and he is enjoying the show.

He is sad to see the girl slowly fall asleep and out of the conversation, but she is cute and nuzzled against Shinsou’s arm so Kaminari decides that he can live without her fun facts for tonight.

“You’re adorable.” Kaminari finds it in him to coo.

Shinsou turns his eyes down to Eri, who is now sleeping soundly. Her small hand clutches the front of his schoolshirt, and Shinsou leans forward to put the blanket over her. The action is so domestic Kaminari almost cries. “I guess she is.” Shinsou mumbles out in quiet agreement, as to not wake her.

“I’m talking bout’ you, dumbass.”

The silence isn’t as bad as Kaminari thought it would be. It is peaceful. Shinsou isn’t gawking or anything. He is still being a good almost-big brother, trying to put the blanket properly over Eri’s body. There is an introspective expression on his face, and Kaminari cannot wait to hear the thoughts behind said expression. He is growing impatient. At last Shinsou turns his eyes to Kaminari again. The blank expression melts a little when he does so. There is a little smile on his mouth. Huh, wow. Kaminari must look real adorable himself for that smile to come out so easily.

“You are just as sleep deprived as last time.” He points out.

Kaminari laughs at that. The laugh is a little breathy and interrupted by a yawn. “Last time was fun tho’, can’t wait for you to come over again.”

“Feelings’ mutual.”

Shinsou replies quietly, almost like a grunt. Kaminari falls asleep seconds afterwards, but the two words continue to ring clear and true in his head.

Back to last friday.

Their conversation died down for a while. The silence afterwards wasn’t uncomfortable, either. It was quiet in a way that was fully needed, both Kaminari and Shinsou exhausted after a long week of school. Kaminari needed the silence to soak the moment up, to settle down. Shinsou is warm besides him. It is only natural that Kaminari wants to come closer to him. When he leans into his shoulder and Shinsou freezes, despite his tiredness Kaminari stops himself. He lifts his head up to look back at him. Shinsou simply looks confused. An explanation seems to be due.

“Sorry, I’m just hella tired right now. Is it okay if I, like, nap a little?” Kaminari asks him, unable to even sound shy. He is just sleepy. Shinsou must realize this as he unfreezes. He doesn’t say anything in response either. Just shrugs and looks away. Kaminari takes that as a yes. With a goofy grin he lets his head fall against Shinsou’s arm, his eyelids drooping right after. Minutes after, Shinsou’s eyes fall too.

Kaminari wakes up alone in a saturday morning. But that is okay. He still smiles from the memory. Kaminari knows he has made progress.

Chapter 41: Admiration; Kaminari finally fesses up…?

Chapter Text

When Kaminari wakes up from the alarm clock, the phone is still propped up in front of his face. It is dead now, so that gives Kaminari a clue of how long he had facetimed Shinsou and Eri; maybe too long. He wonders if Shinsou also fell asleep behind the screen.

With a goofy smile on his face Kaminari slinks off the bed and readies himself for the school day. He takes a quick shower, dries his hair with the plugger in his mouth and brushes his teeth afterwards. Somehow he does this with gusto, not as grumpy as he usually is after waking up from the alarm clock. He feels like he should be excited for something. Kaminari doesn’t know what it is he should be excited for, he has not reached the level of consciousness to remember yet, but he is not the one to turn down optimism and excitement so he lets the bubbly spirit infest him anyways.

The doorbell rings, and with a curious head tilt and yawn Kaminari goes to open it.

His face splits into a grin when he sees who it is.

And who said person brings.

Nugget’s eyes are still as yellow as he knows them to be. The cat lets out a surprised meow when he sees Kaminari, and Kaminari makes the same sound back. His eyes quickly turn upwards again. As much as Kaminari loves the cat he is still having a hard time taking his eyes off Shinsou. His hair is even messier than usual. So is his school uniform. “Hi.” Shinsou greets him. His voice is even rougher too, as if he just rolled out of bed and got his ass over to Kaminari’s room without even drinking a glass of water. With one hand Kaminari grips the doorknob, close to just dropping to his knees. Kaminari swoons again.

“Mornin’,” Kaminari manages to slur all casual, and he takes Nugget into his own arms just to let Shinsou relax a little bit. The guy looks just about ready to fall asleep again. “How many hours?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

Kaminari is about to protest this statement when Shinsou shushes him. He decides that this time, he will not be offended. It is too early in the morning to be offended of anything. Still he shifts Nugget into one arm so he can put the other hand on his hip. Shinsou knows how much he likes to talk. He won’t be offended, but he will be sassy about it. With a pout on his mouth Kaminari watches Shinsou dig into his backpack for something. Kaminari cannot help but be a little curious so he tilts his head to see into the backpack as well.

“There,” Shinsou lifts something up from the backpack, “I made Aizawa buy you something.”

“Teacher’s pet.” Kaminari tries to tease through the overwhelming emotions he is feeling.

“Just wait till you accept Mic’s tutor offer, you’ll be one too.”

“As if. I’m gunna need some more going-out privileges from him before I even start thinking bout’ it, I didn’t even get to go to the arcade yet,-“ Kaminari is about to gag and make an attempt at humor until something is thrust into his hand.

Due to his short attention span he forgets all about the prior conversation just to stare down at the familiar box; the iconic Mcdonalds chicken nugget box. He opens it.

“28 nuggets.”

Kaminari mumbles out in awe, then he looks up with confused, wide eyes, “where’s the 29th one?”

Instead of saying anything, Shinsou gestures to the cat now roaming Kaminari’s room.

For a few seconds, all Kaminari does is look at Nugget. Nugget has situated himself on top of some of Kaminari’s hoodies, making himself comfortable. He is not really registering the cat, though. Despite his clumsy three legged walk, Kaminari isn’t really interested in watching him. No, he blinks his drowsy eyes and zones out, tries to debate whether he should give in yet. Kaminari turns to face Shinsou again while rubbing at one of his eyes. He looks up at Shinsou and his flustered expression; pink ears and darting eyes, hand rubbing the back of his neck, and that really does him in;

Kaminari decides he has debated more than enough already.

Shinsou is about to say something, but this time Kaminari is the one to interrupt him.

Before he can even think Kaminari leans into his tippy toes and pulls Shinsou down by the tie around his ruffled collar.

He pulls away from the kiss first.

It didn’t last long. Shinsou was too dazed to even lean into it. During those few seconds Kaminari’s hand still managed to reach Shinsou’s collar. Instead of pulling away he rubs his finger on the wrinkled material. From the rumpled look of it, Shinsou didn’t get the chance to change out of his clothes before he fell asleep. “Hm, you’re way too hot to go to class like that.” Kaminari finally turns away, but not before giving Shinsou’s chest an appreciative pat. He rests the Nugget box on top of his computer counter, and goes to rummage in his closet, “my school shirts are prolly too small for you, I can lend ya’ a hoodie if you’d like.”

Kaminari can hear careful footsteps behind him and he freezes for a second. He awaits a reaction, either a good or bad one; he isn’t that sure. It sounds like the footsteps are coming closer, and Kaminari hopes that is a good thing; he did just spring himself up on Shinsou after all. Huh, Kaminari starts to sweat, I just kissed him, didn’t I? Kaminari hadn’t registered this fact himself back when he had done it, but now he has finally registered it. And he might catch on fire.

The footsteps stop and Kaminari can only hear soft rummaging. When he turns around, Shinsou is wearing the edgy hoodie again.

“Really?” Kaminari says despite his smile.

“Really.”

“I haven’t washed it yet,” Kaminari walks towards Shinsou, a little hesitant, “it smells.”

Shinsou shrugs, but he doesn’t shy away from Kaminari’s presence. That tells him enough. “I’ve had worse.”

Kaminari is curious about what Shinsou meant by that, but he lets it go for now. He still has to go through his morning routine after all; shoving random papers and books into his backpack. Before doing all of this, he gives Shinsou a teasing smile. Shinsou uses his free time to flop down into Kaminari’s bed face first. Nugget kneads his paws into Shinsou’s back before rolling into a ball against him. The sight distracts Kaminari quite the amount. When Kaminari is done readying himself, he is unsure whether he wants to wake Shinsou up just yet.

For a few minutes he just stares down at Shinsou’s sleeping form and decides that yeah, I wanna wake him up. He grins wide. I’m gonna wake him up so bad.

At first he simply circles him. Shinsou is so gone into dreamland he cannot hear Kaminari curse as he stumbles on a sock. Still Kaminari continues to circle him, pondering how he can best attack Shinsou without distracting Nugget. In the end, he decides that f*ck it, he should just jump him. And he does.

Somehow Shinsou is awake again.

And somehow, Shinsou is hovering above Kaminari. One hand clutching his wrist while the other arm puts pressure on his neck. His heart threatens to jump out through said throat, so Kaminari is sort of glad that he is putting pressure on it. His very insides are a mess, breath coming out raggedy. He tries to speak, make a joke, but he cannot do that. His mind does not allow him to do that, it is too busy being useless and storing this memory in his sh*tty brain because Shinsou looks way too good from this perspective. His hair is tousled to one side, eyes narrow and snarl ready on his mouth. He supposes Shinsou looks more threatening in his black hoodie, but he looks mostly insanely attractive. Kaminari can only blink upwards, head empty again. Nugget is resting on Shinsou’s shoulder, blinking down towards Kaminari in the very same way.

The physically stronger boy had looked stern, jaw sharp and brows furrowed, but once he sees that it is only Kaminari he had pinned down and not some lousy brat, he pulls away. He looks slightly nervous, studying Kaminari to see if he had hurt him. When he doesn’t see any bruises, he sighs and moves to stand up. “Uh, I am really sorry, the brats at the orphanage are unhinged, more than you; they love playing pranks while I’m asleep. One of them is a pisser. It’s become instinct for me to, uhm, you know, defend myself. Excuse me-”

Kaminari latches onto Shinsou’s wrist.

sh*t, I really like him, Kaminari thinks for the hundredth time. I like him a lot.

He is still having a hard time understanding just what happened. All he knows is that he was now underneath Shinsou who had gone full attack mode on him, and for some reason Kaminari had nothing against it. In fact, he admired that skill; how ready he was to defend himself, overpowering. It made him think about all the other attributes he admires about Shinsou: For example how considerate and helpful he is. He admires how despite having a tough start on life, he still manages to be optimistic. Shinsou enjoys the small things in life without acting like a perfect, annoying paragon of virtue about it. It helps Kaminari believe despite his negative qualities, he can do the same, too. Really, he appreciates the positive effect Shinsou has on him.

Most of all, Kaminari appreciates how Shinsou makes him feel safe. Yes, even while he had Kaminari pinned down, Kaminari didn’t feel fear. Even when Shinsou had mind controlled him, he didn’t feel fear. Kaminari has an inkling Shinsou would never choose to hurt him. Shinsou indulges him on every little whim, he pays attention to him like no one else has before; to the point of even remembering his failed Mcdonalds order. He had never berated Kaminari for his shortcomings, he has only tried to understand them and in turn, understand him. Shinsou is a good guy. Kaminari smiles. He is a good friend as well. He will be a good hero, too.

“Date me.”

At first, Shinsou doesn’t reply. His jaw is slack as if he doesn’t know what to say, but he doesn’t pull away either. Despite his surprise, he lets Kaminari hold his wrist, hold him there.

“Bold of you to demand that while I’m on top of you.” Somehow Shinsou manages to joke around with his goddamn dry deadpan, but Kaminari won’t back down. Shinsou’s voice wavered, so Kaminari knows his demand had an effect on him. Really, he has grown a suspicion that Shinsou doesn’t want him to back down either, and who on earth knows- Maybe he hasn’t wanted Kaminari to back down for a long time.

Kaminari sits up, as close to Shinsou as he dares to be. They are so close Kaminari can feel Shinsou’s heartbeat against his chest, the rhythm picking up. He is still towered over, but Kaminari manages to throw a winning smile and a wink anyways. He is feeling rather over confident this morning, the excitement bubbling inside his stomach almost making itself known through electricity dancing across his burning skin. Kaminari cannot wait for Shinsou to say yes: He is simply eager to please, eager to confess and show Shinsou how much he admires him. He will definitely use that to his advantage.

”I can be bolder if ya’ want to me to: whatever that will make you say yes, really. So Toshi-Toshi, what do I have to do?”

Shinsou doesn’t really reply with words right then, and Kaminari doesn’t blame him. Even in his overzealous state, Kaminari knows he laid his flirting on extra thick. It is obvious in how the usual pinkness of Shinsou’s ears reaches his neck and cheeks, making his skin seem even more lively than usual. Shinsou is flustered, again, to a higher extent than before, and Kaminari loves it.

Kaminari thought he had the taller boy wrapped around his little finger, free to tease and love without any consequences. Then Shinsou’s free hand comes to his jaw, tilting Kaminari’s face further upwards.

Their lips meet again, properly this time around. For longer, too. Kaminari actually has time to feel and appreciate the kiss; he appreciates the warmth Shinsou’s skin endows him, soft and welcoming. He leans into it as much as he can, even though his neck is starting to hurt he doesn’t care. Shinsou’s hand keeps Kaminari close, but he doesn’t want to be anywhere else anyways, sore neck be damned. In the end Shinsou pulls away, and even though he chases him, Shinsou levels Kaminari with a neutral stare, as if he wasn’t at all affected. “You’re getting the permission slip from Mic this time.”

“Sure,” Kaminari hums, face red and eyes blown wide, “Y’know, I’m real good at persuadin’ people.”

“You sure are.” Shinsou replies, sounding more mirthful, corner of his mouth quirking further upwards again.

They walk out of Kaminari’s room together, making sure that the door is locked and Nugget cannot escape. After Kaminari has secured the door he takes another leap of faith. (Well, can you call it a leap of faith anymore? They kissed.) He walks up to Shinsou as casually as he possibly can, and takes his hand in his own. Shinsou doesn’t pull away. Of course he doesn’t pull away. Sure, his hand starts to sweat, but he doesn’t pull away. Instead he squeezes Kaminari’s hand once and continues to talk.

“Did I ever tell you about the time I got peed on?” Shinsou starts off, all conversationally. It startles Kaminari enough he spends a whole minute laughing. The conversation continues on from there, as if nothing have changed.

When the first class ends, Kaminari is already on the way to Shinsou’s classroom. It has become natural for him to wait for him to pack his bags and come out so they can go to that big three together. It is something Kaminari has done since the very start of his pursuit, and he cannot see this ritual stop any time soon. Yes, even now, Kaminari doesn’t see his pursuit as quite over, not yet. Therefore the ritual will go on.

Just as this thought plays around in his busy brain, the ritual stops. This time Kaminari doesn’t reach Shinsou’s classroom, because Shinsou is already here. He meets Shinsou in the middle. The guy had apparently started to walk to Kaminari’s classroom to get to him.

So they meet each other in the middle, in a sea of other students.

Kaminari is already clutching his stomach due to his uncontrolled laughter. Shinsou isn’t that well off himself. Once they both have managed to somewhat calm down from their laughter, Shinsou moves to stand in front of Kaminari. He takes Kaminari by the very hem of his sleeve and pulls him away from the cluster of students. “Let’s get away from this place.” Shinsou huffs out as if he is annoyed, but Kaminari can see the content smile on his face. He cannot control the wide smile on his own face either.

During their little escape, Shinsou’s hand lowers from his sleeve and grips onto Kaminari’s hand instead, fingers lacing together.

On their way out of the school building, Kaminari catches glimpse of a certain pair of blue eyes.

He stops his brisk walk, Shinsou stops with him. Kaminari waves his free hand in large motions to catch Monoma’s unwavering attention, grin still wide on his face. He cannot say the same for Monoma, whose eyes go down to Kaminari and Shinsou’s interlocked hands. When he lifts them up to face Kaminari, his face is somber. That reaction should not surprise Kaminari, but it does. Kaminari’s waving stops for a second, caught of guard. He has never seen Monoma like this before. The blond always embodies either determination or spite, not this forlorn expression of giving up.

During their spat, Kaminari had almost forgotten Monoma wasn’t out just to get him; out to be some annoying onenote arch nemesis. No, his fellow blond had pitted against him because he also wanted his feelings to be reciprocated. Monoma had let his own feelings go. In his over dramatized mind, he admitted defeat. It only makes sense for him to look like he has given up, because he has done exactly that.

He thinks of what Kendou had said to him yesterday about Monoma, and a small pang of guilt settles inside his stomach, silencing the butterflies. Kaminari powers through anyways.

“Hey Monoma, thanks! I really appreciate it!”

Kaminari exclaims with genuine feeling, and he hopes Monoma understands. Monoma’s eyes go wide. He looks towards Shinsou, and for a second he looks almost vulnerable. Then the vulnerability vanishes. Monoma shrugs and gives off an empty chuckle before walking away. Dropping all pretenses and long sentences, Monoma shouts over his shoulder, “Just keep my promise, won’t you?”

Kaminari thinks back to a short yet dramatic letter given to him. He thinks about a specific sentence: Please continue to be good to him.

Inside his head, he promises Monoma that he’ll be good to Shinsou.

He won’t say it out loud, as Monoma is too far away to hear his promise and therefore Kaminari would just look like he is talking to himself. The promise is still very real, even if Kaminari is the only one who will hear about it- for now. Shinsou turns to look at him with a lifted brow, but Kaminari continues to grin and tug him along. He starts to talk about some weird subject again, and Shinsou lets the ordeal go. He trusts Kaminari enough to not be overly suspicious about whatever happened.

“I still don’t understand why you were so damn adamant about me and Jirou, tho’.”

They are still on their way to their tree, the air becoming hotter around them. The weather itself is becoming milder by each day, so the condensed air of the forest beside their school is only keeping up with the trend. Kaminari holds Shinsou’s hand and the Nugget box in the other. He understands now that Shinsou likes him, but he would still like to clear up a few misunderstandings first. Trickster god knows how fast he becomes confused.

“I wasn’t adamant, simply a determined self saboteur.” Shinsou rolls his eyes, “It was already strange to me that you even wanted to befriend me in the first place. I almost drove myself insane when I realized I wanted something more than that.”

“So it was a coping mechanism.” Kaminari comes to the clever conclusion of.

Shinsou just shrugs. At this point he has become used to Kaminari coming to clever conclusions. He is still charmed by it, but not surprised. Kaminari grins, completely content with this fact. It was foolish of him to underestimate Kaminari’s vocabulary anyways. “Probably.” Shinsou mumbles out instead, tugging on the collar of the hoodie. Kaminari doesn’t blame him, the woods are humid.

They reach the tree, but they don’t sit under it quite yet. Because the moment they reach their destination is also just the moment Kaminari decides to flick his wrist and open the Nugget box.

“Ok, so that won’t cut anymore, buddy,” Kaminari says with a lopsided smile. He thinks back to all the misunderstandings they have just cleared up, and the lopsided smile morphs into a grimace. No, Kaminari is not into that. He is tired of misunderstandings, they are way too confusing to him. Therefore he holds one nugget out for Shinsou and hopes Shinsou feels the same, “If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do it right. No more oh no, my future boyfriend is already in a relationship bullsh*ttery or weird coping mechanisms. We’re aiming for a truthful, healthy relationship, capiche?”

Shinsou blinks down to him, but he smirks and takes the nugget. Still he doesn’t bite it yet.

“Only if you stop chickening out at the last second whenever we flirt.”

Kaminari sighs out, dejected. “Fine.” then he whines, how can he not whine? “Ugh, I can’t believe you caught on to that!”

“Well, I do appreciate the attempts, I cannot say they weren’t made,” he takes a bite of the nugget, and with his mouth full he continues to speak, “You are improving on the flirting, though. I guess I will improve on my bad habits in turn, too.”

Despite speaking with his mouth full- Ignore the backhanded compliment on Kaminari’s style of flirting, too- Kaminari can hear the true meaning behind the words loud and clear. He looks up from that one particular spot on the grass to face Shinsou, who is still not looking away from him. While he somewhat resembles a deer caught in the headlights, purple eyes meet Kaminari head on. Their hands are still linked together, and Shinsou gives them a squeeze; a little reminder and a promise. His temporary pout is replaced with a growing grin.

Kaminari cannot sigh and whine after that, now can he?

Chapter 42: Epilogue; the circle composition

Chapter Text

“I told you the tutor offer was worth it.”

“Well, it gave me another date with you, so I guess you’re right!”

Kaminari turns to grin to Shinsou, and just when he does so, he loses his hold on the console and a loud game over booms from the arcade game. Kaminari whips head back to the screen to see he was just a few numbers away from beating the high score. He is tempted to whine, but once he sees the ridiculous amount of tickets shooting from the game he can only shrug and collect said tickets.

With one arm cradling his tickets, the other goes to take a hold of Shinsou’s hand. Together they move away from the machine and to the register.

Kaminari uses said tickets to buy a big bird plushie. It is yellow and the mouth looks weird. It reminds him of Present Mic. He gives the plushie to Shinsou and tells him to treat his totally-not-dad to a present. Shinsou rolls his eyes but wraps an arm around the plushie anyways.

Three weeks have gone since their first kiss. Kaminari has managed to scam Mic out of his tutor offer so he could go on dates out in the city with Shinsou at least twice each week, plus every weekend. Mic was ever so patient; he understood that Kaminari wanted to treat his stoic boyfriend to parks, arcades, diners, cafes and other places. However it was Shinsou who had begged Kaminari to just officially accept the offer. (Unbeknownst to him Mic had pushed Shinsou to do this by threatening to show Kaminari humiliating pictures of Shinsou curled up in his capture scarf. Shinsou could not let this happen. His pride was on the line.)

Thus Kaminari is now tutoring both Eri and Aoyama on japanese and english respectively. He was surprised to find out Aoyama needed help with english. Kaminari figured knowing a language other than Japanese would help him learn another, but then Aoyama explained to him that he had spent every english lesson since middle school to teach himself french, and that said decision had come to bite him back in the ass later.

“It’s kinda funny though; Cos you are helping me out with math and stuff, and I am tutoring Aoyama in english, and Aoyama is still teaching you french. It’s like, a circle.” Kaminari points out, leaning into Shinsou’s space and against his shoulder. He almost shrieks out of sheer delight when Shinsou only welcomes his affection. Their relationship is still new, so it still shakes him to the core when Shinsou allows them to hug. His soul almost leaves his body whenever Shinsou is the first to seek out bodily contact, which happens fairly often.

“Hm,” Shinsou leans into him this time, too, “I think that is a triangle, Denki.”

Shinsou had recently started to use Kaminari’s name. It made him weak in the knees whenever he did so. His name simply sounded heavenly on top of Shinsou’s tongue. Still Kaminari keeps his composure, answering just as lightly back.

“Whatever you say, babe.”

In turn Shinsou loses his composure, too. He is not used to the nicknames yet, despite Kaminari using them since they officially started to go out on dates.

Kaminari hums for himself, happy. He hopes Shinsou never gets used to them.

This friday evening is still young, so Kaminari and Shinsou are not tempted to go home just yet. Shady people in hoodies start to come out of the woodwork, but Shinsou is used enough to their shouting that they manage to avoid awkward interactions. Kaminari is not used to it. He is also not used to shutting up, so whenever they do end up in awkward situations with strangers, you can blame him.

“So you a bottom bitch.”

A rough looking girl with a bottle in hand slurs out. The girl had flirted with Shinsou, and while Kaminari understands where she is coming from, he couldn’t just accept the flirting either. Therefore Kaminari settled for explaining to her that she has to back off Shinsou, since he has a boyfriend already (“Me,” he said with a deadpan to hide his giddiness, “I am the boyfriend.”). She had turned her attention from Shinsou to Kaminari so fast he went through a whiplash. Kaminari chokes on the straw in his mouth. They had bought slushies a few minute ago before this girl bumped into them: Not a smart choice since it was still winter, but Kaminari is wearing Shinsou’s scarf so he guesses he will be alright.

“Wha- no-”

“Are you sure about that, Denki?”

His boyfriend, of all people, betrays him. Shinsou looks at him with a dubious look that makes Kaminari stutter even more.

“We haven’t even done it, how are you so sure I won’t go all alpha male on you?” Kaminari tries it. He tries to square his shoulders to look more intimidating, like he forgot Shinsou is a whole head taller than him and growing. Shinsou’s dubious look only worsens. Kaminari falters under the stare, even more flustered than before. With red cheeks buried into the scarf he starts to stomp away. “Ya’ know what? Forget about it, this bottom bitch is leavin’!”

A few seconds later, Kaminari hurries back to get Shinsou before the girl can go ahead and flirt with him again. Shinsou wouldn’t flirt back anyways, but it is a small comfort for Kaminari to drag him around.

“While it is fun to make fun of you, I do also have to give credit where it is due, though,”Shinsou decided to break the silence by speaking softly into Kaminari’s ear. Kaminari tries not to shiver. He thought he’d be used to how hot Shinsou’s voice is by now, but he is not. Not at all. “If you didn’t kiss me back then, I would probably have never gotten around to confess. So you’re at the very least an alpha in that regard.”

Despite the shivers, Kaminari smiles. The small alpha turns his head around to give Shinsou a peck on the cheek. He had aimed for his mouth, but he is pretty terrible at aiming. Shinsou blushes from it, so Kaminari is satisfied anyways. Yeah, Kaminari’s smile turns into a sleazy smirk, I sure am an alpha in that regard.

Two hours later, and they make it back to the dorms.

None of the hero students are surprised to see Shinsou enter through the door. Ever since Shinsou and Kaminari became a couple he has basically lived here. He uses plenty of excuses for it though: Denki has never touched a cat before so I cannot let him hurt Nugget, I will be living here in a few months so I might as well make it a habit, there are plenty empty rooms, (He’d say this despite never using said empty rooms. He always went up to Kaminari’s room. Always.) living in the dorm is more reasonable due to my training with Aizawa, and so on. His excuses doesn’t matter because no one minds his presence, except maybe Iida. Poor guy is kept up at night due to both Kaminari and Shinsou staying awake at ungodly hours one wall away from him, and Kirishima and Bakugou doing god knows what right underneath his floor.

Iida is a good sport about it, though. He never glares at Shinsou or is passive aggressive to him. Iida is as polite as always, sometimes going the extra mile. Just like now; the guy comes up to them both and asks them if they had a good time. They had bought groceries, so Iida takes some of the bags in his own hands and brings them to the kitchen.

Kaminari smiles at the domesticity of it all, until he hears a bro scream.

Kirishima is screaming.

Kaminari, Mina and Midoriya runs up to Kirishima’s room. Sero would have too, but he is probably high somewhere. Shinsou is also too busy putting the groceries back in place, although he does give Kaminari the bird plushie for emotional support.

When they make it to Kirishima’s room, they see him crouch in front of his closet, holding on to a single croc, arm trembling up in the air.

When Kaminari peeks into the open closet, his eyes go wide.

That is the only croc left.

Kirishima’s closet is completely different. Most of the colorful shirts are gone, so are the hawaiian shirts and khaki shorts. They are replaced with expensive looking clothing in warm yet neutral tones, and the occasional pop of black, red and orange. Most of the new clothes are tracksuits and training clothes, which fits Kirishima’s training aesthetic well, but the situation is still bizarre. Who the hell put those in there?

He looks over to Bakugou, whose face is completely blank. He doesn’t even react to Midoriya’s presence. At first glance it would make sense for Bakugou to do this. Despite finding Kirishima attractive, Bakugou hates his wardrobe. He hates Kirishima’s f*cking crocs. His parents are designers, so it would be easy for him to find expensive clothes for his boyfriend to wear. It all aligns. But the more Kaminari thinks about the possibility, the less likely it seems. He knows Bakugou wouldn’t do something like this. He is way too fond of Kirishima to do something like this without his consent.

“Who would do something like this to me? TO MY CROCS?” Kirishima continues to sob.

Kaminari doesn’t know how to answer. But he does know about a lot of people who would want to renovate Kirishima’s wardrobe, most of them in this goddamn room already. Mina turns to give him a sharp look, and he frowns back at her. She doesn’t have to tell him to keep the truth to himself. Even Kaminari knows Kirishima doesn't need that answer. All he can do is crouch down and give Kirishima the bird plushie to bury his head against and cry into.

His phone rings. He lifts it up and sees that it is Shinsou. Then he puts it to his ear, an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

“Denki. Your room. It’s... It’s all wrong.”

His face pales. Kaminari runs down the stairs to reach his own room.

Shinsou stands there, arms slack by his sides. Kaminari walks up to him and looks around- And Shinsou was right: It is all wrong.

At least seventy percent of his belongings are gone. His empty fish tank, unused shoes with the smiley faces, ridiculous hats and sports gear is nowhere to be seen. The tiger print curtains are replaced with heavy, dark curtains, the leopard print weighted blanket replaced with two layers of blankets lacking gaudy patterns, too. Kaminari’s cat scratching post is still there at least, and so is the rest of Nugget’s belongings, placed strategically around the room. The cat is enjoying the change at least, purring into her brand new cat bed. There are some accessories added to the room that Kaminari cannot help but have a little appreciation for too: like the fairy lights stuck to each corner of the ceiling, the full size mirror standing opposite to the bed; the bed itself which also has more pillows on it. One of the wall are even colored differently, dark grey with minimalistic yellow lightning bolts printed strategically over it.

In the end, Kaminari has mixed feelings of this sudden renovation. While he does like some of the changes, some of them are just inexcusable. Like the bunch of rose petals thrown everywhere on the floor. It is still also unnerving for him that he has no idea who had done all of this, to Kirishima’s wardrobe to boot-

Kaminari thinks back to a few weeks ago, when he was stuck in training with Aoyama. Kaminari had just given his flamboyant yet equally insecure fellow blond a pep talk, and now they were stretching and readying themself to attack. Easy banter fell between them.

“Oui~ You know men speaking français makes me weak.” Aoyama ended up saying at one point.

Kaminari did not know this, but had agreed with him anyway. In a way to relate, he had said, “If Shinsou started speaking french to me I’d lose my freaking marbles.”

“How about I offer him a cours in french then~?”

Kaminari cracked his knuckles and fingers, reading his electric discharge. He had turned to give Aoyama a wide-eyed look. The guy was stretching his arms over his head in his signature move. He was all casual. Kaminari was about to ruin that.

“If you do that, I will let you renovate my room. Hell, Kirishima’s wardrobe too.”

Oh.

Kaminari sucks in a sharp breath. Shinsou turns to look at him, his confused expression changing to an exasperated one. He could tell by Kaminari’s reaction alone that he somehow had a part in this. “What did you do, Denki.” He asks him, tone of voice showing that Shinsou is already bracing himself for Kaminari’s dumbassery.

It is almost instinct for Kaminari to try and deflect, just to seem less dumb. But Kaminari stops himself. Shinsou will be there with him no matter what stupid little thing he does. In fact, Kaminari suspects Shinsou actually likes it when he is dumb.

With a careless smile and laugh Kaminari wraps one hand around Shinsou’s bicep and leads him to the newly made bed. When Shinsou sits down, Nugget moves to jump into his lap. While Shinsou sits down and pets the cat, Kaminari scrambles around to see if Aoyama had thrown away his notebook too. He pumps a fist in the air when he sees that he hasn’t. In fact, the bastard had put it right on the desk for everyone to see.

Kaminari doesn’t have it in him to be irritated at that, though. I mean, he muses, how can I be? Kamminari is planning on showing Shinsou the content anyways. Aoyama only made this easier for him by putting it out there. He cannot tell this story to Shinsou without the notebook, after all. Knowing his wandering mind, Kaminari would probably just mess the story up, make an abstract mess out of it. Kaminari sits down besides him, and opens it to the very first page he wrote on the day he properly met Shinsou.

“So, babe, this is very dumb, but let me explain from the very start,” Kaminari says, cuddled close against Shinsou who only accepts how Kaminari curls around his arm, “One day, a very, very hot guy was trying to get into the hero department,”