Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hitoshi has already claimed one of the arm chairs in the common room by the time most of his classmates start arriving in small groups for movie night. He didn’t originally participate in the twice monthly class movie nights, but ever since Kaminari made a big thing about wanting him to join he’s been coming to them without complaint(unlike Bakugou, who is incapable of coming to movie night without bitching about how he’s been dragged to it). That being said, he always makes sure to arrive early so he doesn’t get stuck sitting on the floor or squished between people on one of the couches. He’ll begrudgingly admit he’s become friends with several of his classmates, but that doesn’t mean he wants to spend two hours pressed between them as they bicker over popcorn. The Bakusquad shows up as Asui, who is the one picking the movie tonight, slowly uses the remote to type the name of the film into the search bar(large frog fingers and tiny buttons don’t mix well). They probably waited for Kirishima to drag Bakugou out of his room before coming down. Hitoshi’s gaze is automatically drawn to Kaminari. The group reacts with various styles of dramatic despair upon discovering that they’ll have to split up to find places to sit since they’re the last ones to show up. Kaminari and Sero’s parting involves clutching each other and severe abuse of the word bro. Bakugou simply rolls his eyes at them and drags Kirishima with him to sit on the floor near Shouji and Tokoyami, who don’t talk during movies.

When they disperse to find seats Kaminari scans the room, hands cupping his eyes like binoculars. What a dork. Hitoshi finds it far more endearing than he should. His face lights up when he spots Hitoshi and he immediately bounces over. “Hey Shin-dawg, mind sharing your seat?”

“Only if you never call me ‘Shin-dawg’ ever again,” he replies dryly.

The blond pouts for a moment as he cries “Nooo!” before his smile returns and he says “Fine, I suppose if that is the price I must pay then so be it.”

Hitoshi rolls his eyes at the dramatics and starts to move over to make room, but freezes as Kaminari gently plops down on top of his thighs. The blond turns himself sideways so he can throw his legs over one of the arms of the chair and lean back on his elbows on the other. Underneath him Hitoshi is frozen like a deer in the headlights. Kaminari is sitting in his lap. What the fuck. What the fuck. Hitoshi isn’t opposed to it, but the truth of the matter is that he feels like he might spontaneously combust at any moment. Kaminari is sitting on his lap. He’s just. There. Perched on top of Hitoshi’s thighs. What the fuck.

If it were anyone else Hitoshi wouldn’t hesitate to shove them off his lap and out of his personal bubble–not that they would dare sit in his lap in the first place, everyone knows he’s not a big fan of being touched. But this is Kaminari, who is an exception in a lot of ways for Hitoshi. He’s very tolerant of physical touch when it comes to the blond, he might even go so far as to say he enjoys it. And even if he didn’t, he would only politely ask Kaminari to get up because the blond would probably be sad if Hitoshi shoved him off rudely and the purple haired teen hates making Kaminari sad. Hitoshi is supposed to be a hardass, but this blond dumbass turns him into a giant sap. This blond dumbass that is sitting on his lap.

He looks around frantically for someone to acknowledge that he’s not going crazy, this shit is actually happening. Unfortunately the person he makes eye contact with is Midoriya, who happens to be the one person Hitoshi has allowed himself to rant to about his ridiculous, awful, embarrassing crush on Kaminari. The curly haired boy takes one look at Hitoshi’s current situation and starts laughing his stupidly wholesome, probably-summons-angels laugh. Thankfully Kaminari seems completely oblivious to Hitoshi’s ongoing inner turmoil. His feet swing back and forth where they hang from the side of the chair and he’s watching the television screen. Hitoshi can feel the muscles in the blond’s thighs and butt tense and relax as he moves his feet. He knows he’s got it bad for Kaminari and frankly he’s not sure he’ll survive two hours of having the blond on his lap. He tries to pay attention to the movie Asui chose but spends far too much time staring at Kaminari anyway. Hitoshi is not the kind of person to be weak to a pretty face, but he’s come to accept the fact that all Kaminari has to do is be nearby and Hitoshi’s mood will improve. It’s mostly not a physical thing, which is in fact worse since it means he’s that enamored with Kaminari as a person. That being said, the blond is definitely easy on the eyes. His jawline is sharp and his features delicate. His golden eyes go well with his blond hair and the black lightning bolt shaped streak is a charming little detail that Hitoshi knows is completely natural. The word that comes to mind to describe him is pretty. Kaminari is very, very pretty.

Kaminari is very, very pretty and he’s sitting in Hitoshi’s lap. Hitoshi wishes he had a pillow to scream into. Kaminari lets himself sink down on his elbows, his shoulders no longer holding him up. His head lazily lolls back, still turned to face the TV. Hitoshi can’t take his eyes away from the arch of his neck. Kaminari’s choker is wrapped around it and Hitoshi suddenly has the urge to find out how smooth the black leather is. He tears his gaze away once the concept of hickeys pops up in his mind, forcibly preventing his thoughts from veering into dangerous territory.

A small burst of light catches Hitoshi’s eye and he looks down to see Kaminari idly playing with sparks. They flit off the fingers of one hand at random, the other hand held up as a small barrier between the sparks and Hitoshi’s stomach. The blond can be much more thoughtful than people think. And he’s very cognizant of the danger that comes with a powerful electrical quirk.

Hitoshi realizes he’s been awkwardly holding his hands to his chest for the past fifteen minutes since Kaminari sat down and finds himself at a loss as to what to do with them. He can’t put them in his lap since it’s currently being occupied by Kaminari and he can’t put them on the arm rests either since those are also occupied by Kaminari. After spending far too long debating with himself, Hitoshi sets them down on Kaminari’s stomach. The blond’s own hands have moved on from making sparks to playing with the collar of his t-shirt. As soon as he gently places his hands down, Kaminari looks over at them for a moment before turning his gaze towards Hitoshi’s face, a smile gracing his lips. He doesn’t say anything, but he does reach down and pick up one of Hitoshi’s hands, which he then begins idly fiddling with as he goes back to watching the movie. Hitoshi could not give less of a fuck about the movie, he’s currently fixated on the sight of Kaminari’s slender hands playing with one of his own. His hands are significantly larger than the blond’s, which isn’t that surprising considering how Hitoshi stands at 5’11 and Kaminari hasn’t gotten any taller since a growth spurt at the end of their first year put him at just barely 5’7.

Minutes pass just like that, with Kaminari playing with his fingers and Hitoshi trying and only half succeeding to watch the movie. They’re about forty five minutes into the film when Kaminari starts stretching his shoulders, rolling them forwards and backwards. The movement shifts him a tiny bit in his spot halfway down Hitoshi’s thighs and throws Hitoshi into a panic because it’s not a lot of movement and Kaminari isn’t directly on his crotch but what if? Hitoshi would die of mortification.

“My elbows are getting kinda sore, do you mind if I just,” Kaminari pushes himself up off the side of the chair and wiggles so that he’s more centered in Hitoshi’s lap, then leans against Hitoshi’s chest. Hitoshi feels like he’s about to have a heart attack. Kaminari sitting on his lap at all is already enough to make his attention span disappear and now that he was finally getting used to it enough to try to figure out what’s happening onscreen the blond has decided his new spot is directly on the center of his lap, his head resting against Hitoshi’s chest, one arm wrapped around his waist and the other playing with the fabric of his shirt. Having Kaminari cuddled up to him on his lap is a scenario ripped straight out of his thoughts, which range from PG to rated R—and he needs to stop thinking about this before it becomes a problem. He really hopes Kaminari doesn’t keep moving around because Hitoshi values their friendship dearly and does not want to test whether getting hard while his friend is on his lap is enough to ruin it.

If he thought he didn’t know where to put his hands earlier, he really doesn’t know where to put them now. Kaminari had pushed them out of the way when he moved and now Hitoshi has them in limbo, his elbows resting on the arms of the chair and his hands up in the air with nowhere to go. He could lay them down the armrests, but then what if Kaminari takes that to mean he’s trying to leave what space he can between them and thinks he wants him to get up? Having the blond on his lap is destroying his ability to think, but that doesn’t mean he wants him to get up.

Kaminari’s voice breaks him out of his overthinking. “You can wrap your arms around my waist if you want. Or put the one by my legs on them if you’d prefer. Whatever’s comfortable. Nothing wrong with a good cuddle.”

Hitoshi hums in response and gently places one arm around Kaminari’s back, his hand wrapping around the other’s side just above his hip. The other hand he tentatively puts down across Kaminari’s thighs, his hand lying on the one further towards the front of the chair. He does not scream or make any sort of odd noise because this is totally chill, just a good cuddle, nothing to write home about. He is not obsessing over how it feels to have his hand wrapping around the curve of Kaminari’s waist or his slim yet deceptively muscular thigh.

Thank god Kaminari is using his chest as a pillow. From there he can’t see the way Hitoshi’s cheeks are burning. Hitoshi does not blush easily, however he is very pale—like borderline is-an-actual-vampire pale—meaning when he does blush it is very visible. He has no doubt his cheeks are practically glowing red at the moment.

He looks around the room, less to seek out moral support this time and more to distract himself from how he feels like his heart is about to explode out of his chest. The first person to look back at him is Jirou. He likes Jirou. She’s cool. Very alt, very queer, takes shit from nobody. In this moment he despises Jirou. She’s smirking at him in a far too knowing manner. He’s never talked to her about his crush and he knows his facial expression very rarely reflects his inner gay panicking without his permission, she has no reason to be smirking at him like she knows 1/2 of his brain is screaming about how the boy he’s probably in love with is cuddling with him, 1/4 is beating the horny thoughts about him being on Hitoshi’s lap back with a stick, and 1/4 has completely ceased to function. Probably that stupid blush. Goddamn it.

‘Very cute’ she mouths from where she’s sitting next to Yaoyorozu, fingers intertwined with the other girl’s.

‘Fuck you’ he mouthes back, followed by ‘I think I’m going to die.’

She rolls her eyes. Then to rub her relationship in his face she presses a kiss to her girlfriend’s cheek. The blush that had been so close to completely fading from his cheeks returns in full force as he’s struck with the thought of how in their current position it would be incredibly easy to place a kiss on the top of Kaminari’s head. Being in love is so embarrassing. He can’t believe he declared he wasn’t in the hero course to make friends then went and did not only that but also caught romantic feelings.

Jirou looks him dead in the eyes and mouths ‘Then Perish.’

Hitoshi mouths ‘Fuck you’ once more.

They’ve reached a slight lull in the movie as the protagonist wallows in their seemingly insurmountable defeat, the spunky love interest that kind of reminds him of Bakugou not yet having arrived onscreen to verbally kick them into getting their act together. The music is pretty nice, very fitting for the somber tone. This movie has a good soundtrack from what he’s managed to take in. Kaminari resettles his weight a bit and Hitoshi stops breathing. Fortunately the blond stops moving after a few seconds so Hitoshi doesn’t have to resort to emergency boner prevention thoughts like the times he’s heard his not-legally-his guardians-but-spiritually-his-male-role-models dads flirt in a suggestive manner. Should a few seconds of movement come so close to riling him up to that point? No, but this is Kaminari on his lap and Kaminari makes the horny thoughts he normally has a very tight grip on run wild. When he was still in general studies his sex drive was practically nonexistent, all that mattered was proving himself and getting into the hero course. Occasionally he woke up from a presumably sexual dream he couldn’t remember and dealt with it. Now he’s in the hero course and while becoming a kickass underground pro is still his top priority, he also has to deal with his teenage hormones combining with constantly being around someone he’s strongly attracted to both romantically and sexually. Kaminari came down to get breakfast one Sunday morning wearing one of Hitoshi’s hoodies—Kaminari is a clothing thief of the highest caliber with all of his friends, even Bakugou—and despite knowing that logically even though they weren’t visible the blond must have been wearing boxers or shorts underneath the hoodie, Hitoshi’s brain decided to go the route of ‘hey what if we think about him wearing your hoodie with nothing underneath.’ Hitoshi had to immediately sit down at the table so no one could see the valiant efforts his dick was making at making its presence visible in his sweatpants.

Kaminari leans back a bit towards the side of the chair and tilts his head to look up at Hitoshi, dragging the purple haired teen out of his lamentations on being a hormonal teenager that can get aroused at the drop of a hat. “Dude, you’re super comfy.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Hitoshi replies casually, like he hasn’t been internally screaming on and off for the past hour and a half.

“I mean it! Sorry to everyone else but your lap is prime real estate and I have no problem with monopolizing it.” It’s like the blond is purposely trying to make Hitoshi drop dead on the spot. The idea that anyone else but Kaminari has tried claiming his lap to sit on or lay their head on is cute though. Hitoshi may have accepted the idea of friendship, but he’s still himself, meaning he’s stand-offish(he’s working on it), generally introverted(not working on it, that’s here to stay), rarely starts conversations, and is completely foreign to the idea of physical affection. His general vibe screams ‘don’t touch me’ even amongst friends, and it’s not like he has the confidence to initiate physical affection(Hitoshi’s confidence varies greatly depending on what exactly it is that it’s needed for), so Kaminari is pretty much the only one that regularly touches him beyond a pat on the shoulder or a high five.

Hitoshi chuckles lightly and Kaminari’s grin grows. “Well you’ve got first dibs now so I suppose you can monopolize my real estate whenever you want.”

Kaminari fist pumps and cheers “Hell yeah!” He’s promptly scolded by Iida for being too loud during the movie. This draws the attention of several of their classmates and the next thing Hitoshi knows he’s facing down wolf-like grins from most of the Bakusquad. Predictably, the squad’s namesake is sporting his typical neutral glower, but even he looks amused. Not for the first time in regards to Kaminari’s friend group, Hitoshi feels rather similarly to what a sheep that has stumbled into a wolf's den must feel like.

“Get your man, babe!” Ashido calls over from the nearby couch, loud enough to earn a nasty look from Iida but not a reprimand. She’s obviously talking to Kaminari, which opens a whole line of questioning Hitoshi isn’t sure his heart will survive thinking about. The blond, who is back to leaning against Hitoshi’s chest—he’s somehow even closer than before, his forehead is resting against the side of Hitoshi’s neck and the fingers of one hand are twisting and untwisting the purple haired boy’s shirt right above his heart, the other arm still around Hitoshi’s waist—laughs, a clumsy, almost panicked sound.

“Mina,” he calls back at a much lower volume, more of a hiss than a whisper. “Do you want to lose your position as my number one gossip confidant? Cause I can make that happen. Sero is right there.”

“Ah,” Sero says in a monotone voice, “how I love being a pawn in your warfare.”

Hitoshi can’t see Kaminari’s face, but he has the feeling he’s glaring at his black haired friend.

“Traitors, the both of you. Friendship ended with Mina and Sero, Kirishima is my new best friend.”

Bakugou scoffs from where he sits on the floor against the couch on the other side of the armchair. “You wish, dunce face.”

Kirishima smiles as he replies “Sure, bro. We can talk about your giant crush on—“

“Kirishima!” Kaminari leans towards the couch and aggressively points a finger at the red haired boy. “I never should’ve told any of you about that. You’re all awful.”

“Kami, you really didn’t need to tell us. We would have figured it out anyway. You are the furthest thing from subtle,” Mina informs him. She pointedly looks the two of them up and down. Hitoshi is pretty sure he entered an alternate reality somewhere back before his crush sat down on his lap. Mina cannot be implying that he, Hitoshi, is Kaminari’s crush. That’s too good to be true. He’s never that lucky.

Kaminari flips her off and plops back into his spot cuddled up against Hitoshi. The purple haired boy glances down and sees a dramatic pout on the blond’s lips. He’s glad they’re not in a position where they could kiss since the temptation to kiss that pout away is way too strong. Would Kaminari want him to do that? Once again Hitoshi is in desperate need of a pillow to scream into. He doesn’t realize his grip on Kaminari has tightened until the blond lets out a little noise. Hitoshi honestly does not know how to interpret it so he defaults to the logical assumption it’s distress from Hitoshi squeezing too tight. “Sorry,” he mumbles as he loosens his hold on Kaminari’s thigh and waist.

“No worries,” Kaminari replies, sounding a bit like someone with a mild phobia of spiders seeing one sitting three feet away. In other words: someone with a significant amount of worry remaining calm through a very narrow margin. That was a really weird comparison, Kaminari must be wearing off on him. Guilt at making Kaminari uncomfortable bubbles up in his chest and Hitoshi feels the need to pull his hands away to set them on the armrests.

His hand only makes it a few inches off the blond’s thigh before Kaminari slaps it back down. It lands on the other’s thigh again with an audible smack. Apparently the blond hadn’t intended on the impact being quite so forceful since he squeaks and his leg muscles tense up. Hitoshi stares down at his hand on the other’s thigh. He’s going to save thinking about that for when Kaminari isn’t sitting on his lap. “It’s fine, really,” the boy assures him. Both of them ignore the halfheartedly muffled snickers from the couch Ashido and Sero are sitting on.

“If you say so.” He tentatively wraps his other hand around Kaminari’s waist once more. It’s a bit lower this time. He can feel the top of blond’s hipbone with his pinky and ring finger. The fabric between their skin is Kaminari’s shirt. He can’t feel the waistband of his jeans underneath it since the blond prefers low waisted pants that hang off his hips.

The rest of the movie goes by without any more incidents threatening to turn Hitoshi’s brain into mush more than it already has been. Movie night is not supposed to be this lethal. Kaminari makes a few comments here and there, to which Hitoshi either murmurs a response or gives a light squeeze of acknowledgement with the hand on the blond’s waist. By the time the final scene finishes Kaminari’s additions have dropped off in favor of paying more attention to the film. People start to get up as the credits roll. Hitoshi waits for Kaminari to get up, except most of their classmates have left now and the blond still hasn’t made any move to stand up. Bakugou and Kirishima walk by the armchair and the blond lets out a quiet version of his classic ‘I’m going to murder literally everything in this room’ cackle while looking at him and Kaminari. “Good luck with that, brain fucker,” he says.

Hitoshi makes his expression into one of obvious confusion. “Good luck with what?”

Bakugou doesn’t respond, just smirks at him and continues making his way towards the elevator. Kirishima takes pity on him and explains “Kaminari is asleep,” before following Bakugou.

Oh. That makes sense. He probably fell asleep back around when he stopped commenting on the movie. Hitoshi looks down at the blond on his lap. What is he supposed to do now? He could wake Kaminari up, but he doesn’t really want to. The other looks very peaceful at the moment. He still has one hand clasped in Hitoshi’s shirt, the other lies limp in his lap, only a few inches away from Hitoshi’s own hand. He doesn’t want to disturb him. Sleeping like this wouldn’t be good for his neck and Hitoshi is going to have to use the bathroom at some point so simply staying here on the chair isn’t an option. That leaves carrying Kaminari to his bed. That should be doable, right? He’s no Shouji or Satou, or even Midoriya or Kirishima, but following those guys made of pure muscle Hitoshi is one of the more well built members of their class. And Kaminari is primarily a distance fighter, so while he still has muscle he’s more built for speed and agility than pure strength. He can’t be that heavy.

Hitoshi scoots closer to the edge of the chair, holding Kaminari in place against him so he doesn’t fall over. Standing up without jostling the boy he’s holding bridal style in his arms is a challenge but he thinks he manages successfully for the most part. He travels to the elevator carefully, doing his best to both avoid waking up Kaminari and avoid stepping on the few members of their class that have fallen asleep on their blankets on the carpet. He has a very close call with Hagakure, nearly stepping on her hand before he notices her pajamas nearby and pays more attention to the folds of the blanket beneath him, realizing the impression of her arm is right where his next step would have gone. He walks around her, giving plenty of extra space just in case he misjudged where her limbs are.

He’s just gotten inside the elevator when he sees Midoriya and Todoroki come out of the kitchen. The curly haired boy waves and gestures for him to hold the elevator, to which Hitoshi looks down at his armful of blond teenager and then back up at him expectantly. Midoriya runs over, making his way around their sleeping classmates with far more deftness than Hitoshi did. He doesn’t even have to stop to figure out where Hagakure’s body parts are, he moves around her easily. He sticks his hand in the small gap between the closing elevator doors with a boldness Hitoshi has come to expect from the class’ resident bone breaker. He doesn’t break his bones whenever he uses his quirk anymore, but he still has just as nonexistent a fear of pain. He holds the doors open for Todoroki, who walks around the edge of the common room rather than navigate around the furniture and human tripping hazards. Once the teen makes it into the elevator with them Midoriya presses the buttons for his, Todoroki’s, and after a glance in Hitoshi’s direction, Kaminari’s floor. Hitoshi’s own dorm is on the second floor with Midoriya. They hadn’t put him in Mineta’s old room since that would qualify as cruel and unusual punishment, he was across from Tokoyami instead.

It’s silent for a moment before a thought occurs to him. “Should we have woken them up?” The people they left downstairs might have preferred to get up and go to their own beds.

“I think you’re a little busy,” Midoriya replies with a giggle. The boy was a puppy in another life, there’s no other explanation for both how adorable he is at any given time and how often he makes that feral facial expression like ‘take one more step and I WILL bite you.’

Hitoshi fixes him with a glare. “Not another word.”

Midoriya raises his hands in surrender. “Seriously though, they’re all people that are fine with crashing in the common room. Hagakure loves sleeping near other people, Satou is impossible to wake up without an alarm so he said to just leave him be whenever he falls asleep down there, and Sero could sleep crammed in a cardboard box and wake up feeling fine.”

Hitoshi automatically goes to argue back, but stops when he realizes yeah, that checks out. Even the Sero bit, one time Hitoshi saw that guy asleep during homeroom with only the left side of his body on the chair he was sharing with Kaminari. “Fair enough.”

The green haired boy’s floor is the lowest so he gets off first, leaving Hitoshi alone with Todoroki. He doesn’t mind Todoroki, they both have an appreciation for silence that most of their classmates lack. He doesn’t spend much time around the other teen and when he does it’s usually in a group setting through Midoriya. Kaminari’s room is on the third floor and Todoroki’s on the fifth, so Hitoshi leaves the elevator before him. As he walks out he hears Todoroki’s calm voice say “Like father like son.”

He whips around as best he can while carrying another person and stares at the red and white haired boy as the elevator doors begin to close. “What?”

Todoroki merely nods and adds “You have your father’s taste in men.”

Hitoshi gazes at that placid face in bewilderment as the doors close.

Did Todoroki pick up on how close Hitoshi was with Aizawa after being personally trained by him or does he think Aizawa is his biological father? And why would he have Aizawa’s taste in men, the man is married to—oh no. He’s married to Yamada, aka Present Mic. A loud blond. A spotlight hero that wears leather. An ADHD language nerd that loves English. Hitoshi has Aizawa’s taste in men.

Hitoshi walks down the hall towards Kaminari’s room like Todoroki didn’t just give him an entirely unwanted revelation. He feels off balance, like the world has slightly shifted on its axis. What is he supposed to do with this information? He and Aizawa have a lot in common, some of it because of the influence Aizawa has had on him, like his choice of capture weapon and that specific bitchy facial expression that conveys ‘do you seriously think I’m that fucking stupid?’, but most of it is just coincidence. Maybe he can rationalize this. He and Aizawa share a lot of traits, so it isn’t that odd for Hitoshi to look for qualities in his choice of partner that are similar to the ones possessed by Aizawa’s partner. Great, now he’s thinking about calling Denki his partner, which is something he does not have the privilege of doing but would really, really like to do.

Kaminari’s door isn’t locked. It’s actually not even fully closed, which is rather convenient for Hitoshi since he doesn’t have a hand to spare for opening it. He pushes the door open with his foot and steps inside. The light is on since Kaminari comes from a family full of electricity quirks and so never worries about wasting electricity. The room doesn’t look much different from the last time he saw it, which was yesterday. Posters of pro heroes and bands cover the walls and there is no carpet despite how Kaminari wants some since the static would be insane due to his quirk. The desk is covered in school materials, organized by a haphazard system no one but Kaminari himself understands. There’s a little set of shelves next to it with books and video games. The floor is relatively clear, though Hitoshi knows that inside the currently closed closet is where the blond throws all his junk. There is a pile of laundry on the desk chair, whether it’s clean or dirty is up for debate. Hitoshi would put his bet on it being clean. It hasn’t changed since yesterday so Kaminari probably set it there to put away in his drawers later a few days ago and still hasn’t gotten around to it. The bedspread isn’t the leopard print nightmare at the moment, that’s taking up half the space in the dirty laundry hamper. In its place is a monstrosity almost equally as bad. It’s got both stripes and polka dots, mercifully separated into alternating squares of each pattern. The colors are a blindingly vibrant yellow and a deep purple.

He walks over to the bed, going around the purple bean bag Jirou got Kaminari for his birthday in their second year. With all the skill of a hero in training he uses his foot to flip back the comforter before he carefully lays the blond down. Kaminari doesn’t stir, his head lolling to the side against his pillow. Hitoshi pulls the comforter back up to cover him. Only up to his shoulders though since he knows Kaminari tends to overheat if his blankets cover his neck. For a moment he looks at the boy and his obnoxious yellow and purple bedspread, and he wonders if there’s a chance Mina might have been serious.

He leaves the room, turning off the light and quietly shutting the door behind himself. He finds himself glancing back towards the door of Kaminari’s room as he waits for the elevator. The doors open and he enters, watching the hallway disappear as they close. He might have a bit more than a crush on Kaminari. At this point he’s pretty certain this is what people call being in love. He’s in love with Kaminari. Possibly has been for a while. He goes to his own room knowing full well there’s no way he’ll fall asleep when it’s only a quarter after midnight, especially with this much on his mind. It has been a very eventful movie night. He has a lot to think about.

Chapter Text

“Shin-bro, would you be the bestest friend ever and go get my snacks from the kitchen?” He presses his palms together in a prayer and makes puppy dog eyes at the other.

Shinsou gives him a wry look from his spot a few feet away on the couch he and Denki are sitting on in the common room. He’s tucked into the corner while the blond sprawls out across the rest of the couch. Denki’s sock clad toes are shoved under the purple haired boy’s thigh for maximum coziness. “And why can’t you get them yourself?”

“Ummm, I don’t want to?”

Shinsou cocks a brow. “Not my problem.”

“Pleeeease,” Denki pleads.

“What do I get out of it?”

The blond scrambles for an answer. “Uh, we can go upstairs afterwards so you don’t have to be down here when Bakugou gets back from his work study in a few minutes. He had a really shitty day apparently so he’s gonna be mega pissy.”

Shinsou scrunches up his nose in disgust at the idea of being here for that. He enjoys riling Bakugou up occasionally, but he generally has a low tolerance for bullshit and a pissy Bakugou tends to max it out. It’s almost midnight and they’re the only ones left in the common room so the likelihood of them doing something to annoy the pissy blond and setting his temper off on them is high.

“Fine. But we’re going to my room this time.”

Denki grins triumphantly. “Thank youuuuuu. I knew I could count on you.” Shinsou rolls his eyes at his theatrics as he gets up off the couch and walks into the kitchen. Denki continues fucking around on his phone, playing an English word scramble game he likes using to kill small bits of time. He can hear Shinsou rooting around in the cabinets, hunting down where Denki’s snack collection currently resides. His snacks are always stored together, it’s just a question of where in the cabinets they are. It changes regularly. Denki wiggles excitedly on the couch when he remembers that he got a bunch of stuff Shinsou likes the last time he bought snacks. The purple haired boy rarely buys snacks for himself, he doesn’t see it as worth the effort of going out and purchasing them when he can’t rely on them for energy. At least he’s not a big fan of those nutritional jelly pouches Aizawa seems to keep a stock of on his person. Or maybe it’s in his sleeping bag? He pulls them out of nowhere during class, like Midoriya with that notebook he uses for writing down information on the class’ quirks. Anyway, Denki has been slowly getting Shinsou to try a variety of new snacks over the past few months, and rather than buy new ones for him to try the last time he went snack shopping he got ones he knows Shinsou likes.

The purple haired teen comes out of the kitchen with an armful of snack food. He gives Denki a curious look before glancing down at the packages in his hands then back up at the blond. Denki likes most of what’s in the pile, he still wants to have some after all, but it’s clearly geared more towards Shinsou’s taste than his own. Denki shrugs and doesn’t say anything. He pops up off the couch and stretches his back, groaning dramatically. He twists his torso around both directions, causing a series of loud pops and cracks. Wonderful, now the vague pressure in his back is gone. “Agh, I swear my body is convinced I have the skeleton of an eighty year old man.”

“I believe it,” Shinsou says as he makes his way to the elevator.

“Hard not to when you’ve had a front row seat to my bones snap, crackle, popping who knows how many times.”

Denki darts over, grinning when he sees that the elevator button isn’t glowing yet. He gets a ridiculous amount of childish joy out of pushing elevator buttons and Shinsou usually indulges him in it. He presses it gleefully, highly aware of Shinsou’s eyes on his back. When he looks over his shoulder the other is watching him with an amused look on his face. Denki shoots him a wink, prompting the corner of his lips to quirk up.

When they get to Shinsou’s dorm room Denki turns to face his friend with an expectant look, holding out a hand for the boy’s key card. Unlike Denki, Shinsou has his door set to lock automatically whenever it closes. Like a hotel room door or something. Denki’s doesn’t lock unless he locks it with a swipe of his key card, which he never does. If he didn’t need his card to get into the dorm building itself, he wouldn’t even bother carrying it around. “Oh, it’s in my back pocket,” Shinsou explains. “Sorry.” Since his hands are full he can’t hand it to Denki, meaning the blond will have to retrieve it himself. Denki circles around him to his back, momentarily debating whether to ask which pocket the card is in or just stick a hand in both. Being the little gremlin he is, he decides on the latter. He puts his hands in Shinsou’s pockets, finding the key card in the one on the right hand side. He does not squeeze Shinsou’s ass, because he’s a gremlin but he’s not Mineta. Card in hand he trots back over to the door, unlocking it with a swipe and pulling it open. He holds it for Shinsou then follows the other inside.

Shinsou’s room is very different from Denki’s. Not in a bad way, Denki likes it, it’s just different than his own. Where Denki’s is an eclectic mess of trinkets and decorations, the purple haired boy’s room is much less cluttered and sticks to a simple color scheme. The shelving attached to his wall above his desk is black, as is his desk lamp. His desk would probably be black too but it’s the wooden one UA provided for each dorm room. The desk chair is a cool black spinny one with nice cushioning(way better than the UA desk chair Denki has in his room). His walls are mostly bare, only a single poster for a rock band on the closet door and the magazine page of some adorable kittens that Denki cut out of one of Mina’s magazines(that’s how you know he really likes Shinsou, he risked Mina’s wrath by cutting that out when there was a picture of an outfit she liked on the other side) that’s taped to the wall above the nightstand(also the wooden one provided by UA). The boy’s reaction when Denki had brought that to him and told him it was to put up on his wall since he didn’t have anything other than the one poster had been amusing. He’d seemed surprised yet also happy. His sheets are a dark blue and he has a super soft black blanket on top of them. His alternate set of sheets is purple, much to Denki’s delight—he thinks it’s fun when Shinsou’s bed matches his hair and eyes. The bed is pushed into the corner, a giant plush Snorlax sitting on the side leaning against the wall. That had been a birthday gift from Denki. He likes getting his friends presents. He’d actually gotten Shinsou a ‘welcome to the hero course’ gift, which is where the Espeon plushie sitting on the nightstand came from.

Denki arranges himself comfily on his friend’s bed, leaving the side by the wall open since he knows Shinsou likes to lean against the corner. Once Shinsou has dumped all of the snacks on his desk he pats the available space next to him. "Your kingdom awaits you, my prince." He adds a little bow of his head just to go the extra mile.

Shinsou gives him an amused look—his lips don’t really move but his eyebrows lift slightly, not high enough to be surprise or an intentional Eyebrow Expression, just enough to convey that he’s amused. Denki isn’t sure the purple haired boy even knows he does that. Shinsou gives him a tiny nod in return and says “Thank you, my loyal squire,” before climbing onto the bed and settling into the spot.

Denki squawks offendedly. “A squire?! Hell no! I am a knight, at least, if not a duke.” He calls his bro a prince and what title does he get in return? Squire. Ridiculous. What is it with pretty purple haired people and bullying him? The sheer levels of sarcasm and audacity Jirou and Shinsou share are insanely high. What is it with him and crushing on pretty purple haired people that tease him? He swears he’s not a masochist. Actually…there are a few things he needs to test out for that that he can’t exactly do solo—he has some complex feelings about the time he accidentally made Shinsou slap his thigh—but in general he is not a masochist. And yet the people he’s seriously crushed on/is currently crushing on are the ones that turn making fun of him into an art. Sure his friends bully him, their friend group involves a lot of friendly teasing, but none of the Bakusquad are quite as clever about it as Jirou or Shinsou.

The purple haired boy pats him on the arm, making him scream internally because Shinsou never initiates contact with people but he just did with Denki, does that mean something? “Hm, I can maybe change your position to chambermaid, if you’d prefer that,” Shinsou says.

The blond pouts grumpily at him. “You’re so mean to me. I’m pretty sure a chambermaid is even lower ranking than a squire.” He won’t claim to be 100% confident in that, his knowledge of medieval European hierarchy is average at best. “Why would you want me to be a chambermaid? Unless…” he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, “if you want me in your chambers I’m totally down for that.”

The other huffs in amusement and rolls his eyes. “Maybe I just want you to clean up my room, ever think of that?”

“Absolutely not, I’m far too attractive to be wasted on cleaning.”

He receives an Eyebrow Expression from Shinsou. He loves those. Shinsou has very expressive eyebrows. This current expression is a single cocked brow that seems to say ‘really?’ “Ah. That explains why your room looks the way it does.”

He shoves Shinsou’s shoulder with his own. The boy flicks him in the forehead in retaliation. “Fuck off, my room is simply organized in a unique manner.”

“Oh, is that what we’re calling it these days?” Fuck, he really has a thing for snarky bastards, huh.

“If you know I’m terrible at cleaning then why did you suggest I be a chambermaid? You got some kind of ulterior motive?” He points an accusatory finger at Shinsou then immediately gives into the temptation to poke him in the sternum. “I think you want me to be a chambermaid to fulfill some fantasy of yours. That’s fine, I can be your fantasy any day, baby.” He turns his head sharply to toss his hair then winks. He flirts with all of his friends, but especially Shinsou. The purple haired teen rarely plays into it but when he does Denki’s brain stops working faster than he can short circuit himself.

“You know,” Shinsou drawls, “one of these days you’re going to say something like that to someone and they’re actually going to take you up on it.”

Yeah and I really want that person to be you! Denki laughs, “I sure hope so.”

Shinsou’s hand drops onto the purple haired boy’s thigh, only a few inches away from where Denki’s hand rests on his own leg. Ugh, Shinsou has such nice hands. They’re pressed together from their shoulders all the way down to their knees and Denki is loving the amount of contact. It’s not quite as great as sitting on Shinsou’s lap—a 10/10 experience, would recommend except he’s claimed Shinsou’s lap as his own personal territory so anyone else that wants to try it will have to fight him for it—but it’s nice. Denki is a very touchy person, he loves friendly(or romantic! he’d really love for it to be romantic right about now) contact.

“Hey,” Shinsou says, nudging him with his shoulder. “Do you want to listen to that album Jirou recommended the other day?” They have a group chat with Jirou, Tokoyami, and Kirishima where they recommend each other emo/alt rock/punk/etc music. Kirishima doesn’t exactly fit the vibe appearance-wise like the others, but apparently he had a very emo middle school experience. Denki doesn’t exactly look like that’s his kind of music either, but he enjoys a large variety of music, including those genres. Plus it’s fun to get to see the goth(ish) members of their class(plus Kirishima) in their natural habitat.

“Huh? I thought you’d have already listened to that by now.” With his wack ass sleep schedule Shinsou has a lot of free time to do stuff like that. He’d probably prefer to get some sleep, but unfortunately, in the words of Tokoyami, ‘the dark call of the night cannot be ignored.’

Shinsou fixes his gaze on the wall and rubs at the back of his neck. “I, um, I thought you might like to listen to it together?”

“God, could you get any more perfect?” Denki whines under his breath. He would like to listen to it together, that would be great. Shinsou is outright unfair at this point. He’s hot, he’s witty and funny, and he does shit like this.

Poor Shinsou overhears and makes a noise rather similar to that of someone choking on their tongue. “What did you say?”

Yikes, that had not been intended for him to hear. Denki waves him off with a smile. “Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself.” He looks back down at his phone and mutters “Can’t believe Midoriya managed to snatch up the ideal boyfriend in our class. That could’ve been me but noooo, I was too chicken to say anything.”

“Do you think I’m dating Midoriya?” Shinsou asks, disbelief written across his face. Damn, Denki really needs to work on talking to himself in his head instead of out loud, clearly he’s not nearly as quiet as he thinks he is. Or Shinsou just has really good hearing. There’s also the fact the purple haired boy is sitting directly next to him, zero feet away. That might have something to do with it.

Denki shrugs. “Well yeah,” he says nonchalantly, like someone that is not at all bitter that the person they have feelings for is dating someone else. “Or maybe you’re not dating yet? But you’re into him, right? And he’s probably into you.” Who wouldn’t be into Shinsou? He’s a catch.

“First of all,” the purple haired boy begins, “what about Todoroki? Him and Midoriya definitely have something going on even though they haven’t put a label on it.”

Denki shrugs. “If there’s anyone that could outcompete Todoroki, it’s you.” Todoroki is super hot but Denki would pick Shinsou over him any day. He can’t blame Midoriya for doing the same. Or wanting to do the same? He’s still not clear on whether he and Shinsou are actually a thing. There’s a solid possibility they’re not together(yet?). According to Jirou he has a tendency to ‘jump to conclusions and wallow in his emotions for no reason.’

The other boy’s cheeks turn a light pink. “You really think someone would choose me over him?”

Denki smiles. “Totally, man.” Todoroki is attractive and has his good qualities, but Shinsou…Denki is gone for him, no contest.

Shinsou closes his eyes for a moment as he shakes his head slightly. “Okay, getting off topic. Regardless of Todoroki, what makes you think I have a crush on Midoriya of all people?”

The blond gestures vaguely with his hand. “You’ve been visiting him in his room a lot lately. You don’t usually tend to spend much time in people’s rooms,” he explains. Ever since the movie night where he’d sat on Shinsou’s lap and Mina had practically exposed his crush right in front of said crush, the purple haired boy has been going into Midoriya’s room at least every few days. The only other person whose room he goes into that frequently is Denki, and Denki would know if he and Shinsou were dating. There admittedly could be other reasons for Shinsou to be visiting Midoriya, but considering Denki’s track record with romance it’s more likely the taller boy is already in love with their resident cute badass nerd. This is probably why Jirou says he jumps to conclusions.

Shinsou covers his face with his hand and groans. He drops it back in his lap and turns his shoulders to angle himself more towards Denki. “I am not dating Midoriya. I don’t have a crush on him either. I am in no way romantically interested in Midoriya.” Oh, that’s good. He can possibly compete with one of their other classmates for Shinsou’s affection, but he doesn’t stand a chance against Midoriya. Nobody does. Denki doesn’t have a thing for him, but it’s impossible not to love the curly haired boy. He’s so sweet and smart. Plus he’s cute and super ripped.

“Okay, that’s cool. Cool cool cool. Very cool.” Very smooth, Denki. That wasn’t dumb as all hell in the slightest.

“Kaminari,” Shinsou cups his cheek and turns his face towards him. Denki resists the urge to lean into the contact. Shinsou’s hand is on his face! He’s gently cupping his face. It covers practically the entire one side of his face. Denki can just barely feel the texture of the callouses the boy has from using his capture weapon. “Who’s room do I spend more time in than Midoriya’s?”

“Mine.”

“And who spends the most time in my room?” he prompts.

“Me. I’m kind of the only person that you bring into your room?” Shinsou’s room is like his sanctuary from all the chaos that compromises their class. Nobody goes in there, not for group hangouts, not to chill with the purple haired boy one on one, not to nap on the soft blanket on his bed when they’re stressed. Nobody except Denki.

Shinsou nods. “And who did I let sit on my lap for two hours? And then carry to bed?”

Denki feels his cheeks warm. He’d forgotten about how Shinsou apparently carried him all the way from the common room to his dorm. “Me.”

“Exactly.” Shinsou’s thumb strokes over his cheek. Denki’s heart might explode at any moment now. “So who do you think I have a crush on?”

Denki stares at him, waiting for him to say he’s joking or this is a prank or something. But he doesn’t. Shinsou looks serious, but his face is also…Denki doesn’t know how to describe it. He looks like he’s looking at something he cares for deeply. But the only thing he’s looking at is Denki. He’s staring at Denki and cupping his cheek. He’s directing that look at Denki.

“Me?” Denki answers tentatively. He’s so full of hope he aches with it.

Shinsou smiles. It’s a small curve of his lips but it’s so genuine and so, so beautiful. Denki treasures every time he gets to see him smile. “Yeah. It’s you,” he confirms.

Denki smiles so wide his cheeks hurt. “It’s me!” he exclaims delightedly. Shinsou likes him, Denki. The class clown. Number twenty in the class academic ranking. One of the top competitors for the title of Loudest Nuisance in the class. That shouldn’t even be possible. And yet somehow it is because Shinsou has a crush on him. He reaches up and wraps his hand around Shinsou’s wrist, reveling in the warmth of the skin under his palm. “I like you so much,” he tells the purple haired boy. “So, so much. You’re my favorite person. I’m like 95% sure I’m in love with you?” He’s not thought about it like that before, but his feelings for Shinsou are definitely much deeper than the ones he held for Jirou back in first year. “I think I’m in love with you.”

Shinsou’s smile grows a little bigger and Denki wants to kiss him so badly. “I love you too.” His low voice has never sounded better than when saying those words. Denki pinches his arm with his free hand. He doesn’t think he’s dreaming, but it doesn’t hurt to check. “What was that for?” Shinsou asks.

“Had to make sure this isn’t a dream. It seems too good to be true.” He’s wanted this for so long. He’s not even sure how long. One day he’d decided to make it his personal mission to befriend the purple haired boy that claimed he didn’t need or want friends and somewhere along the way he fell for him. He fell hard too, he has it so bad for Shinsou. It’s a bit of a miracle his friends haven’t made fun of him for it more in front of the taller boy.

The other brings up his second hand to hold the other side of Denki’s face. His hands are so large yet so gentle. He’s looking at Denki like he’s something precious, something to be treasured. Denki can’t look away from Shinsou’s face. He doesn’t know what to look at, his gaze flicking from the boy’s eyes to his lips to the barely there hint of pink on his pale cheeks. “Can I—Will you—I want a kiss,” Denki stumbles over articulating himself. “Please.”

“As you wish,” he says, and Denki falls in love with him all over again because he’s talked about how much he loves The Princess Bride on several occasions and Shinsou actually listened and remembered. He actually paid attention when Denki made him watch the movie with him. Shinsou leans down and Denki closes his eyes and then there are plush lips on his own. The kiss is only a few seconds long, Denki can feel his heart trying to crawl out his throat the entire brief time. Shinsou pulls back slowly, his eyes scanning over the blond’s face. Denki grabs him by the shirt and drags him back in immediately. This kiss is longer, a little less chaste. Denki’s heart is making a valiant effort at busting out of his rib cage. He’s so full of emotion it feels like it’s spilling out of him.

He breaks the kiss so he can move to kneel facing Shinsou rather than sit facing the same direction as him. His knees press against Shinsou’s thigh. The purple haired boy doesn’t have to lean down as much now that Denki is kneeling and the blond takes advantage of the closeness to bury his hand in lavender hair. It’s soft. Denki knows that Shinsou uses a really boring basic body wash but a really nice set of shampoo and conditioner. Their kisses grow in intensity until they start having to pull back for air. He’s not sure who starts it but tongue gets introduced to the equation at some point. This might be Denki’s new favorite pastime.

Shinsou pulls back for a moment as they catch their breath. He presses his forehead against Denki’s. The blond starts giggling for absolutely no reason. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” Denki replies, his grin splitting his face. “I’m just so happy I don’t know what to do with it all.”

Shinsou presses a kiss to the top of his head. “I’ve been thinking about doing that since movie night.”

Denki pulls him down enough that he can give him a big dramatic smooch on his forehead, Recovery Girl style. Shinsou obliges, tilting his head down so he can reach. Denki is still smiling as the other lifts his head back up. “Call me Denki?” he proposes.

The other boy threads his fingers through blond hair, the other hand shifting to wrap around Denki’s jaw. “Only if you call me Hitoshi.”

“Deal.” He pulls Hitoshi in for another kiss. And then another. And another. And another and another and—you get the picture. Eventually their lips separate for more than just a few seconds. Denki can’t take his eyes off Hitoshi’s kiss swollen lips. He slumps over and buries his face in the purple haired boy’s neck as he whines. Hitoshi should not be allowed to be this hot. It shouldn’t be legal. Yet he is this hot and Denki gets to kiss him. Denki gets to call him by his given name. “Are we boyfriends now?”

Hitoshi hums. Denki can feel it reverberate in his throat. “I like the sound of that.” Hitoshi’s hand pets his hair. “My boyfriend.” Wow, Denki knew he liked the idea but hearing ‘my boyfriend’ in Hitoshi’s voice really hammers the point home. Denki presses a kiss to the other’s neck. It’s right there after all. The purple haired boy tightens his grip on the blond’s hair and uses it to pull Denki away from his neck and back up to where he can shove their lips together again. It’s not exactly a rough motion, but the blond enjoys the little bit of forcefulness in it and thinks he wouldn’t mind it being a little rougher. Another thing to be explored at a later date. Hitoshi guides the angle of their kiss with the hand he has on Denki’s jaw. Denki finds he likes that too. The purple haired teen nips at his bottom lip and Denki breaks the kiss as a little noise escapes his throat. It’s a very undignified noise but the embarrassment is almost completely overturned by the hungry way Hitoshi looks at him for it.

“How are you so good at this?” Denki demands. This isn’t the blond’s first kiss, but it’s certainly been the best. Whether that’s because of how happy he is that it’s Hitoshi he’s kissing or because of the actual skill level involved, he has no idea. He’s leaning toward both. His first kiss was Sero because they’d both never been kissed before and they wanted to change that, what are bros for after all? It’d been fun, though admittedly a mess when they attempted to make out. Neither of them knew what they were doing and there was definitely too much saliva involved. He’d gone on a date with Tsunotori Pony from 1-B back near the end of their first year and gotten a nice kiss from it, but they’d both determined they were better off as English buddies than love interests. One time he’d kissed Mina during a game of spin the bottle, but that was basically her giving him a giant wet smooch on the lips, complete with dramatic lip smacking noise. Not exactly an actual kiss involving any effort towards skill. Uraraka pecked him on the cheek during the same game, but that wasn’t a real kiss either.

Hitoshi shrugs. “I’ve thought about it a lot, I guess.”

Denki looks at him doubtfully. “That is definitely not how this works or you wouldn’t hear so many stories about bad first times.”

The purple haired boy raises both eyebrows. “We just had our first kiss and you’re already thinking about a first time?”

The blond laughs, “First kiss, first time, close enough for the comparison. Besides,” he gives him a cheeky smile, “you already have me in your bed, don’t you?”

Hitoshi covers his face with both hands and makes an adorable embarrassed noise. The tips of his ears are the slightest bit pink and Denki finds himself grateful the way the teen wears his purple hair leaves his ears exposed so the blond can see every time he manages to make him blush a little. Hitoshi lowers his hands and shoots him a halfhearted glare. “You’re a menace to society.”

“I’m your menace to society now, babe.”

Hitoshi’s lips curl into a pleased smile. “Yeah. You are.”

Now it’s Denki’s turn to hide his face, which he chooses to do by burying it in his boyfriend’s neck. What else is he supposed to do in the face of such honest affection? After a moment to recover from that he decides to take advantage of his position to bite Hitoshi’s neck. Not even in a sexy way, just a gentle chomp.

His boyfriend yanks him off his neck by the hair, coincidentally confirming for Denki that he definitely doesn’t mind being dragged around by his hair. Hopefully he’ll get to test that stuff now that he has a boyfriend. The fact that said boyfriend is Hitoshi makes it infinitely better. “What the actual fuck was that for?”

“Fun,” Denki replies. “Satisfaction. You ever just get the urge to just. Bite. Or is that just me?”

Hitoshi’s face is amused as he says “I think that’s just you. Might be a sensory thing. Cause of the ADHD.”

The blond nods. “When in doubt, blame it on the ADHD. My life’s motto.” He pokes at the slight red mark he left behind on Hitoshi’s skin. “Dude, hickeys are going to be so visible on you. I know neither of us are very dark skinned, but like, you’re pale as fuck.”

He touches the spot on his neck where Denki bit him. “A little presumptuous, aren’t you? Who says there’ll be hickeys involved in the near future?”

Denki grins. “Hitoshi, I’ll put it simply for you: you are hot as fuck and I’ve been both pining and thirsting after you for months. I am going to jump your bones as often as humanly possible.” He pauses. “Unless you’re not into that type of thing, which is fine. We don’t have to do anything like that. Being ace is totally chill. You don’t need to do anything you’re uncomfortable with–”

“Denki,” Hitoshi interrupts, “let’s get this out of the way now. I am very interested in that type of thing.” Then he smirks and Denki could write odes about what that wolfish expression does to him. “And if you plan on leaving me covered in hickeys, it’s only fair that I return the favor. And if you don’t bruise as easily…” he places a hand on the side of Denki’s neck, his thumb stroking over his Adam's apple. “Then I suppose I’ll just have to bite harder, won’t I?”

Denki’s jaw drops and his cheeks flush as he stares at Hitoshi with wide eyes. Holy shit. As seconds pass and the blond still doesn’t recover his ability to speak, the purple haired teen’s smirk grows in satisfaction. “I–who gave you the right to be so damn smooth?” Denki demands, his voice only a little breathy and weak. He’s supposed to be the flirt here, if Hitoshi starts pulling this type of shit on him regularly he’s going to accidentally blow out a fuse or something. Not only does he have a boyfriend, his boyfriend is hot. Like so hot. Denki would even go so far as to say sexy. Yeah, sexy is definitely an accurate descriptor.

Hitoshi chuckles. “Instead of wasting my charisma points on hitting on random students in the other hero class I save mine for moments like this.”

“For moments like this: hitting on a student in your own hero class.”

“For flustering my boyfriend,” Hitoshi corrects. Denki doesn’t know if he’s got butterflies in his stomach or something but he feels very fluttery. And still a little flustered. Hitoshi’s line about hickeys and biting harder had been like an ounce of innuendo away from knocking Denki the fuck out, one hit K.O. style.

“Oh my god, I’m your boyfriend,” Denki says dumbly, the fact smacking him over the head all over again. He is so lucky.

Hitoshi smiles at him and nods, wearing that look on his face he dons whenever Denki does something dumb yet cute. The fact that Hitoshi has a look for that probably should have clued Denki in that it wasn’t Midoriya he had feelings for. “You are my boyfriend,” he confirms.

Denki grabs Hitoshi’s face in both hands, squishing his cheeks slightly. The sight is a little comical. “You are my boyfriend. I am your boyfriend. We’re dating. This is fucking amazing.”

The purple haired teen laughs. If Denki could bottle up that sound and wear it on a chain around his neck he would. It’s lovely. Hearing it never fails to make his chest feel warm. Being able to make Hitoshi laugh honestly ranks up there with his top achievements like getting into UA. Hitoshi takes his wrists in hand and pulls his hands off his face. He moves them so he can kiss the knuckles of one hand, then the palm of the other. Denki feels himself melt into a puddle of love-stricken fool.

“I love you,” he blurts out. Again.

“Then it’s a good thing I love you too,” Hitoshi replies before pulling him into another kiss. Denki’s smile is so wide he almost can’t return the kiss, but somehow he manages, happiness coursing through him like electricity whenever he discharges his quirk.

The snacks on the desk remain untouched the rest of the night. The last thing Denki remembers is lying down next to Hitoshi, wrapped around the taller boy like an octopus missing a few limbs or a Koala with really long limbs. There are giggles–Denki–and small, quiet smiles–Hitoshi–as they talk. Every so often the fact that he’s cuddling with Hitoshi, who’s his boyfriend now, hits him and he exercises his newly awarded right to attack the other with kisses. To his face, his lips, his calloused yet gorgeous hands. Hitoshi is very comfortable to cuddle with. Oh man, Denki is going to claim Hitoshi’s lap as his spot during movie night from now on until forever.

Denki doesn’t even notice how close he is to falling asleep until he wakes up to the sound of Hitoshi’s alarm going off. He grabs the other boy’s phone and turns the horrid beeping off. Lying tangled with him under the blanket is his boyfriend. The thought brings a smile to his face. As loathe as Denki is to wake the purple haired teen when he struggles so greatly to get a decent amount of sleep, he does not want to have to try to explain to Aizawa why he and the man’s not-actually-adopted-but-might-as-well-be son are both late to class.

Still, he can’t help but hesitate a moment before rousing the sleeping teen. He looks lighter when asleep, like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders. Denki’s gaze trails over Hitoshi’s face, taking in his features. The blond knows the other is handsome, has known since the first time he laid eyes on him, even going so far as to make a comment about the purple haired teen being popular with girls, but it’s something different to see those features relaxed and peaceful around him. Trusting. He has a strong jaw and well defined cheekbones, but Denki’s favorite part of his face is definitely his eyes. They’re such a pretty color and the blond has never met anyone else with white pupils. And with the eyes come the eyebrows, which are a key part of how Hitoshi expresses himself. He’s very skilled at conveying specific sentiments with them, such as ‘are you genuinely considering doing that? really?’ and ‘I think the fuck not.’ Like all of his hair—and Denki does mean all, he’s seen Hitoshi shirtless and the boy’s happy trail is purple—the eyelashes resting on his cheeks are purple. The boy’s ever-present eye bags are still noticeable, a part of his boyfriend’s appearance that Denki has long since grown accustomed to. He actually makes perpetual sleep deprivation look hot. Like, under eye bags aren’t attractive in and of themselves, but Hitoshi pulls it off. It shouldn’t work, but it does and Denki has given up on pretending otherwise. They’re just one more feature on a face he adores.

“Hitoshi,” he says quietly, shaking the boy’s shoulder gently. “Wake up. We have class.”

The other’s eyes flutter open and he looks at Denki with an adorably confused look on his face. The blond can’t resist pressing a soft kiss to his lips. “You gotta get up, Toshi. Your alarm went off.” Hitoshi groans and pulls him closer, burying his face in his hair. Denki laughs. “Mood. I need to go back to my room to get dressed though and you need to get up and get ready for class.”

Hitoshi groans again but pushes himself up into a sitting position. Denki follows suit. The purple haired boy looks rather disgruntled. It’s criminally cute. Maybe that’s why he has such bad insomnia, the universe knew it couldn’t let there be daily opportunities to see such a sight. Hitoshi lets out a huge yawn then says “Fuck. That’s the first time I’ve gotten more than two hours of sleep in a row in ages. I got at least three, maybe four.”

“Glad to be of assistance, babe.” Hitoshi flicks him, fondness seeping out in the way he lightly brushes his fingertips over the spot as he pulls his hand away, then kisses him. Denki could not care less about morning breath at the moment. He grumbles when the taller boy pulls away and stands up.

“You know we can kiss when we’re not in my bed, right?” Hitoshi points out.

Denki clambers out of bed grinning. “Why didn’t you say that sooner?” The purple haired boy allows him one more kiss before pushing him out the door, agreeing to give him another kiss when they’re both down in the kitchen for breakfast, preferably in front of Bakugou, notorious PDA hater. Denki makes his way to the elevator with a skip in his step. Nothing can bring down his good mood today. Not even math class or the art history assignment that's due first period that he only completed half of. Hitoshi is his boyfriend! That's hella sick. His skin is clear, his crops are thriving. He's so damn lucky.

Chapter Text

Coming back from patrol at just past 3am to find Shinsou sitting in the dorm common room is not rare. In fact Shouta would estimate Shinsou is down there more nights than he isn’t. The teen has the most persistent insomnia he’s ever seen(even worse than Nemuri. it’s rather ironic that someone with a quirk that puts people to sleep has trouble sleeping themself. luckily it usually only approaches Shinsou’s level of severity when she’s highly stressed). Shouta’s not sure Shinsou even gets any sleep on the nights he doesn’t spend down in the common room, there’s a very real possibility he’s awake most nights and merely doesn’t always choose to leave his room. He’s often reading(using a small table lamp) or scrolling on his phone(the screen of which is so dark Shouta recognizes it as one of the settings from the app he uses to make his own screen dimmer than his phone’s lowest setting. just one more thing he has in common with the kid. Hizashi swears Shinsou is a purple clone of him and sometimes Shouta has to admit he has a point) as he lies on the couch or curls up on one of the arm chairs.

It’s not entirely uncommon for there to be another student there with him. He’s not the only student that has trouble sleeping, though he’s the only one with chronic insomnia. Aoyama has trouble staying asleep so usually once or twice a week he wakes up in the middle of the night and comes down to the kitchen for a snack. Whenever something traumatic happens to their class, his friends, or himself–which is far too often–Sero avoids sleeping for the next few nights in an effort to avoid the nightmares waiting for him. Asui regularly has nightmares, but doesn’t usually leave her room when they wake her up, and when she does she doesn’t linger downstairs for long, getting a glass of water and heading back to bed to attempt to fall asleep once more. Based on a few comments he’s overheard, he's fairly certain Kaminari doesn’t need as much sleep as the average person. From what Shouta understands his body doesn’t need as much resting time since his quirk helps replenish his energy while he sleeps, but it does still need some, as does his mind. Kaminari is almost never down in the common room when Shouta returns from patrol however since he gets his sleep in during the second half of the night, meaning he goes to bed shortly before Shouta’s patrol ends.

Tonight Shinsou is in the common room. There is no book in his hand, but he does have company. When Shouta spots blond hair on the couch he automatically assumes Aoyama is sitting with him as he eats his snack, but he realizes quickly that the voice is wrong. It’s distinctly lacking a French accent, for one. It seems Kaminari is the blond talking to Shinsou. Usually Shinsou notices his presence shortly after he enters the dorm, a combination of good situational awareness and knowing what time Shouta gets back around, but tonight he doesn’t even look up. Shouta waits near the door a bit longer than normal to see if he will, but Shinsou’s attention is too firmly captured by Kaminari, his head doesn’t turn.

Shouta makes his way towards the kitchen. He skipped dinner before heading out for his patrol shift and Hizashi would have his head if he didn’t eat something now to make up for it. Surprisingly it’s Kaminari that notices him passing by behind the couch the two are sitting on.

“Aizawa-sensei?” he calls curiously, voice just a little too loud for the time of night.

“Kaminari,” he replies in acknowledgment. His gaze flicks over to Shinsou, who is now facing him as well. “Shinsou.” He continues on his path to the kitchen. As he retrieves some leftovers from the fridge Kaminari’s chatter starts back up. He seems to be talking about a video game of some kind. Shouta tunes him out. He would typically get food from his own fridge in the apartment he lives in within the teacher dorms, but neither he nor Hizashi have cooked anything lately and there are still leftovers up for grabs from that evening’s class dinner. He debates just eating the food cold, but he’s already down here in the kitchen and the leftovers would admittedly be much better reheated. He warms them up in the microwave, carefully stopping it before the timer runs out. He listens for any indication that his 3-something-am microwave usage disturbed anyone’s sleep. There’s nothing. It’s quiet in the kitchen. Almost too quiet.

He quickly moves to the doorway to peer into the common room. Either Kaminari went back upstairs or he’s currently silent, and a silent Kaminari is never a good thing for Shouta’s sanity. To his surprise, the blond is neither upstairs nor is he silent. He’s talking quietly—something Shouta had thought him physically incapable of until this moment—to Shinsou, who is slumped over against Kaminari’s shoulder, his legs tucked up on the couch. The purple haired boy’s eyes are half open and he’s clearly close to falling asleep as the other boy gently runs his fingers through his hair. Kaminari’s rambling words—something about mountain lions or some other large feline—slowly trail off.

He hasn’t been silent for more than a few seconds before Shinsou blinks some awareness back into his eyes and there’s a confused “Denki? Is something wrong?”

“No, Toshi, everything’s fine. I just wanted to let you fall asleep.” The blond tenderly brushes a stray strand of hair behind the other’s ear. His voice is so full of love Shouta can’t find it in himself to mentally make fun of how sappy it is like he typically would with any display of affection that comes within ten feet of him.

“I like listening to you talk,” Shinsou mumbles just barely loud enough for Shouta to hear. “Your voice is nice. And I like hearing what you have to say.”

Kaminari’s lips curve into a small smile. “I have a lot to say, Toshi, most of it dumb.”

“You’re not as dumb as you think you are, you know. But I want to hear all of it, even the dumb stuff.” He leans a little further into Kaminari’s neck. The blond buries a hand in his thick purple hair, cradling his head against him. The look on his face is…enamored. That is the expression Shouta wakes up to when he falls asleep on Hizashi’s lap. “Keep talking?” Shinsou requests. “Please?”

“Of course,” Kaminari agrees. He continues where he apparently left off in his commentary on how mountain lions are called lions when they don’t have manes and “really, Toshi, they’re more similar to cheetahs so if anything they should be mountain cheetahs.”

Shouta heads back over to where he left his food inside the microwave and pulls it out. He normally prefers not to listen in on students’ conversations, it is both a violation of privacy and a surefire way to hear things he does not want to know, but he hadn’t been able to resist taking a moment to appreciate how much love Kaminari holds for the boy Shouta has come to care for as a son. Kaminari Denki is dramatic, silly, loud, and not always the quickest on the uptake. He is also kind, charismatic, funny, and more thoughtful than people give him credit for. He is completely head over heels in love with Shouta’s son. From what Shouta saw in his brief glimpse of how they interacted with one another, the feeling is fully reciprocated. Shinsou wouldn’t tell someone to keep talking because he liked when they did unless he meant it. He wouldn’t be so comfortable sharing personal space with them either. Shouta knew they were dating, his class is full of gossip mongers and new relationships are the ideal news to share, but he hasn’t seen much of it for himself. In class the two keep the physical affection low, Kaminari clinging to Shinsou barely more than he does with his other friends. Kaminari still flirts with practically everything that moves, including the purple haired boy, who occasionally responds in kind, making the blond blush every time he does so. Their relationship isn’t subtle, but it isn’t quite as in your face as the feelings of some of their peers.

He finishes the last of the food in the container and rinses the empty plastic dish in the sink, leaving it there to be included the next time someone runs the dishwasher. He leaves the kitchen, taking care to make his presence noticeable without startling the teens on the couch. Kaminari is no longer talking, content to sit in silence as his thumb softly rubs Shinsou’s cheek where it reaches the edge of his face from how he has the purple haired boy’s head cradled against his neck and shoulder. Shinsou appears to be asleep.

“Thank you,” Shouta says quietly, not wanting to wake up the sleeping teen, “for taking care of him.”

Kaminari shrugs as best he can with the shoulder that isn’t occupied by Shinsou. “He takes care of me too. It’s the least I can do.”

“I’m glad he has someone like you to love him,” the man adds. He hadn’t entirely planned on saying it but the words slip past his lips anyway.

The blond looks up at him, features colored with surprise. He likely hadn’t expected to hear such a thing from Shouta. He glances down at the purple haired boy sleeping on his shoulder. “I’m glad he lets me love him.”

Shouta can’t hold back a small huff of amusement. That’s how he knows he really needs to get some sleep. “He doesn’t just let you love him and you know it. He loves you.” Shouta hadn’t previously given it much thought beyond the amusing parallel between the two and himself and Hizashi, but after seeing that quiet moment between them he considered what he knew of their relationship and came to the conclusion that Shinsou cares for the blond just as much as the boy does for him.

“Yeah,” Kaminari says, still looking at Shinsou with a soft smile on his face. “He does. He really does.”

Shouta doesn’t bother with giving a shovel talk. It’s clear Kaminari would never intentionally hurt his son. That type of thing would be more effective if done when Shouta wasn’t dead on his feet and Kaminari wasn’t actively holding Shinsou anyway.

“Are you normally awake at this time of night?” Once again there’s barely any time between the thought occurring to Shouta and him voicing it. He needs to sleep. Normally his filter is much better than this.

Kaminari makes a so-so gesture with his free hand. “Recently I am. I’m still getting used to it. Normally I go to bed at like 1:30, 2:30am cause I don’t need more than like four or five hours of sleep.” That’s confirmation of what Shouta had heard about the boy needing less sleep than everyone else. “Recently I’ve started going to bed around eleven so I can wake up at 3:30ish and come down here to keep him company. I didn’t want to become an old man like Bakugou and go to bed at eight cause I like hanging out with my friends. This way I can still spend some time with them before bed but also spend a few hours with Hitoshi.” He runs his fingers through the other boy’s hair, careful to avoid pulling at any tangles. “I know he’s a big ol’ introvert, but he’s down here all by himself everyday and there’s nobody else up regularly this late to be here with him. It seems lonely, you know? So I asked if he’d mind if I kept him company.” ‘And he said yes’ goes unsaid.

Shinsou really found the perfect person for him. It’s not common to find people with insomnia as severe as Shinsou’s, but he found Kaminari—or maybe Kaminari found him, the blond seemed to decide he wanted to be friends the second he met Shinsou during the joint training with class 1-B—who doesn’t need as much sleep as the typical person and didn’t think twice about shifting his sleep schedule around so Shinsou wouldn’t have to be alone. The purple haired teen has dealt with far too many people that refused to give him even the most basic decency, it’s nice to see someone go beyond treating him kindly to treating him lovingly.

“As long as you’re getting enough sleep,” is all Shouta says in response.

“I knowwww, dad, geez.” Shouta’s heartbeat stumbles over itself in the manner it is wont to do whenever one of his students calls him that. They mostly do it as a joke but the truth of the matter is that these kids have wormed their way deeper into his heart than anyone other than Hizashi has in years. And when it comes to Kaminari he must admit that he’s half tempted to give into Hizashi’s challenge of a bet on how long it will take for one of the two to propose and an additional bet on who it will be that pops the question. Hizashi has 2000 yen on Kaminari proposing two and a half years after high school, at which point they will both be somewhat settled into being pros and likely have lived together for over a year(Shouta suspects it’s because Hizashi himself was the one to propose to Shouta, although that was almost a decade after high school). He dragged Nemuri into the bet and she put money on it being Shinsou a year and a half or so after graduation. Shouta refuses to take part in such speculation about his son’s romantic life, but if he were to make a bet it would be on Kaminari buying a ring a year out from high school and saving it for when he feels they’re at the right place in their lives for a proposal only for Shinsou to buy a ring about six months to a year after him and propose first.

Rolling his eyes at Kaminari’s teenage dramatics, Shouta walks off without a goodbye. He doesn’t feel the need for one and his students are very used to his disregard of polite greetings and farewells. He heads to the dorm apartment he shares with Hizashi, eager to finally collapse into bed. He’ll tell his husband about what he overheard and his conversation with Kaminari in the morning. No doubt he’ll have to erase his quirk to prevent him from accidentally waking Eri. Hizashi is a romantic and Kaminari shifting his sleep schedule to keep Shinsou company and quietly rambling about mountain lions until his boyfriend fell asleep will absolutely make him melt. If Shinsou has any sense he’ll keep the electric quirked boy by his side. Kaminari isn’t the best student, but Shouta has long acknowledged his role in keeping the class bonded together and he supposes he could get used to the idea of having an extra loud blond at the dinner table on holidays.