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Being high school sweethearts meant Kaminari had learned every detail about Jirou, even ones she wasn’t completely aware of herself, like how the shine from the snow that get stuck in her eyelashes is more beautiful to him than anything else, or how in her chest resides a rhythm he can never get enough of. It shocked her when he said he wanted to go to university before joining a hero agency, but after having double majored in English literature and electrical engineering she realized she didn’t mind listening to him ramble on about Steinbeck and Shelley while he worked on their apartment’s old power box. But having been absent for her first four years at the hero agency, he realized he’d missed out on some important facts about the girl he loved.
The smoke, thick and unyielding, climbed higher and higher into the pitch black sky, but everything was winding down as the people were evacuated from the building. Had their agency been called a few minutes later the chances the other tenants had at survival would’ve been slashed from 85% to 3%. It wasn’t a villain who’d attacked per say, but a man who lashed out at his wife, and out of self-defense she started to breathe a fire that took the rest of the building with it. Sobbing she called their agency by mistake, but with the help of Deku and Shouto, who arrived on the scene by mere chance, everyone made it out mostly okay. Chargebolt and Earphone Jack were more or less left standing there twiddling their thumbs.
“We’re glad you showed two up, Midoriya, how have you been?” Kaminari asked.
Midoriya coughed a little bit and brushed off the soot on his shoulder, “I’ve been pretty good! It does get around to be a bit much though, y’know what I mean?”
“Yeah, totally,” they weren’t as famous as Deku, Creati, or Shouto, but due to being the only openly confirmed couple from their graduating year, Chargebolt and Earphone Jack received more attention than either of them really wanted. The amount of times he’s seen a camera flash in the corner of his eye while he had his arm around her shoulders was reaching a serious limit.
In the corner of his eye Kaminari could see fire trucks rolling in as they unraveled the fire hoses and started their assault on the flames. He let out a sigh of relief as others with water manipulating quirks started to drench the fires much more efficiently. He was happy he lived in a world of superheroes.
“Say, where’s Jirou? I want to congratulate her on the new album she just put out, it’s very good!” Midoriya looked over Kaminari’s shoulder.
“Over there,” Todoroki came up to the pair and pointed to Kaminari’s girlfriend.
He didn’t know where she got it from, but she was singing softly to a set of triplets while strumming along with an acoustic guitar. Kaminari had to stop himself from letting his jaw drop, but something about the sight stirred a sense of awe in him.
Then he remembered. The culture festival.
She played like she never had doubts about it ever in her life, and the trio of children, with faces marked by ash and little bodies covered by a thick shock blanket, were spellbound, like their home hadn’t just gone up in flames.
“She’s good at what she does,” Shouto commented, “those three were inconsolable until she got there.”
“Huh.”
“Is this the first time you’re seeing this, Kaminari? You did start on the hero path somewhat late relative to the rest of us,” Midoriya commented.
“Yeah,” Kaminari’s voice drifted off as he started walking towards her. Every step felt unusually light as he moved, and when he was by her side he found his voice got stuck in his throat. He didn’t want to interrupt her. It wasn’t as if he’d never heard her play before, in fact he more often than not has the privilege of a show all to himself if he goaded her enough for it, but this was so different from that. It was where she was supposed to be, and as much as he doesn’t regret going to school, part of him was kicking himself for missing out on such a wondrous performance. Then he felt a hand gripping his.
“Do you you like her song, sir?” one of them asked. He came back to reality and smiled. He sat next to the kid and watched her expert hands pluck away at the strings.
“Yeah, I do. She’s fantastic.”
He wasn’t looking at the time, but a small smile had formed on her lips.