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Kaminari Denki was your typical class clown. He made jokes in the middle of class, always seemed to know how to lighten the mood, and was constantly perceived as stupid. Fun fact, he was indeed not. While he may not be the best at math, or science, he did exceptionally well with history, and was multilingual. It was not a common fact, just that he was raised in a household of many cultures, which meant many languages and many different histories to learn.
The first time Kaminari demonstrated his language skills was in their English class. Class 1-A had just received their first tests of the year back. Many groaned and complained about their scores, Kaminari looked quite pleased with his. “Oi, dunce face, whaddya score?” Bakugou laughed from the seat behind him.
Kaminari smiled brightly and shook his paper, “aced it!” he exclaimed.
Bakugou released numerous blasts from his palms and immediately went to investigate. He was very surprised to find out that Kaminari had indeed passed with a perfect 100 on their first test. “Holy shit…” he silently whispered to himself.
If the rest of the class didn’t know about his score, that was just Kaminari’s business.
The next time someone was surprised by Kaminari’s knowledge in language, was when they were watching a movie. Class 1-A had been watching a movie in English to hopefully help them understand the language better. Present Mic would be so proud.
Ashido had been sitting next to Kaminari when she leaned over. “I can’t understand a single word!” she whispered to him.
Kaminari looked at her funny, then, “well right now they two main characters are arguing over who stole the diamond.” he helpfully supplied.
Ashido blinked. “You’re able to follow what they’re saying?” she asked.
Kaminari just smiled and nodded.
Ashido sat next to Kaminari whenever they watched foreign language movies from then on out.
The third time it happened Kaminari was writing an essay for Aizawa’s class. The assignment had been to compose an essay about a foreign hero, and what you had in common. Kaminari decided he would choose a hero from over in Russia. He wrote the entire essay in Russian.
When the paper’s were turned in, Aizawa fully believed Kaminari had given him chicken scratch at first, but then decided that he probably wrote in a different language. He was right. Upon reading the essay, Aizawa found that Kaminari had chosen the hero because the hero was able to speak four different languages.
Aizawa had to run the essay through google translate just to read it, but he was proud of his student. Not that he would admit that to anyone else that is…
The fourth time that Kaminari was caught knowing a foreign language was when Todoroki had approached him. Kaminari had been using Spanish to create prank war ideas, and was certain that no one in the class knew Spanish.
Todoroki had approached him from behind and stared at the paper. “What would you need so many bottles of shaving cream for?” he asked, tilting his head.
Kaminari flinched and spun around to see Todoroki. Kaminari smiled and ran a hand through his hair. “Ah-well… You know… Stuff. I didn’t know you knew Spanish Todoroki!” he changed the subject quickly.
Todoroki nodded simply. “My father made me learn it at some point… For whatever reason, I wasn’t listening to him.”
Kaminari stifled a laugh at that. “So, do you know any other languages then?” Kaminari asked.
Todoroki shook his head. “While I am currently learning English, along with the rest of the class, I just know Japanese and Spanish.”
Kaminari nodded. Perhaps he should just use Russian as his primary way of writing things, he decided later on.
The fifth time was when Kaminari was hanging out with the self dubbed ‘bakusquad.’ Koda had rushed into the room frantically moving his hands in the air. Kaminari recognized this as JSL, and while not fluent, knew enough to hold a conversation. “Hey, Kouda, you’re gonna have to sign a little slower for me to understand.” he smiled at his classmate.
Kouda nodded thankfully at Kaminari and moved his hands slower. Kaminari just nodded. “Hey guys, Kouda lost his bunny, did any of you see it?” he asked the room.
“Yeah, I think Jirou was feeding it a carrot in the kitchen.” Ashido answered.
Kouda moved his hands once again and left for the kitchen.
“What did he say?” Sero asked from the ground.
“Oh, he said thank you.” Kaminari replied.
Sero blinked at this. “Dude… You understand Kouda?”
Kaminari just shrugged. “It’s something I picked up, my older sister is mute because of her quirk, so we needed a way to communicate with her.” he smiled fondly.
Sero nodded while looking slightly impressed.
The final time that it happened, Kaminari had been approached by Midoriya. “Hey Denki, I need help on this English assignment. I can’t understand it for the life of me.” he complained sitting down on the couch next to him.
Kaminari looked at the paper. “You’re using the wrong their Izuku, it should be there if it’s asking about a place.” he responded almost immediately.
Midoriya thanked him and replaced the word. That got a few reactions from the other people in the common room. “Midori, are you sure you should ask Kaminari for help on that?” came a laugh from Jirou, who was getting help from Yaoyorozu.
Midoriya looked up confused. “Denki is fluent in five different languages…” he responded.
The class went into an immediate riot. “WHAT!” was collectively shouted across the room.
“Dude, five different languages?” Kirishima echoed from his spot next to Bakugou.
Suddenly realization sparked in a few classmates. “That’s why you were able to understand Kouda!” Sero shouted.
“Oh yeah! Like how you can understand all the English movies we watch too!”
“Dunce face is top of our class in English, how did you all not know that?” Bakugou growled.
“You also seem to plan some devious thing in Spanish Kaminari.” Todoroki reminded him.
That got a few odd looks from his classmates. He just shrugged. “I grew up in a very diverse, and big, household. Everyone had a different background and we all just had to learn in order to communicate. We also traveled a lot when I was younger so knowing different languages came in handy.”
That’s when the questions flowed in. “What languages do you know?”
“What one was the hardest to learn?”
“How come you’ve never said anything before?”
“Can you please help me out on the homework?”
Midoriya sighed and laughed a little. “You guys can’t bug Denki like that, he knows multiple languages, not how to give multiple answers at once.”
A few sorry’s were spoken from the group.
Present Mic was very happy to find out class 1-A had almost all passed with flying colors on the next test. Except for Mineta, of course.
