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Shinsou had never thought of himself as someone who needed others. That was the one of the few truths he could rely on, especially when everything else in the world seemed as if it was personally against him.
His parents had abandoned him to the foster care system after his quirk had manifested. It was different from both of his parents and in his nightmares he could almost still hear the shouting, the screaming, of bottles crashing against the wall inches from his head. His father was always shapeless blur, never around enough for there to even be a vague memory yet the piercing words still continued to echo within his mind.
He learned what infidelity was when he was five years old.
If he had to be asked, Shinsou believed that his life must have truly begun during the sports festival. He was doing damn good, and his declaration of war to class 1-A was holding up fine. He wasn’t excelling at the first two events, but he was getting by fine . He already knew that those weren’t the events he was looking forward to anyways, he knew that he just had to last till the single matches and then he could show off what he was capable of, he could show U.A. that their entrance exam was a biased load of shit and that they had missed one, they had missed someone who was going to become a hero one day.
And then he met Izuku Midoriya.
He stood there, on the other side of the ring looking so small, so unconfident but Shinsou simply narrowed his eyes at him. He had to have already known about his quirk, there was no way that the monkey man in his class didn’t tell him. He would need to play dirty if he wanted to win, he would need to use his snark in order to get him to just respond, even just a small noise could work.
“This is a fight to test the strength of your spirit, if you know what you want for your future-” He could hear Present Mic over the speakers announce that the match had officially started, “but don’t you think he was dumb for throwing away his chance?”
Midoriya took the bait, of course he did. “What did you sa-” He was cut off as Shinsou activated his own quirk. Shinsou couldn’t help but smirk, internally preening. If he could finish this match quickly it would look better for him, he would be able to at least advance to the next stage and have a much higher chance of being noticed by the faculty of the school, and then he could be transferred into the hero department.
“You’re lucky that you’ve been blessed, Izuku Midoriya.” He couldn’t help but feel a slight anger at the green haired stranger in front of him. He scrunched his nose up slightly, thinking about the other boy's extreme power up quirk. “ Turn around and walk out of bounds.” Of course, there wasn’t anything that the other boy could do. It was over the second he opened his mouth.
Or at least it was supposed to be, but how could Shinsou have possibly factored in that he would willingly break his own fingers just to free himself? In a fight of purely physical power alone Shinsou knew, damn it he knew that he would lose. The small amount of defense training the general studies course did couldn’t possibly prepare him for a full on fist fight.
As he lay on the ground barely outside of the lines that marked the boundary, he couldn’t help but think that he should have just ordered him to say the simple words, ‘I quit’ instead.
“Shinsou Hitoshi from class 1-C, please come to the faculty lounge. I repeat, Shinsou Hitoshi from class 1-C, please come to the faculty lounge.” Shinsou and many of his classmates looked up at the speakers in the classroom in confusion. He had been keeping a rather low profile since the sports festival mess and he didn’t think he had done anything to warrant being called into to talk to some of the teachers.
He shot a look over to his usual teacher, who simply nodded towards a door, a small knowing smile on her face causing Shinsou to just frown even more in confusion. He didn’t like being kept out of the loop on things, especially if those things involved himself. He stood up, walking out of his classroom and towards the lounge, curious as hell to what he could possibly be getting called in for, but his face didn’t betray any of his own nervousness.
He knocked twice on the door and stepped back, waiting. He wasn’t expecting to see Aizawa standing on the other side, looking extremely bored at the entire situation.
“You called for me?” Shinsou asked before panicking slightly, “Uh, sir.” He finished lamely, not exactly sure on how he should refer to the pro hero in front of him, especially his favorite pro hero.
Aizawa gestured for Shinsou to follow him into the lounge, the only other person in the room was Present Mic, who was looking entirely too amused by the entire situation. “I wanted to talk to you sooner, but there just never was a chance.” Aizawa began, though Shinsou swore he could hear the older man mutter something about ‘problem children’ under breath, causing him to believe it must be something 1-A related that caused the delay.
“I’m going to be honest, I’m a little confused right now.” Shinsou stated, eyes continuing to dart between the two pro heroes as he tried to search his brain for any clues of what could have given him this moment.
Aizawa sighed, looking annoyed which alarmed Shinsou slightly. He could feel his anxieties filling his head quickly, ‘I’m being annoying, I’m wasting his time and he’s going to send me back to class without telling me whatever it was that he called me in for. I’m going to mess this up like I messed up the sports festival. I’m-’
“I want you to train under me.”
Shinsou’s thoughts came to a screeching halt, his brain working overtime to understand what he had just been offered, He couldn’t but utter out a small, “what?” his brain now working overtime.
“I don’t like to repeat myself, and if you aren’t interested you just have to tell me. I understand that general studies classes are more difficult in terms of course work, and I can understand if you don’t want to take on the extra burden; but,” Aizawa let a smirk slide across his face, continuing to stare at the frozen boy in front of him, “you’re little declaration of war at the sports festival led me to believe you wouldn’t turn me down. It’s simply the most logical offer.”
A flurry of emotions flashed across Shinsou’s normally emotionless face. He took his time with processing the offer, noticing that the two pro heroes must have planned for him to think about it as they turned away from Shinsou to talk quietly amongst themselves, something Shinsou didn’t even realize the blonde hero could do.
He bit his lip, not wanting to interrupt but he needed to ask, “Are you sure you want me? I lost at the sports festival.” The defeat was something of a sore spot for the boy, who still regretted his actions from that even now, weeks later.
“If I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t have reached out to you. You have great potential, and I can see the beginnings of what it takes to be a hero growing within you. Now that talent needs to be nurtured, or else you won't see any growth.” Aizawa sighed and looked over at Present Mic, who nodded his head. “You’re being suffocated in general studies, but you’re not at the right stage where you can compete with the first years in the hero class.”
Shinsou had never felt so small before, especially considering he was quite tall for his age. He had never had someone who truly believed in him, never had someone tell him that they too believed he could be a hero, and not fated to turn into some second rate villain due to his quirk.
“I’ll do it.” Shinsou stood up properly, drawing himself to his full height and looking Aizawa in the eyes. He wanted nothing more than to show his convection, to show that Aizawa would not regret taking a chance on him.
Aizawa smiled almost wildly as Present Mic let out a loud screech. “It’s not going to be easy. You’re going to be whipped into shape every night, to the point where you will be able to stand on the same playing field of my students. I have high expectations for you.”
Shinsou felt alight with ecstasy.
Aizawa wasn’t lying.
The next few weeks were absolutely brutal. There was so much for Shinsou to learn in such a short amount of time, and on top of his nightly hero training he still had his daytime classes to attend. He had never been one to sleep too long anyways, but his body was seemingly working overtime to try and compensate for the new change in routine.
The only saving grace of the whole affair (other than the changes in his body’s looks. He had definitely filled out much more within the short amount of time, and the changes were quite noticeable) was that Shinsou didn’t have to return back to the care home as soon as classes ended. He had a reason for sticking around campus and if he would nap in his downtime, or rest under the old cherry blossom tree in the back of U.A’s campus so that he could stay out even later well, who could really hold it against him.
It was a comfortable routine.
“You’re getting better at using your capture bindings.” Aizawa said one night, breaking the silence that had enveloped over the two while Shinsou was desperately taking gulps of the lukewarm water.
Shinsou raised an eyebrow at the other man, a small self satisfied smirk sneaking onto his face. “Careful, someone might think that you’re starting to care for me.”
“I wouldn’t say that you’re incorrect in the matter.” Aizawa responded dryly, causing Shinsou to choke on the water he had been drinking. He had simply been teasing the man, trying to get a rise out of him, he wasn’t expecting him to actually say those words that he himself wanted to hear.
He wasn’t sure what to say, he wanted to speak, to say something but the warmth behind those words had frozen him into place. Shinsou let out a weak laugh, anyone could tell he was trying to deflect the conversation away from what he had started. “Shall we try again old man?” He teased, enjoying poking jabs at the others age.
“This ‘old man’ is going to kick your ass.” Aizawa growled back with no actual heat within his voice. It had taken time for Shinsou to relax around him, and it had taken even longer for him to begin to actively make snarky comments to him both in and out of fighting, though it was especially important that Shinsou figure out how to make his enemies talk , since that’s what he needed in order to activate his quirk.
The two walked back into the middle of the training grounds, leaving their waters and capture bindings in a small pile on the floor, choosing to focus clearly on hand to hand combat over straight capture. They nodded at each other once they got in position and began.
Shinsou moved fast, instantly darting towards Aizawa, He kept himself low to the ground in the way that he had been taught, and threw a punch, spinning slightly on his heel to also throw out a kick following the momentum. Aizawa was quicker, throwing himself into a back handspring to quickly maneuver himself further away. Shinsou frowned, trying to think about what would work. With his fight with Midoriya he had gotten desperate, throwing caution to the wind and not even trying to get him to talk once he refused at first. He ran towards Aizawa again and made himself stumble, letting out a pained yelp and grabbing at his leg.
“I think I might have twisted something.” He said, letting pain fill his voice. Aizawa moved fast, making his way over to the hurt boy
“Are you-” Aizawa’s eyes took on a glazed appearance, causing Shinsou to relax fully on the ground, smirking slightly. He made Aizawa sit down on the ground and Shinsou stood up, walking over to his mentor and sitting a hand on his shoulder, releasing his quirk at the same time.
Aizawa rolled his eyes, “You do realize in a real fight your enemy won’t ask you if you’re okay.” He said blandly, raising an eyebrow at the purple haired boy
“Well, it’s a good thing this is a training session then, and I like to play dirty.” Shinsou shrugged his shoulders, shooting a wide grin towards the older teacher. Aizawa sighed, internally cursing that yes , Hizashi was right, and yes, there were definitely many similarities between the two. Aizawa wasn’t sure if he wanted to praise the boy for using his resources, or scold him for taking advantage of his worry.
“What time do you need to be home tonight?” Aizawa asked instead. He had obviously read Shinsou’s files and he wasn’t stupid or ignorant, he knew that the younger boy lived in a care home, and he was aware that those types of homes usually had strict rules when it came to curfew.
Shinsou blinked at, eyebrows furrowing in trying to figure out what exactly Aizawa was trying to get out of him. “I can stay out tonight as long as we need to” Which technically was the truth. The doors had long been locked already, so if anything he was just going to go wander around the town near the school, maybe stop at a convenience store and buy a premade meal if any good ones were available (that was something Shinsou didn’t take for granted when it comes to U.A., the campus may be chaotic but he would fight for Lunch Rush’s food).
“We’re done for tonight then.” Aizawa said, confusing Shinsou. He had just told the other man he was able to stay out for as long as he wanted, so he didn’t understand why they weren’t continuing. It just simply wasn’t logical. “Just follow me and stop overthinking it.” Aizawa sounded absolutely exhausted and Shinsou couldn’t help but feel the small stab of guilt.
He knew that it wasn’t easy being a teacher, much less being a teacher and a pro hero at the same time and yet Aizawa had still made time for him, and was willing to spend some of his free moments training with him and improving him. Shinsou nodded, hoping that maybe the guilt he was feeling would abid if he just did as he said
Needless to say he wasn’t expecting to be standing outside of a house a short ways from the school.
Shinsou wondered if he should ask Aizawa what they were doing there, but upon seeing his shoulders visibly lighten at the sight of the place, he decided to just keep his mouth shut and follow his lead. They walked up to the door and Aizawa didn’t even knock, just reaching for the door and opening it, stepping inside and leaving the door open for Shinsou to follow.
“Mew,” Shinsou’s head snapped quickly towards the source of the sound and he almost melted when he finally found it. A small, black ragdoll cat was a little ways past the entrance of the house, yellow eyes glowing in interest at the newest addition. Shinsou quickly took off his shoes, taking his first official steps into the house.
He looked over at Aizawa, who was looking at him with thinly veiled amusement. “Can I pet the cat?” He asked, eyes quickly snapping back to the fluffy thing.
“Her name is Erasure.” Aizawa nodded his head, though his voice came out in a slightly exhausted deadpan.
Shinsou’s face went blank, walking over to the cat carefully, bending down slowly and offering her one hand to sniff. “Like your hero name?” He asked, but then quickly followed up with, “She does look like you though. Her eyes look like your goggles.”
“Hence why I came up with such a BEAUTIFUL name!” Shinsou jumped, whipping his head around to spot a relaxed looking Present Mic. He was wearing casual clothes and had his hair down from his usual swoop, his support item speaker wasn’t on his neck either, and Shinsou could see that he had something in his ears, but the long hair obscured his vision.
Erasure didn’t even flinch at the sudden yelling, instead she blinked slowly at Shinsou and walked closer to him, rubbing her lithe body against his shins. “I didn’t realize we were going to Present Mic’s house.” Shinsou looked at Aizawa as he said so, slowly petting the feline. She purred, moving closer and practically jumping into his arms.
“Technically you’re at my house.” Aizawa stated, softening slightly at the display in front of him Hizashi smiled before clapping his hands.
“ALRIGHT!” He yelled, “I’m going to get back to cooking dinner. Shouta, make sure that our guest-” He winked at the word, “is comfortable.” He then left just as loudly as he had appeared. Aizawa just sighed once again, before walking over to Shinsou and guiding him towards the living room where he could have him sit on the couch.
“It’s comfortable.” He explained, pushing the boy lightly to make him move faster. Shinsou rolled his eyes and did as Aizawa was suggesting, taking a seat on the couch and snuggling closer into Erasure. “Sit tight, I’ll be right back.” And then he was gone, leaving Shinsou alone in the large living room with only a purring cat as his company. Shinsou bit the inside of his cheek, eyebrows furrowed. He wasn’t stupid, if Aizawa and Hizashi we’re living together and even had a cat together they were probably more than just simple roommates, especially with their salary they could both easily afford to live on their own and then some.
He heard footsteps approaching and stared at the wall, trying to look disinterested. “You can change into these. They probably aren’t the style you like, but it’s from a brand I used to wear often when I was younger.” Aizawa had handed Shinsou some sweatpants and some type of sweater looking shirt, Shinsou couldn’t tell what the design was but there was quite an...interesting arrangement of colors visible on the sleeves. He took Erasure from Shinsou’s arms, causing the boy to let out a small noise of displeasure.
He walked towards the bathroom, still not quite understanding the situation but deciding that it would probably be easier to just listen to what the older man was saying to him. He carefully took off his uniform, making sure to try and fold it as best as he could so that it wouldn’t crease too badly. He quickly slid on the sweatpants before holding up the sweater in just, confused astonishment.
Fuck. It was really ugly.
Now that Shinsou could actually see the sweater, he was surprised that the color vomit was worse than what he originally thought. While the back of the sweater was black, the front was a splash of neon blues and streaks of yellow and pink randomly through it. In the middle of the shirt was a cat's head, with big bold lettering that said, “NEKO”. Shinsou could practically feel himself recoil from the offending piece of cloth, but he didn’t want to disappoint Aizawa. Swallowing his pride he quickly slid the garment over his head and walked out of the bathroom, holding his uniform in his arms carefully.
“Good, it looks like everything fits.” Aizawa said, taking a look over Shinsou’s new outfit and nodding his head in satisfaction. It was then that Hizashi walked into the living room, ready to announce that dinner was ready, though the words quickly died on his tongue when he took in the sight in front of him.
“I--” He stopped himself, biting back a laugh. “I can’t believe you actually put it on.” He practically wheezed the words out, bringing a hand up to his mouth.
Aizawa shot his head over quickly, looking offended by the other man's laughter. “It’s a good brand! I wore it all the time as a kid and the clothes are soft and comfortable.” Shinsou really couldn’t argue with his argument, the sweater was soft, probably the softest thing he had worn in his entire life if he was being completely honest. The only shame came from the horrid color choice and the tacky design.
Something Shinsou couldn’t help but notice was just how new the sweater had felt. If it was something that Aizawa had worn a decent amount in his youth, then wouldn’t it be more worn? That was something that Shinsou had plenty of experience with, clothing that never quite fit right, always had some sort of holes or patches in it. The sweater couldn’t have been old.
“Did you buy this for me?” Shinsou asked before he even realized the words had left his mouth. Aizawa let his head fall, being found out so easily while Hizashi just started truly cackling, upsetting Erasure enough that she lept out of Aizawa’s arms and walked further down the hall into a random room that had its door slightly cracked.
“I told you that he would figure it out quickly.” Hizashi finally was able to say in between his own laughter. He then looked up at the two equally uncomfortable boys before sighing, letting a huge smile, that could even give All Might a run for his money, fill his face. “Enough living room talk. It’s dining room talk now! To the table because dinner is READY!” He purposely said the end louder, hoping to make his point get across. The two other men nodded, and together the trio walked to the table.
“Why did you two bring me here?” Shinsou found himself finally asking after the food had all been passed around. He had prepared himself for a night of just wandering, he was prepared to take up camp near a streetlight and work on any remaining classwork, he wasn’t prepared to be having dinner in the home of two pro heroes.
Aizawa leveled Shinsou with a knowing look. “How often do you actually return to your care home after our training sessions?” He asked. There was thinly veiled intent behind the words, he already knew the answer, but he was asking just to give Shinsou a chance to say it himself.
“I-,” Shinsou took a deep breath of air. There was no point in lying if they already knew the truth. “Not often. I usually just find a place with some light and finish my work before roaming around for a few hours.”
Aizawa went to retort, expression looking both concerned yet also frustrated, but Hizashi cut him off. “We’ve been talking, and we understand if you think things are moving too fast since it’s only been a few weeks that you two began training together but,” Hizashi made eye contact with Aizawa and nodded his head towards him, wanting him to take the lead.
“You know Hitoshi-” Shinsou sucked in a deep breath at hearing his given name, no one, absolutely no one called him that, hasn’t called him that in years, “I see a lot of myself in you. God knows that you have my attitude and even aspects of my personality, especially from when I was younger.”
Hizashi barked out yet another laugh, nodding his head. “Right! You act exactly like a mini Eraserhead!”
“Exactly,” He shot Hazashi a look, urging him to stop laughing. “As I was saying, I see a lot of similarities between us, and I don’t want to see you struggling to even find a place to call your own. So we’ve” he gestured to Hizashi and himself “have been talking, and if you want it. We’d like to formally put in a request to adopt you.”
It was like all the air had been pushed out of his lungs, Shinsou was suddenly struggling to breathe. No one had ever wanted him, and yet his favorite pro hero and his boyfriend, husband? Shinsou wasn’t sure but it wasn’t important to him right now, what was important was that finally, finally someone was looking at him and they saw someone they wanted to keep around.
“Yes,” he breathed out, practically shaking, “god yes please.”
The next few months were interesting to say the least. Surprisingly, though it could have been to do with the fact that the two older men were both pro heroes, it didn’t take long for the adoption process to fully go through. Life almost seemed to simultaneously speed up and slow down at the same time. School was the same, and so was the training Shinsou did with Aizawa every night, but now he had a warm home to return to, dinner usually just finished being made. He had two people who actually cared about him, would make an effort to speak to him, and he finally had a cat who he could spoil endlessly.
He knew what it was like to worry, but he had never had someone to hold and protect. He learned that feeling while Aizawa was away at some training camp during the summer break, instead leaving Hizashi and Shinsou alone together.
Panic had come in the form of the distress alarm that Aizawa and Hizashi shared, something that existed simply to ease their minds as they had yet to truly use it since it’s creation. And there was nothing Hizashi or Shinsou could do. They didn’t know the location of the training camp, only that the Wild Wild Pussycats would be there to assist.
“It’s okay to be fine Hitoshi,” Hizashi had pulled him close, Erasure sensing the mood shift and firmly placing herself in between their laps. “He might get hurt, but he’ll be fine in the end.” Shinsou could feel the faint tremor in his voice. He kept his own mouth shut, just nodding along to Hizashi and letting his head rest on the older man's shoulders.
They would get through this together.
A lot of things changed after the training camp, or at least they changed for the hero students. Dorms had been built on campus, and yet they weren’t open to the full student body, or at least they weren’t yet. The school had prioritized the hero course students, quickly moving them in in an attempt to fend off the judgement of the public.
Public opinion towards the school was at an all time low, despite the best efforts of Nezu, Aizawa, and Vald. Which also led to Aizawa telling the other teachers about Shinsou.
“Ah!” Midnight had let out a loud screech in the faculty lounge. She practically rushed over to Shinsou, who had been asked to meet Aizawa and Hizashi there for lunch, which caused him to look over at Aizawa in alarm. The man just smiled widely at him, leaving him to his fate. “You can just call me Auntie Nemuri!”
Shinsou felt uncomfortable but refused to show it on his face, looking at the R-rated hero in a bland manner. “Of course Auntie Nemuri.” He was probably laying it on thick, but he had found in his limited past experience with her that it was sometimes just easier to go along with her demands.
“I never knew you were interested in having a child Aizawa!” All Might let out a loud booming laugh, causing Shinsou to eye him wearily.
Aizawa let out a suffering sigh causing Hizashi to laugh harder. Motioning for Shinsou to come closer to the duo so that he could hand Shinsou some lunch. “I wouldn’t say it’s something i was planning for. But what can I say,” Aizawa looked over to the boy men, watching Hizashi fuss over something in Shinsou’s hair as he batted his hand away, a smirk on his face while he argued back with him. “Sometimes the best things come unplanned.”
And unplanned seemed to be the way that life worked for them, for one day Aizawa came home with a small girl in his arms. Her white hair hung limply around her, and the fear was still present in her eyes, even though curiosity also filled her gaze. Shinsou and Hizashi froze, looking at the black haired man in confusion while he just shook his head slowly.
“Eri, this is my husband, Hizashi,” Aizawa nodded towards him, causing Hizashi to let out a soft smile at the girl. “And this is my son, Hitoshi.” He then nodded to Shinsou, who was frozen in shock. Obviously he knew that Aizawa and Hizashi had adopted him, but to hear himself truly be acknowledged as his son made his whole chest feel warm.
“Hi Eri, welcome home.” Shinsou finally spoke, gently picking up Erasure and walking over to Aizawa and Eri. “Aizawa forgot someone, this is Erasure.” He quickly picked up Erasure’s paw and made it wave to the small girl, causing her to let out a giggle.
“Cute.” Eri said quickly, slowly lifting a hand out to touch the cat, but unsure if she was allowed to. After looking over at Aizawa and seeing him nod his head, she finally made contact with the soft fur. A small smile formed on her lips as she continued to pet the cat. “How come you don’t call him dad?” Eri asked innocently, causing Shinsou to flinch.
Truthly, he hadn’t felt like he deserved the right to refer to Aizawa or Hizashi as his parents, but seeing the stark white bandages covering the smaller girls arms, legs, and neck he sucked in a breath of air. “I wonder,” He started, carefully setting Erasure down much to both the girl’s displeasure. “Eri, is it okay if I hold you?” He asked, wanting to make it clear that he would not touch the smaller girl unless she wanted him too. Slowly she nodded, and Aizawa handed her over to Shinsou, then moved to sit next to Hizashi.
“Hi Eri, I’m Hitoshi and I’m going to be your brother.” He smiled at the little girl, even though confusion filled her face. “The one who looks grumpy and tired is Shouta Aizawa, also known as the pro hero Erasure Head,” He moved his head closer as if he was telling her a secret, “He’s also our dad.” Eri’s eyes widened and then he focused on Hizashi.
“The blonde one is a little loud, but he is Hizashi Yamada, also known as the pro hero Present Mic.” He smiled widely when Eri looked even more shocked at seeing two pro heroes, “he’s also our Papa.” He let his eyes slide over to Hizashi, seeing him slap a hand over his mouth, probably to keep from accidentally shouting.
“Welcome home Eri.”
“Are you sure you think I’m ready?” Shinsou was pulling at the ends of his capture bindings. It had been a difficult few months, but he had improved greatly, he had also bulked up quite a bit as well. His classmates in general studies had even noticed the difference, and even though he had barely interacted with most of his classmates (truly the most interaction had been at the beginning of the first semester, during the sports festival), he just gave them the excuse of, “Oh i’ve been working out at the gym more often. Personal training.”
It wasn’t a secret he wanted to be a hero, hell most of the people in general studies were only there because they knew that they wouldn’t be able to pass the hero course entrance exams, but U.A. was still a top rated school and even if they couldn’t completely follow their planned dreams, at least they had a back up plan.
“If I didn’t think you were ready I wouldn’t have invited you to join the combined training.” Aizawa stated, leading the other boy towards the training grounds. Shinsou would be joining classes 1-A and 1-B in their combined training, and if things went well and he was able to prove himself, he would be invited to join the heroes course.
Logically he knew he was ready, the nightly training with Aizawa was brutal, but it was needed. Even Hizashi would help out every now and then, mainly choosing to watch since he didn’t want to ‘intrude’ on their mentorship.
Shinsou schooled his expression. He wasn’t expecting for Aizawa and himself to basically run into Midoriya and All Might (though All Might was acting extremely shifty, as if the entire school couldn’t see the obvious favoritism that the former number one hero had for the student) and it had shaken him a little. Sure he had smirked and vaguely replied to Midoriya’s question about him being with Aizawa, but he was still nervous, especially with everyone yelling out in shock.
“Go ahead and greet everyone.” Aizawa said, looking over at him. Shinsou nodded, staring straight ahead at the combined classes while feeling the comforting presences of Aizawa and Vlad next to him.
“I know I’ve already encountered many of you at the sports festival, but you won’t catch me thinking that we’re all buddies now that we’ve exchanged blows.” He squared away his shoulders, standing tall. “I’m not some good natured person trying to tout a superficial sense of sportsmanship. The Fact of the matter is, I’ve gotten a late start and I’ve already been left in the dust by the hundreds of steps by you all.”
He couldn’t help that frown that filled his face, but he continued to keep his tone dry, uncaring. “I’m sorry, but I’m desperate.” He quickly schooled his expression back to that of someone who was almost bored of the entire situation. “I will become a great hero, so that I can use my quirk to help others. All of you here today are obstacles that I must overcome.”
He made direct eye contact with Midoriya, who was looking shocked. “I have no intention of making friends.” The two classes exploded in conversation, and Shinsou could hear someone comparing him to Todoroki.
“Alright, let’s get right down to it then,” Aizawa stepped forward, calling attention to himself and away from his son, “Combat exercises!”
Shinsou drew his lots, the numbers one and five looked back at him. He nodded his head and walked over towards team one first, bowing slightly at them. The team was made up of students from his dad’s class. Kirishima, Asui, Koda, and Kaminari.
“I know one of ours said some nasty stuff, but let’s try and get along all the same! It’s a pleasure workin’ with ya!” Kirishima shouted, throwing a hand up in the air.
Asui brought a hand up to her mouth in thought, “Give me all the details about your quirk.” She said bluntly. Koda nodded behind her.
Shinsou eyed the blonde in front of him wearily, watching him move closer. “You’ve got the face of a popular guy.” Kaminari started, leaning in closely to Shinsou’s face. He kept it blank, eyes watching the blondes every movement even if internally he was losing his shit. The only people that ever got into this space like this was his dad, his papa, and Eri. “I bet you’re popular with the ladies, yeah? Trust me,” Kaminari smiled at the violet haired boy and sent out a wink, “I can tell.”
“Thanks for having me.” Shinsou responded, looking at the other four members of his team. He then let himself truly focus on Kaminari, he hadn’t expected too much of the blonde especially after seeing firsthand how he did at the sports festival. “Do you make it an effort to flirt with all of your teammates?” He raised an eyebrow.
Kaminari’s grin filled his face, smiling brightly and shooting Shinsou a finger guns. “Just the ones who are unbearably attractive.” Shinsou let out a small snort, his smirk turning almost feral.
“Careful there lightning boy, wouldn’t want you to short circuit on me.” With that Shinsou walked away towards team five, hearing Kirishima laughing loudly and Kaminari letting out an indignant shout.
They had gotten caught off guard, and due to it the situation wasn’t the best. Shinsou fiddled with his voice changer, trying to calm himself from yelling at himself in his head. “I should have been faster in capturing him.” He didn’t mean to say it outloud, he was mainly just thinking to himself, trying to figure out what he did wrong so he could improve it but the words just slipped out. “My bad.” He followed up with lamely, looking away.
“I’m the one who should be apologizing.” Asui said, looking over him. “You never should have been fighting on the front lines. It’s my fault for not coming up with a proper plan.”
Shinsou went to open his mouth, to argue back against what the frog-like girl was saying but he was quickly cut off by Kaminari, who was looking at him brightly, even with scratches covering his face. “For real though, I know this is serious combat training and all, so getting injured is par for the course, but it’s impressive that you were able to move in that situation…” He trailed off, looking slightly embarrassed, “You really saved my ass back there.”
Kaminari quickly continued on, not letting Shinsou have a chance to interject. “I know you said you weren’t interested in making friends and all that,” Kaminari almost looked unsure before he moved closer to Shinsou, putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing in a comforting manner. “But I like you, dude.” It almost seemed like he added ‘dude’ as an afterthought. “You’re a proper hero-hopeful, just like the rest of us.”
Silence. “Whatever,” Shinsou looked away, grateful that his voice changer took up residence on most of his face, hiding the pale pink blush he just knew was burning on his cheeks. “More importantly, let’s come up with a plan.”
Shinsou wanted to scream. He wasn’t stupid, he had a feeling that this class exercise was more than just a simple exercise, he knew that it also served as his entrance exam and he messed it up. He lost, his team lost. Sure, he had helped Uraraka by brainwashing Midoriya when his quirk began to go haywire, but he wasn’t doing it just to help out the other student, he was just listening to what she was telling him to do because truthfully, he just wanted to fight against Midoriya once again.
He clutched his hands into fists at his side, trying to keep the negative thoughts off of his face, though he was sure that Aizawa could see right through him, as he always seemed able to do. “It all happened by chance. I was only thinking of myself.” Shinsou stared at the ground, hearing Aizawa’s footsteps get closer to him.
Suddenly the capture bindings around his neck we’re tightened. Shinsou snapped his head up to see an annoyed looking Aizawa, and he could hear the shocked yells of the other students. “No one was expecting you to go that far.” Aizawa said; faintly, Shinsou could hear Kaminari screaming something about violence and the PTA. “Everyone has been training hard every day to be a hero that can save someone. Anyone who can get there instantly would be an All Might level genius.”
Aizawa sighed, watching Shinsou adjust the capture bindings. “You won’t be able to save anyone if you’re only thinking of others. You can’t help others if you don’t have the power to help yourself.” Aizawa smiled softly, seeing the meaning of his words begin to dawn on his son's face. “With that in mind, your actions were more than enough to pass.”
Sound dulled as the words repeated in Shinsou’s mind. More than enough to pass, that means he passed. He was going to be put in the heroes course, he was going to be a hero. It almost seemed as if the world suddenly a blur, overwhelming emotions flashed across his face, he was just too simply removed to even try and school his emotions. He couldn’t even concentrate on what Midoriya was saying.
“We’re going to get back to the evaluation now, but probably...no, most certainly!” Vlad called attention to the classes and snapped Shinsou out of his growing tornado of feelings. “Shinsou will join the hero department starting his second year. Nobody here better dare take him on half-heartedly!”
Time moved on, and Shinsou was laying in his dorm room, staring at the ceiling. He would like to say that moving out of Aizawa and Hizashi’s house and into the dorms starting his second year had been an easy thing; but, Shinsou had grown attached, and it almost broke his heart to see Eri sobbing, not truly understanding why Shinsou couldn’t continue to live with them.
Eventually Aizawa was able to get the girl to calm down, and Shinsou made sure to spend as much time as he could with her before the first term of second semester started up again. It wasn’t like he couldn’t simply visit the house whenever he wanted, the advantages of having his dad as his teacher, but he didn’t want to abuse the power. Plus, his new classmates still had no idea that Aizawa was even Shinsou’s adopted father, though Todoroki had cornered him and asked him about it, causing Midoriya to let out a small yell, laughing and saying something about this being the second time he’s jumped to conclusions.
Even though Shinsou had stated that he didn’t have any intention to make friends with everyone, he quickly found that class 2-A wasn’t going to give him a choice in the matter. Midoriya constantly would yell for him to join himself and his friends for their weekly movie nights and study sessions. Most surprising of all was Kaminari.
Shinsou had thought that perhaps he was just a serial flirt, someone who went wherever the wind blew, which is what made falling for the blonde that much more painful. Unlike the others in the class who almost seemed unsure and uncomfortable with someone new suddenly joining (probably due to how trauma bonded they all were to each other, but that was a whole different type of attachment that Shinsou just wasn’t ready to get into), Kaminari had welcomed Shinsou into the class with open arms, bright smiles, and the clinginess of a leech.
Eventually, Shinsou couldn’t even imagine what it was like to be without the blonde by his side. The ‘Bakusquad’ as Sero and Kaminari would call their friend group liked to throw out teasing remarks, asking questions such as when the wedding would be, if Sero could be the best man and more.
“Hey eyebags.” Bakugou had said one night, pointing at Shinsou in an annoyed manner.
Shinsou raised an eyebrow at the angry male, looking just exhausted. It had been difficult to sleep already in a place he was comfortable, having to share walls with others only made it worse for the light sleeper. “I have a name Blasty.”
“Shut up. If you break dunce face’s heart, I’ll fucking kill you.” It was then that Kirishima made his appearance, almost arriving out of thin air and laughing while pulling a murderous Bakugou away with him, shouting out half apologizes. Though the smirk on his face told him that he didn’t really believe it and more than likely agreed with what the pomeranian type male had said.
To be completely honest, Shinsou hadn’t thought much of what Bakugou said. To have acknowledged it would have meant to deal with the possibility that Kaminari felt the same way about him, and he wasn’t sure that he could handle the pain of rejection.
Then it happened.
Shinsou and Kaminari had been in Shinsou’s room, and a thunderstorm was raging outside of the dorm's windows. It was officially monsoon season. The two boys had originally been studying, something that Kaminari had whined and whined for Shinsou to help him with after Kaminari had pissed off Bakugou one too many times and was sent away. Shinsou of course allowed it, treasuring any chance to be with the golden haired boy.
They had both been sitting on Shinsou’s bed, yet over the course of the evening the books and homework slowly had made their way off of the bed, and the two boys just laid there in exhaustion. Lightning cracked over head as Kaminari let out a content sigh.
He cracked a lid open, looking over at Shinsou who had already been looking at him. “Can we cuddle?” Kaminari had asked, almost whispering in the quiet of the room. There was a moment where Shinsou must have looked like he was about to deny him, but Kaminari's own fears were pushed aside by Shinsou making more room and then opening his arms.
He knew it was greedy of him to want more than friendship with Kaminari, but Shinsou already knew he was a greedy man.
The two had laid there, cuddling together and whispering amongst themselves while the storm raged overhead. Every now and then, when lightning struck faint sparks of energy would jump off of Kaminari, something that he continuously apologized for, even though Shinsou found it more endearing than painful.
They weren’t sure who actually moved first, but slowly, carefully, shyly, almost fearfully, lips finally, finally molded together.
Shinsou wasn’t sure when he had begun to feel an attraction towards the blonde. Perhaps it was at the sports festival, back when Kaminari, no, Denki absolutely embarrassed himself on national television yet showed such an amazing display of power. Or maybe it was the shared training program, the first time Aizawa had brought him out and showed him off to the classes, Denki had complimented him then as well, even calling him a hero hopeful. Shinsou tilted his head slightly, biting at Denki’s lips and deepening the kiss, wanting to leave evidence that he was there, that this wasn’t something he was dreaming about. Denki felt warm, oh so warm and Shinsou could practically feel the buzzing of electricity beneath his fingers, across his chest, on his lips. He suddenly understood how Icarus must have felt seconds before he fell, overcome and so full of emotions as he basked in the warmth of the sun, wanting to be closer to the most beautiful thing he had laid eyes upon.
His wings of wax were melting, but Shinsou simply pulled his sun even closer.