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Sero was angry.
They were pissed off at themselves, mostly, because it wasn’t right for them to be angry. Hanta Sero didn’t get angry, they got frustrated, maybe, something like upset, but never downright mad, they’d never use that word to describe themselves, except maybe once or twice in the past. No, Hanta Sero was not an angry person.
But they could feel their arms shaking, and they could feel something red hot pulsing with each heartbeat, flowing through their brain and making them want to do irrational things. No, no- this felt more than mad, this felt like fury.
They had been unhappy since the afternoon announcements.
This evening, there will be a family night. Parents are welcome to come and visit students, so long as they go through the process of everything with security. You can come up and grab a paper if you’d like them to come, as it will include the details of what is to be expected. Apologies for such short notice, but we know some of the students are homesick and this is the only date we could manage. Thank you, have a great afternoon.
Fuck that.
They stood in the doorway to the common room, watching as parents filtered in. They’d missed the time, of course they had, fucking idiot, why couldn’t they have checked? They just wanted a glass of water to bring up to his room so they wouldn’t have to come down mid-parent-student meeting. It was only a month into UA, they’d only barely made friends with two other students, and they didn’t feel like doing anything other than sitting in their room and watching tv, not think about them.
They felt their legs buckle under them, supporting themselves against the wall, as they watched parents excited faces, seeing their babies socializing and nothing but pride scrawled across their faces. They watched hurried hugs, kids running to parents and jumping into the arms, and disappointment filled them.
They wouldn’t come.
They hated their parents, so why did that sting so badly?
They weren’t going to be here.
They looked towards the kitchen, seeing if there was any way they could squeeze by, but their eyes landed on Kaminari instead. He was kind, a little dipsy, but he was funny and they’d clicked straight off the bat. Sero stared at him, and that’s when the rage kicked in.
His two perfect parents, a petite mother and strong father, both of them with kind, loving eyes, looking at their kid like he was the world. His mom was handing him a small box, and, upon opening it, there was a stim toy. Why did that make Sero’s eyes well up? Why did it make them so mad? They knew about his adhd and they helped him, they supported him.
Sero’s parents had been nice and kind, loving, even, up until three years ago when they brought another boy home and they had caught the two holding hands just a little longer than necessary when they’d climbed into the tree.
They’d hit them when they asked one simple thing of their parents, just a tiny, tiny, pronoun change.
It’d all fallen down when their mom hit them. They still had a scar by their ear where her ring had cut them.
They haven’t heard from either their mother or father since then.
Sero looked at Kaminari and, for the first time since they’d gotten the cut, they longed.
They wanted the motherly hugs and the fatherly reassurances. They wanted the caring presents that showed their parents listened and they wanted a family. They wanted someone to call at the end of the day after they saved a kid, but even more, they wanted someone to rely on when they’d had a bad day. They’d had one recently, and the only person they wanted to call was downstairs, blond and loud, and having a good time. Who would they be to disrupt that? He wouldn’t have noticed, anyway.
They took a step backward as a tear fell, and they took off into a jog around the corner when Kaminari’s eyes met theirs.
They ran.
-
It was late, parents had most likely gone home by now. It’d been a day full of meeting up and of sharing news, bringing gifts for the coming holidays and asking about hero training. It’d been a day of socializing and sweet words and Sero hadn’t moved from their bed, they hadn’t so much as budged for hours.
There was a knock on their door.
“Come in,” They say, pulling back their blankets and rubbing their eyes with a sleepy fist. Was it late? They didn’t know. Who would come by at this hour?
“Sero?” His voice was hesitant, but Sero still knew it was Kami.
“Hey.” They said, voice thick with sleep.
“Are... are you okay? I didn’t see you downstairs today, did your parents come up here?” Sero only stared at the ground. Kaminari sat down next to them,
“’m fine.” They whispered, but their voice betrayed them, breaking. “They... they didn’t show up, were busy or something.” They lied.
“Hey...” They felt a hand on their shoulder. “Do you... what can I do for you?”
They wanted to tell him so badly.
It was boiling to the surface, years of just wanting to be instead of being dictated by he and him, they wanted to just be them and they wanted someone they cared about so much to know that they just wanted to be that. Their mind split, they split, trying to decide if they could tell him or not. Was it safe? Would he leave them just like his parents had? Would he laugh at them? Would he try to convince them that they were just a boy, not to make things so difficult?
The inner turmoil came out in a whimper as they slumped into the blond’s side.
Slowly, thin arms came to snake around their back, around their waist, and holding them close. They turned their face into his neck and took in shaky breaths, feeling awful and shameful as tears rolled from their cheeks to his skin. Careful fingertips roamed their hair, and the buzz of electricity something soothing, giving them something to focus on.
They shuddered in his arms, shivering still as a blanket was wrapped around the both of them. They wanted to tell him so badly, there was no way he’d leave, right?
“I’m here for you,” He whispered, driving the nail in on the point. They were going to explode if they didn’t tell someone- they’d only told three people, and only one time had their pronouns ever been used right-
To tell or to rot, to rot and rot and rot- they were going to explode and the echoes and slamming doors bounced around their skull, pinging and growing in volume. The door to leave was right there, all they had to do was take a few, small, simple steps, say those few words, and see what lie on the other side. To escape this awful place of rings falling to the kitchen floor, a mother’s furious face, the sound of impact against their cheek, to get out of this awful place of angry words screaming at them about this and that, all the while, he and him- they couldn’t take that any longer. They couldn’t take the calm words, the ones trying to kindly explain to him that he was confused, that he was his father’s little boy, and that his father wouldn’t be tolerating this kind of silliness anymore. The memories stopped pinging, it wasn’t like little marbles any longer- they were baseballs being thrown full speed into the inside of their skull, every past pronoun lobbing it straight to the front of their bone, making their vision go blurry and their headache only grow. As the baseballs were thrown past them, they looked to the door.
Anything was better than this hell.
They had to choose, to stay silent or to remain a ticking time bomb. The noise only grew louder and busier, more aggressive and words harsher, it was more and more and more and more and they were overwhelmed and it was now- speak, or die. Speak, or die, or die or die or-
“I’m nonbinary.” They gasped into his neck.
Their mind was quiet, nearly as quiet as the seconds following their words.
He was pulling away.
No-
No.
He was pulling away.
This was much worse, they decided, than the hell they’d been in from before.
Hands were placed on their face. They were about to be hit again, weren’t they? They winced, preparing for the impact. Maybe he’d use his quirk on them, and maybe they deserved it- maybe it really was wrong- maybe everyone had been right all along and they were just stupid about the whole thing. Maybe.... maybe they were he.
“Hanta, I’m... kinda dumb.” Kaminari laughed, “Can you... uh... tell me which one that is again? Like... pronouns n’... do you have a new name?”
No...
Kaminari didn’t look at them with hate.
With... curiosity and...
and something they couldn’t quite place, something like love.
“I wanna use they and them.” They whispered, filling the silence of the rooms. “I- I like Hanta, and I like the way I look, and-” They choked, “Just... please don’t go- please stay- you don’t have to use them, you don’t have to- just don’t go.”
“Hanta... I’m not going anywhere...” They were pulled into another hug. “Do... do you like masculine or feminine compliments?” He asked. They sniffled, wrapping arms tightly around his waist. He was staying, and he was supporting them.
“Both, I- I like both.” They whispered, recalling the time that someone had thought they were a girl and told them they were pretty. They shivered into his neck. They felt Kaminari smile above them, buzzing fingers trailing through their hair again.
“You’re beautiful, Hanta.” It’s whispered, words just for them. “You’re pretty and soft and delicate, and I want to hold you so, so carefully, and take care of you and make you feel safe.” A tiny, tiny pause. “You’re handsome and strong and I want to be held by you. You’re going to make a great hero and I can’t wait to watch you become the best person you can be. I don’t care what you wanna be called, I’m lucky to know you, that you came into my life and... and I wouldn’t trade you for the world.”
Their mind wasn’t quiet any longer.
It was filled with the soft buzzing of compliments, of thin fingers brushing through soft, sleep-ridden hair, and of feeling home, like they finally were at peace.
They looked up to meet his eyes and immediately were pulled into that same, comforting look. Family, they realized. Kaminari was looking at them like they were family. Maybe it was patchwork and some of the stitches were shitty, Maybe it was new and a little scary, but they knew that they had eachother to fall back on. He had them, they had him.
Sero was not angry, they were not pissed off, because on family visiting day, they found their family.