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“I’ve had five monsters in the past 48 hours so at this point I’m convinced God is playing a sick joke in letting me live.”
Hizashi had to of heard wrong. He hadn’t been sleeping much lately and was absolutely exhausted so he must have heard wrong. Because what he just heard (as concerning as it was) was something his son would say – not class 1A’s resident power outlet.
“Kami, bro, and I love you when I say this,” Hizashi watched Kirishima put his hands on Kaminari’s shoulders. “What the fuck?”
Okay, so he had heard right.
“Is that amount of caffeine consumption in that time even legal?” Sero asked and Hizashi unfortunately knew that the answer was yes.
“Kaminari, please go see Recovery Girl,” is what Hizashi said instead and rubbed his temples.
“Why? I feel fine,” Kaminari cocked his head to side. “I’ve chewed on batteries that gave me more energy.”
“That is somehow more concerning.” He didn’t get paid enough for this. No wonder Shouta needed a break and made Hizashi babysit the class.
“Why did you even drink that many?” Sero asked and hopped onto Kaminari’s desk.
“Oh, a new cat café is opening next week but they were giving away tickets on their website for a soft opening and I had wait in line for them.” Kaminari showed the group a confirmation email on his phone as he explained.
And Hizashi could only stare because he knew for a fact that his son had been in the same line for the past two days.
~~
Shouta and Hitoshi had a bad habit of running into each other in the kitchen at 3am. Shouta because he would be getting back from patrol and Hitoshi because he was a hungry insomniac. Usually, their interactions then consisted of Shouta ruffling his son’s hair has he went to get water and Hitoshi welcoming him home.
So Shouta safely expected the same tonight (morning?). He was wrong.
He entered the kitchen and Hitoshi was at the counter, phone in one hand and the other in a bag of chips. Shouta ruffled his hair like always and turned to get water, like always.
“Hey dad,” Hitoshi said, obviously distracted by his phone. “Did you know blood starts to freeze at negative two degrees Celsius?”
That made Shouta stop short. Because he did know that. Because Kaminari had loudly announced it across the classroom that morning to a very confused Sero.
“Should I be worried?” he asked and continued his routine as if this were normal.
“Nah. Saw something about a couple getting stuck on a mountain in a snow storm and got curious.” Hitoshi shrugged and kept eating his chips.
“Did they freeze?”
“No, they were fine.” Hitoshi grabbed a towel to wipe chip dust off his hand. He made his way out of the kitchen. “Good night.”
“Good night.”
Maybe Kaminari had seen the same story. But what on earth had been the thought process?
~~
“Please avoid situations in which you potentially get put into a coma,” Shouta pinched his nose and fought the headache beginning to form. He really didn’t want to add Kaminari to his Problem Child list but he was almost there.
“And miss out on getting a decent night’s sleep?” Kaminari chuckled. “I would love to be in a coma.”
For a moment Shouta forgot about the fact that Kaminari had almost been hit in the head with falling debris. He was sure he a loading screen on his face because Kaminari had just said something eerily similar to Hitoshi. He could write off the incident two nights ago because who was he to question 3am thoughts.
However, the exact same thing had been said to him just yesterday by his own son.
So he responded the exact same way. “You cannot be put into a comma just for a full night’s rest.”
“Boo, lame.”
At least that response had been different. Still concerning but at least it was different.
~~
Hizashi loved watching his husband and son train together. He never felt prouder than when Hitoshi accomplished a new move and getting to watch his son’s face light up at the praise.
Sometimes he would get grading done while he waited but most times he would just watch them. Every now and then he’d join in but typically only if they were working on improving Hitoshi’s quirk control.
Today, though, he was simply watching and was completely content to do so. Shouta and Hitoshi were working on using their scarves to move around in the air and in stealth situations.
Hitoshi made a particularly risky leap that had Hizashi holding his breath in worry. He watched as Hitoshi tumbled into a landing and almost losing his balance. He was able to catch himself quickly and Hizashi forced the tension to leave his shoulders after preparing for the worst.
What he wasn’t prepared for, however, was for Hitoshi to turn around and make what Hizashi had heard kids call “the fuckboy face”. This was far from the first time he had ever seen the face but it was usually made by Kaminari Denki – not his son with a dry and sarcastic sense of humor.
Hizashi couldn’t help himself but to burst out laughing. Hitoshi looked absolutely ridiculous.
“If you make that face again, you’re grounded!” Shouta yelled from across the training room and barely concealing his own laughter. That just caused another round of laughing from all of them.
~~
“Kaminari, do I even want to know what you’re doing?” Shouta asked as he entered the dorm kitchen. He wasn’t usually at the dorms during the night but his nightmares had been getting out of hand and staying in the dorms helped his subconscious know that his kids were safe.
“Just getting a glass of water,” Kaminari said while holding said glass up. He rubbed at his eyes continued drinking.
“Having trouble sleeping?” Shouta asked and moved to get his own glass of water.
“It’s only trouble if I usually sleep well.”
That made Shouta pause. He had heard Kaminari joke about a lack of sleep before but he was always full of energy that he’d never stopped to think that the boy actually had sleep problems. If anything, he assumed Kaminari just lost track of time watching shows or playing video games.
“When was the last time you slept?” Shouta asked and tried not to pull out his dad voice.
“If you mean a full night’s sleep,” Kaminari paused to finish his water. “Probably around four years old. I can only sleep for a couple hours at a time now.”
Shouta didn’t respond at first. He watched as Kaminari turned to dig around in one of the snack cabinets. He wasn’t sure he had ever seen the boy be so serious, or so quiet.
“What do you do to keep busy?” he decided to ask. While Kaminari was loud and friendly with everyone, Shouta realized he didn’t know much about his student. He didn’t like the way Kaminari looked hesitant to answer, though.
“I uh,” Kaminari stopped in his snack searching and rubbed at the back of his neck. Something Shouta couldn’t help but note that Hitoshi did the same when he nervous. “I usually read.”
Oh thank god, something Shouta could talk about.
“What kind of books do you like?” The question was innocent curiosity but Kaminari looked like Shouta had made his whole world crumble.
“English classics,” Kaminari said quietly and Shouta could see his face turning red. Shouta felt his gut twist because he was genuinely shocked at the answer and could tell Kaminari had expected him to be.
“My husband and son like those,” is what he decided to say. He ignored the way Kaminari looked at him in surprise. “Can’t say I ever cared for them, though. Who’s your favorite author?”
This made Kaminari light up for the first time that night. “Hemmingway!”
Did he and Hitoshi share a single braincell?
~~
Kaminari was used to blacking out in a fight. It was usually caused by the overuse of his quirk, however, and not by part of a building falling on top of him. Of course that would happen to him while he was trying to show off to Shinso.
Oh shit, Shinso.
Kaminari groaned as he sat up and heard someone do the same next to him. He forced his eyes open and noticed that he was in the school’s infirmary. He only just had time to notice Shinso sitting up in the bed beside him before his friends burst into the room followed by a peeved looking Aizawa.
“Holy shit!” Kirishima yelled and Kaminari winced at the volume. “Are you two okay?”
“Yeah, just got a vibe check from God.”
“God decided to give us a vibe check.”
The room went silent and Kaminari and Shinso could only stare at each other. And then they burst into laughter. Who knew Shinso of all people would think like him?
In the midst of their laughter they made eye contact and Kaminari decide to test his theory.
“Wavelength!” they shouted at the same time.