Chapter Text
Hitoshi’s use of his capture scarf has definitely improved since he began training with Shouta, more so now that he has people with different skills to test his progress against. For instance, he could now get around by using his scarf to swing him from one place to another, or in this case, from pipe to pipe of the factory.
Class training took place in Ground Gamma, a place that heavily mimicked a maze to those stuck on ground level. For those who could get around with an aerial view like Sero with his tape or Bakugou with his explosions propelling him into the air, they had an advantage, but thanks to the way the metal pipes and layout twist and wind together, it made those in the air blind to the ones who were hiding in the nooks and crannies.
But being able to swing around still gave Hitoshi the advantage of dodging attacks, of being able to travel faster than he would if he ran, that’s how he avoided the quick use of Ojiro’s tail, and that’s how he was chasing down Denki.
Because of the amount of metal they were surrounded by, the use of Denki’s quirk would be difficult to manipulate without hitting his teammate, even with the sharpshooter strapped to his right wrist. It would be different if they were in Ground Beta or Ground Omega or even Gym Gamma. But thanks to their environment, he was stuck with dodging attacks and forcing himself to utilize hand-to-hand combat, which was already difficult given that both blonds were up against Midoriya, now add someone who was personally trained by their teacher.
Behind them, they could hear the sound of metal clanking from something making contact. Hitoshi bites back a wince, and while it was bad of him to think, Ojiro being paired against Midoriya was a poor move. They were both good at close combat, but with Midoriya’s quirk, and that strength of this, he has a sneaking suspicion that the electric blond’s partner was currently being subdued.
Landing on top of one of the wider pipes, Hitoshi quickly changes the pitch of his voice changer to mimic Ojiro’s voice. “Kaminari, you okay?” Hitoshi watches him stop in his tracks, almost smirking when he sees Denki open his mouth to speak. But unfortunately (or rather fortunately, depending on how you look at it), Denki looks up and sees him. So with a cheeky grin and a raised brow, he brings a hand up to his face, making the “zipped lip” motion. And had it been anyone else, Hitoshi would find it annoying that his opponent was keeping a tight lip. But this was Denki.
Besides...
Hitoshi chuckles, one of his capture scarf wrapping around the pipe beneath him. In seconds, Hitoshi was swinging down and landing a few feet from Denki. The blond takes his fighting stance, a cocky look in his eyes.
“I like a challenge.”
Instead of using his scarf, he settles for punches and kicks. Each of his kicks was met with a block of Denki’s arms, and each of Denki’s punches were avoided. It was a back and forth moment between them for at least a minute. Swing, dodge, kick, block, neither using their quirks or their support items.
Denki then swings right, and Hitoshi leans back on his feet to dodge, not expecting Denki to hook his foot behind his ankle. As Hitoshi is falling, he grabs Denki by the front of his shirt, balances his weight on the heel of his left foot before twisting them around, sending them both to the ground with Denki on his back and Hitoshi pinning his hands down above his head.
“I win.” Hitoshi had clearly won. Any minute now, they’ll be announcing that our opponents have been taken down. Easy win, Midoriya.
“Hey, sexy .”
A pause. Shock fills his senses as he snaps his head down to see Denki looking up at him with a smirk. … What did he just say? “I, uh– Hey !”
Denki moved fast, Hitoshi didn't even register the leg wrapping around his waist until after he was flipped onto his back. He was so surprised that he lost his grip on Denki’s wrist, as now Denki was looming over him, a hand pointing at him with electricity crackling at the tips of his fingers.
His previous grin dissolves into a calm smile. “I win.” Denki voiced, and before Hitoshi could open his mouth to reply with something cocky, the airhorn had been blown and their match was over.
“Midoriya and Hitoshi have been restrained, Kaminari and Ojiro win the match!” Present Mic’s voice rings through the speakers of the training ground loud as ever, the news shocking them both.
“What? Midoriya lost?” Denki questioned, looking behind them in the direction where they had left their teammates. He then suddenly cupped his hands around his mouth to shout, “Nice work, ‘Jiro!”
And vaguely, Hitoshi hears the tailed-teen respond, and could even make out the sound of Midoriya talking in the distance. But he didn’t say anything, he didn’t pay attention to anyone other than the blond that was still sitting on top of him, and the blush that was threatening to peek out from his voice changer.
Cold crisp air makes contact with his face, making his cheeks flush red. It has been a couple of weeks since that night on the roof, and the winter air was becoming more noticeable as the seasons changed, what was once a nice chill was now turning harsh when the wind blew and made contact with their skin.
Not that Hitoshi minds the weather, he enjoys the winter season. It was the one season he looked forward to the most. His classmates, however, disagreed.
Their walk back to the main school building was anything but silent, but not all of his classmates were chatty, and as a result, there was small talk amongst them just to fill the silence. Each of them was worn out from their earlier practice with their teachers, his parents, trailing behind them.
Asui was being taken straight to Recovery Girl the moment they walked into the building. Due to how Ground Gemma is made entirely of metal and concrete, one of the pips had been broken by one of Bakugou’s blasts during his match, which left behind sharp edges, which Asui had learned the hard way when wrapping her tongue around the broken pipe to swing herself out of harm's way.
The frog-like girl in question walked ahead of the group with Uraraka, who would be walking her to the nurse’s office while everyone went to get change for homeroom.
"Jeez…” Hitoshi looks to his left in time to watch Denki shiver, rubbing his hands up and down his arms in an attempt to keep himself warm. “I wish Spring would hurry up and get here, it’s freezing!” Denki exclaims, catching the attention of some of their classmates, a pout forming on his lips.
Cute. Hitoshi straightens his posture, fighting off the extra shades of red that threaten to color his face.
Bakugou scoffs on Denki’s left, shaking his head. “Quit fucking complaining–”
"Language.”
“We’re almost back to the damn school.”
Denki pouted further to the point where he looks like he’s sulking, He needs to stop doing that. Hitoshi forces his eyes ahead of him. Behind him, he hears their class representative sigh, probably due to Bakugou’s foul language.
“You owe me a hot chocolate when we get back to the dorms, Kaachan.”
“I don’t owe you shit, Sparky!”
“He means he’ll make all of us some hot chocolate,” Kirishima grins back at them, earning some excitement from their classmates and a glare from the angry teen, who huffs out and stomps ahead of the group. Though, Hitoshi doesn’t miss the shade of pink coloring his cheeks, and he knows that they weren’t from the cold.
"Whatever, fucking nerds.”
“Language!”
Some of their classmates laughed as Bakugou and Iida traded words over the hothead’s choice of words, others simply shook their heads but smiled at the back and forth between them.
Upon entering the building, Hitoshi looks at Denki, who is still shivering and sighs quietly. “So,” He speaks in a low tone, but it was loud enough to catch Denki’s attention. “You don’t like the cold?”
Denki huffs lightly and shakes his head. “I can never stay warm when it gets cold out.”
"Any chance you wanna steal a hoodie from me?” Denki looks up at him with furrowed brows. “If you’re still cold, I mean. You can borrow mine.” Hitoshi was now looking down at his feet as the boys walked into the boys’ locker room, them being the last ones to enter.
Denki, however, stops behind him, and stares for a moment. His expression was unreadable, but it was clear that he was thinking. Hitoshi notices his lack of movement and looks back at him. Was that not okay to offer? What is he thinking? What was I thinking? The purple-haired boy sighs, unclasping the voice changer from behind his head to pack away.
“You don’t have to take it, I just figured-”
“Okay.” Denki shrugs, walking forward, “Hand it over.”
Hitoshi did not take into consideration their size difference, with him being taller and a bit bulkier.
The hoodie itself was black, the design simple, some colorful splash art covered it. And it was big on Denki, the blond had to roll up his sleeves and the bottom hugged loosely around his mid-thigh.
And the worse part? Denki wore it for the rest of the day. From homeroom, on their way back to the dorms, throughout the entire night, he kept it on. Of course, Hitoshi hadn’t made a move to ask for it back, it’s not like he needed it right away.
Besides, it looks better on him. Hitoshi stops moving his pen, and stares at the top of the page for a moment. Promptly, he shakes his head. Nope. We already decided that I wasn't doing this. He told himself.
Right now, he was in the common room working on an assignment for Modern Art. Bakugou can be heard in the background, barking at people to, “Get out of my fucking kitchen!” And, “Drink your fucking water, Pinkie!”
So, it was a normal night as usual. The only two people allowed in the kitchen at night were Bakugou and Kirishima, even though Kirishima didn’t help with anything cooking wise (not that Bakugou would have let him).
“So,” Momo sits down on the far end of the couch, right next to Jirou, who had an earjack plugged into her phone to listen to her music. The short-haired girl unplugs from her phone when the taller girl sits down. “What are everyone’s plans for the weekend?”
“What do you mean?” Denki’s voice, coming around the corner of the couch to sit down a foot away from Hitoshi. “Aren’t we just hanging around as usual?”
“I’m afraid not.” Iida spoke, setting down his textbook, “Now that we’ve entered the holiday season, things are going to get more rowdy. Villains are going to take advantage of the public areas and the vacation time everyone will be taking to commit various crimes.”
Momo nods, “So everyone has been given permission to go home for the weekend to spend time with our families, since we won’t be able to during the actual holidays.”
"Oh.” Denki looks away, down at his phone.
Jirou then looks at him, “You didn’t know?” Her question was met with a headshake, “Have you talked to your parents? All of ours got emails about it, yours should have too.”
“Yeah, I talked to them last night. But I don’t think they knew either. ” He says, “Besides, they’re out of town until next Friday.” Hitoshi looks up from his paper completely now to look at him. “We didn’t know this was going to happen and they're normally busy around this time of year just before the holidays. So we didn’t have time to plan things.”
“You’re not planning on staying by yourself, are you?” Momo asks, looking a bit concerned.
Denki only smiles and nods, “Yeah, but I’ll be fine. ‘Just means that I won’t have to worry about getting a noise complaint, right?” He giggles out.
“You could stay with me for the weekend.” All eyes go to Hitoshi.
The blond boy only shakes his head, “What? No. That’s your family time, I’ll be fine.”
Hitoshi cocks a brow at him. “I’m asking them tonight.”
“Dude-”
“Dude ,” He mimics, earning a playful glare. “Seriously, it’s fine.”
Denki then frowns, “And if they say no?”
A pause.
They did not say no. Which is how Hitoshi found himself walking Denki up to the front of the on-campus apartment building for the school’s staff members. His backpack hung off his shoulder, while Denki carried his overnight bag by the handle with both hands, looking nervous, and still wearing his damn hoodie.
“You guys seriously don’t need to host me. I’ll be fine-”
“You’re not getting out of this, Kami.” Hitoshi tells him, pulling out his entry card to swipe against the lock.
He looked over his shoulder to look at the blond, who was once again frowning. “I thought I told you to call me Denki.”
“Okay, Tsu. ” That gets him to laugh a little. The gate then opens in front of them with a buzzer sound and Hitoshi was walking them both to the front door of the building. “Look, they’re fine with this, I’m fine with this, and I’m pretty sure Eri is bouncing off the walls at the thought of someone new spending the weekend with us. You’re more than welcomed.”
“Yeah, but…” Denki sighs, “I’m their student, and I’m technically a stranger to Eri.”
"Maybe. But you’re my b–” He bites his tongue before correcting himself, “-friend. So I win.”
Hitoshi holds the door open, allowing Denki to walk ahead of him. But Denki had stopped, and just like yesterday in the locker room, Denki was staring at him again. This time, he makes his confusion visible.
Denki then smirks. “I thought you said you weren’t here to make friends, neighbor?”
It would have stayed that way, had you not come along and fucked up my plans. Hitoshi bites his tongue, rolling his eyes before dramatically bowing as he continues to hold the door open like you would a greeter at one of those fancy restaurants. Denki laughs, “Thank you, my good sir.” Mockingly, he nods his head at him before they make their way through the lobby and toward the elevator.
An elevator ride up to the third floor and four doors later, Hitoshi was grabbing his keys to unlock the door to his family’s apartment. Beside him, Denki took a deep breath.
"Dad, Pops, you guys home?” Hitoshi calls out as he steps in, leaving the door open for Denki to follow him. The door shut a few seconds later, right as Eri comes around the corner and darts for Hitoshi, wrapping her arms around his waist.
“Toshi, welcome home!”
“Yeah, yeah, you menace.”
“Oi,” Both teens (and the child) look up as Hizashi rounds the corner. “Ignore him, Dove.” Hizashi stops and pats Eri on the head before looking toward Denki. “Hey, little listener– Uh, are you okay?”
Hitoshi’s brows furrow and he looks back at Denki, who was currently covered in a light sheet of sweat and small particles of electricity crackled over his body. But the electric teen smiles nervously, bringing a hand up to rub the back of his neck.
"Hi, Yamada Sensei.”
“Oh please,” Hizashi scoffs lightly, “We’re not at school, kiddo. Call me Hizashi. Shouta!” He calls out, looking over his shoulder with an amused look on his face.
Seconds later, their homeroom teacher walks out of the living room and into the entry hallway, looking tired (as usual) but more relaxed within the comforts of his home. Upon seeing the teens, he sighs, eyes flashing red to cancel out Denki’s quirk.
“Kaminari.”
“Hello, Aizawa Sensei.”
Hizashi and Hitoshi rolled their eyes at the use of honorifics, only the older blond reached over and slapped Shouta on the arm with a warning look. “Oi, be nice. We’re not in teacher mode and he’s our guest.” He tells him, shaking his head before looking back at both teens. “Feel free to call him Shouta. Or Shou.”
“Do that, and you’ll be in detention for the rest of the semester.”
Hitoshi leans closer to Denki, speaking in a hushed tone. “Don’t let him fool you, he’s a softie, especially to Sushi.”
Denki blinks at him. “Sushi?”
“Oh! Speaking of food…” Hizashi then waves both the child and the dark-haired man away. Eri whines as she follows Shouta into the living room. “We’re ordering out for dinner tonight, want your usual?” He asks Hitoshi, who nods. “Great. Kaminari?”
Denki looks between the two of them nervously. “Uh… I’ll just have what he’s having?” He shrugs.
Hitoshi scoffs, “You hate sushi, though.”
Before Denki could open his mouth, Eri peaks around the corner, holding a white and fluffy cat. “He hates Sushi?” She sounds panicked, the cat in question meows in her little arms.
“He’ll have yours and Eri’s order, Pops. Come on,” Before anyone could say anything else, Hitoshi was walking Denki down the hall and into his bedroom, located right across from Eri’s room.
And had he looked back, he would have seen his parents sharing a knowing look. Instead, he shuts the door behind them.
Hitoshi took Denki’s overnight bag from him, setting it down by the door with his backpack. “Welcome to chaos.” He tells him before walking over to his bed and flopping backwards. “Don’t let my dad get to you. Just distract him with the cats and your set.”
Denki however, hadn’t moved. When Hitoshi looks up, he sees the blond eyeing the room, taking in every detail. To him, it’s the same room he’s had for the last couple of months since moving into the dorms. But if he were to get technical, the room was an exact copy of his old bedroom from their old place. So in hindsight, it’s the same layout he’s had for a little over a year and a half since Shouta and Hizashi had adopted him.
Three out of the four walls were painted a dark gray, the one wall at the head of his bed being painted a lilac kind of purple, almost matching his hair. His bed was up against the purple wall. On the left side of the room had his desk, some shelves that hung over his desk, and a beanbag chair tucked into the corner of the room with a standup lamp. On the right side was a bookshelf, a dresser, and the sliding doors that were the front of his closest. A few hero-themed posters were taped to the walls above his bed and dresser, some were of musicians though.
Overall, it was a typical layout for a teenage boy’s room. However, many would question the collection of cat-themed things in his room, such as the cat shaped squishmallow that sat amongst his pillows, or the cat themed clock that hung on the wall beside his bedroom door. Or the cat themed fairy-lights that hung from the ceiling over his bed.
"Woah.” Denki said.
“In my defense, Dad won me and Eri squishmallows at an arcade, and the clock was a gag gift from my aunt.”
"No, that’s not what I meant.” Hitoshi sits up on his elbows, looking at him confused. “Your room is a lot different than I thought it’d be.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, at the dorms, your room is all dark and edgy and I swear, Tokoyami sees you as a rival edgelord coming for his emo title.” The purple-haired boy rolled his eyes, “I wasn’t expecting to see it look so… cute.”
“If you think mine’s bad, you should see Eri’s. Her room looks like it was made for just the cats.”
“Speaking of,” Denki finally moves, now walking over to his desk and eyeing the shelves above. His eyes looked over all the trinkets and nicknacks. “You said you have three cats?”
“Yeah. Sushi is Eri’s, Coffee is Dad’s, and Mocha is mine.”
“I’m assuming “Sushi” is the one your sister was holding?” Hitoshi nods. “So which one is Mocha and Coffee?”
“You’ll see.”
“Can you be any more vague?”
“Perhaps.”
Denki huffs out a laugh, his eyes stopping on a framed picture. Hitoshi gets up from his bed and walks a couple of long strides over before stopping next to him, his eyes following where Denki was looking. He almost smiles at the photo.
“That was taken on my first birthday with them.” Hitoshi clarifies, pulling the picture off the shelf so both could look at it more closely.
The picture itself was simple, Kayama was with the three of them that day so she took the photo. Hitoshi was blowing out his candles (which he was too old for, as he lightly put it when they lit the candles), clearly biting back a smile. Shouta sat in the seat next to him, his arm bent to rest his chin on his fist as he looked at Hitoshi with a noticeable small smile, Hizashi stood behind the teen, hand on his back, mouth open with a smile like he was cheering.
That day was the day he realized that he wouldn’t be going back into the system, that all of that horror was behind him now. He would never have to deal with another social worker or walk into an unfamiliar house surrounded by people who hated him for something such as his Quirk, something he had no choice of choosing and was simply born with. He would never have to worry about being shoved into another closet and muzzled.
That was all behind him now, he was safe here.
“You looked happy.” Denki points out, the voice is noticeably quieter. Looking over at him, Hitoshi can see a soft smile on his lips as he keeps his eyes on the photo in his hands.
I am happy.
As Hitoshi sets the frame back on the shelf, he sees the blond look up at him out of the corner of his eye, “So, what do you wanna do?” Denki asked.
He looks the blond up and down, frowning. Noticing his frown, Denki looks confused, and Hitoshi crosses his arms over his chest. “Alright. Spill.”
“What?”
“You’ve been a nervous wreck about coming over since last night. What’s up?”
“Pfft, I’m not nervous.”
“My Dad literally had to turn off your Quirk so you don't accidentally shock everyone.”
“Please don’t say that your dad had to turn me off–”
“You little shit.” Denki laughs, and Hitoshi shakes his head in disgust, but mostly from amusement. “Seriously. What’s up?”
Denki looks around them, probably looking for a distraction right about now. Sighing in defeat, the blond cracks. “I’ve… Never had a sleepover before.”
A pause.
Hitoshi blinks. “ Huh ?”
“Like…” The blond looks down at Hitoshi’s chest, reaching his hands across the small gap (when did they get so close?) and starts picking at a loose thread on his jacket. “Obviously, with all of us living together, it’s like one big sleepover, right? But in reality, it’s more like we’re all roommates. And my school life before UA wasn’t exactly happy , so no one ever invited me to spend the night. Sure, I’d be invited to parties, but that’s different.”
"You’re telling me that the entire reason why you’ve been a nervous wreck is because no one’s ever asked you to sleep over before?”
Hitoshi watches as the blond flushes a light shade of pink. “Well, when you put it like that , it sounds stupid.”
“I didn’t say that.” Hitoshi says. “Why didn’t they ever invite you over?”
Denki shrugs, eyes dipping slightly. He looks a bit sad while he thinks of an answer. “I didn’t exactly have the best control over my Quirk before UA. Sure, I had friends, everyone would always tell me that I was easy to talk to and my personality made me the life of the party.” He says that last part with a bit of sarcasm in his voice, clearly not liking the title he was given.
Denki loses interest in the thread quickly, his hand now curling into a loose ball against Hitoshi’s chest as he continues. “I didn’t mind it, at the time. I was just happy people were hanging out with me. But when you can’t control your quirk when you get too excited and wind up electrocuting people because of it… Who really wants to be around you longer than they have to be?”
Hitoshi goes quiet for a moment, looking a bit surprised by the sudden drop of Denki’s background. He knew about the truth or dare story, given that they had talked about their sexualities before. He knew that the kids from middle school were assholes. But aside from that one story, Denki never gave any indication that his life before UA was all bad.
“I mean… You kind of are the life of the party.” Denki scoffs, and Hitoshi sighs. The taller of the two steps forward, leaving no space between them, which causes Denki to look up at him. “Even if they meant it as an insult, you are. Every room you walk into, everything lights up. Everyone is in a better mood when you’re around, you know how to make people smile, whether you’re joking around or just having a random ass conversation on who your favorite Naruto character is–”
“Which is obviously Neji. That guy was like, my pansexual awakening.”
"Eh, he was alright.” Denki audibly gasped in horror, making Hitoshi smirk. “Itachi was my gay awakening.”
“Well duh , of course you’d be attracted to the obvious gay character.”
"Anyway .” Hitoshi rolls his eyes playfully, and Denki smiles. “The fact that they singled you out for something you couldn’t control at the time just means that they were never worth being around, ya dig?” He mimics his Pops’ words, which spurs on another light laugh from the blond in front of him. “Don’t be nervous about this weekend. And you know what? I’m gonna make this weekend the best you’ve ever had.”
“Setting the bar high, are you?” Denki grins, leaning in a bit closer.
That’s when Hitoshi realizes just how close they are. Their faces were inches from each other.
But either Denki doesn’t notice or doesn’t care, because he continues to smile up at him. “And just how are you gonna make this the best weekend?”
Hitoshi only cocks a brow at him, that smirk on his face dipping down into a mischievous grin. “You’ll see.”
After a while, Denki’s nerves calmed down a bit. They didn’t leave Hitoshi’s room right away, instead, they were tucked against each other’s side and Denki watched as Hitoshi played on his Switch for an hour, Five Nights at Freddy’s three on the screen.
The blond frowns at the screen. “I never understood the third game.” He admits, “There’s only one animatronic and the story doesn’t make sense.”
Hitoshi eyes him out of the corner of his eye, “You know the story from the first game though, the one where the original security guard, or the Purple Man, killed the children and hid their bodies in the suits?” Denki nods, “Well, the last mini game cutscene in game three shows the souls of those kids getting revenge on that security guard, by killing him with the Springtrap suit.”
“Damn,” Denki’s eyes widened slightly. “He had it coming, but that’s brutal .” Hitoshi chuckles, and Denki looks up from the screen to look at his face. “You know a lot about the lore for these games, don’t you?”
Hitoshi shrugs, flipping through the game’s security cameras. “It’s an interesting concept for a storyline. The fourth game is the one I had trouble understanding since it doesn’t take place in a security room like the first three games and you have to rely on sound instead of cameras, you’re also not playing as an adult but as a kid.”
“Did you ever figure out the story for that one?”
“Eh, sort of?” The sound of a jumpscare makes Denki jerk, and the familiar game over title falls over the screen. Hitoshi doesn’t seem bothered by it though and looks toward Denki, “Again, they use mini games in between each night to tell you the story. At first, I thought the kid we play as was the same one we play in the mini games for the fourth game. The backstory is that the boy was being abused by his father and brother, and his brother tormented him a lot. Do you remember the bite of the ‘87 scene from the second game?”
Denki nods before Hitoshi continues. “The fourth game does a full circle back to that scene, the kid’s brother and his friends would pick on him, and one day when they were at the pizzeria for his birthday, they picked him up and brought him closer to Golden Freddy for a “kiss.” Hitoshi makes air quotations with his fingers before continuing. “Well, the kid was crying a lot, and his tears got into the wiring and caused Golden Freddy to malfunction, which caused its jaw to bite down on him.”
Denki’s eyes widened. “Are you saying his brother got him killed?” Hitoshi nods. “Oh my god.”
“That’s not the interesting part. Once I understood that, I came to the conclusion that the kid we were playing with wasn't the one who was abused and killed, but rather it was the brother. Cause in one of the scenes, you’re hearing what sounds like Fredbear saying “I will put you back together” before the kid dies.”
“So the animatronics in the fourth game are trying to avenge the kid’s death by trying to kill his brother.” Denki guessed, which made Hitoshi nod. “Holy shit, that’s fucked.”
“That’s just the conclusion I came to, though. There’s a whole load of people online who probably have way better theories and know how the lore goes better than I do.”
Hitoshi watches as the other shivers, “If their theories are just as gruesome as that one, I think I’m good.” Denki tells him.
Chuckling, Hitoshi opens his mouth to comment before he is interrupted. “ DINNER’S HERE !”
The blond jumps, but Hitoshi only rolls his eyes. Outside his bedroom door, they hear the sound of tiny footsteps walk up to his door, and on cue, there is a small knock on his door.
Hitoshi sets down his switch and walks over, opening his door to reveal Eri standing there. Her hands brought up to rub her ears, and he doesn’t blame her for it, knowing she was probably in the living room just a moment ago.
“Food is here.” She tells them, as if Hizashi hadn’t announced it for everyone in the building to know.
Both teens follow her out into the living room, the aroma of tonight’s takeout filling Hitoshi’s senses and reminding him that he hasn’t eaten anything except breakfast this morning. As they walk into the kitchen though, the three of them witness a humorous sight, which is Shouta scowling Hizashi as he rubs his temple tiredly.
“What have we discussed about using your Quirk to make announcements indoors?”
"Only do it if it’s an emergency?” Hizashi questions sheepishly.
Shouta sighs. “And is dinner an emergency?”
This time, the older blond straightens up with a hand on his hips and a finger pointing accusingly at his husband. “Considering if I weren’t around, your only source of food would be jelly pouches and coffee and you would have dragged our son into that same habit? Yes. Yes it is.” He grins.
Shouta raises a brow, “And our daughter?”
Hizashi shrugs, “We both know damn well that she takes after me,” He states as if it was common knowledge. “And we both know she would whip you two into shape if I weren’t around, ain’t that right, little listeners?” He turns his head toward the entryway, Shouta following in suit to see the three of them. “Also Kaminari, how do you feel about American food?”
“It is the second love of my life.”
Hitoshi scoffs, raising a brow at him. “And who was your first love?”
Denki’s expression softens. “My mom…” A pause. “Wait… No, hold on, that can be taken out of context–” Hitoshi swallows a laugh while Eri does not, a shade of pink colors the blond teen’s face. “Obviously I love my mom but in a platonic way– Oh god , I’m making this worse.” Hitoshi fails to swallow the next laugh that bubbles up in his mouth as Denki hides his face in his hands. “Quit laughing!”
“Whatever,” Hitoshi shakes his head, a smile on his face as he walks over to the kitchen table. “Come and eat the second love of your life.”
“Now you’re just being weird.”
Dinner starts off fine, Hizashi and Denki make small talk (mostly in English, which peeved Eri as hasn’t begun to learn any English just yet), Hitoshi ate his sushi in silence while Shouta was making sure Eri ate her food.
Just as Hizashi began asking about what movie they should watch after dinner, Eri asked Denki a question that nearly made Hitoshi choke.
“Are you and ‘Toshi dating?”
A pause.
Hitoshi jerks forward as a piece of his food nearly gets stuck in his throat, and Denki looks at the girl with wide eyes (and a blush). Meanwhile, both parents were both surprised, and amused by her question.
“Eri!” Hitoshi snarled, no real heat behind it, but he felt embarrassed.
Hizashi, biting back a laugh, speaks up, “Dove, why do you think that?”
The little girl shrugs, “He’s wearing Toshi's favorite hoodie. No one ever touches his favorite hoodie.” The notion makes Hitoshi sink down into his chair.
That little traitor! He wants to scream. His eyes flicker to Denki, and he almost looks away immediately when he sees Denki staring back at him, looking conflicted.
There was a pregnant silence for a moment. If Hitoshi had the courage, he would look and see Shouta looking between both boys with curiosity, as if he had already suspected something. Instead, Hitoshi kept his eyes trained on Denki’s.
The young blond clears his throat, looking toward Eri while shaking his head. “No, we’re not dating, Eri.” When she pouts, he almost looks apologetic. “Also,” He looks back at Hitoshi, “Your favorite hoodie?” He smirks.
“You’re sleeping on the floor.”
“Wha- Not fair!”
“Totally fair.”
“Anyway,” Hizashi spoke up again, making everyone look toward him, he swallows a laugh before continuing. “I was thinking we could all go to the mall tomorrow?” Cue an annoyed sound from the two anti-social family members. “I have to do some shopping for the house, anyway. And you three,” He looks at the three youngest, “Can hang out at the arcade for a bit too.”
“Can I get another squishmallow?” Eri asked excitedly.
"If you can win it.” Hitoshi grumbles, making her whine.
Denki rolls his eyes at his behavior. “Don’t worry, Eri, I’ll help you win a squishmallow.” He reassures her. “Your brother probably sucks at the games anyways so leave it to me.”
“Oh really ?”
“Yep.”
Dinner wraps up shortly after that. Denki helps Hizashi clean up while Eri was sent to the living room to look for tonight’s movie. Meanwhile, Hitoshi was about to go join her when Shouta stops him in his tracks.
"So,” Shouta starts, leaning on the doorframe that divides the kitchen from the main hall that leads throughout the entire apartment. Hitoshi stood in the doorway to the living room, looking back at Shouta. “You and Kaminari?” The older man raises a brow, “I thought we agreed on no more loud blondes?”
The question makes Hitoshi blush. Despite the ongoing joke that ran in their family, the implications that came with that joking question left him flustered. “D-Dad, no!” He hisses, peaking around Shouta to see that Denki and Hizashi were involved in their own conversation. “It’s not like that. Denki’s just a friend.”
"Just a friend that you’re on a first name basis with?”
Hitoshi doesn’t respond right away to that. Instead, lavender eyes flickered between his father and the boy in the kitchen behind the older man. “I swear, it’s not like that with me and him.”
Shouta looks at him for a moment, eyes narrowing onto him. “You know, even if they were-”
“They’re not.” Hitoshi says firmly. “Denki’s just a friend. Nothing more.”
A wave of silence falls over both father and son. Behind Shouta, they could hear both blonds lost in their own conversation (which was mostly in English), and behind Hitoshi, the sound of voices coming from the TV echoed in their ears as Eri flipped between channels.
Is he just a friend, though? One part of his brain nagged, and that made him tense. Of course he is. The other part of his brain argued. But… Do friends act the way we do? Denki’s laugh interrupts his thoughts and his breath hitches, he looks past Shouta and sees the blond tossing his head back with a loud laugh, a wide smile on his face.
And he couldn't get his heart to stop fluttering after that.