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“Oh, there’s Kirishima!” Denki stretched up on his toes, waving his arm over his head. “We’re over here!”
Kirishima strode forward, through the crowd at the train station, and happily slapped Denki’s upraised hand. “Kami-dude!”
He staggered back a little, palm stinging from the force of Kirishima’s high-five. Jirou snickered, nudging his shoulder from behind to push him forward.
“It’s the perfect day for this, right Bakugou?” Kirishima gushed, wrapping an arm around Bakugou’s shoulders. The other boy just made a grumpy sound and looked away, but Denki could tell he was enjoying himself.
The whole squad had gotten together to go to the zoo today. Ashido had invited Jirou along, saying she needed another girl for backup today, and Denki had invited Shinsou. Then, at the last minute, he’d realized that would leave Todoroki home alone for the day, so they’d dragged him along, too.
“Is that a new bag, Kirishima?” Denki asked, eyeing the messenger bag Kirishima had slung over his shoulder.
“Yeah, isn’t it cool?” Kirishima said proudly. “Check it out, I found all these patches for it.”
There were logos for several heroes and hero agencies sewn haphazardly to the front of the bag. Denki recognized the logos for Crimson Riot and Fat Gum, among others, before Kirishima swung the bag back into place.
“It fits so much stuff, bro. I can totally be the alpha today!”
Denki paused, eyebrows raised. Jirou made a choking sound behind him, and Sero muffled a laugh behind his hand.
Todoroki was frowning. “Isn’t that—”
“Don’t tell him!” Ashido whispered. “He doesn’t know what it means. Don’t ruin this for him.”
Kirishima, oblivious to their conversation, was digging around in his bag. “Ah-ha!” He pulled out a tube of lotion and waved it around. “Alright. Who forgot their sunblock before they left?”
“Sunblock?” Denki echoed as Sero sheepishly took the sunblock from Kirishima.
“I told you. I’m the alpha today,” Kirishima replied, grinning at Denki. “I’ve got bug spray if we need it, too, and let me know if you forgot your train pass. I’ve got you covered.”
Behind him, Sero was coaxing Todoroki into applying sunblock. Ashido had linked arms with Jirou and was whispering something into her ear. Bakugou was glaring out toward the trains, his hands tightening into fists.
It was like that the entire journey to the zoo. Kirishima made sure everyone made it on the train, bought them all water bottles when they arrived at the station, and made one last check for sunblock or other necessities before they entered the zoo. When Ashido complained that the glare from the sun was hurting her eyes, he pulled a baseball cap out of his bag and offered it to her (she declined it, so he stuck it on Todoroki instead, when the other boy started to get curious looks due to his bi-colored hair). When Bakugou grouchily wiped his sweaty hands on his pants, Kirishima produced a handkerchief for him, despite the loud, empty threats of getting his face exploded off his body.
When Shinsou told Denki his head was hurting from the noise of the crowd around them, Kirishima was there with headache tablets and earplugs. When Jirou’s stomach growled, Kirishima ushered them all to a set of benches and pulled out handfuls of snacks he’d packed for the day. When Sero started to get a blister from wearing unfamiliar shoes for the trip, Kirishima had band-aids and ointment. When Denki was nervous about using the public bathroom by himself—well, Kirishima didn’t have anything in his bag for that, but he did accompany Denki to the bathroom and stand outside the door to make sure nobody bothered him.
“He knows the whole alpha male thing was a myth, right?” Shinsou whispered to Denki, when they were gathered at the wolf enclosure.
“I don’t know what Kirishima knows,” Ashido whispered back, leaning in front of Denki to grin at Shinsou. “Hey, wanna see who can come up with a problem he can’t fix with his little bag?”
They didn’t have to wait long to find one.
They’d found the butterfly house and were standing the line at the entrance. Bakugou had said he wasn’t going in, until Shinsou made a comment about how it was okay to be afraid of bugs. So they were all in line after all. The crowd in the line was a little intense, with a group of schoolchildren on a field trip filing in just behind them.
They were just little kids, like elementary aged. Denki had smiled at first to see the hero T-shirts and hats they were all wearing. He remembered being that age, and how the coolest kids in school were always showing off their hero merch.
Two of the kids had T-shirts with Endeavor on them. Even after everything that had happened, that man still had a presence in Japan. Denki couldn’t really blame them—they were just kids, after all. They couldn’t possibly know what everything he had done.
Then Todoroki pulled his cap off to adjust his hair.
They’d gotten a few intense looks all day. People recognizing them from the sports festival, maybe. But the moment Todoroki revealed his distinct hair, the whispers started.
He put it on again immediately and ducked his head down, but the damage was already done. One of the elementary teachers approached him, tapping him on the shoulder. “Excuse me? Aren’t you Endeavor’s son?”
Kirishima didn’t have anything in his bag for that…but he moved in anyway.
“He gets that all the time,” he laughed, putting himself between the woman and Todoroki. “See, Aizawa, I told you not to dye your hair like that.”
The woman took a step back. “Aizawa?”
“Yeah, Shouto Aizawa,” Kirishima continued. “Those are his brothers, see?” he added, gesturing to Denki and Shinsou.
Shinsou raised a hand lazily. “The resemblance is uncanny, I know,” he said dryly.
“But I was sure….”
“Well, he ain’t,” Bakugou snapped. “So back the hell off.”
The woman muttered something, moving back to join her group and whispering with the other teachers. Kirishima slung a protective arm around Todoroki’s shoulders and nudged him forward in line, laughing loudly at one of Sero’s jokes as he moved.
“That was some fast thinking, Kirishima,” Ashido whispered, when they’d moved a little further away from the elementary school group.
“Yeah, well, I said I was going to be the alpha today,” he replied, winking at her over his shoulder. “I totally meant it.”
“Okay, I have to know!” Jirou caught the back of Kirishima’s shirt, stopping him in his tracks. “What do you think that means?”
“Being an alpha?” He turned to face her, smiling broadly. “It’s simple, right? It’s an alpha, you know. You’ve gotta make sure your bros have everything they need. If you wanna be an alpha, then your main job is to provide for everyone else. So, I got this cool bag so I could bring snacks and sunblock and anything else we might need today, because I want to be an alpha you can rely on!” He struck a pose, flexing. It would have probably been more impressive if he hadn’t been wearing an ancient rock’n’roll T-shirt with the sleeves torn off and mismatched crocs. With socks.
Ashido clutched at her chest and slumped against Denki. “Too pure,” she croaked.
He leaned on her, hand pressed to his forehead. “We must protect him at all costs,” he gasped.
“So you think being an alpha is being the group mom?” Jirou asked flatly.
Kirishima grinned and shot her a thumbs-up. “Being a mom is pretty manly, if you ask me.”
Sero ducked behind Shinsou, covering his mouth with both hands to hide his laughter. Bakugou rolled his eyes and turned away, arms folded.
Todoroki stared blankly at Kirishima, head tilted to the side. “An alpha…is a mom?” he asked slowly.
Shinsou heaved out a sigh. “Let’s say yes and stop talking about it,” he suggested, putting a hand on Todoroki’s shoulder to steer him forward. “Here, look at the pretty butterflies, Shouto, forget everything the crazy person said.”
Kirishima just trailed after them, staring at a map of the zoo he’d produced from his bag. “Oh, hey, the petting zoo’s open! Hey, Bakugou, wanna go pet some goats?”