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“So, who’d you get stuck with?”
It’s late one night when Kaminari springs the question on him. Shinsou’s sleep schedule was — unsurprisingly — something to be desired, and Kaminari was sat at one of the common room tables, papers and workbooks strewn about like a that Gale Force guy had just stormed through.
He’d sat at the table closest to the kitchen — which he’d made the most of, if the snacks also whirled around the table were anything to go by. Shinsou remembered Kaminari being in the exact same spot when he’d gone up to attempt a full night’s sleep. Was he going to stay up all night? He’d be dead on his feet in the morning.
Stalling, Shinsou glanced down at his steeping tea, catching the time blaring at him from the digital clock on the nearby microwave. 2:41 AM.
“Wouldn’t telling you defeat the purpose of it being a secret Santa…?”
“Exactly something that you’d say if you got that person as your giftee! Interesting~” Kaminari sing-songed, framing his face by tucking his hands under his chin. “Well? Didja’ get me?”
“…I’m not sure what part of ‘secret’ is getting lost to you.” Kaminari kept batting his lashes at him. Shinsou took a long breath through his nose, fishing the teabag out of his mug. “No, I didn’t.”
“Nice! I mean— I am sorta curious what you would’ve gotten for me,” Kaminari shook his head, as if the motion physically exorcised it from his mind. “But, anyway, the real reason I’m asking is— I got Monoma. And I’m gonna be honest, I’m comin’ up blank here.”
“How’s that my problem,” Shinsou muttered over the rim of his mug, absently blowing on the still scalding liquid before taking a terse sip.
Class A was doing a secret Santa gift exchange, and decided to include Aoyama — of course. He would forever be a member of the class, even if he technically wasn’t anymore. The downside was, this left them at an odd number. 21 did not pair off evenly. They’d been at an impasse, when Monoma had materialized out of thin air — presumably to bother Bakugou, bait them into some sort of competition, something of that nature — and ended up volunteering. Apparently, Monoma leapt at any chance to ‘show their class up,’ even if it meant having to go out and buy something for one of the dreaded members of the class he claimed to loathe.
So, Kaminari had been the unlucky one to draw him. The one person he probably knew the least about.
“You guys hang out a lot, don’t you?” Shinsou didn’t really think so — nowadays, he hung out mostly with Tokoyami, Kouda, Shouji…people more his speed and decibel level. But Kaminari was already explaining himself: “And I can’t really ask anyone from Class B…Well, I guess there’s that Sen guy I sorta know…” He scratched his head, mussing up his already mussed-up mop of yellow hair. “Yanagi…? Ehh, but…” He scratched his head again, this time disentangling some hair clips that clattered to the ground. “—Shit! One sec.”
Shinsou continued making conversation with the bowed-over vertebrae of Kaminari’s back. “Again: how does this involve me…?”
“Oh, okay,” Kaminari muttered from half under the table. “So you don’t need any help with yours, right? I’m sure you know a ton about everybody in class, yeah? For the whole few months you’ve been here—“ he popped his head back up, shooting Shinsou a look that screamed come on, be for real. “—and being such a social butterfly. You must be all set, huh? ‘scuse me for asking.”
Damn it.
It didn’t help he had been assigned a difficult giftee.
Swallowing his pride and deciding to lead with logic, he drifted over to the table where Kaminari had set up camp, setting his mug on a discarded chip bag as a makeshift coaster. He leaned his hip against the table, waiting until Kaminari peered back up at him. If he was going to do this, he needed livewire-boy to stay focused.
“Yaoyorozu,” he admitted.
Kaminari blinked, his smarmy smile turning sympathetic.
“Yaomomo, oof,” he said. “What do you get the girl that’s got everything?” Shinsou had to agree; that was precisely the problem. “But, see, wait—!” Kaminari straightened in his seat, his already glowing eyes utterly incandescent now. “This is perfect! I have dirt— uh, intel on her.”
“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yup,” Kaminari nodded. “But you gotta fess up first! I don’t want you pulling the hmm, actually, I don’t really know, good luck— on me!”
“I wouldn’t even wish you luck.”
“Cold!”
He trained with Class B sometimes— actually, a lot of Class A students did. They did mixed practice matches often now, after the war. Sometimes Monoma would sit with him at lunch and yap about some inane thing. He usually checked out of conversations with the guy that didn’t involve strategizing, because he got on tangents about Class A or Bakugou or something or other that really, Shinsou could care less about. Shinsou was a competitive person too, but he didn't see the point in causing unnecessary problems for himself. It was hard enough clawing his way into the hero course, he wasn't trying to make enemies out of anyone.
Monoma wasn’t a bad conversationalist, though…there had to be something…he searched his memory.
“Comics,” he blurted.
“Comics?” One of Kaminari’s eyes squinted. “Like, American? Or Manga?”
“No, neither. They’re more ‘graphic novels,’ I guess…” whatever the difference was… “Uh…French ones. Or Belgian?”
Kaminari had somehow found his phone in the mess over the table and was typing furiously. He tilted his head at the same time he tilted his phone to show Shinsou what his search had brought up.
“Like Tintin?”
“Think so,” Monoma tended to repeat conversations, so something about…Asterisk…Tintin…it sounded familiar. A nebulous conversation floating somewhere in his subconscious.
“Huh. Was not expecting that… Alright then. Noted!”
“Mmhm. What about Yaoyorozu?”
“See,” Kaminari rubbed his chin philosophically, “the easy answer would be tea, but that’s also boring. And she can get her own tea. You probably won’t even get the right kind—“
“Kaminari,” he cut in. They were getting sidetracked.
“Right. Heh, okay, so…” Kaminari leaned forward conspiratorially, even though they were the only two people in the common area. Then again, Hagakure could’ve been lurking, or Dark Shadow drifted out of Tokoyami’s room sometimes… you never knew with this class.
“This stays between us, got it?”
“Sure.” Shinsou wasn’t a big divulger of secrets. Although he couldn’t pretend he might not use the information during training— he’d never beaten Yaoyorozu in a 1v1 match and wasn’t above wanting to change that, especially since she was the top of the class… Hmm. It depended how personal it was.
“Pinky swear.”
“I’m not—“
“Swear to me!”
Shinsou sighed, latching their pinkies together. There was a slight vibration that tingled upward at the contact, made the hair on his arm stick up. Like static buildup…
“See?” Kaminari’s smarmy smile was back, bouncing their joined pinkies up and down. “That wasn’t so hard.”
Shinsou yanked his hand away. “Just get on with it.”
“Alright,” Kaminari breathed, as if having to psyche himself up for the revelation. Which was surprising — Shinsou’s assumption was Kaminari was someone who was flippant with other people’s secrets. Had he misjudged? But then, he was still ultimately telling Shinsou — a relative stranger — did he trust him this much to tell him—
“She loves Magic the Gathering.”
Shinsou blinked.
“She…?” Had he heard right?
“The trading card game, yeah,” Kaminari, once he got going on spilling the beans, was now talking a mile a minute. Beans all over the place. “She’s super embarrassed about it. Which I get, it’s a real dorky hobby— I say that respectfully!” He was quick to assure. “But it’s like, Yaomomo… You’re top of the class, you read encyclopedias for fun— I think that ship has sailed.”
“…Interesting.” Well, it certainly gave him something to work with. And it should be affordable. He’d been agonizing over what he could get that wouldn’t garner pity from Yaoyorozu.
“Well, guess thats all the useful information my brain has today.”
“Uh, do you…” what the hell, he wasn’t doing anything — certainly wasn’t getting any sleep. “Need help, or…?”
“Or what!? Yeah, I need help! I need a miracle—!”
“No need to wake the dorm up.” Shinsou took a long swig of his — now lukewarm — chamomile tea. It was going to be a long night.
- - -
They’d stayed up for another hour or so before Kaminari started slumping over a little too often for them to get anything further done. Shinsou sent him up to bed and Kaminari ultimately agreed with one last jaw-breaking yawn. Gathering his things and drifting back to his room.
After Shinsou finished washing his mug, he went to leave, too — but felt himself step on something hard, even through his house slippers. With a hiss, he checked over whatever it was.
A bright red hair clip. He picked it up, figuring he could give it to Kaminari tomorrow— er, later today.
- - -
The next day was a Sunday, their day off in the week. He thought he had a full day ahead of him to focus and study, but a rhythmic knock to his door interrupted that.
"It's unlocked," he called.
“‘Sup,” Kaminari popped his head in. “Wanna go shopping together?”
“I’m studying.”
Kaminari looked at him like he’d started speaking another language.
“You’re already, like, sixth in the academics roster,” he said, still squinting at Shinsou like he was the weird one. “I think you can handle a break. Might be good for you.” He started tapping on the doorknob, the rings on his fingers clacking against the metal. “Your books’ll be here when you get back, you can study whenever.”
Right, but what if I want to be fifth? Or higher? He still had so much to catch up on…didn’t he?
He fidgeted with the corner of his workbook. “How do you know I didn’t already get her gift?”
“Did you?” Kaminari looked at him with baldfaced certainty. The answering silence was confirmation enough. “Thought so.”
One less thing to worry about. Whatever. “Fine—“ He shut his workbook with a huff. “Just. Let me get changed.”
“Gotta impress your hot date, I get it.”
“Get out,” he shepherded Kaminari away, who was still snickering out the door. “Shoo.”
He glanced around his room, thankful he was somewhat tidy. He organized his desk a bit, put his laptop into sleep mode. Kicked the wayward ganriki neko plush-pillow that he kept from the room competition last year back under his bed (it seemed like a waste to get rid of all the merch they bought…)
After a cursory glance out the window — looked cold, but not frigid — he drifted over to his closet.
In his search for an outfit, he opted for a black slacks and a turtleneck that he shoved a red sweater-vest over. His green sneakers clashed with the ensemble maybe (the ‘ensemble’? Maybe Monoma’s tangents were sticking) but he liked them — they were comfortable walking shoes. He got his wallet and stuck it in his crossbody bag with all his essentials — that also had his newly minted pro-hero license.
When he opened the door, Kaminari openly appraised him, his grin making his eyes scrunch up. “You clean up nice.”
Shinsou ignored the smoldering feeling in the back of his ears, using his long gait so Kaminari had to rush a bit to catch up to get to the elevator. “Do we have a pass?”
“Way ahead of ya’,” Kaminari reached into his back pocket, flicking out the laminated slip. “Got the beeper, too!” Both were safety precautions taken by UA after students had moved into dorms. The so-called ‘beeper’ was a tool that sent a warning to the rest of the class and staff that whoever was out needed help fast. Although it seemed unnecessary now, with how quiet villain activity was, Iida was a real stickler for it. And Shinsou supposed there was other types of emergencies that could happen, it wasn’t bad to be ready for anything.
“Wow. Actually prepared, that’s a surprise.” He winced, maybe that was too venomous— but Kaminari just blew a raspberry at him. Shinsou felt himself slouch in relief.
“This is important, man! I wanna make sure we get on this before everybody else buys up the good stuff!”
The elevator doors opened. Both of them did a quick once-over of the common area as they walked through. Asui was curled up by the nearest heater, swaddled in a multitude of blankets. Tokoyami, Ashido and Hagakure were gathered around the coffee table near the TV and had set up a game of karuta — which Shinsou knew from experience Tokoyami was extremely good at, and was not holding back his skill level if Hagakure and Ashido’s squeals of amazement were anything to go by. The TV was on, but turned down low, showing some variety show that didn’t particularly catch his interest.
They wanted to make a clean escape, but—
“Hey, guys!”
—of course Ashido caught them.
“Heading out?”
“Yep!” “Yeah.”
They both answered the same, but in starkly different tones.
Ashido looked between them, her usual mischievous glint turning to Kaminari.
“Where to?”
“The mall,” Shinsou answered truthfully. He figured it would dampen the whole thing if Ashido knew they ratted each other out about each others secret Santas, but if you were going to lie it was best to lead with some truths. It made the lie more believable. And Kaminari was looking frazzled, so Shinsou decided to leap in.
Ashido’s piercing gaze turned to him, and— okay, Shinsou could kind of understand why Kaminari froze up.
“Interesting…” He expected more questions, and was surprised when she just giggled and pinched Kaminari’s cheek. “Have funnnn. And don’t be stupid!”
As Ashido went back over to the coffee table karuta game and everyone was out of earshot, Shinsou picked the spool of thread of their previous conversation back up.
“It’s just a secret Santa, I don’t think anyones going to be upset at you for not going above and beyond.” He kept his voice low, just in case.
“Gotta go Plus Ultra, Shinsou.” Shinsou’s longer arm reached ahead of Kaminari, holding the front door to the dorms open for the both of them. Kaminari ducked under his arm with a twinge of red to his cheeks — probably from Ashido pinching it? And the cold…but he kept chattering away, his voice raising back up as they walked outside.
“And people say that— it’s always ‘oh just get me whatever’ but that’s a straight-up lie and you know it. Imagine if I got Ashido, like— a jar of dirt? Hey! You said get whatever, right? — She’d stuff me in the jar, dude.”
“But Ashido’s not your giftee."
“Oh, man,” Kaminari sighed so hard his breath came out in a harsh puff. “Monoma’s even more likely to pull that, then. He’d go copy a Quirk specifically that shrunk people down to jar-size or something. Wait!— doesn’t that Kodai chick from his class have that power? Shinsou, you’ll protect me from the shrinky-dink Quirk, right?!”
Shinsou huffed, pretending it was not a cut-off laugh, his breath misting in front of him. “Don’t worry about strange things like that, Kaminari…”
“I’m too good-looking and devastatingly charming to be trapped in a jar…!”
“‘Devastating’ is right.” Shinsou pressed his lips together, shoving his hands in his pants’ pockets. It was chilly out, but his layers were doing a decent job of keeping him warm. Maybe he should’ve grabbed some gloves, though…
“Are the holidays just about getting things, then…?” He felt a little bad potentially dragging the conversation down, but it was something he’d been thinking about.
“Well yes. But no! Lemme explain— stop laughing,” the main gate to UA passed from above them as Shinsou schooled his expression — he hadn’t even realized he was smiling. The muscles in his face felt taut from underuse. “People wanna know someone’s paying attention. Right?”
“…I think you can show that in ways other than buying them junk.”
“It’s not junk though…” Kaminari’s expression shuttered for a second, but disappeared so quickly Shinsou thought he might’ve imagined it. “If you shop right!” He cocked his head in the direction of the train station they were fast approaching, his steps getting brisker. “C’mon, Scrooge.”
- - -
The mall was awash with holiday decor. A bunch of medium-sized, thin gold Christmas trees and jumbo-sized gift boxes were set up, and there was lights strung up across every inch of the high-vaulted ceiling.
It was a little daunting. Shinsou didn't shop often, but thankfully Kaminari seemed to.
He'd pulled his phone out, tilting the screen so Shinsou could see.
“I looked up what stores might have the stuff we’re looking for in stock,” he made the outward pinching motion to zoom in on the map of the mall he'd pulled up. "Best bet for us is this books and comics store, they say they have trading card game stuff, too."
When they reached the store, they forked off into opposite directions. Divide and conquer.
Shinsou had never thought of 'shopping' as a skill up until then, and Kaminari definitely fit the bill. He found the TCG stuff easily, and Magic the Gathering boxes were in their stock. Unsure what to go with, he picked a few packs at random and bought them, then went to track Kaminari back down.
Glancing through each aisle, he found him down one eventually, his head stooped over, in rapt attention with a book.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
“Huh! Y-yeah,” Kaminari stuffed the book he was reading back in the shelf, looking sheepish. “Jeez, man. Snuck up on me.”
“Not really,” he hadn’t been trying to quiet his steps or anything, the hardwood floor under him creaked and everything. “You were focused.” Had he been looking at ecchi, or something? He glanced sideways at whatever Kaminari had been so endeared to — a shelf near the graphic novels, full of bunkobon. No where near the porn or even flirty bikini-magazines they kept near the seinen aisle. What was there to be embarrassed about? It was odd, since Kaminari was usually so shameless.
“Ehhh, just got distracted, you know me. Did you find what you needed?”
“Think so,” he wiggled the box he was carrying tucked under his arm. “I wasn’t aware there was so many...options.”
“Hehe, yeah! MTG is huge— they’ve got these final fantasy collabs lately.”
“You know a lot about it?”
“Uh—!” Kaminari’s hair stuck up slightly, frizzling out at the ends. “Naw, just. Conversation osmosis from Yaomomo, haha.”
And why does she feel comfortable talking to you about it, Kaminari? He was giving away tells without realizing.
“Hopefully we both got ‘em ones they don’t already have,” He was trying to redirect the conversation again. “Yanno, looking at these,” Kaminari squinted down at his purchases. “This guy Tintin looks a lot like Mirio.”
Shinsou felt his lip twitch up, teeth peaking out. “Ahh, kind of…”
“Can ya’ see it!?”
“I’m never going to unsee it.”
Kaminari’s cackle followed them out of the store.
Shinsou thought they were going to leave — mission accomplished — but Kaminari had other plans.
“You hungry?”
...So did his stomach.
“Guess that answers that!” Kaminari said around a laugh.
“I could go for some food,” his free hand came up to rub at the back of his neck.
They wandered to the food court, deciding on a happy medium with pizza. (Kaminari had wanted burgers, Shinsou was a vegetarian.)
“Oh! We can split a Margherita one! Their Margherita pizza is suppose to be really good. No meat in sight."
They chose a seat in the corner, placing their bags down and sliding into each seat. Shinsou also carried the pizza over, delicately placing it on the table after him. He didn’t want to say it, but Kaminari occasionally had bouts of twitching he’d noticed in class and training.
Thankfully, Kaminari didn’t ask.
He was annoying about it in another way, though.
“Wow, a gentleman. I’m swooning.”
Shinsou folded a napkin around his hand and reached for a slice with a click of his tongue and a shake of his head, assuming the heat rising to his face was from the steam wafting off the fresh pizza in front of him.
Kaminari was a little more careless, directly reaching for a slice and hissing at the heat of it, but still managing to shove half of it in his mouth.
“Oh, hey! Before I forget,” His mouth was still full, so the first part of his sentence sounded more like aheubefuIforgeh! He swallowed. “I got you something, too!”
“Hm?” Shinsou blinked. “Why?”
“Why not?” Kaminari shrugged, digging into his bag with his bookstore spoils. “Aha!” He took out a…silicone doll of some sort?— that he squeezed, and its eyes popped out cartoonishly.
“What— is this Edgeshot?”
“In his worm form, yeah!”
“…Bit morbid.” Shinsou hesitantly took the cursed object, then squeezed it himself, as if on reflex.
“Yeah, kinda— I wouldn’t show it to Bakugou, if I were you. But Edgeshot’s cool with it, I’m sure. They have to get approval from the hero themselves to sell merch.” Kaminari was already reaching for another slice of pizza. “The official stuff, anyway.”
“Mm.” Shinsou relaxed and reclenched his hand, making the dolls eyes pop out again. It was a little addicting… “Why did this make you think of me?”
“It’s just silly,” Kaminari waved him off. Or tried to. Shinsou kept his gaze on him. Kaminari withered. “And, uh…”
“What.” Kaminari’s hesitation made his hackles raise.
“You fidget a lot.” Shinsou tensed — making the squeezable Edgeshot’s eyes poke out more — but Kaminari was quick to explain. “It’s not bad! I do, too! It’s fine! I like, uh. Havin’ something to fidget? And that’s like, a stress ball…” He trailed off, eyebrows inching up. “You’re always stressed, I bet.”
“I’m not always stressed.”
“Suuure,” Kaminari rolled his eyes. “Ninety-nine percent stressed.”
“Anyway,” It was Shinsou’s turn to steer the conversation somewhere else. “‘Merch’ like this is another thing I won’t have to worry about.”
“Aw, you don’t want a squishy stress-toy that makes your eyes pop outta your skull? It’s kinda cute!” Kaminari reached across the table to poke the toy, their hands brushing momentarily. “Or a chibi plushie some crazy fan is going to spend an insane amount of money on trying to win you in gacha?”
“No way,” he shook his head, exhaling through another small grimace-smile that stretched across his face before he could stop it.
“Betcha’ you’re gonna get the wildest bootleg crap.”
“I don’t want to find out.”
“Oooh, too bad!” Kaminari’s face lit up with glee. “I’m totally tracking some down and sending you pics! Fangirls do not play about their favorite heroes, especially if they’re underground ones.”
“Half my face isn’t even visible.”
“Shinsou, Shinsou, Shinsou,” Kaminari tutted, shaking his head with a wry smile. “That’s all part of the appeal. Oh no, whatever shall I do, I hope a sexy masked stranger doesn’t come save me right now!”
“Sexy?” He balked. That was certainly not a term he’d heard in relation to himself. Sure, he knew he was vaguely attractive and tall — he got used to girls giggling when he passed sometimes, especially after the war. He figured it wasn’t any more than what the other hero class students dealt with, though.
“Th-thuh…eheh, the girl would think that.”
Shinsou chewed and swallowed another bite, unable to imagine it. Or maybe unwilling to. “…I doubt that.”
“Oh no, I hope a sexy AND HUMBLE masked stranger doesn’t come save me right now!”
“What are you saying…” Now that he thought about it, hadn’t Kaminari called him an ‘ikemen’ before, too? And said something about him being “popular with the ladies...” He was probably just being friendly, maybe trying to boost Shinsou’s confidence — although his looks were never something he concerned himself over or felt self-conscious about. Not more than wanting to look put together, anyway. He worried himself in circles over things that mattered.
Whatever it was, it was either sweet or irritating— if the case was Kaminari pitying him, definitely the latter. He hoped that wasn't the case.
He couldn’t parse which emotion to feel yet. But he didn’t have to dwell on it long — like a swiftly moving storm cloud, after they finish their food Kaminari was reining him around the mall.
Clothing stores, where Kaminari yammered about what was trendy, what Shinsou might look good in—
“Not that you don’t already look great!”
“‘Sexy,’ right?”
It was still embarrassing to say out loud, but the reaction from Kaminari was funny. Shinsou wasn’t sure why it was embarrassing him so much, he’s definitely said more embarrassing things…
100-yen stores, where they picked up some stocking stuffers — some macaroons for Monoma and a trove of energy bars for Yaoyorozu.
“I sorta double-cheated,” Kaminari admitted, as he grabbed for the ornate box of pastel-colored meringue cookies.
“Hm?”
“I got a little insight from Aoyama, too… he told me Monoma is always trying to talk to him about French food. These are French, right?” He shook the box.
“Yeah, think so. And the energy bars…for Yaoyorozu’s lipids?”
“You got it! Wow, maybe you do actually socialize…”
Before he could think about it, Shinsou reached out and pinched the top of Kaminari’s ear for that. But sense quickly returned to him — a little mortified, he turned on his heel and walked off to another part of the store before he could see Kaminari’s reaction.
“Oi!” He did hear him squawk, though. “Why’s everybody pinching me today?!”
Then an electronics store, what felt like every kiosk in the mall currently, another sweep around the food court because they “absolutely needed” slushees—
It was sunset by the time they finally seemed to be making their way out.
But of course, another thing caught Kaminari’s eye.
“Purikura!” He exclaimed. “I know it’s kind of a chick thing, but…!” Shinsou must’ve given him a withering enough look because Kaminari was already wheedling. “Pleasepleaseplease, this is the last thing! Let’s do it, please? I want a memory of today!”
Ugh… Shinsou’s icy stubbornness thawed.
With a sigh, he ducked into the booth after Kaminari. It was more spacious than he expected, but they still had to squeeze together on the bench and arrange all their shopping bags. Kaminari’s leg pressed against his, the chain he was wearing digging into Shinsou’s thigh a little.
…He still didn’t move his leg.
Kaminari took over the controls, picking a holiday-themed frame and pulling up the stickers.
“Gotta be festive,” he nudged Shinsou’s leg playfully. “—Okay okay, before we do anything crazy, let’s take serious ones!” Kaminari glanced over his shoulder at him. “I want a real smile outta you.”
“Sure,” Shinsou replied. “Wait. How many of these are we taki—“
“Cheese!”
A “serious smile” shot first, then a bunch of silly ones — at first, just Kaminari pulling the goofy faces — but it was hard not to fall in step with his antics. Eventually, Shinsou found himself making stressed grimaces and widening his eyes comically, and — in the final one, when Kaminari found a glowing set of cat ears he’d edited onto them — sticking his tongue out.
As the ‘Processing…’ screen popped up, Shinsou realized how they’d ended up sitting even closer. One of Kaminari’s legs was thrown over his, and the arm he’d been leaning on was actually halfway behind Kaminari.
He eased his arm back into his own personal space, resisting the urge to fidget. That messed up Edgeshot worm squeeze toy thing was lost in the menagerie of one of his shopping bags now, no use trying to dig around and retrieve it. And anyway he couldn’t deal with the knowing, shiteating smile he knew Kaminari would send him if it became clear he found that stupid toy to be useful. And…thoughtful.
They ended up with two strips worth of snapshots. Kaminari split them off down the middle, giving one set to Shinsou and holding his half up triumphantly.
“The day I got Shinsou to finally take a break from studying!”
Shinsou didn’t try resisting the pull of his smile this time, feeling it rest lopsided across his face.
- - -
Hunger sated and mood lighter, his studying went a lot smoother after they returned to the dorms, Kaminari’s laughter still echoing around his head.
Glancing at the strip of photos he’d thrown on his desk, he jotted down a note for himself before heading to bed.
- - -
The next day, he made a trip back to the mall by himself. It was a little embarrassing when the cashier recognized him, but hopefully he wouldn’t have to return a third time.
If you shop right!
He thanked his spatial memory, traversing his steps back to a specific shelf. Glancing, a little lost, over the titles—
but hoping for the best.
Something he wasn’t used to doing at all.
- - -
That night, a familiar knock pulled him from his fitful attempt at sleep. He already knew who it was — nobody else knocked with that weird rhythmic beat — and who else would have the audacity to show up to his room, uninvited, at this hour?
He walked, bleary-eyed to the door, pulling it open a sliver and— yep — unsurprised by who was waiting on the other side.
Kaminari grinned up at him, the picture of feigned innocent — like it wasn’t an insane time to be showing up at someone else’s dorm.
“Knew you’d be up.”
“Not a difficult conclusion to reach,” Shinsou muttered, pulling the door open slightly further, making a cursory glance down to all the stuff Kaminari had in his arms. “What are you doing up?”
Instead of actually answering, Kaminari wiggled his arms so the long rolls of glitzy wrapping paper and bows and bags strung off his arm all crinkled as he moved, like the world’s worst wind chime. “Wanna wrap our gifts?”
“Can’t do this in your own room?”
“Nope,” Kaminari chirped. “My neighbor’s Iida. I swear, dude could hear a pin drop. Jirou’s on my floor, too— and she literally can hear a pin drop. You don’t want her to deal with this, right?”
Shinsou blinked slowly. Kaminari blinked back with purpose, doing that battering eyelash thing again.
“Are you serious.”
“Boy howdy.”
“…” Shinsou sighed, for what felt like a long time, through his nose. “Get in here.”
“Yaaay,” Kaminari cheered under his breath, and Shinsou had to bite back a little smile. No, he can’t keep getting away with this!
“Wow, the infamous Shinsou of the Hitoshis’ room…”
He got a better look at Kaminari as he waltzed into his room, his eyes ping-ponging around already. Dressed in an oversized, wrinkled graphic tee and bright yellow sweatpants, he was a walking eyesore. His hair was relaxed, softer looking and falling even more in his face than usual. Though he haphazardly clipped some back.
Wait. Hair clips…
“Hey,” he called over to get Kaminari’s attention, whose eyes snapped over. Shinsou turned on his desk light, easily finding the bright red clip. “I, uh— here.” He went to hand it over, but found Kaminari was already standing right next to him.
“You kept this?” Instead of the hair clip, Kaminari was looking at the ridiculous squeeze toy he’d gotten him, perched on top of and only slightly obscuring the strip of purikura photos they’d taken.
“…yes?” Shinsou hedged, feeling out of his depth. “Should I not have?”
“There’s a Kaminari corner in here and everything, huh?”
“…You should keep better track of your things.”
“Sure, sure,” Kaminari’s grin only widened, rocking back on his heels. Clearly very pleased. He finally looked down at the hand offering him his hair clip, and shook his head. His hair, with all the usual hairspray and products washed out, actually moved with the motion.
“Nah, you can keep it.”
“What?”
“I think you need it more than me,” he swiped it out of Shinsou’s hand, then suddenly his hands were in his hair, snapping it into place. “—Definitely a look.”
“Looks stupid, I’m sure.”
“No,” Kaminari always stared at him like he was something worth being stared at. “You never look stupid.”
The sound of the crinkling and crunching wrapping paper and all the et cetera junk Kaminari was now hugging tight to his body broke the trance.
“If we’re just wrapping presents, why did you bring so much— is that a switch?”
Kaminari shrugged, making everything crinkle again. “Thought we could hang out, too.”
Shinsou ushered him — and all his wrapping paper, bows, stickers, bags, and apparently switch, to the soft rug he had in the middle of his room. Gracelessly, Kaminari plopped down and let everything tumble out of his arms.
Back to his desk, Shinsou opened one of the drawers just long enough to grab Yaoyorozu’s gifts and close it. There was something else in there he did not want Kaminari to see. Not yet.
Kaminari, rather than getting started on his gifts, was still looking awe-struck around his room.
Trying to force down the horror of being perceived, Shinsou sat down near him, glancing over the mish-mash of different wrapping papers. Some of these weren’t even holiday themed, they were clearly for birthdays or baby showers. He grabbed for some that they obviously wouldn't be using and pushed them off to the side.
“Are we doing this, or what?”
Kaminari jolted, turning and nodding like his head was on a swivel.
“Sorry! Just taking in the sights.”
“Not much to see,” at least compared to Kaminari’s room — when he first moved into the dorms, the class had given him a ‘room tour’ of everyone's — save Bakugou (who had already gone to bed, apparently?) A little ice breaker to make him feel more comfortable probably and get a feel for everyone. Kaminari’s room had been a walking knick-knack store…maybe it wasn’t a surprise he had all these wrapping papers, and was versatile at shopping. Lots of bold colors, using skateboards as shelves, cheetah print sheets. It was exploding with with his gaudy, brash personality.
Shinsou’s room, on the other hand — it was muted, like him. Not minimalistic like Shoji’s or overly organized like Iida’s, but just…safe. A place to tuck himself away. His bike was hung up on a rack on the other side of the room, and he’d attached a pull-up bar on the other side. He had some bags of cat treats stashed randomly around the room, so he could grab them when Kouda was doing his stray cat tagging work and he was available to help. He couldn’t figure out what there was to glean from his room, wondered what Kaminari was seeing through it.
“You ever play Pro Hero Brawl?”
“I’m not much of a gamer.”
“Ohohoho, you will be.”
“Why does that sound like a threat.”
“‘Cause it is.”
As always, Kaminari easily took hold of the conversation. They finished their wrapping surprisingly quickly (and surprisingly diligently, in Kaminari’s case— it was like multitasking a conversation somehow made him more focused.)
“Finally!” Kaminari exclaimed, quickly shushed by Shinsou — Satou was a great neighbor, he didn’t want to not return the favor. “Finally,” Kaminari repeated, in a stage whisper. “Now I can kick your ass at Pro Hero Brawl— I mean, graciously teach you Pro Hero Brawl.”
Against the glow of his TV screen and the flurry of activity from the game, he somehow — against all logic — fell asleep.
- - -
“—cut it out, Ashido!”
“Aw, but it’s cute you’re carrying it aroun—“
“Hey, Shinsou!” Kaminari yelped over her as he approached, shoving something quickly into his notebook, trying to change some topic. “Gift exchange’s today, you ready?”
Shinsou got situated in his seat. Per the updated seating chart, he sat a row behind and diagonal to Kaminari. It wouldn’t have been his first pick for seating — he was stuck in between Kirishima and Bakugou, and in front of Sero…Although, surprisingly, Bakugou was fine during class. Oddly quiet and clearly focused; that worked fine by him. But Kirishima and Sero…thankfully, they tended to drift around the room during class off-hours.
Shinsou nodded, a little delayed, trying to get his bearings this early in the morning. His neck still had a crick in it from the odd angle he fell asleep in. Kaminari had gone back to his own room by the time Shinsou got up.
“I’m so excited!” Ashido’s voice bubbled out. “Hopefully everyone gets something they like. Or like, can exchange in a White Elephant type deal, maybe.”
“Already planning the back-up plan in case your gift sucks, huh Ashido?” Sero grinned good-naturedly.
“Listen~ I’m just saying, guys usually suck at shopping. And this class is like, 90 percent guys.”
“70 percent, actually!” Iida’s voice carried across the classroom. To be expected, for the class president.
“Yeah, thanks, Iida,” Ashido waved her hand dismissively, her painted, holiday-themed nails catching the light. “Anyway, I’m dying to know who got Monoma. I'd be lost!"
Kaminari and Shinsou shared a look. Shinsou was a bit more subtle about it, Kaminari ended up looking like — like that Shrek picture he sent the group chat sometimes.
Thankfully, Ashido’s insane social cue senses didn’t have time to catch up, because the door swung open and everyone rushed to their seat. Time for class.
- - -
After classes ended, Yaoyorozu, Iida and Satou had rushed ahead to make final preparations for the holiday party — like the mall had been, the common room was decorated to the tens for the season.
Tinsel strung along each of the windows, glittering against the already setting sun, a wide array of Satou’s personally baked pastries set up on each of the tables…Midoriya had brought down an All Might themed nutcracker that he was suppose to add to the overall decor, but ended up just carrying it around. Too worried to part from it. Still, Shinsou could occasionally hear the prerecorded I am here! traveling around the room with Midoriya. Todoroki had added an ice sculpture he’d — apparently — spent all week studying the art of to get it ‘just right.’
A tree set up in the corner, strung up with ornaments and lights — all the gifts were already under it. Everyone had managed to sneak theirs in as the week passed…somehow.
First, Shinsou went up to his room to get his…Santa suit. Apparently, the class all had matching red and green suits they’d worn last year and wanted to repeat the tradition. And Yaoyorozu had (literally) hand-made him a customized one. Shinsou could be a wet blanket but he wasn’t that much of a wet blanket. Of course he was going to wear the stupid suit.
Changed and as ready as he was ever going to be, he slunk back down to the common area — making a beeline for the pastries. Satou’s baking went fast and he didn’t trust any of these vultures. Once he collected his treats, he found Kaminari sat on the couch next to Tokoyami and plopped on his other side.
Kaminari’s attention immediately focused on Shinsou, and he pointedly ignored the way his heartbeat stumbled over itself. “Shinsou! Wow, you went crazy at the buffet, hehe.”
Shinsou shrugged. He loved food, sue him. Kaminari didn’t have any place to talk, he could see the evidence of powdery sugar still on the side of his mouth.
“And your suit! Oh my god,” he bapped at the personalized ornament at the end of the hat. “A brain! Yaomomo did great.”
It was fitting.
More and more people filed in. Punctual as always, Monoma made his presence known when the door swung open.
“Happiest of Holidays, Class 2-A! I hope you had fun while it lasted! Are you all ready to lose?!”
“HAH!?”
“It’s a secret Santa, how do you lose at secret Santa?” Kaminari had leant closer to Shinsou, murmuring in his ear.
Shinsou already felt tired. “…They’ll find a way, I’m sure.”
“Happy Holidays to you as well, Monoma-san,” Yaoyorozu greeted him with her usual grace. She knew how to deal with him — her effusive politeness was hard to bristle at. “Since you’re our guest of honor, I’ve procured you a matching suit, if you’d like.”
“Ahaaaa…trying to make me look ungrateful this quickly. I’ll wear it! …Gratefully!”
“Man, what,” Shinsou could hear Sero say from the couch nearby.
“It’s actually kinda funny seeing him struggle to deal with Yaomomo’s Ojousama-ness.” Kaminari continued murmuring to Shinsou.
With everyone gathered, presents began to be exchanged.
“…Shinsou!”
Upon hearing his voice called, he snapped out of his christmas cookie-induced haze (Satou was that good). He walked over to where Yaoyorozu and Iida were handing out gifts to accept it, walking back over to his previous spot.
It was rectangle shaped and felt on the thin side, but hard-covered. It could’ve also been something else in a deceptive box…he shook it experimentally near his ear. Didn’t sound like anything was inside something else. Hm.
“Kaminari!” Kaminari’s body heat and gentle thrum it always carried when he sat close enough left momentarily, as he got up to retrieve his own gift. And—
“Aw, man!” He heard Kaminari wail.
“Oh, Kami! Not again!” Sero guffawed.
“I’m cursed! Seriously! Who did this!?” Kaminari slumped back on the couch, carrying a — it was clearly ball shaped.
“Uh?”
“I got gifted this last year,” Kaminari was full-on pouting. “Somebody thinks they’re reeeeal funny.”
“Someone here can’t even shop for their own classmates?” Monoma tsked. “That seems… discouraging.” Despite what he was saying, his expression was one notch away from salivating. Of course he was ready to jump at the chance to prove his class was ‘better’ at— gift-giving? — whatever the thought process here was, it was lost to him.
“Hmng,” Kaminari made a vague sound of annoyance, unable to argue with whatever point was being made.
Rather than taking turns, everyone waited until all the gifts were handed out and began unwrapping them. After the final gift was handed out — Ojiro’s, it seemed — everyone got to work.
“Well then!” Monoma set down the cookie and tea he’d been busying himself with, dabbing his mouth with his napkin. Then he rubbed his hands together, taking almost impish glee in the whole situation. “Let’s see what a questionable job one of you did,” of course, Monoma had to make a production out of opening his present. Slowly he peeled the red plaid wrapping off, like someone slowly whittling the skin off an apple.
His look of glee slowly faded the more he unwrapped. And his unwrapping became more frantic, especially in the last seconds.
“Wh— whuh.”
Shinsou pressed his lips together, glancing askance at Kaminari, who looked like he was trying very hard not to crack up.
“Who…” Monoma looked utterly lost, as if the concept of getting a gift from someone in this class would be good, well thought-out, planned, asked about. As if someone would agonize or fret over what he’d like. Well, Kaminari had. No jar or shrinky-dink Quirk to worry about then, Shinsou supposed.
“Ahaha, I— hm.” He fell back in his seat, looking shell shocked. Then he abruptly stood up with his gift and walked to the far corner of the room, staring down at his gift like it was a puzzle he needed to solve.
“Is that…good?” Kaminari whispered hesitantly.
“Let’s hope so,” Shinsou teased, grinning a little meanly when Kaminari snorted out a laugh.
“Oh my,” they heard Yaoyorozu exclaim. Kaminari’s head snapped over, but Shinsou peered discreetly.
“What’d you get, Yaomomo?” Jirou asked from where she was sat next to her, as always. She was holding a dark scarf in her hands, with little music notes sewn in. Asui, maybe…? She sewed sometimes.
“Ah— oh, nothing!”
“Are they tarot?” Ashido piqued up.
“N-no, it’s…”
“Oh, MTG!” Midoriya said, All Might nutcracker still tucked safely under his arm. “I have some box sets.”
“‘Cause you’re a nerd.” Bakugou muttered from nearby — in his weird way that sounded stuck between an insult and an endearment.
“Who got Yaomomo that, though?” Hagakure asked. “That’s not her style at all.”
Shinsou started sinking further into his seat. Had Kaminari set him up…? No, that wasn’t…he wouldn’t…
“It’s definitely a guy’s gift,” Ashido shook her head in dismay. “I told you guys, they suck at—“
“I, that is. I…” Yaoyorozu looked completely flustered, but her eyes were shining. “I like it. Thank you very much, whoever this is from.”
Shinsou let go of the breath he was holding. Kaminari nudged him with his elbow, winking from the corner of his eye. Shinsou nudged him back.
Relieved, Shinsou finally went to open his gift. The more he tore away, the more he could figure out what it was. It was a book of some note— or, wait. A calendar— ah. A planner.
It was a neat little dark purple planner. All in all, not bad. Something he’d definitely use, but…
He looked over at Kaminari, who was still sulking down at his gift. Yep, that was a basketball alright… It would’ve been fun if the person had stuck another gift inside, somehow. If that was the gift he’d gotten last year, and he hadn’t been particularly excited then…
“Hey,” he nudged Kaminari until his sad puppy-dog eyes turned up to him. “Come on.”
Shinsou stood up and Kaminari trudged after him. The party was getting in full swing now that the gift exchange was done. It was dark out already, and from the tall windows of the common room, Shinsou could make out wisps of not-quite snow falling.
He lead Kaminari up to his room, ushering him inside. As he approached his desk, he felt his heart hammering, like the heartbeat was trying to lodge itself directly in his throat — why was he getting so nervous? He reached in to what had been designated the ‘gift drawer’ for the past few weeks.
Pulling the gift out quickly, before he could second guess himself, he stacked it under the planner. Kaminari was sat on his bed and had listlessly started rolling the basketball around in his lap.
“Let’s trade,” Shinsou said, holding the stack out to him.
Kaminari blinked at the offering. His eyes flitting a few times, back and forth between the stack and back up to Shinsou.
“You sure? No take-backs…”
“I think you need this more than me,” he shook the planner. Kaminari snorted, already looking more perked up.
“Now that I think about it,” Kaminari started, as he handed the basketball over. “What’re you doing being a hero? The Lakers need you.”
Shinsou sat on the bed next to him, then let himself fall back, feeling all his exhaustion catch up to him.
“Hey, there’s somethin’ else— …here…” Kaminari’s voice trailed off. Shinsou stayed put, too nervous to move. But he kept his eyes on Kaminari, wondering if he’d done the right thing.
“Um, you…?”
“…you like those books, right? Classics.”
“I… how?”
“That was the shelf you were looking at.”
“Yeah….yep, it sure was. Haha,” Kaminari ducked his head, a giggle bubbling out of him. “Kinda understanding why Monoma reacted the way he did, what the fuck…!”
“Shopped right.”
Kaminari finally lifted his head, flopping down sideways. He stared at Shinsou until he glanced over, meeting his eyes shyly.
“Um,” rarely, it was Kaminari who looked out of his depth. His eyes were wide and shiny, and his face was a shade of red Shinsou didn’t think he ever saw him have. “For real though, thanks.”
“For real, you’re welcome.”
Kaminari wiggled closer.
“I dunno who got me that basketball again,” ah, he was changing the topic. Shinsou was starting to recognize the pattern. “Asshole. Actually— now that I think about it, it was probably Sero. Hitoshi,” Shinsou’s breath caught. His steadying heartbeat went back to skipping. “You’ll help me get him back, right?”
“How would I do that,” his voice was a murmur, his eyes closing to get a reprieve from the sun staring back at him.
“Maybe embarrass him on the court.” He patted the basketball that Shinsou had loosely held in his arms.
Shinsou’s lips twitched up. “Not likely.”
Kaminari’s hand rested over his. Shinsou was too nervous— it was too early for him to flip his hand over and let it be held… not yet. But soon. He wanted to. He really did.
Kaminari didn’t seem to mind, just let his hand rest there. Waiting for Shinsou to be ready.
“Merry Christmas, Hitoshi.”
“Merry Christmas, Denki.”