Shinsou insisted on paying for their food, citing the date as his idea and smoothly adding, "You can get the next one." Kaminari laughed but nodded, and the purple-haired man felt infinitely better about how the day was going.
It was late in the afternoon, but not too late that his father and papa would be at the radio station or doing underground hero patrol. He really wanted to see Kaminari lose his mind at finding out Aizawa was his dad. It was already extremely hard not to smile widely whenever Denki mentioned him. Shinsou was considering whether or not he could catch the moment on camera.
As they left the restaurant, Kaminari started up his chatting, and Hitoshi subtly took out his phone to text his papa.
You: Are you and dad home right now? I want to bring some someone special.
It barely took a second before he got a reply.
Loud Papa: Someone special!? Yes! We will be here! Should I make cookies?
Shinsou tried not to laugh at his papa's excitement. It's sweet to see him be so invested in his son's social life.
When Hitoshi was growing up it was always Hizashi who encouraged him to make friends and step out of his comfort zone. He'd never brought a date to meet them before, so he imagined his papa was over the moon. Shinsou couldn't help but wonder if Kaminari also knew 'Present Mic-sensei' or if they'd not really interacted before he dropped out. He was looking forward to finding out.
He also wanted it to be a proper surprise, and had a trick up his sleeve. "Kaminari, seeing as you are a gentleman, I imagine you'd like to walk me home?"
Denki stopped talking to focus on the other boy's words instead, "Yeah! I'm great at being a gentleman. Practically the best. I'll walk you home better than anyone else. Consider yourself walked! I'll be Eraserhead levels of cool."
A 'yes' would have sufficed but Hitoshi should have guessed the answer was never a bland one when it came to Kaminari.
"Eraserhead, huh? That must be very high levels of cool."
Kaminari nodded vigorously in response.
Hitoshi tried not to laugh, "It's not too far from here. Do you need to be anywhere later?" The two picked up their pace, and Shinsou noticed Denki had to take twice as many steps as he did to keep beside him.
Cute.
"Yeah, I have work at the cafe around dinner time. Just a small shift but uh, people hate working closing hours and somebody has to do it!"
Kaminari was clearly lying through his teeth, but it wasn't the right time to call him on it. Nor would it be a good way to reveal himself. Mostly because it would inevitably sound like: 'Stop being a liar! I know you're going on hundreds of weird internet dates for money. I know that because I'm one of them. Wanna get hitched?'
Not the suavest of plans.
The best course of action was to change subjects. When all else fails, turn to the weather.
"It's really hot out today." Shinsou pulled off his sweater revealing a black short sleeved shirt.
Kaminari wolf whistled, "Woah, nice muscles! It's a shame we have strict gun control 'cause dayuuum, those babies deserve to be seen."
Shinsou snorted, "You like muscles?"
"I like yours!" Denki winked.
Shinsou was blushing immensely and hoped Kaminari would just think it was from the sun. "Uh, thanks."
The blonde tugged on his arm, "Promise you'll hook me up with meeting Aizawa-sensei in the future? I wanna say thank you to him. He was the best. Or even just to say hello. I miss him a lot! It's been ages since I've spoken anyone from UA that wasn't the Bakusquad."
"Yeah, I'm surprised that Tsuyu and Ochako didn't recognize you. If you went to school together for a few months you'd think they would at least remember your distinctive appearance."
Denki shook his head, "Nah. I looked super different. Dyed all my hair black to get rid of the bolt in it, dressed in kind of muted tones, didn't have my ears pierced, and I was pretty short."
Shinsou gave him a condescending look, "What do you mean was?"
Kaminari laughed and lightly punched the other man's arm, "Oh, fuck off! We were having a moment, you bully."
Shinsou decided to take the chance to hold Kaminari's hand when it was dropped back down to his side. They clasped palms. "Are you okay with holding hands?"
Denki laughed, "We already are. You're a bit late to the party, big guy," and to answer the question more directly, Kaminari intertwined the other boy's fingers with his own.
The two walked on in silence, each enjoying the feeling of a warm hand against theirs. For such a small gesture it made things seem a lot more real than they had been.
The quiet wasn't the expectant kind. It was comforting to just feel close to someone while not being pressured to put on airs for another. Shinsou would have thought Kaminari hated silence but he seemed pretty happy just to be at his side.
Occasionally, the two would trade banter, but for the most part it was just warmth and quiet. These moments were made even better when Kaminari would lean over and feel Shinsou's biceps before making appreciative sounds. He fought hard to keep his mind out of the gutter.
It didn't take long till they reached the Aizawa-Yamada household, not that Kaminari knew it wasn't actually Shinsou's home, and the purple-haired man invited him upstairs. "Want a cup of coffee or something before your trip back to work?"
Kaminari batted his eyes coquettishly, "Oooh, already inviting me to your place for drinks? You must think I'm real easy huh? I'm super offended, bro."
Hitoshi made an embarrassed grimace, "Wait, that came out wrong. I meant just coffee. Like, the actual drink. Or tea. Not anything, you know...weird."
Denki fell into a small giggle fit. "I know, I know! Sorry! I just couldn't help myself. You're really cute when you're flustered."
Shinsou coughed nervously into his free hand and pulled Kaminari down towards his fathers' apartment. He knocked on the door, and Denki looked confused as to why he'd knock when he clearly owned the keys, but this was all cleared up by the scruffy and disgruntled man who answered the door.
Denki actually shrieked.
"Sensei?! Oh my god, Sensei!" Kaminari flew forward and wrapped his arms around Aizawa's waist in a very tight hug. Shinsou saw his father fall into a combat position for half a second before simply looking stunned. He eventually gave Denki a stunted pat on the back in return.
Shinsou didn't think that inviting his maybe-boyfriend back to his place would end up with said boyfriend in his dad's arms, but here they were.
When Kaminari stopped happily squealing he faced Shinsou with a huff, "Oh my gossssshhh! You just let me spend all that time gushing about how cool your dad is and you didn't say anything?!"
Hitoshi didn't even have the decency to look guilty about it, "Yep."
"You are the worst!" Kaminari quickly turned to his former teacher, "But, like, not really the worst, Aizawa-sensei. Your kid is pretty cool. It totally makes sense now. You two have a similar vibe. That tired but mysterious loner thing. Plus, he kind of smiles like you, which is less weird now that I realize it's your fault."
Aizawa continued to stare at the blonde boy with strained eyes, but Shinsou could tell his father was probably relishing the chance to try and intimidate his student once again. Denki just smiled like nothing was wrong, and continued to talk.
"Hero Today wrote this article on you like, last month or something? It was super cool! They even had a blurry photo of you, but I'd recognize that slouchy posture anywhere. Did you read it? It included a poll about whether or not you sleep at night. Gonna be honest, the 'yes' answers were way less than the 'no' ones. Have you tried warm milk or something?"
The teacher gave a small groan, "I had hoped your energy would mellow with age but I think it's actually gotten worse."
Kaminari chuckled, "That's part of my brand, teach! Can I come in? I wanna see what your house looks like. I'm calling it now- you've got at least two cats."
Shinsou took the opportunity he'd wanted since he had found out the man was friends with Ground Zero, "Oh, you want to meet Bakugou and Midoriya?"
Denki looked at him quizzically, before Shinsou pushed past his dad and grabbed the blonde's hand to lead him into the house. Kaminari 'oooh-ed' at the furniture, piles of books, and the orderly stacks of CDs that littered the living room and the hallway. This 'ooh' turned into an 'awww!' at the sight of two cats fighting on the middle of a beat-up rug.
"The angry one is Bakugou and the little guy is Midoriya. Dad named them one year into teaching your class. I'm sure you can guess why."
Kaminari went to try and pet one, "Because they are freaking adorable and they just make you want to cuddle them?"
Aizawa snorted, "Outside of Kirishima, I think you're the only one who feels that way about Bakugou. How you two ended up friends I'll ever know."
Cat Midoriya wiggled out from under the angry paws of Cat Bakugou and planted himself in front of Kaminari for some head scratches.
All of the ruckus must have alerted his papa because they were suddenly greeted by the tallest, and loudest, blonde in the house.
"Is that you, Kaminari?!"
Denki looked up and squealed, "Mic-sensei!"
Midoriya Cat was abandoned as Kaminari ran to greet his teacher. The two blondes embraced in a tight hug, Hizashi slightly swinging the shorter man around, before their excitement turned into happy babbling.
"How have you been Mic-sensei? It's been literal years! Wow, you look great, dude."
Hizashi waved a hand demurely in front of him, "Oh stop! I'm not your teacher anymore and you don't have to flatter me."
"No man, I mean it! I still listen to your radio show too. Last week's lineup was killer."
Shinsou had no idea the two men would snap right back into their student and teacher behavior, with just a touch of looking like old friends. It made him really happy to see Denki and his papa so excited to reunite. Aizawa looked on with a bored expression, but also with the slightest curl of a smile- visible only to those who really knew him. He must have liked Kaminari a lot more than he'd let on. Hitoshi felt some pride that the guy he loved was special to his fathers too.
Shouta sighed and looked at his son, "Of all the boys you could have brought home it had to be the student with the lowest grades in my class?"
Denki whined back, "Hey! I was good at English, right Mic-sensei?"
The taller blonde nodded vigorously before replying with his signature, "Yeeeaaaaaaahhhh!"
Kaminari kept smiling but clamped his hands over his ears. He'd have to be around a lot more if he wanted to become immune to the shouting.
Hopefully he will be.
The two excited men separated from each other, reluctantly, and fell into a flurry of "What are you up to lately?", "Did you hear about what happened to so-and-so?", and, "Yes, Bakugou is still a little shit."
Aizawa put a heavy hand on Shinsou's shoulder and sighed, "Look, I understand that you being interested in the loud blonde type is probably my bad influence, but take your time with this. Don't make the same mistake I did."
Present Mic perked up, "Mistake? That's not what you were saying las-"
Shinsou scrambled towards his papa to try and cover his mouth, "Aaaand, we're stopping that there."
Kaminari doubled over in laughter, which didn't earn him any points by the look on Aizawa's face. "Kaminari," he spoke gravely, "I don't have to tell you what will happen if you hurt my son. I'm sure you can imagine the many ways I could handle that situation. A relationship with him isn't a homework assignment. You have to put in the work this time."
Denki calmed himself down and wore a serious expression, "I promise I'll do everything I can to treat him right. I'm better with people than I'll ever be with math anyway, so that's not a fair comparison, but you can count on me, Sensei!"
Aizawa nodded solemnly, but Shinsou could tell that Kaminari was as scared as his dad hoped he would be. Serves the blonde's friends right. They can shovel talk Hitoshi all they want but everyone knows that you don't fuck with Aizawa. Forget erasing your quirk, he'll erase your life.
Hizashi put an arm around Denki's shoulders, "Come on, babe. He'll be fine! You know Kaminari doesn't have a mean bone in his body. Plenty of sassy ones, but he always meant well. He even tried to be friends with Mine-"
Aizawa cut him off, "We do not say that name in this household!"
Nobody argued, and from the stories his father had told him about the very unpleasant student, he understood why. To think that Kaminari tried to befriend such a person spoke to either bad taste or naivete. Perhaps it's both.
Kaminari stammered, "I-I mean, he wasn't like...Endeavor levels of bad. Just gross!"
Aizawa scoffed, but bringing up the number 3 hero brought a smile to Present Mic's face.
"Has our darling baby told you about his fight with Endeavor?"
Denki's eyes went wide, "What? You fought Endeavor!? How are you still alive? He doesn't even have a problem hitting kids!"
Shinsou sighed, "Remember the burnt desk you sat at during parent-teacher conferences? I had just seen Todoroki-san. He didn't like it when I tried to describe what even vaguely caring for a child looks like."
Kaminari bounced over to him and grabbed his hands, "Ugh, why wasn't I earlier that day?! I could have seen the verbal beatdown of the century! You're even cooler now!"
Hizashi was beaming at how cute the couple looked, and Aizawa was mostly likely- begrudgingly- accepting the newest potential member of their family.
Denki squeezed Shinsou's hands one last time before looking turning towards Aizawa and averting his eyes to the floor. "I wanted to say I'm sorry, Sensei. I know I was a lot of trouble in class. I was way too hyper and not too smart. You had to deal with losing a pupil and then having to introduce a new one...I feel really bad that I put you through that."
Aizawa raised one brow, "If you didn't give me trouble you wouldn't be a student. That's what being a teacher means. Just ask Hitoshi."
"But I wasted so much of your time…"
"Do you feel it was a waste, Kaminari?"
The blonde frowned, "Of course not! You taught me so many important things, and I met my best friends there!"
The teacher shrugged, "Doesn't sound like a waste of time to me, then."
Denki wrung his hands together, "Aw man, you're so nice. I can't tell anybody about you being this sweet can I?"
"Not if you value your life."
Kaminari beamed anyway, "You're too good to me, teach. As much as I wish I had stayed, even if it was just to learn more from you and Mic-sensei, I'm glad that you helped me leave. I wasn't going to be the type of hero UA needed, and I didn't have the heart to seriously hurt anyone. Did the person who got my spot do well?"
Hizashi spoke proudly, "She's the number 7th hero now."
Denki lit up like a Christmas tree, "No way?! That's so cool! Are you telling me that Hush, the Librarian Hero, was my replacement? Oh man, she totally rocks!"
Shinsou squeezed the blonde's hand, "And technically you're responsible for her success."
Kaminari's cheeks must have hurt from all the smiling. "I guess I am, huh? Dude, today has been awesome! I had a super good date, then I got to see my old teachers, and I made Hush a hero?! This world can't get any weirder."
Aizawa looked thoughtful, "I actually mentioned you to Shinsou a number of times back when I first started teaching you in middle school," he turned to address his son, "Kaminari is the one who broke the projector when he got the hiccups...every week."
Shinsou realized why that sounded familiar, "His niece practically did the same thing to me a couple of days ago."
Aizawa rubbed his forehead, "Oh dear god, it runs in the family. Tell me there aren't that many of you."
Denki started to count on his fingers, "We have me, my two sisters, one niece, plus my mom and dad. So it's only like, seven of us total."
Hizashi patted his head lightly, "Six, honey. It's 1+2+1+2. That makes six."
Kaminari went as pale as a sheet before stuttering, "I, uh...totally did that on purpose! I was just testing you!"
Shinsou couldn't stop himself from laughing.
Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose, "Good to see you haven't stopped being a headache."
Kaminari beamed, "Just like old times, right sensei?"
"Yes. Just like old times. What a joy."
Hitoshi couldn't help himself and turned to his parents, "What's the dumbest thing Kaminari ever did in your class?"
"Shinsou!" Denki squealed, looking to Mic for help.
Aizawa answered without hesitation, "I couldn't possibly rank them in levels of stupidity, but my personal favorite was when I surprised him during a training exercise and he started to cry. Of course, water conducts electricity so he immediately zapped himself. Which means that in the space of three seconds I had that boy go from sobbing in fear to wandering around the training field giving thumbs up to the students who were desperately trying to continue their battles without hitting him."
Shinsou winced, "That sounds more like an example of your sadism than anything else."
His dad shrugged, "You asked."
Kaminari had sought refuge in Hizashi's arms. The taller blonde politely didn't add to the conversation, even though Shinsou was 100% sure he had plenty of stories to tell. Whatever, he'd get those out of him later.
The purple-haired man checked the time. He knew that Kaminari's stream was starting in an hour, and as much as he loved spending time with the man, he'd hate to get in the way of what he loved doing. Of course, selfishly, Shinsou also wanted to see if he'd mention the date. "What time do you need to get back?"
Denki pulled out his phone, "Oh kittens! I'm gonna be late for my shift. But I wanna stay with you guys too! Ugh, but I can't miss it. Can I come back someday?"
"Perish the thought," Aizawa deadpanned.
Hizashi arched an amused eyebrow, "To see us or to see Hitoshi?"
Kaminari batted his lashes, "Both?"
Aizawa sighed with dramatic exasperation before saying, "I suppose." His old man was such a drama queen. God forbid he let on to one of his students that he likes them.
Shinsou was definitely going to tease him about it later, but first he was going to escort Denki out of this room. He could not handle wishing the boy goodnight while his parents looked on in judgemental interest. "I don't actually live here, do you want me to walk to home?"
Kaminari gave a soft grin, "Nah. You seem like the introverted type and you look like you've had enough people-ing for the next three days. Besides, it won't take me long."
Fuck, he's so right.
Shinsou silently thanked him before adding, "Either way, I'm not going to stand in front of my parents while saying goodbye to you. Let me walk you to the door?"
Hizashi made an offended scoffing sound, but Denki just nodded and followed Shinsou down the hallway. "Bye-bye, EraserMic!" Hitoshi was definitely going to be asked to explain that joke to them later.
They reached the door and the two were finally alone again.
"So, um…" Kaminari started first, "I had a lot of fun! Like, a lot. Not just seeing Mic-sensei and Aizawa-sensei. The most fun parts were with you. Though I totally liked seeing them as well! It was super nice of you to bring me here, dude."
Shinsou would have found the blonde's floundering cute if he wasn't just as flustered. "Yeah. It was nice. Seeing you, that is. You're welcome to visit any time. I know my parents and they definitely liked having you here. Ideally you'd want to spend time with me as well, but if you just want to see them I can make sure I'm not here the next time you come over."
Denki waved his arms in front of himself, "What? No way! You're like, 99.9% of the point! I really enjoyed our date, too. Can we, uh..do it again sometime?"
"I'd like that. A lot." Shinsou was worried that he was so happy his smile might have hit the Aizawa-grin level. Considering the other man didn't flinch at the mere sight of him it probably didn't get that far.
Kaminari had that especially bright look in his eyes, and Shinsou was completely lost in them. So much so that he didn't notice the kiss on his cheek until Denki nervously jumped back from it.
Hitoshi would do him one better.
The purple-haired boy leaned over slightly and cupped the side of Kaminari's soft face in one hand. He brushed a lock of hair behind his ear before pressing his lips to the other man's. It wasn't as quick as the kiss on his cheek had been, but it was still pretty short. It seemed the both of them had to work on their nerves.
"Whoa," Denki said dumbly.
Looking at the sweet blush and wide eyes in front of him took away any last vestige of his suave, and Shinsou murmured, "Yeah. Um, goodnight? I'll text you?"
Kaminari was practically vibrating with excitement, "Yes Cat."
Hitoshi closed the door in his face and heard laughter from behind it.
When he turned to go back he saw a fleeting arc of blonde hair disappear from the hallway. Upon returning to the room, Shinsou leveled a glare at Hizashi, "You saw the whole thing, didn't you?"
The blonde man tried to look innocent but was wearing the worst shit-eating grin he'd seen in a while.
"That's beside the point." Aizawa looked at him sternly, "Hitoshi. What the hell is an 'EraserMic'?"
Thank you so much to everyone who has commented so far! I do a happy butt waggle every time I see one 3.
