A/N: Opening weekend at the waterpark was a success! My lifeguard tan is coming in nicely already, complete with a watch tan line, tan lines around my t-shirt and shorts, ombre face tan going from light to dark because of my hat and sunglasses, and polka-dots on my feet due to my crocs… What would it take to convince you that the polka-dot tan lines on feet is the newest trend and everyone should join in?
"I'm getting better at ice skating, though, so that's a plus," Denki chattered as he maneuvered his character through the maze-like gamescape, leading Dabi and Shigaraki for once instead of following behind.
Denki was catching up his friends on everything that had happened since the whole incident happened at Kamino Ward, including everyone throwing him a surprise party after his mood had drastically and suddenly improved after the very enlightening visit from Toga.
"Isn't the nearest ice rink, like, three hours away from UA?" Denki heard Dabi ask through his headset.
"How do you even know that?" Shigaraki asked incredulously.
"Shouto made one of the training gyms into an ice rink for us! He's seriously so cool!" Denki bragged. After a pause, he added, "pun intended?"
"Didn't sound intended to me," Dabi quipped back with a laugh. "Just lucky."
"Yeah, maybe," Denki agreed, humor laced in his voice.
It was just nice to be playing with his online gaming friends again. It felt so normal after everything had gone haywire. It was especially relieving because of the fact that Denki wasn't sure he was ever going to hear Shigaraki's voice again.
"Can we stop here? Is it safe?" Shigaraki asked, pausing his forward movement in the game.
"Sure, but we can't stay for long! If we stay in one place for too long, the demons will track us down!" Denki warned, also stopping his own forward movement to join in the huddle of characters on the screen.
"I just need to grab some water. I'll be right back," Shigaraki stated.
Before Denki could respond, he heard a shuffling through his headset, then Dabi's distant voice in the background, like he had taken his own headset off, telling Shigaraki to stay put and that he would get him his water.
"Is there anything else you want?" Dabi asked quietly, but to no avail, because Denki heard it all.
"When Toga said that you had changed after your concussion, I didn't think she meant like this," Denki teased when Dabi got back to his controller and headset.
"We all know it wasn't the concussion," Dabi admitted shamelessly.
Of course, he was referring to the fact that Shigaraki almost died. If it weren't for the human AED that Denki could turn into, they would have lost him for sure. It wasn't like they could just waltz on into a civilian hospital and get someone to help. It wasn't like the heroes would jump at the chance of saving a villain. Well, most heroes, anyway, because Denki quickly showed that he didn't really care about the norms; he was just going to save as many people as he could.
"People say that you don't know what you have until it's gone," Shigaraki added gently.
"I don't ever want to find out, because having you almost gone was bad enough. You go out like that again, and Denki will have to save both of us, because I'm going to have a fucking heart attack."
When Denki and Shigaraki snorted, Dabi insisted, "I'm serious!"
"So dramatic," Shigaraki dismissed.
But Denki didn't see the light blush dusting Shigaraki's cheeks and the small smile gracing his face as he looked over at Dabi who sat next to him on the couch. Dabi did, though, and he smiled back just as genuinely, not even trying to hide how much he felt toward Shigaraki. No, not when he had gotten a reality check that time wasn't guaranteed.
"Anyway," Shigaraki started as they moved their characters forward, luckily not seeing any demons. "I've heard a lot about a lot of your friends, but you've never talked about Todoroki Shouto before, but you two are on a first name basis. I didn't know that you two were that close."
"I mean, we talk and train together sometimes, but we aren't best buds or anything," Denki answered, not realizing the trap he was walking into.
That's okay, though, because Shigaraki didn't know it was a trap that he was setting.
"Then why are you so casual about him? You have friends who you are close to that you still call by their family name when you talk about them," Shigaraki inquired.
Honestly, he was just curious about all of the dynamics of Denki's various relationships. Shigaraki had never had friends before, let alone a boyfriend, and he was unsure how to navigate certain situations. Denki was a social genius, so he figured it was a safe bet to use him as a role model in that department.
"Uh… um…" Denki stuttered over his response, unsure of how to answer.
He didn't want to lie to Shigaraki, but he couldn't exactly just blurt out that Dabi was also a Todoroki, so it felt weird to call Shouto by his family name when talking to his older brother about him.
"It's because I'm a Todoroki, too," Dabi said nonchalantly, like he didn't just give up a secret that he had been careful to hide since his not-death.
"What?" Shigaraki whispered.
His character stopped moving on the screen, and the other two stopped as well. This was a big moment. If Denki was in Shigaraki's place, he would have laughed and claimed that they were all Todorokis on that blessed day, but Shigaraki automatically took Dabi at his word, trusting that he was telling him the truth.
"Yeah," Dabi insisted gently. "I'm the oldest of the Todoroki kids. Everyone thinks I'm dead though, so don't go ruining my street cred, yeah?"
"Why?" Shigaraki asked quietly.
Denki stayed quiet, listening intently
"I can't have people thinking I'm some spoiled rich kid—" Dabi started but was interrupted by Shigaraki's clarification.
"—No. I mean why did you tell me that?"
Deciding to match Shigaraki's tone and answer seriously, Dabi simply said, "because I love you, Shigs."
Shigaraki cleared his throat nervously, and Denki took that as his cue to jump in and wreck the delicate mood.
"You're gonna have to do better than that, Dabi!" Denki blurted. "I literally saved Shigaraki's life, and all you did was crack some ribs! If anyone loves Shigaraki, it's obviously me!"
Denki smiled as he heard Dabi's boisterous laugh come through his headset. He didn't get to see Shigaraki's dumbfounded expression after being told that he was loved by two different people back-to-back. Dabi would be sure to tell Denki all about it later, though.
"So, you have hero genes, huh?" Shigaraki asked, finally finding his voice once again. "I read that heroes are more likely than villains to get a soulmate."
"What—why were you reading about something like that?" Dabi asked, genuinely curious and a little confused.
"I was researching about soulmates because of Kaminari's situation," Shigaraki offered vaguely.
"He loves me back!" Denki shouted into his headset, jumping up off of his chair and jumping around. "Take that, Dabi!"
"Woah—I never said—" Shigaraki tried to argue, but the evidence was there. If Shigaraki didn't care, he wouldn't have been researching soulmate stuff for Denki in his free time from gaming and undermining the hero society.
"You didn't have to!" Denki interrupted. "You love me! I know it!"
"Yeah… okay," Shigaraki admitted, defeated. "It's not too late for you to start to hear your soulmate, you know," Shigaraki added, directed at Dabi. "It would be later than average, but it's not exactly rare."
"If my soulmate isn't you, then I don't want 'em," Dabi declared confidently and without hesitation.
Shigaraki's breath caught in his throat. When he managed to speak again, he breathed out, "I love you."
The feed was silent, but Denki just knew in his gut that they were sitting there, smiling softly at each other and basking in the intensity of their feelings.
When a demon came out of nowhere on the screen, they all jumped. Denki actually screamed, as well, but he would deny it if asked about it. The jump scares of the game were amazing already, but they really took you by surprise when you weren't even paying attention to the screen.
"There goes our winning streak," Shigaraki muttered under his breath, but both Dabi and Denki could tell that he wasn't actually upset. It was confirmed for sure when Shigaraki joined in their laughter as they reset the game.
Hitoshi took a deep breath to calm himself before asking, "can I help?"
When Yamada turned to look at Hitoshi to see him gesturing vaguely in the direction of the various pots and pans on the stove, Yamada absolutely beamed and invited him over right away.
"I didn't know that you knew how to cook!" Yamada exclaimed.
Hitoshi quickly grew accustomed to the naturally loud volume at which Yamada spoke, no quirk needed. It was a relief to both Yamada and Aizawa when Hitoshi no longer flinched when Yamada spoke. Yamada had tried hard to tone it down, but old habits die hard, do they not? It was a relief to Hitoshi, too. He hated seeing the concern on his adoptive fathers' faces when he flinched at the loud and sudden voice where there had previously been blissful silence. He didn't want to add to the worry they already experienced on a daily basis as heroes. He didn't want to become another burden to their already hectic lives.
"Parentification at its finest," Hitoshi grumbled under his breath.
When he was met with silence, he cursed under his breath, turning to find Yamada looking at him with that same poorly concealed concern in his eyes.
"Sorry," Hitoshi quickly dismissed, "I didn't mean to bring the mood down or anything."
"There's no need to worry about the mood. The mood can always be lifted once again," Yamada argued, but kindly.
"That sounds like a direct quote from Principal Nezu," Hitoshi scrutinized, eyes narrowed at Yamada.
Yamada laughed loudly and sang, "guilty!" He continued, "but seriously, we want you to be able to talk about anything and everything with us. Both the good and the bad. Whatever is on your mind."
Hitoshi didn't detect any lies in Yamada's statement, so he told him about how in many of his foster homes, he was not the only child, and how many responsibilities fell onto him and the other older children in the home. At one point, two foster homes before he was placed with the Hamabis to be exact, he was responsible for cooking every meal for the seven-person household, while his older foster sister was responsible for cleaning and folding everyone's laundry, and his younger foster brother was responsible for cleaning all of the floors on a weekly basis. The three of them were also given the responsibility of looking after the younger children, which included another foster sibling and a biological child of his foster parents.
"It really wasn't too bad," Hitoshi shrugged as he stirred the liquid in the pot in front of him. "At least they didn't muzzle me or forbid me from talking. The other kids would even answer me when I would accidentally ask a question instead of refusing to speak in fear that I would activate my quirk. It was actually a positive change from the foster home before that. It just seemed to get better and better with every move after that, and—why are you crying? Did I say something wrong?"
Yamada tried desperately to hide his tears from Hitoshi, but this kid—no, his kid—had been through so much and had come out so, so strong when others might have given up. Yamada himself wasn't sure if he would have been able to survive something like that being only a child, or even then as an adult, now that he had thought about it.
"It must have been so lonely," Yamada settled on.
"No!" Hitoshi was quick to dismiss, not wanting Yamada to worry about him. "It could have been worse!"
Yamada's eyes widened at that, his mouth falling open. "How was it worse?!"
Aizawa had just wrapped up at UA, continuing to deal with the mess and tie up loose ends from one of their students being kidnapped while under their care. It was a huge mess, and Aizawa was grateful to come home to a calm, relaxed, and happy atmosphere with his husband and his pre-adoptive son.
Aizawa's hopes and dreams quickly shattered when he came home to Yamada in tears, sobbing loudly and holding a pillow tightly to his chest while curled up on the couch. Hitoshi swung his head in the direction of the door, eyes wide and panicked, seeking help.
"I'm sorry I broke your husband! Please help!" he requested quickly and quietly as Aizawa kicked off his shoes and strolled into the apartment, jumping from one mess to the next.
"What's the matter?" Aizawa asked, sitting down gently next to Yamada.
Even with the simplicity and bluntness of the question, Hitoshi had never seen Aizawa so soft, eyes open and attentive, no judgment or harshness, not even any sign that he was too tired to deal with yet another thing. It just added to the security that Hitoshi felt within his pre-adoptive family. It was so different from what he had experienced before, and much more in line with the Hamabis than he had initially realized. Typically, a sobbing spouse would be met with eye rolls, heavy sighs, and condensation about how dramatic they always were and what was it this time that set them off. With the Hamabis, and now Yamada and Aizawa, Hitoshi saw a true, soft kind of love and care that never wavered, patience that rarely broke, and infinite understanding and compassion for not only one another, but directed toward Hitoshi as well.
"Hitoshi told me something really sad, and then when he tried to fix it, more sad stuff came pouring out," Yamada sobbed. "Hitoshi, it's okay to cry and let those feelings out! See?!" Yamada wailed, gesturing to his own puffy, wet face.
"Uh, thanks, but I'm good," Hitoshi said, awkwardly looking around at everything in the room except for Yamada and Aizawa.
When Aizawa finally got Yamada settled down, they all traversed to the dining table to eat their dinner.
"Smells good," Aizawa muttered, grateful for any sustenance, but it obviously made it better that his husband was such a good cook.
"Hitoshi helped," Yamada offered with a smile in Hitoshi's direction.
"Oh? How did you learn how to cook?" Aizawa asked, bringing a spoonful of soup to his mouth.
Hitoshi saw Yamada's lip wobble, and tried to dismiss with, "oh, I just had a lot of practice, I guess."
It turned out to not be the right thing to say, if Yamada's re-energized sobs were any indication.