The day had been long but Shinsou had done considerably better during training than he had been in the past. He even managed to fool Aizawa into answering him once when he faked a sprained ankle. His unofficial father was as annoyed as he was proud- even though Shinsou had made him skip across the room in front of a very amused class.

He'd only slept four hours last night, not a bad number with his track record, but he was feeling invigorated. He passed the common room to head to the elevator but abandoned that idea when he noticed a familiar face.

Shinsou spied the blonde sitting on the couch with books on his lap. It was obvious that Kaminari was spacing out from how he had his homework opened in front of him but looked as though he hadn't touched a single page. His yellow eyes were staring off into the middle distance and he was biting on his lip absently. Shinsou wasn't sure if the boy was nervous or if he was simply burnt out from today's classes.

He's alone. It's the perfect time. We have the afternoon free. Ask him out.

"Want to join me for a walk later?" Shinsou tried to sound as casual as he could but still brought a frightened jump from the blonde who was pulled from his thoughts.

"A walk?" Kaminari looked as hesitant as he did intrigued.

"Nothing big. I'm just picking cat food up real quick for Aizawa-sensei. Thought maybe you'd want to see the kittens the shop is trying to sell."

He stopped himself from adding please don't only spend time with me because of cute animals.

At first the blonde looked elated. Immediately after it turned to a guarded expression. Hesitant to trust something that sounded so good.

If asked, he would confidently say that the smaller boy had always reminded him of a cat. Probably not the first animal one would guess for such an outgoing boy, but Shinsou had his evidence. He was obvious and expressive when demanding attention, but nervous and uncertain if you caught him off guard. You had to be cautious with felines. Too much too soon and you'll lose its trust. Not enough and you'll lose its attention. Luckily, Shinsou had no lack of experience with them. He tried his secret weapon.

"Aizawa said he'd buy us food."

Kaminari's interest was piqued.

"What kind?" the blonde tentatively asked.

"Burgers, I think?"

Right answer.

Kaminari perked up immediately and abandoned his school work without a second thought.

"In that case, I'm already there. Let's go!"

Of course that was what sold him. Cats really did think with their stomach when it came to company.

The walk to the store was filled with innocent small talk, mostly on Kaminari's side, and the purple-haired boy was reminded just how comfortable he felt in the other's presence. For someone so hyper he brought him a lot of peace.

"-and now Aoyama isn't allowed in the room when Kirishima is helping Bakugou cook."

"Is everybody in 1-A absolutely insane?" Shinsou tried to sound more amused than judgmental but it was a question he had honestly asked himself since first meeting them.

"Hey, you're one of us too now! We're your people, and that means you have to start finding our flavor of crazy to be endearing." Kaminari was giggling and he felt the smaller boy's hand brush against his as they walked. The both of them blushed and fell silent.

"So, um…how many cats does Dadzawa have?" Kaminari was good at safe conversational changes.

"He only has three."

"Only three?! How many cats is your idea of normal? Will I have to dig you out from a house filled with nothing but animals and empty food cans in a couple of years?" The blonde was incredulous but appeared to be somewhat serious too.

"It's not that bad. I cat sit for Aizawa all the time and three are easy. They entertain themselves, stay clean, and are affectionate but respect boundaries. That doesn't change when you have more of them."

Kaminari gave an exaggerated sigh but stopped arguing since they had reached the store. The taller boy took his usual long strides towards the back, as he had already memorized the location of any cat items, and grabbed a big bag with a happy Siamese on it. Kaminari followed a breath behind him, he needed to take more steps to keep up. He hadn't said anything. Shinsou knew that the kittens were right by the cash register and looked forward to the reaction they'd get during checkout.

He wasn't disappointed.

"Cuuuuuute! Shinsou, can we adopt them?" Kaminari had already started reaching for one and was soon stroking the fur on its tummy with gentle devotion.

I'm standing in front of a box full of kittens and somehow he's still the cutest one.

"We are adopting?"

The smaller boy seemed unruffled and didn't stop petting the cat before answering, "yeah, you can be Dadzawa and I'll be Papa Mic. We can play house and raise 101 kittens like that movie but with cats."

"I'm telling them you said that," Shinsou paused before adding, "does that mean that we're a middle-aged gay married couple?"

Kaminari sputtered and looked for an out while Shinsou handed the sales clerk the money his "dad" had given him.

"Then I'm telling our teachers that you called them middle-aged!"

The playfulness in Kaminari's eyes was reassuring. He was not looking forward to the wounded face that Mic would definitely make at hearing that. Aizawa probably couldn't care less but he didn't want to chance it.

"Fine. We both keep quiet then and neither of us gets extra homework. Plus, you said three cats were too many. If we adopted all of these little guys we'd be taking home twelve of them."

Kaminari conceded the point but kept the pout firmly on his face. This only lasted about five seconds until he saw one of the smallest kittens roll onto it's back and reach out with its paws. The blonde quickly started to coo at it with more vigor.

Definitely made the right choice in bringing him here.

"Oh man, they've got those pink little toe beans! No wonder you're so obsessed with them. Don't think I didn't notice your pencil case has cartoon cats on it."

Shinsou refused to be embarrassed for what he felt was a gratifying and useful purchase.

"Come on, we have to get back to the dorms. You can play with Aizawa's cats while we eat burgers."

Yet again food was the right lure but Kaminari still looked disappointed to leave the little fuzzballs behind.

"If you want we can always come back to see them," he knew he was taking a chance but hoped the blonde would want to spend more time with just the two of them. He was very fond of his new classmates but he couldn't get a word in edgewise with any of them around.

"Really? We can come again?"

Shinsou felt his mouth form a soft smile.

"Definitely."

The two spent the rest of the night walking to Aizawa's room on campus and then eating burgers. Kaminari was talented at getting ketchup all over his face. Shinsou resisted the urge to lick it off.

One of Aizawa's cats was stretched out across his lap and nuzzling his stomach. He tried to teach Kaminari how to approach them but the other got too excited and learned suddenly grabbing at cats doesn't win you any affection. The scratch on his hand was minimal. The shorter boy dramatically held his hand up for him to examine it anyway.

"Do you think the bleeding is bad?"

"You don't need to go to Recovery Girl-"

"Oh good," Kaminari let out a relieved breath.

Shinsou continued in his usual deadpan, "-because you wouldn't make it anyway. That wound is clearly life-threatening. Sorry, Kaminari. It was good while it lasted."

"You are the worst!" The blonde couldn't seem to stop his giggling once his mind caught up.

"You've literally short-circuited yourself a hundred times. If a cat scratch is what ends your hero career I'm going to tell people I don't know you."

"Yeah, but you were supposed to look concerned and hold my hand, duh!"

The two fell into awkward silence. Shinsou had just started to reach out to the other and take a chance touching his fingers when the lock on the door was fiddled with.

"Honey, I'm home!" Mic cried upon entering and looked entirely unsurprised to see the boys sitting there with food on their faces and cats strewn nearby. "My son! Am I interrupting something?" Before Shinsou could answer Mic had already continued, "Ah, young love. Your father and I were just like that…except we weren't as messy when we ate."

Mic put his bag down and locked the door behind him. "Not to spoil your date but if your father finds you here after curfew he's going to scold us both." He came over and patted both boys on the head affectionately. "Don't worry, I won't say anything."

Shinsou had completely forgotten the time. It passed so quickly when he was with his crush. Kaminari started to gather his trash before suddenly stopping to slap his hand against his forehead.

"Oh crap, I totally forgot to do my homework!"

Mic cleared his throat, "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that and I look forward to collecting it from you tomorrow."

The shorter blonde groaned but continued to clean and collect his things before walking to the doorway. Shinsou started to do the same before Mic put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm going to talk to my son for a moment, Kaminari. Run along and finish your homework, ok?"

The aforementioned boy nodded vigorously and gave a surprisingly shy wave goodbye to Shinsou before taking off. Once the door was closed Mic turned to him with one raised eyebrow and a grin.

"Is that dear battery boy going to be my son-in-law?"

"He already calls you 'Papa Mic' but we haven't really talked about it yet."

Mic was beaming and the purple haired boy couldn't help but see just how similar that smile was to Denki's. Maybe Aizawa really is my dad.

As if thinking of him could summon the man, the door clicked open and the homeroom teacher walked in dragging his sleeping bag behind him. Shinsou prepared to explain himself, "Dadzawa-"

"It's a good thing I don't see Hitoshi here. I'd hate to have to give my son detention."

My parents are the best.

"I'm glad I'm not here too."

His father grabbed his arm before he left.

"If I'm Dadzawa does that make you Sonshou?"

Ugh.

"If you say that in front of the class no one will ever talk to me again with a straight face."

Mic lit up immediately and opened his mouth to speak. Aizawa and Shinsou cut him off in a deadpan but unison "Don't make a joke about the straight part."

"Fine, fine. But only if you get some actual sleep tonight!"

Perish the thought. Shinsou smiled.

"I'll try. Love you two. Night dads."

Before the door closed fully behind him he heard Mic wistfully say, "Our baby is growing up."