Six.

Six Kaminaris.

Shinsou didn't have the heart to tell Kaminari that the idea of two of him was terrifying muchless six.

With the information gleaned that means one Denki, two parents, and three sisters.

Three. Sisters.

Shinsou didn't do well with people as a rule. He never knew what to say and he had a habit of keeping every muscle in his face still while talking. He had often been politely, and sometimes less politely, reminded that his social skills could use a bit of polish. So far this hasn't stopped him from successfully getting an amazing ball of light for a boyfriend and a bizarre cadre of friends for a squad, but Shinsou felt this luck could only hold out for so long and perhaps that day has finally come.

"Dude, you look like someone dyed your cat pink with kool-aid. Relax! They aren't going to eat you." Kaminari grabbed his arm with both of his and pulled him close for a hug. It was nice to have a moment of quiet affection in-between the anxiety and fear he was stewing in.

"Why would any family need to be six people? Why don't parents just stop after one? Don't they know that's more than enough?" Hitoshi knew he was moping but it didn't stop his mood. "At least tell me they won't all be home at once?"

"The twins don't get out of school till later but Akari, mom, and dad should be home. Besides, they're all going to like you. If anyone gets the shovel talk it might be me again. My family is sassier than the whole squad combined."

Thanks, Denki. Now I'm even more excited to meet them.

"How do you know they'll like me? The second they find out about my quirk they are going to think I brainwashed you."

"I'll just have to make sure they know you didn't. You can regale them with how we met and you felt an immediate spark," Kaminari winked and shot a small burst of electricity from his hand.

"Ugh." Shinsou gently shoved the other boy off his arm before deciding he wanted the contact after all and threw it around his shoulders instead. "If dad finds out your family is mean to me they'll end up getting an unpleasant visitor."

"Dude, Dadzawa better not kill my family for being sassy with you!" Kaminari laughed but there was a tinge of nervousness in it. Aizawa didn't fuck around when it came to his kid.

Denki's nervousness had nothing on Shinsou's, however. The taller boy could feel the butterflies in his stomach growing with each step closer to the Kaminari household.

"We don't have to do this, you know." Denki stopped walking and gave the purple haired boy a sincerely affectionate look. "If it's too soon or you just don't want to deal with them I get it. They can be a bit much but I only wanted you to come with me so I could show off how awesome my boyfriend is. You mean a lot to me and I want to share that with my family, but if you want to go home it's cool. Be honest with me, ok?"

He sees right through me.

Shinsou felt Denki deserved him being braver than he was. He'd already subjected the blonde to his parents (specifically in the context of them acting as parents) and it was only fair. Plus, a little part of him did want to learn more about the boy he loved. What would his family be like? Is his room messy at home too? Does he look more like his mom or his dad?

"It's ok. I'm good," Shinsou pressed a kiss to Kaminari's nose, "let's go meet the parents."

"Ma! I'm home!" The blonde shouted before the front door had even fully opened. He kicked his sneakers off by the door and gestured for Shinsou to do the same. There was the nearby sound of footsteps and suddenly all that nervousness came back.

The first thing he noticed upon her entering was that Mrs. Kaminari looked astoundingly like her son. She was a slim woman of medium height, long wavy blonde hair fell down her back and that signature black lightning bolt wove its way through the length of it. She was very curvy, in a way that felt motherly rather than saucy, and she was only slightly falling out of her green blouse. Shinsou did his best to keep his eyes away from her generous chest. It just felt weird to see Kaminari with boobs.

Her most notable feature was her smile. That same dopey wide grin that Denki would wear when he was in a good mood. To see her and Kaminari look at each other was too pure to watch.

"Ma!" Denki flew in and jumped onto his mother with more force than Shinsou would have thought she could handle. Obviously, the woman could hold her own as she not only caught him but then proceeded to swing him side-to-side in the air.

"Denki! I missed you, my little bolt!" Mrs. Kaminari put her son down and finally turned her attention to Shinsou- who had been abandoned in the doorway and stood awkwardly with tense shoulders. Her eyes were just as golden as Denki's.

"I thought I taught my son better manners than to leave his friends to fend for themselves! Who is this tall sleepy fellow you've brought home?"

Denki pulled himself back but kept his arms around his mother's waist.

"I'll give you three guesses."

Mrs. Kaminari tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Well, he's too handsome to be your boyfriend..."

"Hey!"

"He doesn't look crazy enough to be one of your usual friends..."

"Mom!"

"Oh, don't tell me the poor dear got stuck working on a homework assignment with you?" Mrs. Kaminari looked playfully distraught as she spoke to Shinsou, "he might not be very smart but he plays well with others."

Kaminari whined, "I will literally die if you keep embarrassing me!"

The purple haired boy remembered his upbringing, bowed slowly, and added, "I'm S-Shinsou Hitoshi. It's nice to meet you."

"And he has manners? I hope you rub off on my son."

Denki immediately started laughing hysterically while Shinsou gave a fierce grimace.

Mrs. Kaminari's face went blank before she suddenly understood why her child was giggling, "Wait, you really are his boyfriend?"

Moment of truth.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Mrs. Kaminari smiled warmly, "if you're part of the family now just say Mom, ok?"

Just like that? No warning? No judgment? Is his whole family this open with people?

Even though Shinsou thought Yeah it is physically impossible for me to call you mom right now he nodded his head to appease her. It did the trick and she grinned.

"Come in, come in! I was just making a late lunch. Will you join us?"

"Yeah!" Denki answered, turning to face Shinsou. "You don't have a choice. My mom's cooking isn't Bakugou level, but she's super good."

Denki received a light swat on the head from his mother as she turned to walk back to the kitchen. Shinsou followed.

The Kaminari home was, thankfully, very different from Denki's dorm room. It was still colorful, covered in photos of the family and a variety of plants, it wasn't messy, but gave a very lived-in and homey impression. Shinsou liked it right away. He wondered what his life would have been like if he grew up in this sort of a place.

The kitchen was no exception. Bright and airy but cluttered with an unnecessarily large amount of kitchen supplies. Someone in the house clearly liked to cook. There was a fridge covered in photos and ugly children's drawings- as well as a few Pokémon magnets. A tall counter separated one half of the room from the other, serving as an island for preparing food or simply being a table. Denki automatically plopped himself down on one of the stools in front of it and motioned for Shinsou to do the same.

Mrs. Kaminari moved towards the counter to pick up a salad she had been putting together and moved it to the side so they could lean on it.

"So, tell me all about yourself Mr. S-Shinsou Hitoshi." She said while imitating his earlier nervous tone. Teasing seemed both popular and acceptable in this household.

Shinsou hated talking about himself. He never knew what to say that didn't come off as depressing or weird. He looked at Denki and made a silent request for help. It was answered.

"He used to be in the general education class but once they figured out how cool and smart he is they transferred him to the hero course! Aizawa-sensei even took him on as a protégé and he's never done that with any student before!"

"Impressive. I imagine your quirk must be quite powerful?"

Shinsou immediately felt his mouth go dry and his heart drop into his stomach.

"Um…"

She's going to think I brainwashed her son. She's going to think I'm a villain.

"It's nothing special."

Please drop the subject.

"He's being modest. Shinsou can control people's minds!"

It was nice being your boyfriend, Denki. I'll miss you. Send a postcard to me in hell.

Mrs. Kaminari looked at him askance. Seemingly regarding him in a whole new light. Just as Shinsou figured she would.

"You can order people to follow your bidding?"

"…If they answer a question, yes."

Then Mrs. Kaminari leaned over the kitchen table to meet his eyes sternly, her hands clasped together in an appeal.

"Can you please force my son to do his homework?"

"MOM!"

Mrs. Kaminari threw her head back and cackled, slapping her thigh at her son's outrage.

"Funny. I'd have thought Denki would have needed to brainwash somebody to get a boyfriend, and here he is bringing one home who can!" Her laughter only got harder, and Denki was red in the face and sputtering.

Shinsou was sure his own face looked ridiculous with his jaw dropped and surprised eyes. It appeared the Kaminari family's actual quirk was crushing his expectations of people.

"I mean, technically I could but I don't do anything against a person's will unless it's in battle. I'd feel bad doing that to Denki, even though I agree with your thoughts on his grades."

"You are both the worst! Shinsou, you're supposed to be on my side!" Kaminari gave him a distressed look.

"Why else would I be tutoring you?"

Mrs. Kaminari abruptly stopped laughing, "You're actually tutoring my son? I don't care how much the event costs I'm getting you two married before you change your mind. Would you rather be a Kaminari Hitoshi or have Denki go with Shinsou? I'm not picky."

"Why is everyone trying to marry us?" Denki and Shinsou said in unison, before exchanging a glance and a smile.

"I'm not surprised your little squad is supportive. Shinsou, dear, did they threaten you about hurting my boy or do I have to?"

"Actually, they threatened to hurt me if I didn't ask him out."

Mrs. Kaminari looked pleased, "yes that sounds about right. Good kids."

Shinsou felt comfortable enough with the woman to speak honestly, "they're all pretty weird though."

She looked at him with a smile that could only be described as proud. Apparently, Mrs. Kaminari likes some sass. More than Denki did right now, anyway.

"Hey, respect your elders!"

It took Shinsou a moment to remember their birthdays. "I am 48 hours younger than you."

This took no air out of Denki's sails as he looked into his eyes and seriously responded, "and so much happened in those 2 days that it felt like a whole year, 'toshi."

Mrs. Kaminari snorted before moving to restart her food preparations.

"You two want a smoothie? I was just about to make one for when the girls get back from school."

Mrs. Kaminari quickly began piling fruit into the blender before she placed the plug in her mouth and turned the switch on. She smiled around the plug and patiently waited for the berries and bananas to liquefy. Shinsou had always seen Denki in Mrs. Kaminari's face but seeing her chewing on an electrical wire made him realize the two were practically identical.

"So you got your quirk from your mother?"

Denki nodded proudly. "Ma can only do some low voltage and she has to be within 3 feet of it, but she can zap pretty good. Dad can't hold a charge for long but he can pulse some seriously strong waves of electricity forward if he gets enough static going. With their powers combined, I am super cool."

Kaminari took another moment to look even smugger and added, "I got all the good genes too. They skipped my big sis and then ran dry before the girls could get anything cool. They can barely cause a spark in a storm."

Mrs. Kaminari turned off the blender and took the plug out of her mouth. "Don't talk about your sisters like that. At least they don't short-circuit the living room while watching horror movies."

"That was ONCE!"

Watching the two go at it was like watching an adorably snarky tennis match. They lobbed jokes easily while still looking at the other like they had hung the moon. It was plain to see there was a lot of love in the Kaminari household.

"Shinsou, dear. Are you as rude to your parents as Denki is?"

"No, ma'am. Not usually."

Mrs. Kaminari looked disappointed, "what a shame. You look like you could use some more mischievousness in your life. You've definitely picked the right boyfriend for it- and what did I say about calling me ma'am?" The woman 'tsk-ed' at his politeness and walked over to the cabinets to fetch some glasses.

Denki grabbed Shinsou's hand and held it with a tight squeeze and whispered, "It's cool. You don't gotta listen to her. I can tell she likes you already though. If she didn't you'd be crispy by now."

"That's…reassuring."

"Whispering sweet nothings already? It's like watching your father and me. Except that one of you looks exhausted. We Kaminari are never short of energy. Literally and figuratively."

"Mom gets super lovey-dovey about dad. It's like Mic dialed up to eleven."

Mrs. Kaminari snorted but retained her loving look. "What can I say? There was an immediate spark." The phrase sounded familiar until Shinsou remembered Denki saying it to him earlier.

"So that's why you wanted me to tell her that?"

Mrs. Kaminari's face lit up with a near sadistic joy, "Denki, did you try and recreate your mother's romantic past?"

Denki's eyes went wide. "Fuck, I hope not."

"Language!"

Shinsou couldn't help himself. He could only handle so much of their antics before he started to laugh. A real laugh. An embarrassingly loud and long laugh.

The two blondes looked disgustingly proud of themselves. One of them especially; It was as though she knew he rarely did such a thing.

Shinsou coughed to get ahold of himself. "I'm sorry. It's just…you two are the same person. I can barely handle one Kaminari. Are there seriously six of you?"

Denki's mom started to pour the smoothies into clean glasses, "Never apologize for laughing. You look like you could use it. And yes, there are six of us in this house. If you start counting grandparents and cousins you'd probably faint so let's leave it at that!"

Oh god, there are a thousand Kaminaris running about the earth accidentally shocking people with static and confusing sleepy teens everywhere.

"You're right. I would faint."

Denki looked entirely unperturbed by how overwhelmed Shinsou was. "Where is everyone anyway? Shouldn't dad and Akari be home?"

"Akari is upstairs and your father stepped out to work on that damn bike again. I swear, the man has one mid-life crisis and a motorcycle is supposed to make him young again? If I have to be in my 50s then he does too."

It occurred to Shinsou that now would be a good time to tell the woman she didn't look her age, and she honestly didn't, but he was afraid it would come off as unfortunate flirting if he tried. The last thing he needed was his boyfriend thinking he was trying to pick up his mother when he was only intending to score points with the family. He took the smoothie handed to him and settled for small talk.

"How old are your sisters?" He sipped the drink and found it was delicious. It looks like Mama Kaminari has a way with food after all.

"Akari is 19 and the twins, Pika and Kira, are 13-"

"-and they are all annoying," Denki added between mouthfuls of his own smoothie. "But they are also cute so they get away with it."

Shinsou nodded sagely. "I have a feeling that's a theme in your family."

Mrs. Kaminari barked out another laugh and ruffled the poof of purple hair. Shinsou had never felt so mothered in his entire life and he'd dealt with quite a lot of Papa Mic.

The three heard the front door slam open with immediate high pitched chatter and the sounds of footfalls running.

"Ma, we're ho- oh my god who is this and why is he friends with big bro?"

The two girls piled into the kitchen but had soon stopped in dramatic shock. The entire Kaminari clan was very theatrical.

One girl, slightly taller than the other, had her blonde hair in two braids, each with a couple strands of black twined in them. The smaller girl had her hair in high short pigtails and kept a lollypop in her mouth. They must have taken more after their father because they didn't have the eyes and mouth that Denki and his mother did.

"See? Annoying. Can't even say hello to their loving big brother."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Shinsou Hitoshi. I'm, uh…dating your brother."

The taller one spoke first, whilst glaring at Denki, "How come you get all the handsome friends? If you have him then I get to keep your red-headed bestie."

Denki sighed as though this conversation was had weekly. "I told you, Kirishima is taken and trust me you don't want your arms ripped off for looking. Bakugou is a great buddy and all but he won't hesitate to cut fingers off anyone who tries to take his man."

Mrs. Kaminari gave an exasperated took and said to Shinsou, "You see why I was worried about who he'd eventually bring home?"

Now that he thought about it, Denki's family reminded Shinsou of a tiny blonde Bakusquad. No wonder Kaminari fell into that dynamic so easily.

The four started to bicker with that same affectionate look and absolutely filter-less language. It was starting to hurt Shinsou's ears. Denki must have noticed because he gave an apologetic look and explained, "Why do you think I'm so loud? I had to compete with these brats for screaming time."

"Alright all of you, use your inside voices and stop harassing Shinsou. I'm sure his impression of us is negative enough without the yelling." Mrs. Kaminari poured two more glasses of smoothie and handed them to the girls.

"So you're going to be a hero too, huh? What's your superpower then?"

Oh fuck, not again.

Denki jumped in with a taunt, "he can control minds so shut up before he makes you brush your hair for once."

This is exactly the opposite of helping.

"Please don't threaten your family with my quirk."

The twins only got more excited.

"That's so cool! Show us, show us!"

Shinsou was astounded. They weren't afraid of him and they wanted him to brainwash them? This family is insane.

"It's not really a party trick. I don't use my quirk on people unless there's danger. Sorry." Dadzawa and Papa Mic were going to get a kick out of this story later. He could already see Hizashi fitting in with this family perfectly.

"Aw, you're no fun!" the shorter one whined. "You can keep him, Denki."

Denki stuck his tongue out at his sister, "Gee thanks. I guess I'll keep dating him now that I have your blessing."

A new person filled the doorway to the kitchen. She stood tall and had her hip jutted to the side. She was dressed in tight shorts and a tank top. If Shinsou were a regular boy his age he would probably describe the eldest sibling as a "Babe." She was as curvaceous as her mother and as pretty as her brother, Kaminari Akari was a force to be reckoned with. She met his eyes with a smirk.

"Hey there, handsome. Can I interest you in someone better?"

"Akari!" Denki and his mother shouted in unison.

Shinsou turned to his boyfriend with a pleading look. "Denki, I don't think I can physically handle any more of your genetic pool right now."

"He's cute and smart? Denki is lucky that opposites attract." Akari stretched her arms up slowly, likely to show a little skin, but only really succeeded in making Shinsou incredibly uncomfortable.

Denki threw his arms protectively around Shinsou. "Will everyone please stop trying to fuck my boyfriend!?"

"LANGUAGE! At least not in front of the twins." Mrs. Kaminari bopped him on the head.

Denki only squeezed the purple haired boy tighter. "They curse more than I do!"

The shorter twin started to chant, "fuck, fuck, fuck!" and suddenly the lights went out.

"...Alright, which one of us just blew the fuse?"