Usually, after such extended social interactions, Shinsou would retire to his dorm room, turn off the lights, and pretend he wasn't there if anyone knocked. So far it hadn't failed to keep people away, and even Midoriya had once believed Shinsou must be sleeping and wouldn't wake him as he was glad his friend was "finally getting some rest!"

What the class didn't know was that Shinsou actually slept fine. He got his 8 hours and never woke up during the night. He just had one of those faces that looked like he hadn't seen a bed in months. It made him recall how Mr. Kaminari had commented on his "dead" appearance, which might have embarrassed him if he didn't make the world's smoothest comeback afterward.

I think that family brings out my inner bitch.

He was pretty proud of himself. Even though Mr. Kaminari had legitimately scared the hell out of him before he started laughing and whining about his bike. Shinsou noticed that his particular tone of whining was definitely where Denki had gotten his from; slow and high pitched by the end but not to the point of squeaking.

That whole family was insane. As further proof, when he was in the elevator at Heights Alliance he noticed something odd under his foot and found that Denki's big sister had slipped a piece of paper -with her number on it and a heart- into his shoe. Shinsou wasn't sure if the girl was trying to scare him, which she successfully had, or just mess with his head. He wouldn't put either past the Kaminari family.

Shinsou had crumpled and tossed the phone number into the trashcan -though he did consider leaving it out on his desk just to see Denki's reaction- as soon as he walked through the door. He toed off his shoes and dropped his jacket onto the bed. The purple haired boy found himself torn between reporting the bizarre adventure that was Kaminari's family to his own dads and just laying down and not getting up for three days.

His decision was made for him when his phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket to see a number of missed messages.

Dad: Will you be home tonight? I'm making lasagna.

Dad: Ok, Hizashi is making lasagna but I'm taste testing.

Dad: I have been banned from taste testing.

Shinsou snorted and imagined the, highly likely, scene of Hizashi chasing Aizawa out of the kitchen with a spatula in hand. It wouldn't be the first time. He texted back:

You: You probably deserved it.

There were more messages. This time from Papa Mic.

Other Dad: r u coming home tonite?

Other Dad: ur father got in2 a fite with the cat

Other Dad: he lost

Other Dad: dont make me guilt u in2 coming home

Other Dad: i made lasagna

Shinsou could never say no to Mic- a problem he thought he must have inherited from Dadzawa through the sheer amount of time they've spent together- the blonde had a puppy face like nobody's business. The parallels between him and Kaminari were growing by the day and he's still trying to decide if that's a good or bad thing. His dads did love each other very much and were certainly quite happy. Shinsou definitely wouldn't mind following in their footsteps. Especially if he got their cool pro hero life with it.

You: Yeah. I'll come over. Give me a minute to drop my stuff off.

Other Dad: just come here

You: I just got back from meeting Kaminari's family. I need a moment to decompress.

Other Dad: o lord

Mic certainly had a way with words. Shinsou had a feeling Hizashi would find the stories funnier than Aizawa will but was more likely to seek vengeance if he told them poorly. This was going to be a difficult exercise in communication.

"Huh, your hair isn't gray," Aizawa said upon seeing his son closing the apartment door. No 'hello' or 'how are you' ever really happened. He was used to it at this point. He was also wearing the pink "You gotta be kitten me" shirt Hitoshi had gotten him for his birthday. Shinsou made his way to the couch and sat next to his father who was petting one of their cats. Looks like the two made up.

"Why would my hair be gray?"

Aizawa stroked the cat's belly, a small scratch on his hand, "Hizashi told me you went to Kaminari's house. I had a parent-teacher night there once. I found six new gray hairs the next morning. One for each of them. I can't imagine how much worse it would be if I was dating their only son." His father gave him a careful look from head to toe. "You seem unscathed."

Shinsou looked away and scratched the back of his neck, "I'm probably a bit scathed."

Mic poked his head into the living room, his Eraserhead Themed apron around his neck.

"Did someone give my baby trouble?" His eyes were narrowed and it looked pretty scary when paired with his still smiling face.

"Please don't hurt my boyfriend's family. They were actually pretty...fun?" Hitoshi wished he hadn't nearly gone up an octave at the end. "Honestly. They weren't that bad. His mom is really cool."

Aizawa nodded, confirming he had felt the same way about the Kaminari matriarch. "Did his older sister try and flirt with you too?"

Shinsou's eyes went wide, "She seriously did that to you as well? She slipped her phone number into my shoe. I don't even know when she did it."

Mic face was a mix of amusement and concern. "You never told me you were courted by one of them, Aizawa!" He was huffy but too in love with his husband to look legitimately angry.

Aizawa shrugged, "I tried to repress the whole evening before I even got home."

Shinsou started to feel defensive of the, yes odd, but well-meaning family that welcomed him. No matter how strange that welcome was.

"Denki said the whole Bakusquad wasn't allowed back for ages, but the Kaminari's told me to come back soon," he enjoyed seeing the proud look on Aizawa's face, "they even thought my quirk is 'cool' and 'fascinating.'"

Hizashi nodded as though there was never any other possible response. If only that was true with most people.

"Of course they did. Our boy is the best boy. I'm glad they can see that."

"Especially that older sister," Aizawa smiled in that unsettling way Hitoshi had mastered only days into their training, the scar under his eye crinkled.

"Ugh." Shinsou shuddered, "I'm trying that repression technique you mentioned, please don't remind me of her."

"You learn everything so fast," an affectionate ruffle of his hair from Aizawa always made him feel better.

Then Shinsou recalled something he wasn't sure he wanted to share. But the battle of wits between him and Mr. Kaminari was so good he wanted to show off.

"I may also have insinuated I was sleeping with his son every night-" Mic immediately choked on air.

Yeah. I definitely could have put that a better way.

"-which I'm not for the record, but it beat his attempt to scare me so I don't regret it."

Aizawa looked unsurprised, which made Shinsou wonder what his father must think of him if that story seemed expected.

"Did he give you the shovel talk?"

Shinsou's smile soon resembled his father's as he remembered that sweet moment. "Sort of, but I did out-engineer him with motorcycles and imply his wife said his quirk was weak."

His blonde father wiped a fake tear from his eye, "Son, I have never been so proud." Aizawa looked just as pleased and threw an arm around Shinsou's shoulders.

He really did have the best dads.

"You said his father has a motorcycle?"

"Yeah, but he can't get it to start. I came up with some nonsense about the compressor but he didn't know enough to call me on it. I think he still expects me to fix it." Shinsou couldn't decide if looking cool and manly in front of Kaminari was worth dealing with the Blonde Brigade again. Maybe he could fix it when most of them were out of the house. "More importantly, I heard there was lasagna?"

Mic gathered himself and decided on a plan of action."Yes, there is! I'm going to go plate it. You two can set the table. The forks go on the left side and the knives on the right ."

Someday Shinsou would tell him that Aizawa has intentionally been putting the forks on the right, just to piss him off, for as long as they'd known each other.

Over dinner, Shinsou shared a few more snapshots of what the Kaminari home was like- he left out the hair grooming but kept the group induced blackout- and by the end of it, Mic was happily asking to meet them. Aizawa did his best to discourage him, probably not wanting a repeat of his last visit.

"If one more energetic blonde entered that household I'm pretty sure the building would collapse." Hitoshi felt that his father had a dramatic way of putting it, but it could be literal if the excitement built enough between the lot of them. Next time more than just the lights could go out.

Mic disregarded the comment and continued to neatly eat his pasta, napkin in his lap and tableware switched to their correct sides on the small dining table. Shinsou had done the same upon sitting down, it always made Hizashi so happy to see it, whereas Aizawa had already managed to get tomato sauce onto the scruff of his beard.

Over the past few weeks he'd noticed Denki only made a slight mess during meals. He found it oddly endearing. Shinsou wondered when it was safe to bring him over for dinner.

"How long till you stop trying to scare my boyfriend?"

Aizawa used the back of his hand to wipe sauce from his face. "I'm not trying to scare him, he's just easily frightened."

That part might be true but Dad is definitely trying.

"Nine out of ten times Denki is too nervous for me to bring over here. I think he's a little terrified of you when you're in dad mode- not to be confused with your regular 1-A dad mode." Something Aizawa would swear to the grave that he didn't have.

Aizawa huffed, "He should be scared. He got a 28 on practicals last week. If only you two didn't share a class, I could withhold you from him as an incentive to work harder."

Hizashi, ever the diplomat, argued, "he does perfectly well in English! He's been within the top three spots for weeks."

"Do loud blonde people only properly take in information from others of their kind?" Aizawa wondered aloud and then looked to Shinsou for an answer. He shrugged. He knew he'd never fully understand them.

Mic was so used to being referred to as variations of a 'loud blonde person' that he didn't bat an eye at the description. "Possibly. Should I start training with him? Soundwaves and electricity are similar concepts in execution. Besides, it isn't fair- I want a protege too!"

Aizawa winced, "I'll think about it."

Shinsou and Hizashi both knew Aizawa had no say in it, but they politely let him pretend he was the boss he thought he was.

The three went back to finishing their meals, idle chatter between them that Mic scolded them about if their mouths were full while speaking. Before being essentially adopted by them, Shinsou always thought Hizashi would be the wild messy one, but he was sorely mistaken.

He decided to ask a question he'd wanted to ask for a long time. Even before Kaminari.

"Hey, dad?" he turned to Aizawa so they knew which of them he meant, "How did you know Hizashi was the one you wanted to stay with?"

His father hummed and looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. "I'd like to say ' you just know ' but it's only fair to tell you that I didn't really have much of a choice. Sometimes you just realize you're stuck with someone and that they are the best thing that ever happened to you."

Mic happily squealed from across the table.

"You weren't even this sweet during our vows!" He was holding his hands over his heart and smiling, before he winked at Shinsou and added, "He fell asleep standing up during the first part of the ceremony. Don't be like your dad. Stay awake at your own wedding." He then leaned over and patted his son on the head, which would have felt condescending if he didn't know Mic occasionally treated his loved ones like they were children.

Suddenly his father squinted at the blonde, "You've got something on your face."

Mic looked embarrassed, "Really?"

"Yeah, this," he said before he leaned over and placed a kiss on the other man's mouth.

Shinsou watched, with slight embarrassment, as the two shared a small smile and a laugh.

Aizawa turned to the boy and grumbled in an affectionate manner before elbowing him, "See what I mean by 'didn't have a choice'?"

The three men looked at each other and grinned.

I think I get it now after all.