Chapter Text
Following Aizawa’s announcement of a summer camp after the term finals, Kaminari exploded into panic. Hitoshi watched him flail.
“I haven’t studied at all!” his classmate wailed. Hitoshi felt a little pity for him. “With the sports festival and then the internships, I haven’t given it any thought at all!”
“Your grades can’t be that bad, can it?” Hitoshi couldn’t help but frown. It’s not like the heroics course academics were particularly difficult, especially compared to Gen Ed’s. Kaminari must be smart enough to have passed the entrance exam, after all.
Kaminari stared at him, as did Ashido and Sero.
“You’re looking at the peanut gallery,” Bakugou snorted from a few feet away. “Bottom of the class.”
“Bakugou, have mercy!” Kaminari clutched his chest. Ashido pouted, clapping her hands together pleadingly.
“Yeah, Bakugou! You could help us study!”
Yaoyorozu perked up in her seat, smiling brightly, “Oh, I wouldn’t mind helping anyone that needs assistance!”
Ashido turned to her with sparkling eyes, “Yaomomo, you’re an angel!”
“How are your grades, Shin-chan?” Uraraka asked curiously, her and her friends joining in the commotion. “I heard Gen Ed has a harder curriculum than ours.”
“That’s because Gen Ed doesn’t have hero classes like you do,” Hitoshi shrugged. “And my grades are alright, I guess.”
“No need to be modest, Shinsou-kun!” Iida said, making a chopping motion with his arm. “You ranked number 1 in the written entrance exams, did you not?”
“Wow, Shinsou-kun!” Midoriya exclaimed to a blinking Hitoshi. “The written exam definitely wasn’t easy!”
“Wait, Iida-kun, how did you know that?” Uraraka grinned widely at Iida, who narrowed his eyes at her.
“The exam rankings are public,” Hitoshi dryly answered for his classmate. “It’s not a big deal. Shiketsu’s Gen Ed exam was harder than UA’s.”
Asui raised her eyebrows at him. “That’s still really impressive, kero.”
Kaminari whistled, also looking at him in a new light. “Dude, that’s really cool! How did you do it?”
“With spite,” Hitoshi said blandly. It was true, though. Nothing had been a better motivator than saying Fuck You to his middle school, academic style.
The electric boy then pouted at him pleadingly. Hitoshi stared at him, straight faced. “Help me study, Shin-chan!”
“That face won’t work on me, it’s nothing compared to Sakurai’s.”
“Shin-chaaaan!”
“I’m going to have to work hard to defend my class ranking then,” Yaoyorozu said, smiling amusedly at their classmate’s antics. “Let’s do our best, Shinsou-kun.” Hitoshi managed to return the smile with a muted one of his own.
“Hey, seriously, do you think you can help me study?” Kaminari nervously asked Hitoshi later that day, actually looking genuinely worried. “I’m barely passing in most of the classes, and I really don’t want to get kicked out of the hero course because of my grades…”
Hitoshi looked at him, rubbing his neck. It wasn’t like he was opposed to tutoring someone, he had been doing that with Matsuda back in Gen Ed. And Kaminari could be considered a friend, even with Hitoshi’s minor phobia of the other boy’s quirk. “I guess?” He said hesitantly, and Kaminari’s eyes gleamed with hope. “I’ll help as much as I can.”
“You’re the best, Shin-chan!” Kaminari wailed, hugging him tightly. Hitoshi grunted at the surprising force.
“Please let go of me, or I’m retracting my help.”
“Does this mean I get to come over to your house?!”
“Oh god .”
Kaminari stared at the Eraserhead poster on Hitoshi’s bedroom wall. The poster stared back.
“Not a word,” Hitoshi held a finger up before a sound could come out of Kaminari’s open mouth. Hitoshi hadn’t found any excuse as to why Kaminari couldn’t come over to study, when they lived in the same area. His parents weren’t due home for another three hours or so, at least, and hopefully his classmate would be gone by then.
(Hitoshi had never brought a friend home until Yokohara and Sakurai, and a few weeks ago his 1-C friends came over one Sunday to hang out. Both times his parents looked near tears in happiness, and his mom even gave each of his friends a hug. It had been embarrassing .)
“Isn’t it just a little weird, though? Having a poster of our homeroom teacher?” Kaminari insisted. “Wait, is this autographed--”
“Kaminari,” Hitoshi sighed.
“Is it true then that you’re his personal student?” Kaminari grinned at him as he continued to snoop around Hitoshi’s room. Mostly at his hero merch. “I mean, I know Todoroki thinks you’re related--”
“We’re not related.”
“--You gotta admit you using the same weapon as him is kinda sus!” The blond sang. “And you both radiate the same Tired energy. Oh, you have the limited edition Present Mic figure! Lucky!”
“That was a gift,” Hitoshi carefully kept his face neutral. “Also I thought you wanted to study.” Kaminari pouted at him.
“Hey, let me enjoy being the first to get a sneak peek into the mysterious transfer student’s life!”
“Just don’t break anything,” he rolled his eyes. “And are you really the first if Iida has technically known me longer?”
Kaminari looked at him slyly. “Oh? Has the class rep been in your room?”
“No,” Hitoshi blinked at him.
“Aw, really? So he hasn’t seen your Ingenium collection? I bet he’d get embarrassed.”
“Why? It’s his brother’s merch, and from what I can tell about Iida, he’s just as likely to have the same stuff as I do,” Hitoshi frowned at him, confused. “My dad works for his family, he literally gets it from them. That’s why I have so much.”
“ He’s Ingenium now though,” Kaminari held up a dark blue hoodie that just had INGENIUM written in white bold letters on the front. He bit his lip, clearly holding in a laugh. “Shin-chan, I beg you, please wear this in front of Iida one day.”
“It’s about to be summer .”
“I need to see it.”
“You need to study .”
It took another half hour of Kaminari snooping through Hitoshi’s room before they finally settled down on the floor to study. He may have had to bribe the other boy with snacks, but at least they were starting with what they were supposed to do.
“What do you need help most with?” Hitoshi asked as they took out their textbooks. Kaminari laughed at him uneasily.
“Uh, Math? History? Biology? Honestly, almost everything but English as far as the general subjects go. I can already feel my brain melting.”
Hitoshi winced internally. There was only a week until finals. He had his work cut out for him. Especially once he saw what Kaminari considered as notes.
“I. Am going to lend you what I have,” Hitoshi said weakly as he flipped through the pages and pages of incomplete sentences and doodles, “and I’m going to teach you how to take notes in class or when you’re on your own. Kaminari, are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah?” Kaminari sheepishly scratched his head. Hitoshi gave him a pointed stare. “I… kinda have trouble paying attention in class.”
He pursed his lips, “No offense, but do you have some sort of…”
“ADHD,” Kaminari waved, laughing a little shakily. He wasn’t meeting Hitoshi’s eyes. “Side effect of my quirk, unfortunately.”
“Okay, I’ll see how I can help you work around that. You should probably mention it to our teachers, see if they’ll let you record lectures or something, ” he said easily, to Kaminari’s surprise. He gave his friend a dry look. “I literally have my pill bottles out in the open, I saw you looking at them. Don’t tell me you thought I was going to have a problem with you for something like this?”
“I mean you have some other problem with me, so I wasn’t sure.”
Hitoshi looked at him blankly, and Kaminari’s face went from casual to panicked in a second. The other boy slapped a hand over his mouth.
“Wait, I didn’t mean--”
“No, it’s okay,” Hitoshi uncomfortably interrupted. His shoulders were stiff. “You noticed, huh?”
“I guess we’re talking about it?” Kaminari weakly laughed, scratching the back of his neck. “Listen, I may be a bit of a dumbass, but I’m not oblivious. I don’t think anyone else has noticed, but I kinda felt how uncomfortable you were around me sometimes.”
“It’s nothing personal,” Hitoshi lowly said. He pinched the bridge of his nose and scowled to himself. “I have… issues. One of them is a bit of electrophobia.”
“Oh,” Kaminari looked hesitant, but continued, “so my quirk…”
Hitoshi tapped his fingers on his knee, inwardly anxious. But… his classmate-slash-friend deserved some sort of explanation. “One of my middle school bullies had an electric quirk, kind of like a taser. There was an incident last year where he used it on me, among other things, and I’m still working through it.”
“Oh, Shinsou,” Kaminari face crumpled. “I- I get it now. I’m sorry. Shit, dude.”
“No need to be sorry, you didn’t do anything to me,” Hitoshi’s mouth twisted into a half-smile, half-grimace. “If anything I should be the one apologizing.”
“Phobias are no joke!” Kaminari frantically waved his hands. “Plus I know how scary it is to be electrocuted, trust me. But… thank you for telling me, Shinsou.”
“You deserved to know anyway,” Hitoshi shrugged, still stiffly. “And you keep insisting we’re friends, so.”
Kaminari beamed, scuttling towards Hitoshi. Close to him, but not too close, which Hitoshi could appreciate. “Of course we’re friends! You’re a cool guy, and admirable too. And now I can say I unlocked your tragic backstory--”
Hitoshi snorted. “Not until you’re a level 35 friend. You’ve barely scratched the surface, Kaminari.”
“Aw, damn. What if I treat you to McDonald’s tomorrow?”
“No.”
“Shin-chaaaaaaan…”
“I feel enlightened,” Kaminari said so seriously, staring at his notebook intently. It was the third day of their study sessions, this time in Kaminari’s house, since it was the blonde boy’s birthday and his family had plans once they were done studying. “I’ve opened my third eye.”
“Congratulations, you’re caught up with math,” Hitoshi dryly said without looking up from his own personal review sheets. There was a second copy of everything for Kaminari, too.
“Shin-chan, I owe you my life,” Kaminari fiercely said. “This is the best birthday gift I’ve gotten today.”
“Happy birthday. Try to say that again after we’re done with Biology.”
Kaminari pouted, and slumped down onto the floor with a whine. “Can’t we do that tomorrow?”
“I told you, I have doctors appointments tomorrow,” Hitoshi wearily sighed. His classmate at least looked sheepish at forgetting that fact. “You can come over to my house on Saturday, but I have my other friends coming over too, if you don’t mind.”
“I can?” Kaminari looked up at him in surprise. “I mean, I totally don’t mind the others, but wouldn’t they mind me?”
Hitoshi looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Yokohara and Sakurai will be there, and the others are my friends from Gen Ed. I don’t think any of them would mind, it’s my house.” He then glanced away, the tips of his ears reddening as he muttered, “You’re my friend too, anyway.”
Kaminari made a weird face, before laying flat on his back and covering his face with his hands. “Shin-chan, I’m dying,” he wailed, to Hitoshi’s bafflement. “I get it now, class rep! I get it!!”
“What the hell are you saying?” Why was he calling Iida, anyway?
Kaminari just started giggling uncontrollably, and Hitoshi was inexplicably reminded of Yamada.
(Oh god, did that make Hitoshi Aizawa? If so, Yamada can never find out, he’ll never live it down.)
“Shinsou-kun, Aizawa-san,” Ohtori, Hitoshi’s quirk counselor, greeted them with a smile. He ushered the two into his office. “I admit, I’ve been looking forward to this meeting. Glad you’ve considered my offer, Shinsou-kun.”
Hitoshi shrugged. “It… does seem like a good idea.”
“We’ve been talking about it for a bit,” Aizawa told Ohtori. He took out a folder of papers from his bag, handing them to the counselor. “Principal Nezu also has signed it off already as well, since Shinsou doesn’t have his provisional hero license yet.”
“Hm, yes,” Ohtori nodded as he flipped through the documents. Hitoshi made himself comfortable on one of the single sofa seats. “Speaking of, the soonest Shinsou-kun can take his provisional medical license exam is in two weeks, if that’s fine. It’s mostly going to be a quirk demonstration and an ethics test for you, Shinsou-kun, since the exam is personalized. It helps that I’m vouching for you, as did Miyako-san. In the meantime, you’re technically registered as my intern so you’ll be able to use your quirk here.”
“Do your patients know what I’m going to be doing?” Hitoshi asked, a little anxiously. He’s still not sure how someone could possibly be comfortable with their child being brainwashed by a teenager. A hero-in-training teenager, yes, but still with a quirk that could easily be abused.
“I’ve brought it up with a few parents,” Ohtori smiled reassuringly. “As expected, they would like a demonstration first, but most of them looked interested. Mostly the ones whose children have volatile quirks.”
“Makes sense,” Aizawa muttered. He glanced at Hitoshi, rolling his eyes lightly at the unsure expression still on his face. “Don’t look so worried, it’ll be fine. Ohtori-san and I will be here to supervise until you get your provisional license.”
“Aizawa-san is right. I saw your match against Endeavor’s son during the Sports Festival, it looked seamless, the way you had him use his quirk. And from what Aizawa-san has told me, you haven’t had trouble with anyone else either,” Ohtori said, patting Hitoshi’s shoulder. “You’ll do great, Shinsou-kun.”
“Let’s talk about scheduling,” Aizawa said, straight to the point as always. Hitoshi looked between the two adults expectantly. He knew signing up for this was going to cut into his free-slash-social time, since Ohtori’s patients were young children coming from school. “Ohtori-san and I decided it was best to start you off with three kids, one for each day on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. That leaves Wednesday and Friday free for you, and we’ll try to keep it that way for the sake of your social life and school work.”
“Oh, great,” Hitoshi deadpanned. His already seemingly packed schedule was getting even more tight. It was a good thing he sometimes didn’t sleep - who knew not being an isolated introvert made one so busy.
“Now, about the children you’ll be meeting next week…”
“Happy birthday, Shinsou-kun!” Matsuda greeted at him during lunch on Friday. Takashima and Sakamoto echoed the greeting as well, though a little more quietly.
“Thanks,” Hitoshi nodded casually, and left it at that. Then he noticed how abruptly silent his lunch table had gotten.
“It’s your birthday?” Uraraka gasped, then looked at him accusingly. “And you didn’t tell us?!”
“It’s not a big deal,” Hitoshi hurriedly said as Midoriya started to look guilty and Asui stared at him thoughtfully. Todoroki looked confused, not seeing what the big deal was. Iida made a precise hand motion.
“Nonsense, Shinsou-kun,” Iida’s eyeglasses glinted under the cafeteria light. “As your friends, such information is important to us. At the very least we would have wished you a happy birthday earlier--”
“We can get him a cake from the lunch line, kero,” Asui suggested and with a speed that even Iida had balked at, Uraraka grabbed her and the class rep towards the almost empty food line.
“Oh, no,” Hitoshi weakly said. Cake with Iida involved meant--
“They mean well, Shinsou-kun!” Midoriya hastily said, misunderstanding his look of dread. “We won’t make it a big deal if you don’t want to, which obviously you don’t since you didn’t tell us, though I kinda wish you did--”
“Oh don’t worry, he didn’t tell us either,” Takashima snorted. “His middle school friends told us a few days ago.”
That was why his non-hero course friends were coming over to his house tomorrow in the first place. Matsuda and Yokohara had been adamant that he had some sort of party or gathering for his sixteenth birthday, and the others had been swept up into it too. Though he’s pretty sure Sakamoto just wanted to compare notes on the general subjects, since their exams started next week. Come to think of it, he didn’t actually tell Kaminari why everyone was coming over, and not to mention he hasn’t invited Midoriya and the others either, did he? Which was a little rude, he guessed, since they were his friends, though it’s getting a little hard to keep track of what to do in these situations--
“Uraraka, wait--”
“Wah! Iida-kun!”
“Oh shi--”
Some instinct in him urged Hitoshi to move, and he did. But it was a little too abrupt, and he may have tripped a little on his seat, and Midoriya had also moved from beside him, and suddenly there were a lot of surprised yells and flailing limbs and something on his stomach.
“Oh no,” Iida lowly moaned, sitting on the floor by Hitoshi. He sounded absolutely devastated. “Not again .”
Hitoshi, with despair, looked down to see a downturned plate on his stomach. He could smell the sweet chocolate wafting from it. “ Why ,” he groaned, “does this always happen.”
“I’m so sorry,” Iida had his red face hidden in his hands. It was like the last Christmas party again. “I don’t even know how ...”
“Well,” Todoroki blandly said, still on his seat, “you tripped.” He didn’t specify who. He probably meant both of them.
There were some giggles and snickers sent their way as they straightened up with the help of their friends, but Hitoshi was at least comforted by the fact that he wasn’t alone in this. Even if his uniform shirt was ruined now.
“Why don’t you help Shin-chan clean up? We’ll take care of the mess here.” Hitoshi heard Uraraka whisper to Iida, who then made a strangled noise. He looked at the class rep and shrugged.
“I’ll be fine, I’ll try to… do something about this in the bathroom,” he gestured to the icing and cake smeared on his shirt. What a shame, he’s sure Lunch Rush’s cake was good.
“No,” Iida coughed, stiffly following Hitoshi out of the cafeteria. “It was my fault, as always. This time I should at least help.”
Hitoshi couldn’t help but let his lips twitch into a smirk. “Yeah, you kinda left me high and dry last time.” Iida sputtered, and he snorted. “Don’t worry about it, I’m not actually mad or upset.”
They entered the bathroom, thankfully empty, and Hitoshi carefully took his uniform shirt off, making sure his tank top undershirt didn’t get stained as well. He knew it was futile before he even ran the stain under running water - chocolate was hard to clean up. At least his tie made it out unscathed.
“I’ll have to get a replacement from Recovery Girl,” he muttered to himself. Hitoshi pursed his lips, considering his options. “Do you mind if you asked her for me, Iida?” He turned around to face his classmate. Iida had been blankly staring at his back. “Iida?”
Iida jerked into attention, and stiffly pushed his glasses up. A nervous tell, though Hitoshi wasn’t sure what he had to be nervous about. “Yes! Yes, I’ll head there right now. Just one moment!”
One moment turned out to be five minutes, which was impressive considering Recovery Girl’s office took more than half that time to walk one way from the lunchroom. Iida didn’t even look a bit out of breath.
“Did you use your quirk to get there and back faster?” Hitoshi asked, eyebrows furrowed as he took the folded shirt from his classmate’s hand.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Iida said. Hitoshi stared at him for a moment before letting it go.
“By the way,” he tried to casually say as he put on the new shirt, “I’m kind of having a small gathering at my house tomorrow, since it’s my birthday and all. Just my Gen Ed friends and two from another school, and Kaminari too. If uh, you don’t have plans, I guess it would be cool if you were there too.” Hitoshi awkwardly trailed off, rubbing his neck and avoiding looking at his classmate. “I was gonna invite Midoriya and the others as well. I live in Saitama, though, so if it’s too out of the way for you then it’s fine if you don’t go--”
“I’ll go,” Iida hurriedly replied. He cleared his throat, when Hitoshi finally looked at him. Iida shifted on his feet, also looking awkward. “Of course I’ll go.”
“Cool,” Hitoshi muttered, though he smiled at the other boy. “Now let’s head back to the others, hopefully my food is still okay.”
“I can buy you a replacement--”
“What? No need, Iida, really--”
‘what does your kid like,’ was the text Aizawa opened from Tensei during the tail end of the school day. He squinted at it suspiciously.
‘Why?’
‘becoz tenya is freaking out abt getting him a bday gift lmaooooo’
Hm. That was right. Hitoshi was going to have a small birthday party at home with his friends tomorrow, for the first time in almost a decade. (And what a sad thought that was, but Aizawa tried not to dwell on that too much.) Aizawa and Hizashi would be eating out with the Shinsou family tonight for the occasion, their gifts to HItoshi already in their car. Aizawa considered his options.
‘Heroes and cats, if you want a safe bet,’ he texted Tenya instead. ‘If you’re aiming to impress: supernatural/paranormal stuff, especially from American media; anything of that South Korean hero E-motion or Mandalay from the Pussycats; cycling stuff; books about quirks, especially mental ones.’
The reply didn’t take long to arrive. ‘While I was hoping my brother would not immediately go telling you about my need for advice, I truly do appreciate the insight you have given me. I cannot thank you enough.’
‘You better pick a good one.’
‘I hope so, sensei!’
Aizawa didn’t actually like to meddle with people’s personal lives, especially with relationships. But Tenya was a good kid who meant well, and at least was considerate enough not to push Hitoshi into anything, despite his apparently long-time and, frankly, painfully blatant crush on the boy. And Hitoshi didn’t seem to mind him at all -- cake incidents notwithstanding -- and seemingly appreciative of having Tenya’s familiar face around. How a smart boy like Hitoshi could be so blindly oblivious to the bright red signs Tenya was showcasing, though, Aizawa still couldn’t figure out. Anyone that watched the two interact for more than five seconds could tell that Tenya was hypothetically tripping over his feet over Hitoshi. It’s actually ridiculous.
Aizawa didn’t count giving Tenya gift advice as giving him his approval, though. Hitoshi still had a lot to work out through, one of those being how he felt about romantic relationships, and his well-being took priority for Aizawa. Plus Aizawa liked to avoid high school romantic dramas among his students as much as possible. He still cringed at the number of love triangles gone awry he’s had to intervene on during his career at UA.
“Hey, Iida-kun,” Aizawa heard Uraraka slyly grin at the already wary looking class rep during their last few free minutes of class. “What did you mean earlier when you said ‘not again’? When you dropped cake on Shin-chan.”
Ashido turned her head at the two like a bloodhound, grinning toothily, “Yeah, class rep, what was that?” Some of their other classmates looked interested in the answer too. Aizawa reckoned the Iida-Shinsou ongoing saga was like watching some sort of shoujo anime for them.
“It was just an accident,” Iida pursed his lips, trying desperately to suppress his reddening cheeks. Uraraka squinted at him.
“Shin-chan!” She called out to the boy across the room, who had been engrossed in a conversation with Yaoyorozu. Hitoshi looked up and raised an eyebrow at her. “Does Iida-kun drop desserts on you often?”
“Today was the third time,” Hitoshi answered honestly. Aizawa snorted quietly to himself as Iida sputtered. “It’s always cake, somehow.”
“I’m really sorry!” Iida said through Uraraka and Ashido’s giggling.
Hitoshi waved it off with a half grin. “I told you it’s fine, didn’t I? Though maybe next time aim for my mouth, so I can taste some of it at least.”
Some cultures, particularly western ones, if Aizawa remembered correctly from some of Hizashi’s ramblings, had a wedding tradition of couples smearing cake on their partner’s mouth. Aizawa could guarantee that Hitoshi had not been thinking that when he made the comment, but it was clear from some raised eyebrows that some of his classmates did. Aizawa covered his mouth with a hand to hide the grin on his face.
“Hey,” Kaminari started, “isn’t that an American wed--”
“Kaminari,” Sero and Ashido hissed to hush him up. Iida let out a sound that was part steam-engine and part strangled gargling. Uraraka looked like Christmas had come early.
Hitoshi, noting Asui patting Iida sympathetically as he once again had his face in his hands, frowned concernedly. “Was it something I said?”
“Oh my fucking god, I’m going to murder you both ,” Bakugou growled just as the dismissal bell rang.
“Sweet sixteen!” Hizashi grinned, ruffling Hitoshi’s hair as he and Aizawa sat down across Hotaru and Touma. They had a private room at a nice restaurant in the city, and Hitoshi sat at the head of the table.
“Happy birthday,” Aizawa said a little less energetically, but just as sincerely, handing Hitoshi two different sized gift bags. The bigger one was from Hizashi, and Aizawa had to reign him in for him to not go overboard with the gifts. Honestly, between the four adults, Hitoshi was a little spoiled.
“Thanks, dad-sensei,” Hitoshi cheekily grinned and Aizawa rolled his eyes at him.
“Good to see you two again, it’s been a while,” Hotaru put in her own joke, as they had seen each other just a few days ago. “Order whatever you like, it’s Touma’s treat tonight.”
“I thought Yamada was paying,” Touma dryly said as he flipped through the menu. “Don’t pros like you make a lot of money?”
“You would know! Don’t they say that you could look at a hero and guess their net worth?” Hizashi laughed. “Or are you finally cashing in on child support?”
“I think I’m worth more than one dinner,” Hitoshi pouted exaggeratingly. “I should get the most expensive thing they have, if Yamada is paying.”
“It’s your birthday, do what you want,” Aizawa snorted.
Dinner was a warm affair. It definitely felt different from when Aizawa and Hizashi went out with Nemuri and Tensei, but it was just as comfortable. Hitoshi did end up ordering one of the more expensive items in the menu, but given the kid’s preference for seafood, it wasn’t much of a surprise. They even had the waiter put a candle on the cake they ordered, and Hizashi happily recorded the four adults singing Happy Birthday to the embarrassed but pleased teenager.
Despite Touma’s earlier comments, he did pay for dinner, almost throwing Hizashi’s bank card right back at him when the check came. Hizashi had squawked, then tried to argue that Touma can pay for Hizashi’s upcoming birthday dinner instead, but Touma was immovable.
When it was time to part ways, Hotaru pulled both men in a hug while Hitoshi was distracted putting his gifts in the car. “I’m really glad we met you two,” she said heartfully, and Aizawa wasn’t much of a blushing man, but the sincerity in her voice flustered him. “Both of you have been so good to Hitoshi, and Touma and I are grateful to have you in our family.”
Hizashi looked near tears at that, and Aizawa’s throat struggled to work. “While the circumstances were rough, we’re also glad we met you all,” Aizawa managed to say. “Hitoshi is the closest thing we have to a son, and we’re honored to be a part of his -- of your family’s -- life.”
Hotaru just laughed airily, slapping Aizawa lightly on the bicep, “What are you talking about? Biologically or not, he is your son. Don’t forget that, Shouta, Hizashi.”
Noon on the dot, Hitoshi’s doorbell rang. Iida stood straight at his porch, a gift bag in hand.
“Punctual as always, class rep,” Hitoshi joked lightly as he let him in. “You’re the first one here.”
“Your invitation was for 12 o’clock, was it not?” Iida frowned, looking a little confused. Then he perked up a little, and handed Hitoshi the gift bag. “Ah, this is for you. Again, happy birthday, Shinsou-kun!”
“You didn’t have to get me a gift,” Hitoshi muttered, a strange fluttery feeling stirring in his chest at the gesture. “But thank you.” Iida beamed at him.
“I wanted to, Shinsou-kun.”
“Cute,” Hitoshi’s mother giggled from where she stood with his father near the hallway entrance. The two teenagers startled, and Hitoshi turned a little pink at his mother’s wide smile.
“Good to see you, Iida-kun,” Touma greeted the young Iida scion with a nod. Iida stiffly put a hand up in a wave.
“Thank you for letting me into your home, Shinsou-san!”
“You’re welcome here any time, Iida-kun, you’re Hitoshi’s friend after all,” Hotaru smiled at Iida. She turned to Hitoshi and patted him on the cheek, “We’ll be heading out now, then. Enjoy your party, and order what you guys want for dinner, but don’t go too overboard.”
“Yeah, because I’m such a crazy party animal,” Hitoshi dryly said. “Don’t worry, we have Mr. Class Rep here to keep us in line.”
Iida puffed up his chest in acknowledgment, “We won’t make trouble for you, Shinsou-san.”
“Keep the cake off Hitoshi and the floor and we’re golden,” Touma snorted in amusement, and while Hitoshi grimaced, he couldn’t help but grin a little when Iida deflated and his ears turned red.
“Don’t worry about it,” he told Iida once his parents left the house. Hitoshi rolled his eyes in exasperation. “I’m pretty sure neither of us is ever going to hear the end of the cake thing.”
Iida pushed up his glasses, flustered, “Tensei never fails to bring it up either.” He sighed. “Not that I could blame him. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence…”
“Three times is enemy action?” Hitoshi smirked at the other boy, teasing, “Are you after me, Iida?”
Right at that moment, the doorbell rang again, so Hitoshi missed Iida’s entire face flaring red alarmingly fast and choking on his own spit.
“Shin-chan!” Kaminari and Yokohara exclaimed the moment Hitoshi opened the door. They were both decked in party hats and had streamers around their shoulders. From beside Yokohara, Sakurai looked at him apologetically.
“Oh dear god,” Hitoshi blankly said.
“You could’ve given me a little warning that it was your birthday yesterday, Shin-chan!” Kaminari whined as they trailed into the house. “I barely had time to get you a gift!”
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Hitoshi sighed, even as he accepted the gifts shoved at him by his friends. “I didn’t get you anything for your birthday.”
“You helped me study for the exams, I think that’s more than enough!” Kaminari insisted. The blond finally then took notice of Iida. His eyes glinted. “Class rep, you’re here!”
“Of course I’m here, I was invited,” Iida said. He looked at Yokohara and Sakurai curiously, before facing them and bowing in greeting. “Hello, I’m Iida Tenya. You must be Shinsou-kun’s middle school friends. It’s nice to meet you!”
“Iida? Oh!” Yokohara’s grin and eyes widened, which Hitoshi didn’t think bode well. He shared a distressed look with Sakurai, who sheepishly shrugged. “It’s nice to finally meet you! Shin-chan’s told us about you!”
“He has?” Iida croaked.
“I have?” Hitoshi asked, baffled.
“He has!” Kaminari cackled. He patted Hitoshi’s back before slinging an arm around his shoulders. “Hey, Iida, have you seen his Ingenium collection yet?”
Iida sputtered, “I- technically speaking, that would be my brother’s merch--”
The doorbell rang again, and Hitoshi hastily escaped Kaminari’s arm to open the door. It was Midoriya and Todoroki, who each had a container of food in their hands.
“My mom insisted I bring something,” Midoriya babbled, holding up what looked to be a container full of cupcakes, “I haven’t been invited to a birthday party since I was a kid, so ah, I wasn’t sure what was appropriate, so I hope I’m not overstepping, Shinsou-kun…”
Todoroki, on the other hand, had brought fried chicken. “I wasn’t allowed to birthday parties as my father considered it a waste of time. Fuyumi-neesan got a little excited, I think, so she made a lot of karaage. Is that okay?”
“I like karaage,” Hitoshi answered almost automatically. He and his mother had prepared a generous spread for lunch, but a little more food couldn’t hurt. He looked between his two powerhouse friends, a little concerned at their words, but, well. Hitoshi wasn’t one to talk. “And you’re fine, Midoriya. Come in, we can all bond over our shared childhood of missed birthday parties later.”
Sakamoto, Matsuda, and Takashima arrived at the same time just a few minutes later, also bearing gifts, and in Matsuda’s case, a pack of party poppers of which was gleefully shared with Kaminari and Yokohara. Uraraka and Asui came not much later, apologizing profusely because their train had been stuck for a little bit on the way.
Lunch was a rowdy affair, but seeing all his friends - friends he only just made these past few months - together and getting along relatively well made his chest glow with warmth. It was nice, that feeling.
The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur. They played Mario Kart until Matsuda literally jumped on Kaminari for blue-shelling her for the third time. Then they switched to Smash, which wasn’t much of a better idea because Uraraka started becoming frightening after a few matches, and for someone who had never played the game before, Todoroki took her on with the same intensity as he did the Sports Festival. Their match had been one for the record books, surely.
Hitoshi, at Uraraka and Yokohara’s urging, opened his gifts in front of all of them. The attention was different from the kind his two sets of parents gave him during Christmas and it almost made him nervous, but he was able to swallow most of his anxiety down and just enjoy the moment as much as he can. It helped that he appreciated all the presents he got, and if anyone noticed him blinking away some moisture from his eyes towards the end, they mercifully didn’t say anything.
It was past 8 pm when they finally wound down, spending the last hour and a half watching a movie and eating pizza for dinner. Hitoshi had found himself nestled in the middle of the larger couch, in between Iida and Kaminari, and he idly mused that he could fall asleep at that moment. For all of Iida’s bulky body and sharp angles, he was surprisingly comfortable to lean against. Warm too.
“I’m going to die , they’re so cute,” he heard Uraraka whisper, but when he turned to look at her, she had her attention entirely on the television.
When it was time for everyone to leave, Kaminari had given Hitoshi a considering look, before sighing and patting him on the shoulder. Hitoshi couldn’t parse what that even meant.
Yokohara, on the other hand, was less subtle, whispering into his ear during a hug, “Good job today, Shin-chan, but I think we need to work on one aspect of your social skills a little more.” Before Hitoshi could even wonder if he should be offended or not, Yokohara had giggled away with Sakurai.
Iida was the last to leave. Hitoshi felt the urge to say something he couldn’t earlier.
“Hey, thank you for the gift,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “I… I really actually like it.” The other boy had given him a surprising amount of merch of a foreign hero he liked, including stuff he didn’t even know was sold in Japan. He huffed a little and smiled at Iida. “I don’t know how you found out, but she’s one of my favorites.”
“I admit I had some help,” Iida sheepishly said. “I couldn’t find a Japanese copy of her book, however, so if you don’t want the Korean version, then I can return it--”
“No, no, it’s fine,” Hitoshi hastily waved. “I know a bit of Korean, so it’ll be good practice for me.”
“You really are very talented, Shinsou-kun,” the smile the other boy gave him was warm, and it made Hitoshi duck his head in shyness.
“I’m really nothing impressive,” he muttered, a little self consciously.
Iida cleared his throat, “I beg to differ.” Hitoshi stared at him wide eyed, and Iida stared back. The silence that followed was almost suffocating.
Then Iida suddenly swayed forward, then almost immediately jerked back, arm quickly raising at an angle before stiffly landing on Hitoshi’s shoulder. “Thank you for inviting me, Shinsou-kun!” Iida said, almost a little too loudly. He patted Hitoshi twice. “It has been an enjoyable day! I’ll see you in school on Monday!” Then he swiftly turned around, and power-walked away from the Shinsou house.
Hitoshi could only gape at his back. His heart was racing, and he struggled to wonder why. “What,” he whispered to himself, “was that?”