Being part of 1-A was both terrifying and wonderful all at once.

Shinsou had dreamt of this moment. Of being accepted as a hero and being taught alongside the best. He realized now that he may have imagined it to be a lot more glamorous than it is.

The common room was a mess. In the middle Kirishima, the pink girl, and that girl Bakugou beat up were watching a movie- and talking through it. Midoriya was cuddled on the couch with Todoroki, and Bakugou was making retching sounds at them from a chair across the room. Koji was in a cheerful debate with Sero and Tsuyu on the merits of being taught art history at a hero academy- something Shinsou had also wondered about. There was even noise from what should have been a quiet game of chess between the class president and the bird guy, and that was without counting the students who weren't present.

He might as well have transferred to an entirely new school for all the differences there were between his current and old classes.

Is it too late to go back to General Education?

Shinsou snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a tug at his arm and turned around to see Kaminari pulling at his sleeve and grinning like an adorable idiot.

"Hey, you finally made it!"

As often happened, Shinsou didn't know what to say. During their battle against Class B, the blonde had assuaged his insecurities in one breath. Before that, he could barely focus on the fight with all the uncertainty and fear bubbling in his stomach. He found his mind looping the same fears over and over. I can't be a letdown. I can't be dead weight. I have to show them I belong here.

Then- as though he had heard his anxious mantra- Kaminari smiled, outright called him hot, said he liked him, and then reminded him he had just as much a right to be there as any of them. He'd already thought the boy was oddly endearing but those words and that sincere face made his heart stutter. Being suddenly faced with him again brought as much happiness as it did discomfort.

"Yep."

"Man of few words, huh? I bet the ladies dig that," Kaminari replied while brandishing a pair of finger guns at him. "Did you see your room yet? When did you get here?"

"Aizawa-Sensei dropped me off this morning. I just finished putting things away," he pointedly did not mention they stopped on the way to coo at a family of Japanese Bobtail cats in the window of a pet shop.

"Sweet, does that mean I'm the first person you've spoken with so far? Bro, I am honored."

He wasn't sure if the words were sarcastic or not so he just nodded, and tried to subtly search for an exit strategy. Unfortunately, Kaminari noticed.

"Lookin' for something?"

"I was going to get a glass of water." Shinsou figured that was a bland enough lie to be believable.

"Let me take you to the kitchen then! Come on," Kaminari eagerly said before grabbing Shinsou's wrist and dragging him to where the kitchen met the common room. The blonde had been speaking but he was too overwhelmed to tune in to what he was saying until now. He's touching me. What do normal people do in this situation?

"Now that you're one of us-"

Ashido, who had come by to grab a blueberry muffin off the counter, chanted, "One of us! One of us!"

Kaminari elbowed her side lightly and stuck out his tongue before correcting himself. "Now that you're a part of 1-A you'll need someone to give you the dorm tour!" Ashido opened her mouth to speak but was quickly cut off. "Obviously that's going to be me." Ashido blew a raspberry at the other before returning to her spot on the nearby couch, muffin in hand.

"Obviously," Shinsou echoed.

Kaminari gave a toothy grin that made his heart race and then grandly gestured to the kitchen they were standing in. "The pantry! I mean, it's a kitchen but pantry sounds way fancier."

Shinsou looked around for the first time. Now that he was really seeing it he noticed the counter had a large number of what must be professionally baked goods. He furrowed his purple brows.

"…Does 1-A get their food catered?"

The blonde cocked his head to the side, which Shinsou had learned during their battle was his 'confused puppy' look.

"What? Oh no, this is all Bakugou. He stress bakes and he's always stressed so it's pretty sweet."

Kaminari laughed at the perplexed face the other made.

"Are we talking about the same Bakugou?"

"Yeah! Bakugou made these croissants the other day. He makes this killer banana bread but Aoyama is allergic so we don't have it that often." Kaminari grabbed one, rewrapped the remaining treats, and reverently placed them back on the counter. "Once Sero, Mina, and I decided we'd call him 'mommy' all through dinner and the black eye was totally worth it. Kirishima wouldn't join us- even when I told him he could say 'daddy' instead. Dude turned redder than his hair."

Shinsou wasn't sure if a black eye really was worth that, but he still wished he'd been there to see it. He could already imagine the scene pretty well but he's sure it was more amusing to be there and watch Bakugou get more and more furious throughout the meal while Kirishima sat frozen and blushing. He wished he'd been here for a lot of things.

If I'd figured out something for the practical exam I could have been.

In his excitement over the food, Kaminari tripped over Shinsou's foot as he made his way to the cabinet for a plate. The blonde threw one arm out for balance and clutched the croissant to his chest with the other. Shinsou had started to reach out to him but stopped himself.

"Whoa, be careful." Shinsou was glad he'd managed to not dramatically grab Kaminari, but he also felt like he'd missed a chance for a romantic gesture. Literally sweeping the guy off his feet was not exactly the plan.

"Whew, I could have dropped my croissant!" Kaminari paused after hearing his own words and then looked up at the other boy with huge bright eyes. "Oh my god… Do you know what this means?!"

Shinsou took a guess, "That you can still eat it?"

Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say as Kaminari nearly dropped his food again in exaggerated shock. Shinsou snorted at his appalled face.

"What? Stop the car. Are you telling me you've never watched that Vine? It's a classic!" Kaminari had referenced a number of 'memes' during their strategy meeting against 1-B and Shinsou had looked some up later. He wasn't sure he got the jokes.

"Is this about the internet again?"

"See, this is why people think Aizawa-sensei is your dad," Kaminari huffed.

"That and cause you look like a mini and even more sleep deprived version of him." Ashido chirped from the couch without moving her eyes from the romantic comedy she, Kirishima, and the brunette were watching.

Shinsou was refused to have this conversation again. Todoroki had cornered him the other day to ask how Aizawa was related to him- Midoriya tried to politely stop the boy but in the end he still had to explain he wasn't actually the 'secret love child' of their homeroom teacher. Shinsou figured this was as good an excuse as any to find a way to catch some air.

"Well…"

Before he could come up with a good answer for Mina, who despite being a loud pink creature, had silently jumped from the couch and started talking non-stop.

"Oh my god is he actually your dad?! I did suuuper bad on last week's test do you think you could talk to Dadzawa-"

"Dadzawa?"

"-and get it bumped up to a C or something?"

"He isn't my dad. Not all sleep-deprived people are related. Why is this a thing with you guys?"

"Balls!" Undeterred by the remark Mina whined. Clearly Bakugou's language was rubbing off on the girl.

Annoyed at her outburst Kaminari hip-checked her.

"Mina, you're getting in the way of my tour! Shinsou is mine right now, you can borrow him later."

"Mine?"

Ashido's grin must have hurt her face.

Oh god oh god oh god.

Kaminari immediately began to backpedal, his cheeks getting redder as he spoke, "I mean, like, Mina can have your attention later but you're listening to me now. Yeah? I know I don't own you or anything. That would be weird of me to say. That was weird, right? I'm totally cool with pretending that didn't happen if you are." Kaminari nervously extended his pastry in a gesture of goodwill, "Want a croissant?"

"What?" It took him a moment to catch up with all the words. Mostly his mind was still stuck on the earlier 'mine' and what it meant. Do I just play it off and act casual? Is this a regular teenager thing?

The pink girl sighed, "Denki you are such a hot mess, I can't even."

"But a hot hot mess, right?"

Shinsou watched the two, feeling both bewildered at the speed of their conversation and acutely aware that his heart felt like it was beating loud enough to be heard in the common room. This is still the hero class. You have to fit in. Say something funny!

"Um…I'm going to go finish unpacking. Thanks for the tour."

Damnit.

He began his retreat but managed to catch a second of the blonde's disappointed expression. Cute.

"Wait, you haven't seen the rest of it!" Kaminari ran after the boy who had turned around and was already walking back to his room.

"I'll figure it out," he mumbled while waving behind him, "night."

Shinsou upped his pace a bit to reach the elevator. Don't turn around and look at the attractive boy, Hitoshi. Just walk back to your room. Head up. Look cool.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Shinsou got in and waited until they were fully closed before he put his head in his hands and groaned.

"I am so fucked."