His dad hadn't tried anything in the last few weeks and Bakugo and Shinso left the Mineta thing alone.

But Mineta kept doing weird shit like that.

Not on his ass anymore, but it was uncomfortable.

Kaminari and Shinso actually went to the cat alley at least twice a week, and the cat he'd tried to get to like him had still not gotten any closer to him.

"What should we name her," Shinso asks, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he glares at the cat across the alley.

Kaminari looks at him and then the cat. What a weirdo. Hehe.

"Smelly, Stinky, Hotdog, Marshmallow, Cow, Vegan Burrito, Space Shi-"

"No."

Kaminari scoffs dramatically. "What do you mean 'no'? They are all valid names for a cat," Kaminari says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"No."

"Tch, boring. I bet you name yours fucking 'Sally' or something," Kaminari rolls his eyes as he says.

"Shut up."

"What about Trash Bag?"

"Kaminari what the fuck?"

"Worth a shot."

Shinso smiles to himself at Kaminari's antics as the blond turns away, unable to see his small smile.

He would never admit it, but the stupid blond is making him feel more okay and social. Kaminari's ability to make everyone feel included and seen has Shinso craving his presence.

He's the first real friend Shinso's made, and where Shinso would usually put in all the effort, in this friendship he finds himself sharing the effort.

And not only with Kaminari. It's like this with the whole Bakusquad. Yes, even Bakugo, and he can't help but be thankful for this idiotic blond who came up to him. The least he can do is give in to one of his stupid cat name choices.

"What about Smushy?"

Kaminari jumps up from where he was, petting a group of cats, scaring them in the process. "Really?"

His face completely lit up, and Shinso finds it kind of weird that he noticed it's been harder and harder to coax a smile like that out of the blond.

Not like he's been trying or anything.

"Yup."

"Then Smushy it is," Kaminari declares dramatically.

Shinso nods, confirming the name.

"Alright, Operation Get Smushy to Like Us is a go," the blond says, already slowly making his way to Smushy.

"Here Smushy Smushy Smush."

His voice is a whisper now, again, crouching down to make the cat feel less threatened.

~~~~~

Operation Get Smushy to Like Us is still a work in progress.

Shinso looks over at his friend, noticing the slight disappointment in his posture. He seems sad.

"You really suck at getting Smushy to like you."

The blond's head shoots up, looking over at Shinso with a glare, mood picking up a bit.

His smile is nice, Shinso realizes as the blond breaks out into a laugh.

He finds his lips twitching upwards in response, but quickly schools his expression, fighting back the smile.

"Shut up," Kaminari laughs.

As Shinso looks the blond over, he notices how he gets more tense as soon as he puts his hand on the doorknob of the dorms. Kaminari has obviously been stressed recently, and the only time Kaminari seems okay, is when they're off of campus.

Sure, Shinso could blame it on school, but in the dorms, Kaminari was hyper vigilant.

Not in any of his friends' rooms, just in open areas. Like the kitchen or living room.

Because of that, he noticed how the group started making plans to go out way more. It's nice for them to do that, and Shinso always takes the chance to get Kaminari off campus too by going to visit the cats.

Just so that Kaminari feels safer.

Shinso is not nice, though.

He would kill anyone who said so.

"Did you wanna get something to eat? We can buy for the squad and eat in Sero's room. On me," Shinso offers quickly, before the door was opened.

Kaminari visibly relaxes. It makes Shinso feel lighter, too.

"Are you sure? I think the squad would love that, but do you have enough?" Kaminari asks.

"Yeah, I saved up a lot, before I started hanging out with you guys, too, so I have quite a bit saved up. I also have nothing to spend it on, so I always just wait to spend," Shinso shrugs.

Kaminari scoffs, shoving the taller one.

"Then why'd you make me buy you those chips?"

"If I had to take time out of my day to spend time with you, I needed a little something," Shinso teases

The blond laughs sarcastically. "Haha, sooo funny."

They both turn around, Kaminari looking more and more comfortable the farther they get from the dorms.

It's obvious to everyone that something has been on Kaminari's mind, and at first when the Bakusquad seemed to be worried about him, Shinso didn't get it. It wasn't all his fault, he just got to know them all. Now, though, he sees what they were talking about.

Kaminari hides it well, he really does, but if you're looking for something that's wrong, you'll obviously find it. 

There was also that thing with Mineta that the entire Bakusquad knows about now. They never talk about it, but they know, and they all know to keep Kaminari as far away from that nasty grape bitch as possible.

"I'm the funniest," Shinso smiles.

"Oh, what did you wanna get the squad to eat?" Kaminari asks.

Shinso thinks about it. He knows Kaminari has his preferences, and will lie about liking something when in reality he just doesn't want to 'burden' the other person or people, so if he just asks the blond what he wants to get, everything would be fine.

"I don't know, you choose a place you like, and we'll just get from there," Shinso shrugs. 

Kaminari looks over at Shinso. "Alright. Uh, you like fast food? I love fast food. Can never get enough of it. Bakugo says he hates it cause 'it kills our organs', but he absolutely cannot refuse chicken nuggets," Kaminari laughs. 

Shinso smiles. "That's fine with me. Where did you wanna get food from?"

~~~~~

They hurry back, choosing somewhere close so the food doesn't get cold. 

It was just extra time away from the dorms, which was good for Kaminari. 

He and Shinso have spent lots of time together, and he knows that Shinso has been looking at him. He was worried about it at first, but sometimes the looks Shinso gives him are nice.

Shinso will smile at him when Kaminari laughs, and it makes Kaminari feel good.

The taller one also listens to him attentively as if what Kaminari is talking about is the most interesting thing in the world. The blond finds it kind of sad, too, because Shinso has never had actual friends until now. Shinso never seems sad, though. He's either mad, sarcastic, or happy. 

The only time Shinso seemed sad was when Kaminari was trying to defend Mineta because he knew Kaminari was lying, and the reason made him sad. 

Yes, Kaminari has started to like Shinso romantically. 

Weird.

Though that's the case, Kaminari doesn't want to be with him. He feels no need to date him. 

One time Kaminari thought about holding his hand and he inwardly cringed at the thought. It felt embarrassing to picture. Not because it was Shinso, no. It was because it was him with Shinso. He cannot picture himself in a relationship, and he doesn't want to.

He feels weird for that, but he can't really help it.

"I swear your brain is tired."

Kaminari looks at Shinso.

"What?"

"Your brain. I can smell it burning," Shinso says in the elevator.

Oh. He's teasing again.

Maybe he likes me?

Agh, don't be self obsessed.

The doors open and they head to Sero's room. "Shut up. My brain can handle all my thinking."

"You- you can... think?" Shinso whispers.

"I will electrocute you if you keep this up," Kaminari threatens, thankful for Shinso.

His dumb teasing always makes Kaminari feel lighter. 

They knock on Sero's door, and Shinso huffs. "That would be fun."

The door opens as Kaminari says, "Oh shut up."

Sero looks offended, and Shinso laughs. "Wow, I hadn't even said hi."

Kaminari flips Shinso off. "Sorry, I was talking to Shinso. Hi Sero buddy friend. I have brought food," Kaminari smiles, holding out the bag of food, "thanks to Shinso's money."

Sero lights up at the sight of food. "Alright, you're forgiven."

They walk in, the rest of the squad there, eyeing the bad of food. They must be hungry.

"Thanks for this," Kaminari tells Shinso in a low voice.

With that, the blond runs over to Kirishima who has this weird puzzle thing that he has to put back together.

Sero and Bakugo sort out the food, handing everyone their stuff as they gather to eat in a circle, talking about whatever. 

It's comfortable, and Kaminari feels safe, especially with his favorite blanket wrapped around him. Well, it's not his favorite, but it's his favorite of Sero's.

Shinso had made himself comfortable next to Kaminari, leaning onto the beanbag the blond was sitting on. It felt affectionate to Kaminari, but what does he know? It's probably just nothing, but his stupid brain runs at a million miles an hours, and his heart beats a little too fast at the thought of being attractive to someone. 

It really probably is nothing, and Kaminari feels a little weird for thinking that someone could like him.

"So he goes up to him, and goes 'that is not appropriate', and turns around red-faced before dashing off," Mina squeals and laughs. 

The story she was telling of Aoyama and Iida is cute. He always thought Iida was straight. Like the straightest of straights. Like support conversion therapy straight.

Guess he judged wrong.

"Seriously," she laughs, "he was so red. It was so cute."

The others smile at the story, laughing at Iida's stupidity and awkward approach to Aoyama's flirting. 

"Honestly though Iida would be a 'super straight'," Shinso comments and Kaminari laughs, nodding.

"That's exactly what I was thinking," he says, still laughing. 

He sees Bakugo shake his head in amusement at the two. 

"Aw, shit. They didn't give us ranch," Mina whines, looking through the bags aggressively. 

"I got it," Kaminari says, standing up to head downstairs. 

The others look quickly alarmed, but Kaminari ignores it. He can go quickly. He's not a baby who needs protection. It's fine.

"Be right back," he says, leaving his blanket.

He decides the stairs are a better bet for not running into Mineta.

Grabbing the ranch quickly from the fridge, he runs back up the stairs, chest full of anxiety, but that anxiety quickly disappears when he finds that he made it back to Sero's floor with no sign of Mineta whatsoever.

He does, however, catch Todoroki leaving his dorm, eyeing Kaminari weirdly as he pants from running up the stairs. 

Todoroki's calm demeanor makes Kaminari feel comfortable, and he's very attractive, so he knows why Bakugo likes this guy so much. Bakugo also talks about Todoroki quite a bit, so he knows exactly why Bakugo is attracted to him.

"Hey, dude," Kaminari greets. 

The other smiles lightly, waving. 

"Are you busy?" The blond asks.

He could invite him over. Shinso got extra food since Kirishima loves his burgers, but he can spare one or two.

"Not really, I was heading down to grab something to eat. Are you going to Sero's room?" he asks.

There's also the obvious crush that Todoroki has on Bakugo.

"Yeah, all the others are there, too," the blond mentions. He doesn't want to be too obvious, but he also wants the other to know that his crush is in the room.

"I see. Well, I hope you have a good time. I'll see y-"

"You should join us. We have extra food. It's fast food, though," Kaminari offers.

Bakugo might kill him, but it's fine. 

Todoroki's eyebrows go up.

"Are you sure that's alright?"

He does seem kind of nervous going into the room with them all. He knows that Todoroki grew up in an isolated environment so he's not very good with a lot of people. Shinso and Bakugo pretty much keep to themselves along with Sero. Kirishima can be calm a lot of the time, and Mina is good with people who are not very social. 

It's a good group.

"Yeah, we all love you. It'll be a good surprise for them."

The door swings open as Shinso finishes talking to the others inside, "-taking long, I'll make sure he's fi-"

When Shinso turns to find Kaminari there with the bottle of ranch, he stops talking. "Oh."

"Hey, I was just inviting Todoroki over."

The others inside the room cheer, and Shinso nods, looking around the area.

"I think the others are more than okay with that," Shinso nods, smiling lightly at Todoroki.

The timid boy walks in, not sure where to sit until Kirishima moves away from Bakugo to make space for him. Bakugo looks ready to kill everyone, but his face reddens every so slightly when Todoroki sits next to him, looking over at Bakugo once he's seated with a smile.

"Hello, Bakugo."

"Shut up."

"Okay."

The others try not to smile at them, and Kaminari hands the ranch to Mina.

The hyper blond sits back down on the beanbag chair, wrapping the blanket around himself again before getting his food. 

"Oh, Kirishima, is it alright if Todoroki takes two burgers? He's hungry," he asks.

Kirishima beams. 

"Of course," he says, giving Todoroki two of his burgers.

He sits back with a sigh, tired of running and mentally exhausted for being so worried all the time. 

"Is everything fine?" Shinso asks quietly. 

He's not looking at the blond, distracting himself by dipping his fries in ketchup.

"Yeah, just ran," the blond admits.

The other nods. 

Kaminari feels warmth spread in his chest. 

Sometime later in the night, as Kaminari forgets about all his worries and watches Bakugo slowly open up to Todoroki for the night, he gets a call on his phone. While the others talk to each other, Shinso had stayed by Kaminari the whole night, once again making himself comfortable leaning on the chair.

Once Kaminari sees the Caller ID, he takes a deep breath. 

"Hello?" He answers.

"Hey, can you come over tomorrow? You're mom isn't going to be here," Kisho says.

Oh.

"Sure, at what time do you want me to go over? I also need to ask Mr. Aizawa," he says.

Shinso perks up, looking at the blond.

None of his other friends noticed and he's glad for that. 

So much for a great weekends. It's obvious why his dad wants him over.

It'd been a while. The last time he did anything was when his dad completely went into him and made him bleed so much. 

Guess his break is over. 

"Anytime after twelve is fine. We have a lot of time."

"Okay, Pa. See you tomorrow."

"Bye."

He hangs up, and looks over at Shinso who was looking at him the whole time.

"I'm gonna go now."

Shinso looks at him. "Can I join you?"

The blond nods, feeling the need to cry, but not letting himself.

They both stand up, grabbing the trash and making sure everyone was done with their food.  

Kaminari usually just takes it to his room and throws it out the next day.

After announcing their leave, the two make their way to Kaminari's room.

"Are you okay?"

The blond laughs, looking at Shinso.

"Yeah. I just hate going home sometimes. I guess I get used to being here all the time," he says.

It's not weird. Shinso shouldn't find anything weird about that, but he does.

The taller nods. 

He won't say it, but he likes being alone with the blond. 

They're both comfortable and Kaminari listens to him. He knows a lot about him. It's nice to have a best friend. 

The only thing is that now he's realizing what's up with Kaminari now that they're together a lot. He doesn't want to assume, but the issue is not something that he wants to be true. Kaminari also seems so adamant about hiding this, and either way, Shinso isn't sure if the conclusion he's getting to is right.

***
Word Count: 2,731 
yall so senior week was fun. there was a lot of stuff to do in classes still, but it was a fun week. ngl this year is kinda fun. i made friends this year lol and ive had one friend all of high school but i didn't have many classes with him. this year we only have two classes together but now with new friends, i have someone to sit with in every class and lunch. ik it's not that cool, but i hadn't had that since middle school jaieuhuewv. ANYWAY i hope yall liked this chapter. the next update will be next sunday at 8pm central time. i love you all and tysm for reading <3