Archive of Our Own ^beta

“You’ve never tried it? Why not? The idea seems like it should have been obvious!”

Shinsou Histoshi’s patrol partner walked - no, bounced; keeping up with his stride. Both in their civvies, they were mentally mapping out the area before they actually had to patrol and keep watch over the streets later; there was a fifty-fifty chance of everything either being pitch black or bathed in neon lights by that point. Luckily, their destination was only a few blocks away from the edge of the section.

“Seeing as I spent all of my time at UA training to be a hero, and all the time since then I’ve been struggling to make a decent living, no, I haven’t been thinking about ways to monkey around with it. I got enough shit from support companies just trying to get the damn thing built.” Shinsou shoved his hands a little bit deeper into his pockets, muttering something about not having a ton of free time up until now. Hanako better hurry up or they are going to be late. Shinsou swerved around a businessman talking on the phone walking the other way. “We better hurry or we’ll be the last pair to go out.”

“You had to have at least practiced with it a lot to get used to copying the little details in their voices!” Said support item under question was Shinsou’s Artificial Vocal Cords. “Can’t you at least do some feminine voices?” A breathy sigh came from Shinsou, and Hanako smiled, knowing she got somewhere.

“With the amount of questions you have I sometimes wonder if your quirk is actually emotional manipulation.” A couple fingers appeared in the back of the purple fluffy mass he called hair, before the rest of his hand. “Yes, I can copy some higher voices. No, I haven’t tried crossdressing, drag, or anything else like that.” He stopped, looking up at the building across the street, the one with the massive screen on it that typically displayed the time somewhere. “Come on, we should get in costume or the boss will have a fit again.” The two of them pushed open the front door to the large but rather drab building they had stopped in front of, heading to the locker rooms.

—

Lifting the cool metal off of his hot and sweaty neck, Shinsou set down his vocal chords in its usual spot in his locker. It was heavy, but the metal was cool, and a welcome relief near the end of the shift. The conversation from earlier wriggled back into his mind, a silent subconscious thought, but he paid no attention to it as he threw on a random pair of sweatpants that must have been in the back of his locker for the past week, and his shirt from earlier. Just as he was about to close the door, the glint of a bit of light catching on the metal of his support item caught his eye. The purple undertones paled in the yellow light of the room, a design point done by the company on the latest version (a few years old now, the last version was a bit tight). Not really giving it a second thought, he grabbed it out of the locker, throwing it into the old gym bag he used for going to work. It should be fine as long as it didn’t set off any alarms or safety features he didn’t know about, right? He’d just bring it back the next day he worked, simple. Slamming the door shut, he moved towards the door, flipping the lights off on the way out. Time to go home and sleep.

—

“I’m home.” The usual morning wake up call. He’d wake everybody up in the morning with the noise of the door and putting his bag down, they’d all have breakfast (or in his case breakfast for dinner) together, and then they’d leave for their patrol shifts and he’d leave for his shift with the bed. A clattering of what sounded like hair products balanced on the sink most likely meeting their match with the floor greeted him, followed by a fast “Morning, Hito!”

“You okay in there Izuku?” Shouto called out, smoke rising quickly from a pan of what Hitoshi assumed was supposed to be breakfast, but he wasn’t sure what was exactly in there.

“Yeah it’s fine!” came the reply, quick. His tone seemed to indicate otherwise, but it was likely just some hair gel. The mass of green hair belonging to Midoriya popped out the door, a smile on his face and a dash of a blush on his cheeks as he saw Hitoshi at the door.

“Hi, Izu.” Hitoshi said, quiet enough that neither of them could really hear the slight shake in his voice. Even after a couple of years of living together, he still couldn’t get over how cute he was sometimes. It was like he was living in a fantasy.

“Come eat before we run out of time.” Shouto reprimanded softly, motioning at the table. “I already made us tea and some rice.” He turned back to the pan, rolling over whatever was in there a couple of times as it popped a little bit. Shinsou quickly stooped over to untie his shoes quickly, stepping into a pair of house slippers and sliding over to the table with practiced ease. Usually he’d be a bit wary of his boyfriends cooking, but it must be hard to fuck up rice when you have it with nearly every meal. And Shinsou knows that Shouto’s breakfast skills have gotten better over the past year or so. They were downright abysmal right after they graduated though, somehow. Picking up a pair of chopsticks that were set next to the bowl, he muttered a small ‘thank you for the food’ and shoved a bit in his mouth, Izuku sitting down next to him and doing the same. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good. He’d guess that somebody forgot to get up early enough again. Usually Izuku liked to cook, but that was obviously not the case today. 

“How was work, Hito?” Izu asked politely. His eyes sparkled with genuine interest. Izuku’s passion for all of the little things and making sure everybody he knew was doing alright was probably the first thing that really caught Hitoshi. Neglect can make you do that, a bit.

“It couldn’t have been much, I didn’t see anything on the news.” Shouto commented, almost curtly as he set a plate of slices of tamagoyaki down in the middle of the table, where everybody could reach it. Next to it was a little tray of different toppings, the ones Hitoshi knew that he liked to pull out when he wanted to show his affection but wasn’t sure how. A small smile graced Shinsou’s face, his heart fluttering a bit at the gesture. He grabbed a slice of the tamagoyaki, setting it down to grab another. He was hungry, ok? And it was right there, made just for the three of them.

“Nah, we didn’t really do much tonight. There were the average thugs hanging out in the alleyways but that was about it.” Took a bite of tamagoyaki. “‘Sides, if we did do something it wouldn’t make news headlines. I went underground for a reason.” He shoves another bite in his mouth. It’s edible, and not the worst Shouto has made for them. 

“That is true,” Shouto agreed, before taking his own slice of tamagoyaki.

“But I wanna know how my boyfriend’s night went!” Izuku complained, as Hitoshi pushed his cup of tea towards him.

“It was fine. Drink your tea, you don’t wanna be completely out of it today.” Shooting a lighthearted glare towards Shouto, he followed, taking a sip of the tea that was just starting to cool off a bit. Shouto didn’t even notice, taking a bite of rice. He seemed to be enjoying his breakfast just fine.

They all continued to eat for a bit, sneaking verbal jabs and compliments at each other between bites of rice and sips of tea (or water, in Shinsou’s case. They didn’t have any decaf.) Midoriya continued to be undeniably way too awake for this time of morning, and Shouto continued to be his silent but unaware sexy self, little smiles appearing as he watched Izuku’s little tangents. It took a certain charm to be the kind of pro Izuku was, and he had mastered it from the start. Before anyone realized, the sun was already starting to peek through the curtains, forcing Izuku to glance at the clock, and as it turned out;

“Shouto, we’ll be late for our train!”

“Midoriya, you know I can call a ride for us if need be.”

“I know, but still! I don’t want to force your sidekicks to come out here for us again!” Midoriya worked at a different agency than Todoroki did, but they still worked in the same area. Lovesick idiots. Shinsou smiled at the thought. They’re my lovesick idiots.

“Go change, already. You’ll catch the train on time, you always manage somehow. I’ll wash up.” Shinsou stood up, grabbing the empty plates. Somebody would try and pull that as an excuse if he didn’t do it himself. To be honest, he wasn’t going to touch that until he got some sleep first, but if he pretended like he was going to do it for them now then he wasn’t going to get his ass kicked at verbal chore keepaway… otherwise he’d have to break apartment rules. Not like the landlords would know with his quirk, but since both of his boyfriends had some very destructive quirks they all had a very specific way that they treated unneeded quirk usage off of work. Shouto bobbed his head in a light bow as thanks as he got up, Midoriya just standing up and rushing into his space to find suitable clothes for the morning commute.

“Whatever, just make sure you get to the station on time.” Hitoshi called after him, as Shouto calmly followed him down the hall, with the same idea.

“Thanks Hito! You’re the best! Love you have a great day!” Midoriya mush mouthed as he rushed towards the door, a green blur at best as he tugged on his shoes, ready to sprint to the station. Would be a good early morning workout anyways. Their third boyfriend followed suit, hair tie between his teeth as he pulled back his bicolored hair into a loose and messy bun, enough for the walk to the train. He’d likely pull it back into his more classic half up half down style once he didn’t have to run to the station so he wouldn’t be late. Tugging on a pair of ordinary shoes, he opened the door (with a most definitely normal human amount of strength, unlike his idiotic rushing partner was about to most definitely not do) and the two of them filed out.

“Bye, Hitoshi. Have a nice day. Make sure to actually wash the dishes.” Shouto reminded, as Izuku blew him a quick kiss from the porch.

“Fine. Go be heroes.” Hitoshi grumbled, almost mockingly. He was so close to being able to sleep…

And with that, finally, the door closed. Dumping the last cup left on the table in the sink, he headed down the hall towards the shared bedroom they owned. Closing the curtains to make it dark in there, he collapsed onto the bed, moving the blanket so he was comfy, almost immediately falling asleep. For once.

—

Two P.M. brought with it chirping birds, screaming school children passing on the street outside their apartment, and Shinsou’s begrudging wakefulness. Wishing for his legs to work right, he dragged himself out of bed, stumbling to the kitchen. Luckily, their coffee maker was dead tired-proof, so even a comatose person could manage to make it work right. Slapping a couple of buttons here and there that he knew would make it work, he wandered over into the living room, locating the remote on the coffee table to turn the TV on. It was always nice to have sound on when he was doing things around the house. Flicking it to the local news, he walked back into the kitchen, his coffee done brewing. As he grabbed his mug, his eyes flickered over to the sink, where their breakfast dishes sat unwashed. Ah, well. Shinsou thought with a sigh. Here's what I’m doing today. 

“And now, our hourly hero report,” the news anchor announced from across the room. “Most notably, news broke 10 minutes ago of the arrest of newer villain Chameleon. Despite being new, they’ve still managed to cause trouble for a lot of agencies, including those of pro heroes Deku, and Shouto. Now, Chameleon, civilian identity Sai Agawa, upon arrest requested that everybody use neutral pronouns and terms for them, and police have consented. Their quirk allowed them to shift parts of their body at will to imitate others, including their voice, which is how they managed to trick everyone for so long.”

“Interesting,” Shinsou commented to nobody but the TV. He should ask if they can get a cat at some point, it was lonely. They’d have to check with the landlord first.

“Agawa-san was found this morning in Northwest Musutafu, and called in by sidekicks of Deku’s while on patrol, but when he got there Agawa resisted arrest, and required force to be taken in. This turned the arrest violent and caused several buildings around them to sustain damage as part of dodged attacks from Deku’s quirk. Here, we have some footage of the incident, before our cameramen were told to stop recording.” The TV played a couple seconds of footage, showing several burning buildings in the background and Deku, standing outside of a smoke cloud, yelling something into it. Only the name “Chameleon” is audible. Shinsou took a long draw of his coffee as the announcer finished up the segment, mentioning that Shouto’s agency was the one that took the villain because of their involvement in the case. Setting his mug down next to the sink, he turned on the water, mind wandering.

The mention of Chameleon’s nonbinary identity in such a public way, and not going against their wishes surprised him. It was obviously out of respect, but even then topics like that weren’t commonly talked about in Japanese media. Most people knew what it was, and knew that the USA had legalized gay marriage a long while ago now, but they still didn’t talk about it that much, so not a lot of people knew a lot about the topic. But something about the announcement, something reminded him of something somebody had said to him recently. It wasn’t coming to mind, though, so he picked up a bowl, filled it with water and started scrubbing. Mindless chores for the win. It would be great if he could use his quirk on himself, sometimes…

—

Later that day brought him to watching whatever he found on the TV, as he got a text from Hanako.

Hanako; 6:28 PM

do we have patrol tonight?

Oh. Right.

Hanako was what he couldn’t think of earlier.

Typing out a quick response, memories from their conversation last night came back to him.

Shinsou; 6:29 PM

No, but I’d bet 1000 yen that you have paperwork

Hanako; 6:29 PM

aww mann…

The memory of her question echoed back to him, bouncing around his mind.

Do you ever use your voice changer for imitations or making your voice more feminine? Ya know, just to see what it sounds like!

That’s why he’d brought his support item. On a stupid whim.

Shit, it was sitting in his bag near the door!

Springing up, he grabbed his work bag, moving towards his room. Opening the closet door, he tossed it in there, since it wasn’t right near the door like a newbie would do and he didn’t have to go on patrol soon. Reaching for the door, he motioned to close it, but for whatever reason, his arm didn’t want to. Stooping down, he quickly freed his vocal chords from the back, fitting them onto his face like it was second nature (because it was ). Stepping back from the closet, he looked in the mirror across the room, letting the closet door shut slowly with a soft clack. Woah, his hair looked like a mess after doing nothing all day…

“What should I do first?” Shinsou mused aloud, his voice slightly tinny from the voice chords. “Hmm…” Reaching up, he twisted a couple of knobs. And twisted them a bit more. Once he was happy with his changes, he took a deep breath, trying to inject as much energy as possible into his voice, and-

“We’re home, Hito!” Shit, he didn’t even hear the sound of the lock, or the door opening. There was the sound of grocery store bags, kind of like how it always sounded when they brought home ingredients to make katsudon, Izuku’s favorite-

“Welcome ho-” Pausing right in the middle of his greeting, his eyes wide, panicked, he pulled down the support item. “Welcome home guys. Did you go to the store?” A bit louder this time, in hopes they didn’t hear the first time. Shit, he had forgotten he had the vocal chords on. Shit, what if Izuku heard his first time impression of him? Shit, it was a bad decision. Shit, shit, shit! He’d have to reset them now, without them hearing. Slipping it back on, he-

“Hitoshi? You here? I thought I heard myself!” and then, quieter: “Imagine if there was a second me in here! That would be so weird!”

“Your mind continues to impress me, Midoriya.” Shinsou took it off completely, sticking his head out into the hallway.

“Nah, just me. Everything’s fine.” Maybe a bit fast for normal, but they wouldn’t notice anyways. Looking over to the table, his guess was right, Midoriya was in fact pulling out some pork cutlets and eggs. They must have run out this morning. “I’ll be out to help in a bit.” He got out, before pulling his head back in and slipping it back on over his nose, albeit very messily.

“Take your time, Izuku is very adept at making katsudon.” Shouto called in response. Hoping he didn’t want a response right away, Shinsou pulled back all the dials to the zero setting as quickly as he could. Luckily, he had some muscle memory for this action and it wasn’t very hard to do, but he still fumbled grasping for a couple of the smaller fine tuners. Yanking it off of his face again, he dropped it in his bag again, closing the door firmly. They were trying to draw him out now, he smelled coffee. 

—

Both of his boyfriends had the next day off, and he didn’t have to work the night before. Being a super rare occurrence, this was typically their date days as the three of them. Which meant for Shinsou, that he wouldn’t have another chance to try Hanako’s idea again without risking being found out for another day or two.

Which was fine. Just annoying.

“You ready to go, Hitoshi?” Midoriya asked, rounding the corner into his room. Shinsou was currently staring at his closet, still unsure of what to wear. Looking over to give Izuku a blank faced ‘ what do you think’ stare, he noticed that Izu actually looked nice for once. No All Might or other hero merch, instead he wore a plain black shirt with a long light coat; Shouto must’ve styled him.

“I wasn’t sure what to wear.” Shinsou heard himself say. Wow, he couldn’t get more monotone than that, could he?

“That’s ok! Shouto had to tell me what to wear too… Hey Shou!”

“I told you not to call me that, it confuses Hitoshi.” Their boyfriend turned stylist popped his head into the room next to where Midoriya stood, and took one look at Hitoshi before slipping past Izuku, shaking his head as he went.

“Oh right, his parents… sorry Hito!” Midoriya mentioned, flashing a sincere smile to him as Shouto stuck his hands into the void that had taken over Shinsou’s closet.

“You should really get some more color, or at least some browns. It could bring some life into here.” Flipping through a couple of different shirts, (yes, Shinsou can tell what is what thank you very much), Todoroki eventually settled on one, handing it to the man standing right outside the door.

“Say, if I can’t call you Shou, what should I call you?” Midoriya mused out loud, almost a bit too perfectly for it to be just that. “Cherry? Babe? Love of my life? The moon?” Shinsou just stared at him again. Did he really think those would work? Extracting his head from the closet with a suitable pair of pants and a pair of shoes on the other hand, their personal stylist looked at Izuku straight on.

“I don’t think any of those would be suitable. Why don’t you just use my name?” Looking over at the silent third wheel on the other side of him, he handed the pants and shoes over: “Go change, we’ll be by the door.” Being forced to accept the clothes for the sake of awkwardness, Shinsou fumbled the items in his hands as Shouto guided Izuku out of his space, to wait by the entrance. Dumping all three items on a spare chair, he moved over to kick the door closed, and change. He hadn’t even noticed it before now but as Shouto was walking out, Shinsou couldn’t help but notice the white and red braid flowing down his back… where he learned to braid, he had no idea, but Shouto always managed to impress him with the different hairstyles he tried. It was always so sexy…

—

“So, does anybody want to tell me where we’re going?” Shinsou inquired, almost sounding a bit hurt that both of them forgot to mention it.

“Izu, did you forget to mention it again?” Shouto asked, looking down at the green mass of hair right in front of him. They were all on the subway, for a short ride somebody had mentioned. Shinsou imagined they would be getting off soon, otherwise they would have taken a different train.

“Oh, did I? Sorry, Shinbobo!”

“Shinbobo?”

“So I’m not the only one that heard that just now?”

“Since it’s the end of March, and we haven’t had a date with all three of us yet in a couple weeks, I thought we could go see the sakura blossoms! I remember that my Shou-kitty over here really liked them last year but we were all so busy with that one case that we couldn’t find time!”

“ Shou-kitty?”

Now that he knew where they were all going, it made sense that Izuku was carrying a stuffed bag with him, with what looked like a folded up blanket on top. Picnicking under the sakura blossoms; sounds cute.

“Ok that does sound very sweet. Did you bring food?” They could probably find a konbini somewhere if he didn’t…

“Of course, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I forgot to pack food?” Izu replied softly, voice sweet.

“One who’s still perfect.” Shouto interjected, face solemn. As always. Looking at his hands, however, they were relaxed, meaning it was said in good faith. Glancing around, just to check that nobody was giving them any weird looks, Shinsou found only one person gazing in their general direction, a soft smile on her face as she listened to what he assumed was most likely music in her earbuds. Perfect, he wasn’t going to get recognized with them today. Hopefully.

Soon enough, the lady over the speakers announced the train's arrival at the station Midoriya led them off at. Stepping off and out onto the street, he grabbed both of their hands and started moving down the street, the flow of people absorbing him quickly. Luckily, Izuku seemed to know where he was going, so when he glanced over to Shouto, all he got was a look that said trust the process. So he did.

Several minutes later, the triad found themselves standing in front of the gates of a local park, one that Shinsou knew wasn’t terribly busy most of the year but found itself packed during cherry blossom season. Would they be able to find a spot?

“Don’t worry, Hito-lily!” These nicknames were getting a bit out of control. Lily? “I know of a good spot that is unlikely to be taken.”

“Come, Hitoshi.” Shouto looked over at him, with one of those not-smiles that really was a smile because that’s what was a smile for Shouto Todoroki. “I bet it’s shady.” Shinsou didn’t even realize they knew about his preference for the dark.

“I know what you’re thinking, you’re a night owl Shin-bear. Of course you’d prefer shady areas! Come on, we look awkward standing here.”

Come to think of it… “You’re right. Let’s go, I’m hungry.”

“Affirmative. Please, lead the way, Izu-kun.” the turtlenecked man standing next to him agreed. Looking at his face, his cheeks were dusted with the tiniest bit of red. Or, slightly redder than it was before, in the case of his scarred side. Both boyfriends having noticed this, they both turned away, suddenly walking into the park that was waiting for them mere seconds before.

—

Shouto caught back up to them a minute or so after they left him at the gate. Shinsou was hanging back a bit, as Midoriya fluttered from one side of the pathway to the other, to the original side a moment later; he had forgotten exactly where this ‘super special spot’ was. They believed it existed, just… this wasn’t exactly what they thought was going to happen, per say. Walking up to stand right by his side, Shouto elicited a small “welcome back” from Hitoshi as he suddenly stuck his hand in his pocket. Same side Shouto was standing on. He just… wasn’t sure. How. He was supposed to initiate something.

He wasn’t sure how Izuku did it all the time.

Feeling his face heat up the tiniest of bits, breaking his sullen and dark mask, he pulled his hand out of his pocket, trying his best not to ball it up. That wouldn’t help now, would it?

“I think it’s over here! I’m sure of it!” Izuku darted to the left side of the path again, way further up than he last remembered, before he slipped off of the path, in between a couple of trees standing in front of a group of them, branching off - creating innumerous hidey holes for them to hide in, most likely. Beside him, the even stoic-er Shouto followed him as well, braid swaying a little bit from the head turn. Swallowing his feelings, Hitoshi let his hand drift out, and if it happened to brush against his boyfriends, that was fine, it was just an accident-

“You can hold my hand if you want to.” Despite being surrounded by sound, Hitoshi had nearly blocked everything out, and the sudden stimulus made him jump a bit. “Sorry if I startled you.” Shouto put out his hand, an offering for Hitoshi to take. So he reached out with his own, like it’s intentional this time.

It was warm, but the kind of warm you get when you hold a cup of hot coffee in your hands in the morning (or evening) of a cold winter day, the kind of warmth that dances across your fingers when you’ve had your good gloves on for a bit too long because you’re inside and haven’t’ had the chance to take them off yet. The kind of warmth you feel when you are hugged for the first time in what feels like forever, the kind of warmth that Hitoshi felt when he finally confessed his crush to Midoriya on that last day of third year and Izuku immediately called Shouto and then immediately after that as soon as Shouto understood and he understood and the universe understood kissed him, right in front of the gates.

It was warmth, it was inviting, it was love. From a single hand hold. He might as well have kissed Shouto right then and there, and he would’ve if not for all of the people around and Izuku coming back to announce that he’d found the super secret special spot he was talking about earlier.

“My loves, I found it! Hitoshi, you ok? You look a bit red!” Izuku commented as soon as he saw Hitoshi’s face. He must be blushing, hard.

“What? Yeah.” Trying to shake off sudden affection like that was hard.

“Come on, you can stare dreamily at our boyfriend’s face after we shove food at each other. I brought some sweet treats too!” Midoriya’s eyes were lit up like fireflies in the dark, and his eyebrows and mouth quirked in just a way that resulted in a beckoning expression, so patiently impatient for the two of them.

“Hitoshi was not doing anything, I just offered him my hand.” Shouto offered a weak rebuttal.

“I saw you, you were also blushing,” Izuku retorts. “Come on, sugar cubes! Lunch is waiting!”

“You sound like my grandma,” Hitoshi teases, giving off one of those slight smiles that only his partners would be able to truly see in their full glory. He steps forward though, pulling along Shouto’s hand like it’s nothing. “Lead the way, oh great love of mine.” Midoriya giggled a tiny bit, as he complied, leading them off the path to the trees he had found minutes before. 

—

“I can’t unlock the door unless you let go of my hand, Shou-berry.” Midoriya slowly extracted his hand from Shouto’s near iron grip (those two were something else) and stuck his hand into his pocket, dredging through crumpled up receipts and little odds and ends that got shoved there to find his keys. 

“Yeah, let go of his hand, Shou-berry.” Hitoshi mocks, a joking grin plastered on his face. As Izuku finally pulled the keyring out of his pocket, Shouto deftly slips his newly freed hand into Shinsou’s other hand, as the first is also taken up by Midoriya’s non-key holding hand. With a couple of clicks, and a shck the door is finally unlocked, allowing passage into their entryway. Looking back at both of his partners standing right behind him, like he was about to make a grand gesture, he deflates visibly instead.

“You’re insufferable, Hi-bean.”

“Oh, I’m Hi-bean now??”

Midoriya just ignores him, turning back to Shouto.

“You can come inside if you’d like, mi amore. ”

“I would love to. Thank you for inviting me,” the invitee comments, slipping his fingers between the laces of his shoes and putting his shoes away neatly, before tugging on his house slippers and immediately moving for the kettle. 

“Could I-”

“No.” Izuku moves to stand in front of the door, arms out. A small smirk plays on his lips, but he less than smoothly shoves it down. Frowning a bit, almost as a pout, Shinsou moves forward, closing the space between them in a single move, moving so close that they couldn’t be any closer without him pressing up against the other’s body.

“If I kissed you, would you let me through?” What used to be a light dusting of freckles suddenly lit up like stars scattered across a red sky on Izuku’s face.

“Of course, baby.” whispered into his ear, almost inaudible. Hitoshi leaned back, smiling, looking into Izuku’s eyes.

“Then let me in and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Of- of course,” Izuku stammered, stepping aside. His face was still red like a rose, deepening still.

“Thank you.” Shinsou stepped through, and slipped off his own shoes, Izuku right behind him. Moving into the space between the dining room and the kitchen, Shinsou led Izuku right to their couch in the living room, currently occupied by a couple of throw pillows and a blanket hanging over the back, screaming for company. Shinsou obliged, leading himself and partner over, sitting down onto the incredibly worn cushions. Tugging Izuku’s hand ever so slightly, he indicates for him to sit as well.

“So what do I owe for my passage, Captain?” Hitoshi’s hand slipped forward, past the collar of Izuku’s coat, and up the side of his neck, to cup his chin. His voice came out quite rough, quite low, quite different, than he thought it would do. Their third part seemed to hear, though, based on the sound of the spoon dropping from the kitchen. Shouto wasn’t usually very easily surprised like that.

“‘The token which you will only know the nature of in your heart.’” Izuku replied, with the replying line. The line from the movie they had just watched last week, burned into their minds.

Both of them knowing what this entailed, Hitoshi leaned forward, and kissed Midoriya, a quick peck on the cheek. Midoriya sighed, contently, before speaking again, his voice soft, almost a whisper.

“We both know that will not satisfy the desire.”

“And if my heart yearns with desire that will not be fulfilled?”

It was Midoriya who leaned forward this time. His voice nearly wasn’t able to say a thing, so close to not coming out.

“Then so be it.”

Oh how the pro-hero fangirls would swoon if they heard of the things they quote in their free time.

“Then kiss me, you fake.” Hitoshi breathed, as daring as he dared. Cocking his head forward, as Izuku did the same, as Izuku pressed his chest against his, forcing Hitoshi to lean on his elbow to support himself, as their lips met and they pretended not to hear Shouto’s footsteps to the chair on the side of the coffee table, and-

“ I made you two some tea. I could hear you from the kitchen.” Shinsou opened his eyes as they separated, to Izuku’s face looking past him, to where he knew Shouto was sitting.

“But Bunny-”

“I want in later, don’t think I’m going to let you two make me watch.”

“He’s right, Izu.” Moving up again, he pressed another kiss into his cheek. “There’s my promise to pay later.” Pushing himself up, and trying to push Izuku off as gently as possible, “Now get off and take your tea.”

“Alright, fine.” Sitting up, he reached out as Shouto passed over a cup to him, wrapping his hands around it like a good mug of something on a cold morning. Sniffing it, and tentatively taking a small sip, he looked up at their tea bringer. “Is this the good tea?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it makes sense to break it out for date day.” Shinsou pointed out.

“And he’s the only one who can make a decent cup, thanks to Yaoyorozu…” Izuku trailed off as he took another sip, enjoying the pure bliss.

“You have three cups.” Hitoshi stated, holding out his hands. Shouto understood, and handed him a warm cup. Not even waiting a second, he brought the cup to his lips and took a sip, to find his favorite coffee. How Shouto managed to brew that so fast… nobody knows. Rich family magic, he guessed. Peering over at Shouto, he had finally picked up his own cup and taken a sip, satisfied that both of his boyfriends were satisfied. He looked up again, confirming that Midoriya had taken a second sip, before his gaze wandered over to Shinsou. Noting that he probably wanted to make sure they still liked their drinks before he continued to drink his, he looked up, with that slight smile of his that only his partners would be able to decipher properly, before closing his eyes to take another drink of his coffee. When they opened again, Shouto was mid-sip. He was correct.

Before he knew it, somebody had turned on the TV, and they were halfway through a movie, volume low. It must’ve been one the others knew by heart, because one was asleep with his legs on Shinsou’s lap, and the other was just finishing his tea, setting it on the table with the other cups, leaning on Shinsou’s shoulder. Not that he minded. Izuku was cute when he slept, and Shouto sometimes seemed so closed off that moments like these could be rare. Trying his best not to disturb either man on either side of him, he pulled out his hand from where it was stuck, before softly setting it down on Shouto’s thigh. Noticing, Shouto rested his own hand on top of Shinsou’s, clasping them together loosely. Shinsou let his head rest on Shouto’s, which was on his shoulder, as they moved their attention back to the movie to finish off the afternoon together.

And from everything, Shinsou knew one thing: if anything happened, he could trust that they would never leave him.

—

Nearly a week had passed since the first time he was standing here, in front of his closet. Staring at his Vocal Chords.

He had had to go to work a couple of days since, the villains wouldn’t stop so neither would he. But somehow, it still felt wrong to not bring it home with him again. It was quite annoying at how much he was bringing it home with him, to do nothing with it; but life gets in the way. As do loving boyfriends.

A bit more sure of himself this time, he reached into the bag and pulled out the mask. The first time he had been interrupted by the boys coming home from work, and the second day he wanted to try, he had gotten called in for an emergency meeting. As in, the phone rang right as he was about to speak for the first time with the adjustments. He had been quite annoyed about that one for a bit longer. But today, today should work. He went through and locked all the doors and windows, threw his phone in between the couch cushions where he could still hear it if it rang long enough but was also muffled enough to not take him out of focus, and made sure that Izuku and Shouto would be at work for at the very least an hour more or so. No accidents were going to get in the way this time, because he wanted to know. Hanako be damned. He’d have to thank her later… at some point… when it wasn’t awkward…

Putting it up to his face and strapping it on tight was no new adventure, muscle memory taking over. He let his hands run over all of the dials, to make sure that none of them were in a weird or awkward setting, before taking a deep breath in, and moving all of the dials again, some in big strokes and some in the finest changes. Several years of listening to himself and others meant he was very intimate and familiar with the details and ways people’s voices can change. It wasn’t just the pitch, or the way they placed it in their throat, but also the way their voices moved, and the minute changes from day to day, place to place, from situation to situation. Some of these had to be imitated by himself, since the Chords don’t pull off tricks like that, but others meant he needed to add a bit of this or that, or a touch of that over there and a dash of this right here. In short, he was a vocal chamaeleon.

So when he pulled away, hands drifting down to their usual spot at the ready and then forced to relax, he knew it was likely to be very close, in the very least.

“Hello.” A typical test word. Urgency wasn’t required in this case, so it came out a lot more awkward than he intended. Based on the sound though, everything seemed to be in the right place, he just needed a bit more energy and to pitch his natural voice a bit higher in an assist to the Chords. It was the perfect starting spot. Shifting a few dials back and many more forward a touch, he tried speaking again, this time less of an imitation of a friend and more of an approximation of what he would sound like.

What Shinsou would sound like, if he were a girl. Or, more like, not biologically male, really.

This time, it came out a bit more androgynous than anything else. It needed a bit of work on the details, it was still fairly rough around the edges, but that wasn’t what was important, really.

What was important, was the pure joy that came after he heard himself say it like that. It felt, right. It felt like… the voice that had existed inside his head came to life. It felt like…

It felt like second nature.

But saying it like that almost felt wrong, in itself.

If it felt wrong to say, then, then should he be doing it?

Suddenly plagued with massive amounts of uncertainty, he rushed through setting all of the dials back to their zero placements, reaching for the straps. Deftly undoing those and slipping the entire thing off, he tossed it gently back into the bag it was in before. If he wasn’t sure if it was ok to do, then he probably shouldn’t be doing it until he was sure.

Maybe he could feel the elation it brought… another day. 

—

Sure, it may have taken a while, but Shinsou eventually got used to the way his voice sounds pitched up like that. So much that wearing his Vocal Chords around the apartment when his boyfriends were at work became a near daily habit.

After a week or so, his curiosity got the best of him. Looking up “guy feels good using a woman's voice” didn’t provide anything useful… and neither did several of the other searches that occurred right after that. Looking back, not that many people had the ability to seamlessly switch between their natural voice and then to one that was supposed to be them but as the opposite sex, not without a lot of training. By then they probably already were set in their identity. Since Shinsou wasn’t set on figuring it out right then, the idea got tossed to the side for a couple of weeks, until the mention of the villain Chameleon reminded him of the news broadcast the day they were captured.

It hadn’t been that big of a deal, just an offhand comment on how they were being sentenced that day, “more at 6.” It was that that had pushed him over the edge. Pulling out his phone with maybe a bit too much vigor, Shinsou opened Google and typed the first thing that came to mind: “chameleon gender.” Of course, this didn’t pull up anything useful, just guides on how to sex your pet chameleon, primarily in English. Recoiling a bit, and trying to put a bit more thought into it this time, he added ‘villain’ to his search. Naturally, this didn’t help much either, bringing up records of a short lived, yet voracious American villain who went by the name Chameleon as well. According to the headlines showing up, they only lasted a couple of months, but their quirk allowed for them to change their voice however they felt, as well as some side mutant lizard based features, like a slight color change ability and the ability to cling to walls and non traditional walking surfaces. Clicking on a link that claimed to analyze their quirk, it became obvious that one parent had a gecko mutation, and the other had a mild voice quirk that allowed them to easily force different effects into it. Mildly interesting, but not that useful. Better try again, he thought as he x-ed out of the tab and moved to edit his search one more time.

That was, until a headline in Japanese caught Shinsou’s eye. “New villain in the Japanese hero scene turns out to be a copycat?” The website and article title seemed to be pretty scandalous as it was, but still, it was the only thing he had found so far that mentioned the Japanese villain Chameleon. Looking at the first paragraph, it seemed like the article might actually be a bit closer to what Shinsou was looking for.

“The local Chameleons are turning out to be copycats, as it was found out recently that captured villain Chameleon was following in the footsteps of American villain going by the same name, appearing over two years ago initially. Following not just in name, both of these bold lizards are leading the charge in the civil rights movements, fighting for equal rights for several minority groups. They made this fact very clear when one of the first things mentioned in official police reports was their wishes to be referred to in neutral, ungendered manners. The trickster here claims to self-identify as ‘nonbinary,’ creating shockwaves throughout the majority of Japan.”

Nonbinary, huh. I wonder what that means. The errant thoughts wafting across his brain as he hit the search box again to type in a new query. Shinsou settled down on the couch, coffee mug now on the coffee table, news station still running in the background. Something about local events going on right now, the traffic, the weather scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Reading the given definition wasn’t enough apparently, so started the rabbit hole of Wiki pages, Reddit posts, Reddit communities, random articles on websites ranging from kinda sketchy to the most rainbow, eye assaulting things he’s ever seen. Looking into it opened up a whole world, one with many words and definitions, but most importantly, there were multiple words that meant very similar things to ‘nonbinary.’ Trying to find Japanese translations and explanations was a huge struggle, since the internet seemed to always prioritize English first, but some refined searches got the job done. Tumblr and Reddit were a major help for this, with their community aspects allowing for more intercommunication. Only a couple of times did Shinsou remember about his coffee, only taking a couple of sips before setting it down again to use both thumbs for typing.

—

Genderqueer.

That was the word.

The word that describes how Shinsou feels. He isn’t entirely male but he’s not female and ‘nonbinary’ isn’t right either. He’s a guy, one that has some extra non-guy stuff tacked on at the end. Yeah.

Head drooping down, eyes barely staying open, Shinsou sighed at his desk. He was supposed to be writing up reports, since they actually caught somebody recently, but all he could think about recently is this new revelation. It still felt weird to say, especially in relation to him. Genderqueer. Queer.

“Come on, Mr. Sleepy! This is the third time today you’ve gotten distracted, and we’ve been working on this for twenty minutes tops! We gotta finish this so we can go home and you can get some rest!” Hanako admonished him from behind her own screen, opposite him. She… was right, Shinsou supposed. If he could just focus on it…

The door opened softly, another coworker walking into the room. Her footsteps were quiet, and it sounded like she had a cup of something in her hands based on the gentle sloshing every other step or so, barely audible over Hanako’s furious typing. Must be Aoi, the agency’s head secretary slash file organizer slash people putting in line-r. Everything would have fallen apart ages ago if not for her, now coming to the rescue yet again. Hopefully, Shinsou could use that power boost.

“Oooh, whatcha got there, Aoi?” Hanako looked up, broken out of her writing stupor in a millisecond. Aoi was walking around the desk, now in sight, carrying two company mugs in her hands. Based on the way steam was rising from both of them, they must have been some hot drinks to keep the two of them company. Nearly everybody on the graveyard shifts or for underground patrols had gone home already, the morning twilight heroes either walking in the front doors three floors down or already hopping off of one roof to the next.

“A little something, to keep you awake enough to finish these reports. I know the boss will want those soon, and you’ve been working an awful long time.” She chuckled a tiny bit, giving a soft smile.

“Yeah, they had backup and then it turned a bit messy with everywhere they made us chase them! They had some really fast people on their team..”

“Well, some of them have speed related quirks.” Shinsou cut in, not caring about possibly being rude. He just wanted to finish the damn thing. Aoi gave one look at him, before moving one of the mugs in his direction over the monitors.

“You look like you really need this tonight.” Not showing it on his face, Shinsou took it gratefully. Taking a deep sniff, it turned out to be one of the better coffees the agency had on stock usually. Not that Shinsou was a coffee connoisseur or anything, it was just simply better. Aoi had also added a bit of sugar, it looked like, by the spoon currently sitting in the mug. It would work.

“Here’s yours.” Aoi passed Hanako the other mug she had in her hand, the hero accepting it easily. “Well, good luck on that report.” On that upbeat, she left the room, as silent as she came. It was a good boost, though. Now, all Shinsou had to do was to finish this report without thinking about his… issue again, or falling asleep at his desk. He still needed to get home safely before taking a nap!

—

Now that Shinsou had the whole label kerfuffle partway sorted out, there were still a couple of issues that seemed to resonate nearly a bit too much around the inside of his skull. Namely, pronouns, gender expression, stuff like that. But even more importantly, his boyfriends.

Both him and Hanako were sitting up on a random roof in the middle of their patrol pattern, keeping watch. Of course they were on the lookout for villainy, why wouldn’t they be, mister Boss Man? It just seemed like the night was going oddly slow. Better not say that out loud… Shinsou corrected himself hurriedly. Doesn’t matter if it was only something you see nurses and ER personnel talk about, if you say out loud how nothing is happening at a people based occupation, then something is bound to come up. Along with five other things. In the same two minute time frame. The rest of his shift saved from too much happening that he couldn't handle it all, as he looked over to his patrol partner. Somehow, she had found a neon sign, and was currently leaning against it. They were on top of an abandoned laundromat, the sign told him. Hanako’s hair was outlined in a swash of color, bobbing as she ate her 24/7 konbini onigiri. Nothing was happening, she wouldn’t stop complaining, ya know. How it is sometimes.

Looking back into the horizon line, and the streets that seemed to be more awake at 3 am over any sort of waking hours, Shinsou let his mind wander. How do people even figure out what pronouns they do like, and switch to them? It seemed like such a hard decision, when there were pronouns that were just naturally given to you anyways, like choosing would have made it worse. How do these people ever decide…

Wait. That sounded like something he had read the other day.

When he was still in the process of figuring what the fuck was gender, Shinsou stumbled upon a page of descriptions of different gender identities. Wasn’t there one… that was like “wait you guys actually have the same gender every day and can choose one set of pronouns… wild.” Yeah. Yeah, there was… it was gender flux? No, genderfluid! The word seemed straightforward and self explanatory enough, but it was still a really new concept, so Shinsou had googled it out of curiosity, and found it referred to people who view their gender as a not fixed thing. Not really feeling anything at the time, he closed the tab and went back to reading the first page. But, there was something about the way the blurbs were phrased. Any sort of multi gendered identity, really. Something that implied, a lack of rules? That there were no rules, you could have as many or as little identities, labels, pronouns, anything, as you wanted. 

Did that mean that Shinsou too could use multiple sets of pronouns?

Instead of just being he/him, he could use he/him and they/them. They could use they/them and she/her. She could dive into neopronouns like ze and zir and ey and em and diving into the x’s and trying out xe and xem for a change. Xe could feel no longer bound by a simple binary, and just be who zie is. 

That would be stupid though, nobody uses neopronouns, came the negative thoughts. Came the self doubt. But if they existed, then how do they exist if nobody uses xe/xem and zie/zir? Suddenly feeling the cold of the wall they were leaning against again, Shinsou smiled, xyr smile shining like the moon reflecting her light. She was beautiful.

So, pronoun indifference. That seemed to be the thing he was looking for. Now, there came the other problem, the problem of Shinsou’s boyfriends. I mean… they’ll probably be fine with it? We’re in a polyamarous relationship. Before they could continue that thought process, she was interrupted by the crinkling of onigiri wrapper, as Hanako balled it up in her hand.

“What?” Hanako looked over, mouth still half full of the last bites of rice. “I’m done, we should get moving again.”

“Yeah, we’re on the clock right now.” Shinsou pushed himself up, standing up fully. They reached up in a small stretch, before walking over to where Hanako was sitting. “Where should we head next?”

“Well, it’s not usually that active this time of night except in the back alleyways, so maybe we should head that way?” Hanako pointed out into the maze of buildings and roofs, towards the poorer area that seemed to be filled with criminals all night long. She was right though, and way back in the recesses of his memory, Shinsou seemed to remember an ongoing case that was keeping an eye on that part of the city. Several more investigative based heroes had been putting together evidence for a bit now, and trying to figure out who was behind it all. Everybody who was a patrol based hero was alerted of the situation, made aware, but warned to not get into it unless they couldn’t get back out. Several patrol groups had been gossiping about it for weeks now, everybody afraid to go in that section of town. Based on the preliminary reports, crime was starting to tick up again because of that.

“Sure. I don’t think anybody’s been in there yet tonight.” My boyfriends can wait. Shinsou walked over to the far side of the building they were standing on, where the next roof was actually jumpable. They would have to go around a bit, and then start moving in the real direction they were going. This would probably eat up the rest of the night.

“Well, let’s get going then!” Hanako exclaimed, maybe a bit too cheerful for the dead of night. Doing her own stretch, and shoving the wrapper from her hand into one of her pockets, she started walking towards her patrol partner, before breaking into a jog, and then a run, eventually sprinting right up to edge, and seemingly flinging herself off of the roof they were currently on. Touching down on the next roof, a far way in, she let herself down into a roll, before stopping, jumping up, and smiling brightly. Seconds after, Shinsou was doing the same thing, as they quickly jumped to the next roof, much closer; finally heading towards where they meant to go.

—

Well, they should have expected this.

Shinsou blocked another blow from the villain’s big wood-like fists, trying to jump back so he could sneak in, find an opening, and get him to go the fuck to sleep, because he couldn’t talk. At least not in a way that would let their quirk work. Hanako was likewise trying to go around to the back, because it was just the one villain but he was large. And not fully in control mentally. For a hero with a non-physical quirk, it wasn’t a great matchup. Even worse, the building they were in seemed to be structurally unsound, based on the creaking in the walls. They still had to get the hostages out and into safety, but first they needed to get this villain off of them.

“Hanako, go! We don’t have much time!” Jumping back, and then sliding back as quickly as he could without tripping over something, Shinsou reached for her support item, slipping all of the dials to a completely closed position. He would still be able to breathe, but at least the dust would be kept out, for the most part. Sucking in as much air as he could possibly get, he screamed, directing it at the villain currently raging slowly but steadily towards him.

“HEY!!” Sure enough, that definitely got his attention, as his eyes fixed right on Shinsou. Worse than before, when Tree Bark was heading in his general direction, but at least Hanako could slip out from the boxes she was trying to climb over, launching herself at the villains head. A couple of quick yet forceful jabs to his neck, and he was collapsing to the floor, legs gone wobbly. Hanako unhooked her legs quickly, trying to make sure she wasn't trapped under his body, before pulling out some rope they typically carried for quick tie ups in the semi-rare case the cuffs wouldn’t work right away. Field work didn’t allow for as much gear to be carried as would in a police car, or a roundup team, for example. Shinsou didn’t have time to worry about that now, though.

“I’m going to go find the hostages!” She yelled at Hanako, loud as they could without causing a voice crack. He should really look into voice training, just to strengthen it some. It took a beating on a regular day. Without looking up, she yelled out a quick “Alright!” and Shinsou moved over to the door near the back of the room, suspiciously boarded up hastily. Kicking some random bits of wood and a cardboard box out of the way, he examined the door, noticing the nails weren’t put in all the way, or even with much care. Planting xyr feet on the ground in a stable stance, she grasped the first plank, wrapping their fingers around it, hoping it would work. And then he yanked, pulling the wood loose easily. Chucking it to the side without much care, the villain they took down whimpering in the background, Shinsou grabbed the next plank, yanking with all the strength they could muster, just in case it wouldn’t let her take it off. This one came loose easily as well, as ey did the same to the final and third piece. Not even bothering with the doorknob, Shinsou kicked it once, twice, three times on the hinges, easily kicking it down. 

Scrambling backwards, pressing their bodies against the wall, were two kids, about primary school age. Dust was filling up the air, in little clouds, unfurling themselves lazily as they settled back down, the kids trembling a bit. The short haired one sniffled, eyes welling up, while the one with the ponytail tried to comfort him.

“Hibiki, they’ve got to be heroes! Look at him, he kicked down the door for us! All the other guys did was lock us in here!” She seemed like she was trying to comfort herself as well, her voice shaking as she spoke. When she was looking over at Shinsou, there seemed to be some fear still in her eyes.

“No, no, no! They can’t be, I don’t believe it!” the boy - Hibiki - shoved his face into his knees, his legs already pulled up against him. His form shook, as he whimpered. “No, no, no, no, no.”

By this point, Hanako had actually knocked out the villain, and had him tied up to the side. She was standing beside Shinsou, and spoke before Shinsou could figure out how to respond.

“Yeah, we’re the heroes! We’ve come to get you out of here!” She held out a hand. “You’re safe with me, kid! You wanna get out of this tiny room?” The girl shook her head, wrapping her arms around the boy.

“I gotta make sure my brother will come with.”

“Okay, we can get you both.” Shinsou finally spoke, taking a step into the room. “Hey, kid.” He let down his mask, hoping that it would help him not be so scary. The boy looked up, and scooched away, into his sister.

“No! I won’t go with you! It’s always the same, you take me somewhere and say it’ll be nice but then I get locked into a small room like this! You better not put a muzzle on me, they always do that.” The kid started shaking even more, his voice raising in volume with every sentence. The words seemed to hang around a bit longer this time, ringing out into the small room.

“We have voice quirks,” the girl explained, her hand rubbing the boy’s back. “Come on, they’re safe. We can go with them.”

“NO! Go AWAY!!” The boy screamed in Shinsou’s face, the words rebounding throughout the larger room the villain was in. The building seemed to respond with some rocks crumbling down, and the walls seeming to rumble a bit. It likely wouldn’t hold for long, especially if the boy’s quirk was loud.

“Come on, we need to get you out of here!” Hanako grabbed onto the girl’s hand, trying to drag her towards the door. She resisted, only sliding forward a bit.

“No, I need to stay with him!” came the protest.

“GO AWAYYY!!” Her brother yelled again, making Shinsou cringe with the volume. The words were bouncing around again, possibly making the building even closer to collapse. He screamed again, a simple “AHHHHHH!” 

“Hibiki, calm down! They’re going to take us somewhere safe!” The girl’s voice wavered as she spoke, as if she wasn’t sure herself of this fact just yet. Getting up, she pulled her arm back and scrambled towards the boy, who was now crying.

“Hanako.” Shinsou muttered her name quietly enough to not get the kid’s attention, but to make sure she was listening. “We gotta get them out of here, structurally unsound.” Hanako nodded, a short, curt nod that Shinsou barely caught in the corner of their eye.

“How are we going to get them to move?”

“You grab one I grab the other?”

“We can try.” Hanako raised her voice back to normal volume, trying to talk to the poor kids. “Hey, everything will be ok! We just need to get you guys out of here. I’ll take one of you, and my friend Mindglitch over here will take the other. He’ll be right behind us!” Hanako reached out a hand, still trying to be friendly. Shinsou just took a couple of steps forward, intent on getting Hibiki out of here no matter what it took.

“I… as long as Hibiki’s right with me. Ok.” The girl stood up, her hand still on the boy’s back. “Hibiki, come on. We gotta go!” All they got in response was a quieter “No!”

“Alright, we gotta get you out of here some way or another.” Shinsou moved forward, crouching down in front of Hibiki. It took a bit of figuring it out, but eventually, he managed to get his arms around the kid’s body in a way that would let him carry him out safely. Hibiki was silent for a bit, but once he realized what had happened, he started throwing another fit out of fear. His screams echoed through both the rooms, not before worming themselves into Shinsou’s ears even more than before. She winced, as it happened, but years of living with a vocally quirked parent based on volume kinda gave you some tolerance to that sort of thing. In the corner of his vision, he saw Hanako taking the girl's hand, as they walked out of the doorway into the larger room. They just had to cross that threshold, and not wake up everybody in the area. Totally feasible.

They got to about, say, three fourths of the way to the far door, out of the room, before Hibiki got to be too much and Shinsou couldn’t hold on anymore. He immediately started screaming even louder than before, the echos echoing off of echos from how many echos were going around all at once. The pillars around the sides of the room all rattled dangerously. Shinsou reached down, tried to put his arms around the kid, but was pushed away. Before either him or Hanako could understand what happened, the girl pushed out of Hanako’s grasp again, wrapping her hands around her brother, like a protective cocoon. Being that close must hurt her ears, but she did it, to try and get him to calm down. There was, something more to the connection they had, their sibling love. For now though, they had to get out.

Barely able to safely wrap his arms around the both of them without losing their grip, Shinsou picked up both of them at the same time, ears ringing from the noise. Glancing over at Hanako, hoping that she picked up on what he was about to do, he sprinted towards the door, for the outside where they would hopefully feel more safe. It was the least he could do right now.

—

Bringing the siblings to safety and then getting themselves checked over before they got to head back to the agency had passed in a flash, moments sometimes piercing through the heavy thought going through Shinsou’s mind. But other than what absolutely needed his attention, the focus was somewhere else completely. The way that the love for Hibiki came through, it resonated through her, shaking her. There was something about it, though, that had just struck them in a way that reminded him of something that they had themselves, but Shinsou wasn’t sure what. Love… love… there were so many types of love, what even could it be?

“Hey! Pay attention, this one’s a big jump!” Hanako’s voice grounded him again, as he stumbled against the edge of the roof the two of them were on. Stepping back, he ran up, jumping across perfectly.

“Thanks.” they grunted in reply. Welp, imminent danger of falling has passed, time to delve back into that knot of thoughts again. 

It… it wasn’t so much the fact that they were siblings, or that they were in that situation, just the way that they were so close to each other. The love that was mutual, and strong enough to endanger themselves to help the other. The kind of love not just any old person would have for one another, the kind that takes so much effort put into it. Love that you feel in your soul, in every part of your body.

The love that Shinsou has for Izuku and Shouto.

That’s… that’s it. That’s what’s been bugging him this entire time. They were now standing beside a fire escape, Hanako a couple rungs from touching down herself. Only a block or two away from the agency. Just in time. 

But… that meant that they would all be ok. He could be ok with them, Izuku and Shouto could be ok with her. Obviously Shinsou was already safe with the two of them, but they would be emotionally safe.  To stop holding back, let themselves be loved by their boyfriends. Their two loves.

—

“... But yeah, I’m genderqueer.” Shinsou finished off his impromptu coming out with that final sentence. They were talking about pre-quirk movies before this, like Star Wars. How they managed to go from Star Wars to gender, they had no clue. But it happened, and they had come out, that’s all that mattered now, right?

Right…? Izuku was just staring at him with a slight smile, and Shouto wasn’t even staring at him, he was staring at the TV, which was blank. Right.

“Well, if you don’t mind me asking, what are your pronouns?” Izuku broke the silence, with his polite voice, almost his talking to civilians and fans voice (the sweet version). 

“Any.” Hopefully that was enough to get the point across.

“Al- alright, I’ll keep that in mind!” Izu stuttered, character breaking a bit. 

“Izu, you alright? You seem a bit nervous.” Izu just laughed at that, before covering his mouth and looking like he fucked up. Because apparently he had, looking straight at Shouto. Shinsou turned his head to look at the other person in the room, on the other side of him.

“What Izuku is trying to hide is the fact that I have found myself to identify as demi-male. I am half nonbinary, half male. I have identified as this for a bit, it is not a secret but I am not trying to make it well known. I was just trying to find a good time to tell you, since we spend much less time together by fact of our schedules compared to me and Izuku. Yes, I do still use he/him pronouns, but I do prefer they/them occasionally.” Shouto explained easily, as if he was asked what his favorite flavor of ice cream was. He sat back on the couch, from his elbows on knees position before. “Izuku, it’s ok. I am not mad at you for revealing that accidentally. I needed a good chance anyway.” He turned to look at Shinsou, straight into the eyes. It was a bit unnerving, actually. “I am sorry for taking over your coming out. I understand if you are mad at me.” From Shinsou’s right side, a certain wound up guy deflated with a heavy sigh, no longer worried about the transgressions he just committed.

“I don’t mind. It was meant to be casual anyways. Thank you for telling me, Shouto. Izuku, since we’re talking about it, you prefer he/him pronouns, yes?” Shinsou looked over to the limp spaghetti resembling his boyfriend on the couch.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Izuku gave a shaky thumbs up. He’ll be back to normal in a minute or two… Shinsou reasoned.

“Now, I don’t know about you guys, but I want some hot chocolate right now.” Shinsou stood up, stepping over Shouto’s legs to get into the kitchen. “How many marshmallows do you guys want?” Izuku’s green fluff of hair popped right up at the mention of hot chocolate.

“Pour it on the marshmallows like ice!”

“I don’t know if that will work, baby.” Shinsou was mostly sure it wouldn’t. Izuku pouted, being overly cute on purpose. “Fine, I’ll try it. Just this once.”

“Just a couple will be fine for me.” Shouto chimed in, his usual order.

“Alright, three hot chocolates with varying amounts of marshmallows coming right up,” Shinsou announced, pulling out a pan. All he had to do now was go through the motions, like second nature.