Kaminari picked at a broken fingernail while he watched his mom write a shopping list, waiting for an opportunity to talk to her. The scratch of her pen over the paper was making his skin crawl and he could feel a spark ready to snap over his knuckles.

He was too nervous for this conversation. He tried to suck in a deep breath but his chest was too tight to let him. He'd rehearsed what he wanted to say but he knew the second he opened his mouth something else would just spill out anyway.

She put her pen down and he figured it was as good a time as any. "Hey, mom? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

She turned to face him and her lips pulled down in concern. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" She asked as she came to sit at the table with him.

Kaminari chewed his lip. "Nothing's wrong but I have something to tell you."

She definitely looked worried now. "Denki, if you're in some kind of trouble-"

He cut her off, "No. Not it's not that. Mom, just listen."

"Okay..?"

"I uh, I have, I have a boyfriend." Well there it was. No going back now. Did everyone feel like they were going to throw up during this conversation? His eyes scanned her face looking for anything he could find.

"A...boyfriend?"

"Yeah," he croaked as his knee started bouncing under the table.

"Umm okay. That's good," she nodded but disappointment stabbed through his chest as she pursued her lips, something she always did when he was about to be told off. The lines around her eyes deepened and she looked as if she was only just holding her panic at bay.

He couldn't help getting a little defensive. This was a hugely vulnerable moment for him and he wasn't used to the feeling. "Is that alright?"

She snapped her head up at his tone. "Of course. I guess it's just, I don't understand, Denki. Boys?"

"You don't have to understand it to accept it," he shot back. He knew she would do this and it was everything he was trying to avoid. This was why he didn't want to tell her. He couldn't keep sitting still and he lurched to his feet. The scrape of the chair on the floorboards made them both flinch.

"I know," she said quietly and looked down at her knitted hands.

That was it then he guessed. She just didn't want to talk about it? Pretend like it didn't matter? Like he didn't even tell her? He quickly turned around and started for the side door. He heard his mom's voice call after him but he didn't turn back.

He found his dad in the garage. Emboldened by hurt, he summoned his inner Bakugou and called out, "Hey, Dad, I have a boyfriend and if you react as badly as Mom did, I'm going back to the dorms."

His dad stopped and his shoulders straightened. He turned to face him with his brows pinched down. "What are you talking about?"

"I said I have a boyfriend. I guess it makes me not straight, you have a not straight son," he said, folding his arms over his chest.

"I heard that, I meant the part about your mother," he said as he put the tool be was using down and brushed his palms against his pants.

"Oh," he mouthed. All at once, the fight left him and he sagged against the bench. "Mom seemed disappointed."

His dad was quiet for a beat before he replied softly. "Nothing you could ever do would disappoint her. Give her time and she'll come around."

He kicked at the ground. "I don't understand what there is to come around to. I'm still me."

His dad nodded. "You're right. What I mean is, this is all new and a bit of a surprise if I'm being honest. Just give her a minute to process it. I can promise you she's not disappointed."

Kaminari nodded but wanted nothing more than to curl up in his bed until he could go back to school.

Later that night, there was a light tap on his door and his mom came in when he called back.

She came to sit on the edge of the bed. She was quiet for a minute before she spoke. "I wanted to say sorry for the way I reacted, Denki. It was just a shock. You've always been so interested in girls, I just never expected it, so it caught me by surprise."

Kaminari managed a nod, he couldn't argue with that. It had caught himself off guard when he'd realised his feelings.

"You'll always be my little boy and I've seen how hard things can be for people in that community, in your community, and I don't want that for you."

She hurriedly continued when she saw his expression. "I'm not saying I don't want you to be who you are, it's just that it's hard and unfair that you would be treated any differently but it happens and I'm worried about what you might have to go through."

Kaminari released the breath he didn't realise he was holding. "You don't have to worry about me."

"I'm your mom, it's my job to worry about you."

He pushed himself up onto his elbows. "I don't need someone to protect me, Mom. I need someone to support me. I get that you're only looking out for me but I just need you to be there for me."

His mom nodded. "Of course you do. And I will be. I'd like to meet the boy who caught your eye sometime." She turned to him with a tentative hopeful smile. "But first I'd like to hear about him?"

He knew this was her extending an olive branch. He'd kind of made up his mind that she would react badly before he'd even given her a chance to react at all. He guessed he owed her the opportunity to show him how she actually felt so he nodded, and couldn't help his face tinting a little pink.

His mom smiled and he thought he saw relief flash over her face before she scooted him over and laid down on his covers. "Well? What's his name? What's he like?"

Kaminari knew he'd inherited his readable face from his mom and knew the surprise must have been written all over it. He assumed she'd come in to say she accepted him but this conversation really showed how much she meant it. She wanted to know about his boyfriend. Saying you're okay with something and actually showing it were two different things and he was pretty proud of his mom right then for showing him her support.

"What?" She said in answer to his questioning look. "I never got a daughter to gossip about boys with and now I get to do it with you." She gasped. "I get to gossip about boys and girls with you!" She side eyed him and asked, "Or is this boy it for you?"

Kaminari shoved at his mom's shoulder and mumbled, "I'm only sixteen."

"So? Your father and I were fifteen when we started dating."

Kaminari smiled, a real, soft smile and felt the knot in his chest loosen. She was taking this seriously. "Thanks, mom."

"Any time you need to talk about boys, or just this boy, I'll be here, kiddo." She got up from the bed and leaned over to kiss his hair, "I love you and I really am sorry."

As she was about to close the door he said, "His name's Hitoshi."

His mom paused in the doorway and smiled back at him. "Yeah?"

The words spilled out of him in a heap, the words tripping over one another in a rush to get out. "He's quiet but, but he's really smart. And he's got, he's got this dimple that pops up when he really smiles. He laughs at my jokes and doesn't tell me to shut up even when I know I've been talking for too long. And he has this crazy strong quirk but he doesn't know how amazing he is yet."

He looked up to see the way the hall light illuminated her soft smile. "He sounds pretty amazing to me. I'd like to meet him, if you'll let me."

Kaminari nodded. "I'd like that." He gave her the same soft smile and said quietly, "I think he'd like that too."