Chapter 1
Notes:
unbeta'd and written in an hour at 12 a.m please forgive me the jet lag is starting to catch up with me
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Hizashi was going to kill Shouta because Shouta was stupid and Hizashi was out of his mind with worry and if Shouta was already dead Hizashi was going to drag him from hell to kill him again.
One might argue that Hizashi was being a bit overdramatic, but in his mind he was in the right because honestly.
Shouta had gone two whole days without sleeping due to a wild group running rampant and even though Hizashi had asked him to call him if he needed help Shouta had gone against eleven of these drug-enhanced maniacs while severely exhausted and holy shit Hizashi was seriously going to kill him if he didn’t die first from a heart attack.
He’d barely caught a glimpse of Shouta before he was being carried away on a stretcher, which had only caused his fear and panic to skyrocket.
The paramedics in the hospital hall had tried to get him to calm down, but absolutely nothing could stop Hizashi when he was worried and anxious like this. There were about seven of them, all forming a sort of wall to prevent Hizashi from dashing to see Shouta. The paramedics were surprisingly strong, but Hizashi wasn't really appreciating it at that moment.
“Sir,” a tall woman stressed, pressing her hands against him to keep him from bolting down the hall, “Only family and spouse, please.”
Hizashi was only half-listening, still struggling against them as he watched several of the nurses that had taken Shouta to the hospital group around a doctor. Within moments the nurses were all sprinting into several different directions while the doctor hastily made his way down the hall, only increasing Hizashi’s worry.
Shit, that wasn’t good, was it?! Hizashi had never really been in hospitals, usually trusting things to Recovery Girl, so he had next to no idea how they were supposed to work.
“Sir, are you family?” The woman asked once again, but Hizashi didn’t really care to listen to her. He was decked out in his civilian clothes, so she probably didn’t recognize him, but maybe he could pull the hero card to get them to let him through.
“No, no, I’m not!” Hizashi shoved against her roughly, mind filled with worst-case scenarios the more he watched the fast-paced movements of the hospital staff. “I’m--I’m Present Mic, a pro hero, can’t you let me through--I just--”
She was talking more but Hizashi’s panic soared to new heights when he saw a nurse carrying Shouta’s bloodstained scarf away from his room, probably for sanitary reasons, Hizashi tried telling himself, but common sense was far gone and he gave a weak “Yes, yes, I--yes!” when the woman continued talking, just wanting to get to Shouta--
To his surprise the paramedics relented and he stumbled forward before regaining his balance, pressing his hand against the wall to straighten up. Taking a moment to regain himself, Hizashi then tore down the hallway towards the room he’d seen Shouta be taken into, nearly sliding across the shiny floor.
Shouta was staring up at the ceiling, left arm and neck bandaged and with a few scrapes across his face. His ankle was in a brace and he looked ready to pass out at any moment but he was alive and safe and holy shit, Hizashi was probably going to need a hospital room of his own at this point.
It took all of Hizashi’s willpower to prevent himself from racing to Shouta’s side and burying his face in his neck and crying and also maybe hitting him.
“Mic...” Shouta grunted when he spotted Hizashi standing in the doorway, still silent as he tried to compose himself. “You are. So loud.”
Hizashi stalked across the room, half wanting to punch Shouta as hard as he could because he was a big stupid idiot and half feeling like he was going to start crying soon--but there was a nurse present and he had an image to keep up.
The two stared at each other for several long moments--Hizashi felt as if all his energy had been drained from his being, but Shouta looked even worse, congealed blood in his hair, and his ankle still looked vaguely twisted despite the brace. Hizashi wanted to speak but felt like if he did he’d start crying and/or screaming so loudly that the poor nurse’s ears would start bleeding and everyone outside the room would get a mild headache.
The most he could do was stare, still reveling in the fact that Shouta looked okay, he looked fine and he wasn’t on the brink of death or anything.
Finally, Shouta cleared his throat, gesturing to a few chairs beside his hospital bed, and Hizashi collapsed into one with a heavy sigh. The nurse looked up from where he was preparing an IV bag but soon glanced away.
The silence continued for several more seconds until Shouta sighed and said,
“You’re supposed to start talking and yelling at me right about now.”
“You’re right,” Hizashi said, flinching when his voice cracked. “I’m going to do that later though. I’ve had enough of yelling today.”
“Never thought I’d hear you say that.”
“Shut up.” Hizashi brought his hands up to rub at his eyes, already feeling them get wet with tears, voice straining. “I thought--I was gonna--Jesus christ, Shouta, you fucking jerk!”
Forget keeping up an image, he was starting to bawl as tiredness wracked his body, all worst-case scenarios darting out of his mind and leaving behind only overwhelming relief. Hizashi scooted his chair closer to punch Shouta in the shoulder, but he missed and hit the pillow instead. Shouta said something but Hizashi was sobbing so much and just so, so tired that the most he could do was lay his head down beside Shouta and continue crying. He felt like he’d run a ten-mile marathon while also experiencing jet lag.
This wasn’t the first time in their hero career that one of them had been injured enough to be taken to a hospital, but so soon after the USJ incident...Hizashi hadn’t known what exactly had happened to Shouta and where he’d been and he’d thought for a few scary seconds that he’d lose his best friend even though they both had so much to do together like go bar-hopping on Shouta’s birthday which was in a few months and also Hizashi was going to suggest moving in with each other because he hardly spent time at his own apartment anyways and--
“Stop worrying so much,” Shouta sighed, voice heavy and deep with exhaustion. “‘M alright, Hizashi.”
“No you’re not,” Hizashi said back. “You’re all bandaged up.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“You shouldn’t have had worse.” Hizashi raised his hand to punch weakly at Shouta again. “This kinda stuff shouldn’t happen, why didn’t you--fuck, Shouta, I care about you and if you just--”
If you died....
“I’d probably die too,” Hizashi whispered.
“You’re so dramatic.” Shouta’s voice was flat and tired, and despite his injuries he moved a bit to the side, leaving more room for Hizashi. “Just...Relax. You’re probably more stressed than I am right now.”
“And who’s fault is that?” Hizashi grumbled, rubbing at his eyes again to brush the wetness out of them.
“Yours.”
“Oh, shut up.” Hizashi couldn’t help but smile a bit. “I hate you.”
He didn’t stop crying, but he felt much more at ease talking with Shouta. He felt fingers thread into his hair for a few brief seconds before they withdrew, and he relaxed with his head buried in his arms.
Hizashi wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, but when he woke up it was because of a hand gently shaking his shoulder. He needed to fill out paperwork as Shouta’s emergency contact and then they could be released because Shouta’s injuries weren’t severe. Shouta was asleep too, so Hizashi got up as silently as he could. The nurse who had woken him up was the same nurse from earlier, and cleared his throat when Hizashi spent a little too long staring down at Shouta and his injuries.
“You can fill them out here or in the waiting room,” the nurse said, handing Hizashi a clipboard.
Several hours of mind-numbingly boring paperwork later and an assurance from Shouta’s hero agency that their insurance would cover most of the hospital fee, Hizashi was helping Shouta into the passenger seat of his car.
(Shouta had said he was fine but Hizashi wasn’t going to listen to anything he had to say for a whole day. Nope.)
“You’re lucky it’s a Sunday because now I get to force you to lie down and eat junk food in front of my TV,” Hizashi said, starting the car after leaving the hospital, Shouta's folded and dirty hero clothes in the back seat of his car. Shouta himself was slumped against the passenger side window, looking exhausted.
“No.”
“You’re gonna relax, Shouta. There’s no backing out of it. I’ll be at your beck and call.”
Shouta raised his bandaged arm with annoyance. “I’m not that badly hurt.”
Hizashi didn’t believe Shouta. He was always one to downplay his own pain whenever he got injured so people weren’t fretting over him, which honestly kind of pissed Hizashi off. He’d been like that ever since high school, and while it had sort of bothered him before, when he started developing this godforsaken crush on Shouta, it felt like a blow to the stomach. Shouta should care for himself more and it really pained Hizashi that he didn’t.
Shouta protested staying at Hizashi’s apartment, insisting he didn’t need any help, but Hizashi was having absolutely none of that. He helped the other man into the elevator and promised that he’d stop by Shouta’s apartment to gather whatever he needed, but for now they needed to rest. When Hizashi mentioned taking a nap Shouta quieted considerably. While they waited for the elevator to arrive at Hizashi’s floor Shouta leaned heavily against him, eyes closing.
“Don’t go to sleep on me.”
Shouta hummed in response but made no move to straighten up. The elevator dinged but Shouta was still against him, so Hizashi sighed and bent his knees so he could carry Shouta on his back.
“Home sweet home,” Hizashi announced, kicking the door open and wincing when the doorknob slammed into the wall. “Yeah, I’ve got to stop doing that.”
Shouta snorted. “Start going through doors like a normal person.”
“But that ain’t as dramatic!” Hizashi whined, dragging Shouta across the threshold. “I’m all for flair and flashiness, and what’s a better way than kicking the door open and announcing my presence?!”
“I’m going to sleep,” Shouta sighed, and Hizashi pouted. He’d wanted to talk about the whole incident and beg for Shouta to actually call him when he needed help, but that would have to wait. Shouta needed some rest for his injuries and staying awake for well over forty-eight hours.
They laid down on Hizashi’s bed after Shouta had taken some Ibuprofen for his headache, which he said was a result of Hizashi’s loudness but Hizashi thought that was ridiculous.
Hizashi’s bed wasn’t particularly soft and he didn’t absolutely love it, but he did whenever he shared it with Shouta. Shouta was a walking human furnace (with cold hands and feet) so blankets were deemed unnecessary whenever Shouta spent the night. Hizashi tended to take up the entire bed by himself with his limbs all spread out like a starfish, but whenever he slept with someone else he usually latched onto them, and Shouta was aware of this fact and didn’t complain whenever Hizashi woke up half on top of him.
(Hizashi might have taken advantage of that once and snuggled against Shouta’s back when he fell asleep but he had felt so awful about it that he couldn’t look Shouta in the eyes for three days.)
“What time is it?” Shouta asked, and Hizashi glanced to the clock on his left.
“Almost four in the afternoon.”
Shouta groaned and rolled onto his side, his back to Hizashi. “Don’t wake me up until morning.”
Normally Hizashi would protest that that was too long, but considering how long Shouta had been battling exhaustion he thought it was rather well-deserved. He fell asleep looking at the soft waves of Shouta’s hair as his own emotional exhaustion caught up with him.
Hizashi was woken by his phone, ringing loudly in his pocket and vibrating so hard he was sure his entire bed was shaking. With a groan he sat up, rubbing at his eyes for a moment before digging it out and squinting to see who was calling him. It was nine, which wasn’t unreasonable, but he’d been hoping to sleep for a bit longer.
Nemuri was calling him for whatever reason, probably to go out clubbing, but he had a priority right now and clubbing would have to wait.
“Yo,” Hizashi answered with a yawn. “I’m not in the mood for dirty dancing, so--”
“WHY DIDN’T YOU TWO TELL ME YOU GOT HITCHED?!” Nemuri shrieked from the other end, and Hizashi winced, mind clouded with confusion and sleepiness. “THIS IS BETRAYAL OF THE HIGHEST TIER, HIZASHI!”
Hizashi would’ve yelled back, but Shouta was still sleeping. “Shh! What the hell are you talking about?!”
“YOU! GOT! MARRIED!” Hizashi could practically hear her jumping up and down. “I’M SUCH A PROUD BIG SIS-!"
Hizashi literally had no idea what the fuck she was talking about and was ready to hang up if all she was going to do was scream nonsense. However, when his finger hovered over the ‘end call’ button, he noticed that he had over a hundred emails and texts and other sorts of notifications. It wasn’t very unusual, but these sort of things only happened when Hizashi made big announcements on his radio show, and he hadn’t made any recently.
Frowning, Hizashi brought his phone back up to his ear.
“Who got married?”
“Don’t play dumb! I know, it’s all over the news, so don’t think you can lie to me," Nemuri said, and Hizashi only felt his confusion grow. “Here, I’ll send you an article.”
She hung up on him, which gave him time to sift through his other notifications. About 90% of the text messages he’d received were from Tensei, whose messages were something like:
Tensei: Oh my god
Tensei: I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU FUCKERS GOT MARRIED AND I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW ABOUT IT
Tensei: !!!! When did this happen I wish I was best man
Tensei: VISIT ME PLEASE
Tensei: I’m so happy for both of you!!!!
Tensei: YOU ASSHOLES
This format was repeated for about sixty more messages. Hizashi only grew more and more confused as he continued scrolling through his messages, some from his production team for his radio show and from people he personally knew, as well as several from people he didn’t know--mostly news sources and reporters, it seemed.
Slowly, Hizashi began to realize what was going on. Googling ‘Present Mic’ brought up many recent results, mostly news stories, some blog posts, even a speculating video or two.
And all of them had seemed to have come to the conclusion that he and Shouta were married.
He received a link to a news article from Nemuri and read it hesitantly, still a bit unsure on how, exactly, the entirety of Japan came to this conclusion. Just reading the opening statement of the article, however, he already knew what it was going to say.
The nation is in shock and awe after this morning, as a stunning announcement was made.
At 9:12 Shouta Aizawa was admitted to Jutendo Hospital due to hero-related injuries and the Voice Hero, Present Mic (also known as Hizashi Yamada) arrived to visit him. When asked by paramedics his relation to Aizawa, Yamada stated that he was married to him, thus shocking many of the staff.
It was only a short statement, but one of the staff tweeted about it and it was backed up by other staff members--including nurse Tomohiko Koizumi, who was in the room when Yamada arrived to be at Aizawa’s side.
“There was lots of crying involved,” Koizumi tells Hero Daily reporter Eto Matsukawa. “Present Mic fell asleep after they did some talking--I didn’t listen ‘cause I’m not that kind of person--and our patient stroked his head and everything. Pretty romantic if you ask me.”
Koizumi doesn’t seem to recognize the name Shouta Aizawa (in fact, he’d forgotten it until Matsukawa mentioned it), but he cannot be blamed. Shouta Aizawa is an underground hero known as Eraserhead, slowly gaining more recognition after the USJ incident at Yuuei and the kidnapping of one of Yuuei’s students, but he is still widely unknown.
Those who do know, however, have raised quite an uproar--with the reveal that two heroes are in a homosexual relationship (married, no less!) and both are teaching young and upcoming heroes, tons and tons of controversy has been brought to life.
There are many supporters of the relationship, most notably being--
Masaki Mizushima (the Normal Hero, Manual) tweeting: “Wow!!! So happy to hear that sorta news these days!!! They’ve got my support!”
Junko Kageyama of the comedy talkshow, Junko, stated: “Well I’m super gay, so it’s nice to know there’s some heroes out there as gay as me.”
Tensei Iida (former Turbo Hero, Ingenium) tweeting: “THOSE [omitted] SHOULD’VE TOLD ME WHEN THEY [omitted] PROPOSED OH MY GOD THIS IS [omitted] GREAT”
(Related article: Fans of former Turbo Hero Ingenium fear his account was hacked due to the unusual use of all-capital letters and swearwords.)
However, with the supporters, there are also retractors, as there are always bound to be--
Takashi Konata of The Japanese Insider states that it’s “kind of weird and not in a good way.”
Grace Sanguu, co-founder of The Japanese Parent’s Association released a lengthy statement that said, in summary, they were concerned about the fact that two homosexuals are teaching young and impressionable heroes and she expresses fear that their ‘ideals’ will spread to their children.
Yuuma Ichikawa (the Noodle Hero, Udon Man) tweeting: “idk man never really liked present mic but this is the cherry on top :/”
Hizashi was unable to finish the article and tossed his phone to the side, breathing heavily. Holy shit.
How the fuck was he supposed to explain this to Shouta?
And how was he going to explain to the media that this was all a misunderstanding?!
Notes:
rather than work on this for 2 weeks and give up when it's like 21,000 words long bc I don't feel like finishing it I've decided to split this up into three smaller parts to trick myself into thinking i'm doing less work
expect the second part to be much longer!
Chapter Text
Waking up is probably the second worst part of Shouta’s day, the first worst part being the entire day itself. Today, however, was definitely and ultimately the absolute worst. His neck was stiff and his skin felt uncomfortably hot due to the bandages wrapped around him. Opening his eyes to glare blearily at the ceiling, it took Shouta a few seconds to remember he was being held captive at Hizashi’s apartment.
With a sigh, he sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and frowning at the digital clock on Hizashi’s bedside table. It was currently three in the morning, though he’d wanted to sleep until at least eight. That would now be impossible, considering his current discomfort. Shouta got to his feet, stretching and feeling his joints pop and crack. He could smell something cooking, but he wasn’t sure what.
He soon found, however, that Hizashi was in the kitchen cooking. He’d already made quite a lot of food, food Shouta didn’t even know he had--pancakes, karaage, udon, rice, as well as an assortment of sandwiches that mostly seemed normal, but some had strange things in them like an entire cookie and what looked like half a stick of butter. The kitchen was in complete disarray, and there were at least seven empty cans of ginger ale in the trashcan.
“How long have you been cooking?” Shouta asked, voice still heavy with sleep, and Hizashi spun around, his hands still gripping spaghetti noodles, prepared to break them.
“Since nine o’clock,” Hizashi laughed, but it was slightly hysterical. “I’m going to make spaghetti waffles. Sounds fun right?!”
Shouta watched Hizashi break the noodles in half and throw them in a boiling pot of water. About two thirds of the noodles missed the pot and fell to the ground. Looking up in concern, Shouta watched Hizashi open the fridge to take out chocolate syrup and a package of frozen waffles, humming the Batman theme song under his breath.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine! Everything’s fine and there’s no need to worry about anything!” Hizashi’s voice was steadily getting louder as he shoved the entire box of frozen waffles into the microwave. “Dinner will be done soon!”
“Hizashi, it’s three in the morning.”
“Is it really?” Hizashi’s face fell as he looked at the time displayed on the oven. “Holy shit.”
“Why are you...Stress-cooking?” Shouta leaned against Hizashi’s counter, trying not to put too much pressure on his ankle. He’d ask Recovery Girl to use her Quirk when they went to work so he wasn’t hobbling around the whole day, but right now his main focus was trying not to damage it further.
“It’s nothing, well, it’s actually something but man I just want you to know I never intended this to happen and I just, um, well it’s all a big huge misunderstanding and you just gotta--”
“Hizashi.”
Shouta had known Hizashi for about half his life, even longer as time passes, and Shouta knew when something was really bothering him. Right now Hizashi was far less coordinated than he usually was, with erratic movements and an air of nervousness and hysteria surrounding him. The way Hizashi was speaking implied that it had something to do with the both of them and there wasn’t any need to beat around the bush.
Shouta watched Hizashi scroll through his phone for a few seconds before handing it to him, and Shouta gave a sigh as he took it from him and stared at the screen. It was a recent news article, and the more he kept reading the more Shouta grew confused.
He got to the end of the article and handed Hizashi his phone back, sighing heavily through his nose. Shouta could already feel a headache coming on.
“Mic,” Shouta said, and Hizashi flinched. “What the fuck did you do.”
“It was an accident!” Hizashi wailed instantly, throwing his hands up in the air. “I was panicking, Shouta! And screaming! I didn’t know that I’d somehow said I was married to you!”
“Did they ask if you were family or spouse?”
“I think so?”
“Did you say family?”
“N-no...”
“Did you hear them ask if you were spouse?”
Hizashi paused. “Uh...No? But I did say yes to something and they let me through, and I think that...Might be why they think we’re married.”
Shouta needed a drink.
He stalked over to Hizashi’s cupboard and opened it, searching for his instant coffee and frowning when he saw there wasn’t any. It was then he noticed that one of the weirder looking sandwiches had a bunch of brown powder on top of it, which he’d at first assumed was cocoa but now realized it must be the instant coffee.
He was going to start dying soon or, at least, begin hitting Hizashi with heavy objects like frying pans and Harry Potter novels.
“Alright,” Shouta sighed, and Hizashi took a few steps away from him. “What are we going to do about it?”
“Explain everything,” Hizashi said at once. “Explain that it was all a huge misunderstanding because I was really desperate to see you, and I wasn’t thinking properly and it’s all my fault.”
“Are you going to hold a press conference or just tweet it?”
“Shouta, this isn’t something I can just tweet about! ‘Oh, by the way, I’m not married! Ha, it was a joke!’ There’s a character limit on twitter and it’s not enough to properly explain.”
This was why Shouta didn’t like the media. There was only so much you could do when something came out to the public, whether it be nude photos or your terrible report card from elementary school. Misunderstandings like this could fuck you over really bad.
“I think we’d both need to attend a press conference for this, and I know you probably don’t want to go to one so soon after the last.” Hizashi rubbed the back of his neck, looking genuinely stressed out. Shouta didn’t particularly like that expression--Hizashi was always so loud and bright and stupidly happy that whenever he held negative emotion it seemed to put a damper on the mood of everyone else. It’d been unbearable in high school, but as time passed Shouta realized he liked Hizashi much better when he was happy.
They stood in silence for a little while. Shouta knew school was going to be absolutely hellish and all of his students would try butting into his business. It was likely that many would become extremely disrespectful. Gay marriage may have been legalized three years ago, but it was still a touchy subject and people who did actually get married were known to be discriminated against. Nevermind the fact that Shouta wasn’t actually married.
Shouta’s face flushed as he thought about it. Married to Hizashi. He shouldn’t like the sound of that as much as he did. Hell, he was put off by the thought of dating. He was glad Hizashi’s Quirk wasn’t to read minds because Shouta was sure that these thoughts of actually being married to Hizashi were the absolutely worst thing to have ever happened to him.
“Shouta,” Hizashi’s voice broke the silence and, thankfully, interrupted Shouta’s thoughts. “I’m really sorry. I know you hate media attention and this is probably like ten times worse because everyone’s got the idea that I’m your husband but I never meant for this to happen and I will rectify this as soon as possible--”
“‘Zashi,” Shouta interrupted, nudging Hizashi with his elbow to get him to quiet. “Shut up. It’s fine.”
Hizashi blinked, before smiling wide. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright. I’ll talk to Nedzu about organizing a press conference, or maybe I can just reply to some of the talkshows that want to have me as a guest and I can announce it there.” Hizashi’s expression suddenly morphed into one of fear. “Also, we have to deal with Tensei and Nemuri.”
Shouta wondered if he could just go collapse onto Hizashi’s bed for three more hours and ignore everything.
At seven Hizashi drove Shouta to his apartment so he could change clothes. Shouta was thankful that his clothes were loose and baggy and larger than they actually needed to be, because he had no idea how to take off the ankle brace so it was much easier to put his tracksuit on. The ankle brace wasn’t very large or clunky, mostly wrapped around just above his ankle to the middle of his foot, but it was kind of thick and he only barely managed to force it into his boot. He probably wasn’t supposed to do that, but whatever.
The drive to work was silent on Shouta’s part, content with listening to Hizashi talking for what seemed like an infinite amount of time. However, when they actually got to work, all feelings of content went out the window.
A horde of reporters, cameramen, and random civilians were standing outside the gate of Yuuei while Snipe and Ectoplasm tried to get them to back off. One of the civilians had an ‘I HEART PRESENT MIC’ shirt on and was screaming extremely aggressively. She was causing more trouble than the actual reporters themselves.
“Oh my god,” Hizashi groaned, pulling into his reserved parking spot. “Oh my fucking god.”
At times like this, Shouta wished there were other entrances into Yuuei’s school grounds. They’d have to fight through all those people to get inside. This was almost as stress-inducing as actual villain attacks.
They both stepped out of the car, Shouta limping slightly. Hizashi offered his arm out immediately, and Shouta sighed.
“This isn’t going to help people think we’re not married.”
“What, I’m just helping you out as a friend!”
“Alright,” Shouta said, before sliding his arm around Hizashi. He’d need help anyways to get through all those people, and the most logical thing to do was lean against Hizashi for a bit. Married or not, it was easier to walk this way.
They approached the mass of people, Hizashi clearing his throat very loudly, and several of the crowd turned to look at them. They stepped aside a bit as the two made their way through the mass of media, and Shouta could feel all of their eyes training on the both of them. One of the cameras focused on where Shouta’s arm was wrapped around Hizashi for a bit of support before traveling to where Hizashi’s hand rested on his waist. Shouta felt his face start to burn as he suddenly became hyper-aware of the feeling of Hizashi’s fingers gently brushing against his stomach, his palm resting on Shouta’s hip securely.
Shouta was so, so very fucked.
The crowd was silent for a view brief seconds before the screaming started and several microphones were shoved into Hizashi’s face and even Shouta’s, despite not being as well-known. Snipe stepped forward aggressively, forcing several people aside and leaving room for Hizashi and Shouta to get through faster.
Once past the gate, Shouta nodded to Ectoplasm, who nodded back. Many students on campus stared and giggled and whispered as they passed by. Shouta ignored them as they made their way to Recovery Girl’s office, where she was already setting things up for the day.
“Morning, miss,” Hizashi greeted, and she looked up and smiled, the corners of her eyes crinkling.
“If it isn’t the men of the hour! You two are being talked about quite a lot.”
“Haha, yes ma’am, we are...” Hizashi glanced to Shouta, who was already withdrawing his arm from around Hizashi. “Uh, his ankle got hurt yesterday so we wondering if you could help give him a boost.”
“Of course.” Recovery Girl patted the seat next to her own. “You’ve got to be very careful, Aizawa.”
“I know.”
Recovery Girl used her Quirk, and it didn’t heal completely, but it felt a lot better than it had before. Shouta reached up to touch his face and found that the scrapes from yesterday were gone. “There. You should be able to walk just fine in about an hour or so.”
“Thank you...”
“Thanks a lot!” Hizashi’s voice sounded louder than Shouta’s, nearly drowning out his words.
“You’re welcome. It was very disrespectful of that staff to reveal your marriage, but once you become a hero, your life just isn’t your own anymore.”
Hizashi glanced towards Shouta, who nodded. That was one of the reasons he didn’t want to be a flashy and popular hero--absolutely no personal life whatsoever.
“It’s so nice to know that there’s still heroes out there getting married,” Recovery Girl sighed as Shouta stood up. “Many don’t out of fear that their significant other will be put through the mill, so it always makes me happy to learn that some heroes are still choosing to fall in love...”
Shouta had to refrain from rolling his eyes. Was the rest of the day going to be like this?
“Congratulations, you two.” Recovery Girl wiped a tear away, smiling. “I really had a good cry last night!”
“Don’t cry,” Hizashi said weakly, his face very red.
“Too late, I already did. Now get to class, you two!”
They left her office in silence before Hizashi grumbled, “I felt like I was in high school again. Are you going to tell your class we’re not really married?”
“What’s the point?” Shouta asked. “There’s no need to repeat it. We’ll say it once for a press conference or something and that’s it.”
“That makes sense, I guess.”
“You’re going to talk to Nedzu, right?”
“Yeah. Go deal with your homeroom, Eraser, I’ll handle the rest!”
Shouta thought he’d much rather talk to Nedzu than deal with his homeroom as the bell rang. He could already hear them screaming through the door. What a joy.
Sliding open the door, the entire class fell silent almost instantly, and Shouta was nearly impressed. He stalked over to his desk, careful to even out his steps so he wasn’t limping, and stood at the lectern. About two seconds of silence passed.
Then chaos broke out.
“Sensei!” Ashido screamed excitedly. “I didn’t know you were married!”
“He doesn’t wear a ring,” Midoriya noted. “It was probably meant to be a private and personal thing.”
“If he did have a ring, I’d hope it’d be sparkly.” Aoyama batted his eyelashes. “Though not as sparkly as moi.”
“My brother wishes for me to tell you that you and Present Mic are--excuse my language-- jerks.” Iida wasn’t even trying to calm down the commotion, that’s how bad it was. Everyone else was talking loudly and moving quite a lot, and Shouta was counting down from ten in his head. At zero he’d make them all shut up, but perhaps the best course of action was to momentarily let them get it all out of their systems.
However, a conversation caught his attention.
“I told you they were totally a thing!” That was Sero to Kaminari.
“Well how was I supposed to know?! Your logic doesn’t make any sense to me! You think the Star Wars prequels are good, I don’t trust anything you say!”
“You’re saying you never figured it out?” Hagakure yelled, before clapping her hands together (or, at least, that’s what it looked like). “They totally do everything together, it’s so sweet!”
“The sports festival and fending off all those reporters and I totally saw them arrive to school together.” Ashido raised one finger with each point she made. “Like, relationship goals.”
“You don’t think the Parent’s Association is going to have them fired, do you?” Someone’s worried voice sounded.
“If they did, they’d be fucking idiots. Not many people want to teach. Who fucking cares if they’re gay? Parent’s Association can suck my ass.”
“Awww, Bakugou! You do care!”
That was right...Shouta remembered the article briefly mentioning that the J.P.A wasn’t very happy with the reveal of their ‘marriage’. Teachers being fired for homosexuality wasn’t uncommon, but Shouta knew Nedzu wouldn’t fire him or Hizashi, and if the J.P.A wanted them fired Nedzu wasn’t going to let it happen.
“Sensei!” Kirishima’s voice suddenly became the loudest of them all, and Shouta turned his attention to him. Everyone had quieted down to stare at Kirishima, who was standing up with his hands on his desk and head bowed. Even Bakugou had turned in his seat to look.
“Aizawa-sensei...I think that your relationship with Mic-sensei...” Kirishima looked up, tears streaming down his face. He wasn’t even smiling. “Is super manly!”
Kaminari patted Kirishima on the back and Bakugou said something that Shouta didn’t hear because everyone had begun shouting again. Shouta had planned on telling them all to shut up so he could call roll, but their sheer loudness would make it impossible to be heard over them. Realizing that absolutely nothing would get done today, Shouta contemplated falling asleep beneath his desk before deciding against it. He hadn’t brought his sleeping bag and sleeping without it was a pain.
Homeroom wasn’t that long, anyways.
Shouta dismissed them when it was time for their next class and watched them all file out, noticing when Kirishima lingered behind a bit longer than necessary to gather his stuff. When the classroom was empty except for the two of them, Shouta sighed and fixed his gaze on his student.
“What?”
“Well, it’s just...” Kirishima fiddled with the straps of his bag, looking uncharacteristically hesitant. “I’ve always had a lot of people I’ve looked up to...Like Crimson Riot and stuff, but none of them have been...Like me.”
Like me.
The weight of the words settled on Shouta. There were tons of heroes like the one Kirishima aimed to be--chivalrous and helping the people and even with similar Quirks, but Shouta knew what Kirishima was trying to say. And he was right--there were no openly gay heroes in Japan.
He wasn’t prepared for this. He had not expected this to happen at all, and common sense told him it’d deeply affect Kirishima if he were to dismiss him right now, so Shouta gave Kirishima his full attention.
“I mean, I don’t think it was very cool that the hospital staff said you guys were married and stuff because that’s supposed to be private but when I heard about it, I was...” Kirishima’s face was slowly turning red. “I guess it was really important to me. Like, I kind of felt like it changed my whole life for a moment. I think you’re a very manly hero! Um...Sorry. I’ll get to class!”
Kirishima made his way to the door as fast as he could, and before he could leave the room Shouta found himself saying--
“Kirishima. Wait a moment.”
Kirishima froze, before whirling around, eyes wide. Shouta wasn’t good with words or comforting people. This was not in the job description.
But just like it was cruel to let children think the impossible could be achieved, it was cruel for a child to think they might be the only one like themselves.
“You can be who you are--what you are--and you’d still be the hero you’ve always wanted.” Shouta was a bit taken aback when Kirishima started crying. “Alright, now go to class.”
“Thank you, Aizawa-sensei!” Kirishima shouted, before dashing away. When Shouta could no longer hear the sound of Kirishima’s footsteps, he sighed and rubbed at his temples. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.
Hizashi should’ve known talking to Nedzu was not going to be easy.
Seventeen minutes after he’d arrived in his office and he was still talking about young love and how it was important for all these children to have heroes they could relate to in different ways. It was a nice thing to think about but at this point Hizashi was concerned that the entire day would pass before he’d get the chance to say anything at all.
“Sir,” Hizashi said, but Nedzu kept on talking. And talking. And pouring tea.
The tea. Oh god, there was so much tea. Hizashi was sure Nedzu’s Quirk was, in fact, Endless Teapot, because he kept pouring, and pouring, and if he poured any more Hizashi was going to dump out all the tea himself and perhaps throw his cup at the wall.
“I remember when you two attended school yourself,” Nedzu was recalling wistfully. “You two downright hated each other after the Sports Festival...And then, miraculously, you were inseparable!”
It wasn’t really miraculously, more like Hizashi forced his friendship upon Shouta until Shouta had no choice but to fall for his loveable personality and wit, but whatever. Hizashi was close to going out of his mind. For once, the Voice Hero was being out-talked.
“We were already in a time where the LGBT community was slowly being accepted, but this should accelerate things a bit.”
Count to ten. Breathe. Sip his tea. That endless, never-ending tea. Drink it. Try not to scream. Repeat.
“Now that I think I’ve had my fun, however.” Nedzu sipped from his tea and Hizashi opened his mouth to speak, but Nedzu spoke again: “Are you two planning on telling everyone you’re not actually married?”
Hizashi’s mouth snapped shut. Then open. Then shut. This process repeated several times, and he must look like a goldfish, but it was extremely necessary to express his own shock. Finally, he managed to choke out,
“What?”
“You forget that I’m extremely intelligent!” Nedzu laughed. “I would’ve noticed if you’d gotten married. You’d have been absolutely besides yourself. You’re very easy to read and quite expressive.”
Hizashi couldn't really argue with that. But was he really that obvious? Is that why Tensei and Nemuri were practically out of their minds with excitement? Hizashi was positive he was going to actually die today. He’d been obvious about his very very ridiculous crush and if the embarrassment wasn’t going to kill him, then maybe everybody else will once they find out that actually, he was not Shouta’s husband.
“I was thinking of holding a press conference and explaining everything,” Hizashi explained, and Nedzu nodded before taking a sip from his tea. A long, long sip. It dragged on forever and ever. Surely the tea must be gone by now. So why is there still more?
Finally, Nedzu lowered his cup and asked,
“Why?”
“Uh. Because we’re not really married? Wouldn’t that be kind of lying?” Hizashi thought of what would happen if people found out they were only pretending to be married in a few month’s time. It could be a huge scandal. Or maybe it’d be even worse to keep going on pretending they’re married and nobody ever found out. Hizashi remembered the article from earlier and the fact that the Parent’s Association was not happy at all.
The best way to handle this situation was just to tell the truth.
“I think it’d be a good thing if you kept up the pretense that you’re married,” Nedzu said easily, lifting his cup to his mouth. “I don’t wish to interfere with my employees’ lives, but I do care for what’s best for students and children. And I think this could really be a good thing for all of them.”
“How?!” Hizashi exclaimed. The thought of being married to Shouta was really nice, it truly was, but it would kill Hizashi to only pretend they were married. And besides, how could this benefit the students in any way?
“If you’d been listening to what I’d been saying when you first arrived, you’d understand,” Nedzu chided, before leaning forward to pour himself more tea. Hizashi’s eye twitched as he watched the principal refill his cup. This was his fourth cup and for reasons unknown it was driving him absolutely crazy. “It’s always important for children to be able to see and find themselves in their heroes, super or not. Children of color looking up to heroes of color, deaf children looking up to deaf heroes, that sort of thing.”
Hizashi could see where this conversation was going, but right now all he could think about was how painful it’d be to pretend to be married to Shouta. Shouta wouldn’t like this whole thing at all. It was illogical, he’d probably say, and he was probably just waiting for all of this to blow over so he’d stop getting so much media attention.
“There are no openly queer heroes in Asia. I’m sure there’s very many, but none of them are out to the public. There’s nobody for young children to look at and sees themselves in. It might even give them the mentality that they can’t be heroes.” Nedzu seemed to be studying Hizashi for any reaction he had, but all Hizashi could do was wait for him to finish speaking. “I won’t force you to keep this up, but would you consider? Would you take the time to see the effect it’s had on everything and discuss it with Aizawa?”
Hizashi sighed, rubbing his forehead. Hizashi became a teacher for several reasons--One, he liked kids, two, teachers are awesome, and three, he wanted to be able to inspire upcoming heroes. If what Nedzu was saying was true, he was managing to achieve the third thing, which was good, but this was also his own personal life and Shouta’s personal life and they weren’t even actually married and there are so many ways this can go wrong.
But maybe what Nedzu was saying was true. He was highly intelligent, like he’d said, and probably knew more about this than Hizashi did. Hizashi thought back to when he’d been in high school. He’d never been one bothered by his own sexuality, but he’d never been open about it. He’d told Tensei that he was bi and Tensei had been super chill with it, but he’d never even told Shouta. Internalized thoughts that maybe he wouldn’t be able to become a hero if people knew he liked guys too had prevented him from telling most people and if he’d told Shouta he probably would have figured out that Hizashi was totally and one hundred percent in love with him.
Hizashi glanced up to see Nedzu still watching him and sighed. He’d probably have no choice but to consider, and surely Shouta would want this all over as soon as possible. And maybe...Yeah, having a bi or gay hero when he was a kid would’ve been totally awesome, so maybe he was kind of self-projecting onto the current generation, but it was whatever.
“Alright, fine,” Hizashi said, and Nedzu smiled. “I’ll just...Wait and see, I guess?”
“Thank you,” Nedzu said, before reaching over for the teapot. “Would you like some more tea?”
Hizashi immediately leaped to his feet, slamming the cup down on the table. “No sir, thank you! Bye!”
One never prolonged their meeting with Nedzu longer than they had to.
Hizashi taught the hero courses English on Mondays, and his first English class wasn’t until eleven, so he made his way to the staff room to sit at his desk. However, when he arrived, he saw Cementoss and Thirteen were inside, and instantly prepared himself for them to pelt him with questions about the whole thing.
“Good morning, Yamada,” Cementoss said as Hizashi entered the room, and thankfully didn’t say anything else.
“Gooood morning!” Hizashi said with false cheerfulness, before sitting at his desk and proceeding to surround it with books and other things like Shouta did when he wanted to make it abundantly clear he did not want to be approached.
Hizashi took out his phone to check for any new notifications--he had several emails from reporters and his old hero agency, as well as nearly two hundred unread text messages. He gave a groan as he looked through them all--some of them were from people he didn’t even know.
He eyed his most recent text from Nemuri suspiciously--he had only one new text from her, and it seemed to be another news article. Hizashi opened the link and stared at the headline for a moment:
The Effects Of The Present Mic-Eraserhead Marriage Reveal Already Showing!
Today, after yesterday’s shocking news story that Present Mic (Hizashi Yamada) is married to another man, two more prominent announcements were made:
Mt. Lady (Yuu Takeyama) released a video of herself standing in a crowd and saying, “Yeah, actually, I’m a lesbian.” This statement was meant with mixed responses from those around her--most were supportive but a few men seemed quite disappointed. One man said ‘lesbians are hot’ and currently Takeyama is facing charges for punching him in the face. We hope that Takeyama is able to handle all the debt she’s currently in.
Veteran hero Lightfield (Hotaru Akarui) was asked by a notoriously conservative news reporter his opinion on the reveal that two fellow male heroes were married. To the reporter’s evident shock, Akarui revealed that while most believed he has not dated since his wife’s death nearly thirty years ago, he’s had a boyfriend living in the Philippines for almost four years.
These two announcements from well-known pro heroes aside, smaller stories have been cropping up all over the country: Present Mic merchandise has increased slightly in sales and there’s been a peak in Google searches for ‘Eraserhead merchandise’ (none exists for now, but we can hope!). An LGBT Youth group has already been appealed to a middle school in Yokohama, and many parents of LGBT children or LGBT adults themselves are tweeting support for both heroes.
‘I’m so happy,’ tweets transgender rights activist and model M.M. Hinata. ‘I’m so happy that our children have two more superheroes that they can relate to!’
‘My son was absolutely ecstatic,’ a father of three says. ‘It’s rekindled his hope to become the best hero known to mankind.’
‘Look idek who Eraserhead is but he’s already my hero’ states the president of one of All Might’s (many) fanclubs.
#PresentMic has started trending on twitter and it’s only a matter of time before it becomes the most trended hashtag in the world. Even Western nations have celebrated the news with us!
Within hours, the impact of two gay heroes is already showing. What long-term effects could this possibly bring for us as a nation and for the hero industry as a whole?
We eagerly wait to see!
Hizashi stared at the end of the article, his entire face glowing red. Oh, crap. This was bad. No, actually, this was really good but it was also really bad. He might even be crying a little bit. Oops.
Hizashi raised his head to see if Cementoss and Thirteen were still in the room. Cementoss had left but Thirteen was at his desk, twiddling his thumbs and looking in Hizashi’s direction. When he noticed Hizashi looking back at him he quickly turned away.
Hizashi got to his feet, wiping at his eyes before asking, “Did you need something?”
“No, I’m...I’m fine, actually. I’m great!” Thirteen laughed and Hizashi judged that Thirteen was not, in fact, fine. He sat on the edge of Thirteen’s desk, arms crossed, before stating,
“I’m not leaving ‘till you say what’s up, dude.”
“I can’t believe I never caught onto the fact that you and Aizawa were married,” Thirteen said, most definitely trying to avoid actually saying what was wrong. “I mean you were devastated after the USJ incident! Haha, and also you guys did the Sports Festival...And you were both in the year above me and I saw you both work together in the Sports Festival...Maybe I’m just really dumb.”
“You’re not dumb,” Hizashi said, placing a hand on Thirteen’s shoulder. “We were just really good at hiding it.”
“No offense, but the more I think about it, the more I think that you guys were really bad at hiding it.”
Okay. Hizashi’s definitely going to die now. Turning away so his red face couldn’t be seen, he started laughing which soon turned slightly hysterical. He walked over to his desk, sat down on his chair, and proceeded to slam his head onto the wood.
“Oh my god! Are you okay?!” Thirteen yelped, rising from his seat and racing over to check on Hizashi.
“No,” Hizashi groaned.
Thirteen patted his back and Hizashi lifted his head from his desk, wishing for death. Or, at least, for a giant meteor to fall from the sky and slam into his exact location and severely injure him. Okay, so now it was very clear that his feelings had been obvious, Hizashi wondered if Shouta had ever noticed.
He’d be royally fucked if that was the case. Hizashi couldn’t imagine losing his best friend, and while he was sure Shouta would have no issue with Hizashi liking guys too, he wasn’t sure if Shouta would be okay if Hizashi liked...Him.
Hizashi, however, was soon ripped from his thoughts when he noticed Thirteen staring at the wall opposite of them, obviously lost in thought. Hizashi shook him a little and Thirteen turned to look at Hizashi.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Hizashi asked, and this time Thirteen didn’t nod or try to say he was. He just stared down at his feet for a bit before looking up and asking,
“Do you know what ‘nonbinary’ is?”
Hizashi stared at him, trying to recall the word. It sounded familiar, but he currently couldn’t think of what it meant or where he had heard it from. He shook his head, and Thirteen’s shoulders slumped.
“Alright, it’s fine if you don’t know. I think I’m going to go--”
“No sir, no way!” Hizashi cried out, jumping to his feet and placing both of his hands on Thirteen’s shoulders. “You gotta tell me now! I mean you don’t have to tell me but also come on you can’t just leave me in the dark after introducing a word I don’t know!”
Thirteen looked up at him, contemplating, before saying, “Nonbinary refers to a person who does not conform to either male or female, gender-wise."
Hizashi stared at Thirteen, trying to process this. Okay. Not male or female. Nonbinary. Got it. That’s a thing.
“And I...identify as nonbinary.”
Ah.
“Why are you telling me, though?” Hizashi asked, and adding quickly when Thirteen’s shoulders slumped once again: “I mean I’m glad you feel like you can tell me and I totally respect that but why are you telling me? Is it--is it because of the whole ‘married to Aizawa’ thing?”
“Well, I just thought that you’d probably understand better than others. Not completely, but you’d understand.” Thirteen shrugged. “I wasn’t really planning on telling anybody but...After yesterday, I suddenly found courage.”
Hizashi brought his hand up to his mouth, staring down at the floor. Fuck. Shit. This was what Nedzu had been talking about. Thirteen had just come out to him because Thirteen thought he was married to Shouta. Mt. Lady and Lightfield had come out because they felt safer in doing so after the media said he and Shouta were married.
How many scenes like this were playing out all around the country? How many kids and adults alike were coming out to their friends and families because they saw their heroes coming out and drew courage from that?
Fuck. It was going to be so much harder to say that it had all been a misunderstanding after this. Thirteen was looking at him now, as if awaiting a response, and Hizashi realized there was absolutely no way he could ever admit to Thirteen that he wasn’t married because then Thirteen would think Hizashi didn’t understand and--
“Okay,” Hizashi said aloud, mostly to ground himself. “Okay. So, what do I call you now?”
“They,” Thirteen’s voice betrayed relief. “Gender-neutral terms like they and them. And please don’t tell anybody else about it yet. I’m--I’m going to publicly come out later.”
“Right. Gotcha,” Hizashi said, still a little bit overwhelmed. A quick glance to the clock told him that it was nearing eleven, and he’d need to start preparing for class. “I’m sorry, but I’ve gotta go get ready for class. Thank you for feeling like you could tell me this.”
“Thank you for listening,” Thirteen bowed, before walking back over to their desk. “You might not understand it, but thank you for accepting.”
Hizashi nodded before darting out of the staffroom quickly, practically running to Shouta’s classroom. There was absolutely no way he’d be able to admit they weren’t married, and he needed to convince Shouta of the same!
Notes:
I??? Honestly wasn't expecting this to get almost a hundred kudos????? What?????????????????
THANkS FOR READING!!!! Hahaha, I intended for this chapter to be nine thousand words but I didn't like where it had ended so I edited the last three thousand words out and plan to rewrite it for the next chapter...The number of chapters may extend but if I can work everything out for one more chapter it might just end with three.
Drop a review if you wouldn't mind!! I love seeing those and they make my day!!!! <3
Chapter Text
“Aizawa!”
Oh, god. No. Please. Whatever God existed, whatever higher power that might be listening--please, blast him off the Earth. Can he self-destruct? He wanted to self destruct. That should be a feature included in future generations of humans.
Shouta quickened his pace to avoid the inevitable conversation, thankful that he was able to walk normally now. Nemuri and Tensei combined did not amount to him.
“Aizawa! Wait up!”
Maybe Shouta could fake an accident. Conveniently fall down the stairs and break his arm and then he could be excused from work.
Unfortunately, that didn’t look like it would be able to happen, because he felt a large hand gripping his shoulder and knew instantly that resistance was futile. He’d been caught.
“Good morning,” Shouta said flatly, and Toshinori released his grip on his shoulder. Toshinori was dressed in a suit about five times too large with a horrendous-looking tie, towering over Shouta and giving him too damn big of a smile. Shouta knew what was coming and he did not want to face it. Toshinori was going to be endearingly supportive of his and Hizashi’s ‘marriage’ and he was probably going to praise him or something like a hundred times.
Awful.
“Heading to the staff room?” Toshinori asked, and Shouta immediately snapped,
“Whatever you want to say, say it. I don’t have time for much today.”
Actually, he did, and Toshinori probably knew that, but whatever.
“I just...Well, I don’t quite know how to approach this topic other than saying congratulations!” Toshinori clapped a hand to Shouta’s back. A lesser man would’ve stumbled under the force. “And also, an apology. I think it was wrong for the paramedics to release such information, but this will be very good in helping the young boys and girls out there who need someone to look up to!”
“Don’t they already look up to you,” Shouta said it so flatly that it couldn’t even be considered a question.
“I mean, in a different way...!” Toshinori explained quickly. He was becoming endearingly flustered, so Shouta sighed and begrudgingly allowed the conversation to carry on by asking,
“What way?”
“Well...it’s important for young people to be able to see themselves in others,” Toshinori said wisely. “I think that you might be underestimating how important you must be to hundreds of people across the country. Maybe even some of the students here!”
Shouta thought to Kirishima and sighed, biting the inside of his cheek. Toshinori had a point, but Shouta didn’t think he was necessarily...Important right now. Hizashi, maybe, but him? Hardly anybody’s heard of him, and so far, most major incidents he’s been reported in have had negative effect--Bakugou’s kidnapping and the attack on USJ.
Besides, Shouta wasn’t even actually married. This was all a misunderstanding and it’d be explained in a press conference later on and Kirishima will probably think...
Fuck.
Shouta absolutely hated this year’s class because he cared for them more than he probably should. It shouldn’t matter what one of his students will think because it was his personal life but it also does because it was extremely important to him and how he viewed himself as a hero. If Shouta was in Kirishima’s position and found out that his teacher wasn’t actually in a same-sex relationship and it was all just a misunderstanding, that would mean he just outed himself to his teacher for basically no reason whatsoever, as well as revealed his own doubts.
Toshinori peered into his face concernedly and Shouta realized he’d been stewing in his own thoughts silently for quite some time now. He shifted on his feet as the bell rang for the next class--which meant Hizashi’s English class should be starting soon and he should have wrapped things up with Nedzu.
“Are you alright? You look a bit troubled.” Damn Toshinori for being so observant.
Shouta didn’t have anything to say, unsure, somehow feeling as if he was going to say something wrong even though that was a completely illogical thought. He wasn’t married. The wrong thing to say was that he was and that he did hold importance to Kirishima and others like him.
Shouta just sighed and turned his back, making his way to the staff room.
“I’m going to take a nap on the couch. Don’t bother me.”
Hizashi couldn’t find Shouta in time, and had to run to ensure he wasn’t late to class. He barely made it to the door as the bell rang, and when he did he felt like cheering “I’m not late!” Sometimes, Hizashi really felt like he was actually the student.
Hizashi took a deep breath, preparing himself. He wasn’t sure what, exactly, was waiting for him behind this door, but he needed to be ready for it. He kicked it open, being greeted with a cascade of noise that seemed to shake the very foundation of the building. He was almost impressed. Of course, he could be louder, but still.
“GOOD AFTERNOON, LISTENERS!” Hizashi yelled, and most of the students quieted down, though several continued talking, shooting question after question in his direction. Hizashi walked to the front of the room, not answering any of them even as each question was yelled in a progressively louder voice.
“How long have you and Aizawa-sensei been married?!”
“Where did you get married?”
“Why did he need to be taken to the hospital, though?!”
Hizashi couldn’t really answer the first two questions, since he hadn’t been able to find Shouta in time to convince him that maybe they should see how this marriage thing goes, and he didn’t want to make anything worse. So instead, he merely pointed finger guns at the nearest student (Bakugou) and said:
“Eraser doesn’t like it to be talked about ‘cos he’s all private and stuff, so y’know, gotta honor his wishes and all that.”
“Why the fuck are you pointing at me?” Bakugou asked.
“Aww, are you suuuuure you can’t answer any questions?” Ashido yelled before Hizashi could say much more. “I’ve been dying to know!”
“My brother says if you don’t tell him details I’m supposed to drill you,” that was Iida. “Uhm, but I’m a bit uncomfortable with taking such an aggressive approach with a teacher.”
“Tell him to hashtag me and I’ll talk about it,” Hizashi said. “Okay kids, we’re going to start--”
“Sir, actually, if I may.” Hizashi’s mouth snapped shut as Jirou stood up, brushing dirt nobody could see off of her skirt. She looked as cool as usual, a calm expression on her face and an air of nonchalance being emitted from her. Everyone stared at her, obviously waiting for her to speak.
“You’ve been my favorite radio host and hero ever since I was a kid,” Jirou began. Hizashi wanted to say you’re still a kid but now was not the time for jokes. “You were so relatable to me. You loved music and screaming and noise in general, and my parents have played your show every Friday since you started it. So, you know, yesterday was kind of a big deal for me.”
Jirou glanced around, as if to make sure she still had everyone’s attention, before she pointed finger guns at Hizashi, mirroring him. “Yo, I’m gay.”
Before anybody could react, Jirou whirled around where she stood, facing the back of the classroom, shouting:
“Yaomomo! Do you want to go on a date with me?”
Hizashi could only watch with his jaw dropped as Yaoyorozu brought her hands up to her mouth, half-shielding her reddening face. Her usually articulate self looked quite thrown off by the sudden question, and she glanced around, as if unsure. Her eyes found Todoroki’s, and something seemed to pass between them; she lowered her hands, smiling, and said,
“Of course.”
Any hopes of maybe continuing a normal class session went out the window as everybody broke out screaming. Kirishima even started crying and Kaminari was trying to pick Jirou up to parade her around the room but she kept elbowing him. The only person who wasn’t celebrating was Mineta, who looked like he’d had his balls ripped off in rapid succession.
Hizashi tried speaking in a normal voice several times, only to be drowned out by the shouting. At one point Kan opened the door to glare at him and Hizashi shot him an apologetic thumbs-up. When Kan left, Hizashi inhaled, thinking about how loud he needed to be and also how quiet, before yelling--
“I’LL ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS TOMORROW IF YOU ALL STOP TALKING!”
Everyone shut up so fast he was actually concerned.
“I know everybody’s talking about how big of a deal it is, but relax, I’m just a normal hero like you guys!” Hizashi wasn’t really excellent at motivational speaking or whatever, but he liked to think he could at least get his points across. “I don’t think it’s that huge or groundbreaking if you’re not straight or cis--”
“What does cis mean?” Satou called.
“I think it’s another word for gay,” Kaminari said.
“No, you idiot, it’s another word for transgender!”
“Actually, it’s the opposite of transgender.” Everyone looked at Aoyama when he said that. He merely shrugged in response.
“Anyways, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” Hizashi continued. “You listeners can literally just be whatever you want and you’ll all be great heroes!”
“Except a murderer,” Kaminari pointed out.
“Did you just compare being gay to being a murderer?”
“What? No, that’s not what I meant! I--I was making a joke!”
Tokoyami gave a low chuckle. “How you tread into wrongful territory...”
“What does that mean?!”
As the topic derailed horribly off-track, Hizashi wondered what kind of hell the other hero classes would be. Normally, he could handle loud and extreme situations, but this seemed to be on an entirely different level, one the universe hadn’t quite prepared him for.
English class ended with no English being taught or even spoken, and then it was time for Kan’s class. Predictably, they were just as loud as Shouta’s class, though it was far more controlled and nobody was paraded around the room.
“PRESENT MIC-SENSEI, TELL US HOW YOU PROPOSED!” Tetsutetsu started off the class by screaming, and it all went downhill from there. Hizashi basically repeated everything he’d told Shouta’s class--however, unlike Shouta’s class, they weren’t satisfied with having to wait until tomorrow to answer any questions and demanded to have answers now.
“Come on guys,” Kendou said when everyone kept shouting. “It’s their own private business!”
“Yeah...” Shoda added. “It’s not a good thing to keep bugging him about it...”
They were the only two who seemed to think so, however. Shishida roared every question he had and even Manga’s speech bubble read ‘Totally wanna know!’ Tsunotori, being from America, didn’t quite see what the big deal was, but was still happy and loud all the same.
Monoma made a comment that Hizashi couldn’t quite hear and Kendou enlarged her hand with her Quirk to smack him, which lead to another uproar.
By the time class let out Hizashi was ready to dash off to find Shouta, but noticing Shiozaki hovering by the desk, knew he couldn’t. When almost everybody was out of the classroom, Hizashi asked,
“Can I help you?”
“Well...” Shiozaki’s hands were clasped together, held to her chest. Hizashi didn’t talk to her much--the most interaction he’d ever had with her was during the Sports Festival when she’d asked him to announce her differently. However, he could tell something was troubling her by her expression, so he tried to appear as approachable as he could.
“It’s a bit difficult to say, sir...”
“What is it?”
“Sir, my parents want me to switch to a different school.”
Hizashi blinked, a bit taken aback. “Why?”
“Me and my family are very religious,” Shiozaki said, keeping her eyes on the ground. “They don’t like the fact that you are one of my teachers. So I was just informing you in case I don’t ever return to your classes.”
Hizashi didn’t like being serious, especially with his students and with a matter like this. He crossed his arms, leaning against the desk and fixing Shiozaki with a look as he tried to think of a proper response to this situation. Hizashi had never been told by a student that their parents wanted to withdraw them from school, and even if Shiozaki’s parents wanted her out of the school, it should be her decision.
“Do you want to stay?”
“Of course,” Shiozaki said immediately. “This is the best hero school in the world.”
“What are your parents’ opinions on me?” When she stiffened, he spread his arms. “I won’t be mad.”
“They think you and your...husband, are unfit to be teachers and heroes.”
“Do you agree with your parents?”
Shiozaki hesitated. There were a few moments of silence, until she said, “My upbringing...Was very religious, so it’s a bit harder for me to accept than it would be for others, I imagine. But I must be able to recognize that anybody can be a hero, regardless of who they are. I don’t agree with them.”
“In the end, it’s your decision,” Hizashi told her. “Hey, I get it--being religious makes things kind of difficult, and you don’t have to accept anything--just don’t be a butt about it and it’s fine, right?”
Shiozaki managed a smile before bowing, her hands returning to her sides. “I see. Thank you for being understanding.”
“No problemo, kiddo.”
Shiozaki left the room, and Hizashi felt relief flood him. Shouta was much better at handling this kind of stuff. Hizashi either joked too much to properly take things seriously or got too serious. There was no in-between.
But the conversation brought another matter into his mind: would anyone actually withdraw their kids from school because of this? He’d like to think that attending the most famous and acclaimed hero school in the world would outweigh having a gay teacher or two, but apparently not.
There was still so much good that could be gleaned from this whole thing, though, and Hizashi needed to organize all of his thoughts into a mental playlist so he could play it and unload all of his information onto Shouta.
So with that in mind, he headed to the only place Shouta would be on his break:
The staff room.
Nobody was in the staff room, so Shouta had managed to lay down on the couch and sleep with no problems. He wanted to avoid everyone until this whole situation blew over, and what better way to do that than sleep?
However, he was soon woken up by a hand shaking his shoulder, and opened his eyes to glare at whoever had decided it was a good idea to disturb him. It was Hizashi, which meant his English classes were over and he’d slept for about two hours. Shouta groaned and sat up, brushing his hair out of his face as he groggily gathered his thoughts together.
“What?”
“We need to talk,” Hizashi said, before glancing around. “Uh, somewhere else though.”
Shouta let himself be dragged out into the hallway, not making much of an effort to actually walk himself, until Hizashi threw open a door to the janitor’s closet and shoved the both of them inside. It was tiny and filled with cleaning supplies, and Hizashi’s hair brushed against the ceiling. Due to the small amount of space, they stood only a few inches apart, to the point where it was actually kind of uncomfortable.
“Okay, don’t get mad or anything but I was talking to Nedzu and...he kind of made a good point,” Hizashi began, and Shouta was already prepared for the worst. “He wants us to consider pretending to stay married for a little while.”
Actually, Shouta wasn’t prepared for that, because he couldn’t stop himself from exclaiming “What?”
“Hear me out!” Hizashi said quickly, throwing his hands up, but due to the small amount of space he ended up hitting Shouta’s shoulder. “Sorry--but he asked if we could wait and see what happens before we do anything.”
“Won’t that just make everything worse?”
“Well, I kind of...I kind of agree with him,” Hizashi mumbled, looking away and bringing his hand up to scratch at his cheek. “Some stuff happened today and Shouta, I think this could be a really good thing for a lot of people. Did you know Lightfield came out today?”
“...He did what?”
“You know how his wife died and everybody thought he wasn’t dating? Apparently he’s had a Filipino boyfriend for a bit, and he came out today. And so did Mt. Lady. And Jirou. And--” Hizashi paused, before continuing. “Anyways, like I was saying, I think this could be a good thing because...Well, it seems like a lot of people are looking up to us, kinda?”
“So you want us to keep pretending we’re married?” Shouta asked skeptically. “People can look into marriage certificates and eventually, they will find out we’re not married.”
“I know but that’s not important right now!” Hizashi exclaimed, his voice rising. “Something important happened today and I just think we should keep this up for a bit! What’s the harm, honestly? What could happen?”
“The J.P.A,” Shouta stated. “Other heroes. Demand for our hero licences to be revoked. You being in negative spotlight for months and this whole thing being referred to as a scam. Trouble from the hospital for claiming you were married to--”
“Okay, okay, I get it!”
They were both quiet for a little bit, Shouta’s eyes closed as he thought about what had happened today so far. Apparently, several heroes had come out, as well as one of his students. Hizashi seemed weirdly earnest about the subject, making him think there was a bit more to it than he was letting on, but Shouta knew pursuing it was futile. When Hizashi wanted to keep a secret, he damn well could and Shouta would never find out until Hizashi told him drunkenly of his own accord.
Shouta sighed, bringing his hands up to rub at his eyes. He shouldn’t want to keep this up, but he was starting to feel conflicted. On one hand, this could end very badly for them both if they kept this up. On the other hand, there were people like Kirishima and Jirou who felt--inspired--by the whole damn thing and going back on it might be even worse.
This was why he hated the media. He didn’t think he’d be capable of handling stuff like this all the time if he was a more well-known and flashier hero. Everything was difficult and could have awful results and you didn’t know which was the worst option in a situation like this. He didn’t know how Hizashi could handle this shit all the time.
“Let’s give it a couple of days, alright? And if we decide we don’t wanna do it, I can say I told you not to tell anyone it wasn’t real for...some reason,” Hizashi said, bringing his hands up to place them on Shouta’s shoulders. “We got this.”
“We don’t got this.”
“Okay, sourpuss, is that a yes?”
Shouta took a deep breath before sighing out, “Yes.”
“Great!” Hizashi visibly brightened, before squeezing past Shouta to throw open the janitor closet door. “And we can--”
“What were you two doing in there?” Came a familiar voice, and Shouta groaned out loud. Nemuri was stomping her away across the hall, looking angry, and Shouta was thankful that her whip was nowhere in sight.
“First, you two don’t tell me you’re married and then you decide to get it on in the closet-!” She grabbed the collar of Hizashi’s jacket and yanked it so he was eye-level with her. “Sweethearts, I am pissed right now! Do you know how many years I’ve waited to be told I’m going to be the maid of honor or at least a bridesmaid?! Do you?”
“Nemuri! Calm down!” Hizashi gasped, placing his hand on her wrist. “Shouta, a little help?”
“You’re dealing with that trainwreck on your own,” Shouta said stiffly, trying to shuffle past Nemuri, but it was with little success--she reached out to grab his scarf and pulled him close, causing it to constrict around his throat.
“I’ve been waiting for this since this shit was legal,” Nemuri’s voice was growing louder and louder. “You didn’t even tell Tensei! Ohhh, imagine how it was when I texted Tensei and then we started--”
“Nemuri, I can’t breathe--” Shouta managed to get out, and her grip loosened slightly.
“--plotting your very demise! I’m going to kick your asses!” Nemuri released her grip on the both of them, visibly fuming, before lunging forward to wrap the both of them in a hug.
“You’re both idiots!”
“We’re sorry,” Hizashi said, sounding a bit terrified.
“You should be,” Nemuri cooed. “Look, all threats aside, I was totally happy when I found out. I’ve been waiting for this for years. So, who proposed?! Where did you get married?! Tell me all the details!”
“How about later?” Hizashi asked, adjusting the collar of his jacket. “We can talk about it over drinks with Tensei, how does that sound?”
“Spectacular!” Nemuri gave him a thumbs-up. “Also, seriously, don’t get it on in the closet because if I’m not allowed to, you’re not allowed to either.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Shouta told her, trying to readjust his scarf. “It was nothing like that.”
“Shouta, don’t even get me started.” She prodded her finger against his chest, giving him a glare. “Emi’s been blowing up my phone all morning, did you know that? There’s only so many coming-out jokes I can take in the span of an hour.”
Shouta hadn’t checked his own phone in hours, and he could only imagine what state it was in after she had found out. Maybe he should get a new number or chuck his phone in a ditch.
“Anyways, I’ve got a class I’m supposed to start in a few minutes, so text me the details of our drinking plans! Later, kiddos!” Nemuri called as she sashayed away. When she was around the corner, Hizashi spun around to face him.
“We’ve got to work out our story,” he said immediately, “Who proposed, where we got married, all that stuff. And we need to talk about stuff to do in public to make it seem like we’re all couple-y!”
“That’s not a word.”
“Work with me, not against me, Shouta.”
“We shouldn’t be discussing it here,” Shouta murmured, glancing around. “Later, at one of our apartments or something.”
Hizashi nodded, looking serious, before they both parted ways, Hizashi to the staff room and Shouta to his classroom.
By himself, Shouta couldn’t stop thinking of what Nemuri had said--that she’d been waiting forever for this. Just what exactly did that mean? These confusing feelings Shouta was having--could Nemuri read them better than him? The thought of having an embarrassing and obvious infatuation with Hizashi caused his lower lip to jut out in a near-pout as he thought to nearly every instance in which he might have given away he wanted to do weird sappy shit with Hizashi. Stuff that ranged from leaning against each other while watching movies to eating out together every night.
Had that been obvious? Had those private thoughts of his been abundantly clear to Nemuri, who was like the elder sister he’d never had? If it’d been obvious to her, what about Hizashi?
Shouta sighed and ran his hand through his hair at the thought of keeping up this charade and having to find a way to make themselves seem more like an actual couple, and without giving away the fact that he really did like Hizashi. Just what were they getting into?
“So I’m just saying, I definitely proposed.” Hizashi circled his name in red marker, adding a few hearts around it, before switching to a blue marker and drawing a line to Shouta’s name. “But you asked me out first!”
Shouta’s name was underlined in green and dotted purple lines circled both of their names. Shouta watched Hizashi continue making his confusing diagram, struggling to keep up with what all the colors and lines and shapes meant. Hizashi had a large whiteboard in his apartment for when he planned large parties or radio events, which he was currently using to map out their ‘relationship’. Shouta literally understood none of it.
“And we had a private wedding...Not even really a wedding, just a wedding certificate. Can we forge those? I think we can forge those.” Hizashi drew a square in red before crossing it out in orange. Shouta raised his hand, saying, “Question.”
“Yeah?”
“Why is there a drawing of a chainsaw in the corner?”
Hizashi glanced back at him, before looking at the chainsaw. “...It’s important for later.”
Most of Hizashi’s diagram was covering the whiteboard, but in a few places Shouta could see the faded marks of previous things written on the whiteboard that hadn’t erased all the way--he could clearly make out ‘Ways to fuck with Tensei and Shouta’ and ‘Kan’s probable fetishes’ beside each other.
He didn’t know what was more disturbing, the fact that Hizashi did this in his spare time or that beneath the probable fetishes one ‘autobots’ was written.
Hizashi began drawing a pie chart, and about ninety-five percent of the pie chart was colored red and the remaining was colored blue.
“What’s that for?”
“The probability of who people think will be the one on top in this relationship.” Hizashi set his markers down. “This is actually Nemuri’s fault, she won’t stop texting me about it.”
“Do we need that?” Shouta grumbled, and Hizashi shrugged before sitting down besides him, crossing one leg over the other. They’d changed when they got to Hizashi’s apartment, so Hizashi was wearing a comfortable pink sweater that reached his thighs and yoga pants, while Shouta was stuck in an outfit he’d left over here once that smelled vaguely like alcohol and bad decisions. At least the shirt was flannel. He kind of liked flannel.
“We need to sort out everything and prepare ourselves for whatever questions that could be asked,” Hizashi said knowingly. “You know how I co-hosted or interviewed for a lot of radio stations before I got my own? I planned stuff like this every night before I actually did it.”
“Did they ask you questions about your bedroom life?”
Hizashi gave a little shudder. “One of them did.”
Shouta leaned against the arm of the couch, his legs tucked beneath him. It was a very comfortable position and he was very tired, but he couldn’t sleep just yet--they still had boundaries to establish.
“So while we’re in this fake relationship,” Shouta began, rubbing his hand over his face tiredly. “What are we doing to make it seem like we’re really in a relationship?”
“Nothing serious!” Hizashi replied, turning to look at him. "Just small stuff like...maybe hold hands every once in awhile? And...you could move in with me?”
When Shouta stared at him, Hizashi quickly sputtered out, “I m-mean, we already spend so much time over at one another’s place anyways..!”
“...Mine or yours?” Shouta asked. Hizashi looked taken aback for the briefest of seconds before launching into all the pros and cons of both of their apartments, causing Shouta to believe Hizashi had been thinking about this for a long time. A stupidly warm fuzzy feeling started to blossom inside him as he realized how domestic this scene was--talking about moving in with one another and holding hands.
Shouta had only ever been on a date twice before, and both times they’d ended disastrously because he just simply wasn’t interested in either of them. Both times it’d been set up by someone else (Hizashi and Nemuri) with a girl he’d never even met, and both times he’d found himself hardly interested in what they were saying and being put off by their attempted sexual advances. He hadn’t wanted to sleep with them--anybody, really--much less do softer things like kiss or hug.
So when he thought about holding hands with Hizashi--why did that make him feel so weird? It wasn't like he hadn’t ever thought about it before, but thinking now, in this context, it felt strange and tangible, an idea come to life.
Shouta glanced over to where Hizashi was still speaking, making wide gestures with his hands and occasionally bringing a hand up to absentmindedly brush loose strands of hair away from his face. Hizashi was one of the very, very few people Shouta felt like he could actually emotionally connect to. Tensei and Nemuri were the other two, but he didn’t feel this way about either of them--in fact, the thought of being romantically involved with them at all made him feel weird and disgusted, like it was some sort of taboo.
So why was Hizashi different?
When had these stupid feelings even appeared?
“Shouta? Earth to Shouta! Eraserhead! The house is on fire! David Lynch made a film about you! Oi, are you listening?...Shouuuutaaaaa.”
“Have you texted Nemuri yet to tell her when we’ll meet her at the bar?” Shouta asked, and Hizashi blinked before twisting around to snatch his phone off the side table.
“So that’s what I forgot to do!...Oh my god, she’s sent me more news articles.”
Shouta raised an eyebrow. “And?”
“One’s about anal sex and her most recent message is a link to an article that shows an interview with the head of the J.P.A, followed by about ten sad face emojis.” Hizashi flinched. “She had a few choice things to say about them.”
“How’s your twitter?”
Hizashi stared at him. “Do you want to look through it?”
“Pass.”
There were a few seconds of silence, Hizashi tapping away at his phone, until Shouta asked,
“What if they ask us to kiss, or something?”
Hizashi looked back up at him, eyebrows drawing together in a frown. “...What?”
“Some people might doubt that we’re married,” Shouta explained, already feeling stupid. “So what if they ask for us to kiss or something?”
Hizashi lowered his eyes to the ground, licking his lips in thought. When it didn’t look like he’d answer any time soon, Shouta spoke.
“I’m fine if that happens.”
Hizashi instantly straightened up, staring at him with wide eyes, and Shouta wanted to take back the statement but it was too late for that now.
“...What?”
“I said I’m fine if they ask us to kiss or something,” Shouta grumbled, feeling his face flush.
“Yeah I’m fine too I’m totally fine whoo boy I’m hungry and I’m going to make some waffles,” Hizashi said all in one breath, getting to his feet and rushing to his kitchen. Shouta stared after him, worried that he’d made the wrong assumption and said the wrong thing. However, this was soon the least of his worries as Hizashi stumbled out of the kitchen, smashing the waffle box to the ground and yelling,
“WE’RE OUT OF WAFFLES!”
Notes:
EDIT:: hey just dropped in to say this even tho this has been out for a while but regarding Shiozaki's religious thing, I always thought she was Christian or highly implied to be so due to her whole jesus thing lol
hizashi does odd shit when he's manic u can pry this out of my dead hands
look. its 3 in the fuckign morning. this was the hardest chapter that i've ever written in my life. it took me years to start this. my soul was consumed by a demon. i came to the dawning realization that there is absolutely no fucking way this will end in 3 chapters, so now i'm thinking 6
im tired
but i love u guys
drop a review if u want. make my day. (or night. its 3 am. holy shit.)
Chapter 4
Notes:
i've upgraded from posting at 3 am to posting at 4 am be proud of me
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
On Tuesday, a shitload of articles were written, and Hizashi had about fifteen open all at once. Most were just speculating on what he and Shouta’s relationship would mean for future generations, while some were talking about two more heroes coming out--Thirteen as nonbinary and a newer hero noted for having been in Shouta’s class, Slam-jam, as a pansexual woman.
(Hizashi actually had to Google what pansexual was. It was pretty cool.)
Not much actually happened on Tuesday--there were still reporters out front, there were students who offered congratulations, and another student came out in one of the general classes. She announced that she was genderfluid (again, Hizashi had to Google) and was met with a rather unpleasant comment from Tanaka, only for Shinsou to use his Quirk on her and make Tanaka slap herself repeatedly.
Honestly, Hizashi only made him stop because that was his job as the teacher.
Some kids from 1-A and 1-B came over with the same questions from the day before, and Hizashi responded with the answers he and Shouta had come up with. Some were disappointed by the fact they hadn’t had a large and extravagant wedding, and some asked if they could see their rings, to which Hizashi had to respond he didn’t wear his to work.
(Hizashi wondered if a candy ring would suffice, because he’s had one sitting on his desk for the past three weeks. Okay, joke aside, he wondered if he would be going too far in this fake marriage thing if he got he and Shouta wedding rings.)
“Mic-sensei, I think you guys should hold another wedding,” Uraraka said in a serious voice during lunch, Hizashi currently having no classes to teach. “And make it huge and invite all of us!”
“But considering this type of marriage was only recently legalized, they’re probably newlyweds or close to it,” Midoriya said thoughtfully, garnering her attention. “It wouldn’t make sense to hold another wedding so soon, right?”
“You probably already heard this from my brother,” Iida said, his hands moving around in extreme fashion. “But he keeps saying that you must hold another wedding and invite him. I didn’t even know you all knew each other until we were watching the news and he got very riled up after seeing news of your engagement.”
“Your brother knew Present Mic and Aizawa?!” Uraraka exclaimed, her hands jumping to her face. “Ohhh, what about Thirteen and Midnight?! Aren’t they around your age?!”
Hizashi wasn’t even able to answer those questions, they kept carrying the conversation on their own with very little interjection from him at all. The three honestly reminded him of himself, Shouta and Tensei back in high school--Tensei and Hizashi talked enough among themselves to make up for Shouta’s usual silence, much like these three were currently doing.
Tuesday ended without much conflict. Hizashi helped move some of Shouta’s stuff into his car, and thankfully there were no reporters lingering around Shouta’s place. Hizashi’s apartment was a different story--at least ten journalists or interested onlookers asked Hizashi several questions as they carried the two boxes up to Hizashi’s apartment. If there wasn’t an article about it in two hours, he would have been very surprised.
And then Wednesday came.
As soon as he and Shouta arrived on campus, Hound Dog was bounding over to greet them, looking determined and serious.
“Nedzu needs you both in his office,” he panted when they were in earshot. Hizashi instantly felt dread, exchanging a glance with Shouta, before leaving Hound Dog behind to howl at the reporters.
Nedzu’s office was brightly lit, which didn’t really suit the rather heavy atmosphere. Nedzu himself was sitting on top of his desk, looking quite comfortable as he poured himself some tea. Hizashi was ready to bolt already, just looking at it.
“Good morning,” Nedzu greeted cheerfully as they entered his office. “How’s your day so far?”
“Terrible,” Shouta responded. “What did you need us for?”
“No need for pleasantries, I see,” Nedzu sighed, before taking a sip of his tea. “We’ve received a rather unpleasant document this morning.”
“Such as...?”
Nedzu reached over on his desk to slide a piece of paper towards them. Shouta picked it up to glance it over, and though his face betrayed no emotion his hand tightened around it. Reading over his shoulder, Hizashi was a bit shocked to find that it was a letter from the J.P.A demanding their resignation as teachers.
“They created an online petition calling for one thousand signatures,” Nedzu explained as Shouta handed the paper back. “Within two days, it got almost three thousand.”
“Oh,” Hizashi’s voice managed to sound small, a nearly impossible feat for him.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t anticipated anything like this happening, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so...Soon? And to have so many supporters? Maybe Hizashi was being foolishly optimistic, but he’d thought that there wouldn’t be enough people that actually hated him and Shouta enough to create an entire goddamn petition and have two thousand more signatures than the original goal was.
Well, it was just a petition--it wasn't like they could actually be fired from this, right? A petition only brought someone’s attention to an issue and ultimately didn’t matter in a final decision.
And Nedzu most likely wouldn't fire them, considering he knew the entire marriage thing is, in fact, a scam.
...Okay, a scam sounded horrible and Hizashi felt like an immoral demon just by thinking it.
Hizashi glanced towards Shouta, but his face remained blank and impassive. Hizashi was already starting to feel awful. It’d been his idea to keep up this marriage thing, and there was already a petition that said it wanted Shouta to resign, and that was all Hizashi’s fault and he sincerely hoped nothing drastic came out of this situation because that would mean Hizashi had single-handedly destroyed their entire relationship.
His internal spiral into worry and anxiety left the room in silence as Nedzu watched for a reaction and Shouta remained inscrutable. When the silence only worsened the pit of anxiety in his stomach and became unbearable, Hizashi decided to break it.
“So, what are we going to do about it?”
“I was just letting you guys know about it,” Nedzu responded easily. “I’ve already sent an email to the news station the Parent’s Association interviewed with to state we will not, under any circumstance, fire you two or anybody else for that matter due to sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Nedzu leaned over to pour more tea. Hizashi had to physically restrain himself from smacking the cup out of his hand. The anxiety on top of his traumatic flashbacks from all past experiences with Nedzu was seriously making it hard to keep himself from screaming about tea.
“In fact, I have quite a different approach in mind--and I’ve already discussed this with a few other teachers!”
Hizashi wondered if he should feel dread--he could already read it in Shouta’s eyes.
“We’re going to host a ball to support the LGBT community!” Nedzu exclaimed, throwing one of his hands (paws?) up in the air. “Supporting our LGBT students and staff and helping to educate those who don’t have much knowledge about the subject area! We are a school, and teaching is what we do.”
“That’s a great idea!” Hizashi said enthusiastically, all sense of dread going out the window and momentarily forgetting every meeting he’s ever had with Nedzu and his teapot. “I’ve learned a lot in the past two days about gender identity and--”
“Are we required to attend?” Shouta cut him off, staring at Nedzu. Nedzu held no fear in his eyes despite being faced with a man about three times his size.
“Well, I don’t want to require you to attend...but it would be very much appreciated,” Nedzu stated. “And I’ve already decided on a date---this Saturday!”
“Shouldn’t we have a month to prepare?” Hizashi asked, puzzled. “We did that for the charity ball a few years back so we could spread word and plan concessions and get a back-up DJ in case I didn’t come.”
“This ball will be much smaller, limited to students and teachers with a few personal invites,” Nedzu answered. “I’ve actually been planning this since Sunday evening, with significant help from a few prominent sources in this kind of stuff. I’ve learned quite a bunch and I personally think the students here could learn a little bit, too.”
“An informative ball?” Shouta sighed.
“With dancing!”
“It’ll be fuuuuun, come onnnnn,” Hizashi nudged him playfully. “I can bust out my sick moves!”
“I think your students would appreciate if you attended, Aizawa,” Nedzu said knowingly, and Shouta stiffened a bit. “Especially one in particular.”
Hizashi glanced between them curiously, wondering what student. Jirou? No, she seemed to favor him a bit more, as her favorite hero and all. Yaoyorozu? Bakugou? As far as Hizashi was concerned, those two were his favorite students (even if he tried denying it), but that didn’t necessarily mean Shouta was their favorite teacher.
There was a small moment in which Shouta and Nedzu stared at each other, Nedzu waiting for an answer and Shouta’s face betraying his reluctance.
“...Fine,” Shouta finally said, before turning away. “It’s almost time for classes to start.”
“Have a good day!” Nedzu called after them as they left. Walking down the halls together, Hizashi wondered how many students would actually attend the event and if he’d be able to DJ like last time. Yuuei rarely held events like this, the exception being the sports festival and a graduation party for the third-years, but whenever these events were held Hizashi was very excited for them. He liked attending parties and being able to get people excited, and DJing was a way to achieve both.
Hizashi was soon distracted from his thoughts when he noticed Shouta’s less-than-enthusiastic demeanor. It was to be expected, but this was different. Placing his hand on his shoulder, they stopped in the empty hallway for a moment.
“Is something wrong?” Hizashi asked, and Shouta just shook his hand off of him.
“It’s fine,” he said, and Hizashi frowned.
“Come onnnnn, tell meeeeeee, I’m your husbaaaaaaand--”
“Hizashi.”
Hizashi sighed, before purposely bumping into Shouta with his shoulder and saying, “Alright, grumpy cat, but you’re telling me what’s wrong later or you’re getting smackerdoodle’d.”
Shouta snorted. “Did you just make up that word?”
“It’s my specialty, and also I’m trying to lighten the mood. Cheer up!” Hizashi smiled, before changing the subject. “And who was the student Nedzu was talking about?”
“It’s not my business to say,” Shouta said back. “I just don’t know how he knew about it.”
“He’s all-knowing,” Hizashi said in a serious voice. “That, or the teapot is sentient and creeps around corners, eavesdropping on us all, and that’s why he’s got so much tea. It’s full of secrets.”
Shouta hated emotions, feelings, moods, and anything linked with them. They’re semi-abstract concepts with no physical bearing, unless you’re crying. You can not destroy them or make them go away. They will always be there.
Which is precisely why he hates them.
Feeling tired, and also irritated, and also whatever these stupid feelings towards Hizashi were. They’re all dumb, distracting, illogical, and they tend to make him irrational when things got especially bad.
Shouta didn’t care about the public. He didn’t care about their opinion on him, did not care how he looked to them, and he should not care about how other people look to them, especially Hizashi, who was able to brush off stuff like that after several years of trying to get his own radio show started.
An actual petition to have them fired that gained many more signatures than needed. Who knew what would come next? A petition for Hizashi’s radio show to end? A petition to have their hero licences revoked? Shouta probably won’t matter so much in the eyes of the J.P.A and every other homophobic asshole in the country outside of being Hizashi’s ‘husband’ and a teacher. He was an underground hero that most hadn’t even heard of until recently.
But Hizashi, being more well-known and somewhat influential, was directly threatened and would suffer more. They were both workaholics, and Hizashi’s everything was being able to teach, inspire, all that other sappy feel-good stuff. If those things were taken from him, Hizashi probably wouldn’t be able to properly function for a while, considering his life was built on all three of his jobs and not much else.
They were, of course, petitions, and most likely wouldn’t have much weight on the actual decisions of Nedzu and whoever else--but it was still concerning.
Shouta rubbed at his face, wondering if there was any way he could flush all of this thinking and worrying out. That was Hizashi’s job, not his.
Shouta was not one to analyze and pick at his own feelings. Feelings got in the way of working efficiently, and he’d mastered at a young age of keeping them in check to remain calm at all times due to his line of work. But he was being thrown for a loop here by all these feelings he felt like he was only just now noticing. It was like it took a media misunderstanding to make him aware of the things he felt concerning the subject matter--
It didn’t sound terrible to marry Hizashi. He was a bit worried about how the reception of the news would affect Hizashi. He didn’t mind if he’d have to kiss Hizashi or something else ridiculous to prove they were actually ‘married.’
It was like when you learned a new word or someone pointed out a detail you hadn’t noticed before, and suddenly you start seeing it everywhere, thinking to yourself ‘how could I have not noticed?’
That was why he hated feelings. They weren’t obvious. They weren’t simple. They were complicated and trying to understand them just created even more complicated feelings.
“Sensei, are you alright today?” Yaoyorozu asked of him at his desk, startling him from his slow and internal breakdown. Shouta glanced up from the papers he was supposed to be looking over to find her with her hands folded neatly on top of each other, standing straight, but with visible concern on her face. “You’ve been stabbing your pen into the desk.”
Shouta tossed the ruined pen aside, ignoring the small dent he’d managed to create, before asking, “Why are you up here?”
“Oh, uh, I finished my assignment early,” she said, holding up her packet. “But I think there was a mistake on the test regarding the laws of Quirk usage...”
“Alright. Kaminari, Ashido, I see the both of you sending each other hand signals. I will expel you.”
Shouta was reviewing the question in particular with Yaoyorozu when the door opened, revealing Toshinori. He greeted the class with a wave, noting the silence as a test-taking atmosphere, and approached Shouta’s desk with intent.
“Nedzu sent out an email about the ball,” Toshinori said in a low voice. “And we’re supposed to make the announcement today.”
“Couldn’t this have waited until later?” Shouta raised an eyebrow.
“He told me to make sure you knew about it,” Toshinori’s voice was apologetic.
“There’s going to be a ball?” Yaoyorozu asked curiously.
“A ball?” Hagakure echoed, which set off a chain reaction, repeated choruses of ‘a ball?!’
“I...probably shouldn’t have said that out loud.” Toshinori slumped a bit. “My bad.”
“Ball! Ball! Ball!” The class began chanting, happy to disregard their test in favor for literally anything else. Glaring at Toshinori, Shouta slid out of his desk to clamber into his sleeping bag. Toshinori started the mess, and he was going to handle it.
Along with Nedzu’s plans to hold a ball, there were also suggestions from other teachers to have a special class session to talk about LGBT themes and encourage the students that it was okay to come out. Personally, Shouta didn’t think it should be such a huge deal because it was just another aspect of yourself, but whatever.
Hizashi, however, was fascinated.
“Dude, I didn’t know gender was, like, a spectrum,” Hizashi said in wonder, folding his pizza in half to eat it. “I was the one being taught today, not the other way around. You don’t know what it’s like until you’re being lectured by Mei Hatsume about how gender is just a social construct, along with time and also romance.”
Shouta stared at him.
“It’s okay, I hardly get it either. But like, I didn’t know half this shit existed. I thought asexuality was reproducing with yourself and stuff, from science class, but it’s something else.” Hizashi shifted his position on the couch, so he was facing Shouta better. “Where was all this when we were kids?”
“I’m sure they were there,” Shouta said evenly. “They just weren’t outspoken yet.”
They were both quiet for a while, eating pizza in front of Hizashi’s TV but not really paying attention to the movie playing. Shouta’s half of the pizza was simply cheese, while Hizashi’s half was overloaded with bell pepper and pepperoni and bacon. It felt like any other night before this had all happened, but it also felt different in context. They were currently living together for an undetermined amount of time under the guise of being married, and that made every action just feel different, even if Shouta knew it shouldn’t.
They weren’t married.
They were just friends. They’ve known each other for fifteen years, and one misunderstanding shouldn’t be shaking Shouta’s perceived foundation of what that friendship was built upon--but it was.
“Hey, I was just wondering, learning about all this stuff...” Hizashi stared down at his folded pizza, licking his lips, which Shouta recognized as his nervous habit. “I never asked, but you know, like...We’re pretending to be married and stuff, and some of our students look up to us for not being straight but are you...Straight? Or...Not?”
Before Shouta could even respond, Hizashi was instantly speaking once again to try and make his point clearer.
“I mean, it totally doesn’t matter if you’re straight or not! Are you straight and just pretending to be married to me or are you not straight and you feel like you were somewhat outed while pretending to be married to me or--”
“Hizashi,” Shouta said, and Hizashi managed to shut up. “Calm down.”
Shouta chewed his pizza slowly, thinking about what Hizashi had said. Shouta had never put much thought into it, romance being the least of his worries, and sex was on a whole different level, not even being a part of his worries. He distinctly remembered a small period when he was seventeen when he thought there was something biologically wrong with him, as everyone in their class seemed to be having sex or dating or wanting to do either of those things and he just...wasn’t.
He’d tried to chalk it up as being too focused on becoming a hero, but Tensei had been equally as focused, if not more so, and he still had a girlfriend for a few months. Shouta had been much more emotionally vulnerable back then, having not quite matured and being a dumb teenager who was trying to get all of his life goals and plans figured out in a short span of time like teenagers tended to do. Looking back on it, he couldn’t quite understand why it had mattered at that time--it wouldn’t matter in the long run, but for about a month he’d been genuinely bothered by his own disinterest in both sex and romance.
Shouta couldn’t answer if he was straight or something else because he couldn’t remember a time he’d been interested in someone like that. He was too tired, he worked too much, he had too much going on during high school to pay attention to that kind of stuff.
But he guessed he was starting to have his answer now, wasn’t he?
Shouta looked up to see Hizashi was staring at him, awaiting a response, and he just sighed heavily through his nose before answering with, “It never mattered to me, so I don’t know.”
“You don’t...know?” Hizashi deflated a bit, before gathering himself. “I don’t really get that, but okay.”
Shouta watched Hizashi return his attention to his pizza, seemingly content enough with the answer to not prod further.
“What about you?”
Hizashi nearly choked on his food, pounding his fist to his chest once to dislodge it from his throat before gasping out “What?”
“You. Are you straight?”
Hizashi was deathly silent, staring down at his pizza. His hair was down and falling into his face, so Shouta couldn’t read his expression, but the silence itself seemed to be more telling. Shouta looked down at his own pizza, taking a bite, before saying,
“I don’t care if you aren’t. It doesn’t matter to me. It’s just another part of you, right?”
Hizashi turned his head towards Shouta, so now he could properly see his expression. Hizashi tended to wear his emotions on his sleeve, and even Shouta, who wasn’t very good with emotions, could read them easily. But right now, Shouta didn’t know what Hizashi was feeling. His expression was the closest to guarded and closed-off as Shouta had ever seen it, and he suddenly felt like he might’ve said the wrong things or it had been too soon to ask and Hizashi wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.
Could Hizashi be going through something similar to Shouta right now? Only realizing things after it was sort of ‘pointed out’ by the media? Shouta hadn’t entirely worked throughout the entirety of these feelings yet, but from what he’d deciphered what he felt for Hizashi was definitely deeper than friendship, so he doubted Hizashi could be experiencing the same thing. Hizashi was transparent, and if he had held any of these feelings towards Shouta he probably would’ve noticed.
...Or so he liked to think, but gazing now at Hizashi’s guarded expression he was faced with the very new, foreign concept that he did not understand and know Hizashi as completely and thoroughly as he thought he did.
The silence carried on for several minutes, only the low noise of the TV sounding. Shouta managed to finish his third slice of pizza before deciding if he ate any more he’d probably throw up. He was relieved when Hizashi started talking after the movie ended, moving to place all their leftover pizza in the fridge, chattering away about the ball that would be held on Saturday and how he wanted to construct the playlist for it.
He didn’t have patrol tonight, and he’d managed to grade all of the packets with some help from Hizashi, so Shouta was looking forward to collapsing and sleeping. The only problem, however, was that he was a faced with a sudden new dilemma.
He really hated this fucking situation. He never would’ve felt strange about sharing a bed with Hizashi before, but he felt strange now that he was acutely aware of his own feelings and the fact that Hizashi didn’t feel comfortable about sharing something with him for reasons Shouta could only guess.
Hizashi seemed to have no problem, however, climbing onto the bed and plopping down with his limbs all spread out. He gave a laugh when Shouta made a comment about it, and when they turned off the lights and Shouta lied down next to Hizashi, he tried to rationalize to himself that sleep was much more important than any other sort of emotion he could be feeling.
Thankfully, sleep won that battle.
Thursday morning, like Wednesday, was a bit grim.
They noticed it as soon as they arrived: much more people crowding around the front gate than before, cameras flashing in the direction of the school buildings. What was capturing their attention was soon made clear as they approached.
Spray-painted in large enough letters to be seen from the front gates, a multitude of unpleasant words were on display for all to see, even as some of the janitors were cleaning it up. The largest word of all was what all the cameras were angling towards and what the janitors were trying to erase--in bold red letters, the word FAGS.
Shouta hadn’t heard (or read) that word in a while, and he’d mostly only heard it in television or in petty insults the students flung at one another. And it was probably one of the students who did this, too--only staff and students could get onto the grounds unless given a pass by Nedzu or another teacher.
“Man, two bad mornings in a row, huh?” Hizashi sighed as they made their way through the crowd, only this proved to be a bit more difficult than the past fews days. A microphone smacked Shouta directly in this face as someone shouted,
“What is your response to this perceived negative reaction to your relationship?”
Shouta slouched a bit as if that could conceal himself better behind Hizashi, but Hizashi was much thinner than him and this probably did very little.
Nemuri and Kan were in charge of keeping the reporters at bay today, and Nemuri exaggerated a sad face to them as they passed by.
“You know, I feel really bad that the others have to fend off all these guys for us,” Hizashi said as they approached the graffiti, but he soon stopped talking as they got closer and realized that the janitors were not, in fact, janitors at all, but some of their students.
Ojirou was balancing on his tail to scrub at some of the graffiti that was higher up, and Iida and Bakugou were both arguing about the proper amount of soap to put in the bucket. Asui, like Ojirou, was using her Quirk to get at higher-up places, and there were even a few kids from 1-B helping out.
Shouta really hated this year’s class, which was why he stalked up to where they stood, picked up a rag, and started scrubbing at one of the smaller curse words.
“Good morning!” Kendou said brightly, and Shouta’s own students said ‘good morning’ as well (except for Bakugou, who looked like he was considering ditching their little clean-up project in order to look like he didn’t actually care).
Hizashi joined in, and as the minutes passed even more students joined them, students from the upper years and from different classes. Ectoplasm even joined, only to quickly disappear when a problem with one of his students arose. Shouta had never cleaned spray paint before, and it ended up being much more difficult than he initially anticipated. It got better when Yaoyorozu arrived on campus and was able to provide proper cleaning supplies, and most of the graffiti had managed to come off before Nedzu came to assure them they’d clean it all up and they should head back to class.
Scrubbing spray paint off of his hands ended up proving difficult too, and Shouta decided to just settle on having tinted purple hands for the rest of the day, while Hizashi mourned the ruining of his gloves.
“You should’ve taken them off,” Shouta snorted as Hizashi peeled them from his hands.
“I didn’t know spray paint stained,” Hizashi moaned, throwing them in the garbage. “Those are completely ruined now, do you know how hard it is to get shit out of leather?! You’re not even supposed to get it wet!”
Shouta was glad that Hizashi was acting normally after what had happened last night. They hadn’t talked about it and it’d been a bit awkward, so he was just really thankful they were just going to pretend it hadn’t happened.
That didn’t mean Shouta didn’t want to know what was up with Hizashi, though.
“Let’s go out for dinner tonight,” Shouta suggested, and Hizashi gave him a once-over before grabbing his shoulders and looking him in the eyes.
“Who are you and what have you done with the real Shouta?”
“Nevermind,” Shouta grumbled, shoving Hizashi’s hands off of him.
“I’m kidding! Yeah, let’s go out tonight.” Hizashi held up finger guns. “It’s a date.”
When Shouta entered his classroom, he was met with a rather peculiar conversation:
“--aren’t fit to be heroes,” Todoroki was in the middle of saying.
“Reason number four hundred thirty-six to hate Endeavor,” Ashido listed, looking mildly disgusted.
“Endeavor is officially cancelled,” Sero announced.
“Are you going to tell him that you’re...?” Yaoyorozu asked, trailing off as if she wasn’t sure if she should say. Todoroki’s face split into a rare smile.
“He’s in for a nasty surprise.”
Shouta could only infer what was going on, and his suspicions were confirmed when Midoriya giggled sheepishly.
A Heartwarming Scene!
The nation’s still feeling the effects of Present Mic’s marriage to another man, and while the response has been overwhelmingly positive there’s been some negative as well--a prime example being that this Thursday morning, a large amount of slurs were painted on the front of Yuuei!
It’s been assumed that the perpetrator was one of the students as it’s basically impossible to get past Yuuei’s security system unless you’re faculty or a student.
However, in spite of the awful words, several students began an attempt to remove the words as soon as they arrived on campus, joined shortly by Present Mic himself and his husband!
It can be safely assumed that the students cleaning up the message were their own students, and it’s truly heartwarming to know that their students support them like this--not even these hurtful words can stop our future heroes!
And adding on to this, a new rumor is being spread--that a private, Yuuei-only gala will be held in the support of the LGBT community on Saturday night! Does this indicate future parties for the community? Will those future parties have an extended invitation to the public?
Three of Yuuei’s staff have come out as part of that community--will they be there as well? Personally, I’m going to be hanging around on Saturday to see if I can get a picture of Present Mic and his husband all dressed up!
Notes:
i am so sorry i fucking hate this chapter its so shitty bc there's other stuff i want to move onto and it took me 5 days to actually start writing this but my time was limited by the fact that this is my mom's work computer :(
i'll be turning 15 in september and hopefully i'll be deemed old enough to have my own computer!!! and also hopefully this story will be finished by then holy crap
im hoooooping the next chapter will be very long, and the final chapter will be kinda short, as a sort of epilogue. i've got big plans for the next chapter, hohohoho,,,,,,
ANYWAYS I LOVE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU WHO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT THROW COMMENTING, KUDOS, BOOKMARKS, AND EVEN JUST BY GIVING THIS STORY A CHANCE AND CLICKING ON IT!!!! i love you all and words can't express that!!!
hope you have a good morning!!!
Chapter 5
Notes:
me, brandishing a sword that makes gunshot noises when swung: if anybody else calls me a baby again im coming into ur house and slicing all ur fruit and eating it
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I’m fourteen years old, and I’m sitting on the porch as my dad yells at my mom. I’ve just come out to my family, and my mom, who wants me to be a hero like my brother, is not pleased. My dad is not pleased with her reaction, and they’re starting a fight. I’m eating my dinner. I already knew this was coming. So I just sit and watch.
My Quirk is a combination of my parents--heat manipulation is my mom’s, control of metal is my dad’s. I can melt metal and reshape it into anything I want. It’s a good Quirk for becoming a hero, my mom’s always said, and my brother, who inherited her Quirk, had the same idea.
Only everything seemed different at that moment. I was a little girl who’d just come to terms with her sexuality, and told my parents, “Hey, mom and dad! I like girls!”
My mom tried telling me I was confused, told me to get this idea out of my head because there was no way I could be a hero like this. I guess that made sense, back then. There weren’t any heroes like me, and it seemed like such a foreign concept. Sure, I could be a model, a police officer, anything in that ‘normal civilian’ category, but to be up there with heroes, who were looked at as if they were gods? The borderline worship our society holds for our superheroes?
There’s not a single superhero like me. They’re straight people. Cisgender. They embody everything a ‘perfect superpowered human being’ is supposed to be. That was drilled into my head at that young age.
I accepted that. I accepted that in the very moment my mom started making comments, and as I watched them fight outside for everybody to hear, I was suddenly alienated from everybody else in this neighborhood, in this city and the entire country itself. That’s what it felt like.
It’s six in the evening, ten years later, and I’ve come home from work and I’ve got a box of take-out for dinner. I kick off my shoes, grab a few forks, and sit on the couch, turning on the TV.
It’s the same old stuff as always--villain attack here, new product slated for release, but soon the news is cutting short with what they’d deemed as the most anticipated news of the day, one that has me dropping my fork in disbelief.
Present Mic is married to another man. That was the first bomb they dropped onto me. Present Mic, a hero, a man, is married to another man. He was gay, or bi, or whatever he was, and it’d just been revealed today.
Following this is the announcement of two other pro heroes--Lightfield having a boyfriend, Mt. Lady being....a lesbian.
The Mt. Lady announcement is what made me drop my take-out.
It was a surreal experience. This might sound overdramatic, but all of a sudden I felt like I could connect with Present Mic, with his husband, with Lightfield and especially with Mt. Lady.
Heroes. They’re a normal part of our society, something we’re used to, but at the same time they seem to exist on a different plane of existence than me, like a fairy tale. But in that moment, I suddenly saw myself in Mt. Lady. I thought, if she could be a hero, couldn’t I be one as well?
It was a decision and an acceptance I had a decade ago, that there was no way I could become a hero. That the isolated part of my identity would somehow prevent that from happening.
But suddenly, the world has reached a different level. Left and right, heroes are coming out, and I’m coming to terms with the fact that these people are normal people too, and some of them are just like me.
Fourteen year old me would’ve been happy, blessed to hear this. I wish I could stand before my middle school self, where I was sitting silently on the porch and watching my life collapse silently. I wish I could tell my middle school self, whose dreams became far-fetched and grayed out on that day,
“You too can become a hero.”
--Junko Kageyama, 25, TV show host.
Shouta wasn’t sure what he was expecting when Nemuri linked him to a blog post with a bunch of crying emojis, but this wasn’t it.
Nemuri: see!!! how important!!! you are~~!!!
Nemuri: wowwwwwwwww wowowowowowowow
Nemuri: man i’m travelling back in time to when you guys got married and kicking your asses to tell you tell everybody IMMEDIATELY that you got married
Nemuri: look hon you’re so important and i’m crying for you
Nemuri: u so gay
Nemuri: bless
Shouta snorted before turning off his phone and slipping it into his pocket, waiting for Hizashi to finish up whatever he was doing so they could get going.
They’d driven home after the school day had ended and Hizashi had asked if he could dress down before they went out again. Since Shouta had brought some of his stuff over he now had clothes to change into--he’d gotten dressed in under two minutes, but it’s been almost thirty minutes and Hizashi still wasn’t ready.
What could he possibly be doing? Was he trying to wash all the product out of his hair? Taking too long to select an outfit? Hizashi was very particular about his appearance and it was a bit annoying to wait so long.
Hizashi finally stepped out of his bedroom, hair in a low ponytail and normal glasses perched on his nose.
“What took you so long?” Shouta asked as Hizashi grabbed his jacket off the back of a dining chair.
“I couldn’t find my glasses,” Hizashi explained as he fished his car keys out of his pocket, “and do you know how long it takes to get my hair to go up and then down?”
Shouta didn’t bother with an answer as Hizashi suddenly began to comb the living room for his wallet, muttering as he shoved the couch pillows aside. This was why Shouta’s own apartment was pretty much bare: he couldn’t lose anything amid all this extra stuff, and even if he did lose something he’d find it in no time. Hizashi’s apartment was stuffed to the brim with stuff he’d hoarded over the years, ranging from CDs and DVDs to comicbooks and weird things like an alarm clock that blasted yodeling at noon every day.
“I can pay,” Shouta said when Hizashi started attempting to lift his couch to check under it.
“Even if you’re paying, I still need to find my wallet!”
“Is it in your other pants?”
Hizashi froze, before dropping the couch back down and rushing back to his room. Shouta sighed as he heard Hizashi give a victorious whoop.
“What’re we going to get?” Hizashi asked as they stepped into the elevator, his wallet now safely tucked in his back pocket.
“Ramen?”
“Dude, no. How about hamburgers?”
“I don’t see how that’s a better option,” Shouta said, watching the numbers displayed on the elevator screen decline. When Hizashi pouted, he sighed and relented. “Fine.”
They barely managed to dodge all the reporters, the apartment security keeping them at bay as they shouted questions at them. There were now two fans with ‘I HEART PRESENT MIC’ shirts amongst all the reporters. Shouta hadn’t even known those shirts had existed before all of this.
Once inside Hizashi’s car, Hizashi began listing all the places they could go eat. Shouta didn’t really care, so in the end Hizashi just shrugged and drove them to the nearest American-style restaurant that served unhealthy fried food, chattering all the way.
“Maaan, I could totally go for a hamburger steak." Hizashi grinned as he scanned for a parking spot. “You don’t think we’ll be bothered, do you? I don’t think I’m particularly recognizable out of costume, but--”
“Hizashi,” Shouta said, and Hizashi glanced towards him, eyebrows raised. “We need to...I want to talk to you.”
“‘Bout what?” Hizashi asked, cocking his head to the side, but Shouta knew he knew exactly what he was talking about.
“About last night.”
With that, Hizashi turned his head back to the restaurant, the bright, flashing sign reflecting in his glasses. Hizashi’s fingers, which had been tapping on the wheel, halted. Shouta didn’t know how to approach this subject lightly, and he didn’t want this conversation to be very long, so he got straight to the point.
“Hizashi, are you gay?”
Hizashi let out a breath, leaning back in his seat and his hands dropping into his lap. The air wasn’t as tense as the night before, so Shouta thought that maybe Hizashi had had time to think about this throughout the day. Hizashi had dated girls before, but that didn’t really mean anything.
Shouta had only started thinking about it after last night’s discussion, and the more he thought about it, the more he thought that he wouldn’t be necessarily surprised if Hizashi was gay, and he wouldn’t care, either. He just didn’t know how to voice that to him.
They sat for a while in silence, the only sound being the din of traffic. Shouta stared down at the dashboard, waiting for Hizashi to speak, but not pressing him to do so. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Hizashi cleared his throat and said,
“I’m bisexual, actually.”
Shouta looked up to see him looking back at him. “What?”
“I like girls... and guys.” Hizashi said, holding up two fingers. “I’m not sure if I should count as bi, though, I’ve never dated a guy before, obviously.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Shouta argued, before leaning back into his seat as well. They both didn’t say anything for a minute, Shouta’s throat feeling like it was constricting. He didn’t know if Hizashi wanted him to react in a certain way, and Shouta just wasn’t good at handling other people's emotions and stuff like that, but he did want Hizashi to know that he wasn’t bothered by it or anything. It was clearly a touchy subject.
“I’m okay with it, though, I’m not--I’m not in denial or anything,” Hizashi said, not being able to stand the silence. “I just. It’s personal reasons, alright? I’m sorry I never told you, I’ve only ever told one person before.”
“You don’t have to apologize to me,” Shouta sighed. “It doesn’t really matter, got it? You didn’t have any obligation to tell me, so there’s no reason to apologize.”
“But we’re married now,” Hizashi smiled. “I’d be terrible if I never told my husband I liked men.”
Shouta snorted, and Hizashi laughed. They were silent once again, but for a shorter period of time. Shouta wondered if he should bother saying anything else, as he felt slightly responsible for Hizashi telling him. Hizashi had told him, so maybe he should say something too. That was only fair, right?
“I think I am too,” Shouta finally said. Hizashi frowned.
“What? A terrible husband?”
“No. Gay.”
Hizashi looked surprised. “...Really?”
“I don’t know,” Shouta sighed, closing his eyes. “I haven’t really thought about it before now.”
“Oh.” Hizashi cleared his throat. “Well, uh, that’s good?”
Shouta raised an eyebrow.
“I’ve got nothing better to say!” Hizashi cried. “...Let’s go get dinner now.”
They ordered and sat in silence, but when their food arrived Hizashi began talking again, and by the end of the night both collapsed onto Hizashi’s bed, utterly exhausted after the day’s events.
On Friday, Shouta’s class seemed ready to burst in excitement, everybody screeching about the ball and who was going with who and who was wearing what. It was honestly exhausting.
“The ball is tomoooorrroooowww!” Ashido sang loudly, flinging her arm around Hagakure excitedly. “What are you wearing?!”
“I don’t know which one makes my complexion look better, the pink one or the yellow one?”
“Yellow,” Ashido and Ojirou said at the same time.
“What complexion?” Kaminari whispered.
“I guess only they can tell,” Kirishima waved his hand, before sliding forward on his desk so he could look at Bakugou. “Hey man. Wanna be my date to the ball?”
The class collectively held its breath, though Shouta didn’t particularly care if he said yes or no. He was, however, preparing to use his Quirk in case Bakugou decided to explode anything.
“Fine,” Bakugou said, and the class began screaming again.
And it wasn’t just the class that was excited--the other teachers were absolutely ecstatic as well, Nemuri and Cementoss brainstorming various ways to set up everything and decorate while Ectoplasm did his best to organize a music playlist with Hizashi. Tensei and Fukukado had been blowing up his phone ever since Hizashi extended an invite to the both of them and he hadn’t even looked at any of the messages in fear his phone would somehow explode.
Shouta was contemplating crawling into his sleeping bag when someone directed a question at him:
“Sensei, are you going to show up?”
He had no intention of answering, but Kirishima glanced towards him, and he suddenly felt compelled to say.
“Yes,” he said, “But only for a little bit.”
“What about Present Mic?”
“Of course he’s coming! It’d be sad if they didn’t go together!” Iida cried.
“I wonder if they’ll match,” Asui wondered.
“They should wear sparkling tuxedos,” Aoyama said, waving his hands with a flourish. “A twinkling gala! Charmante!”
“If anybody mentions it again, I’ll expel you,” Shouta threatened tiredly, sick of hearing about it. “Study period. Use it wisely. I know you have a literature test later.”
Half the class groaned.
To say Hizashi was excited for the ball was an understatement. He was thrilled, has always loved throwing parties, hyping people up, and just having a good time in general. While he wasn’t going to be DJing for the event, he had at least helped compile a playlist of music he thought would get the students properly pumped up.
He was currently looking through his closet for the outfit he thought would suit the event best. He always showed up in flashy, loud outfits, but he was considering going for a bit more subtle this time as he’d be attending the event as Shouta’s husband, and they needed to match. Sort of.
Did it count as matching if you were both subtle? Or was that not considered matching? He’d have to ask Nemuri later. Shouta hadn’t even owned a suit until the press conference, but Hizashi was sure Shouta wouldn’t want to wear it, nor would he want to borrow one of Hizashi’s.
Thinking about Shouta was making his heart race, though now for a different reason than before. It wasn't like he was going to interpret the fact that Shouta maybe likes guys as his immediate chance to actually ask him out on a date, but suddenly being in a relationship with him seemed much more plausible. If there was even the tiniest fraction of a chance that he had a shot with him, he was going to cling to it hopefully.
Of course, he was perfectly fine if Shouta merely wanted to remain platonic friends. Or was he really? Pretending to be married to Shouta but not actually being in a relationship with him was painful, to say the least. Sometimes Hizashi looked over at him and felt the strong urge to lean against him or kiss him or hold his hand or do something ridiculous like that, but had to forcefully remind himself that their romantic relationship was fake and fabricated for the public.
This crush (could it even be considered a crush at this point?) made him think every action he did was blown out of proportion and maybe Shouta would find out he was totally in love with him whenever he did something as simple as offer him food. They’ve known each other for fifteen years, though, and Shouta hadn’t seemed to notice anything, so maybe Hizashi wasn’t as obvious as he thought.
And maybe (was this wishful thinking?) Shouta might be interested in him too. The past few days Hizashi kept thinking Shouta was looking at him, but when he turned to look himself, Shouta looked away. Maybe it was because they were living together temporarily and spending pretty much every moment outside of work around each other, or maybe Hizashi was just being stupid and hoping that his feelings might be reciprocated.
Hizashi realized he’d been staring at nothing for a good while now and slapped his hands to his cheeks to snap himself out of it. He was supposed to be looking for something to wear! Would wearing a purple suit be super flashy? It was probably the least flashiest of all the suits he owned, purple with a silvery dress shirt to match, but it also made him suspicious, because it wasn’t...flashy enough.
Hizashi owned many suits, all of them extremely outlandish, loud, and stylish, all that screamed ‘look at me!’ This suit, however, wasn’t like the others, and he couldn’t remember when he bought this. Why would he buy a suit that wasn’t like his others? Perhaps there was something about this suit he was forgetting, but for now, it was the best he had, so he set it aside for tomorrow. He should probably get it cleaned.
Hizashi looked over to where Shouta was sleeping, curled up on his side and snoring. He gave a small sigh and sat on the edge of the bed, leaning against the bedframe. He liked it whenever Shouta slept, even if he also liked to complain about how much he did it. Shouta worked the nights as a hero and the day as a teacher and the only time he seemed to catch a wink was during school hours and a small portion of the day after school. Shouta’s face was eased of all worry in this state, and there were no frown lines or hard edges to it.
Hizashi threaded his fingers through Shouta’s hair, thinking absently about the ball. It began at six and would be held until ten. Would they stay the whole four hours, arrive late, or leave early? Shouta would probably want to leave early, but Hizashi really wanted to stay the whole time. They’d have to compromise, somehow.
Dragging his fingers through Shouta’s locks, he managed to detangle a bit of it and snorted when Shouta shifted closer to him in his sleep, his head leaning up into Hizashi’s hand. Hizashi had always liked Shouta’s hair and been somewhat jealous that it was so soft despite the fact that he put very little care into it, unlike his own. To be fair, though, it was probably that Hizashi put too much care into his hair that it wasn’t as soft as Shouta’s.
Currently, it fell loose around his shoulders, and it wasn’t like it felt stiff or dead, it just wasn’t anywhere near as soft as Shouta’s, and his hair was thin whereas Shouta’s was thick.
Hizashi relaxed for a little bit, messing around with Shouta’s hair until he decided he should probably get up and make dinner for them both. Neither of them were particularly good at cooking, but Hizashi tended to cook more than Shouta, which was how it’d been since high school.
They had usually spent more time at Tensei’s place, considering his family was rich and he lived in a very big house (and also, baby Tenya was adorable), but whenever Hizashi went over to Shouta’s house or vice versa he ended up cooking for them both. Shouta wasn’t very good at the whole ‘self care’ thing, thinking a simple jelly packet and a couple of crackers would suffice as a dinner, so Hizashi had to force him to eat ramen and rice and whatever garbage Hizashi could buy on a quick run to the convenience store.
“You need to eat better!” Hizashi had reprimanded Shouta once years and years ago. “We’re heroes-in-training, what’s going to happen if you don’t eat well enough to accommodate your muscle mass? My mom told me about this once, if you have muscle but you don’t eat your body starts to--”
“Stop worrying about me,” Shouta had snapped, and that’d been the beginning of the first fight they’d had after they’d become friends. It was a really stupid, petty fight that mainly centered around “you need to take better care of yourself” and “stop worrying, it doesn’t matter." They didn’t talk to each other for a week, Hizashi fully convinced he was right and Shouta convinced that Hizashi was just meddling.
(Enter Tensei, the exasperated third best friend who literally locked them in his bedroom until they made up. Tensei was honestly a godsend, and was too good for mere mortal men.)
Hizashi sifted through the contents of his cupboard, wondering what he should make. He hadn’t gone on a grocery run in a while and ever since he’d done copious amounts of stress-cooking after reading the first article, he’d been running dangerously low on food. It was almost six, and he needed to get to the radio station at eleven thirty, so he had plenty of time to go out for groceries.
Hizashi walked back to his bedroom to grab his jacket and wallet, only to find Shouta blinking awake, looking disgruntled.
“‘Sup,” Hizashi said when Shouta turned his head groggily towards him. “I’m about to go out to the store, want to come?”
“No,” Shouta said.
“Awww, and I was going to let you pick out what to eat for dinner tonight!" Hizashi pouted, and Shouta rolled over on his side, clearly not caring. “Dude, come on! Pleeeease? Don’t husbands shop for groceries together and that sort of stuff?”
“I hate you,” Shouta groaned into his pillow.
“Love you too, babe,” Hizashi smirked, before realizing what he’d said. Even if he meant it as a joke, he wasn’t sure that Shouta would take it well. But to his relief, Shouta merely groaned again.
In the end, Hizashi managed to drag Shouta out of bed and practically carry him into his car, ignoring the flashing cameras. Honestly, were they ever going to give up on trying to get an interview? He and Shouta had agreed not to pay attention to the press, but he was really tempted to tell them to go away.
When they pulled into the grocery store parking lot, Hizashi grabbed a cart and asked,
“Want to ride in it?”
“No,” Shouta responded.
“Come on! It’ll be fun. Remember high school, and when Tensei used his Quirk to--”
“People almost died, Hizashi.”
“That’s besides the point! It was still fun, and we were only banned for five years!”
They kept this up all the way into the grocery store, going up and down each aisle and looking for whatever they needed. Shouta mostly got the actual stuff they needed like eggs and rice while Hizashi looked at some of the junk like shrimp chips and mochi ice cream.
“Hey, do you want to get popcorn and we can watch a movie?” Hizashi asked, holding up a box of caramel popcorn. “Before I go to work.”
“Yeah, but not caramel.”
“Just regular salty?”
Shouta hummed in response, which Hizashi took as a yes, and crouched down to search for it. Shouta leaned against the cart, watching him until he resurfaced with the right box.
“It’s hidden behind all the special ones,” he explained. “Who knew chocolate-sprinkle-popcorn could actually be a thing?”
“What’s the point?” Shouta quirked an eyebrow. “Why not just add the chocolate and sprinkles yourself?”
“Maybe there’s a high demand for it, and we don’t know.” Hizashi tossed the box into the cart, where it effectively crushed the bread. “Excellent.”
“Excuse me,” a timid voice sounded from behind, and Hizashi turned to see who was speaking. It was a kid, about twelve or thirteen, clutching a notebook to his chest and looking a bit uneasy.
“Can you sign this for me?” He asked, holding the notebook out along with a pen.
“Sure!” Hizashi said brightly, surprised that the kid could recognize him out of costume, but the kid shook his head and said,
“Not you, him.”
He pointed to where Shouta was standing, and Hizashi didn’t miss the way Shouta’s eyes widened by a fraction. Nursing his slightly wounded pride, he laughed out loud and said,
“Of course! Shoutaaaa, you’re becoming more famous now!”
“Uh...Do I sign this to anybody?” Shouta blinked, and the boy said, “My name is Tetsuo.”
Shouta awkwardly scrawled his hero name on a random page in the notebook, followed by a ‘Thanks, Tetsuo.’ When he handed it back, Tetsuo smiled wide before dashing off to meet another boy who looked like his older brother.
“First of all, you need to work on your signature so you can be better prepared for all of your adoring fans, and secondly, holy shit you have adoring fans.” Hizashi grinned, clapping a hand to Shouta’s back. Shouta gave him a look.
“You have a separate signature for this kind of stuff?”
“Yep,” Hizashi said, popping the ‘p’. He was still getting over the (embarrassing) fact that he’d mistaken the kid for wanting his signature, before arguing with himself that was usually what happened, considering Shouta was more of an underground hero.
“If I’ve got fans, I don’t think I’m doing this ‘underground hero’ thing correctly,” Shouta sighed, before pushing against the grocery cart and beginning to wheel down another aisle.
“Don’t be a downer,” Hizashi said, scanning the shelves for anything else he might want. “Hey, let’s get cocoa.”
“What, so you can use it as a sandwich topping again?” Shouta snorted, and Hizashi responded to this by throwing a bag of shrimp chips at his head.
After buying groceries and cooking a simple dinner of omurice, Hizashi got the popcorn ready while Shouta looked through all the movies he had.
“Horror?” Shouta suggested, holding up a film that had personally made Hizashi terrified and nearly hang up on every phone call he received out of fear it’d say “You’re going to die in seven days."
“No,” Hizashi said forcefully. “Why don’t you go for something light-hearted for a change? It’s not going to kill you to watch one rom-com in your life.”
“...Godzilla?”
“Dude. No.”
After much debate, they finally decided on a detective movie with lots of mindless action and the occasional sex scene sprinkled in. The movie was clearly trying to be a sort of Sherlock Holmes, but without any Sherlock-ing. In Hizashi’s opinion, it was utterly hilarious.
Throughout the whole movie, Hizashi commented on everything the protagonist did, mostly because the script couldn’t keep a consistent characterization of him and couldn’t decide if he was a very intelligent man with lots of physical skill or a man who knew only how to fight with his own brain.
“That was dumb,” Hizashi snickered as he swiped a few stray popcorn kernels into the bowl, the ending credits rolling onscreen.
“We should’ve gone with Godzilla,” Shouta said.
Hizashi threw a popcorn kernel at his head. “No.”
They began to work on grading, comfortable with sitting in silence until ten thirty came, and Hizashi needed to get ready and head to the radio station. Most of the time he went to the radio station in full hero gear, but sometimes he went casually. His production staff were among the only people who could instantly recognize him out of costume.
“Will you be listening to the midnight segment?” Hizashi asked as put his hair up in a bun, eyeing Shouta out of the corner of his eye.
“If I don’t fall asleep,” Shouta mumbled, circling something on an essay.
“Alright, don’t stay up all night!” Hizashi said, before leaving the apartment and making his way down to his car. Luckily, apartment security had gotten rid of all the reporters since it was after nine, so the trip was peaceful.
Hizashi was trying not to think about what state the station would be in. Would there be people outside? Exactly how many calls would he get concerning he and Shouta’s relationship during his midnight segment?
Hopefully, not too many.
Shouta turned on the radio at a quarter to midnight, still busying himself with his students’ papers. When Hizashi started his segment, he set them aside and relaxed on the couch, listening to Hizashi introduce himself.
At first, he merely talked about the week, made a few jokes here and there, and Shouta found himself relaxing enough to drift off, until Hizashi began the part of his show where he would accept calls for whoever was listening at twelve thirty in the goddamn morning.
“First listener--please, state your name and area!”
“Uhhh, Suki, in Izu...I just wanted to say, big fan!” Came a warbled voice. “And I’m dying to know, just as I’m sure everybody else is--how long have you and Eraserhead been together?”
“Wow, we’re beginning the night with that!” Hizashi laughed, before launching into what they’d come up with days ago. “We’ve known each other since high school, actually! At first we didn’t like each other, but then we became best buds along with Tensei Iida, or, as you guys know him, Ingenium. Uhh, I asked him out around seven years ago, ‘cos that’s when I finally got my own radio show and I was super excited! And...we only got married very recently.”
“Oh,” Suki said. “You didn’t get married as soon as it was made legal?”
“I considered it,” Hizashi said. “But nah, that kind of stuff needs to wait! You can’t just jump on the first chance you get.”
Shouta tried remembering what it had been like when it was first legalized. There’d been lots of parties and that year’s rainbow parade had been full of newly-wedded couples. Hizashi himself had been particularly excited, which Shouta had at first assumed was his generally peppy self being ecstatic with the news, but now that he knew Hizashi liked men too, maybe he was happy for that reason?
But then again, there probably wasn’t any reason that Hizashi would start dating another guy and even marry him, what with being a hero and all. Hell, Hizashi hadn’t even wanted to tell Shouta.
Shouta sighed. After all this, if Hizashi really wanted to, he could start dating a guy and marry him and just say he and Shouta divorced because they realized they were better off as friends, or something.
Even if they weren’t really in a relationship, it hurt to think about.
The next caller was a woman in Kyoto who spent a good five minutes gushing over Hizashi this and Hizashi that. Shouta snorted as she began to describe him as ‘built like a Greek god.’
He was drifting off again when another caller came in asking for details about he and Hizashi’s relationship.
“Is it really smooth, or are there bumps in the road?”
“We have troubles just like regular couples!” Hizashi answered. “We argue over what kind of movies to watch, if I’m allowed to buy cocoa or not! We used to fight a lot more in high school, but once we graduated and calmed down, major fights became few and far between.”
‘Fight a lot more’ was a bit of an understatement. They’d hated each other when Shouta transferred in from general studies, Shouta thinking Hizashi as pretentious and Hizashi thinking Shouta as arrogant. When they actually became friends they ended up getting into lots of arguments about stupid things, to the point where Tensei and Nemuri both threatened that they’d tie them both up if they fought any more.
Hizashi kept talking, and Shouta shifted against the cushions of the couch, feeling the tension seep out of his body. Hizashi’s talking has been able to help him relax for years, something he realized halfway through their last year of high school. He wasn’t sure when exactly that had actually happened, when he’d started finding Hizashi’s voice somewhat comforting, but on many nights when he was battling insomnia he’d ended up turning on Hizashi’s show to listen to.
The next couple of callers asked about some radio event Hizashi had had a few weeks ago, until an elderly woman in Osaka called asking if Hizashi had ever been in a relationship with another man.
“Nope,” Hizashi responded instantly, his voice taking on a bit of a different tone. “Shouta...That is, Eraserhead, is my one and only. I dated for a while in high school, but it was never longer than a couple of weeks, and it was all girls. I just couldn’t be out back then, yanno?...But here’s the thing, I’ve always liked him. He was one of my best friends and he’s super cool and we’ve actually got a lot of things in common! Even if it doesn’t seem like it at first.”
Shouta was tired enough that if he pretended, it almost sounded like Hizashi was genuine and actually meant it. Has actually really liked Shouta since high school. Even if he himself was kind of only coming to realize his own feelings now.
“We did a lot of things together, from homework to partnering up during exercises...Man, I actually feel really bad for Ten--Ingenium, must’ve sucked being our third wheel!”
Shouta adjusted the position of his neck and shoulders so that when he fell asleep, he wouldn’t wake up with a crick. Listening to Hizashi’s endless rambling about their relationship, he slipped into sleep.
Shouta was awoken by the sound of Hizashi coming home about six hours later, but he didn’t open his eyes, fearing that if he did there was no way he’d be able to fall back asleep. He listened to Hizashi’s light grunting as he took off his shoes and moved around a bit, trying to relax once again. He heard Hizashi approach, and was surprised when an arm slid under his knees and another one behind his neck, and he was being lifted.
He was carried to Hizashi’s bedroom and set gently on the bed, and since there was no real reason to open his eyes he didn’t bother doing so, and moments later the bed shook as Hizashi collapsed onto it.
Shouta woke up again at half past noon, this time peeling his eyes open to glare at Hizashi’s window. He didn’t have any curtains, so the offensive sunlight was shining directly in his face. Sitting up groggily, he rubbed at his eyes, brushing a few strands of hair away from the corner of his mouth and glaring at his surroundings. He vaguely remembered Hizashi carrying him to bed, but currently, Hizashi wasn’t anywhere in sight.
Shouta unravelled the blanket from his legs and got to his feet, stretching. He couldn’t hear Hizashi moving around, so perhaps he’d gone out. Checking his phone, he saw that Hizashi had left him a text saying he was going to get his suit cleaned and to call him when he was awake. Pressing the ‘call’ button, Shouta held the phone up to his ear and waited for Hizashi to answer.
“Talk to me,” Hizashi answered after the second ring.
“I’m awake,” Shouta said, wincing as his voice came out garbled and heavy. Somehow, though, Hizashi seemed to understand his morning (noon) speech.
“Great!” Hizashi said, and Shouta could hear honking cars. “Get ready and meet me downstairs in ten minutes, okay?”
“Why?” Shouta grumbled. There was no way he could properly wake up and get dressed in ten minutes. It just wasn’t possible.
“I’ll bring you coffee,” Hizashi said, dodging the question, before hanging up. Shouta dropped his phone onto the bed with a tired sigh.
He managed to get dressed and run a hand disinterestedly through his hair before stepping into the elevator nearly fifteen minutes later, still wondering where Hizashi was going to take him.
Hizashi was waiting with a large cup full of black coffee when he stepped out of the building, and he climbed into the passenger seat and made an instant grab for it.
“Morning, sleeping beauty,” Hizashi snorted, scrolling through his phone. “Okay, give me a sec and then we’ll get going.”
Shouta was content with just sipping the coffee, wondering why the sun had to be so bright and everything else had to be so loud. Hizashi set his phone aside before shifting gears, backing up and then moving forward again. Shouta watched the surrounding buildings go by, mind still hazy. As the coffee helped him feel more awake, though, he realized they were heading into the shopping center of the district, and turned to glare at Hizashi.
“Where are we going?” He asked in an accusing sort of voice.
“...Getting you fitted for a suit,” Hizashi said sheepishly, and flinched when Shouta’s glare turned up to eleven. “Hey, don’t look at me like that! Do you want to show up in your press conference suit? Do you even still have it?!”
“...No.”
“I don’t know which one you were saying ‘no’ to, but that’s a good enough reason for me!”
Hizashi came to a stop outside of a dress shop, stalling the engine before stepping out. Shouta only got out because he knew resistance was futile, and Hizashi would drag him into the shop one way or another.
Awaiting them was an older lady with graying red hair dressed in a blue pantsuit, and when Hizashi approached she smiled and greeted him with familiarity.
“Yamada,” she said, before turning her to gaze to Shouta. “Your husband?...Yamada, as well?”
“He kept his surname,” Hizashi said sheepishly. “Aizawa.”
“Ah, Aizawa." She nodded. “You can call me Kawamoto. Right this way, please.”
He was lead to a fitting area where a boy in his late teens stood with a measuring tape, standing as if he were waiting for orders.
“Why are you making me do this?” Shouta grumbled to Hizashi under his breath, and Hizashi placed his hands on Shouta’s shoulders.
“You are not showing up to the gay ball looking like a hobo who has just crawled from a trash can, sir. We’re going to show up and we’re going to look nice and we’re going to support our students!”
Kawamoto waved to the teenager, who rushed forward with his measuring tape. Shouta lifted his arm as he ran the length of the tape alongside it, begrudgingly following Kawamoto’s instructions.
Shouta did not like suits. He’d never had proper enough reason to wear them until the press conference, where he’d subtly declared a war upon the villains who’d kidnapped Bakugou by putting effort into his appearance. Also, he supposed, because the media would shit on him if he’d shown up in his normal hero attire, but they weren’t that important.
“Just simple black fabric, or something else?” Kawamoto asked Hizashi.
“Black,” Shouta said before Hizashi could say anything weird and ridiculous, like ‘green and red tiger stripes.’
“But that’s boring!” Hizashi exclaimed, looking scandalized. “Come on, how about purple?”
“No.”
“Blue?”
“Better, but still no.”
“If I may suggest,” Kawamoto intervened, before turning to him. “How about a deep blue? Dark enough to almost seem black, but not quite. It’s a compromise for you both.”
Shouta and Hizashi stared at each other for a few seconds, before Shouta sighed and relented by saying “Fine.”
“Yesss!” Hizashi pumped his fist. “We’re gonna look great together.”
“Sure,” Shouta snorted doubtfully. The boy nudged his legs aside so he could measure them.
After all of his measurements had been taken (Shouta had stiffened up and nearly hit the boy when he felt the measuring tape across his ass) they sat on a bench in the fitting room as Kawamoto disappeared into a separate room to do...whatever it is she was going to do.
“I’m picking the tie,” Hizashi said, his legs spread out wide. If someone came running along, they would probably trip over them.
“Don’t make it green,” Shouta grumbled, thinking back to Hizashi’s ties and the startling number of them that were in different shades of green.
“Nah, I was thinking...Pink, or red.”
This was awful and Shouta just wanted to go back to sleep.
“Let’s go get lunch after this,” Hizashi suggested as two o’clock neared. “Then we can go back, get ready, and be there in no time!”
“Are we staying the whole time?” Shouta asked, crossing his arms and leaning back.
“I was hoping to, but...If we’re gonna leave, can we leave at nine?”
“Eight thirty,” Shouta said.
“Deal!”
Kawamoto exited the side room with Shouta’s suit in hand, and Shouta had to admit that it wasn’t completely awful. It could be much, much worse, like the purple atrocity Hizashi himself was going to wear.
She requested Shouta try it out, so he stepped into the fitting room to do so. Everything fit right, nothing was too short or too long, but that was precisely why Shouta disliked it. He much preferred his clothes to be baggy.
Stepping out, he was met with Kawamoto clapping and Hizashi glancing away, as if he couldn’t look at Shouta.
“What?” Shouta asked, and Hizashi glanced back towards him.
“Nothing, it’s just...” Hizashi breathed out. “Wow. It’s not bad, huh?”
“It’s fitted,” Shouta mumbled. “I can see how much it wraps around my arms and it bothers me.”
“It does show your muscles nicely,” Kawamoto complimented. “Which was precisely how I meant it to be. You’re a fit young man, Aizawa, but you almost can’t tell with that absolute trashbag you wear as your hero costume. If I had leg muscles like yours, you’d be seeing me in a skirt right now.”
“Thanks,” Shouta said. “Appreciate it.”
“Stop being sarcastic,” Hizashi scolded, before turning to Kawamoto. “Thanks a bunch! How much-?”
“It’s on the house,” Kawamoto smiled, taking Hizashi’s hands into her own and squeezing them. “Mostly because I wish I’d been invited to the wedding and I could’ve made your suit. Consider this a late wedding gift of sorts?”
“You’re the best!” Hizashi cried, throwing his arms around her. Shouta stepped back inside the fitting room awkwardly to change back into his normal clothes. He could only assume Kawamoto had made the rest of Hizashi’s horrendous suits.
They got lunch at a fast-food restaurant, eating in Hizashi’s car as they stared at the afternoon traffic.
“I’ve known her for a few years,” Hizashi was saying. “She’s the only one who will meet my ‘outrageous’ demands. It took me a good three days to find her, everybody else kept telling me I was crazy!”
“You are,” Shouta snorted, before staring at Hizashi’s food. “You’re killing your burrito.”
He’d managed to squeeze out at least half of it’s contents onto the little paper it’d come wrapped up in, and Hizashi groaned as he examined the damage.
“I always do that!” He whimpered dramatically. “I can’t ever eat one of these goddamn things normally!”
“Get a taco next time.”
“Burritos are better.” Hizashi’s face morphed into one a bit more serious as he changed the subject. “I got an email from Junko Kageyama--you know, the TV show host? She’s been on my show a couple of times, and she wants to talk to me about...you know, us.”
“Why?” Shouta asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Well, in her words, ‘gay people have to meet every once in awhile’, but in more seriousness, she’s really happy that we’re...married.” Hizashi cleared his throat. “She gave me a link to a blog post she’d made and told me that it had been really important to her, despite how much she jokes about it on her show. I was kind of thinking yeah, I’d like to go on.”
“Your choice,” Shouta said, lifting a shoulder to shrug. “I think Nemuri linked me to the same post.”
“She’s wondering if Monday’s fine.” Hizashi took a bite out of his ruined burrito, chewing silently, before saying, “Just checking with you first, because I know we said we weren’t going to talk to the press.”
“It’s fine,” Shouta sighed, and Hizashi smiled at him.
They finished eating their lunch, picked up Hizashi’s suit and drove back to Hizashi’s apartment, where Hizashi instantly got to work on getting ready and Shouta tried to finish his grading from the night before. As six drew nearer, Shouta kept getting oddly nervous. It was just a ball, and it wasn’t as if he’d never been to one of Yuuei’s events before, but this time he was showing up as someone’s husband, and people were probably expecting them to do things normal couples did, like dance and stuff.
Shouta doesn’t even know how to dance.
Hizashi stepped outside of the bathroom with his hair half done up in a sort of high ponytail, with several loose strands clipped back at the side of his head. It was a practiced, careful sort of effortless look, even though Shouta knew he’d spent at least twenty minutes doing it. He was dressed in his suit, which while painful to look at, at least wasn’t as bad as Hizashi’s others.
"You know, I'm still a bit suspicious about this suit," Hizashi said, looking down at himself. "Why isn't it sparkling or anything?"
"Be glad you own something that at least looks semi-normal."
“Hush and get ready!” Hizashi told him, and Shouta got off the couch and grabbed the suit Kawamoto had tailored for him. He took his time getting dressed, spending a good amount trying to figure out how to tie the tie. Hizashi came to check on him and took pity, adjusting his tie for him with a smile.
“Can’t even tie your own tie,” he teased, before spinning Shouta around to stare in the mirror. The tie was a darker red, quite plain looking, in fact. Shouta was surprised Hizashi had it in him to select something so plain.
“What are you going to do with your hair?”
“Leave it.”
“Awww, come onnnnnnnn,” Hizashi groaned, threading his fingers into Shouta’s hair and giving his head a light tug. “Pleaaaaase. Let me braid it?”
Shouta sighed, before his shoulders slumped. “Okay. But if it starts annoying me later on, I’ll take it out.”
“Fair enough,” Hizashi grinned, before reaching past Shouta to grab a hair tie, his chin pressing into the side of Shouta’s neck briefly. Shouta bowed his head a bit as Hizashi got to work, carefully brushing strands of Shouta’s hair out of his face and gathering it into careful tufts. The pads of Hizashi’s fingers occasionally brushed against his neck, and after a couple of minutes, Hizashi declared “done!”
Shouta looked up to see that all of his hair had been pulled back and away from his face, the scar beneath his eye visible for all to see. Hizashi was peering over his shoulder to smirk at him, and Shouta reached up to grab at the braid and examine it. It was much better than he could’ve done himself, and he dropped it.
Hizashi turned him to face him once again, adjusting his lapels for him, before glancing up to find Shouta staring. A moment later, though, Hizashi was reaching up to brush at Shouta’s scar, his fingers laying against Shouta’s cheek and his thumb brushing beneath Shouta’s eye. Shouta unconsciously leaned into the touch, and the air between them suddenly became a bit heavier, as if charged with static.
Finally, Hizashi stepped back, clearing his throat, and said,
“Alright, let’s get going!”
The drive to Yuuei was filled with Hizashi’s awful, awful singing. He’d turned on the radio and started singing as soon as a song came on, and Shouta was 90% sure Hizashi was singing horribly on purpose. As they approached Yuuei, the glowing lights in the distance seemed to glow brighter, and Shouta felt his eyes widen as he stared at the crowd that had gathered outside of Yuuei.
It was like the red carpet--there was tape separating the entrance to Yuuei and the crowd as students and teachers alike walked down it, dressed nicely. Some of the crowd seemed to be reporters or people interested in seeing what was going on, training their cameras on each student as they arrived. Shouta watched Todoroki and Midoriya walk arm in arm, almost as if they wanted the cameras to see them together, and Shouta briefly remembered the ‘nasty surprise’ Todoroki had been talking about before.
However, he was soon distracted by the others--among the reporters were at least a hundred or so people, many holding signs and shouting angrily, protesting the ball.
Notes:
h oly fu cck ign shi tj im thin om go ing to die kqdkekw
holy shit 8k words
im going to die,,,,
also i made sure to tag all background pairings that will be appearing next chapter so like,,,in case u dont like any of them or something lmao just a warning
I LOVE ALL OF U WOW!!!! I hoped u like this chapter,,,,,,,,bc I actually kind of like it!!!!!! I hope I didn't include too much here.....
Also I'm sorry I'm currently thirsting for Aizawa In A Braid(tm) and you're going to have to suffer that thirst with me
Please drop a review!!!! You have no idea how much reading reviews motivated me to get off my ass and start writing!!!!!!!
Chapter Text
Hizashi scowled at all the protesters who were milling around the front gate as close as they could get, shouting in the direction of the school, but occasionally directing their comments to the students walking past. A few police officers were at the scene to keep everyone at bay, hands raised and occasionally shouting back at the protesters.
Of course something like this would happen.
Of course.
Hizashi stepped out of the car, squinting at the setting sun, before sliding his sunglasses down over his eyes and putting on his best poker face. Shouta followed, shoulders hunching now that he didn’t have his scarf or hair to hide behind.
“How much trouble do you think we’d be in if I punched one of them?” Hizashi murmured out of the corner of his mouth as they made their way to the entrance. Nobody seemed to have noticed them yet.
“Don’t do it,” Shouta said back. “These people are already trying to make a demon out of you.”
Hizashi bit his tongue as he heard a particularly nasty comment directed to two female third years walking hand-in-hand, temper rising. Okay, fine, people can do this sort of thing to him, he can understand that, but these were students who hadn’t done anything to deserve this. They were just going to a freaking ball to have fun.
They were holding hands.
Hizashi fell back a step so he was now shoulder-to-shoulder with Shouta, and wrapped his arm around Shouta’s waist, fingertips secured on his hip. Shouta didn’t stiffen up or anything, just straightened up a bit, and to his surprise, placed his hand on the small of Hizashi’s back. Cameras focused on them as they approached and Hizashi put on a wide smile as they walked past, the lights flashing brightly in their faces. He was glad he had his sunglasses on.
Something was thrown in their direction, but one of the police officers extended his hand to catch it and shouted at the crowd. Hizashi couldn’t tell due to all the flashing lights, but he was pretty sure it was a rock.
They made it past the entrance, but Hizashi didn’t take his hand off of Shouta’s waist until they entered the building. The Yuuei grounds were littered with groups of students here and there, standing together and talking while ignoring the crowd outside, and many turned to look at them as they made their way into the building. Hizashi could feel the back of his neck burning a bit as everyone stared.
The inside of the school seemed to have been, somehow, completely renovated for the occasion. Bright lights flashed from above and the glittery glass ceiling showed the colors of the sun setting in the sky. Tables were spread out and laden with food while the attendees milled about. On several of the tables there were pamphlets that many attendees seemed interested in, picking them up to look at and read. Music played loudly enough to be heard, but not loud enough to drown out the din of the crowd.
“Wow! It looks great!” Hizashi said, forgetting his anger towards the protesters as he gawked at all the rainbow-themed decorations, impressed. Despite having attended several of Yuuei’s events like this several times, they never failed to surprise him, no matter the occasion, and this was no exception.
“Are we going to sit down or stand in the middle of the floor the whole time?” Shouta asked and Hizashi huffed before turning to scan the crowd for a certain few familiar faces. It didn’t take very long--even if the last time he saw these faces had been a year ago.
“Tensei! Emi!” He called out as he rushed forward to greet them, dragging Shouta along. Emi was dressed in a garish suit that made all of Hizashi’s look normal, while Tensei was in a simple button-down and dress slacks. Hizashi took in his friend’s appearance, smile straining a bit as he caught sight of his condition.
He’d been so busy, he hadn’t had any time to visit Tensei in the hospital, and hadn’t seen him in such a long time. To see the other incapacitated and bound to a wheelchair when he was so used to him being a solid figure standing tall made Hizashi feel sad.
“You okay?” Tensei asked when he noticed Hizashi was beginning to choke up.
“Sorry it’s just--holy shit, man." Hizashi bent down to hug Tensei, trying to fight back the strong feelings that were suddenly boiling in his chest. “It's been a long time.”
“Sure has,” Tensei snorted. “I don’t see you two for a year and then I hear you’re married.”
“Aizawa!” Emi crowed, having been silent for long enough. “My good sir, how are you doing? While it pains my heart that our love is no more, I still hope you’re faring well!”
“Fukukado.” Shouta greeted stiffly before being pulled into a hug by Tensei. “I see you’re still very much a hugger despite being unable to stand.”
“Come on, you know you love it.”
Hizashi turned to Emi while Shouta fell victim to Tensei’s grip, holding his hand out to shake hers. “How’s everything going?”
“It was all fine and well!” Emi sobbed dramatically, holding a hand to her face. “But then I found out that the love of my life--loves me no more! He’s found someone else!”
“Yeah,” Shouta grunted, managing to free himself from Tensei. “So you can stop calling me your husband.”
“He’s my husband now,” Hizashi grinned, and Emi guffawed as if that was the most hilarious thing she’d ever heard, ever.
“It came as a bit of a surprise to me when I found out you two were married!” Emi waved her arms dramatically. “I totally knew Aizawa swung that way, but the marriage? Not expecting that!”
“You--you what?” Shouta asked, for once looking thunderstruck.
“Knew? About you? Of course I did! Why did you think I joked about us being in love so much?!” Emi leaned forward to grasp his hands, her smile so wide it looked almost unnatural. “We were a great comedic duo!”
“Don’t think I’m forgiving you for not telling me about being married, by the way,” Tensei said, and Hizashi gave an apologetic smile. “What happened to being BFFs, huh?”
“First of all, I gave you that locket as a joke in middle school!” Hizashi said, pointing a finger at him. “Secondly, it was...you know. We couldn’t have risked it. Hero work and all.”
“I know." Tensei’s serious expression was broken by his smile, and Hizashi was glad to see that he was still the same person even after everything. “Also, I’m not sure what the rules are on snogging anymore, but you should probably separate those two before it gets out of hand.”
Hizashi peered over his shoulder to see Jirou and Yaoyorozu. “Nah. They’re fine. Probably. They’re responsible kids.”
“But when I did it it was the crime of the century,” Tensei huffed, and Emi broke into peals of laughter. She seemed unusually giggly tonight, and that's saying something considering who she is. Shouta had sat down, so Hizashi followed and sat in the seat next to him, their knees knocking together briefly.
A few students were looking over at them curiously, and Hizashi knew they were probably going to be the main focus of the event, considering they were kind of the reason it was being held in the first place. They’d be watching, waiting for he and Shouta to do something like kiss or hold hands or dance. It’s been awhile since Hizashi’s kissed someone, so he wasn’t sure if he was still a good one or was rusty and in need of some practice. If he needed to kiss Shouta, he needed to leave the impression that he was also the greatest kisser, ever.
“Earth to Major Tom,” Emi said next to his ear, and Hizashi jumped a bit. “Great to see you’re still lucid! Some party, huh? I think I’ve consumed at least half of the cupcakes. Say, where’s Nemuri? I haven’t seen her yet.”
“I don’t think she’s arriving ‘till later,” Hizashi answered, and Emi nodded before tugging at her suit jacket, adjusting it. “Why?”
“Just haven’t seen her in such a long time. Hey, if she produced a song, would it be a sleeper hit?”
Hizashi and Emi both laughed while Shouta sighed. Tensei simply looked amused, as if he’d already heard the joke. A few minutes of conversation carried after, Emi taking nearly every moment she could to joke about Hizashi and Shouta’s relationship, to the point where it was becoming a bit unbearable. As Emi continued laughing, Hizashi leaned in to whisper to Shouta, “Is she...Always like this? I don’t hang around her as much as you did but...”
“This is worse than usual,” Shouta snorted, “But maybe I’ve just forgotten.”
She was swinging from being a bit more subdued to cracking a joke on every breath, as if she couldn’t decide on the mood she wanted to set. Hizashi kind of felt awkward due to it, so he stood up with the announcement of ‘I’m getting food.’
“I’ll follow!” Emi said with bubbliness, jumping to her feet. “I’m starving.”
“Didn’t you just say you’ve eaten like ten cupcakes?” Tensei asked, raising an eyebrow in concern.
“Small details! I’ve got a lot of laughing gas in here!” Emi chortled, before hooking her arm with Hizashi’s and dragging him to one of the tables. The food mostly seemed to be of the dessert or fruit variety, though there was some sushi and gyoza. Hizashi got a plate and piled it high with cupcakes, cookies, and a few grapes. He debated on taking some gyoza, but in the end decided not to. Emi’s plate held much more food than his, and as far as he knew, she was just getting all that food for herself. Just looking at the amount made him feel queasy.
“So really, how has everything been?” Hizashi asked as she bent over the sushi, inspecting it. She smiled at him before taking a bite out of a strawberry, not answering. Hizashi didn’t know her as well as Shouta probably did, but he did know that there was something off, though he couldn’t tell what. Would it be rude to just straight up ask?
“How’s all the stuff with the media? Anybody giving you any trouble?” Emi asked, turning to walk towards another table, which had even more food, though these seemed more like salads and breads.
“What do you expect?” Hizashi asked, raising an eyebrow. “Did you see all the protesters?! I had to restrain myself from kicking their asses.”
“Then you’d have a lawsuit on your hands!” Emi said cheerfully, selecting a garlic roll and nearly dropping it. “Whoops, not nearly as coordinated as I’d like to think! So...getting married. How’d that happen?”
“Oh, uh, I asked him out a long time ago, but he was the one who proposed,” Hizashi said, thinking to the story they’d made up. Well, it’d been less ‘they’ and more ‘Hizashi’. Emi dropped her garlic roll for real this time.
“I see!” She said, kicking the garlic roll to the side, before turning around. “I see!”
And then Hizashi got it.
“Wait, hang on!” He said before she could walk away, balancing the plate in one hand and reaching out with his other to grasp her forearm. He let go when she turned back to look at him, eyes wide. “I...Did you like...actually like Shouta?”
“I don’t think there’s quite a point in saying,” she said, voice taking on an unusually flat tone. It wasn’t anywhere near as flat as Shouta’s, but considering her personality hearing it that way just seemed alien and unnatural. “It doesn’t matter right now, does it? We’re at a party.”
Feelings are a sensitive subject, especially feelings for a dark-haired, brooding underground hero. Hizashi knew those especially well. And he also knows what it’s like for those feelings to not be returned. Even though Emi probably didn’t want it, he felt sympathy for her and could sympathize with her, and he also felt like he was in the wrong, somehow. He and Shouta weren’t really together, but everyone thought they were, Emi included, and it just made him feel bad.
They met through Shouta and had hit it off, both having lots in common, but for a while he thought Emi’s jokes about being attracted to Shouta were simply jokes. Now he realized that was yet another thing they had in common.
How could he try and talk to her about it, though? He appeared to be in a different position compared to her when in reality, they were both in the same one.
“I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable or anything. It’s totally okay to talk about your feelings!” Wow, he’s being a huge hypocrite right now. “I just always thought you were joking...”
“About loving that handsome hunk? No way.” Emi’s voice had returned to its joking manner, though her eyes were now downcast. “I’m sorry, Yamada, I’m trying not to be this way. I’m happy for you two, I really am. It doesn’t matter in the end if I didn’t get Aizawa--if he’s happy about it, I better be too.”
She turned her attention to her plate, before selecting a heart-shaped cookie and thrusting it in his face. “You won Aizawa’s heart! And for knowing you’re making him happy, you’re on top of the list of one of my favorite people in the world! Cheers!”
She wandered off towards the drinks and Hizashi followed, still feeling a bit off. He greeted Kan as he balanced two cups of punch in one hand, before thinking it was all quite enough for he, Shouta, and Tensei. He lingered, however, waiting for Emi, and smiled at students who passed by. When she returned with a bottle of water, they walked back to where Shouta and Tensei were sitting, Tensei chattering about something while Shouta stared down at his feet.
“Hey,” Hizashi said, and Shouta’s head jerked upwards, looking like a startled cat. Hizashi flinched a bit at the reaction, wondering what had happened in the three minutes they’d been gone. Hizashi offered the plate of food to Shouta, who took a handful of grapes and nothing else. He and Emi sat back down for a bit, talking with Tensei.
“Tenya and Nemuri both actually invited me here too,” Tensei said, “I couldn’t exactly deny after having three invites, could I?”
“Couldn’t Tenya just force you to come by wheeling you here?” Emi asked.
“This is Tenya we’re talking about, I don’t think the possibility would’ve crossed his mind even once.”
They chuckled and as they did so, Tenya himself appeared behind his brother, looking down at him.
“I would like to introduce you to my friends!” He said, gesturing with his familiar strange hand movements. “If you don’t have any protests!”
“Alright, Mr. Roboto,” Tensei agreed, and Tenya bowed to the rest of them before leading Tensei off to where Tenya’s friends stood.
“I’m going to the restroom,” Shouta said as soon as he left, standing up abruptly and stalking away. Hizashi stared after him, frowning. What had happened?
“Something happened with Tensei, probably,” Emi said, as if reading his thoughts. “Unless he’s come to the startling realization that he left the stove on.”
“We haven’t even used it today,” Hizashi argued, before shifting in his seat so he was facing Emi better. Her hands were folded in her lap, legs crossed at the ankle, and she was watching the entrance, no doubt for Nemuri. She hadn’t been joking as much after their short conversation at the concessions, but that didn’t mean Hizashi wasn’t over thinking he should somehow make things right, even though they might not even be wrong in the first place.
“I know how it feels,” Hizashi began, and Emi’s head snapped towards him. “I mean, for Shouta to not like you back, and stuff.”
“You’re literally married.”
“I mean--! Before that.” Hizashi cleared his throat and giggled nervously, hoping he hadn’t just gave away the whole thing, but Emi seemed satisfied because she prompted him to go on. “Having those feelings and not being able to actually express them, or them being disregarded...It’s super tough, especially when they’re towards someone like Shouta, who isn’t exactly Little Miss Sunshine and emotions make him physically sick.”
Emi snorted, and Hizashi found the words coming much easier.
“I’m sorry if I sound like, a jackass or anything, but there’s another person out there waiting for you and they’re gonna be awesome and I definitely want to be invited to the wedding.” God, he hoped he didn’t sound like an asshole. Was that an asshole-ish thing to say? However, to his relief Emi just smiled before leaning forward to squish her palms against his cheeks.
“You’re a cool bird, Yamada,” she said, before standing up, stretching. “And I think I see Nemuri over there! I’ll catch you later, cool kid.”
“Bye,” Hizashi said, watching her leave. He returned his attention to his plate, picking off a few of the brownies, before setting it aside and getting to his feet. Shouta was taking awhile in the bathroom, but they did have tacos earlier, and Hizashi knows full-well that tacos are highly dangerous foods to eat.
Don’t eat tacos.
Hizashi began to make his way around the ballroom, taking the time to say hello to the students and invites who’d come.
“Good evening, sir,” Asui greeted him as he waved. She was standing next to Uraraka, a personal favorite of his, and they were both dressed in dresses, though Uraraka’s was very poofy whereas Asui’s was more slim. Both had a flower in their hair, which he suspected they gave each other.
“How do you like everything so far?” Hizashi asked, grinning. “How much have you eaten?”
“I think I’ve eaten one of everything!” Uraraka said earnestly. “Everything is so fun! I’m learning a whole lot!”
“The pamphlets are very interesting,” Asui said, looking down at the one she was currently holding. “There’s stuff I didn’t know about, ribbit.”
“Are you both here with a date or by yourselves or in a group?”
“I’m her date!” Uraraka said proudly, placing her hand on Asui’s shoulder. “Sorry sir, but we’ve got to get back to the others, they’re waiting on us.”
Hizashi watched them leave for Tenya, Midoriya, Todoroki and Tensei, who looked amused as his brother talked rapidly and gestured to the others several times. Hizashi could only assume they were still in the introduction stage.
A few more minutes of wandering later, Hizashi was really beginning to worry about Shouta. Deciding to go check on him, he maneuvered his way around the crowd, taking note of the many eyes glancing in his direction, no doubt wondering where Shouta was.
However, it didn’t take very long for Hizashi to find Shouta, who had returned to where they’d all been sitting earlier, staring at the crowd.
“You alright?” Hizashi asked, sitting across from him. Shouta glanced towards him before his eyes flickered away, almost as if he didn’t want to look at him. Hizashi frowned, wondering what the hell had happened. Maybe it was just being here in general? Yeah, stuff like this wasn’t Shouta’s thing, but he didn’t really ever act like this.
“I’m fine,” Shouta said at last, but Hizashi didn’t really believe him, but he chose not to press the topic. Not now, anyways. They sat in companionable silence for a little bit, watching the students mingle. Most just seemed to be talking or eating, but a few were dancing, Kirishima and Bakugou included. They both looked determined to dance in the most extreme fashion possible with little to no regard of the people around them, though Hizashi was completely sure Bakugou was dancing like this so he could repeatedly knock into Kaminari on purpose.
There were a few pro heroes present, though none dressed in their hero gear, so it’d taken him a while to recognize them--Mt. Lady, the Pussycats, and Uwabami, and considering Nedzu had said he’d invited a few pro heroes for this event Hizashi assumed they’d all been invited due to specific ties to the LGBT community.
Hizashi returned his attention to Shouta, who looked like he was nodding off.
“Hey, no sleeping!”
“I’m not.” Shouta opened his eyes. “Just thinking.”
Before Hizashi could ask about what, there came loud feedback from a microphone being turned on, followed by a “Testing! Testing!”
Hizashi’s head whipped around to see Nemuri standing near the DJ table, Emi next to her, and staring directly at them with a smirk.
“Hello all, and thank you for attending!” She announced, gesturing wide with one arm, the other holding the microphone to her face. “We have some very special guests here today, pro heroes you know and love! Give them a round of applause!”
There was applause and a few whoops. Mt. Lady seemed to bask in it.
“They’re very important members of our community, both heroic and gay,” Nemuri flashed a wink, before pointing directly at Hizashi and Shouta. “However, there’s a certain couple here that’s a good portion of the reason this event is even being held. Good friends of mine, I’ve prepared a few special songs for you tonight--none explicit, I promise!--and these go out to you two!”
There was more applause as Nemuri set the microphone down and Emi leaned over the computer on the DJ table, and a few seconds later the song changed abruptly to something much slower than before. Several students started dancing, almost as if they’d been waiting for this moment, and those who were milling around in the center began to back up, creating a dancefloor. He spotted Uraraka and Asui, Todoroki and Midoriya, before realizing that now almost everybody was staring at them.
Hizashi got to his feet, clearing his throat. Alright. Dancing with Shouta. He can do this. He turned to face Shouta, who was staring at where Nemuri still stood. Hizashi extended his hand and asked,
“Shall we dance?”
Dances had never been Shouta’s thing.
He’d never actually learned how to dance, deeming it unimportant to learn, and whenever Yuuei held special events and Hizashi dragged him along, he stuck to the walls or lingered by the concessions wondering how much food he could fit into his pockets so he could leave and eat it.
This time he was actually talking to people, though it wasn’t too bad considering it was Tensei and Fukukado, who he both knew. Nemuri wasn’t here yet, which was both good and bad, he supposed. Nemuri could talk up a storm, but it was better than Fukukado joking up a storm.
He watched her and Hizashi walked away to get food, glad that his ears were finally catching a break. He turned to look at Tensei, who was smiling at him knowingly.
“...What?”
“It’s nothing,” Tensei said, before quickly adding, “You know what, actually. It is something. Man, you really have no idea how happy I am for the both of you.”
“Oh.”
“No, seriously!” Tensei leaned forward eagerly. “I’ve been waiting for this to happen for a really long time, since high school! Do you know how crazy Hizashi was for you?”
Shouta raised an eyebrow, feeling a bit skeptical. “What?”
“You don’t know?” His expression changed to one of amazement. “He was head over fuckin’ heels for you. I had to endure two weeks of solid spam from him that mostly consisted of ‘fuck’ and ‘he’s pretty, Tensei.’”
Shouta stilled, staring at the other man. He’s known Tensei for fifteen years, and Tensei jokes sometimes, but he wouldn’t joke about something like this. Tensei wouldn’t be telling him this if there wasn’t some form of truth to it but at the same time, Shouta couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.
“Did,” Shouta cleared his throat and tried speaking again. “Did he really?”
“Would I lie about this?” Tensei held his hands up as if surrendering. “Really, man. I think it started second year, but he’s always been kind of stupid about you. I just wish he’d told me when he actually asked you out, I’m perfectly good at keeping secrets! I’ve always told him ‘hey just go ahead and ask Shouta out’, but when he actually does ask you out he doesn’t even tell me!”
Shouta was at a loss for what to say. He didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t know if he would even be able to respond. He wanted to dismiss the thought, but there was a part of him that wanted it desperately to be true. There was absolutely no reason Tensei would lie about this, considering they appeared to be married and, in Tensei’s mind, there was no harm in revealing how Hizashi had felt in high school.
Shouta kept his head bowed, staring down at the floor so Tensei couldn’t see his face, who kept talking about something he wasn’t paying attention to. Taking his own recent discovery of his own feelings into account as well as Hizashi’s apparent long-term feelings...
Wait, did Hizashi still even feel that way about him?
“Hey,” Hizashi’s voice sounded, and Shouta jumped a little bit, head snapping to look up at him. He’d returned with a plate of food which he offered to Shouta with a smile. Shouta took a few grapes so Hizashi wouldn’t bother him about it and watched him and Fukukado sit back down, starting the conversation back up.
Just because Hizashi might’ve liked him all the way back in high school didn’t mean Hizashi still liked him now. Fifteen years is a long time to harbor a crush, and Hizashi’s never been one to keep silent about those kinds of things, but then again if Shouta tried imagining this from Hizashi’s perspective he could see a million reasons as to why Hizashi wouldn’t ever ask him out or confess.
For one, he was a pro hero, and he might have thought if word got out there would be an extreme reaction. Another thing being that Hizashi might not want to ruin their friendship, and a third thing being that Hizashi was just afraid to come out in general. Shouta wondered if he would have said ‘yes’ if Hizashi had asked him out six months ago. Would he have?
Are his own current feelings really romantic? Or, as this is really the strongest relationship Shouta has with anyone, is he misinterpreting his own feelings? Has all the media attention and acting like they’re a couple and stuff somehow twisted his thoughts to think he really did love Hizashi? After all, he had only realized all of these things about himself after this had all started.
Let’s say he really did love Hizashi, did Hizashi still love him back? Or had those feelings burned out long ago? Shouta thought to their interactions--the casual touches, Hizashi carrying him to bed, tucking his chin into Shouta’s neck for a brief moment to grab the hair tie earlier. They ate dinner together at least twice a week and Hizashi always seemed to have time for Shouta. But was that just Hizashi being the affectionate person he generally was, or was it something else?
Shouta’s train of thought came to a crash as the appearance of one of his students got their attention. It was Iida, saying something about introducing Tensei to his friends. As soon as Iida lead Tensei away, Shouta took this as a cue to excuse himself and made his way to the restroom, wishing his hair was loose so he could hide behind it.
The restrooms were in a separate hallway, and it was mostly barren, except--
“Hagakure, just because you’re invisible, it doesn’t mean I can’t see you.” Shouta glared at a floating dress doing its best to mask itself in the shadows. “You’re looking guilty. Where’s Ojirou?”
“Nowhere,” Hagakure said unconvincingly. Shouta raised an eyebrow, but chose to not further pursue beyond saying,
“By the time I come out, if you and Ojirou aren’t back on the dancefloor, I will make sure you’re as far from one another as you can be during school.”
“Yes sir,” Hagakure’s voice held guilt, and Shouta brushed past as he entered the restroom.
It was thankfully empty, so he turned on the faucet and splashed some water onto his face, hoping this would somehow clear his mind and he could stop thinking about it.
However, this didn’t seem to have any effect, because that was all he could think about.
Should he talk to Hizashi about it? Tell him what Tensei said and ask if it was still true? What if Hizashi became too afraid to admit it? Shouta didn’t know how to tell Hizashi himself how he felt, so it’s not like he could properly voice his thoughts and tell Hizashi that he might feel the same way.
By the way Hizashi, Tensei said you were in love with me in high school and I might like you back but that’s really depending on you. That didn’t even sound right.
He remembered Fukukado’s words from earlier and tried to figure out if they were meant as a joke or not. If he had had feelings before this but just hadn’t realized, had Fukukado really been able to tell? Or not necessarily about his feelings, but about his orientation? Hell, Shouta didn’t even know about his orientation. Not exactly. It was a confusing mystery.
Shouta gave a low groan, dragging his hand across his face. This entire situation was stupid. Relationships were illogical. What was the point of them, exactly, beyond sex? Except Shouta didn’t want to imagine having that kind of relationship with Hizashi, but he did imagine a different sort of relationship that involved stupid shit like kissing and also hugging and Shouta laying half on top of Hizashi while they watched really bad movies at two in the morning. It was completely illogical. There wasn’t any sort of benefit, was there? So why was he stressing so much about it?
Another thing that was illogical was the fact that he was currently in the bathroom angsting about a problem that might or might not be there. He remembered Kirishima asking Bakugou out in class--why wasn’t it that easy for him? Why wasn’t it that easy for Hizashi?
And speak (or think) of the devil, the restroom door swung open and Kirishima stepped in, his face red from, presumably, dancing. Shouta glanced at him from the corner of his eye as Kirishima noticed him standing there, and Kirishima’s face broke into a smile.
“I didn’t think you’d actually come,” Kirishima said. “Well, kind of, but not really! You’re super unpredictable, sensei. I like your hair!”
Shouta stared, before clearing his throat and responding, “Uh, thank you. Mic did it for me.”
“Thought so.” Kirishima approached the sink as well, turning on the faucet so he could splash water onto his sweaty face. “Man, who knew dancing took so much out of you?! Are you going to dance?”
“No,” Shouta said. This felt awkward.
Kirishima dried his face with a paper towel, before looking up at him with a slightly hesitant look. Shouta still felt kind of out-of-place when he talked to his students. Even more so now that they were currently talking in the bathroom. He’d leave if he felt he was able to face Hizashi right now, but he didn’t think he could.
“Is it okay if I...Talk to you? For just a second. I just have a question.”
Shouta raised an eyebrow, doing his best to appear normal and not like he was having a small crisis.
“It’s just, uh, a personal question that you don’t have to answer and I don’t mean to like offend you or anything but,” Kirishima took a deep breath, before rushing out “Are you gay or bi or like something else or is it just like a one-person only thing and Present Mic-sensei is the only one--”
“Slow down,” Shouta said, and Kirishima’s mouth snapped shut. This conversation was already awkward on his end but now it just got a hell of a lot more awkward because he didn’t really know the answer. Maybe that would suffice as an answer itself. “I don’t know.”
“Really?” Kirishima asked, and he didn’t look a bit put-off by the answer. “There’s pamphlets on some of the tables, and it’s got a whole bunch of things listed! Uh, me and Yaoyorozu and a few others helped make them ‘cos Principal Nedzu asked us to...”
He trailed off and Shouta thought to the pamphlets lying on the tables close to the walls. He could possibly stick around there for a bit and use it as an excuse for why he wasn’t around Hizashi, or....
“I’m sorry for asking,” Kirishima apologized, shoving his hands in his pockets. His sleeves were rolled up as far as they could go and his vest buttons were all off by one, which Kirishima only now seemed to notice and frowned at them. “Um. I was just. I dunno. It’s kinda hard for me to explain. I don’t--well, I guess you might’ve already figured it out or whatever and also you might not care ‘cos I don’t think you’re the kind of person who does and also it doesn’t really matter if you know but I’m like--I’m gay and it’s just...um. I’m sorry. I’ll stop talking now. And leave you alone.”
Kirishima rushed out of the bathroom before Shouta could even think twice about responding, and as the door slammed shut behind him Shouta let out a sigh. This kid.
Deciding he’d wasted enough time, Shouta left the restroom, keeping an eye out for Hagakure and Ojirou, only to find they’d returned once he re-entered the room. He didn’t see Hizashi where they’d been sitting, so he kept along the walls as he moved closer to one of the tables where the pamphlets were laid out.
He picked one up and flipped through it, not really quite comprehending what he was reading. He hoped Hizashi wouldn’t spot him and come over to talk to him or drag him off to talk to other people because he wasn’t quite sure he was ready to face Hizashi right now, not when he was knee-deep in confusion about himself and Hizashi and god fucking damn it this entire thing is a fucking mess.
Shouta stuffed the pamphlet into his jacket pocket, keeping it in case he needed it later to pretend he was doing something. He scanned the dance floor, taking note of the few students who were actually dancing. Jirou and Yaoyorozu swayed back and forth together, mostly interested in talking, it seemed. Ashido was dancing with Aoyama and Sero (and Aoyama was in a dress, for some reason), though Sero kept tripping because Kaminari kept falling into him because Bakugou kept hitting him. To his surprise, both Bakugou and Kirishima were dancing together with wild and extreme movements, Kirishima snorting every time he tripped over his own two feet from dancing so hard.
Shouta thought back to the past two conversations he’d had with Kirishima. It wasn’t like he disliked Kirishima as his student or anything, but he’d never had much reason to talk to him as he didn’t need as much drastic Quirk improvement like Midoriya or attitude improvement like Bakugou. He hadn’t ever really expected Kirishima to talk to him, either, but he supposed that it must have really meant something to Kirishima that he was gay or whatever.
And that also meant Kirishima probably respected him. A lot.
If he thought about it, he supposed he respected Kirishima too. The kid might not like the fact that his Quirk wasn’t very flashy, but it was a useful Quirk, and Kirishima was a kind person. He’d be a good hero one day.
Though he respected Kirishima in another way, as well. Kirishima seemed to be braver and more grounded in certain situations than he himself was. To be fair, he didn’t know how to handle that situation. But then again, Kirishima probably didn’t either and was just doing what his heart or something like that was telling him to do.
He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t tell Hizashi how he felt or ask Hizashi how he felt, because he didn’t know if he was afraid that he didn’t know his feelings or if he was afraid that he didn’t know Hizashi’s feelings.
Shouta closed his eyes, trying to rationalize and restore order to his thoughts. If he tried to think about it this way...If he told Hizashi how he felt, then there shouldn’t be repercussion, right? Hizashi wouldn’t end their friendship if he had once felt that way too and understood. Or maybe that had been something brief in high school and Hizashi had changed after realizing he wasn’t actually in love with Shouta or didn’t like the thought of being in a relationship with Shouta or--
No. Stop. He’ll stop these thoughts before they spiral downwards. He’ll take a page out of Kirishima’s book and do what his heart was telling him--which was to just sit down and fucking relax.
Shouta returned to where they’d been sitting previously, keeping his mind off of everything by continuing to stare at the crowd. He could see Todoroki and Midoriya dancing by themselves away from everyone else, but they didn’t seem to be doing much else, so there was no need to tell them off for being secluded.
“You alright?”
Shouta looked over to where Hizashi stood, his hands in his pockets and looking faintly concerned. Shouta looked away, wondering if he should ask Hizashi about everything or wait until later. Much, much later.
“I’m fine,” he lied.
They sat together in silence, at one point Shouta closing his eyes so he didn’t have to pay attention to everything else, and Hizashi told him off for trying to sleep, but it was all interrupted by Nemuri’s voice as she announced them to everybody else.
Shouta felt a slight sense of dread as everyone’s eyes swivelled to where they sat, and a much slower song than before began to play. Many students took this cue to start dancing as well, but they still seemed to be the main attraction.
“Shall we dance?”
Shouta glanced up at Hizashi, whose hand was hovering, waiting for him to take it. Beyond Hizashi, everybody else watched. Nemuri. Tensei. Kirishima.
Shouta tried shoving all of his feelings and thoughts aside. He’d already entertained the possibility of being forced into the spotlight like this. He’s handled villains before--and he can handle this.
“Okay,” he said, accepting Hizashi’s hand.
Hizashi’s always prided himself on knowing all sorts of different dances, slow ones included. Even if Shouta himself did not know how to dance, Hizashi liked to think he was leading well enough that Shouta wasn’t having any trouble.
They stepped around in the mental box Hizashi had formed in his mind, one hand in Shouta’s and the other on his waist. Shouta’s hand had awkwardly placed itself just beneath his armpit, as if placing it on his shoulder was too much of a hassle. Or maybe he just didn’t know where he was supposed to put his hand. It was kinda cute.
Step. Step. Step.
Hizashi had known that Nemuri would plan something like this, had a gut feeling. Even if he had told himself he might dance with Shouta and he had to just act totally cool about it, the many eyes trained on them made it feel a bit different. Almost like the crowd was expecting something.
But what, he wanted to ask.
Instead of focusing on the crowd, he decided to focus on Shouta instead. Shouta was staring down at their feet, making sure to follow Hizashi’s footsteps so he wouldn’t trip.
“Hey, it’s easy once you get into a rhythm,” Hizashi promised, and Shouta glanced up, snorting.
“For you, maybe,” he said doubtfully.
“Just think of it like fighting.”
“Thanks. Because that really helps.”
Hizashi smiled, and Shouta looked back down. They were very close and yet not close enough. Hizashi wanted to move closer just a little bit. Wanted their chests to brush together and then he could count the light freckles on Shouta’s nose. But he restrained himself by repeating a mantra of ‘this is totally platonic and this won’t get weird because I have more self control than that’ in his head.
“You look weird, watching your feet like that,” Hizashi complained quietly. “Shoutaaaaaa, it’s easy, I promise.”
Shouta hesitated, before looking back up at Hizashi, and Hizashi grinned. They managed to take a few more steps before Shouta’s heel slammed on top of Hizashi’s toes, and Hizashi winced while Shouta stumbled a bit.
“Sorry,” Shouta murmured.
“You’re fine,” Hizashi grunted. His toes begged to differ. “It’s fine.”
Shouta looked back at him, and Hizashi suddenly regretted telling Shouta to stop looking down.
“Is this your first time dancing?” Hizashi asked, trying not to get distracted by how pretty Shouta’s eyes were and how even the scar beneath his eye looked attractive right now.
“Probably,” Shouta responded. “Unless I was drunk. But I don’t think that counts.”
“No.” Hizashi’s hand squeezed a bit on Shouta’s waist as they turned. “Glad I have the honor of your first dance, though.”
“First dance? Really?” Shouta smiled, and Hizashi smiled back. “Didn’t know that was a thing.”
“Totally is,” Hizashi said without missing a beat. “I’ve stolen your dance virginity. I guess I have to marry you now.”
“Aren’t we already married?” Shouta’s voice was softer. They’d moved closer after Shouta had stumbled, and now Hizashi could see all of Shouta’s freckles and the shape of his mouth and--fuck, he’s not going to do this. He’s not.
They kept moving. Everybody else in the room seemed to disappear as Hizashi repeated this in his head. They were very close, inches apart. He’s not going to do this. His hand was in Shouta’s--could Shouta tell his palms were sweating profusely? He could count every single one of Shouta’s eyelashes. He’s not going to do this. Shouta was staring back, and Shouta had an unreadable look on his face, and Hizashi was not going to do this. He was not going to fall down that wormhole.
But Shouta was staring back. Looking Hizashi directly in the eyes. He was really close, they were both really close. And they’re alone. They were alone, weren’t they? Or are they surrounded by a screaming crowd? Was that screaming or was the blood rushing in his ears?
Hizashi had a lot of self control.
But this was not a good example of it.
He didn’t know who moved in first. He didn’t know how one moment he was breathing and the next moment he wasn’t. His lips were on Shouta’s, and it was chaste enough, but it felt a lot deeper. Shouta’s lips were chapped and warm because Shouta generated a ridiculous amount of body heat and his eyes were closed so he couldn’t see the expression on Shouta’s face but he hoped, he hoped to god that Shouta wasn’t angry or panicking or--
He withdrew, eyes opening, and saw that Shouta was staring back. The entire world was screaming. The ground was shaking. Or was that Hizashi’s heartbeat? He couldn’t tell, he couldn't focus on anything other than Shouta.
Faintly, he could hear cheering and whoops, and he was reminded that they were at a ball and it was in the middle of a school event and they’re dancing in front of everyone and they just kissed in front of everyone.
They took a few more steps, Hizashi doing it almost mindlessly as the song ended. Taking a step backwards, Hizashi tried regaining his composure. He and Shouta continued staring at one another. Hizashi didn’t know how to react beyond kissing Shouta senseless right now but they’re literally in front of like a hundred students. Finally, Shouta cleared his throat and walked back to where they’d been sitting and Hizashi followed in a stupor.
That had happened.
That had literally just happened.
“Do you. Uhm. Do you want to go home?” Hizashi managed to get out after several seconds of trying to unstick his throat so he could talk. Shouta lifted one shoulder. Hizashi took this as a yes.
They didn’t leave at once, Hizashi saying goodbye to Nemuri and Tensei and telling them they’d compromised the night before so Shouta wanted to leave early. Tensei merely nodded while Nemuri gave a lecherous grin, and Hizashi had to fight his blush.
The protesters were still outside, though there was significantly less than before. Hizashi paid them no mind, sliding his sunglasses back onto his face even though it was dark. Once inside his car and far enough away from the lights of Yuuei that the inside of his car was relatively dark, Hizashi realized that his suit was glowing.
Oh. So that’s why he bought it.
He’d bought a glow-in-the-dark purple suit.
For some reason, the thought registered as utterly hilarious in his mind, and he began to laugh, gripping the steering wheel as Shouta stared. He couldn’t stop. It was just. So funny and so stupid and of course he bought a glowing suit because of course he would. And now he’s laughing hysterically in his car at eight in the evening and also Shouta was beside him and he’d kissed Shouta ten minutes ago and holy fuck. Holy shit.
It took awhile for him to calm down, and when he did he started the car and began the drive to his apartment. Shouta stared out the window, and Hizashi couldn’t stop his gaze from wandering over to him the whole time. What was he thinking...?
Once they actually got into Hizashi’s apartment, narrowly avoiding the reporters who had come, no doubt to see them all dressed up, Hizashi kicked off his shoes, trying to think of what to say.
Shouta had taken his hair out of its braid and it now hung loosely over his shoulders, which meant now Hizashi couldn’t really see the expression he was making.
“Shouta,” Hizashi said, and Shouta spun to face him.
“Hizashi--” he began, and the next thing he knew they were both kissing again, but Hizashi was pretty sure he instigated it. Shouta’s fingers slid across his jaw and rested at his neck, Hizashi threading his fingers through Shouta’s hair. Fuck, this felt so good. They were kissing and it just felt so nice and it honestly felt amazing and Hizashi wished this moment would last forever. He’s a walking cliché but god, he hopes it lasts forever.
Shouta’s lips felt good, and his mouth felt even better. His fingers (cold, cold, cold) gripped at the back of Hizashi’s head and that felt almost as good as Shouta kissing him. Hizashi’s other hand rested on Shouta’s hip, and as the kiss got deeper he tugged Shouta closer, wanting more. His other hand came down and he tugged at Shouta’s belt, moving to unbutton his pants--
“Wait, wait, stop,” Shouta said suddenly, pushing him away. Hizashi’s back hit the wall and he stared, wide-eyed and panting at Shouta, whose mouth was swollen and eyes were wide.
“Shouta..?” Hizashi said his name softly, but Shouta just continued looking mildly panicked.
“No,” Shouta murmured, words tumbling over one another in a string of noises. “No, no no no--”
Hizashi stared with wide eyes, heart pounding deep in his chest, an echoing of Shouta, Shouta, Shouta, reverberating throughout his entire being--but the heartbeat had stopped, it had stopped the moment Shouta had stepped back and he found himself staring because something had happened.
“I can’t,” Shouta said, eyes finding Hizashi’s, and Hizashi was sure time had stopped in that moment., and the world had started crumbling in a terrifying sort of way. Shouta cleared his throat, and repeated, “I can’t, I can’t do this, Hizashi.”
“Shouta?” Hizashi said again, hoping to whatever God that existed that this would somehow, somehow get him to explain what had happened, what was wrong --but Shouta turned around and threw open Hizashi’s door, rushing down the hallway.
Hizashi wanted to chase after him so badly but he knew he’d fucked up somehow, he’d pushed some kind of limit, he’d done something awful and this had just ruined everything. Their relationship had come crashing down like a tower of Jenga blocks, and it was all his fault.
Hizashi finally caught his breath as his heartbeat resumed, and he sank to the floor, knees weak and trembling. He’d done something. He’d made the wrong assumption.
He’d done wrong.
He cradled his head in his hands, trying to even out his feelings and thoughts, but he could already feel the tears coming. He wasn’t going to cry. He could talk to Shouta tomorrow, he could try explaining--he could try explaining something and he could apologize and he could try to fix what he’d ruined and he would just. Do something.
Anything to fix whatever he’d done.
Hizashi began to cry.
Notes:
hizashi wearin' his sunglasses at night (so he can, so he can)
im sorry this feels very rushed but idk if it's because it's actually rushed or im just tired
unbeta'd and i'm exhausted and it's 8k words wejknkwnf so sorry if there's any mistakes!!!!
the last scene, i've had planned ever since i first thought up the idea for this fic. in fact, that scene was the very first idea i actually had about this story, and from that i came up with 'well, how'd they get in this situation in the first place?' and it all lead to fake marriage lol
eKQENNKDNNsdjnkwfnkw im sorry i LOVE ALL OF YOU!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LEAVING ALL YOUR WONDERFUL COMMENTS, THEY HONESTLY MAKE MY DAY!!! <3 IT'S LIKE GETTIGN COOKIES AND I LOV COOKIE S
don't be afraid to drop a review (and tell me if this chapter is awful bc i'll fix it lmao i feel bad,,,)
Chapter 7
Notes:
sorry if any of the twitter handles in this are anybody's ACTUAL twitter handles lol
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Trouble In Paradise?!
Today, the widely-rumored Yuuei Gala for the LGBT community was held from the hours of six to ten, resulting in a rather large crowd of reporters and protesters alike. While many like to pretend they were just interested in the gala in general, it’s all a mere cover for the real stars of the night: the appearances of Present Mic and his husband, Eraserhead.
Though the word of their marriage has been spread like wildfire, Present Mic has declined all opportunities for interview and goodness knows how to even contact Eraserhead. Even though every picture of the two on the internet was salvaged when the announcement was made (commentating on the sports festival, fending off reporters asking for an All Might interview, etc.) none of them seemed inherently romantic or intimate.
But that all changed as the gala began!
Present Mic arrived sometime after 6:00 with his husband in tow, arm around his waist as if showing him off for the entire world to see. Wearing his signature shades, he didn’t speak to the press nor acknowledge the protesters. Eraserhead was equally as impassive, and despite their blank faces there was a clear intimacy to the way they pressed up against one another in front of hundreds of cameras.
You bet those photos of those dapper men were uploaded everywhere (and, to the internet’s joy, Eraserhead’s actually kind of hot) and it was concluded that this would be a fun and romantic night for the couple and for the attendees of the gala.
BUT THAT IS WRONG!
Present Mic and Eraserhead left the gala two hours before it ended, around the same time that many students and Mt.Lady tweeted that the two shared a special dance and kiss for all to see. While this doesn’t seem troubling at all, it’s what happened in Present Mic’s apartment building that causes worry!
For several days, me and many dedicated reporters have been waiting patiently in the building for word from Present Mic, whether it be a statement of some sort or an agreement to an interview. We’ve only seen him and Eraserhead come and go, and once carrying boxes, which are assumed to be Eraserhead’s possessions.
Present Mic and Eraserhead arrived just before eight thirty together, making their way to their apartment. As usual, they ignored us, but we waited. Five minutes later, if even that, to our very surprise Eraserhead came storming out of the elevator, visibly upset, which is honestly the most emotion we’ve seen on this scruffy man--me and two others followed him out of the building asking for comment, only to be promptly ignored.
Our photographer managed to get a (slightly blurred, but good nonetheless) picture of Eraserhead--judging by his twisted features, slumped posture and rushed speed, there’s been some sort of fight.
What happened? Only minutes ago they seemed just fine, but after the uploading of this photo there seems to be much speculation on the cause of this falling-out--whether it be them kissing in front of their school, the strain of so much publicity on their relationship, or something else, many can only hope they resolve this!
mmm noodles (@udonman)
hopefully this mean theyre divorcing man smh i cant believe these guys were acc married #against #PresentMic
KARRIE (@k222131)
@udonman dude what the hell is your damage #notcool
Eto Matsukawa (@herodaily)
Having reported this story when it surfaced, I hope @droptheMIC and his husband can resolve whatever is going on!! #PresentMic #support
Takashi Konata (@jpninsider)
Marriage is traditionally between a man and a woman--I hope #PresentMic has realized that. #against
cuz u and i r gonna shine (@sparkl1zz)
as usual @jpninsider is total bs and should resign from his job #support #loveislove #pride
ryuu!!! (@notryuurin)
i dont like the fact that @jpnninsider claims to be us. this doesnt represent who we are as a nation today. lol. #supportMic
Lady Midnight (@r18hero)
@jpninsider Honey you’ve got a big storm coming :) #PresentMic #support @msbatjokes @zoomheroing
Emi (@msbatjokes)
@jpninsider I’ve made tons of jokes in my life but none of them are bigger than you!! #support #PresentMic #Eraserhead
Tensei Iida (NOT HACKED!!) (@zoomheroing)
@jpninsider (1/4) OKAY FIRST OF ALL FUCK YOU and 2nd of all I promise my account is not hacked and I’ll be enclosing a pic of myself to prove it but ANYWAYS-
Tensei: hey
Tensei: are you okay
Tensei: you’re all over the news.
Tensei: if you want to talk about it and don’t want to talk to hizashi me and nemuri are here for you. hell i’m sure fukukado is too.
Tensei: but you’ve always been like a brother to me shouta. hizashi’s my best friend but i like to think in hs we had a relationship that didn’t involve hizashi and it wasn’t always just me and hizashi and then you.
Tensei: scratch that we damn well did have a relationship that didn’t involve hizashi. you’re always welcome at my house. my mom told you that a million times but i’m repeating that again.
Tensei: you know i never thought i’d be repeating this when we’re 30 but here we are ha.
Tensei: if you want to come over but you don’t want to talk about it we can still just hang out.
Tensei: just letting you know.
Tensei: :-)
Shouta will acknowledge that running away was not the best decision, and that he’d have a hell of a lot of explaining to do and of fucking course this shit would be all over the media, but before he could actually acknowledge that he needed to sort himself out first.
His apartment felt emptier than usual, and he was reminded that most of his few possessions were at Hizashi’s place. The air was still and desolate from nobody having been inside for days, but it didn’t bother him.
Laid out across his couch, Shouta stared at the ceiling, trying not to think of anything and yet trying to think of everything. They’d kissed. That’s an established fact. They kissed, they left, they got to Hizashi’s place and they kissed again, only it had escalated and Hizashi had been trying to undo his pants and he’d--
He’d freaked out.
There wasn’t a better way to describe it than that. Freaking out, panicking, fleeing, he did all of that and now he didn’t know how to face Hizashi and explain himself. He didn’t even know what he was explaining.
Hey, by the way, sex scares me and I don’t think I can do it but I still want to be in a relationship with you. It sounded stupid in his head and it’d probably sound stupider out loud. Every book he’s ever read and every movie about romance has sex as this sort of major component of a relationship, like the relationship can’t function without it or it’s the most vital part of it. Take the sex away and the relationship goes all wrong.
Of course, he doesn’t think Hizashi will let sex be a determining factor in whatever relationship he’s in, but it’s definitely going to be something he wants, if earlier was any indication. Shouta flipped over onto his side, wondering if he could suffocate himself into the couch cushions. That would certainly be an easier feat than figuring out what the hell was wrong with him.
He needed a distraction. Something to do. Take a walk? But he didn’t want anybody to recognize him. Take Tensei up on his offer? No, it’s too late for that. All of his books were at Hizashi’s apartment, and he didn’t own a TV.
He suddenly remembered the pamphlet that he’d stuffed into the pocket of his suit jacket, which was discarded on the floor. It wasn’t the greatest thing, but hell, it was something. Anything to distract him from the buzzing in his own head.
The pamphlet was shiny and decorated with bright colors and hearts and all that junk, most of it clearly written by Yaoyorozu, judging by the language used. First, it talked about gender identity, most of it which Shouta already knew from Thirteen. Several times he found himself rereading the same sentence over and over due to not having processed it the first time, but that was fine. At least it meant he wasn’t thinking.
When he arrived to the sexuality part, he stiffened. Maybe reading about sexual attraction wasn’t the best thing to do in his current state of mind, but it was loads and loads better than thinking about Hizashi. So with that sentiment in mind, he plowed onwards.
He skipped ‘bisexual’ because he knew he’d think about him if he read it and moved straight ahead onto ‘pansexual’. Shouta adjusted his position so he was propping his head up on his fist, staring blearily at the words that were starting to swim in front of his eyes.
It was halfway through reading another paragraph that he blinked out of the stupor he’d fallen into, sitting straighter. He went back to reread the paragraph again, clutching the pamphlet tightly as he did so.
Asexual: a person with little to no sexual attraction/feelings. Level of attraction (or lack thereof) depends on the person and is more of a spectrum!
It took Shouta a few more moments to process it and comprehend that it was actually a thing. And then after comprehending that he felt a rush of doubt and confusion and curiosity all at once because there was absolutely no way that was really a thing. He pulled out his phone, which was on the verge of dying, but paid no attention to the little number in the corner showcasing its percentage. A quick Google search brought up hundreds of thousands of results and he felt his breath catch in his throat.
There were many pages describing it: what exactly it was, how to tell if you were it, personal experiences. The doubt he had felt earlier was squashed only to be replaced by an entirely different thing.
Other people didn’t want to have sex. Were repulsed by it or uninterested. Some of those people were in relationships, and they’d talked things out with their partners with varying results--some remained in a monogamous romantic relationship, others left their relationship open so their partner could have sex with others.
It was a thing. An actual thing.
And having a relationship with someone else was do-able.
Shouta set his phone down, tiredly running a hand down his face, tugging at his hair. He’d never been in a relationship before so he couldn’t quite connect to the pages as well as some other people might, but he still understood in his own way. There were other people who were like him, and this meant that he wasn’t severely fucked up.
The realization dawned slowly. At first it was a far-away feeling, but as he came to terms with it in his mind that yes, this existed and it was a thing that people knew about, and if he can somehow explain this to Hizashi then maybe there’s the slightest chance that he can actually repair what he’d broken.
Because he felt like he had most definitely broken something yesterday--even when seeing that look in Hizashi’s eyes he’d ran without explanation and Hizashi was going to be pissed off. And what if Hizashi actually didn’t want to be in a romantic relationship with him? What if it was purely sexual attraction? He remembered how quickly Hizashi’s hands had wandered further and he tasted something sour in his mouth. No, he wasn’t going to think about that. Not yet, anyways. He was going to push that into the very back of his mind and focus on one thing only right now, because that would keep him from collapsing into a complete mess.
It was one in the morning on a Sunday, meaning he didn’t actually need to see Hizashi until tomorrow, but he was going to visit him anyways and explain what he barely understood. He didn’t even care if Hizashi wanted to enter a relationship with him or not. Just as long as Hizashi was still his friend.
Even as he tried coming up with a way to explain this all to Hizashi, though, Shouta felt the doubt rising again. He still didn’t quite understand it, because this seemed to be a whole spectrum--some people were repulsed by sex, some people felt sexual pleasure but had no sexual interest, and he didn’t know what he was. Not exactly. It wasn’t helped by the fact that he’s never even had sex.
Shouta placed the pamphlet on top of his jacket as a reminder for tomorrow before twisting around a bit on the couch, trying to find a more comfortable position. With a million different ways to explain this running through his mind, coupled with the lingering question of what he was, exactly, he fell asleep after an hour.
Hizashi had ended up crying into an entire tub of ice cream like he’d gone through a bad break-up before collapsing due to utter exhaustion on his bed at two in the morning, already missing how warm the bed had been this past week due to Shouta’s presence. There was a lingering scent of him in the sheets but he’d classify himself as crazy if he sniffed at them, so he buried his face in his pillow in order to ignore it.
He’d gone through a million different things he might’ve done wrong, trying to figure out what to apologize for and how to approach it.
Kissing Shouta in front of everyone that first time. Kissing him a second time. Moving things too fast, maybe--that was probably it. Shouta had pulled away when he tried to take things further, and inside his head Hizashi repeated Stupid stupid I’m stupid I should’ve asked first. He’d just been so caught up in the moment he hadn’t--he hadn’t thought of what he was doing, he’d just done what he’d wanted to for such a long time but that was no excuse for anything.
Doing that might’ve just shattered the relationship he and Shouta had built for over fifteen years--because Hizashi was stupid and rushed things and was impatient and longed insufferably for his best friend.
Maybe if he hadn’t tried convincing Shouta to keep pretending they were married, this wouldn’t have happened. He’d been intimate with Shouta in front of other people half to convince them they were actually married and half because it was what he wanted. He’d manipulated the situation, using it as an excuse to get close to Shouta. Being so close to him for the past week had driven him crazy, pushed him past his limit--and he was currently paying the price for that.
He would give Shouta his space, and then on Monday he’d go to school and be told that he couldn’t keep up the fake marriage thing anymore due to Hizashi’s actions because he felt uncomfortable now and then everything would just fucking suck but he totally deserved it. He could already see Nemuri and Tensei’s faces, and don’t even get him started on his students.
He fell into troubled sleep, clutching on his pillow to pretend it was Shouta, but it just left him feeling emptier than before.
When Hizashi woke up he didn’t really bother with getting ready for the day, just dragged his feet around in a shirt three sizes too big that said ‘MY PARENTS WENT TO HAWAII AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS DUMB T-SHIRT.’ He’s had it since he was fourteen and he’s pretty sentimental about it, so wearing it was making him feel better. Just a little bit. Not better enough, however, to stop himself from eating six entire waffles with whipped cream and chocolate on top.
He was going to mope around for the entire day because he was being respectful of Shouta’s boundaries which he should’ve done in the first place, and he was going to email Junko to ask her if he can cancel the interview tomorrow, and then he was going to--
Bzzzt. Bzzt.
Hizashi was sitting on the couch, staring blankly at some movie when his phone buzzed on his thigh, and he checked it with a small part of him wishing it was Shouta asking if they could talk or something. It was Nemuri, though, and he couldn’t really say he was surprised about that.
Nemuri: hizashi what the FUCK did you do
Nemuri: wait no i’m going about this the wrong way-
Nemuri: what the FUCK is wrong
Hizashi: That’s not really the correct way either
Nemuri: i’m glad you’re awake, at least.
Nemuri: now tell me. why is shouta all over the news. and why is he crying and upset.
Hizashi frowned, staring at the words on his screen. Shouta was on the news? He hasn’t checked the news today, that was true, but there was already a news story about it?
Nemuri sent him an article, and it only took reading about three sentences before he began to feel upset and horribly depressed. The picture attached didn’t help matters either, and Hizashi berated himself for even feeling this depressed when Shouta was clearly much more upset about it.
But how could he even begin to explain this to Nemuri without telling her--well, all of it? After several seconds of pondering, he decided that he might as well tell her the whole thing, because it wasn’t like he and Shouta were going to keep up this fake marriage thing for much longer. So, with that in mind, he prepared himself.
Hizashi: I need you to promise you’re not going to hunt me down.
Nemuri: sweetie it depends on what you did.
Hizashi: Shouta and I aren’t married.
Nemuri: what
Hizashi: It’s all fake
Nemuri: what the fuck
Hizashi: There was a misunderstanding at the hospital and we kind of just went with it
Nemuri: what the FUCK
Hizashi: Nemuri I’m trying to explain this to you
Hizashi: We went with it but recently I thought I don’t know maybe Shouta really likes me back for real. I realize now that may just be because I’m a fucking disaster and was interpreting things incorrectly but after we kissed we went home and I tried taking it further and he got upset and left.
Hizashi: There’s a bit more to it than ‘we went with it’ but I’m too tired to even properly explain
Nemuri: ok
Nemuri: let me process this
Nemuri: HIZASHI WHAT THE FUCK
Hizashi: I KNOW I’M A HORRIBLE PERSON
Nemuri: ok ok ok. i’m going to be the judge of that. did you try forcing him to sleep with you?
Hizashi: Nemuri
Nemuri: answer the fucking question i have emi’s phone number at the ready and she is not afraid to hunt you down and neither am i
Hizashi: No. We were just kissing and I got too handsy and then he got upset
Nemuri: you idiots
Nemuri: why do i love you two idiots
Nemuri: okay. this is a lot to process. but what i’m going to say right now is that you guys have some fucking communication issues you dumbass nothing is entirely your fault nor is it entirely shouta’s
Nemuri: i bet you’ve already eaten all your ice cream and you’re wearing the hawaii t-shirt right now. am i right?? well i’m going to be an aggressive force on your life right now and tell you comfort isn’t what you need, SPEAKING IS WHAT YOU NEED.
Nemuri: TALK. TO. EACH. OTHER. SORT THINGS OUT. THEN LET ME KICK YOUR ASSES. THEN LET TENSEI KICK YOUR ASSES (METAPHORICALLY.)
Nemuri: ARE YOU LISTENING? DO IT, HIZASHI.
Hizashi set his phone down with a groan, rubbing at his eyes. Nemuri wasn’t the most nurturing person, and he should’ve known her immediate response would be to take the aggressively straightforward approach to things. Nemuri wasn’t currently facing the possible end of her longest friendship right now, and while he appreciated her attempt at helping it wasn’t really the advice he needed.
Shouta needed his space, and so did he.
Although there was a nasty voice in his head telling him he was being utterly pathetic and Nemuri was totally right and he did need to talk things out with Shouta before it was too late and he ended up ruining everything forever. The longer he waited, the more strained everything would become.
Everything was his fault, no matter which way he looked at it. Nemuri didn’t know the whole situation because of his simplified version of the story, so she couldn’t possibly offer him good enough advice for this. Really, when was the last time she pretended to be married to the friend she’d been in love with for the past fifteen years?
He spent a good hour arguing with himself, both wanting to reach out to Shouta because he’d been so upset but wanting to keep his distance for the same reason. He even got out his whiteboard once to make a complicated graph that resulted in him erasing all of it just to draw random things in place of it to distract himself. His whiteboard now consisted completely of musical symbols, chainsaws, and cats.
Around noon there was a knock at his door, and Hizashi froze, marker dropping to the ground. This was it. He’d spent the last two hours agonizing over the whole situation and Nemuri had arrived to make him feel true agony. With this fear plaguing his mind, he answered the door hesitantly, peering out into the hallway and nearly slamming the door shut when he saw who it was.
He and Shouta were silent as they stared at each other, both looking unsure of what to do. Shouta was dressed in a ratty pair of jeans and an ancient sweater they hadn’t bothered packing when they moved his stuff here, and Hizashi was reminded that he was wearing nothing but a very large t-shirt and socks.
This fact somehow seemed to ground him back to reality, and he opened the door a bit wider, clearing his throat. He was a hero. He could face this.
“Do you want to come in?” He asked, wincing at how croaky his voice sounded. Shouta nodded, and Hizashi stepped aside to let him through. His mind was racing as he shut the door, wondering what Shouta was here to do. End their friendship? Try to work things out? Collect his stuff from Hizashi’s apartment and move to a different city entirely?
His panic arose quickly and silently, and he distracted himself by rushing past Shouta to his bedroom and mumbling some excuse about needing to put on pants. He threw on a pair of sweatpants and procrastinated actually stepping out of his room for several seconds, trying to calm himself down and trying to think of anything that wasn’t a worst-case scenario.
Hizashi can handle this. He’s going to respect whatever decision Shouta makes because he deserves that. Hell, he deserves way more than that, but he’s taking it slow right now. One thing at a time.
Hizashi returned to the living room, back stiff and lips pressed tightly together to keep himself silent. Shouta was sitting on his couch, which made him feel relaxed a little bit. Everything was somehow more intimidating if they were standing up, so he sat down as well on the opposite end of the couch.
The silence that followed after that was probably one of the worst things in his life. Shouta was staring down at the floor, so still that Hizashi feared he’d died somehow. Shouta had come here for a reason, but he’d never been entirely good at starting a conversation, even if something was bothering him. And Hizashi, having known him for half his life, could tell that there was something prickling Shouta beneath his skin.
So, knowing that the less painful route for everybody to take was this one, Hizashi swallowed all his fears and spoke first.
“Shouta,” he said, and Shouta turned his head to look him in the face and this suddenly became a lot harder. But he’d do it. He’s a fucking radio host. Talking is what he does. It’s what he’s good at. “I want to apologize for last night because clearly I pushed some kind of boundary and went past your limits and it’s entirely my fault for not asking you about it before I tried taking it that far and I’m really sorry and I understand if you don’t ever want to speak to me ever again.”
Shouta took a deep breath, before exhaling as he bent forward to rest his elbows on his knees, eyebrows knitted together. Hizashi waited for a response, gripping at his knees and feeling sweat bead down his forehead. This was the most stress-inducing situation he’s ever been in, and every second it took for Shouta to answer felt like an entire year. Minutes passed in silence, his throat clogging up and his head spinning as multiple outcomes played out in his head like horror films. Finally, though, Shouta sat up and turned to him.
“Hizashi,” he started off, voice thick. “Do you love me?”
Hizashi was a bit taken back, but decided that honestly, what was the harm in telling? How could he do anything worse than what he did yesterday? Telling Shouta what’d he’d been keeping hidden for so long didn’t really matter now, because he’d already kissed him and tried doing more.
But actually telling Shouta was a lot harder to say to his face than he thought it would be, throat sticking and unsticking and his fingernails now digging harshly into his palms. Telling Tensei or Nemuri is one thing, but telling Shouta is something entirely different, a whole different kind of tough.
It’s a secret he’s kept from him for so long, a secret he would have literally died to protect a month ago if it meant preserving he and Shouta’s friendship. He could hardly imagine not being with Shouta, not after knowing him longer than he hasn’t known him.
Hizashi made the mistake of looking back at Shouta, and their eyes met. Shouta looked serious, but there was something else in his expression he couldn’t quite make out. Even if he could read most of Shouta’s emotions like a book, there were times like these, when tensions were high and the air was tight, he was suddenly rendered incapable of this and Shouta seemed as closed-off as a locked chest.
He looked away, not wanting to waste the rest of the afternoon trying to unlock that chest when he could just let it out right now.
“Yes,” he finally breathed out, a huge weight lifting from his shoulders as he said it, and it all came rushing out easier. “Ever since high school, Shouta. I love you and I don’t know how to describe how much. When I tell you if you die I would probably die too, I mean it. If I tell you that you’re the most important thing in my life, I mean it. You matter to me.”
This was much easier than he thought. Or maybe he was suddenly becoming numb to all feeling, not caring right now about what would happen because so much has already happened.
“And I probably sound stupid and I know you hate people who are driven by stupid things like that--like love and hate and vengeance and blah blah blah--but one of the things driving me in life is you. Just you, and not even in a romantic sense.” As Hizashi’s words came out faster he began to feel a familiar burn in his eyes, which astounded him. He thought he’d already cried himself dry yesterday. “You’re just such a good person and you’ve helped me out in tough spots and I love you because you act like you don’t care but you do and, and I’m sorry for what I did last night. It was me acting on those feelings. It was my feelings that caused this. I couldn’t keep them under a lid.”
Silence fell over them like a thick and heavy blanket. There was no room right now to regret everything he’d just said: it was true and it was a part of his apology, and he just wanted Shouta to know he was really sorry for what he did and about the fact that he’d made Shouta uncomfortable.
He repeated his own words in his head as the silence stretched out like taffy, a mantra of I love you, I love you, I love you. He’d said it out loud. Shouta knew now.
He knew.
“What kind of relationship would you be okay having with me?” Shouta finally asked, slowly, as if he wasn’t really sure what he was saying. It took Hizashi a second to understand the question.
“Any relationship,” he answered. “Really. I don’t care. Friendship, or if you want to get away from me, I understand that too. Anything you’re comfortable with.”
Shouta sighed, hand reaching up to rest under his chin, fingers crossing over his mouth and hair falling forward into his face so Hizashi couldn’t make out his expression--but the atmosphere changed just a bit. It was still tense and a bit hard to breathe, but it was different than before. The closest thing he could associate it with was a few days ago in his car--but the roles in the situation were now reversed.
Shouta wanted to tell him something, he could tell. There was a tension to his shoulders and he was being awfully still, and Hizashi wanted to comfort him somehow and help release the tension, but he knew he needed to keep his distance while Shouta worked himself into telling Hizashi whatever he needed to.
However, to his surprise, Shouta began to dig around in pocket before pulling out a folded piece of paper, one that looked strangely similar to the pamphlets from the night before--and then Hizashi realized that it was one of the pamphlets from before, flipped onto a specific page. Shouta then cleared his throat, before placing one of his fingers next to a certain word and saying,
“This is me.”
Hizashi leaned forward to read it, eyebrows raised. If he’d been surprised when Shouta pulled out the pamphlet, it was nothing compared to what he felt now reading it. It was a term he’d heard before in class, when his attempts to teach the students had gone downhill and he’d instead been lectured about things he didn’t even know about, like gender and sexuality. He’d been a bit proud about having this new knowledge, and seeing it brought up days later--he felt some sort of strange--relief?
No, it was something else. Maybe a bit of it was relief--but it more an understanding than anything.
“You’re asexual,” he said, and it wasn’t a question, it was a statement. Short and simple.
Shouta nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I guess.”
“Oh.”
Great going, Hizashi. That’s all you can say?
“I’m sorry again,” he said, this new information swimming in his head. He felt like he should’ve known as soon as he heard about what asexuality was, but at the same time knew it would have been ridiculous to make that sort of assumption about anyone. Still, though. “I’m really sorry. I should’ve asked you. I should’ve--I should’ve held back.”
“And I should have talked to you,” Shouta said tiredly, sounding much more exhausted than he had about five seconds ago. “This isn’t--this isn’t your fault, Hizashi. It’s mine as much as it’s yours. I left you behind. I panicked. I didn’t bother explaining and considering that you’re wearing your comfort clothes, it fucked you up really badly.”
Maybe Hizashi should consider getting rid of this t-shirt.
“But that’s not what I came here to do. Well, it is, but I--.” Shouta paused, before sitting up straight, shifting in his seat so his body was angled towards Hizashi and he could look him in the face. “I came to ask if--if you’d still want to be in a relationship with me despite the fact that I don’t want to have sex.”
It took Hizashi a really long time to process this, and even longer to actually say something coherent, because he ended up stuttering for several seconds before finally managing, “What?”
“I said,” Shouta repeated slowly, a bit of frustration edging into his voice, “If you’d be okay with dating me even if we don’t have sex.”
“No, I heard you.” Hizashi took a deep breath, knowing that if he didn’t he’d end up screaming or talking or both at about two hundred miles an hour. “Okay, no offense but--are you serious? You better not be fucking with me.”
Shouta looked stung, but before he could say anything Hizashi finished with “Because of course I’d be okay with being in a relationship with you even though you don’t want sex--I don’t--sex doesn’t determine--”
His words were not coming out right and his thoughts weren’t arranging themselves correctly either, all mixed up in a jigsaw puzzle he couldn’t solve to tell what the picture was, but he soon didn’t need to.
This time, Hizashi didn’t initiate anything. It was from Shouta, and it answered all (well, most) of the questions that had sprung up in his mind--a kiss that effectively shut up him up and managed to clear his head in a split second.
It wasn’t anything like their previous two kisses, more of a rush than anything particularly intimate, and when Shouta pulled away Hizashi could only stare at him, breathing becoming labored. Shouta was still close, expression serious, but the thing in his eyes that Hizashi hadn’t been able to make out earlier--it seemed close to doubt.
“Are you okay?” Hizashi asked, and Shouta blinked.
“Yeah.” His voice was rough, so he cleared his throat. “Why?”
“I don’t think you are.”
Shouta stared at him for a long time, as if unsure what to tell him or what to make of Hizashi, before sitting back against the couch and groaning.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Hizashi said, crossing his arms and keeping his eyes fixed on the coffee table. “I understand if--if you’re still trying to sort things out. Or something.”
“I didn’t even know this existed until last night.” Shouta gestured to the discarded pamphlet, and despite his exterior Hizashi could tell that there was something going on beneath. “I didn’t--I’m still not sure--I don’t understand. Not really.”
“You don’t have to,” Hizashi said, and Shouta looked back at him. “When I was ten, I didn’t really understand myself either. It’s not like I could talk about it with anyone, you know? I was on my way to becoming a pro hero. I was surrounded by people I couldn’t talk to and there were other students like me that felt like they were surrounded by people they couldn’t talk to. I grew up feeling like bi people only existed on the internet and on TV.”
It felt kind of weird talking so much about his feelings regarding his own sexuality. He’d never even told this much to Tensei, because Tensei, bless him, couldn’t quite get it even if he tried his hardest.
“I didn’t understand myself, and eventually I just decided I don’t have to. I can understand if you don’t quite feel that way, but if you say you don’t want sex, you don’t have to put a label on it, you don’t have to completely understand it.” Hizashi didn’t really know what he was talking about, really, just trying to comfort Shouta, and could only hope that it was working.“You don’t want sex. That’s it, and that’s fine.”
“When I was in high school, I thought something was wrong with me.” Shouta stared at Hizashi, his words coming out strained. “Even if it doesn’t technically matter--I thought I was messed up. Being fine with not understanding--it might work for you, but it doesn’t for me. I don’t understand myself. I don’t know if it’s normal or not.”
This may be the only time in the past fifteen years that Hizashi has seen Shouta so bothered about an aspect of himself. Shouta, who doesn’t give a flying fuck about how he comes across and says things bluntly, who doesn’t care what he looks like and has little to no regard for societal standards.
Seeing him now, struggling over something about himself and actually talking about it with him--Hizashi didn’t really understand asexuality because he couldn’t really imagine not feeling sexual attraction at all, but he still wanted to help Shouta understand or feel better about himself--because he’s been there, done that. He knows how it feels, and feeling like that sucked. It was like you were trapped and alone, and even though Hizashi had managed to pass that part of his life relatively unschathed there was no way he’d ever want to go back to that period.
“It is normal,” Hizashi assured Shouta, leaning forward a bit but still keeping a respectable distance. “There’s a ton of people like that out in the world, and even if you’re only just now finding out what it means or that it’s a thing that exists, it doesn’t mean it’s any less real. Doesn’t make your feelings any less valid.”
“Thanks for the life lesson, Dr. Phil,” Shouta said flatly, and Hizashi grinned. “But...really. Thank you.”
Hizashi could tell there was something still bothering him, but decided to leave that alone for now until Shouta was ready to talk about it. Prying into the matter any further might make Shouta not want to talk to him about it ever again.
Now, the next thing on his mind was to clear one thing up.
“So.” Hizashi picked at the hem of his t-shirt, attempting to appear nonchalant. “Are we dating? Because like I said--I’m fine if you don’t want to have sex. It doesn’t matter to me.”
“If you’re fine with it,” Shouta said, and Hizashi smiled wide, struggling to keep all his feelings condensed. He was not going to jump up and down. He wasn’t going to do that. He had good self-control. He really did.
“Is making out fine?” He asked, just to make sure there was an established boundary and a repeat of last night wouldn’t happen again.
Shouta paused, taking a while to consider it, before saying, “As long as it doesn’t lead to anything else.”
Hizashi pondered things for a moment, before leaning forward hesitantly, an unsaid question on the tip of tongue. Shouta leaned forward too, just as hesitant, slow and unsure--and then they were kissing for the fourth time. Hizashi’s probably going to be keeping count of all their kisses for the rest of his life--and at the thought of sharing more, he smiled into the kiss.
It ended up lasting a bit longer than initially planned--Shouta placed a hand on his knee and leaned in so he was pressing Hizashi against the back of the couch, who in turn slid his hands up Shouta’s arms to grip at his shoulders. The kiss was long, slow, mostly chaste until Shouta’s tongue darted out against his bottom lip and then it turned into something a bit deeper.
Hizashi can do this, he thinks. He can handle dating Shouta and kissing like this, hugging him and pressing up against him at night to absorb his body heat. There doesn’t need to be any sex involved--this is just fine. He’s fine with this.
Shouta finally pulled away, just a few inches, and they stared at each other for a long time, breaths deep and chests pressed together.
Hizashi’s phone suddenly buzzed from on the table, and he was very forcefully reminded of something. It killed his mood.
“By the way,” he told Shouta, feeling like he needed to know about the potential warzone his apartment may become. “I might have told Nemuri we’re not actually married.”
There was a pause. “Wait. You what?”
Notes:
not very happy with how this ended up turning out because i feel like i did shouta's scene wrong.
it was based off the way i myself came out to my mom and my friends. with my mom, however, she was confused and i had to retcon it by going "ha! just a joke!" my friends, however, were very understanding and have been very supportive of me. this is an appreciation post for jayden, nathaniel, saul and gabriel (??where u guys go u neEVER TEXT ANYMORE) who r. never gonna read this story but i love my friends
(also special mention to kitty and loz bc they're amazingly supportive also LOZ WHO IS NOT EVEN IN THIS FANDOM HAS WRITTEN AN ERASERMIC STORY PLS CHECK IT OUT IT'S DEATH BY FLOWERS(TM) )
ALL THAT STUFF ASIDE, i kNO W every time i say 'i'm gonna end this next chapter!!!' I NEVER ACTUALLY DO but this time i'm seriously aiming for it guys. i'm trying.
pLLLLeeaseeee leave me a review, some constructive criticism and don't be afraid to point out mistakes!!
Chapter Text
Hizashi kissed Shouta pretty much every chance he got for the rest of the day, to Shouta’s evident surprise each time. Once twisting around to catch Shouta’s lips in the kitchen, leaning over to peck him at the corner of his mouth as they ate lunch, holding his hand to his lips as they watched a movie together. He just couldn’t stop himself, really. It felt kind of surreal, almost like a dream even though he knew it wasn’t.
There weren’t really any words to describe how he was feeling, really. It happened, it definitely had, and he’d subtly pinched himself several times when Shouta wasn’t looking and also intentionally stubbed his toe against the wall just to be sure. But even if he knew it was real, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking this was some sort of magical, otherworldly experience, because holy hell this entire situation was like a really bad romantic comedy, with almost zero comedy.
One day they’re going to be old and telling people about this whole thing and they’re probably going to sound crazy and stupid. Hell, he sounded crazy and stupid right now.
That didn’t really matter though, Hizashi supposed. What mattered was that he was surprisingly--well, not surprisingly--giddy holding Shouta like this on the couch. What mattered was that Shouta was lying half on-top of him, and he was really heavy but also warm and solid and just there.
And also, currently falling victim to more of Hizashi’s kisses.
“I’m not going to disappear,” Shouta grumbled as Hizashi leaned in to press a kiss to the back of his neck, and Hizashi burst into laughter for really no reason at all. Shouta wasn’t protesting his kisses, though, so he continued.
“You know, I kind of think you will. Or at least, this will all be some really, really lucid dream and I’m gonna wake up--” Hizashi moved his mouth to Shouta’s forehead, lips ghosting over the skin there. “--and this won’t be real and I’m going to cry.”
“It’s not going to be real anymore if Nemuri comes to murder us,” Shouta pointed out, and Hizashi pressed his lips into a line. He hadn’t really been thinking the earlier action through, now that he thought of it. Honestly, he was surprised Nemuri hadn’t yet broken down his door.
“I think we should take it as a good sign she’s not here stabbing us with her heels yet,” Hizashi said, and Shouta snorted. The noise made him feel ridiculously feathery light and yet superpowered, like he could destroy the entire Earth if he wanted to right in that instant. He just. He couldn’t believe this was happening, after so many years of pining.
His fingers trailed upwards into Shouta’s hair, running them through, relishing in how soft and good it felt and how he really, really loves this man and now they’re dating and he’ll probably need, like, another thousand years to properly process this whole situation.
Processing, though, might have to wait, as a few pressing problems began to weigh down on his subconscious, becoming more urgent as the time passed. Things needed to be done, and quickly too, before this situation could get out of hand.
“So. Now that we’ve got all this sorted out,” Hizashi gestured between the two of them, “...What do we do?”
Shouta sighed, before sitting up, no longer lying on top of Hizashi. Hizashi wept internally over this loss.
“Everyone else already thinks we’re in a relationship,” Shouta stated, and Hizashi nodded. “It’s only a matter of time before they find out we’re not married.”
“Should we come clean?” Hizashi asked, racing through the possibilities in his head. “Tell them I misunderstood the paramedic that day and we’re not--we weren’t actually in a relationship until now?”
Hizashi stood up and began to pace back and forth, unable to keep still. They’d overcome one obstacle, but now it was time to leap an entire course--they could easily pass off him saying he was spouse as a moment of a panic, not hearing properly, and while that may cause backlash it could easily be rectified with a follow-up statement that they are in a relationship now, right?
...Right?
“Couldn’t we go and get a marriage license?” Shouta suggested. “Avoid all that drama so in case anybody goes digging, we have proof?”
“You saw how much was leaked from the hospital.” Hizashi shook his head, dismissing the idea with a wave of his hand. “With our luck, the licence will go over with someone who can’t keep their mouth shut and they’ll tweet about it.”
They were in silence for a few more minutes, Hizashi going over every decision in his head and trying to foresee an outcome for each. Well, they could get a marriage license in another country entirely where there’s a higher possibility that they won’t be recognized, but it was too much of a hassle. And besides, isn’t the date of getting the marriage license recorded? Then that makes the whole ‘marriage license’ idea null and void.
Maybe nobody will ever find out and they can keep going, no longer needing to pretend to be a couple now that they actually are one. But what if, one day in the future...
“If I ever did ask you to marry me, would you?” Hizashi suddenly asked, an idea beginning to take place, but he disregarded it momentarily to focus on Shouta, who snorted.
“After this past week? Sure. There’s not really a whole lot to lose.” He paused. “I really only agreed to keep pretending because I was nursing newfound feelings for you, but I think I also did it....For a student.”
“Playing favorites, I see!” Hizashi smirked, pointing aggressively at Shouta’s face. “Pretending to be married for the sake of one of your kids? You’re going soft. Wait, scratch that--you’ve always been soft.”
“You play favorites too,” Shouta said, smacking Hizashi’s finger away. “You were rooting for Uraraka in the sports festival the whole time.”
“At least I admit it.”
Shouta scowled.
“Okay, fine, you don’t play favorites. But if you don’t play favorites, why’d you say you did it for a student?”
Shouta crossed his arms, moving around a bit, and Hizashi carefully studied his expression. Shouta looked like he, too, was wondering why he’d done it. There was more silence as Shouta considered his answer, Hizashi curious to know why, exactly, Shouta had agreed to this.
“We’re heroes,” Shouta finally said, and then grimaced as if realizing what he was about to say was going to sound cheesy. “It seemed important to him and it struck me that we can be his heroes in a different way than usual. I saw no reason at the time to tell him we weren’t actually married because of our original plans--And over the week I’ve come to realize that we’re heroes to many more because of that reason.”
Hizashi took a deep breath, before bending down to squeeze the life out of Shouta in a bone-crushing hug. “You big softie. Utter, total softie.”
Shouta pushed him away, a frown on his face. “I regret telling you.”
“You should, ‘cause now I’m gonna ask which student.”
“I’m not going to tell you.”
The banter stopped as Sunday slowly faded away, both still thinking of how, exactly, to handle their current situation. Hizashi flipped mindlessly through endless TV channels, not really paying attention to what was happening onscreen and still trying to come up with a solution.
Shouta would marry him if he asked, which he most definitely wants to, but at the same time they literally just got into a relationship today. He’s aware that most of the reason Shouta would even say yes so soon in the first place was because they’d already been pretending for a week.
Under normal circumstances, would Shouta still have said yes? If they’d been dating and this whole pretending-to-be-married-gig was a concept only to the wild imagination, would he have proposed and would have Shouta said yes? Was there any chance Shouta would propose?
Hizashi’s mind ended up getting sidetracked to about a hundred different fantasies of Shouta proposing to him, two of which involved a candy ring and at least one including a dog in a tuxedo. The channels on screen were still being flipped through, but he suddenly stopped when a talk show came on. It was one he didn’t really watch, finding the host to be rather bland, but it had reminded him of something.
That’s right. The small idea he had had earlier was currently burning into something a bit bigger, and he suddenly turned to face the man beside him, alight with a really stupid plan.
“I’ve got that TV interview with Junko Kageyama tomorrow,” he said, and Shouta lifted an eyebrow. “I’ve got an idea, sorta, but I’m gonna need ask if you’re, you know, okay with it.”
Shouta was silent for awhile, and Hizashi knew he was already guessing what Hizashi’s idea was and feared Shouta would say no. After awhile, though, he said,
“Okay.”
Shouta was used to being physically close to Hizashi. That’s who Hizashi was--physically affectionate with everyone, ruffling heads and wrapping his arm around shoulders, knocking knees and jostling. Tensei and Hizashi were both this way, which had caused quite a lot of suffering on his end in high school when they suddenly decided to initiate bone-crushing group hugs.
It was something he’d grown used to, being a constant victim to Hizashi’s foot nudging him beneath the table in boring staff meetings and Hizashi often leaning too far into his personal space. It was why he never complained much whenever he and Hizashi had to share a bed and Hizashi ended up latching onto him some time in the night, because that’s just the kind of person Hizashi was.
This, however, was...different.
Many touches, light and feathery, solid and warm. Many kisses in passing, even if they weren’t doing an activity that warranted one. He didn’t protest any of them, though, content when Hizashi hands slide over his own and his lips press lightly to his cheek or temple or mouth. It was...nice.
Lying in bed too felt much different than it ever had before. They’d laid down, and after a few moments hesitation Hizashi had scooted closer, arms open in an offer, and Shouta had rolled over so his back was to Hizashi’s chest and Hizashi’s arms loosely around his waist. Even if this feeling was familiar, it was also off.
It’s not like Hizashi’s never snuggled against him in bed before.
It was the context that was different.
Something painfully romantic and sappy and fuzzy, something that hadn’t been there before. He felt calm and relaxed, a sharp contrast from the night before and this morning. He’d been tense and on edge doing the smallest activities this morning, like making coffee and getting dressed. Riding the train had been even worse, with several gazes straying his way, no doubt recognizing him from the picture that seemed to be plastered all over the news and internet.
After they talked though, he’d felt infinitely better. Maybe it had to do with finding some sort of peace of mind with the recent revelation and Hizashi’s assurance, or just coming to associate Hizashi with comfort at this point in his life, being his closest friend and now...Well, boyfriend sounds silly, so he’ll settle with partner.
He could feel Hizashi’s breath even out on the back of his neck, and he too, ended up falling asleep rather quickly.
The morning felt normal--Hizashi was up two hours before they needed to leave to shower, do his routine, eat, and Shouta had to be dragged out of bed when they had ten minutes left to get ready. Falling asleep was often hard but getting up was even harder, further proven when Hizashi practically leapt on top of him to startle him awake and he’d merely fallen back asleep.
“Eat this toast,” Hizashi told him as he shuffled past, stuffing a piece of bread into Shouta’s hand. It wasn’t even toasted, and a thin slice of butter was in the middle, not having been spread. Shouta took a bite anyways, knowing if he didn’t Hizashi would use forceful action to get him to eat.
They left the apartment and stepped into the elevator, Shouta still trying to shake off the clinging dregs of sleepiness and Hizashi bouncing on the balls of his feet, way too energetic this early in the morning.
“Look at those vultures,” Hizashi seethed as the elevator door dinged opened--the inside of the elevator was hidden just out of view from the reporters, but it wouldn’t be long until they noticed them. Shouta had narrowly managed to avoid them yesterday, a towering but friendly stranger recognizing him and walking with him to the elevator, her bulking size keeping him hidden from those desperate for a new story.
There were even more reporters here today than all week, after that news story from the ball, and weekday mornings they were guaranteed to step into the lobby to get in and out of the building--which is where they all crowded, cameras at the ready, no doubt waiting for them to arrive with cameras and notepads at the ready.
“Just walk calmly and keep stoic, there’s not much information they can milk out of that,” Shouta suggested, adjusting his capturing weapon around his neck.
“You’d be surprised,” Hizashi groaned, before beginning to walk towards the door quickly, Shouta following. He kept his head bowed so a good portion of his face was concealed by his scarf, his hair managing to obscure the rest from their greedy cameras. They probably would have swarmed them had it not been for the apartment security, already thoroughly fed-up with so many of them sticking around daily, barking at the journalists and cameramen to back off.
“Just imagine the state of it tonight when we get home,” Hizashi noted as they got into his car. Shouta hummed, trying not to think about the TV interview. He’d agreed to Hizashi’s plan but was unsure of how much it might actually help--of course, Hizashi telling him already what he planned to do took away the novelty of what the situation was supposed to be, but this was a unique case.
“So if I’m officially moving in with you, I’ll have to talk over my lease with the apartment owner before it’s renewed.” Shouta grimaced at the thought of having to go over all the paperwork that came with moving. Even with his apartment’s general plumbing problems and not having heating half the time, he’d never moved out because just the thought of having to look for another place sounded painful.
Vaguely he recalled Tensei’s joking(?) offer from four months ago, saying Shouta could move in with him and his family. Aside from not wanting to take advantage of someone else or rely on them, sharing a household with one of his students is probably one of the worst things he could ever have thought of, and was why he tended to avoid his own dorm on Yuuei grounds if he didn’t have a whole lot of work in favor of his own apartment.
“I’ll have to add you onto my lease, as well,” Hizashi added, taking a sharp turn to avoid traffic. “You know, now that we’re, like, dating--we can do all sorts of domestic stuff now!”
“Like what?” Shouta snorted.
“Grocery shopping, movie nights, cuddling up when we go to bed--” Hizashi’s face morphed into one of realization. “Wait a minute.”
Shouta’s snorting turned into a full-blown laugh at the look on Hizashi’s reddening face, the blonde sputtering “Dude!”
“I think we were already domestic enough. Any more domestic and we’d just be your parents.”
“I haven’t heard from them in a while,” Hizashi said, switching topics, though his face still held hints of red. “I’m surprised they didn’t call me the moment the news started saying we’re married.”
“Maybe they’ll call you tonight.”
“Yeah. Dad loves Junko, so they might be watching!”
At school they attracted quite a lot of stares and whispers, and Shouta wondered if this was going to be a repeat of last Monday. Entering the staff room, the first thing they were faced with was--
“You two!”
“I’ve got a class to teach,” Shouta said immediately, whirling around, but Nemuri had already snagged his tracksuit. He could feel her nails digging into his back, and knew it was futile. They’d be murdered before the day had even properly started. Hizashi was still resisting frantically, trying to tell Nemuri to calm down.
“Nemuri, please,” Hizashi begged, the material of his jacket straining from her fingers. “I was going to tell you, I promise--”
“Zip it, Hizashi! After yesterday’s little--stunt--you both have a lot of explaining to do. I will not accept any sort of half-assed answer or apology from either of you.” Nemuri’s grip somehow got even tighter, and Shouta was pulled close to her face, forced to stare into her livid blue eyes. “And we’re gonna discuss this as soon as work as over. I’m taking you guys to some back alley ramen shop, we’re going to eat, laugh, and then I’m going to kick your asses and call Tensei and have him come here to roll over your asses with his goddamn wheelchair--”
“Nemuri!” Hizashi’s voice raised loudly and several of the other teachers who were watching flinched. Shouta placed his hand around Nemuri’s wrist and managed to yank himself free, which might not have been the best idea, because she immediately moved both of her hands so they were dangerously close to Hizashi’s neck.
“I’ll kill you,” Nemuri hissed, thankfully quieter than before. “How dare--you’re not--this is--”
“I think maybe we should all calm down,” Toshinori intervened, and Shouta had never been more relieved to see him. “Midnight, I’m sure killing someone will get your hero license revoked among other, far more worse things.”
Nemuri stepped away, still clearly angry, but stomped off towards her desk and sat down with a huff. Shouta thought Hizashi would have had the common sense to explain to her what had happened after he sent her the initial texts about their fake marriage, but apparently not.
Shouta gathered some of his things from his desk, listening to Toshinori’s rambling as everybody else returned to whatever they were doing, though still occasionally shooting him curious looks. Hizashi avoided Nemuri like the plague, dodging around everyone as he spouted morning greetings just to make sure he wasn’t within ten feet of her.
“Everything good?” Thirteen asked as they passed by, pausing to look at Shouta, who shrugged, not wanting to elaborate. Thirteen hesitated before continuing their way to greet Snipe, leaving Shouta wondering how many people would try asking him if he was okay.
As the time for class to start grew nearer, he stood up and began to head out, but to his dismay Toshinori followed, keeping close behind.
“Aizawa, my man,” he began, and Shouta already knew what was coming. “About Saturday--I don’t mean to pry, but is everything alright? I can understand that so much publicity on someone who doesn’t want publicity can be frustrating and cause strained attitudes, but--”
“It’s fine,” Shouta said in a clipped voice, stopping to look up at the taller man. Even in his deflated form he was a good foot taller than him, and it wasn’t easy on his neck. “We sorted through everything.”
“I’m glad,” Toshinori said, smiling. “Your relationship is still good, right? This hasn’t--you know, ruined anything? Oh, that sounded bad, I meant--”
“It’s the same as it’s always been.”
“That’s good to hear!” Toshinori laughed, but it was a little awkward. “Really, are you sure?”
“Yes,” Shouta insisted, wondering why Toshinori had to be such a nosy and nice person. “I have a class to get to. Goodbye.”
Only it wasn’t like his students would be much better. They were equally as nosy if not more so than Toshinori. Hovering outside the door, he wondered if he should just assign them their test today so nobody would bother him, before deciding against it.
When he stepped into the room, silence fell, which he immediately took to be a bad sign. Stepping to the front of the room, he faced all his students, before saying in a careful voice:
“Anybody who asks about my private life or any of my relationships today will get extra homework. Study hall. Use it wisely.”
The class burst into whispers as he sat down at his desk, flipping open one of the folders he’d gathered from the staff room to stare disdainfully down at the papers he needed to grade. Wonderful.
At least the class seemed to be taking their upcoming test seriously, most of them with their books out, so he’d hopefully be able to go through them without interruption. He could feel several eyes on him, though, and it was making him bristle slightly. If this was how they were now, perhaps tonight would make them even worse.
Soon it was time to transition, and Shouta knew Hizashi taught his class next and could only hope that Hizashi wouldn’t tell them much of anything. As he and Hizashi passed one another in the hallway, Hizashi smiled and bumped into him lightly, giving him a small wave.
The staff room was nearly empty save Hound Dog and Nemuri, who was sitting at her desk and thankfully looking much calmer than she’d been this morning. Her head was bent over something, so he stepped in without her notice.
He wasn’t tired enough to warrant a nap on the couch, so he sat at his own desk, but had barely done so when Nemuri’s head snapped up and her eyes fixated on his. She stood abruptly and stomped over, heels clacking loudly on the floor and filled with determination.
“Let’s go out and talk,” she said, and it was a command rather than a request. At least she looked less likely to kill him now.
Shouta followed her out into the hallway, where nobody was around to listen to them speak. When they were sure they were in the clear, she whirled around to glare.
“So I get a text yesterday saying everything was fake,” she said coolly, hands on her hips. “And I get this text after the news broadcasts your miserable mug on every available surface--so imagine how much I’ve agonized in the last twenty-four hours, hoping your dumb ass is okay! You never said one word to me! Not a single text from you was sent my way, no phone call, nothing!”
Apologizing would do nothing and only further her anger, so Shouta chose to keep silent as she continued raving, the familiar concern in her voice hidden underneath layers of fury.
“I hope you two worked everything out and that your last memories will be of each other when you die, because I will kill you, but before I kill you I will chain you up and--” Nemuri fingers curled, her expression of one who was imagining strangling her enemies. “I just--I fucking hope you’re okay you big piece of shit.”
“Yes,” Shouta said slowly, and her eyebrows raised, so he elaborated. “Everything was sorted out yesterday.”
“Well, I’m glad,” Nemuri smiled, voice betraying her relief, and her demeanor changed considerably. “So...Not really a couple, are you? Are we all back to square one?”
“No,” Shouta said, and Nemuri’s eyes widened. “It’s a long story.”
“But you’re together?”
He knew she would eventually pry it from him anyways, knowing at least a million different ways to torture him and get him to talk, so he sighed and nodded. Nemuri turned away from him for a moment, as if needing to compose herself, before facing him again and attempting to deliver a kick to his shin, which he dodged.
“I better be invited to the wedding!” She grinned, ferocious. “I’m totally the maid of honor, right?”
“Who else?” Shouta snorted, and Nemuri pumped her fist in the air. Her mood suddenly changed again though, her hand dropping to her side as she fixed him with a worried look.
“What happened Saturday? I already heard from Hizashi, but what’s your story?”
“Now’s not the place to talk,” Shouta said, slipping his hands in his pockets. He appreciated Nemuri and her sisterly concern for him, and knew she deserved an explanation after worrying yesterday. “Tonight sometime after nine, alright?”
Nemuri smirked, that familiar expression of prurient curiosity on her face as she adjusted her glasses. “Got a date or something before that?”
“Yes,” Shouta responded flatly, already walking past. “With my bed.”
Hizashi’s last class ended with with a bang (quite literally, as someone had used their Quirk to get everyone to shut up) and he rushed over to Shouta’s classroom, waiting for him as his class filed out. He gave a smile and a wave to several of the students, who in return waved back. They’d all tried pressing him for details over what had happened during the weekend, but he’d kept his mouth shut with another promise that he’d tell them details tomorrow. Once everyone was gone, he slid in, hyped and prepared already for tonight.
“How’s my favorite grumpy boyfriend doing?” He grinned, finger guns pointing, and Shouta gave him an unimpressed stare. “What? I totally get to call you that now.”
“Doesn’t mean you should,” Shouta said, though it didn’t sound like he was actually protesting it. Hizashi sidled up to where he was standing, sorting through all his things, and rested his chin on Shouta’s shoulder.
“You can do that later,” Hizashi said. “We’ve got to get going in case preparation goes south.”
“‘Preparation.’ Really, we only need one thing.”
“Do you know how long it takes to shop? Really long! I should know, my producer dragged me out to help him once!”
Shouta shrugged Hizashi off of his shoulder to bend down and grab at his rolled-up sleeping bag. “By the way, Nemuri’s probably coming over around nine.”
“She’s not going to kill me, is she?”
“Who knows?” Shouta asked, an amused lilt to his voice, and Hizashi knew he was enjoying being vague far too much. “Let’s go.”
“Got any grading to do?”
“I’ve already done it.”
“Sweet!” Hizashi slipped his hand into Shouta’s, who stiffened a bit at the sudden contact. Hizashi nearly retracted his hand, cursing at himself in his head, knowing that Shouta wouldn’t want to do any sort of that PDA stuff--but Shouta’s palm pressed against his tightly for a second, a squeeze, and they walked like that out to his car. The reporters around the school had dwindled down to only a few this week, the others having tired of getting nowhere, though this meant that the demands for an interview and questions being directed their way were more clearly heard.
Hizashi didn’t particularly like or dislike the media, but after their coverage of USJ and the lodge, painting Shouta in a bad light, he decided he doesn’t really care for them--especially since half the time in recent articles they don’t even remember Shouta’s name and merely refer to him as ‘Present Mic’s husband.’
Though this time for sure, the media would definitely have tons to cover, though they’d be more conflicted than before. Hizashi had no doubt in his mind that not many would believe what he was going to say, especially since it was only half a truth. He’d already mapped out every possibility in his mind and every expected reaction, so he was prepared for everything. He’d even sent a text to Nemuri already explaining a bit of what he was going to do so she didn’t mow down his door later in the evening.
Back at his apartment he changed into plain clothes, having already emailed Junko and been assured he didn’t need to show up in costume. The directions to her studio were in his phone and the interview would begin at seven thirty, so he had some time to kill. Shouta had changed as well, and it was at Hizashi’s suggestion that they headed out again for a quick bite to eat.
Hizashi bounced his knee up and down, feeling an edge of nervousness creep up his spine as they ate sashimi silently. TV interviews and radio interviews were vastly different--with radio, only your words had to be careful and controlled, well thought-out, and it was something he was good at. On TV though, not only did your words have to be careful, but your movements, interactions, facial expressions. They all had to be practiced and precise. A wrong move or a slip-up could fall under scrutiny from the media, something he’s seen happen countless of times.
Of course, it wasn’t like this wouldn’t raise some controversy anyways, but this was honestly the best thing to do besides just coming out with the whole truth--because perhaps not a whole lot of people would honestly believe they only got into a relationship after pretending to be in a relationship. He’d doubt that even in fiction.
“You’re shaking the table,” Shouta said, breaking Hizashi away from his thoughts, and he apologized. “It’s fine. Stop worrying, you do this kind of stuff all the time.”
“This is way different, Shouta.”
“I was trying to make you feel better.”
“Well, you’ve always been terrible at words of comfort,” Hizashi smiled, and Shouta simply glared. “But I’m super nervous. I had trouble talking to you--what about the entirety of Japan?”
“Thirty million people watch her show, at most.”
“Yeah, because that’s not a lot or anything. And I’m pretty sure it’s way more than that.”
Shouta hesitated, before reaching his hand over and placing it on Hizashi’s arm, a show of comfort. “It’s fine. Just. I don’t know, imagine me there or something.”
“Can’t you sit in the audience?” Hizashi begged, putting on his best puppy-dog gaze and even sliding his glasses down for maximum effect. “Or, she said you were welcome to even sit up there and be interviewed with me!”
“This is far too much publicity already,” Shouta withdrew, sighing heavily. “I’d rather stay out of the spotlight until it’s actually time for it.”
Hizashi conceded, but despite all the talk still felt high-strung. They had one more thing to do before heading to the studio, so they finished eating quickly and drove towards the shopping center they’d gone to before to get Shouta’s suit. The radio was low and played mindless pop music, and before Hizashi got out of the car he turned it off.
“Well, this is going to be a thing,” he breathed out heavily, before turning to look at the other man. “I can do this. Tell me I can do this.”
“You can do this,” Shouta deadpanned.
“Excellent!” Hizashi leaned forward to kiss Shouta’s cheek. “Better already, love.”
Shouta’s face flushed, and Hizashi reveled in his cute expression.
“Will she really be able to help?” Shouta finally asked as Hizashi undid his seatbelt and pushed open the car door.
“Trust me, she’s been planning my wedding for me ever since the day I met her,” Hizashi replied as he stepped out. “If she doesn’t have one, I’ll eat my own hair.” He then headed into the store, light on his feet. “Afternoon, Kawamoto!”
Notes:
there was a slight change of plan :'D
the hurricane has struck us hard and with all the flooding and stuff i've been desperately hoping the power and wifi won't go out, so in order to not have more than 10 day's wait time for another chapter in case they DO, i rushed to get this one done and decided to have one more much shorter chapter as the last one in hopefully a week or so!!!!
by then, hopefully, the rain will be gone and i'll still have power!!!! it's kinda bad right now, the first day of school has been postponed from august 28th to september 5th;;;;hey at least no high school for another week!!!
SO ANYWAYS,,,,,i hope u liked this chapter? nothing important happens, just them being Gay(tm), and i'm really fucking transparent at all the things i plan, lmao
PL EASE LEAVE A REVIEW like just in case this hurricane kills me. leave me a review guys. this is my dyign wish. ple--
i die
Chapter Text
Kirishima didn’t watch TV regularly. He only did it after long hours of training when his body was sore and demanded for a little relaxation, and the numerous action flicks and comedy shows at the ready called for him. Sometimes he and his friends grouped together to watch certain shows, to Bakugou’s annoyance, but he was definitely going to watch Junko tonight to see if the rumors of her getting Present Mic to interview were true.
The Voice Hero had been unusually tight-lipped about everything in class today, not answering anybody’s questions, which had only made Kirishima feel a little more disheartened. He’d had a blast on Saturday, but had woken up Sunday to Mina banging on his door and yelling about “THEY’RE GETTING A DIIIIIVORCE!”
Thankfully, they weren’t actually getting a divorce and it had been a trick of Mina’s to get his attention, but reading the news story had made him feel awful. What had happened?! They’d danced and everything had looked cool and it was all fine, right? So how could that have all gone wrong so soon after?!
Hopefully, they’d all be getting answers soon.
“Do we really need popcorn for this?” Sero asked as Mina passed around the bowl of buttery deliciousness. “It’s like, an hour of talkshow stuff.”
“If Mic-sensei is on, maybe he’ll talk about what happened!” Kaminari suggested, grabbing a handful and stuffing it into his mouth. “And besides, we all love popcorn, and it’d be a damned shame if we didn’t have any.”
“Stop talking,” Bakugou grumbled.
“Dude, it’s the ads. We’re good.”
“Talking is what’s fun about this!” Mina shouted, practically draping herself across Kaminari and Kirishima. “Reacting, joking, crying together!”
“I doubt there’ll be a lot of crying,” Sero snorted, the popcorn bowl settled in his lap. They all went back and forth for a couple of seconds, until--
“Shh, guys, it’s starting!” Kirishima hushed as the title card flashed onscreen. The show started off as usual--Junko greeting the audience present with her and watching from home, waving enthusiastically and accepting audience questions.
“I always wonder how she gets her hair to do that,” Kaminari wondered as the audience laughed at a terrible pun. “That’s the biggest ponytail I’ve ever seen. Yaoyorozu’s got nothing on her.”
“This is stupid,” Bakugou said, crossing his arms and sliding down in his seat.
“You think everything is stupid,” Mina grumbled, poking him in the stomach. Kirishima had to throw his arm out to prevent Bakugou from hitting her.
Twenty minutes into the show and no guests had been called forth, but that didn’t mean he’d lost hope--maybe they were just going to do the guest stuff in the later half! That happened sometimes!
“I’m going to get us drinks,” Sero announced, setting the bowl on top of Mina’s stomach and standing up. The little fridge in the corner was stocked full with drinks, almost all of them healthy because Sero was an absolute health nut. He returned with five water bottles and distributed them.
“Bet I can drink mine faster,” Mina challenged, sitting up and placing the bowl back in Sero’s lap.
“Oh, you’re on!” Kaminari grinned, and they both began to gulp down their drinks. Kirishima was almost worried that one of them would choke.
“Hey, you cheated and spilled some!”
“It was an accident!”
“Cheeeeaaaater!”
“Shut up!” Bakugou yelled, and they all quieted as someone came onstage--it took Kirishima a moment to actually recognize it as Present Mic, with his hair in a bun and dressed in casual clothing. He wore thick rimmed glasses and a green jacket over a white v-neck, and Kirishima was honestly surprised he could look so...normal?
To be fair, he’s only seen his teacher with a hairstyle three feet high and in a purple suit that almost seemed to glow at certain angles. To think he could actually dress like a regular citizen seemed almost alien.
“His hair is really pretty,” Mina commented as she settled back into the couch, and Kaminari moved to take off his wet sweatshirt. His elbow knocked into Sero’s face and the popcorn bowl in Sero’s lap spilled onto the ground as he jumped in pain.
“Oh, FUCK!” Bakugou yelled, and chaos broke out.
Kirishima was kneed in the groin on accident by Bakugou, and Kaminari scrambled away onto the bed as fast as he could. Sero mourned the loss of the popcorn while Mina snickered and laid across the couch, placing her head on top of the armrest Bakugou had abandoned.
“Dude, it was an accident. Don’t kill him!” Kirishima called, watching Bakugou approach Kaminari menacingly. He couldn’t move since half of Mina’s weight was on top of him and getting up would be rude.
“Maybe Pikachu should watch what the fuck he’s doing,” Bakugou gritted out, fists clenching. “That was our last bag of popcorn.”
“Chill!” Kaminari begged, throwing his hands up in surrender. “I’ll get us all ice cream later!”
“I’m holding you to that, asshole. Raccoon Eyes, get off my spot.”
“Finders keepers,” Mina said, and Kirishima’s skin hardened as Bakugou exploded.
They ended up missing the first ten minutes of the interview in total, and by the time they had all actually settled down compromises had been made and all messes had been cleaned. Junko and Present Mic were in the middle of talking about all the press activity and media response to the whole marriage thing.
“--positive, correct?”
“Yeah, so much of it has been positive!” Present Mic laughed. Even off-duty and in civvies, he was unnaturally loud and energetic. “Which I’m so thankful for. Thirteen came out to me and I was the first to know, and I felt like really honored--and reading about all the people who have done the same is super nice!”
“Well, us gays have to stick together,” Junko winked, and the audience laughed.
“What if all the girls in the crowd are her girlfriends?” Sero said.
“She’s not gonna have that many, dumbass. Maybe, like, five.”
“Five is too much!”
“Shut up!” Bakugou commanded, knocking his fist against Mina’s forehead. She was treating the four boys like her own personal couch, with her head in Bakugou’s lap and feet in Kaminari’s. Maybe Kirishima and Bakugou should’ve switched seats so Bakugou couldn’t hit Mina’s face as easily.
Kirishima took another sip from his water, listening to what was being said closely. Nothing from Saturday was brought up besides a mention of how they’d danced, but Kirishima kept holding out just in case they’d talk about it in the final moments of the show. This felt strangely important to him, but weird at the same time. He shouldn’t be this invested in his teachers’ love lives, should he?
Well...He’s always wondered if he could ever date and get married if he became a pro hero. If nobody else would have come out by then, Kirishima would have thought he’d be manly enough to become the first openly gay pro hero and help out all the kids who were like him. He’d be an inspiration! He’d help everyone who felt lost and scared and unsure! The first one to do it, the honorable Red Riot!
But Aizawa-sensei and Mic-sensei were the first ones to do it. Even if it had been unwillingly, they hadn't tried to deny or say it was wrong--they became the first openly gay heroes in Japan! They made him feel much more braver than he would have been if they hadn't ever come out!
Of course, that doesn’t mean those who kept it private weren’t manly at all--quite the opposite! They were super manly and brave!
It was just...
Well.
Maybe he was kind of projecting onto his teachers a bit? He didn’t know the word for it--he just knew that he suddenly felt a lot closer to them before even if that wasn’t actually true.
And besides, this whole situation had brought forward a whole slew of questions in his head as well as the courage to ask out Bakugou. Would he have done it if all of this hadn’t happened?
Eventually, he’d like to think he would have. But who knew?
But all this had happened--and it wasn’t a question now if Bakugou would go out with him, but a question of...
“Hey, Bakugou,” Kirishima said, and Bakugou glanced over at him, scowling. “Would you marry me one day?”
Mina sat up so fast she ended up startling Sero out of his seat and causing Kaminari to cry out in pain from her heels digging into his thighs. “Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa!”
“Why ask me that now, shitty-hair?” Bakugou grumbled, and to Kirishima’s relief he didn’t really sound angry. “We’re way too young to talk about that. Ask me again in five years.”
“That’s basically a yes,” Sero said, and Bakugou barked for them to shut up once again and turned away, arms crossed tighter across his chest, but Kirishima could see the faint blush creeping up on the back of his neck. Kirishima smiled wide, before leaning against the other boy, satisfied with the answer, and returned his attention to the screen.
“So, Mic,” Junko said, her audience still laughing from a previous joke. “We’ve gotten through all the fluff--tell us how you proposed! This is a moment I’ve been waiting for all week, honestly.”
Present Mic hesitated for a second, and Junko continued speaking.
“Me and my girlfriend--she’s Quirkless, you know--you’re our hero. You and Eraserhead, and I don’t think it’s just us--I know it’s not just us--so I’m sorry for that personal question, but...I think we all want to know. You made history here. The details--how brave you were for even asking in the first place! Was it an adrenaline-filled moment or had it been planned long before?”
“Well, before I start saying pretty much anything else,” Present Mic said, and his voice sounded even louder than before, a certain edge to it that made Kirishima feel nervous. “I’ve got something to admit.”
The room was deathly still. The room they currently sat in, on the couch and draped all across it, and the room the show was being filmed--the audience was tense, hardly breathing, and even Junko, normally so light-hearted, had an anxious curve to her smile.
Kirishima didn’t know what he was expecting, didn’t know why his stomach dropped like that--didn’t know when he’d stopped breathing, either, and when Bakugou had stiffened up beside him, jaw clenched.
“Shou--Eraserhead and I...aren’t actually married.”
The low din of the audience became an uproar. Mina fell off their laps, Kaminari electrocuted Sero, and Kirishima unconsciously crushed the bottle in his hands. The loudest reaction of all, however, was Bakugou exploding again, with a yell of “What the FUCK?!”
Hizashi had never been so nervous in his life. The bright lights were shining right in his face, and he could only hope the sweat beading down the side of it wasn’t that noticeable. He subtly wiped his sweaty palms against his knees as he waited for the crowd to silence, and he could see Shouta sitting near the front, hunched over and watching him carefully. Nobody had seemed to recognize him, which was half the reason Shouta had even agreed to sit in the stands.
Seeing his friend--boyfriend, he reminded himself--sitting there calmly amid the rowdiness of everyone else helped ground him. Hizashi took a steadying breath, looking towards Junko, who was staring at a spot above the cameras blankly, her mouth agape. When she noticed him staring, she regained her composure and asked loudly,
“Was that a joke?”
“No,” he said, and it was met with more yells from the crowd. Junki stared at him, before lifting one hand and waving it aggressively. Everyone silenced themselves almost immediately, and Junko spoke again.
“So what you mean to tell us is...You’re not in a relationship with another dude? You’re not gay, and this whole thing is...a lie?”
Well, it sounded even worse when she said it like that.
But that was why they were only saying half the truth here--because Hizashi knew if the whole truth was said, there would be absolutely no way he could come back from this. Even if he married Shouta for real, it wouldn’t fix anything.
He’d thought about this long and hard before deciding this was the best course of action--a bit of a lie but a whole lot of truth. It was the best they could do about the situation, because all the other alternatives had even worse endings that ranged from them losing their jobs to being viewed as liars and frauds for the rest of their lives.
This plan...well, it was just a little lie. Something nobody could prove.
Hopefully.
“You’ve got it wrong,” Hizashi said, surprised that his voice was still clear and steady despite the suffocating feeling in his throat. “I may not be married to him, but we’re still in a relationship. We’ve been dating for...a year, now.”
There was noise from Junko’s audience again, but it was murmuring and whispers instead of yells and booing.
“It was a mistake at the hospital,” Hizashi continued, and he could feel everyone’s eyes on him. Right. He had this. He had planned this last night, on his whiteboard. He knew what to say, what to do. He just had to think about it and he wouldn’t screw up. “I was panicking, you see. They asked me if I was his spouse--and it didn’t really register in my mind, because I was panicking, and I said yes...Even though it wasn’t true. We were only dating--not married.”
“I see,” Junko said slowly, as if she didn’t know how to respond. She looked floored and confused, which was good because it left room for Hizashi to keep talking and explaining. Only now, he was delving away from the lie and more into truthful territory.
“I don’t want anybody to be mistaken about this,” he said, and his voice came out even louder now. He was pretty sure he’d accidentally put some of his Quirk into it. “I am in a relationship with Eraserhead--Shouta Aizawa, learn his name--and I love him so, so much. I don’t want anybody to be wrong about that! I want everyone to know that!”
Hizashi paused, swallowing. This was so different from speaking on the radio and he was pretty sure he was about to die, but he kept on talking.
“He’s the world to me, he’s my everything, to be honest. I don’t think I could do half of what I do now--hero work and teaching--if it weren’t for him. He keeps me down-to-Earth and prevents me from making dumb decisions and he’s there for me when I start breaking down.”
His eyes found Shouta’s again--and people noticed, beginning to whisper and point at him. It was true--juggling three jobs at once often took a toll on Hizashi and it was always Shouta there for him, there to tell him to take a break for once, and now Shouta’s here again, not saying anything but helping just by being there.
Hizashi’s got this. He’s got this.
“Even though I love him that much--even though every moment I’m awake I wish I was brave enough to ask him to marry me--we’re not married.”
More murmuring from the crowd, but louder. Junko’s hand was over her mouth, and she looked like she wanted to cry, but Hizashi couldn’t tell if it was because she was upset or what, so he kept talking.
“It started waaaaay back in high school, you know? He was my best friend--no hard feelings, Tensei?--and we just fit together like puzzle pieces despite being so different. And we still fit together. We’ve fit with one another for years, fifteen years, and that’s half our lives. I’ve been in love with Shouta Aizawa for almost half of my entire life.”
Hizashi couldn’t hear the crowd or see Junko, now. He could only hear his own words as he continued speaking, continued doing what he does his best at--in all three of his jobs, his voice being the most important thing, and outside of work still relying on that voice so, so much, and now he was using it to admit what he’s felt for fifteen long years.
“We recently got over a few differences between us--like, really recently, and really important differences. It’s super important that we talk to each other, because we’re so different, get it? But at the same time, I know what he’s feeling from a glance and vice versa. And even though we tell each other so many things, this is the first time I’m saying all of this--that he means so much to me and honestly, I should say it more often, and that’s why--”
Wait, is he crying now? Are his eyes burning from the lights or from crying? He can’t tell. Nothing exists now except for him and Shouta, sitting there, right there in the audience--
Hizashi stood up, nearly stumbling as he did so, and made his way to where Shouta sat, calm and composed, expression betraying nothing. This was Hizashi’s plan and, well, crying and all that wasn’t really a part of it, and he’d had a few more things to say before he moved onto this part, but who fucking cares.
“Shouta Aizawa,” Hizashi said, and this time he wasn’t saying it for the audience or anybody else but Shouta, who was there, across from him, slouched and looking adorable and tired and just--like Shouta. Hizashi was down on his knees, one of his arms perched across Shouta’s own, so his face was relatively close to the other’s. Even though Shouta’s face was blank and impassive as he had trained it to be, there was something in his eyes that only Hizashi himself could see.
Hizashi slid his hand into his pocket, feeling like if he left it in there any longer it’d burn a hole right through it, and he shakily held it out towards his boyfriend, his best friend, his Shouta, and asked,
“Shouta Aizawa, will you continue making me the happiest man alive?”
And even though--even though they’d already talked about this yesterday, had planned it out, and even though it had been repeating in his mind all day like a broken record, Hizashi still waited for an answer with bated breath, his heart about ready to beat itself out of his chest.
This is real, he told himself, and the ring nearly slipped between his fingers. This is real, and I’m asking for real, and--
“Yeah,” Shouta said, his blank exterior cracking as the corners of his mouth upturned into a smile--and before he could stop himself Hizashi surged forward to kiss Shouta because, because, because--
We’re getting married for real.
The screaming from the crowd was making his head spin, and rather than be assaulted with hundreds of question like Hizashi was, Shouta managed to escape from the seats into backstage, looking for the door they had come through so he could wait in Hizashi’s car. Hizashi had dropped the ring into his lap, so he currently had it in his hand and was examining it.
He hadn’t gotten a good look at it earlier, but now that he was seeing it up close he realized it was surprisingly...plain. Coming from a woman like Kawamoto, at least. It was titanium with light red markings on the inside and outside, and after a moment’s hesitation he slid it onto his finger.
It was too small, unsurprisingly, but it felt...nice.
Well, the ring didn’t feel nice, though it was surprisingly cold even though it had been stuck in Hizashi’s pocket for so long. What felt nice was this sort of...satisfying feeling in his chest, like it was all over. They’d resolved this situation, their personal and public ones, and everything was alright.
Everything was going to be fine.
Hizashi came out about fifteen minutes later, stumbling into the driver's’ side and starting the engine, but before Shouta could ask if he was alright Hizashi was leaning over once again to kiss him.
His lips were wet from him licking them too many times, his palms sweaty as they placed themselves on Shouta’s cheeks, but he didn’t mind or care.
“I love you,” Hizashi said once he broke away, eyes wide, panting. “I love you so much and--holy shit.”
“Yeah,” Shouta said. “Holy shit.”
“I just did that.”
“You just did that.”
“Oh god,” Hizashi groaned, shifting gears so they could pull out of the parking lot, eyeing the camera crew near the studio wearily.“The media’s gonna have a field day. I’m so sorry.”
“I already told you last night--this is the best we can do,” Shouta said, but despite their words they were both smiling, eyes bright and hearts racing. “So if we’re getting married for real, I’ll need a ring that fits.”
“Of course, sweetheart,” Hizashi grinned, and Shouta felt his face burn in response to the nickname, something he wasn’t quite used to yet. “I’m just so glad she did have a ring--in my size, even! I never told her my size before!”
“She probably guessed it from how many times she’s measured you,” Shouta said, examining the ring once again. It was dark and ugly against his own pale skin, but it’d look much better on Hizashi’s finger than his own. Besides, Shouta wasn’t exactly a jewellry guy--but he’d make an exception.
God, is this what sappy couples think about? What kind of ring they want the other to buy them? He needs to get his head checked, he’s sure he has a concussion of some sorts.
The media outside of Hizashi’s apartment building was overwhelming, and Shouta would have suggested they just drive back to his apartment if his key wasn’t upstairs in Hizashi’s. They stared at the swarm, already feeling exhausted, before stepping out reluctantly.
“Scream and run?” Hizashi suggested, locking the car behind them.
“Power-walk. No screaming.”
“No fun.”
“I’m tired,” Shouta muttered, leaning against Hizashi and closing his eyes. “Carry me?”
“You do realize the cameras are going to take a hundred pictures of you, right?” Hizashi asked incredulously.
“I don’t care. I’m tired.”
Hizashi laughed, before bending down and allowing Shouta to clamber onto his back, his fingers linking over Hizashi’s chest. Shouta closed his eyes and focused on the warmth emanating from Hizashi, his cheek pressed against the side of his neck which was soft and devoid of any cold jewellry, making it comfortable enough to use as a pillow of sorts.
He couldn’t see the cameras or the journalists or any of that stuff, which was the way he preferred it--Hizashi’s hands shifted from beneath his thighs and he felt the cold draft of the apartment building as they entered. There were no noises of the media inside, so he could only assume they’d gotten too much for the security and had been ushered and kept outside.
Shouta only opened his eyes when he was sure they were outside of Hizashi’s door, and Hizashi practically dumped him on the couch once they entered. Shouta stared up at Hizashi, who was hovering above him with his hands planted on either side of Shouta’s head, face slack.
“We did that,” Hizashi murmured softly, his glasses slipping down his nose as he spoke. “I proposed.”
Shouta cleared his throat, and said back, “You did.”
“And you said yes.”
Hizashi’s eyes were wet, and Shouta reached up to gently take his glasses off of his face, folding them and placing them on the coffee table besides them. He could hear the way Hizashi was breathing, almost like a shudder, and realized his own breathing matched.
“I did,” Shouta finally said, his words almost a whisper.
He half-expected Hizashi to kiss him, but nothing came. Hizashi just continued staring down, eyes wet, mouthing words Shouta couldn’t hear. Shouta kept his eyes on Hizashi’s as he pushed himself up with his elbows, heart beating at a million miles a minute inside his chest, noses bumping together and breath shared.
Shouta’s lost track of how many times they’ve kissed, stopped keeping count the day before when Hizashi had kissed him every five seconds--but so far, this is the best one they’ve shared. He felt wetness on his face, and thought to himself that Hizashi was finally crying, but the other didn’t make any move to pull away so he didn’t either.
They eventually stopped kissing and Hizashi collapsed on top of him, his body fitting against Shouta’s easily, face buried in his neck and Shouta’s legs wrapped around his own. It was very comfortable, and he would’ve closed his eyes to slip into sleep had he not seen the clock on the mantle.
“Nemuri will be here soon,” he said quietly, but Hizashi made no move to get off of him. He could feel wetness against his neck, but he didn’t complain. Who knew how long Hizashi had actually wanted to do that? How long had Hizashi been keeping all that inside?
All of this had happened so fast, in such a short period of time. Had it really only been a week? How long has he actually been in love with Hizashi? Hizashi’s been in love with him for years, he says, but Shouta doesn’t know how long he himself has been.
He supposes it doesn’t matter as Hizashi’s hand slid into his own, their fingers linking together. It doesn’t matter, he thought again when he felt Hizashi’s lips press against his neck, soft and warm . It doesn’t matter is the answer he gave Hizashi when he asked him when they should have the wedding and what the ring should look like, who should be invited and what should they wear.
Because it doesn’t.
What matters is what’s happening right now.
Nemuri practically broke down their door a quarter after nine, shrieking and throwing herself at them and practically squeezing them to death in a hug. She’d already screamed about it with Tensei, she said, but needed to scream some more with them.
“Kiddos, kiddos,” Nemuri laughed as Hizashi poured them all drinks, sweeping her hair out of her face and giving them a watery smile. “You have so much explaining to do.”
“Yeah,” Hizashi said, sitting beside Shouta and leaning against him with a sigh. “We do.”
Everything wasn’t magically made better or figured out just by finally sorting out the whole ‘fake marriage’ issue. Even as they fell asleep beside one another, Shouta was still a bit confused about himself, about the fact that even though he didn’t want to have sex with Hizashi he still wanted to give him his everything, wanted to spend the rest of his life just feeling comfortable and warm right next to Hizashi.
He’s getting sappy, and it’s only been like, two days. In a week they will be exactly like Hizashi’s parents, and that will be both terrible and nice.
Shouta wouldn’t mind getting to be that old and sweet and domestic with Hizashi. He thought this as he stared at the other, whose eyes were relaxed shut and whose hair was fanned out on the pillow almost like a halo.
Even if he’d only just come to understand some things (but not everything), that was definitely a fact. Romantic or platonic, young and old, he just wanted to be here, with Hizashi.
Shouta’s class exploded in the morning, both literally and figuratively. As soon as he came into the room Bakugou’s desk was blown about five feet in front of him because he’d exploded, but Shouta didn’t even hear the explosion because every single one of his students had begun screaming.
“LET’S SEE THE RING!” Ashido and Hagakure shrieked together, both bouncing up and down.
“CAN WE BE INVITED?!” Satou yelled, Ojirou and Uraraka joining in.
“WHEN’S THE WEDDING?!” More than a few demanded, too many to keep track of. It was so overwhelmingly loud it nearly put Hizashi to shame.
“Everyone settle down,” Shouta said, his hair lifting off of his shoulders as he activated his Quirk for a split second. This did little--only a few actually quieted down, the rest still screaming.
“PLEASE INVITE US!”
“I WANT TO SEE THE RING!”
“WHAT ARE YOU GUYS GONNA WEAR?!”
“HOW CAN HE ANSWER ANYTHING IF YOU FUCKERS ARE STILL YELLING?” Bakugou’s voice rose above the rest, and that effectively shut most of them up. They stilled, staring up at their teacher expectantly, and he sighed.
“I will answer all these questions after school,” Shouta said slowly, fighting off the headache already dawning. “We are not going to be wasting training time for this. And I’ll only answer if I’m still awake.”
Some of the class groaned, but others decided it was the best answer they’d get and stopped bugging him about it. The day was spent practicing Quirk exercises and team building activities, and he was glad they were all focused enough to actually do them instead of getting distracted. He even only had to restrain Bakugou from hitting Midoriya once.
The bell signalled the end of the day all too quickly, and before Shouta could escape the class he was swarmed by eager students demanding answers. His responses were mostly ‘I don’t know’ or ‘No’, and more than a few students looked quite dejected at being denied invitation to the wedding, especially since Shouta was thinking that it should be very, very private and limited to close friends only.
The students filtered out as their questions were answered, until only Kirishima and Bakugou remained. Bakugou stood in the doorway, staring at Kirishima and impatiently gesturing into the hallway. Kirishima held up a finger before approaching Shouta, who watched with a flat expression.
“Aizawa-sensei...That was really manly, what happened last night,” Kirishima said, and before Shouta could say anything else he plowed on: “And I know I say that a lot but...! Really. That was super manly and you’re great and awesome. Both you and Mic-sensei. I don’t think I can tell you that enough!”
It took Shouta a moment to process that he was being hugged, and he instinctively stiffened up, but it was over quickly and Kirishima dashed towards Bakugou, who rolled his eyes and tugged Kirishima out of the classroom by his hand. Shouta kneaded his fingertips against his forehead, sighing heavily.
That kid.
Hizashi entered the room just as he finished gathering his things, whistling some annoying tune they’d heard on the way to work this morning. They’d eaten breakfast together to get rid of their headaches, Nemuri having slept over and not let them fall asleep until two in the morning. Hizashi was pretty energetic for someone who only slept for about three hours.
“I’ve been keeping track of the news, and only two outlets have called us fakes,” Hizashi grinned, stepping close towards Shouta, who straightened up to look at him properly.
“That’s better than you were expecting, isn’t it?”
“Waaaay better,” Hizashi snorted, his hands sliding around Shouta’s waist as he fixed him with a wide smile. “Nemuri said we have to meet at her at the old ramen place tonight. She and Tensei are planning our wedding for us.”
“I expect nothing less,” Shouta grumbled. “She’s already planned the decorations, hasn’t she?”
“And the guest list.” Hizashi’s voice lilted in amusement. “No students, right?”
Shouta hesitated, before saying, “Actually...”
“I knew it! You big softie! I said you were going to change your mind! It’s because of that student, right?”
“Shut up. It’s not.”
“Totally is. You can’t hide anything from your fiancé.”
“I want a divorce.”
“We’re not even married yet!”
“Then let’s get married soon,” Shouta said, and Hizashi’s smile turned softer as his hands slid up to Shouta’s face, fingers trailing lightly across his cheeks. The classroom seemed to grow warmer as they pressed closer together, alone and separated from the rest of the world.
“That’s the best thing you’ve ever said,” Hizashi told him, and for what felt like the millionth time in three days, they kissed again.
Notes:
weak ending is wEAK BUT AHHHH I FINALLY FINISHED!!!!!!!!! I FI NALLY FINISHED OH MY GooooOOOoodddd
so anyways GUESS WHO'S ALIVE!!! me!!! and GUESS WHO STARTED HIGH SCHOOL!!!! also me!!! AND GUESS WHO TURNED 15!!!!! i did!!!!!
(no computer tho)
rfnekgnkgnegne i hope. that u guys liked this ending. this chapter. i really hope u do. im crying as we speak. its over. its done. 50k words is the most ive ever written. wowee.
reading all your comments throughout these two months was so, so nice and sweet and relaxing and fun for me!!!! they made me feel so much better, they helped me keep going, and i just want to give every single person who commented a hug!!!!!!!!
i hope i did some of the stuff here justice--i am not ace, have never been in a relationship, and know fuck-all about how the real world works, so i really hoped this story doesn't seem like its from a dumb kid's perspective than. u know. two grown men.
wfjnkfjnkwfe im rambling but im so sad yet so happy this is over!!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE ALL OF U!!! THANK U ALL FOR MAKING THIS RIDE SO, SO ENJOYABLE FOR ME!!!
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