Chapter Text
Shinsou first notices the difference a few days after the joint training between 1-A and 1-B. It happens while he works on the move that ultimately cost him the win against Midoriya - again. Aizawa is leaning against the gymnasium wall, not far off, face half hidden in his capture weapon.
His eyes though are clearly visible with his hair having been pulled back as it always is for their training sessions. And they're not quite on him. It's like he's looking at Shinsou, but not and he doesn't know what could've happened to make the otherwise attentive man look like this.
Shaking his head he changes the grip on his own scarf, the material less frayed and lighter coloured then his mentors. Whatever it is, he has to concentrate. Aizawa will tell him if it's something concerning himself. 'Concentrate. You're still behind the hero classes.'
-
The next time it happens is while they're mock fighting. No capture weapons as this time Aizawa had quarter staffs ready for each of them.
"We're adding these to the training from now on. It's always useful to know your way around as many weapons as possible." Shinsou had nodded and tested his grip on the new item, throwing it from one hand to the other before gripping it with both hands and falling into a loose fighting stance.
"I'm ready if you are, Sensei." Huffing a little breath that Shinsou had come to notice as faint amusement the older man mirrored his stance and they begun. Obviously it wasn't the same as using the capture scarf he came accustomed to during the last few months, but the already existing calluses definitely helped him keep a better grip then he might've had at the beginning. A few minutes into it Aizawa motioned for a pause. Both of them breathing just a little bit heavier. Shinsou could feel his arms shake under the new weapon and it's handling.
"You'll get your own weapon turned against you if you don't change your grip and stance. Here," the man stepped closer and behind him before knocking his legs further apart and reaching over his arms to move his hands closer to the weapons ends, "It'll feel easier on yourself holding it like this."
Shinsou looked at where Aizawas hands were easily covering his own, not noticing how stiff he'd become at the close proximity. He swallowed and nodded when his hands were released again. Skin tingling at the point of contact.
"Let's continue. Try to get out of the defensive for now." And on they went, Shinsou slowly copying the others stance, shifting his legs to be slightly staggered and using the staff more fluidly, almost like he would his capture weapon.
Risking a glance at his teachers face to assess how well he was doing, he was surprised to find that Aizawa was once again not quite looking at him, until the man realized that he'd been noticed and minutely stumbling back. Shinsou was too surprised to go for the glaring opening that created.
His worry won out, "Sensei, are you doing alright?" The older hero slowly blinked at him, before quickly moving in again, knocking his staff against Shinsou's who'd slackened his grip and the weapon clattered to the ground between them before rolling against his shoes. Aizawa quickly changed his grip to hold his own like a sword and whipped it towards his now unprotected front, which instinctively made Shinsou flinch and close his eyes for a second.
The hit never connected. Opening his eyes again and lowering his arms he came face to face with his teacher who'd leaned in with his move and was now inches from him. Shinsous heard stuttered at the breathless look on the older man.
"We'll continue this next time," Aizawa moved back after what felt like ages and picked the fallen quarter staff back up before stretching his neck and shoulders, "You don't have to worry about me, kid. Go get changed." He clapped a heavy hand on Shinsous shoulder before moving past him.
-
The first time Shinsou managed to knock the quarter staff out of Aizawas hand it took him a second to process what just happened. He'd done it! After only two weeks with the new weapon. His face split in a wide smile and he playfully flexed one of his arms.
"Looks like I finally got you, Sensei." His low laughter caught in his throat when he actually looked at his teacher's face. Aizawa's eyes were wide, his now empty hands still hanging limply in the air. A few strands of hair that had been knocked out of place during their spar hung into his flushed and sweaty face.
"Aizawa-Sensei," Shinsou took a step forwards, slowly reaching out towards an arm, "you're worrying me. Did I do something wrong?" Old anxieties began eating at him. Was he being too forward? Did he fail somehow?
Aizawa's low voice got him to snap his eyes back up from the floor, "Shinsou, you-" a pause, then, "You did a good job." He reached across the small space between them and grabbed Shinsou's elbow.
"You're a natural at this. Almost like.." Hitoshi waited for the man to continue, but he didn't. Instead they stood there like that, his arm still outstretched, Aizawa's hand gripping his elbow in a sure hold as silence settled on them.
"I suppose now is a good time to give you this." Reaching towards his utility belt with the hand not holding Shinsou's arm, Aizawa fished out an item and held it towards his student.
"You'd do well to protect one of your most important assets, even if your quirk doesn't rely on them."
Shinsou finally grabbed the offered item and they were, "Goggles?" They weren't unlike Eraserhead's own, although these were a less distinctive silver, missing the lattices that adorned the heroe's, with a brown band and looking vaguely like they had been used before. Shinsou gripped them tighter, looking at his teacher questioningly and the man seemed to know what he was wondering.
"These are ones I still had, it made more sense then requesting similar ones and going through the paperwork." Aizawa let go of his arm and nodded towards the item: "You should try if they fit, just in case." Shinsou could only nod, still not sure if he heard right. Aizawa was giving him his own goggles? All the while being this blasé about it, as if he was handing out personal items like these every day.
Slipping the band over his unruly hair he placed the goggles over his eyes, adjusting their placement on his nose before looking back up at his teacher again.
"They fit really well, Sensei. I'll take great care of them, thank you." Aizawa gave him a small satisfied smile, before gripping his shoulder and turning them both towards the locker rooms: "They look good on you, kid."
Shinsou dipped his chin as if trying to hide in a scarf that wasn't currently there. He wouldn't blush because of a throwaway compliment from his mentor.
-
Coming closer to the training hall he saw his mentor leaning against the closed doors. Giving a small wave he called out, "Hey Sensei. Unusual to see you waiting outside." Coming to a stop a few steps from Aizawa he noticed the man looking grumpier then he normally did. "Are we training outside today?", he hooked on, trying not to think of the rain that had been going on since morning getting stronger again.
Aizawa shook his head and pointed at the gymnasium with a thumb over the shoulder, "Apparently the roof has a leak. The last class had to cancel as well and neither Power Loader or Cementoss are currently available, so it won't be fixed until tomorrow." Pushing himself off of the wall he motioned for Shinsou to follow him.
"We'll do meditation at the teacher dorms today since all other training halls are already booked by other teachers." Being quick to follow as they made their way towards the teacher dorms, which lay central to the students dorms, Shinsou took this time to ask something that had been on his mind for a while now.
"Aizawa-Sensei, I've been meaning to ask you something," he took a small pause, looking at said man for a sign to continue. It came in the form of a slight noise and the uptick of his head. Shinsou fidgeted with the goggles currently in his pockets. "Have I done something wrong at the joint training? It's just, how should I say, you keep looking and if there's anything I would like to know so I can work on it." At this point they were close enough to the dorms that he could make out some movement behind the ground floor windows. A quiet sigh left Aizawa as they made the final stretch to the building.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Shinsou." His teacher stopped just shy of the steps leading up to the entrance. He could sense the man thinking about whether or not to continue. Aizawa was short clipped on the best of days, always straight to the point, but never dishonest. So it only surprised him a little bit when the man decided to tack on, "Its something that Present Mic said and that man keeps being too smart for his own good. You have nothing to worry about."
Speak of the devil. Upon entering the dorms alongside his teacher the first person he made eye contact with was his english teacher himself.
"Hey Eraser! Shinsou!" Present Mic waved from the dining table which was covered by what could only be english essays. A bottle of water and a phone lay off to the side.
"Hey, Yamada-Sensei." Shinsou lifted a hand in greeting, while Aizawa nodded a short "Mic." at his co-worker. The two quickly made their way out of the communal space and up to the second floor where apparently Aizawa's own dorm space was. Shinsou felt his nerves return tenfold. He hadn't really thought about it on the short way over, but it was obvious now that the only private space in a shared dorm would be his teachers private room. Well, rooms as it turns out.
With a quick glance around he saw a moderately spaced living area with an adjacent open kitchen. The two doors at the corner of the room could only be a bathroom and the bedroom. The thought of Aizawa just sleeping with his sleeping bag in an otherwise empty bedroom made Shinsou repress a snort. Although considering the fairly standart room interior that didn't stray to far from how the student dorm rooms looked before he put his own personal touches on it, that thought probably wasn't too far off from the possible realm.
Aizawa took off his capture weapon and gently put it on a cabinet beside the door. Gesturing to the room at large he said, "Feel free to use the kitchen if you need to and get comfortable, I'll be just a minute." while already making his way towards one of the closed doors.
"Alright Sensei, thank you." Watching his teacher vanish, he followed his example and took his own capture weapon off as well, settling it on the table instead to prevent the two scarfs tangling. Then he sat on the couch and waited.
Looked around at the very few specks of Aizawa that he could find in the space available to his eyes. A black mug with cat whiskers next to a closed laptop on the table where his scarf now sat beside. A sleeping bag hanging off an armrest. A few scattered papers and pens, as well as a closed file across the kitchen counter. Pictures on the fridge. Huh.
Intrigued he made his way over and took a closer look. Then a smile settled on his face. One picture, looking pretty new, showed the little girl Eri and a blonde UA Student with blue eyes. It seemed to be taken in front of the dorms. Another showed Midnight-Sensei in casual clothing nagging an equally casual All Might in a bar. A third photo was of Class 1-A with Aizawa himself at the upper corner. A cat with striped orange fur. Shinsou looked around; no evidence of a cat living here, so it must be someone else's. There was another picture mostly covered by old to-do lists and miscellaneous papers.
He took a second to listen for his teachers return. There was water running in the bathroom. Aizawa was probably taking a shower considering that it had been a few minutes already. Shinsou gently uncovered the older picture. It was slightly frayed, the colour no longer as glossy as on the other pictures. Most of it was taken up by what could only be a young Present Mic. Even then sporting his iconic orange glasses, his hair too short to have been in its now signature style. To the left in the background a younger Aizawa, looking unimpressed while eating noodles. Hidden behind the two even further in the back Shinsou could barely make out light blue, fluffy hair that seemed to defy gravity, not unlike his own. The person had their hands in the air as if in outrage or disbelief.
Shinsou couldn't remember UA having any staff with that hairstyle. He also couldn't remember any current pro heroes that fit the bill. Weird. Hearing the water stop running Shinsou quickly put the picture back in place and went to the sink as if to get some water. No need to have Aizawa regret his choice of bringing him here to save them from the weather.
"Have you ever meditated before? And no, listening to music when insomnia hits doesn't count." Was the first thing out of his mouth. Shinsou turned around to throw back an answer about the wonders laying there with your eyes closed could do, when he took a mental step back.
There was a slight mist flowing out of the bathroom and following his teacher who had stepped out barefoot. His teacher who had forgone his usual black, scruffy outfit and changed it with a light grey t-shirt that clung to his still damp skin as well as a pair of ridiculous pink sweatpants that hung way too low to be appropriate. He was currently attacking his dripping wet hair with a towel and had a healthy flush from what could've only been a quick, but hot shower.
"Cat got your tongue?" Aizawa fucking grinned while he approached and leaned over him towards the cupboard. Coming back with two cups he continued to fill the silence while already moving to the coffee machine.
"How do you like it?" Shinsou felt his brain record scratch. Get it together, this is your teacher.
"Black, please." He hesitated before moving next to the other man, "Need help with something?" Aizawa shook his head. "Just go get comfortable. I don't care what that involves, as long as you'll be able to concentrate." The coffee machine spluttered to life while Shinsou went back to the end of the couch he previously occupied.
How am I supposed to get comfortable with Sensei looking like this? Is he always this nonchalant outside of training? He fiddled with the hem of his school blazer before deciding that he probably wouldn't ever be comfortable in the stiff fabric. Hanging it over the armrest next to him, he also loosened his tie until he could open the two upper buttons and rolled his sleeves up.
"Here's your coffee, kid." A yellow cup with music notes and the initials PYHU got placed in front of him before Aizawa grabbed the sleeping bag he spotted earlier and unceremoniously used it as a cushion where he sat down on the floor in front of his student. Watching him.
"We'll get over the basics of meditation. How to utilize it for better physical and mental health. It is even more important for you since pinning down your opponents own mentality could help you get them under control faster and easier."
Shinsou nodded along as his teacher explained, and soon he could almost forget about the stray drops that kept falling from his hair and onto his shirt. Almost. The rain prattling on outside was a nice distraction he supposed.
-
It was still raining a few days later, but luckily their usual gyms roof had been fixed, so it was back to hitting stationary targets, then moving ones, followed by scaling vertical surfaces and some endurance training. At the end of it Shinsou was more thoroughly drenched then if he spend the time outside of the training halls. Aizawa had only spotted him during the wall climbing and then went back to his own spot a few spaces away to simply observe and call out suggestions on how to improve.
"Alright, you're done for today, Shinsou. Go get showered and dressed. I'm not letting you out there like this." Aizawa was standing up as Hitoshi came closer and plopped next to his stuff to grab a water bottle. He hastily drank half of it without care for the little bit that escaped his lips.
"Can't do, Sensei." He mentioned to his small pile that consisted of a towel, his student ID, and the silver goggles. "Changed into my gym uniform before coming here. I'll just hurry and shower at the dorms. I promise not to catch a cold."
He slowly stood back up, stuffing his ID into his pockets, fixing the goggles on his head where they comfortably rested on his forehead and also pushed his sweaty bangs back out of his face, and then drank the rest of his water. God, he really had to wash his capture weapon after this. Wait, was it even washa-
"You're not leaving like this. Hold on." Aizawa affixed him with a stare that threatened consequences if he did anything else than wait there. His teacher went to the slightly bigger pile further back along the wall, rustling around with his sleeping bag and then resurfacing with a pile of dark brown fabric.
"Take this until you're at the dorms. You can keep it until the rain let's up. Keep yourself warm and dry." Shinsou looked down between them at an aviator jacket? The dark colour only broken up by the lighter coloured, soft looking fur along the collar and lapels. He chanced a glance at the other, as if to say "Really?", but he knew Aizawa was serious.
"I didn't take you for the kinda guy who wears aviator jackets, Sensei," he grinned while accepting the offering and gingerly putting it on over his gym uniform, taking care to adjust his capture weapon over it. Before Aizawa could give a retort he continued, "Also didn't think I'd ever see the elusive Eraserhead in pink sweats though, so who's to say."
It took a great deal of self control to not snuggle into the soft inner lining of the jacket that now hung from his shoulders and almost covered his hands. Made sense, Aizawa was a good bit taller and broader then him.
I'm wearing Sensei's jacket. And he said I can keep it. Aizawa shook his head and hid his expression behind long bangs. Shinsou knew that there was a smile gracing his features. Glad to know he can see the humor in that situation as well.
"You're a brat, kid." Aizawa gently punched his shoulder. "It suits you. The jacket." Was the man being bashful? Shinsou decided to further rib into his mentor.
"You're just saying that because you want me to keep it on, aren't you?"
"What if I am?" Aizawa countered, unexpectedly. "Well, I'd have to admit that it's working. Is this real fur?" He gently ran his hand over the soft lapels, waiting for an answer. Any, really.
"I don't think so. Still my favourite though ." Shinsous breath got stuck as his teacher made a move as if to mirror his own hand movement. He stopped just short of touching the fabric or Shinsous fingertips. It still felt like a charge went off between them.
Unlike what Hitoshi expected Aizawa didn't pull back, but raised the other hand as well, both coming up to grab the jacket around the collar and adjust it around his frame before settling his palms over it. Right over Shinsous collarbone.
"You know, you don't have to give me your stuff, I'll be right at the do-" he abruptly cut himself off as Aizawas hands travelled up the soft fur and settled on either side of Hitoshis face, almost cradling his face between his palms. "Aizawa-Sensei?" Aizawa made an inquisitive noise, not breaking eye contact.
"We.. we should stop. It's been a long day and I'm sure that you'll need all the energy you can get for your hell class tomorrow." That got Aizawa to to lift his gaze back up from where it had fallen further down his face. Shinsou didn't dare think about what that meant. His heart was beating hard against his ribcage. He was almost sure that the older man could feel his pulse where he was still resting his hands against Shinsous jaw.
"You're right, Shinsou. Those brats will all be high-strung after being inside all day." He huffed and his breath ghosted against Hitoshis face. "I could organise for you to join tomorrows training exercise if you want." His grip got minutely thighter.
"You would?"
"Of course."
"I'd like that."
"I'll let your homeroom teacher know so you can get a pass."
"Yeah, thank you, again," Shinsou looked down at his shoes, "You know, for all this and the training. You helped me be one step closer to being a hero." He didn't dare look up, nervous after voicing what he didn't before. It was Aizawa leaning closer and placing his chin atop Shinsou's head that made him try to look up again.
"You'll be a great hero."
-
The next day passed him by in a blur, until his homeroom teacher finally excused him for the next two lessons. Shinsou couldn't get out of his seat and into the hallway quickly enough. He had to meet Aizawa at Class 1-A's homeroom to get his case. His case, with his first hero outfit!
He hoped that his terrible sketch could be deciphered using the notes he made all around it. He hoped Aizawa-Sensei liked it. Hold up, rewind, stop.
Shaking his head he ran the last few meters and only slowed down from his sprint when he reached the hallway that housed both hero classes. Faintly the voices of other students–his future classmates!–carried down the corridor to where he came to stop next to his mentor.
"Hey, Sensei." Hitoshi couldn't stop the excited grin as he nervously glanced at the item in Aizawas hand. "Is that it?"
"Your official hero suit." Aizawa offered the yet unnumbered case with a proud look in his eyes and Shinsou reached out and grabbed the case, which for him basically contained his entire future, without hesitation. Another step closer.
Already turning around he was ready to join the others in the changing rooms when a harsh tug on caught him off guard, making Hitoshi stumble backwards, his back hitting his teachers chest with a quiet exhale upon impact. Aizawa quickly circled his arms around Shinsou, confidently enveloping the young student in his embrace. Shinsou could feel his face flush.
"What– Sensei?" Trying to turn his head to look at the other in question turned out to be futile, the grip was iron. His heart fluttered so hard it was impossible for the man behind him not to feel it where they connected. "I don't..."
Aizawa's voice sounded even lower then usual. Intimately loud right beside his ear, since the hero had bend down to put his chin on Shinsou's shoulder. "Wear the goggles today."
Hitoshi frowned in confusion.
"But they're not an official part of my costume? Is that even allowed?" Aizawa seemed to press even closer, and it took all of Hitoshis self-control to stay still. He just wanted to lean back. Turn his head to the left where his teacher still had his head resting on his shoulder and– He felt himself getting goosebumps when lips ghosted over his ear.
"I submitted a slight change to your gear a while back. Figured you wouldn't mind me taking the work of your hands, Shinsou."
Hitoshi turned his head: "You did what? Without asking me?"
Aizawa just hummed. Their noses were touching. "Yes. And you will wear it. It'd be illogical not to, especially considering all the debris flying around during the last training unit you joined." He could feel the rough stubble against his own smooth skin.
"There's another surprise for you. Now go before the others are too far ahead," and suddenly it was like the private bubble surrounding them popped as Aizawa pulled himself back in a fluid motion, his palms not breaking contact on the way from Hitoshi's middle, up his torso, ghosting over his jawline and finally cupping his shoulders before a light push had him stumble forward.
"Aizawa-Sen-"
"We'll talk after training. You have five minutes to get changed." Shinsou took off without looking back, his mind whirling.
Every place of contact burned. It was a pleasant feeling. Training, then talking.
-
After reaching the changing rooms and being greeted by a few of the boys who weren't put off by his sudden arrival, he immediately took to an emptier corner before opening his case. Nestled inside was his hero suit.
Mostly kept in black, with purple and white accents. Arm and leg guards, white boots with purple tips, fingerless gloves that blended into fishnets.
Persona Chords sat atop of it all, together with a pair of new goggles in a fitting colour scheme. Not seeing anything else new he wondered if the support department made a mistake, but didn't bother further and begand to change.
It was when he lifted his capture weapon, gently placed at the bottom of it all, that he noticed something dark and elongated. A quarter staff. A nice, solid material in matte black optic. So that was the other surprise. His mouth lifted into a smile.
"Yo, Shinsou, you coming or what?" Kaminari's words pulled him away from the now empty case and he turned around, his voice modulator resting on his collarbone beneath the scarf and Aizawa's goggles perched atop his head.
"Wow, Shinsou-kun, your hero outfit is amazing! It's clear where you got the inspiration from, but it's also obviously very you." Came an abrupt compliment from Midoriya who now flanked him together with his blonde classmate. Shinsou decided to let bygones be bygones.
"I decided that it was a no brainer to pay homage to the hero who trained me." Was his simple reply.
Kaminari went off about his own first costume design and how it seemed to change after every major training unit since there was always something new to be improved upon.
"So don't worry if the support department decides to just change stuff up, although you could always leave a note if you really want something to stay." Midoriya nodded along as the training grounds came closer. It looked like an urban setting. Or what used to be an urban setting. Buildings were half demolished, cars overturned, power cables strewn about the broken streets.
"But I do wonder, Shinsou-kun, what about the goggles and staff? You only had the capture weapon and your voice changer during the last training unit?" It was then that they finally arrived at the gates to the destroyed urban setting and Shinsou was almost glad to have a reason not to answer.
It would be weird to say they were gifts, wouldn't it. Especially after what just happened. His eyes landed on Aizawa, who was already explaining the exercise–seven teams of three, each of them had to evacuate as many people from the cityscape as possible, while Aizawa himself would play the "Villain" who'd try to stop them from saving the civilians–and stayed there.
"You'll be randomly assigned to a Team from A to G by pulling lots. Let's go."
-
Of fucking course he ended up with Bakugo. Typical. At least his other partner was one of the quieter kids from 1-A, with an obvious quirk mutation. Ignoring the volatile blonde, who for now was still surrounded by a few others of his class, Shinsou made his way over to the other.
"So, we're working together, I guess?" He pulled at one end of his capture weapon to have something to do. "What exactly is your quirk?"
He saw the other kid nervously look around before settling on his own fiddling hands and whispering something under his breath. Ah, figures, his own quirk was still brainwashing after all.
"Listen, normally I'd say you don't have to talk with me, but we should probably come up with a plan. Unless you want to leave that to him." He loosely motioned to where Bakugo stood.
His eyes widened a bit when the other boy started doing precise motions with his hands instead of answering verbally. Huh. Good thing he knew some sign language.
"So you can talk to and command animals?" A nod. "Any hard limits I should be aware of?" A hesitant shake of the head. A first glance up at Shinsous eyes accompanied by a shy smile.
"Our quirks aren't so different." Was spelled out by steady hands. Oh. Shinsou ducked into the comfort of his capture scarf.
"I guess not. You think we can convince that barrel of explosions to work with us?" He grinned when the smile gracing the others features seemed to get wider. Maybe this exercise wouldn't be as much of a drag as he first thought.
-
He was so fucking wrong. His team was third, right after the team consisting of the pink girl, the sparkly blonde kid who was now leaning against a wall looking somewhat pale and the small purple kid.
It had started alright, he guessed. Bakugo told them his plan of attack; he would distract Aizawa since he was the most experienced in hand to hand courtesy of his quirk.
Not like I trained one on one with the guy for months now. But Shinsou had held his tongue. He'd rather work with Kouda anyway, as he finally knew the other boys name.
Kouda had ordered a bunch of smaller animals to search and report back to him where the "civilians" were and in case they saw Eraserhead approach. It went well, it really did. They established a little medical area and started the slow evacuation while Bakugo patrolled. Every now and then a bird, a cat or a mouse would come up to them and Kouda would point out more of the dummies they were saving or in which direction their teacher most likely was.
The first problems arose when they came upon a wreckage that showed signs of the previous team. Some walls were looking like they melted, others had clearly been shot trough. Pieces of rubble were held together by purple balls. Kouda motioned further inwards before leaning closer to Shinsou and whispering, "There's more. The others didn't get them."
Shinsou nodded and relayed the information to Bakugo who gave a short nod before continuing his patrol around their new area. Really, it only started going wrong when explosions started going off on the roof. He made eye contact with the other. Eraserhead found them. Or he finally decided to attack. The building violently shook.
"We gotta be quick. Any other people in here?" Two fingers were held up before pointing at another pile that was barely held together by more sticky balls of the previous teams rescue efforts. Under the pile. Figures. Shinsou looked around for something to stick under a particular big piece of rubble. Then he remembered his new support item.
"We'll use my staff to lift the bigger rubble and I'll get the victims out from under it while you hold position, since you're stronger then me." Kouda nodded and accepted the offered item. Together they lifted the cement before Shinsou gingerly climbed under the created crawl space.
Another explosion rocked through the area. Little pieces of debris fell around and on him. Quickly pulling his goggles down to keep his eyes safe Shinsou reached for the first dummy he could see. It was another smaller sized one. He tried not to think too hard about actual kids being burried like this in real life scenarios.
A scream echoed from outside just when he finally secured the first kid. Looking at his partners face he could only assume that he didn't have much time. Just one more. Another scream. Louder. What the hell was happening out there?
More pieces of rubble began breaking of. Kouda was hurriedly talking with a bird perched on his shoulder.
"Eraserhead is engaging Bakugo." Shinsou barely heard the quietly relayed information. The last victim was stuck on one of those damn purple balls. It was right as he finally got the kid unstuck when the loudest outcry reached them.
"Howitzer Impact!" He saw Koudas eyes widen as the bird flew off screaming. Everything shook around him. Tensing his legs Shinsou prepared to fling himself and the kid out of the small pit, when something tugged on his clothes.
Bigger and bigger pieces came down upon them. He flung the kid out towards Kouda. The last thing he saw while desperately pulling at his clothes now stuck to another ball was the other student's frightened face before a last violent shake of the building brought something heavy down on him. Shit.
-
He came back to silence. The first thing that registered was the smell of disinfectant and fresh laundry. Weird.
The second was the throbbing in the back of his head and the ache that ran along his whole body. Oh, right. The training exercise. The building shaking. The building falling.
Blinking his eyes open took longer then it probably should, but he kept trying. A faint beeping finally reached his ears as his senses seemed to finish rebooting.
"There you are, dearie. We were all quite worried about you." Groaning Shinsou tried to move his head towards the voice only to give up when the pain got worse. "Try not to move your head quite yet. I healed the worst of it, but you didn't have the energy left for a full healing. That was a very heavy hit you suffered, young man." Recovery Girl.
That meant he was in the schools nursery station. He tried to ask about his teammates but his tongue didn't want to cooperate with him yet, so he settled for a questioning groan.
"Ah, your teammates are alright. Bakugo-kun slightly strained his wrist and you gave Kouda-kun quite the scare, but apart from that and a few scratches he's absolutely healthy as well." Recovery Girl hummed, while tapping her cane.
"Aizawa has been waiting for you outside, if you want to see him." That finally got him to open his eyes despite the ceiling light shining brightly down on him. He managed a tiny nod of acknowledgement. The nurse left him on the bed while she presumably went to get Aizawa.
Oh god, his mentor could only be disappointed in him. He'd utterly failed in his second ever hero training. He didn't even notice the man approaching, too busy freaking out internally.
"Shinsou." Despite Recovery Girls earlier words he whipped his head towards the low voice and immediately hissed in pain. God, he couldn't imagine how bad it'd be without the previous round of healing. Aizawa put one hand beside him on the bed, supporting his weight while leaning towards Shinsou.
"Don't hurt yourself. You-" a deep sigh escaped the man, "you got hit in the head by falling debris and were partially burried when we finally reached you." Shinsou could only stare as Aizawa heavily sat down next to him, the others dark eyes full with unconcealed worry and dread.
"I'm sorry," he fidgeted with the blanket thrown over him, "for disappointing you. I didn't properly take the situation in and ended up endangering not only myself but others as well." He couldn't look up. The bed dipped when the older man shifted, before Shinsou was pulled into a gentle hug.
"Sen–"
"You didn't disappoint me," Aizawas grip tightened, "You scared me." Oh. Oh.
"I'm sorry for making you worry, then." His hands were shaking where they still rested on the blanket between their bodies. The beeping from the heart monitor picked up in speed. Aizawa pulled back after a few more seconds of just holding him. Only to once again take his face in-between large palms and lean their foreheads together. Shinsou couldn't help looking at his eyes. He really wanted to reach out and- And what? This was still his teacher. Who was for all intents and purposes cradling his face while looking at him in worry.
"I can't do this again." Aizawas low, desperate murmur knocked something loose in him. Slowly lifting his still shaking hands he gripped the others shocked face in return. Shinsou couldn't help looking at dry looking lips. It would be so damn easy to just close the little space left between them. Sighing he closed his eyes and instead leaned into the older man's neck.
"We wanted to talk after training. We should do that."