Chapter Text
“Are you sure?” Shouta’s boss questioned after he had asked to be moved back to the night shift.
“Very.” He answered.
“I have no doubts that you want this, I mean are you sure you can commit to it?” His boss said, “I know your schedule revolves around your sister, and because of that you've proven to be a bit unreliable- for us.” It was true that Shouta had to be late sometimes and miss more days than he wanted to because of his sister, his schedule had also flipped at a very inconvenient time for the agency 9 months ago. Shouta tried to make up for it all with allot of out of office work, but his reputation remained flaky.
“I understand, but I can commit.” Shouta appealed. “My wife is with her at night, so hopefully I can maintain a schedule year round.” He said, hoping to convince his boss, not even thinking of how easy and right referring to Emi as his wife with no stipulations, had become.
“That pirate-clown girl from across the street?” The older hero asked, pulling up his computer.
“Ms. Joke? What about her?”
“That’s your wife,” his boss clarified casually, “either that or your wife doesn't know about her.” He said, implying an affair with a raised brow. He had seen the two young heroes on patrol a few times before, Ms. Joke would loudly flirt with him, but even Eraserhead’s rejections were so full of affection that there had to be something going on between them.
“She is my wife,” Shouta said, affronted at the very idea of him cheating on even his fake wife.
“Well kiss her goodbye because starting the 26th you’ll have the 9:00 pm to 4:00 am block.” The boss said, moving his computer away.“Don’t let me down, Eraserhead.”
“I won’t.” Shouta nodded, knowing that messing this up and changing his schedule again might set his career back farther than it already had been.
“I got moved back to the Night Shift.” Eraserhead revealed to Ms. Joke later that day as they went along their usual patrol route. It was the hottest day of the year so far, and he was thankful to be out of the daylight before it got worse. Emi, of course, was fine with the heat, actually it invigorated her, she thrived in it like a beautifully blooming sunflower.
“Yay!” She said in exaggerated yet genuine celebration, shaking his arm. “When do you start?” Emi asked, hands still grasped around Shouta’s arm.
“The 26th” he answered, not knocking Emi off. Her casual touch had become so normal, that Shouta had almost forgotten that pulling away from her and rejecting her was part of the ‘Ms. Joke and Eraserhead’ bit.
“No way, me too! Neither of us have to walk this route alone; how romantic!” Ms. Joke said, taking her physicality up a notch and leaning her head onto Shouta’s shoulder, finally getting him to remember to shake her off. And to remember that her flirting was nothing more than a joke because her bright green doe eyes and the way her freckled cheeks pressed up and flushed slightly when she smiled may have been getting to him recently in a way that he felt in his body instead of conceptualizing in his head.
“We should have a wedding for our last day!” Ms. Joke excitedly suggested. Why did she continue this bit? Especially as it became more and more real. —It was to maintain normalcy: to try to prove that nothing had changed between her and Shouta, even though they both knew, on some level, that so much had. She also kept it up for the onlookers, to entertain the pedestrians that have come to expect and be humored by their absurd interactions.
“We definitely should not” he responded all flat, yet his tone lacked some level of conviction, it was barely noticeable to all but her.
The two turned a corner, leaving them on a lonely street. Emi placed a hand on his shoulder, to brace some of her weight as she popped up onto her toes and with a smile on her lips she leaned over, whispering “Weak response,” right against his ear. It was in these secluded places, unseen and yet in costume, where the lines blurred.
“Weak material” Shouta countered coolly despite the hot blush rapidly rising up his neck and onto the ear that he could still feel Emi’s breath linger on even as she backed away.
“like you have anything better” Ms. Joke scoffed, looking up at him with a challenging smirk.
“Better would be silence” Shouta said, looking her right in the eye, finally falling into the teasing banter.
“Oh please, you hate me quiet” Emi said, it caught him a bit off guard because that was true of Shouta, not Eraserhead.
“Well you’ve never shut up long enough for me to know.” Eraserhead said, defaulting back to played up annoyance, putting up a thin shield between them.
“Then make me, Eraser” Emi said, stepping closer to him, somehow simultaneously tearing down and reinforcing whatever he had put between them. Her blithe smile and the fact that she didn't use his actual name suggested that she was just joking, but for some reason he couldn't be sure. “Make me shut up for long enough for you to make up your mind.” She probably meant to come across as light and flirty as she usually does but to him, something about this statement, the way she eyed him with a challenging edge to her grin, and crossed her arms right under her chest, was impossibly sexy.
And there, with her only a step away, Shouta got struck with the overwhelming urge to kiss her. Sure, he had kissed her before, but when he had it was nothing but a performance, a motion with nothing behind it. But now instead of blocking it out he wanted to let it sink past his skin, to feel it fully, to memorize it, savour it, and– holy shit: he liked Emi and not in a casual way, and maybe he had without realizing it for a while.
He took a hand to her shoulder, pushing her back without much force in a way he hoped came off as lighthearted, because in reality he couldn't stand having her so close, looking at him so directly with her breath lightly blowing against his chin, he feared he'd do something stupid. Emi stumbled back a step or two, laughing, “you’re gonna have to try harder than that!” She said, teasingly sticking out her tongue, to which Shouta had to sharply look away from.
This wasn’t good— he had about a week to get rid of this feeling before his brain started to melt out of his ears.
For the rest of his patrol Shouta thought back to things that he previously hadn’t put mind to, that he now realized were signs pointing to this subtle and now realized interest in Emi: the quiet yet persistent desire to be near her and do things for her; the occasional, turned often, ambient thought that she looked pretty, even in the most mundane circumstances; seeing her with Shimako and selfishly hoping that she would stay for more than the few months they had planned. These feelings stalked and ambushed him before hitting him hard in the stomach— now he knew how the villains felt.
He had pulled himself together by the time they had finished their patrol and went to pick Shimako up from school. He’d have to find another time to figure out what to do. The school doors opened, and like usual, Shimako made a b-line to her brother. “Tae said I can go to her house and do a sleepover,” she informed cautiously.
“Really!” Emi said, leaning towards the little girl in interest, she shot a look over to Shouta, her eyes said ‘you forgot about it didn’t you?’
He gave Emi a look back, ‘not forgot, just put it off’, before turning back to Shimako “Do you want to go?” He asked.
“Yes,” Shimako said, measured and thoughtful. She had become more social recently and Shouta couldn’t help but contribute it, at least a little, to Emi, because she definitely didn’t learn it from him. “I think.” she added.
“You think?” Emi questioned in an incredulous yet gentle tone that could get anyone to open up.
“I wanna go, but I'm nervous,” Shimako admitted, clutching her doll up to her face.
Shouta hesitated to assure her: he was nervous too. He wanted to keep her close for as long as possible, but he also knew that his apprehension was rubbing off on her, he was holding her back. Emi easily picked up on his confliction, she took his hand and squeezed it, how long has she been doing this? Reassuring him before he even knew he needed it, touching him so casually and him not noticing. “Think: it's like practice for when you’re away at night, except she’s a few doors down” Emi whispered into his ear, making his mind go a little fuzzy, her warm breath once again lingering at his ear. She was terribly convincing when she was that close.
“Being nervous shouldn’t hold you back, Mako.” Shouta said to Shimako, yes, but himself too.
She thought his words over a bit before asking, “can I go?”
Shouta took her by the shoulders, shaking her back and forth in a show of brotherly affection, “Yes you can go” he said before setting her still “as long as you stay safe, okay?” Shimako nodded yes, and pulled her brother and Emi over to Mrs. Ehara.
The three adults discussed the details: 24th to 25th, 3:00pm to 11:00am, they had a while to prepare. The whole time Emi held his hand, even as they walked back to the house, and Shouta didn’t let go.