Chapter Text
The villain let Aizawa linger for hours after he texted the picture. His room smelled of smoke, it’s vapor hovering against the ceiling, mixed with the scent of whiskey. The bottle now almost empty. Aizawa's eyes still burned from crying the hardest he ever had in his life. Huddled in a tiny corner of his sparsely decorated room, his knees close to his chest, Aizawa glared at the evening light pouring in from the cracks in his blinds.
Images flickered in his mind as he remembered how often he’d been blessed to see Yagi bathed in moonlight. His skin sparkling like the night sky after they made love. It was a gift to see the sun of his life and the moon together, two lights only he was allowed to see in all their splendor together. The gentle whispers of each others names were like prayers only the stars could hear. Moans only the galaxies knew. He rubbed his arms up and down remembering the warmth of Yagi’s embrace. The light of his smile keeping the nightmares at bay.
Now he had to face those nightmares alone. No more would the sun dance with the moon. He was a knight with no sword to stave off the fears, the terrors, the loneliness of an empty bed and broken heart.
Aizawa groaned, running his fingers across his face, taking a fistfull of hair in his hand. He wanted to scream. He tried to, but no sound came out. Reaching for the bottle of whiskey, he tossed it against the wall beside the door. It easily shattered into as many broken pieces as Aizawa’s heart.
He would have to fix this all at some point, but for now he had to try to push his overwhelming emotions aside. Reason needed to overcome the madness swelling up inside him.
After hours of torment, he felt a vibration in his pocket. He checked the phone and saw an address. A quick search led him to an old factory by the docks.The address was followed by a threat and a new picture.
/Come alone or else./
Of course he was going to come alone. He couldn't risk another person's life. Aizawa damaged enough people for one day. First Shinsou by granting him permission to leave campus without an escort. Then Yagi, the only man he ever loved. Aizawa decided he would shoulder this burden the best way the underground hero knew how. Alone.
Slipping on his scarf and goggles, Aizawa stumbled his way towards the front door of the dorms where his boots rested. He definitely should have stopped drinking earlier than he did, but by sheer willpower he forced himself to move onward through the drunken haze.
After he slipped the first boot on, he heard a noise from behind him. He quickly turned his head to see Iida, his class’ representative, looking at him with a confused expression.
“Mr. Aizawa?”
“Iida? What are you doing out of bed?”
Iida motioned towards the dorm rooms. “Principal Nezu requested all class representatives do one nightly sweep of the buildings each week. I am just finishing up my weekly check.”
Aizawa had almost forgot about the student patrols. He nodded, turning his focus back to his boots when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.
“I thought you said you weren't on duty this weekend, sir.”
“I have a special assignment. Now go run off to bed, Iida.”
Iida sniffed the air around him. “Mr. Aizawa, have you been drinking? You shouldn't go to work if you are drunk. People could get hurt.”
‘People are already hurt!’
“Go back to bed, Iida.” Aizawa’s tone was sharp, threatening even.
Iida shook his head, “Mr. Aizawa. Even if you are working, you cannot go out in your condition. Drinking is not only strictly against school code, but you could barely walk a straight line. I am afraid I will have to report this to All Mig-”
Aizawa eyes began to glow red, his hair floating around him. His student moved a few feet away as Aizawa reached for his scarf. “Tenya Iida. How dare you threaten a teacher. Do you know how much trouble you can get in for that? Leave me be and go to bed!” He hissed.
Iida appeared frustrated, yet still he bowed his head in respectful resignation. “Yes, sir.”
Aizawa deactivated his quirk, finished shoving on his other boot, and stomped out the dorms into the frigid midnight air.
Iida watched the door close and was about to return to his room when a flash of light caught his eye. Bending down he found the light source. Aizawa’s cell phone. Iida felt his stomach drop as he picked up the device for there, on the screen, he saw a badly injured Shinsou.
-Yagi POV-
Yagi felt the full weight of his emotions as he slipped under the covers that night. Tears fell from his eyes onto his pillow as he buried himself deeper under his blankets which still smelled like Aizawa. He traced the outline of the bed beside him in the spot where his lover used to sleep. Always curled up close to him, almost a part of him.
A small whimper escaped him as he remembered tracing his fingers across the expanse of Aizawa’s broad chest. Resting his hand where he could feel a heartbeat. Knowing it only beat for him. He missed the thrill of making that heart speed up from the simplest of of touches across the most sensitive places.
Yagi missed Aizawa’s warmth. Missed the way he listened intently, those dark eyes trained on him. He even missed hearing the soft snores and the grumpy smile which greeted him in the morning. Simply put, he missed him.
Logically, Yagi knew something must have happened. He figured that out the second Aizawa opened the door. Aizawa never drank on campus on a school night. Aizawa also never made rash decisions without having at least two fervent debates weighing the options. Every choice was rational and deliberate. Clear cut. Decisive.
Yagi’s mind churned through every discernable possibility that night. A chess match with infinity where every outcome resulted in one truth. Aizawa lied to him, broke up with him, to protect someone. But who and for what purpose? He spent hours trying to solve this riddle.
A fervent knock on his door took Yagi from his thoughts. “All Might-sensei. All Might-sensei. Please wake up!”
‘Young Iida?’
It was unusual for a student to come to his door apartment. Most concerning for him is that it is Iida, a person who would never bother him unless it was an emergency.
“One moment.” Yagi said as he jumped out of bed and put on his oversized All Might robe and matching slippers.. He tied the robe tight around his waist and opened the door.
“All Might-sensei. I am sorry to wake you up so early in the morning,” Iida said, going into a quick bow before continuing, “but I was doing my late night patrol check and ran into Mr. Aizawa. He seemed inebriated and was rushing out the door. I inquired as to-
“Iida, please. Get to the point.”
Iida sighed and held out a familiar black box. “Mr. Aizawa dropped his cellphone. I picked it up to go give it to him but then I saw this.” He pressed the power button and turned the screen towards Yagi.
“Hitoshi!” Yagi stammered, a bloody cough threatening to rise out of his chest.
“There are more messages. I know I shouldn't have looked, but I found a whole chain of them by an unknown number. All Might. A villain has one of the students. What do we do?”
Yagi started scrolling through the thread of pictures and texts. He felt sick as he saw poor Shinsou bloody and battered. Many of these pictures were from hours ago. He must be so scared and in such pain.
Yagi scrolled further when his eyes landed on the picture Aizawa sent. Suddenly everything clicked. Aizawa was indeed protecting someone. He was protecting Shinsou. He still didn't know why they had to break up, but the first riddle was solved.
“Young Iida. Did you show anyone else these photos?”
Iida shook his head. “No, sir. I came straight to you.”
“Good. Follow me.” Yagi gestured for the teen to follow him.
The two of them made their way through the dormitory and out the front door of the 1-A building. Iida only barely managed to match Yagi’s long strides by keeping his engines humming. “We need to inform the general studies teacher about this as well as Principal Nezu. You need to tell them everything you noticed about Eraserhead. Any detail matters.”
Iida nodded vigorously, rounding the corner of the general studies building before grinding his engines to a halt. Yagi strode easily ahead of him until he saw the trail of blood leading up the general studies dorms staircase.
Yagi’s eyes followed the trail a body, crumpled and broken laying in front of the door.
“Shinsou?”