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Toshinori was never the sort of person to ask for help. Not when he was a quirkless child, not when he was in school, and not when he was a professional hero. It simply wasn't in his nature - not that it was terribly surprising that the man who would become Atlas holding up the world was someone who didn't know how to ask for help.
However, now that he was without his powers and his true form has been revealed for all to see, he had begun to adjust to a world that seemed all to happy to help him with every little task. People who passed him on the street asked to help carry his groceries, his students had begun to nag and worry over his diet ("You're too thin, All Might-sensei!"), and even his fellow teachers seemed to be more sensitive to his needs. More than once he had come to his desk in the morning to find a cup of steaming tea, or to see his desk cleaned and organized.
It was touching, and as he relaxed into this new way of life, he began to get somewhat mischievous ideas. If people were so utterly determined to help him, surely it would be fine to rely on them for the inconveniences in his life.
And so, he found himself seated at his desk in the teacher's lounge, idly marking some papers, and thinking about the groceries he had to buy before the week's end. He needed some eggs, some protein bars to eat between meals, some more tea...
As he resolved himself to finish the last essay on his desk and head to the store, he heard the faintest sound of rain pattering against the window in the office. He turned his head to see steadily increasing rainfall, turning the sky dark and heavy.
He sighed and shook his head, and out of the corner of his eye caught the sight of Present Mic bobbing his head to music over his own pile of papers to mark.
"Mic-kun!"
Mic looked up from his work, staple smile plastered on his face.
"I was wondering if you could perhaps assist me with something!" Toshinori smiled, hands clasped in an apologetic manner. Once Mic had come over to Toshinori's desk, he put on an entreating expression. "I am so terribly sorry to bother you, however I was going to go grocery shopping just now and..." He gestured towards the window. "As you can see, outside it has begun pouring! And, although it pains me to admit it, the rain rather aggravates my cough." At this, Toshinori turned his head and raised one fist to cover his mouth as he coughed pathetically.
It wasn't that much of an act! Just about anything aggravated his chest these days, so it was more of an embellishment than anything surely.
"So, I was wondering, if you could perhaps... If you aren't busy... Go out and fetch the groceries for me?" Toshinori peeked out of the corner of his eye to see Mic's reaction.
Mic was leaning towards him as though hanging off of his every word, and his eyes seemed to be watering as he sniffled a bit. Jumping to attention, Mic clapped one hand on his chest and loudly announced, "Leave it to me, All Might-san!"
Toshinori grinned brightly, holding out his shopping list. "You're my hero, Mic-kun!"
And before he could say anything further, or even offer his umbrella, Mic was sprinting out of the room.
About half an hour later, Mic came barging back into the teacher's lounge, dripping wet with rain water. His hair was limp and fallen out of his typically gelled hairstyle, and his leather outfit was shining wet. Mic held out one hand, clutching the few bags of groceries triumphantly.
"Ah, thank you so much! You really helped me out, although I do apologize that you had to endure the rain for me." Toshinori said, bowing his head slightly.
"No~o problem, All Might-san! It was my pleasure! Let me carry these home for you!"
"Oh, no, I couldn't possibly ask that of you..." Mic's eyes glimmered behind his shades as he pouted. "Ah... If you insist, then!" If Mic was offering then why not?
Together they left the office, Toshinori ensuring to grab his own umbrella for the both of them. As they exited the lounge, Mic chattering loudly about the radio show he hosts on Saturday nights, they passed Aizawa who eyed them curiously - Mic sopping wet and holding groceries, and Toshinori idly listening to his excited monologue - but who did not seem bothered enough to ask what was going on.
Somewhat later, a week or two perhaps, he was once again in the teacher's lounge bent over papers to mark. Did it ever end?
His head was aching terribly, and the letters began to blur into a mess of black ink. He had slept incredibly poorly the night before, and had spent the whole night tossing and turning, trying to escape the burning ache in his left side. He grit his teeth as he felt more blood begin to pool in the back of his throat, however he knew that he could not leave before finishing these papers.
He sighed, and brought up one hand to punch and massage at the bridge of his nose. Perhaps he could simply take a moment, indulge in a cup of tea with some honey, and power through the rest of the pile.
Thankfully, none of the other teachers were present to see the once Number 1 hero being defeated by mere ink and paper.
He rolled his shoulders, and tried to relax the knots that were slowly, yet surely, forming. Just as he had resigned himself to a slow death by marking, the door to the teacher's lounge opened and a cheerful Midnight entered the room.
"Hello, All Might-san~!" She waved at him and walked over to her desk.
Toshinori looked at her, looked down at his paperwork, and after a brief moral struggle, called out to the R-18 hero.
He put on his most sincere and sweet smile. "Midnight-kun! I was wondering if you would help me with something!"
Perhaps not his brightest moment, but she heard out his plight, and with the utmost sympathy she took the pile of papers and shooed him off to the staff kitchen to fix himself some tea and relax while she burned through his work.
And so he did! He mixed in the honey, held the warm cup as if it could ward away his exhaustion and aching pain, and simply rested his eyes in the quiet kitchen area.
He was unsure of how long he spent relaxing idly with his cup of cooling tea, but some time later Midnight called him back into the lounge proper.
"All done!" she announced proudly, holding out the stack for Toshinori to collect.
He took it, giving her his heartfelt thanks and gratitude. "You saved me a lot of difficulty, Midnight-kun. You truly did!"
She giggled a bit, flipping her hair. "Don't worry about it! Just go home and get some sleep." She waggled her finger at him menacingly. "Otherwise, I'll tell Recovery Girl!"
He held one hand up placatingly, laughing along with her. "I assure you, I am going to do just that!" And so he took his papers back to his desk, grabbed his jacket, and left the lounge, only sparing a moment to bid goodbye to Aizawa who must have come in while he had been resting in the kitchen.
Aizawa just nodded curtly to him as he left, eyes glancing between Toshinori and Midnight. Once Toshinori had left, Aizawa turned fully to Midnight.
"So, he had you marking papers for him?" he drawled, idly scratching his chin.
Midnight beamed at him. "He was having a rough time! Apparently he couldn't sleep last night, and I wanted to help take a load off of him." She leaned on one hand and sighed. "He's working so hard to make sure no one worried about him, so it's difficult to see him like that... Still!" She perked up, eyes shining and fists clenched. "He's finally reaching out to us for help, so I'm going to give it!"
Aizawa didn't bother to respond. So, that's what Mic was doing before, eh? Helping All Might with his chores? Well, he wouldn't be the first. On more than one occasion, Aizawa himself had made a cup of tea to leave on the other teacher's desk before anyone else had arrived, or tidied up his desk on days All Might left early when his injury was aching too badly.
It was only a matter of time, he supposed, before he was next up on the list to do All Might's bidding. He smiled behind his scarf.
That time never came. Aizawa witnessed teacher after teacher, and even their students, be brought in to assist All Might with whatever little concern troubled him. He watched as Cementoss gladly helped move equipment around for one of All Might's classes, as Thirteen sat down with him and helped sort out his lesson plans, and even as a few of their more helpful students were asked to assist in All Might's spring cleaning. And yet, although Aizawa had begun to keep a closer eye on All Might, still he was never asked to assist with any of these things.
Aizawa found himself thinking about all of this, lost in his thoughts while in his sleeping bag on the floor of the teacher's lounge. Why was he even concerned about this? If All Might bothered the other teachers, and the students, then wasn't it all the better? That meant Aizawa didn't need to go running around, fetching this and that. It didn't matter in the slightest that his quiet, anonymous support went unthanked.
Well if it's anonymous, of course it's unthanked, said the reasonable part of his brain that had woken up after his fourth cup of coffee.
Shut up, brain, Aizawa thought viciously. Just as he had sullenly pulled out a pouch of juice to drink, the door to the lounge opened. Speak of the Devil.
All Might entered the lounge, one hand over his mouth as he tried stifling some wet sounding coughs, and walked over to a pile of boxes that had been shoved in the corner. Aizawa had idly glanced over them earlier. They were full of marked papers.
Probably Midnight's work, Aizawa thought with an amount of bitterness that surprised even himself. He didn't care. Let her help All Might, because apparently Aizawa himself was unfit for duty. Even though he was the one who had gone with All Might to meet with all the teachers, and had helped try and save him when he got too close to the training, and had even gone out for drinks with him... He didn't care.
All Might was stacking the boxes on top of one another. Aizawa wondered who he was planning to get to help him move them this time. There was no one but the two of them in the lounge. Was a student coming to help? Perhaps his favourite, Midoriya?
All Might swiveled his head to survey the room, and spotted Aizawa in his sleeping bag. He smiled, teeth white and brilliant and eyes crinkling cutely at the edges, waved at Aizawa, and then leaned down to grab the entire stack of boxes.
Aizawa's grip on the juice tightened so much it almost sprayed his face. What was he doing? If he didn't have someone to help him, he could have asked Aizawa! He was right there!
The pile of boxes reached all the way up to All Might's chin from where he held them in his arms, although he seemed to be able to carry them easily enough.
Aizawa grumbled to himself. If he didn't need help, then so be it. He turned over in his sleeping bag, determined to sleep, when he heard a hacking cough start up behind him followed by the crash of boxes and papers.
Flipping back over, he saw All Might bent over, shoulders quivering and shaking with every wet cough, surrounded by scattered pages.
"Are you alright?"
All Might turned towards him, one hand clasped over his mouth. He gave a thumbs up with his other hand, but Aizawa could see blood seeping out from his mouth. He got out of his sleeping bag and went to stand next to the other teacher.
"Just... A moment to breathe, and I'll be right as rain!" All Might forced out from between his teeth, just before he doubled over further from a coughing fit. Every hack seemed to bring up more blood, until finally the attack relented and All Might began to breathe evenly.
Something in Aizawa's chest clenched in sympathy and deep, deep worry with every cough. Putting his hands on his hips, Aizawa tsk'ed sharply. "Stop pushing yourself." He crossed his arms and glared down at All Might who was still bent over, and wiping at his mouth with a handkerchief. "If you kill yourself moving boxes, I..." Aizawa hesitated over his words for a split second. He what? Shaking his head, he continued, "U.A. will never live it down."
All Might cautiously straightened up, seemingly afraid of provoking another attack, then shot an embarrassed smiled at him. "My apologies..."
The bags under his eyes are deeper than normal, Aizawa noted. He rubbed under his eyes to stave off his frustration and headache.
"Just... Go sit down. I'll bring you some tea. Then I'll clean this up," he finished, motioning towards the mess on the floor and moving away towards the kitchen.
"Oh no, I couldn't ask that of you! Don't worry, I'll-"
Aizawa turned his head enough to glare at All Might over his shoulder. They stood in silence, All Might nervously hovering next to the spilled papers on the ground, and Aizawa standing stock still halfway between him and the kitchen. Finally, All Might relented. He sighed, turned, and went to sit down at his desk.
Aizawa released his glare and slouched over to the kitchen. "Good. And stay there until I come back."
When he was done brewing the tea, he brought back the steaming drink to All Might who, as he had been told, was simply sitting and waiting at his desk.
"Thank you very much," All Might said warmly as he took the tea. "But please, Aizawa-kun, you don't need to clean that up. Just this is enough!"
The growing frustration began to fracture inside Aizawa. "Oh? And here I thought you had 'finally started reaching out to us for help'. Or so Midnight said..." He kept his voice sounding bored, but there was a hint of an edge emerging in his tone.
All Might seemed to look embarrassed, turning his face away and rubbing the back of his head. "Well, you know, Midnight-kun was just in the perfect place at the perfect time, and..."
"Just like Mic, right?" Aizawa interrupted, talking just a tad louder. "And Thirteen. And Midoriya. And..." Aizawa motioned behind him towards his sleeping bag. "Just like I was today, but that didn't stop you from trying to take it all on your own."
There was no response. All Might wasn't even looking at him.
Aizawa rubbed his eyes again. "Whatever, All Might. If you don't want my help, too bad. I'm going to clean this up, and then I'm going to help carry it. End of story. After that, you can do whatever the hell you want as long as you aren't biting off more than you can chew just because you don't like me." At that, he didn't even stop to allow All Might a response, he simply turned around and began working at sorting the papers back into their respective boxes.
It was quiet, except for the shuffling of papers and the sound of All Might taking a sip of tea.
"... Aizawa-kun..."
When he looked over his shoulder, All Might was looking at the cup of tea with an indecipherable look in his eyes.
"This tea... It's somewhat familiar. I don't know what brand it is, but you know..." All Might looked up at him, eyes locking onto his. "I've had this tea before, on the occasional morning when I've come into this office and found a cup of this tea waiting for me." All Might stared at him, as if asking for a response.
Aizawa shrugged as nonchalantly as possible. "I make hot water when I make the coffee, sometimes. And you like tea, so..." He shrugged again.
The cup was put down on the desk top, as All Might hummed thoughtfully. "Aizawa-kun..."
"What now?" he shot back in irritation. He was embarrassed enough, thanks, no need to rub it in.
"I don't dislike you, you know."
Aizawa looked up, a little surprised at the sudden admission. All Might was still looking at him, grinning a little as if he had just received an delightful, yet unexpected gift. It was stupidly cute. "I do like your company! However, at times, it does feel as though you dislike me. Or at the very least, you don't like me."
"... We went out for drinks." Was this really happening? The man wasn't that dense was he?
"Ah, I know, but still it's -"
"I offered first, and you turned me down." It was really happening, and he really was that dense.
"Er, well yes, but that -"
"Just..." Aizawa held out a hand to stop All Might's ridiculous excuses. Really? All this time, All Might was nervous to talk to him because he thought that Aizawa didn't like him? "How about... After I'm done this, and we haul these stupid boxes... Let's go out for another round of drinks."
All Might gave him another one of those sun-bright smiles, the kind that made his stomach twist uncomfortably. "I would love to, Aizawa-kun!"
"But finish your tea, first."
"Of course, Aizawa-kun."