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“Aizawa-kun?” A hand touched his shoulder and Aizawa came awake with a start. Immediately, he grimaced.
“Sorry,” he said to Yagi, who stood over him. Aizawa wasn’t one for social niceties, but falling asleep right after sex was...pretty rude, especially when you were at someone else’s place. He then ruined any sincerity the apology might have with a jaw-cracking yawn. Shit.
Yagi just chuckled.
“Long day?” he asked sympathetically.
“Long week,” said Aizawa, and then amended: “long month.” He noticed that Yagi had washed up and changed into clean clothes. “Shit. How long was I asleep? What time is it?”
“It’s only 9:30,” said Yagi. “You were only asleep for about twenty minutes. No, no, please don’t hurry,” he said hastily and Aizawa began to swing himself out of bed. “I only woke you because I was wondering if you might like to wash up. I started a bath.” There was a hopeful lilt to his voice that Aizawa wasn’t sure was real or was just his sleep-deprived brain.
“Uh,” he said. He probably should just go, but his brain was so foggy. He yawned again. What the hell. “Sure,” he said. “Sounds nice.” He heaved himself out of bed, still naked, and then blinked sleepily, trying to remember where the bathroom was in Yagi’s apartment.
“This way,” said Yagi, gently taking Aizawa’s arm and steering him to the bathroom. He started the shower, taking the temperature by sticking his arm under the water while Aizawa waited propped against the wall. “There you go,” he said, apparently satisfied. Aizawa stepped under the shower, and yes, Yagi had the right idea. It felt good to scrub off the sweat and cum of their earlier exertions.
When he stumbled out, the bath was ready and waiting. It was exactly how he liked it, just a touch on the side of too hot. Aizawa sank in gratefully and let his eyes drift closed, sinking into the sensation and letting his muscles loosen. He had some aches and pains from doing training with the students earlier in the week, and the heat felt amazing.
At a touch to his shoulder, he opened his eyes. Yagi was kneeling next to him, looking embarrassed.
“Ah,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t asleep again. It would be dangerous if you slid under the water.”
“Well, that’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To keep an eye on me, make sure I don’t drown?” said Aizawa, sliding deeper into the tub until the water was touching his chin. His hair fanned out in the water around him. Every inch of his body was warm.
“Well, yes,” said Yagi with a little laugh, and then paused. Aizawa cracked an eye open again.
“Your hair,” said Yagi finally. “May I?” His long, blunt fingers trailed through the water, gently gathering Aizawa’s hair up.
"If you want," said Aizawa, feeling too languid to protest. He was trying to remember the last time he'd actually bothered to take a bath, rather than just a quick scrub in the shower, which was so much more efficient. Probably around the last time he had a full night's sleep.
"Tilt your head back, please," said Yagi, rolling up his sleeves. Aizawa complied, and all sound disappeared momentarily as he dunked his head under water. When he came back up, Yagi had poured out some shampoo into his palms and was working it into a lather.
"Turn this way," said Yagi, and gathered Aizawa's wet hair in one hand for Aizawa to rest the back of his neck against the rim of the tub. "There you go." He began to work the shampoo in, and Aizawa nearly groaned. He hadn't even known there was tension in his scalp until Yagi's fingers began to work it away.
"Mmmm," he said groggily. "Feels good. Your hands." Yagi's fingers stopped momentarily, then, when Aizawa made a protesting noise, continued. Aizawa sighed in satisfaction. He was melting into nothing more than a warm, insensate puddle.
"O-oh?" said Yagi. "I'm glad."
"Mmm," said Aizawa again, much too sleepy to say anything coherent. He felt like a cat in a patch of sunlight. Yagi continued to work the shampoo in, fingers gentle on the knots in Aizawa’s hair. He hummed to himself softly as he did so, which was—ridiculously endearing.
“Rinse, please,” said Yagi finally, and Aizawa dunked his head again, allowing Yagi to wash the shampoo out.
“Okay, out now,” said Yagi, and Aizawa groaned.
“Ugh,” he said dourly, and then, with a petulance he didn’t normally express: “Do I have to?”
Yagi chuckled.
“I can’t just let you fall asleep in the bath, Aizawa-kun,” he said, and cracked a smile. “What if you drown? Then what will I tell the students?” He held out a towel. “Come on, now.”
Aizawa climbed out of the tub on jellied legs and into the towel. He stumbled a little, and Yagi’s arm was there to steady him, surprisingly strong. Suddenly, Aizawa was aware of how surreal the scene was—Japan’s top hero, helping Aizawa wash his fucking hair.
“I want to kiss him,” thought Aizawa abruptly, looking into Yagi’s sunken eyes. They...didn’t, often, outside of sex. Whatever they had, a...relationship, whatever, was new. And this...this thing where Aizawa didn’t just go home at the end of the night, that was even more new.
He was staring at Yagi’s lips. His mind was fuzzy around the edges with tiredness.
“There’s some clothes on the bed,” said Yagi, after a breathless moment. His cheeks were pink. “I’ll just drain the bath.”
“Right,” said Aizawa hoarsely.
Sure enough, there was a pair of clean sweatpants and a worn-out t-shirt. Both were much too large for Aizawa and smelled, very faintly, of Yagi. Aizawa forced his leaden limbs into them and rolled face first onto the bed. He may have drifted off for a minute, because then Yagi was shaking his shoulder again.
“What now?” said Aizawa, rolling over, and paused. Yagi was holding a hairbrush.
“I—if you sleep with it like that, it’s going to get tangled,” he said faintly. “I can brush it, if you want.”
Aizawa narrowed his eyes.
“Why?” he asked muzzily, aware that he wasn’t making any sense. Luckily, Yagi seemed to pick up on what he meant.
“Oh—” he said. “I just...like it.” He was blushing again. “I like taking care of...of you.” He pressed his lips together, face pink all over.
“Oh,” said Aizawa stupidly. His mind had gone completely blank, but something around his stomach was fluttering around like a panicked moth banging at a light bulb. “I. Yes. That’s—I mean, go ahead.”
“Okay,” said Yagi. “Um. Do you want to come over here?” He sat down on the bed and patted the space in front of him.
Aizawa moved over and settled himself cross legged, and Yagi began slowly working at Aizawa’s wet hair with the brush. It felt...nice. The rhythm of it was soothing. To Aizawa’s surprise, Yagi didn’t stop even when all the hair had been untangled and brushed smooth. Instead, his fingers moved lightly against the base of Aizawa’s skull, weaving sections of hair over and under each other. When Aizawa lifted a hand to check, he found a neat braid beneath his fingers.
“Where did you learn to do that?” he asked Yagi, who looked bashful.
“Oh, I found it was something that comforted children,” he said. “They were always so surprised when I could do it, they forgot to be upset.”
Aizawa blinked.
“That’s adorable,” he said flatly, and Yagi let out a surprised crackle of laughter.
“Thank you?” he said. “I never would have expected you express an opinion like that, Aizawa-kun.” His tone was light, teasing, a corner of his mouth quirked up.
“I guess I just find myself feeling a little...forthcoming tonight,” said Aizawa, looking up through his eyelashes at Yagi and reveling in Yagi’s intake of breath. “Now, can we finally go to sleep?”
“Of course,” said Yagi, and got up to turn out the lights while Aizawa got settled under the covers.
The bed dipped as Yagi got in, and Aizawa waited for a moment, but Yagi simply lay still, with a respectable amount of distance between them.
“Yagi-san?” said Aizawa.
“Yes?”
“Come here.”
Yagi’s arm around Aizawa was tentative at first, but then as Aizawa didn’t move away, his hold became more assured until Aizawa was safely tucked in the curve of Yagi’s body.
Aizawa smiled in the darkness and closed his eyes.