Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shouta was helping Nemuri do photoshoots that day, which he did often because he was the only one Nemuri would trust to handle her camera equipment.

There was also the matter of Shouta practically living at the studio because his camera equipment was there, and it took a lot more effort that it was worth to lug all of his equipment back to his place every time he went back there.

Therefore, it was simply a lot more practical to roll out a sleeping bag and sleep at the studio. Not to mention that he had all the amenities that he needed to live in the studio, so there really was no reason to leave other than to go to his apartment to shower or to sleep in an actual bed, which he occasionally indulged in on nights he absolutely had to take a shower.

“Hey, Shouta! Bring that over here!” Nemuri shouted, and Shouta gave her a quizzical look.

“Which thing?” Shouta gestured to the array of camera equipment. “Nemuri, we were both in the same classes. Both of us know the names of the equipment.”

“The thingamajig,” Nemuri said, pointing towards a certain piece of equipment. “I forgot the name, and I can’t be assed to remember it.”

“No swearing at work.” Shouta reminded as he handed the item to Nemuri.

“Oh, please, it’s my studio. I can swear if I want to. What? Are there children here that I don’t know about?”

“Absolutely.” Shouta deadpanned. “There are currently twenty children all running around your studio who are extremely susceptible to ideas and words they hear that you should not swear around. I’m also going to leave you alone with all of them because I don’t really want to deal with twenty children running around.”

“Oh, shut up.” Nemuri laughed at the idea of twenty children running around her studio before continuing doing her job.

At the moment, Nemuri was preparing for a model to arrive at the set so Shouta just waited around for the model to actually get there.

Soon enough, the model walked in. He had long blonde hair and the most ridiculous mustache that Shouta had ever laid eyes on, and it was something he got a better view of when the man took off the scarf he was wearing, which he presumably wore to hide his face since the weather was actually nice out. However, he made no move to remove the sunglasses he was wearing.

Shouta watched as Nemuri fussed over the model. Shouta thought he heard Nemuri say the model’s name, but Shouta didn’t really care enough to remember it. It’s not like the model was someone he saw often.

While Nemuri fussed over the model, Shouta sat there kind of bored, and he wondered if he should go take a nap. Maybe.

However, before Shouta could actually take the nap that he wanted and probably needed, Nemuri came up to him.

“Shouta, I’d like your advice on what I should have my model wear for this photoshoot.”

Shouta looked over the model, noting the fact that he had definitely seen him in a variety of commercials and advertisements, which meant that he was certainly a popular model. It also made more sense for him to cover his face so that he wouldn’t be recognized by anyone so that he could be on time for his photoshoot. At least he was punctual.

“Play to his strengths. Take his shirt off.” Shouta advised, knowing that he probably wouldn’t see the model ever again.

Shouta didn’t miss the way the model sputtered and coughed, but both he and Nemuri ignored him in favor of talking about the actual photoshoot.

In the end, the model did end up taking his shirt off, and Shouta was absolutely right. From a perfectly objective standpoint, his chest was phenomenal, and Shouta decided that he definitely made the right call suggesting that the model take his shirt off.

Nemuri worked with the model for about an hour or two before the photoshoot was wrapped up and finished.

The model soon left, and that was last of the model that Shouta ever thought he would have to see.

Except it wasn’t the last of the model. Shouta soon realized that the model with the long blonde hair and sunglasses was a regular of Nemuri’s, and he ended up seeing the model enough to actually learn his name.

Yamada Hizashi, also known as Present Mic. Shouta had absolutely no idea why Hizashi was known as Present Mic, but he was, and Nemuri frequently called Hizashi “Mic” instead of his actual name. Maybe it was a nickname.

Obviously, the first thing Shouta noticed about Hizashi was his looks, which made sense, speaking as he was a model. It was kind of in the job description to look good because the better a model looked, the less touch-ups were needed, which meant less work. At least, it was for photographers like Nemuri, whose photography style often ended up being attempting to cover up any flaws in order to make the entire photo more glamorous.

Shouta honestly preferred to take photos of landscapes and bugs and animals. He didn’t often take photos of people, but, for the people he did take photos of, Shouta typically brought more attention to flaws.

But, Shouta didn’t really care much for Hizashi. He was simply a model doing a photoshoot with Nemuri, and Shouta was just there to help Nemuri with her camera equipment. Therefore, Shouta didn’t actually talk to Hizashi much until Hizashi started talking to Shouta.

Which brought Shouta to the second thing he noticed about Hizashi: he was loud, and he never seemed to stop talking.

“Hey! You’re always here during the photoshoots, but you’ve never introduced yourself!” Hizashi came up to Shouta one day after his photoshoot when he was typically leaving already. “What’s your name? I’m Yamada Hizashi!”

Hizashi held out his hand for Shouta to shake, and Shout begrudgingly shook Hizashi’s hand.

“I already know your name,” Shouta said.

“Well, I kind of guessed that you did. Both you and I are here so often that it would be weird if we didn’t know each other’s name, which makes it strange that I don’t yet know your name.”

“Aizawa Shouta.”

“Well, Aizawa, it’s nice to actually be properly introduced to you! What do you like to do?”

“Sleep,” Shouta said. Maybe if he gave off-handed answers, Hizashi would go away, and he could actually go to sleep.

“Sleep is always nice.” Hizashi agreed. “I like music and English!”

“English?” Shouta asked.

“Yeah! I’m actually fluent in it, and it’s always been an interesting language to me. Honestly, I’ve always wanted to become an English teacher so that I can share my knowledge of the language with others.”

“I can’t say that I’ve ever wanted to be a teacher, but it’s admirable that you want to educate the future generation.” Shouta honestly thought that sentence sounded rehearsed, but Hizashi looked to be absolutely thrilled to hear it.

“Thank you! Usually, people just look at me weird when I tell them that because they wonder why I would become a teacher, especially since I’m currently a model that makes a lot of money, but these looks aren’t going to last forever, baby!”

“At least you know your job isn’t going to last forever,” Shouta responded. “I’ve seen too many models think their looks will last their whole lives, and then something happens that gives them scars, or they simply grow old, and then they aren’t hired by anyone anymore.”

“Yeah, it’s really sad.” Hizashi looked briefly at his phone, and his eyes widened. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I have to go now! It’s been great meeting you, Aizawa! I’d love to get to know you more!”

Weirdly enough, Shouta found himself wanting to know more about Hizashi as well. It was strange because Shouta hadn’t really talked to him at all during the first couple photoshoots Hizashi had with Nemuri, and then, all of a sudden, Hizashi just went up to him and started rambling on and introducing himself.

Shouta thought he was going to hate Hizashi when he first opened his mouth, if only because he was loud and talked a lot, but he soon found out that Hizashi was actually an interesting conversational partner.

And, once Shouta had that one conversation with Hizashi, he soon found himself having more conversations with him, to the point of ending up with his contact information at some point or another.

One particularly memorable conversation Shouta had with Hizashi was actually about Nemuri.

“So, Aizawa. You know a lot about Nemuri, right?”

“Since when were you on a first name basis with her?” Shouta questioned.

“Since, like, last week. But, anyways, does she get around,” Hizashi had the audacity to wink at Shouta. “As much as the public says she does with her models?”

The question surprised Shouta so much that he found himself crushing the juice box that he was holding. He was thankful the juice box was already empty.

“Yesterday she spent four hours talking about a single camera lens that she just bought.” Shouta deadpanned. “She’s really excited about it. I think she might only have sexual attraction to cameras and not in a fun way.”

“I’m glad she’s so passionate about her job,” Hizashi said, and the Shouta didn’t really expect that kind of response, so it threw him for a loop.

“Why were you asking about if she gets around?”

“Oh, well, I wanted to know if she was actually serious in her flirting or not,” Hizashi admitted. “Like, does she actually want to hook up, or is she just a flirtatious person?”

“You could always ask her,” Shouta suggested.

“I probably should.” Hizashi agreed.

“I can’t tell you whether or not she’s actually serious, but I can tell you that she is a flirtatious person, so while there is a possibility of her actually liking you, I don’t think that’s the case.”

“Alright. I’ll be sure to ask her.” Hizashi promised, and, later, Hizashi texted Shouta about how relieved he was that Nemuri wasn’t actually interested in him. He follows up with a disclaimer saying how Nemuri was attractive and all, but he really would rather be just friends with her.

Shouta told Hizashi that he understood completely and that Nemuri was probably glad that Hizashi didn’t take her flirting too seriously. She sometimes had problems with people doing that.

Eventually, after constant conversations with Hizashi, Shouta actually started considering Hizashi one of his friends.

“How did I become friends with Yamada?” Shouta asked Nemuri one day. Nemuri looked at Shouta quizzically.

“I don’t know how you wouldn’t become friends with Mic. He’s a really friendly guy.”

“He’s not the usual person I make friends with.”

“Who is the usual person you make friends with?” Nemuri questioned. “As far as I’m concerned, you only ever made friends with me and Tensei, and, now, Mic. Now, three friends is a perfectly reasonable amount of friends to have, but it took Tensei literal years to become friends with you, same with me.”

“Which is why it’s weird that I’m suddenly friends with Yamada.”

“I suppose it is kind of strange. I guess he just has an attractive personality.” Nemuri winked and laughed. “I say it’s a good thing. It means you have more people to show off your cats to.”

Shouta hummed in acknowledgment. He supposed he could show off his cats to Yamada. Which, of course, meant that he was going to spam Yamada with pictures of his cats for no good reason other than to show him his cats.

Shouta, at some point in his existence, learned to enjoy the small things in life. And one of those small things he enjoyed was taking pictures of cats and sharing those pictures of cats with other people. His Instagram had a lot of cats, and he has lost count of how many pictures of cats he had sent his friends.

The fact that they were tired of Shouta sending so many cat photos just made him want to send more of them.

Hizashi, however, was not annoyed by the cat pictures. All he did was praise Shouta on how amazing the pictures were and say how cute the cats were. But, that was how Tensei and Nemuri reacted at first to the cat pictures as well, so Shouta was expecting Hizashi to get annoyed at any moment now.

But Hizashi didn’t get annoyed by the cat photos, even when Shouta sent enough pictures where both Tensei and Nemuri were annoyed by them. Instead, Hizashi started responding with cat memes and cat videos, both of which Shouta enjoyed greatly.

The third thing that Shouta noticed about Hizashi wasn’t actually anything about Hizashi at all. Instead, it was more of a realization that Shouta realized about himself, which he realized during a conversation he was having with Hizashi.

“Aizawa! I’ve got something to show you!” Hizashi said. He had arrived a bit earlier than usual for his photoshoot that day, and, when he got there, he made an immediate beeline towards Shouta.

Shouta turned towards Hizashi, who was bringing something up on his phone.

“Here!” Hizashi showed the photo to Shouta, and it was a picture of an extraordinarily fluffy cat with an extremely grumpy face, and it was so cute that Shouta couldn’t help but smile a bit. “I thought it was paw-sitively adorable!”

Shouta took a moment to process the pun, and, rather than groan at such a horrible pun like he usually did, he found himself dissolving into a breathy laugh punctuated by bouts of squeakiness. It was in this laughter that he realized the third thing about Hizashi, and by Hizashi, he meant himself.

Shouta had a crush on him.

The realization surprised him, and his laughter suddenly stopped.

“That was an incredibly dumb pun,” Shouta said in an attempt to distract from how he suddenly stopped laughing.

Hizashi didn’t seem to actually notice, and he was instead staring vacantly at Shouta with a look that he couldn’t really describe. However, Shouta didn’t get to spend much time wondering what the look might have meant because Hizashi suddenly snapped out of it.

“Oh! Yeah! It kind of was.” Hizashi did a small laugh, and Shouta had a feeling that Hizashi didn’t actually hear what he said. “Anyway, I should get ready for my photoshoot, yeah?”

Hizashi left, and Shouta found himself staring after him, wondering what he was going to do with this crush.

It turns out, he just started taking pictures. That seemed to be the main way he dealt with feelings in general.

He started taking pictures of Hizashi, which he decided to keep private, but he also took pictures of other things that happened to remind him of Hizashi, which he decided was subtle enough to post on his Instagram.

He took photos of a pair of eccentric sunglasses, and he took photos of birds, and he took photos of English words written in calligraphy, which Shouta honestly thought made English more difficult to read, but the point of the matter was that all those things reminded him of Hizashi.

Shouta should have known that Nemuri would notice. She’d been his best friend since college, and she had also been a photography major, so she knew exactly what those photos meant.

“Shouta, I’ve been looking through your Instagram.” Nemuri brought it up after work. In her hand, she held her phone with the incriminating evidence on it. There, on full display, was the painfully obvious pictures that pointed directly towards his crush on Hizashi.

“I see that.” Shouta said. He knew he wouldn’t be able to deflect the conversation with Nemuri, but he sure as hell could try.

“And when I saw the first pictures, I thought that it was just you branching out to new subject material. But, the more you posted, the more I realized what those photos were related to. Shouta, you could make at least three mood boards about Hizashi with the number of photos you’ve taken.”

“And it’s taken this long for you to notice?”

“I needed to be sure.” Nemuri defended. “You haven’t exactly been gushing about your crush to me, you know.”

Shouta said nothing in response. Maybe if he doesn’t respond Nemuri would stop talking about it. Nemuri looked at Shouta suspiciously, but she let the silence continue for a few moments before speaking.

“You’re catching feelings, aren’t you?”

Shouta was suddenly very aware of how red his face must have been, and he groaned as he covered his face.

“I know,” Shouta said, his voice muffled by his own hands.

“Man, you got it bad.” Nemuri pat Shouta on the shoulder. “How about I be your wingwoman?”

“This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you.”

“Shouta! Come on! I’m the best wingwoman!”

“No.” Shouta knew exactly what Nemuri’s matchmaking attempts were like, and none of them were strategies that Shouta wanted to be subjected to.

“Alright, fine. But, if you can’t figure out how to get Hizashi to date you, then I’ll be happy to give advice.”

“I’m going to take a nap.” Shouta changed the subject and started to move towards where he kept his sleeping bag.

“Remember, I’m here if you need me!” Nemuri declared, and Shouta opted to ignore her by getting into his sleeping bag and taking a well-deserved nap.

Shouta decided that he was going to deal with this crush on Hizashi… later.

Chapter Text

Hizashi had a problem, and it had to do with Shouta.

Well, no, he didn’t have any problem with Shouta as a person. In fact, Hizashi thought Shouta was very nice, and he was nice to spend time with. However, that was kind of the problem that Hizashi was facing.

The problem was that he had developed a crush on Shouta. That, in of itself, really shouldn’t have been that big of a problem, but Hizashi kind of did work with Shouta, so it wasn’t like he could avoid him or anything, not that he wanted to.

He supposed he didn’t really work with Shouta since Shouta just helped Nemuri out with the photoshoots, but his point still stood.

It didn’t really, but Hizashi didn’t really know what to do now that he knew that he had a crush on Shouta.

The way Hizashi figured it out was kind of ridiculous too. He just said a stupid pun which he expected Shouta to roll his eyes at, but, instead, he starts laughing. It wasn’t even a very attractive laugh. But something about that laugh made Hizashi go !!! inside.

And then the feelings didn’t go away. He felt his heart beat faster when he was around Shouta, and there were times when Shouta looked towards him that made Hizashi forget how to talk, and Hizashi found himself wanting to spend more and more time with him.

Should he just ask him out? What if the feelings weren’t mutual? Would that make their friendship awkward? Would it just be better to not ask out Shouta?

Hizashi didn’t know. He was going to have to think about it.

However, it was very, very hard not to think about it when Nemuri asked Shouta to oil up Hizashi for the photoshoot.

Now, Hizashi understood the practical use of being oiled up. It made his skin shiny, and it usually added an extra layer of glamour to a photo, but Hizashi was having a really difficult time remembering that it was actually thing when Shouta was rubbing the oil all over Hizashi’s chest.

Shouta was careful in putting on the oil, slowly spreading it over Hizashi’s skin with a serious and concentrated look on his face, seemingly oblivious to Hizashi’s plight.

Hizashi was having a certain situation downstairs that he hoped to god no one would acknowledge. He honestly hoped that Shouta and Nemuri would just think that it was the touching of his chest that got him worked up.

Still, Hizashi couldn’t really keep down the blush that was probably obvious, but he did try his best to think of things to kill his boner.

He breathed carefully while Shouta rubbed the oil all over him, and Hizashi paid special attention to his own breathing because, if he didn’t, he was afraid he was going to lose his breath due to Shouta being this close and paying so much attention to Hizashi’s body.

When Shouta was finally, finally, done, Hizashi was both relieved and disappointed, and throughout the entire photoshoot, Hizashi found himself getting distracted.

When the photoshoot actually ended, Hizashi found himself immediately going home to give himself some relief. Afterwards, he started to actually think about his crush on Shouta.

He couldn’t just pine forever, right? Then again, the feelings could go away quickly, so he decided it was better to wait them out for a while to see if they actually went away.

Turns out the feelings didn’t go away. At all. Which meant that there was plenty of time to embarrass himself in front of Shouta.

One time, Hizashi saw Shouta while on a jog. Shouta was jogging as well, but, the thing was, it was hot out, so Shouta didn’t have a shirt on.

It was honestly unfair that he looked that good, although that just might be the bias of the crush. Regardless of whether or not Hizashi thought that Shouta was hot because he had a crush on Shouta, Hizashi got distracted enough by the sight of Shouta’s bare chest to run into a pole.

That really hurt. But Hizashi was honestly more mortified by the fact that he had run into the pole with Shouta watching, even if Shouta didn’t judge him at all for it.

Shouta had ran over to him, and he asked Hizashi if he was okay, and Hizashi was still very distracted by the sight of Shouta’s chest, especially because it was suddenly very, very close to him.

Hizashi felt his face burn while Shouta checked for any injuries, both in embarrassment and the fact that Shouta was so close to him.

“It doesn’t look like you got hurt badly, but you really should be more careful, Yamada,” Shouta said once he looked over Hizashi for injuries.

“Call me Hizashi!” Hizashi suddenly blurted out, his face suddenly even more red than it was before. Shouta’s face went a bit red before responding.

“Call me Shouta.” He said, a lot calmer than the way Hizashi blurted out his words.

The exchange just made Hizashi feel dizzy, though that might of also been from hitting his head into a pole. He really hoped he didn’t get a concussion or anything.

He really hoped the dizziness just came from the fact that he and Shouta were now, officially, on a first name basis, and that fact made Hizashi incomprehensibly happy.

However, that did not make Hizashi any less likely to embarrass himself in front of Shouta.

Another time he was walking around with Shouta and talking to him about some of the more nuanced things in the English language, and, for absolutely no good reason, he tripped over his own feet.

However, he didn’t hit the floor because Shouta ended up catching him. It reminded Hizashi of nearly every romcom he had seen, and he immediately stood right back up, coughing with a huge blush on his cheeks and struggling to remember what he was talking about.

Both of these embarrassments only served to make Hizashi have a bigger crush on Shouta because of the way he responded to each of those times Hizashi’s clumsiness got the better of him.

But, there was a completely different time that left Hizashi completely mortified.

He was a complete mess at the time. He hadn’t brushed his hair, and he was wearing his favorite pajamas covered with both cats and stains. He wasn’t even wearing his signature sunglasses, and he was, instead, wearing his normal glasses. Basically, it was his day off, and he didn’t particularly care about how he looked at the time as long as he was comfortable, but that changed when he saw Shouta while at the grocery store.

If there was anything worse than what Hizashi was wearing, it was what he decided to put in his basket, which mostly included different kinds of junk food and chocolate-based products.

When Hizashi saw Shouta, he really, really hoped that Shouta wouldn’t recognize him, but that hope was soon dashed when Shouta actually saw him.

At first, Hizashi thought Shouta didn’t recognize him, since he was just looking at Hizashi, but it was soon proved wrong.

“Hizashi?” Shouta asked, and Hizashi really couldn’t pretend he was someone else when Shouta sounded so hopeful that it was him.

“Yeah, hey, Shouta!” Hizashi attempted to act like he wasn’t an absolute mess at the moment. “It’s nice to see you here.”

“I like your pajamas,” Shouta said, and Hizashi was glad that his pajamas were what Shouta had noticed, instead of the stains or the junk food or the lack of brushed hair.

“Thank you.”

The two of them have a fairly short, casual conversation, but Hizashi still felt absolutely mortified that Shouta saw him like that, even if he made no mention of it.

How difficult was it to seem cool in front of his crush???

Apparently very.

Anyway, despite the number of times Hizashi had embarrassed himself in front of Shouta, he still went out of his way to spend time with him.

There was one time when Hizashi was spending time with Shouta. Shouta had asked him to come with him to take photos, and so the entire time, Hizashi just spent his time falling even more for Shouta while watching him focus so carefully on taking pictures.

It actually kind of seemed to be a trend that Hizashi couldn’t stop the warm feelings that bloomed in his chest and the sudden quickening of his heart whenever he saw Shouta focused on something.

But, there was one moment during that outing that made Hizashi feel like he was going to explode.

It was when Shouta had just finished taking a photo of a bug that was hanging out on a flower, and he looked up at Hizashi, presumably to respond to whatever Hizashi had said, but his mouth just fell open before closing again. Shouta swallowed.

“Fuck, you’re so beautiful,” Shouta said, and Hizashi felt his face burn.

“What?” Hizashi asked, wondering if he actually heard that right.

“I, uh, I’m,” Shouta was flushed as well, and he looked towards his camera. “I’m talking to my camera.”

“Oh.”

That was the first interaction Hizashi had with Shouta that was like that, but it was certainly not the last.

There were various conversations that were similar to that conversation to the point where Shouta would even come up with excuses.

“Oh, yeah, I named my camera Zoshi,” Shouta said when he said, very explicitly, that Hizashi was pretty.

“Is that a thing that photography people do?” Hizashi asked. This was probably at least the fifth time that Shouta slipped up and called Hizashi cute or beautiful or pretty and then proceeded to say he was talking to his camera.

“Yes. Absolutely. Ask Nemuri. She named her camera Shashin.”

Hizashi must have given Shouta a weird look at the name because he quickly explained.

“Yeah, Nemuri’s not exactly the most creative when it comes to names.”

“Hey, Shouta.” Nemuri walked up to the both of them. “I couldn’t help but overhear that you named your camera. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you say in college that you would never be caught dead naming your camera?”

“That was in college where my camera didn’t cost thousands of dollars and make me a living,” Shouta explained. “You can’t say anything. At least I didn’t name my camera ‘Shashin.’”

“How dare you say that about Shashin. They have feelings, you know.”

“They’re a camera.”

Nemuri dramatically gasped.

“I can’t believe you would say that.” She put a hand on her chest. “To say such things about my beautiful camera, I don’t even think you care about your own.”

“I cared enough to name it.”

Hizashi was mostly just confused by the conversation. What he actually gleaned from it was that photographers were very protective of their cameras. It kind of reminded him of how protective he was of his instruments, so he guessed that he wasn’t that confused.

However, he was certainly able to put context clues together enough that he figured that his feelings for Shouta were mutual, so, if he was a hopeless, pining idiot, at least he wasn’t the only hopeless, pining idiot.

But, every single time Hizashi made a plan to ask out Shouta, he didn’t actually do it. Even while Hizashi knew for a fact that Shouta returned his feelings, he couldn’t bring himself to digest the butterflies that suddenly sprung up in his stomach every time he made the attempt.

Hizashi didn’t know why he was hesitating. He didn’t know what he was waiting for. He just needed to ask Shouta out on a date, but, for some reason, he couldn’t find the words that were required to ask Shouta out.

One day, before he could gather the courage to ask out Shouta, Nemuri came up to him with a slightly panicked expression and holding her phone over to him.

“Hizashi, have you been seeing what Shouta’s Instagram has been looking like for the past week?” Nemuri asked. “If you haven’t, look.”

Hizashi looked through the most recent photos Shouta had taken and posted, and he noticed that, for the past week, Shouta had been posting pictures of harbors with a black and white filter with such captions as ‘To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves.’

“Oh, Jesus.” Hizashi found himself saying.

“Oh, Jesus is right.” Nemuri put a hand on Hizashi’s shoulder. “I’m begging you, please ask out Shouta soon. I don’t think I can handle him going through another emo phase.”

“Shouta had an emo phase?” Hizashi asked.

“Yeah, but it was before I knew him, but I hope he’s not having another one. But that’s beside the point. You need to ask him out because God knows he’s not going to ask you out.” Nemuri said. “He’s pining because he thinks you don’t like him back, but you know your feelings are mutual, right?”

“Y-yeah, but I don’t know how to ask him out.”

“Be as blunt as possible. Shouta may seem like he’s an observant person, but he’s the most oblivious person in the world when it comes to romance.” Nemuri advised, and Hizashi decided to take that advice to heart.

“Alright, I’ll ask out Shouta,” Hizashi promised.

Hizashi breathed in and out, going over the words in his mind over and over and over again, hoping that he wouldn’t mess up or forget the simple string of words he managed to put together when he actually asked out Shouta.

Nemuri also advised that Hizashi keep it simple, so he didn’t have any flowers or gifts on him, so he fiddled with his fingers, locking them together before letting them fall limp and then weaving them together into something that vaguely looked like a knitting pattern.

“Hey, Shouta!” Hizashi greeted, trying to keep careful control over his breathing.

“Hi, Hizashi,” Shouta said, and Hizashi was suddenly very aware of the fact that Shouta had given him his attention.

“So, uh, Shouta, um…” Okay, Hizashi. It was now or never. Breath in, breath out, and, “I like you! Do you want to be my boyfriend?”

Okay, now that he said it out loud, it actually sounded kind of juvenile, but it certainly got the job done because Shouta went pink.

“Yeah.”

And Hizashi went dumbstruck because of how beautiful Shouta’s smile was.

Chapter Text

A few months after they started dating, Shouta and Hizashi ended up moving in together. To be specific, Shouta ended up moving into Hizashi’s place because it was more logical.

Shouta’s logic was as follows: he had less stuff than Hizashi, so it was much easier to move everything he had to Hizashi’s place instead of trying to get everything Hizashi owned over to where Shouta lived. Hizashi also had a nicer place since Shouta only ever really used his apartment for showering. In addition, moving in would mean that they would be able to share things, which means they only needed one of certain necessities.

Hizashi was just glad that Shouta wanted to move in with him. His reasons for wanting Shouta to move in were a lot less logical. He honestly just wanted to be able to spend more time with Shouta.

Although, there were some funny occurrences that happened once Shouta moved in with Hizashi.

Now, Shouta has gotten jealous before during Hizashi’s photoshoots. It happened whenever Hizashi had to have a “romantic partner” for the photoshoot.

Usually, the jealousy was ignorable because Shouta recognized the way a photoshoot could be improved by photographing two models who appeared to be in a relationship.

However, there was one time when the model that was working with Hizashi continued flirting with him even after the photoshoot was done, and the model continued their advances even while Hizashi was clearly uncomfortable with them.

Shouta wouldn’t have intervened if Hizashi was interested, even if he was jealous. Afterall, Shouta wanted Hizashi to be happy in the end, and if he was happier dating someone else, then Shouta was in no position to refute that.

But, in this case, Hizashi was doing his best to starve off the advances of the model, while the model wouldn’t back off, so Shouta decided to intervene.

He did so by picking up Hizashi and moving him outside, leaving the model confused and left alone. Afterwards, they went home and cuddled on a couch and watched bad movies.

The next day, there were tabloids everywhere claiming that Yamada Hizashi, the famous model and radio show host, had been kidnapped by a shadowy figure in dark clothing. Many of the stories included accounts from the model that had been flirting with Hizashi.

Hizashi found it absolutely hilarious, but he found it less funny when his friends started calling him to see if he would answer the phone.

“I didn’t get kidnapped!” Hizashi yelled into the phone for what was the fifth time of the day. It was getting pretty annoying at this point to answer all these calls, and he really should just send out a mass email to inform everyone that he didn’t actually get kidnapped, and that was just the media blowing things out of proportion like they always do.

“The so-called ‘shadowy figure’ was my boyfriend,” Hizashi explained, once again. “No, no, he just works so hard that he forgets to take care of himself.”

“Speak for yourself, Mr. model, radio show host, and soon to be teacher.” Shouta said.

“Yeah, that was him,” Hizashi stated into the phone. “Sorry, but I really do have to go right now. I have to send out a mass email that tells everyone that I wasn’t actually kidnapped.”

Hizashi hung up and sighed.

“Why are people even taking the tabloids seriously?” Hizashi asked.

“Because they have an eyewitness account,” Shouta explained. “Particularly one that claimed they knew you well.”

“Ugh. The articles were funny at first, but now…” Hizashi frowned and glared at his phone.

“Just send that email. It makes things less annoying.” Shouta said, and Hizashi did so. Then his phone started ringing again.

“Yes?” Hizashi answered, hoping that it wouldn’t be another person wondering if he got kidnapped.

“Oh my god, you’re okay.” The voice from the phone said. “I got super worried when I heard you had been kidnapped.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay,” Hizashi said.

“Who is it this time?” Shouta asked.

“She’s an old friend from… college, I think?” Hizashi furrowed his brows. “I think she studied marine biology.”

“Yamada-kun? Who’re you talking to?” She questioned.

“Oh, it’s just my kidnapper.” Hizashi laughed. “I’m joking! It’s my boyfriend!”

“Oh! Well, I’m happy for you both! And I’m glad you’re safe. Anyway, I have to go soon, so I’ll call or text you at some other point in time. I’m sure you’re just as busy.”

She hung up, and Hizashi breathed out heavily.

“Shouta! This is annoying.” Hizashi complained.

“It is mostly my fault,” Shouta said, causing Hizashi to fixate him with a glare.

“You were protecting my honor! You were doing a good thing!”

“I wasn’t protecting your honor. I was starving off the advances of someone you weren’t interested in by doing the most logical thing- removing you from their vicinity.”

“No, Shouta, you’re my knight in shining armor!” Hizashi declared. “And you saved me, the prince, from an unwanted suitor.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Shouta said, but he couldn’t help but smile.

After that day, the tabloids realized that Hizashi hadn’t actually been kidnapped, and everything went more or less to normal, although there were still speculations about who the ‘shadowy figure’ was.

They didn’t actually figure it out until several months later.

The thing was, Shouta, for once, actually decided to do a photoshoot that involved a person rather than bugs and flowers. Instead, he did a photoshoot with Hizashi.

“Hey, Zashi, would you mind if I took photos of you and showcased them in a gallery that’s coming up?”

“I wouldn’t mind at all!” Hizashi declared. “Just tell me when and where you want to do the photoshoot.”

“I was hoping to just do it here. I want more candid photos, but I need your permission to take those kinds of pictures.”

“Oh, well, I’m not really used to being photographed without being styled and having piles of makeup on, but I don’t mind.”

Shouta nodded, and, over the next few days, he worked on his photoshoot, and he eventually got the photos he needed to show in the art gallery. He, of course, made sure to clear all the photos with Hizashi and double checked to make sure Hizashi was fine with those kinds of photos being shown.

Afterall, Hizashi was the kind of person who at least kind of cared about his reputation and looks, particularly since he was extremely well known by the public, and one could barely go grocery shopping without seeing a picture of his face.

That being said, Shouta honestly expected the media to absolutely explode when they saw the photos he took of Hizashi.

The reason Shouta thought this was because most photos of Hizashi were very glamorous, very much trying to hide any and all flaws he may have had. Nearly every photoshoot Hizashi did was to convince the audience that, if they bought the product, they would be as beautiful as Hizashi was.

Meanwhile, Shouta’s photos focused heavily on showing that Hizashi was human. So, his photoshoot was filled with photos of Hizashi eating potato chips on a couch in his most comfortable clothing and photos that brought attention to the fact that Hizashi missed spots when he was shaving just like anyone else.

They were photos of times when Hizashi had just woken up, and his eyes were bleary, and his hair was a mess. They were photos of the times when Hizashi was laughing way too hard at some ridiculous joke he just heard. And they were photos of the moments when Hizashi was calm and quiet and enjoying a cup of tea.

And Shouta took some of those photos and put them in a small gallery, fully expecting the media to come out with titles like ‘Present Mic Chilling’ or something. Shouta honestly didn’t know how the media came up with titles, and that was the first one that came to mind.

But, to Shouta’s surprise, there was nothing in the media, not even the smallest article. He guessed it was a pleasant surprise, since it meant that there was less of a spotlight focused on him, so he just forgot about it.

Until a month later when he woke up to enough articles about his photoshoot to drown in.

Reading through the articles, he figured out exactly why it took a month for the articles to come out: it took them that long just to figure out that the photos were of Present Mic.

The entire thing would be laughable if it wasn’t for the sudden attention Shouta got. Now, he realized that, as a photographer, it was good for his career to be noticed, but, as a person, he just wanted to be left alone.

He frequently got asked questions about how he took those kinds of photos of Present Mic and what his relationship with Present Mic was, and blah, blah, blah, and other things that were personal, Shouta didn’t feel like answering those questions to complete strangers who were just going to put his answers into a magazine for everyone else in the world to read.

“Why did you decide to do that kind of photoshoot?” A reporter asked him while he was on his way to Nemuri’s studio.

“Leave me alone.” At this point, there had been a few articles about the mysteriousness of ‘Aizawa Shouta,’ and the only reason they knew his name was with the photos he took so that people would know who took the photos. There were also rumors of Shouta being the shadowy figure from the Present Mic kidnapping, which was true, but there was no one who had the proof to confirm it.

Other than that, however, Shouta gave absolutely no information.

“I’m so tired of reporters,” Shouta complained to Nemuri.

“At least more people are seeing your photos,” Nemuri said. “How many people have commissioned you for photos?”

“A few,” Shouta answered. “More than usual. It’s the only good thing about this entire experience. They don’t need to know about my personal life. All they need to know is how skilled I am, and any other information is unnecessary.”

“It may be ‘unnecessary’ as you say it, but you do know that avoiding the questions like you’ve been doing has just made them more curious about what’s going on with your life, right?”

“Are you saying that I need to answer their questions to make them go away?”

“I’m not saying you have to answer them directly, but you can give cryptic answers, or you can even answer them with information about your career instead of answering things about your love life.”

“Hmm. Maybe I’ll try that then.”

It kind of worked. There were more persistent reporters who made an attempt to extract more information from him, but he was nothing if not extraordinarily stubborn.

“Reporters are annoying,” Shouta complained to Hizashi this time.

“They can be pretty nosy.” Hizashi agreed.

“Have you had reporters ask about me at all?”

“Of course! Don’t worry though, I prefer to keep my private life out of my work, so I haven’t really talked about our relationship much.”

“I don’t really mind if you talk about it,” Shouta said. “It’s just annoying when complete strangers ask about it.”

“Yeah, I understand. This is your first experience with reporters, right?”

Shouta nodded.

“Their job is to learn as much as possible about whatever the public is most likely to read, so they, of course, go after the stories that have the most intrigue, and the information that is most likely to be talked about.”

“Still annoying.”

“Yeah, it’s still pretty fucking annoying.”

Eventually, the entire thing with Shouta and the photoshoot died down, and Shouta was so very thankful for that.

It was also something Hizashi was thankful for. Even though he was used to dealing with reporters asking about his personal life, he wasn’t really used to the reporters being so persistent in asking him about it.

Maybe it just had something to do with how he didn’t really have a romantic life previously, and, now that he did, he felt really awkward lying about it.

Don’t get him wrong- he was great at lying, but that didn’t mean he liked doing it. He only ever did so when absolutely necessary, which, really, wasn’t that often.

Anyway, now that the entire thing about Shouta was over, both of them were able to go back to their everyday life, with reporters only going after Hizashi with questioning.

And, of course, part of their everyday life including being teased by Nemuri.

“Mic, you don’t look nearly excited enough,” Nemuri commented during a photoshoot. “Someone get Aizawa in here.”

“Nemuri, shut up,” Hizashi responded, but he couldn’t keep the small smile off his face, and that’s when Nemuri struck.

“There we go! Those are some quality photos!”

“All the photos you take are quality,” Hizashi said.

“Aww, well aren’t you a charmer.”

But, Hizashi’s favorite thing about his life wasn’t the photoshoots or his radio show or even the fame that came with both.

No, his favorite thing about his life was the moments where he was alone with Shouta, and they spent time together by watching a movie or eating some food or even just by being in the same room while doing different things.

And while Hizashi loved his jobs and his fame, he couldn’t help but love Shouta more.

He was so glad that Shouta fell in love with him too.