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Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
An eight-year-old Shota Aizawa let out a low groan as he was roused from slumber by a tapping at his window. He slowly got out of bed and trudged over to the window, pushing it upward and letting the nighttime breeze waft into his bedroom.
“Hey, Shota!” a voice whisper-shouted from down below. “Down here! Shota!”
Aizawa peered down and caught sight of [Name] standing under the window of his second-floor bedroom. She was still in her pajamas, and she had a coil of rope hanging on the crook of her elbow and small pebbles in her hand.
“[Name], what are you doing here?” Aizawa hissed. “It’s the middle of the night!”
“I know,” [Name] confessed as she dropped the pebbles, “but I wanted to sneak out and have a sleepover with you!”
“Won’t your parents notice that you’re gone in the morning?” Aizawa asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
“Nah, they both have work in the morning, so I’m fine.” [Name] looked up at Aizawa with the puppy-dog eyes. “Pleeeeease?”
Aizawa rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he told her. “But be quiet about it.”
[Name] nodded eagerly and tossed one end of the rope up to Aizawa. He tied the end to his bed and motioned for [Name] to start climbing. Eventually, [Name] toppled through the window and onto Aizawa’s floor, jumping onto Aizawa’s bed as he untied the rope from his bed and pulled the rest into his bedroom.
“Scooch,” he ordered. [Name] complied and rolled over to the other side of the bed, letting Aizawa crawl in next to her. As soon as he did, [Name] immediately snuggled up next to him and fell asleep. Aizawa sighed, too tired (and endeared) to do anything about it as he let sleep overtake him a second time.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Aizawa–now fourteen years old–woke up to the familiar sound of pebbles being thrown at his window. Without missing a beat, he opened his bedroom window and tossed out the rope ladder he kept tied to some hooks below the window.
“What’s the occasion?” he asked once [Name] clambered through the window and pulled the rope ladder in after her.
“Just another squabble between my parents,” [Name] replied dismissively, although her downcast expression contradicted the casualness her voice portrayed.
“They seem to have a lot of squabbles,” Aizawa commented as [Name] got into his bed and pulled the covers up to her chin.
“It doesn’t matter,” [Name] mumbled. “I just want to pass U.A.’s entrance exam and not worry about my slowly destabilizing family life.”
[Name] didn’t react when Aizawa got into bed with her, but she stiffened when she felt Aizawa throw a protective arm over her waist.
“Just roll with it,” Aizawa murmured sleepily before [Name] could get the question out. “Go to bed. Big day tomorrow.”
[Name] snorted. “You’re such a kuudere, Shota.”
“Shut up.”
“They got a divorce,” [Name] mumbled after collapsing into Aizawa’s chest. “Mom’s moving to America and Dad is moving away from Musutafu.”
“What are you going to do?” Aizawa asked quietly, stroking [Name’s] hair comfortingly.
“Well, I’m eighteen, so I can get a loan from the bank to rent an apartment and pay it off once I make money as Soap Suds,” [Name] mused. “I can just work part-time until then.”
“You could always move in with me,” Aizawa suggested.
[Name] shot up from Aizawa’s chest. “No, I couldn’t!” she protested. “I’d be freeloading! I can make it on my own, don’t worry!”
Aizawa sighed. “I forgot how self-sacrificing you are,” he sighed.
“I could say the same thing about you,” [Name] shot back. “I’ll be fine, I promise.”
“Let me at least help you pay off the loan,” Aizawa insisted. “Actually, scratch that; I will help you pay off your loan.”
“But–”
“No buts,” Aizawa interrupted. “I’m helping you pay off your loan. End of story.”
[Name] mimicked Aizawa’s exasperated sigh as she fell back into Aizawa’s chest. “You self-sacrificing idiot,” she muttered.
“I could say the same thing about you,” Aizawa retorted with a small smirk, copying [Name’s] previous comeback. “You’re not shaking me off that easily, you know.”
[Name] laughed quietly. “I know. Not that I want to.”
“Aren’t you getting a bit old for this?”
“Pssh, no way.” [Name] waved a hand nonchalantly as she floated on a platform of glowing neon-green bubbles outside of Aizawa’s open bedroom window. “You’re never too old for sleepovers, in my opinion!”
“You’re such a child,” Aizawa muttered, stepping aside and letting [Name] float into his bedroom. “Then again, that’s why you’re so popular with children.”
“Yeah, because unlike you, I’m a fun heroine!” [Name] announced, letting her bed of bubbles pop underneath her as she fell onto Aizawa’s bed.
“Good thing I don’t care about being fun, then,” Aizawa remarked dryly.
“Well, I think you should,” [Name] said, conjuring more glowing green bubbles and popping them with her finger. “But I like you just as you are.”
“Hm. You flatter me,” Aizawa commented as he got into bed with [Name]. “Any word on your parents?”
[Name’s] face fell, and all of the bubbles floating in the air popped simultaneously.
“They both remarried,” she whispered. “Had new kids. They barely answer my calls or my texts. They’ve basically replaced me. Like I’m an old flip phone getting replaced with a shiny new smartphone.”
Aizawa wrapped his arms around [Name] and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.
“Well, I’d rather keep the flip phone,” he reassured her. “It’s always been there for me and has never failed me once. Not to mention that now I’m attached to the flip phone,” he added, his lips quirking up in an amused smirk as [Name] stifled a laugh by shoving her face into her pillow.
“I think this is the funniest you’ve ever been in all my years of being your friend,” [Name] pointed out, still laughing into her pillow as she did so.
“Don’t expect it too much from me,” Aizawa cautioned her. “I’m a pro hero, not a comedian.”
[Name] finally stopped laughing long enough to kiss Aizawa on the cheek.
“I know. And I wouldn’t have you any other way.”