Work Text:
"Hey 'Zawa, why do you always drag that big dumb sleeping bag around?" A 15 year old Hizashi grinned, eyes filled with curiosity behind amber sunglasses. "I mean, i know you lock it up in the storage closet so it doesn't get stolen or messed with, but why even bring it with you?"
Aizawa's eyes widened, and Yamada swore there was a spark of panic before he schooled his expression. "...It gets stolen otherwise. If i leave it behind somone could grab it" he grumbled.
Yamada tilted his head, even more confused. "Don't you have any security at your house? And why is it the sleeping bag that you're scared about being stolen? Just lock your doors!"
Aizawa hummed but didn't grace him with a response.
Yamada hesitantly dropped it, unsure of what to do. Aizawa after that encounter seemed a little more reserved, avoiding him, cutting him off before he could bring it up.
Aizawa was teased relentlessly by others for how scruffy he was. And while he did always look acceptable, Yamada had to admit his friend did have a perpetual ungroomed and uncared for edge to him. He worried about his home life; were his parents neglectful?
Aizawa always had to ask Yamada for his hairbrush. He used the gym showers for longer than everyone else despite the fact that the shampoo was low quality. He stole Tensei's toothbrush as well, when the boy had accidentally left it in his bag. When Iida confronted him about it he mumbled that his own one had become too scruffy to use anymore.
Iida had been confused but brushed it off, knowing he could easily buy another. And yet it became another piece of the puzzle that was Shouta Aizawa.
After noticing all these strange things, Hizashi couldn't help but subconsciously pick up on other things, now that he was paying attention.
Aizawa's hair was cut choppily, as if he had done it himself with paper scissors, and always looked like a mess no matter how brushed. His skin was incredibly pale and he seemed to become sick all the time. He was constantly tired and slept in classes. He was concerningly thin.
Hizashi remembered he had pigged himself out at a sleepover the other night and thus felt too sick the next day to eat his whole lunch. Shouta had seen his uneaten apple and practically pounced on it, asking him if he could have it. Yamada was confused but nodded, and watched stunned as Aizawa ate it as if it was the last thing he would ever eat, looking for all the world like one of the starved children you see on TV advertisements asking you to give to charity.
When Yamada had gawked at him he had blown a fuse, clearly embarrassed, stalking away. The blonde had been too concerned to follow after him.
Aizawa came into class one day with soaking wet hair and clothes, shuddering. Hizashi's eyes had widened in shock. "What happened?!" he yelped, jumping up, sending a worried look to the snow coming down outside. "Did you walk through that cold soaking wet?!"
The introverted boy had flinched before frowning, turning away. "I needed to clean them, i figured they would have dried by now. But then it started snowing, and..."
Just then their teacher entered and soon they found themselves on the track sparring. Aizawa was clearly held back by how uncomfortably wet and weighed down his clothes were, and was benched in less than a half hour.
Yamada could see the bitterness in his eyes from meters away, and went to confide in Nemuri.
She had hummed and promised to keep an eye on him, and told Aizawa that he should visit a drycleaners after school. He had mumbled something about not having money on him, to which she had tossed him a large sum on a yen note. Not anything that big, just more than you would expect a friend to just casually pass you. He stared at her in shock but she seemed unabashed, shrugging. "You seem to be hard coming by yen, from what I've seen. Not pitying you, just want to help a friend who might be in trouble. So don't feel pressure to repay me or some crap like that"
Shouta had stayed shocked looking but nodded, hands clenching around the bill.
And for all their time in school together, Yamada and Nemuri never really found out what was wrong. Yamada had asked, in a fright, if Shouta's parents were neglectful, and the boy had vehemently denied it, looking upset at the assumption. So the loud blonde dropped it.
But just in case there was something unhappy about their friends home life, they started to invite Aizawa to their homes for sleepovers and study groups more often. And watching Aizawa sleep was honestly so cute to Yamada, he looked so peaceful.
15 years passed and they almost forgot they even had concerns in the first place. As a teacher and adult Aizawa was very good at masking anything wrong. Nemuri had noted seeing him having to rush into the drycleaners early in the morn before school started, and he seemed to have started to buy (or became more proficient at stealing) his own toothbrushes. His hair was brushed (Nemuri suspected he stole hers, since she wouldn't be able to tell if he used it due to their similar hair colours) and he allowed Recovery Girl to cut his hair one time, allowing it to look, while a little less terrible, still not quite as presentable as one would expect.
But for the most part, he seemed like a normal adult.
Then Yamada had asked to come to his house one time. Just as a group of teachers. When they were at the bar, drunk.
Aizawa had panicked, it was uncharacteristically visual on his face. Yamada had been immediately freaked, asking him if he was living with a girlfriend that he didn't want them to see or something. Aizawa at this had flushed crimson and muttered, clearly annoyed, that his house was too much of a dump for Hizashi to come to.
And after this comment had become blackout drunk. Forcing Yamada to take him home. Yeah, drunk Aizawa didn't make logical decisions, which Mic found utterly hilarious.
But the laugh in his throat died when he followed the location saved as 'Home' in Aizawa's map app on his phone.
A rundown apartment complex stood before him, and Aizawa's seemed to be no.47, judging by the number on a key in his pocket. He unlocked the door, and blanched.
There was a tiny, carpetless room before him, the walls bleached white. There was no decoration except for rather old looking cat-print curtains on the singular small window and a stool with a table next to a mini fridge. He could see a laptop on the mini fridge, that looked extremely old, having to be at least a decade out of fashion.
And a bed in the corner of the room.
He was lost for words, and knew that the small door off to the side must be a bathroom. This was where Shouta lived? Almost everything was in one room, and it all looked so old and cheap...
He felt guilt crawl up his throat. Was his friend barely managing to scrape by? Eraserhead was an underground hero after all, and the amount of money he received was pitiable compared to the heroes that went public. And if he had already been low on money and had to buy food and pay bills and rent?
He stared down at the tired man he was carrying, and gently put him down on the stiff bed. He felt a little ill.
He rummaged through the fridge and grimaced at the single carton of expired milk and multiple tins of cheap soup. A few juice packets too, as expected. But not much else.
He winced as he looked back at his introverted friend. No wonder he always looked starved.
He sat by the window stewing in guilt until he saw Aizawa stir, and turned to his friend.
The other slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes, grabbing at his head (migraine, probably...) before his eyes focussed on his friend. He jolted in shock before making a growling sound and glaring at the floor, resolutely ignoring the other's gaze.
"Crap. Of course you had to find out eventually."
"Yeah, i guess i should have realized this" Yamada managed, voice cracking. "Shouta... Have you always lived like this?"
Aizawa cackled then, the sound broken and worn, and the look in his eyes was purely bitter amusement. "Ha. Of course not, i only managed to afford this place a few years ago. Before this i slept in the staffroom at the school when you lot went home" his face went even darker. "Before that i just slept in my sleeping bag"
It took a moment to process the hidden meaning. Yamada felt like he was being suffocated.
"Y- you were...?!"
"Homeless. Yes."
The world seemed to stand still. Aizawa seemed to curl into himself.
"I don't... I don't know what to say" Yamada manged, wanting to yell in his shock but knowing it wasn't the time or place for such an action.
Aizawa brought his legs up to his chest, an action almost akin to a child. He rested his chin on his knees, still not meeting the other's eyes. "You don't need to say anything. I'm aware that after knowing this you won't want to remain frien-"
"WHAT?!" Yamada cried, and winced in guilt as he accidentally used his quirk, causing Shouta to flinch. He softened his tone. "Shou, i won't just up and abandon you because you had a bad lot!"
The other just seemed to sink further into his self hatred, gritting his teeth. Eyes softening, Mic easily strided across the room and took his friend into a tight hug.
Aizawa protested, trying to worm his way out, eyes wide and face flushed in embarrassment, but eventually untensed and limply allowed himself to be accosted.
After a few minutes the taller drew back, tears running down his face. Shouta's face became guilty but Mic quickly wiped them away, shoulders shaking, normally boisterous self toned down and saddened.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
Aizawa's head snapped to stare at him with a look of incredulity, snorting. "Tell you? Tell you what, that the oh so composed and uncaring Eraserhead is just some worthless streetrat-?"
"SHOUTA!"
Aizawa froze. His friends voice was very imperative. Harsh.
"You aren't worthless and you're not some kind of rat! I can't be forgiven for letting you live this way for so long, but you must let me help you now! I'm sure that Principal Nedzu-"
"No!" Aizawa gasped in anger, jumping up and grabbing the other man harshly by his shirt. "Do not tell the principal! Do not tell anyone!"
"But... Shouta i have to make up for letting this go on so long!" Hizashi loudly protested, before his eyes narrowed. "Y'know what? Come to my place. Now. Bring everything you have"
Aizawa's head was reeling and his eyes narrowed. "What?! You can't just-"
"I can and i will!" Yamada insisted, fire in his eyes. "This is not negotiable!"
It took substantial amounts of more prodding, but eventually he managed to coax the perpetually tired other to move his sleeping bag and laptop to his house, as well as the few pairs of clothes he had.
He mostly used his spare room as a storage closet and had yet to clean up the mess, so Shouta had to bum on the sofa. But he didn't seem to mind, muttering that it was more comfortable than his bed.
His bed that he had stolen from an abandoned building.
Any hapiness Yamada had been trying to muster sobered up then, and he had to struggle not to pounce on his friend again to hug him. He knew he wouldn't appreciate it.
They mostly just watched TV the rest of the day, as it was the weekend.
He slept nervous and sad that night and woke up just as much so, albeit it more being masked by numbness and the determination that he had to make up for all those years he had just... Let Shou take care of himself. On the street.
His mind whirled.
Had he washed himself in the river? Did he need to steal food to survive? How often must he have gotten sick without access to medical care or vaccination???
His thoughts continued to spiral.
He wished Aizawa had just told his friends, but knew the other was too stubborn, prideful and stooped in self-directed negativity to let anyone else help him. It was almost his achilles heel, so to speak.
"School day today" Aizawa mumbled from the living room, pulling on his black tracksuit top from where he had flown it across the roon. He glanced at the alarm clock on the shockproof glass table. "It's 5:00am, so we have a good half hour to get ready"
Yamada nodded, yawning and walking to the kitchen before hesitating in the doorway as he realized that he didn't know what his friend had for meals. He glanced back at him, smile hesitant. "By the way, what do you normally have for breakfast? I have cereal, porridge, bacon..."
Aizawa cut him off easily, averting his gaze. "I don't have breakfast. So anything is fine."
There was a momentary terse silence before the blonde forced a grin back onto his face "Alright, prepare for the best bacon and eggs you've ever ate!"
Aizawa looked vaguely amused and nodded, and waved at him lazily. Yamada couldn't help but notice the numerous fresh scratches lining that hand.
Why had he been scraping at his own hand so much?
Uneasy, he tried to ignore it and made them both breakfast. Aizawa ate slow but still quickly enough that they were able to get ready for teaching on time.
Aizawa seemed to be fine teaching his class for the periods he had them at least, so the recent events hadn't shook him too much. Yamada was thankful for this fact.
He nervously shared the developments with Nemuri, who was also horrified that Aizawa had been homeless but repeatedly thanked Mic for taking the self conscious underground hero in. If not for Mic's never-ending persistence and determination to make up for his lack of earlier action, Aizawa wouldn't have let himself be helped.
It made him feel just a little better.
And yet Aizawa kept scratching at his hand. It seemed to be a nervous tic - during free periods Mic noticed his hand was always covered in new red marks.
Even All Might - or 'Yagi Toshinori' as he supposed he should call him - noticed and brought up his concerns to Aizawa, who merely brushed him off.
When Mic himself brought it up, Aizawa just grumbled that it was - as he predicted - a tic when he was anxious. It would go away.
Yamada had mumbled that he just didn't want it to evolve into full on self-multilation, and when Aizawa had uttered something along the lines of 'well you're a bit late on that one' he actually had to bite bleedingly hard on his lip to not scream in shock and horror. Shouta had been panicked, clearly not meaning to be so revealing, and had went for a several hour long walk, coming back bruised and bloodied, obviously having fought villains to let out his emotions.
They had had a short discussion on it, which was admittedly exceedingly uncomfortable, and left an unstable atmosphere around for quite a while after.
Aizawa also seemed to have trouble accepting any kind of help beyond what Yamada had already done. Clearly living so lowly had demolished his self-esteem to shreds, as he often refused very basic things like snacks, new clothes or time alone on the TV.
He was emaciated, more so than Hizashi had first realized, and he set out to remedy it. At first Shouta had protested and claimed that he 'shouldn't waste money on him', but after a slap and long lecture on friendship and the importance of upholding it and a hero's true duty, he dropped it.
"And they call All Might the paragon" he grumbled one day, sending a slight frown to Yamada. "In my opinion you moreso represent that. Jesus christ"
It took a moment for the compliment to sink in and Yamada had attacked him with a hug, the other man loudly protesting and wriggling.
The new life he had started with his friend wasn't perfect, but it was comfy. And it was nice to sometimes see Aizawa give him a real smile.
fin.