Chapter Text
Aizawa Shouta glared at the class schedule in his hand. He hated taking classes outside his area of focus, but his major required diversifying one's understand of the entire tradition of philosophy. This meant every semester he needed to take at least one class he found irrelevant. Most of the time he tried to find something redeemable about those courses, but for the first time he found himself helpless in finding any redeeming qualities of this particular area of study.
‘Ancient Greek: Love and Desire in Antiquity.’ He rolled his eyes as he read the title.
“Love? Who wants to study something so ridiculous?” He muttered to himself as he looked for the furthest seat from the front of the classroom he could find. He shrugged off his black satchel, its numerous cat buttons clinking against the hardwood desk. It was meticulously organized inside so finding anything inside was easy. He took out only the absolute essentials for right now, a black pen and the pink notebook Nemuri made him buy for this course.
As he finished getting situated in his seat, something golden caught his eye. Turning his head he watched as a lean muscular student slip into the seat beside him. The guy wore a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up tp the elbow, yellow trousers covering impossibly long legs, a deep blue paisley tie, and a crimson waistcoat which accented the expanse of his broad chest far too well. All those colors should have clashed, but this man made them work with the confident way he seemed to carry himself.
This man’s blonde hair was swept up into a ponytail with just his stray bangs framing his chiseled jawline. He followed that jawline upwards where he took note of a small tattoo written in Greek letters peeking out from behind his pierced ears.
Aizawa felt a blush creeping up his neck. Adonis was sitting beside him and here he was in his oversized band hoodie, torn up black skinny jeans, and yellow converse. He felt underdressed and overwhelmed and the class hadn't even started yet.
He knew he shouldn't stare, but he continued to watch as the guy rummaged through his brightly colored backpack pulling out half a dozen pens and pencils in every shade under the sun, a few books, and a notebook which already looked more than half full.
‘What the hell is with this guy? He is a mess.’
Apparently, Aizawa sighed loud enough to catch the attention of his desk neighbor. His eyes widened as the blonde turned his body half towards him, a bright inviting smile spread across his face. “Hi there! Yagi Toshinori,” he held out one of his big, tan, calloused hands, “don't believe I’ve had the pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Aizawa sunk deeper into his chair. “Aizawa Shouta.” He mumbled as he shoved his hands into the front pocket of his hoodie. Yagi’s smile shrunk slightly as he withdrew his hand, but he didnt turn his focus away.
“Nice to meet you, Aizawa. I don't think I have seen you around before. Are you a philosophy major too? What is your emphasis?”
“Yeah. My emphasis in epistemology and logic. You?” He wasn't sure why he asked at all, but even showing such slight interest made Yagi’s expression shift. His blue eyes beamed with excitement like a puppy dog ready to pounce.
“Classics. I am the majors resident Greek geek, or so the professors have dubbed me.” Yagi let out a hearty laugh, slapping his desk and causing a few pens to scatter, one of which landing right on Aizawa’s desk.
Yagi quickly moved out of his chair and knelt down collected the ones on the floor. He turned and looked up at Aizawa, a faint redness dusting his cheeks. “Uh. Sorry about this. I don't know my own strength sometimes. Can I..uh” Yagi pointed at his desk waiting for permission to enter his space to grab the writing utensil.
Aizawa slipped one of his hands out and picked the pen up, examining it for a moment before holding it out to Yagi. “Here.” Yagi’s fingertips brushed his hand as he took the pen back sending shockwaves up Aizawa’s spine. His mind went blank as he stared at Yagi’s flustered face. For a brief moment, the two of them just stared at one another. Neither took in a breath, neither moving. Just dark eyes gazing into blue. Try as he might, Aizawa could not ignore how handsome Yagi was from this angle, a latent desire pooling in his chest.
Yagi opened his mouth to speak, but before he got a word out their professor came in.
“Alright everyone. Into your seats. We have a lot to cover and we need to stay on task.” The chipper old man announced before taking a big gulp of coffee. Yagi frowned as he look away and got back unto his seat. As the professor went over the syllabus, Aizawa stole glances at Yagi who busily scribbled anything he deemed important down into his notebook. When he stuck his tongue out in concentration, Aizawa imagined how he must taste. When Yagi caught him staring, he quickly looked away.
‘Dammit, Sho. Get your shit together man.’ He cursed at himself. Aizawa did not lust after people. He didn't desire for things. He was a man of logic. He closed his eyes and forced his heart to calm in his chest. ‘You are just horny, dude. Calm down. What would Arthur Scholemhaur say?’
“Alright students. Now that we’ve gone over all the boring stuff. I want to start off with the the seminole question of this course. Our reason for being here right now. What is love to you? What does it mean? What is this phenomena? Remember, I am not looking for right or wrong answers here. ”
Yagi immediately raised his hand high into the air. “Yes, Yagi.”
“Love is essential to the nature of existing.”
“How so?” the professor asked as he leaned back against his desk, arms crossing his chest.
“If we look at the poem of Empedocles,” Yagi held up on of the books from his desk, “Love is one of the driving forces of all things. It is divine and blameless. Love is that which brings all things, alike and unlike, willingly together. It is the force holding our very beings together.” He gestured to his body.
“Certainly an interesting argument, Toshi. But remember, where Love exists its opposite must also.”
Yagi nodded. “Yes, Strife also exists as the second governing force. Certainly both must exist, but it is out of Love creation comes to be. Love is beautiful and powerful. It takes a mess of matter and creates.”
“Thank you Yagi. Very poetic and romantic as always. Let’s shelf Empedocles for a moment and see if anyone defines love differently. Now lets see,” the professor held up his class list, “Aizawa Shouta. Are you here?”
Aizawa raised his head “Yes?”
“What is love to you?”
Aizawa thought for a moment, adjusting himself in his chair to sit up straighter. “Love is irrational.” He said dryly, sparing a glance over at Yagi who furrowed his brow at his response.
“How so?”
“If love is an emotion and emotions are opposites of reason, than love is the opposite of reason thus irrational.”
“Is irrationality such a bad thing?” Yagi challenged. Aizawa scoffed, shaking his head. ‘This guy…’
“Yes it is. Humans can make immoral choices when reason is clouded by emotions or desires.”
“Can make, but not necessarily make. And love isn't to blame for immorality.”
Aizawa bit his lip, his pride wounded. Yagi’s response aggravated him. It was too early in the day for such a pointless argument, but he couldn't say as much. He felt all the eyes of his classmates trained on him and wanted nothing more than to disappear.
“At bare minimum,” he cleared his throat, “I argue that love is simply a bunch of primitive hormones forcing us to procreate.”
Yagi opened his mouth to respond, but the professor cut them off. “Okay you two. We need to move on to others definitions.”
Yagi turned towards Aizawa and whispered “not bad arguments. Wanna go get some coffee after this? I would love to hear more about your procreation argument.” He raised his thick golden eyebrows, a glint of mischief in his eyes and a smug smirk on his lips.
Aizawa swallowed hard. “Um, I...uh...I don't drink coffee. Sorry.” He lied, but having such flirtatious focused energy on him made him nervous. His palms were sweaty and his stomach started to ache He turned away from Yagi, pulling his hoodie up to cover his face and keeping his focus trained directly in front of him.
As soon as class ended, Aizawa shoved his stuff into his bag and dashed towards the exit. He made it about ten yards when the sound of heavy footsteps came towards him.
“Aizawa! Hey, wait up!” Yagi called out.
Aizawa quickened his pace, ducking into a nearby group of students huddling their way towards the building's exit. He desperately needed caffeine and an escape from social interactions so he made a beeline for the coffee shop farthest away from where philosophy students usually mingled. He checked behind him periodically for any hint of blonde hair following him, but he seemed to have thrown Yagi off his trail.
A vibration in his pocket took him from his thoughts. Pulling it out he noticed a slew of messages from his best friends.
Nemuri: Eraser, how was class? Any hotties?
Mic: I am not there so I doubt it.
Aizawa: You two text too loud.
Nemuri: Not the only thing we do too loud ;)
Mic: Yeaaahhhhh.
Aizawa rolled his eyes and reminded himself he actually loved these two idiots.
Aizawa: Gross. Anyways, I don't know if someone is hot or not. I am above that kind of stuff.
Nemuri: Boo. You are no fun.
Aizawa: There is one guy who tried to argue with me though.
Nemuri: Oooohhh. Tell me more. Is he hot?
Mic: Did you get his digits?
Nemuri: Or did you hide in your hoodie again?
Aizawa started blushing. They knew him too well.
Aizawa: Enough social interaction for today. Getting coffee. See you at the apartment.
The half mile hike towards the coffee chop drained Aizawa's low energy even further, but he told himself it would all be worth it once he got to taste the bitter nectar keeping academia alive. He breathed in deep when he entered the little shop, the little bell above the door announcing his entrance. The bitter aroma filled his lungs, raising his spirit ever so slightly. This was heaven and if it wasn't, he would gladly accept hell if it came with this quiet ambiance
Aizawa took his place in line, engrossing himself in one of the books he carried as he waited his turn.
The little bell rang again, but he paid it no mind as another customer filed in behind him. “I could have sworn you said he you didn't drink coffee.”
Aizawa’s eyes widened as he slowly tilted his head up. There behind him stood Yagi smiling smugly at him.
‘Dammit.’