Work Text:
Aizawa was having a bad day.
He had rolled out of bed already tired and grumpy as it seemed like he had just closed his eyes to finally sleep and that's when the alarm decided to go off, just to spite him.
Nonetheless he trudged on. Pulling open the door of the bedroom, he was greeted by the warm aroma of freshly brewed coffee and the man who was just as blinding as the sun itself. The man he called his husband.
The warmth of a ceramic mug was pressed into his awaiting hands. It was accompanied by a gentle kiss to the top of his head and the promise of breakfast being ready for him in a few minutes time.
The edge of sleeplessness was taken off with each sip of his coffee, to the point where he couldn't resist the urge to reach out and grab Yagi's ass in passing, only to act like he had been innocently sitting there all along while the older man turned a delicious shade of red.
Breakfast was small and not too elaborate, given that they were to leave for work in an hour. Aizawa had never been keen on eating anything of substance until lunch; his usual snack being the protein pouches he kept in his utility belt. However ever since he started dating Yagi, and due to his dietary needs, the man made sure that he too ate something of substance in the mornings. It also helped curb Aizawa's grumpiness most mornings, Yagi figured.
Aizawa migrated to the bathroom while Yagi cleaned up. A splash of cold water and a plush towel helped soothe his exhausted features. Thankfully he already looked like an exhausted mess so his students and colleagues couldn't tell the difference.
But Yagi could tell.
Those smiling blue eyes had always been able to see right through him, it seemed. They were perceptive. They seemed to know what he was feeling despite how little he expressed himself.
Perhaps it was because the man accepted him. All of him. For better or for worse. Til death do they part…
"Come on sweetheart…" Yagi said from where he stood behind him, gazing lovingly at his husband's reflection. "Smile."
Aizawa scowled, averting his gaze from the mirror with a defiant grunt. The older man pressed closer to him, leaning down next to him as he reached up to press his fingers against the corners of his rigid mouth; Aizawa losing the fight as Yagi pressed up, forcing his mouth into a crooked grin to match his own in the reflection.
"Remember, sweetheart," he told him, his low voice resonating off the walls. "No matter how hard it gets, and even if you are afraid, you have to smile and say that you're okay."
-
Yagi was gone now.
His radiant presence was still etched into everything Aizawa saw within the bleak apartment. Distant echoes of his deep, contagious laughter still resonated from these walls only to fade into the deafening silence that filled this place they once called home.
'Smile, Shouta.'
He failed to fulfill Yagi's request today, to smile even while bidding him one last farewell before they laid him to rest.
Aizawa had failed the Symbol of Peace. His friend. His husband…
He had failed Yagi.
Aizawa barely recognized the man staring back at him in the mirror now. The grief had taken its toll on him as the water from the faucet dripped down his dark, weary features.
'Smile…for me.'
Even if Aizawa wanted to, there was nothing left within him to draw the slightest amount of joy to even attempt the most crooked, heartbroken smile he could muster.
He remembered that morning he rolled out of bed in a bad mood and Yagi did everything he could to cheer him up. He remembered standing in front of this very mirror with his husband behind him, his fingers pushing up the corners of his scowling mouth, telling him the exact same words that kept echoing through his mind.
'Smile.'
Slowly, tentatively, Aizawa brought his hands to his face and pressed his fingers to each edge of his trembling mouth, pushing the corners of his lips up, forcing his broken, tear-stained reflection to smile back at himself.
'Because the ones who smile are the strongest...'