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Every year, on Christmas Eve, a party is thrown at the teacher's lounge in UA. The first one took place five years ago at the suggestion of a foreign teacher that needed an excuse to spend the holiday night with Nemuri, dancing and having fun; a very brave man when fighting criminals but not enough of one to ask a strong woman on a date.
That first time he got his kiss under the mistletoe - and even though he moved out of the country a few months later, the party remained and became tradition. Mic is in charge of the music, Nemuri of the games (most of them alcohol related), Ectoplasm brings the karaoke machine, Lunch Rush prepares buckets and buckets of fried chicken that always seem like too much but end up empty, and Vlad bakes strawberry pies. The rest decorate the room while Aizawa sleeps on the sofa under the promise of buying the beers. After so many years, each has their role and they all have a good time.
But this year there’s a new element in the school’s staff, and with him, new traditions come along.
“A gift exchange?” Aizawa finally looks up from his pile of tests (a lot of red notes there) to pay attention to what Nemuri is trying to explain to him.
“It was All Might’s idea,” she explains with a smile, shaking a Santa hat in front of his nose. “Everyone agreed it was a fun idea, so come on! You’re the last one!”
“I don’t remember agreeing to anything,” he replies, reaching for the tiny folded paper anyway.
“You were ignoring us and we took your silence as a yes .”
“As usual.”
“And you still haven’t learned, so who’s fault is that?”
Aizawa gives her an eye-roll and unfolds the paper, which presents very sloppy writing done by a hand too big for the pencil. Aizawa immediately crumples the paper into a ball and throws it in the trash can.
“Very funny,” he says, getting back to his papers with the red pen ready to aggressively write a C-. “You did this on purpose.”
“I am not destiny , Shouta,” she sing-songs, resting her elbows on his desk with a sly smirk across her face.
“Stop,” he blurts, looking directly into her eyes with his quirk activating by pure impulse, like he does when his students don’t behave. It is not threatening to her at all.
“I’m serious, Shouta.” Nemuri puts on a serious expression to emphasize her innocence, but her eyes are still laughing. “Even the Christmas spirit is tired of you pining for him from afar, just like Mic and me and probably everyone else in this building.”
Aizawa grinds his teeth, hiding his face behind his weapon. He regrets so much telling Midnight about his irremediable crush but apparently she would have known anyway.
Is he really that obvious?
“Who did you get? Let’s change.”
“No way I’m telling you! It’s a secret , Shouta,” she remarks, waving her index finger. “If you change your Secret Santa with somebody else… well, you know what I am capable of.” Her aura suddenly turns dark, menacing; she’s clearly enjoying the situation. “So you better get him something nice.”
“What am I supposed to get him?’” Aizawa leans on the desk, exasperated already, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. “He’s the fucking Symbol of Peace, Nemuri, I bet he has everything he wants already.”
“I don’t know, give him something meaningful or personal, figure out what he likes. Or you could just wrap yourself and put the bow on your -”
“Get out of my classroom.”
The little piece of paper reading “All Might” in big ugly letters has been haunting him from his pocket (he ended up digging it out from the trash can when Nemuri left) for two weeks already but he has no idea what to get him yet. The date is approaching and he spends more time stressing about it than he would like to admit.
If it was anyone else he would go safe and buy them a good bottle of alcohol and fancy candy (not the most expensive, because he has a budget, but not the cheapest), thrown into a nice enough box. But Yagi can’t have either of those because of his strict diet, and even if he could, that present is too impersonal. Practicality goes out of the window when it comes to Yagi Toshinori. The need to surprise him with something nice and even meaningful in order to receive a warm smile of true gratitude comes with being deeply in love with him, and that sucks since Aizawa has never been good with presents.
He has only a week left to decide what to do when the spark of an idea appears while Yagi is moving some boxes into his dorm room.
“Let me help you with that.” Aizawa rushes to catch up to him but walks slowly when he’s by his side to seem casual, taking the stack of boxes from the blonde’s arms so he can unlock his door.
“Oh, Aizawa-kun! Thank you so much!”
Toshinori lets Aizawa in first. While Yagi indicates the corner where he wants the boxes, Aizawa quickly scans the place; contrary to what he thought, the only All Might piece of merchandise there is a tapestry in the wall with the hero’s colors. There is also a shelf full of DVD’s by the TV, a loveseat, and a console table by the door with tons of photos on it.
The frames are filled with people he knows, like Tsukauchi, Nighteye, and who he thinks is a former sidekick, Dave. There are also some strangers; most of those are of a single black haired woman.
Yagi notices him staring and shyly smiles.
“You’re there too,” he says, taking a big frame from the back; it’s one of the yearbook pictures, with 1A smiling at the camera, all in uniform, Aizawa and All Might by their sides. “Young Midoriya is coming tomorrow to help me hang them.”
“It must be a Christmas miracle for him, being able to look at your personal photos.” Aizawa is talking about himself too; a glance into this private side of Yagi is doing things to his stupid heart.
Just like a teenager. How embarrassing .
“I admit part of me said yes to indulge him a little,” he chuckles.
“He will probably ask the name of your favorite model.” Aizawa skips the usual sermon of how he shouldn’t have favorites among the students, pointing at one of the woman’s pictures to punctuate his statement, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. He doesn’t want to pry but can’t help but ask. If Yagi Toshinori has been married to this gorgeous woman this whole time he swears to god -
“Oh.” Yagi smiles widely with what can only be described as fondness. “She was my teacher. More like an adoptive mother, I would say.” He skips all the frames at the front and fishes one out from the very back. “She… trained me to use my quirk properly and taught me everything that made All Might what he is today.”
He angles the picture he’s holding towards Aizawa; it shows the woman laughing and hugging a very young Yagi Toshinori. He’s laughing too, and Aizawa can almost hear it, booming in his ears, but there’s also a spark of joy in his eyes… that he doesn’t remember seeing in adult All Might.
Then the world has a lot to thank her for , he wants to say, but the only thing that comes out of his dumbass mouth is, “Nice sweater”, pointing at what young All Might is wearing; a bright blue cardigan with beautiful Yakushima cedars embroidered across it.
“She made it herself!” Yagi says enthusiastically. “She was a woman with lots of secret talents.” He puts the frame now in front of the rest. “God, I loved that sweater so much. Sadly, an emergency didn’t allow for me to change out of it and, well, it wasn’t fireproof.”
And that’s when, finally, the idea hits him. Yagi has basically delivered the answer for his agonizing dilemma on a silver platter.
He has only a week left until the Christmas party but he’s a master at juggling tasks (more like a master of not sleeping so he can use the “extra” time), so he’s sure he can finish just in time if he really -
“S-sorry to bore you with old tales! I get excited when it’s about her sometimes.” He hears Yagi apologize and realizes he’s just standing there in silence.
“No, not at all...Thank you… for sharing.”
“Thank you for your help, Aizawa-kun!”
Aizawa has multiple things going through his mind - like Yagi sharing a bit of his past so openly to him, the fact that he likes to have multiple pictures of people he cares about in his apartment, that he himself is in one of those pictures -, along with multiple questions about Yagi’s past and present that he would love for the big man to answer (but can only fantasize about right now, since in those scenarios they are in bed, with soft blankets and cups of hot coffee).
But not right now-right now, because right now he has to focus on his planned gift.
He’d realized, just after leaving Yagi’s place, that for him to do what he wants, he needed a picture for reference. So now, the next morning, here he is sneaking through All Might’s bedroom window after seeing him leave the dorm. He feels so intrusive as he walks quickly towards the living space, just staring at the floor to try and respect what remains of Yagi’s privacy.
I’m just taking a picture of a photo he showed me. Very fast. It’s ok, he repeats to himself.
And then he hears a camera shutter.
He looks up, blood running cold.
“A-Aizawa-sensei.”
The boy in front of him pulls his arms back, almost crushing his phone to his chest, the one that he’d clearly been pointing towards the wall a second ago.
The picture Aizawa is looking for has already been hung.
“Midoriya is coming tomorrow to help me hang them!”
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
“A-All Might went out to buy some more nails, I’m helping him hang his photos and fix some things…”
Aizawa stands tall and walks towards him, pulls his own phone out and takes the picture he needs. There’s no getting out of this, or at least not anything he can come up with at the moment. The only card he can think of pulling out is the authority one.
“This is a matter between All Might and me. Not a word of this to him or anyone else, do you understand?”
Midoriya nods, no questions asked.
Aizawa adds a little touch to his threat, activating his quirk. “I need to hear you say it.”
“Yes, Aizawa-sensei!” he almost shouts, nodding harder.
“Good.”
Aizawa walks away, face red as a tomato, and jumps out the window he climbed through.
He spends the whole day going through shops and browsing the internet at the same time until - when his feet hurt a lot from walking and he’s about to give up and settle for the closest look-alike -, he finds the exact replica of what he’s looking for. Same shape, same shade of blue, and what he hopes is the perfect size for Yagi.
The only thing left to do is the embroidery. He could commission someone to do it for him, but the little amount of time is a problem, and the original was made by someone close to Yagi’s heart. He is probably the sappy type that loooves handmade stuff. So the logical conclusion is clear:
Aizawa will make it himself.
He is the last one to arrive at the party, an hour and a half late. He’d been sweating buckets trying to finish the final touches of his present when Mic called him for a third time to make him hurry up, and he’d had to leave it as it is and take a quick shower.
It was a week of restless nights, hundreds of knots in the thread, and pinched fingers, and the final result is not perfect, but he hopes Yagi likes it.
Everyone welcomes him with a loud cheer - expected, since he is the one bringing the beer, which vanishes from his hands as soon as he steps foot inside the room.
All the computer desks are moved against the wall, leaving only the chairs and sofas in the middle, making space for a food table, the karaoke zone, and for everyone to move more freely.
Aizawa goes to place his gift under the gigantic Christmas tree, heavily decorated just like the rest of the room, and when he turns around All Might smiles and waves his hand at him from the farthest corner, outshining the hundreds of lights hanging from the ceiling. He’s wearing a nice purple shirt that fits his skinny torso perfectly, and a cute Santa Claus hat, blonde bangs out.
He is about to go greet him when Mic catches him by the shoulders and calls for everyone’s attention.
“Hey, everybody!!! Now that Shouta is finally here, how about we do the gift exchange now??? Better sober than drunk!!!”
The room agrees with cheers and lifted glasses, rushing towards the tree to grab their presents.
Shouta starts to feel anxious, but kind of relieved. Better deal with it sooner than stress about it for longer.
Everyone gathers at the center of the lounge, forming a circle.
“Should we say some nice words before delivering the presents? So we can give an opportunity for people to guess? Ok,” Mic starts, without letting them answer. “This hairy person -”
“Hound Dog!”
“You didn’t even let me finish!! I had a nice speech…”
Aizawa shoots a glance at All Might, who is laughing, very entertained by the dynamic. The bag in his hands is pretty big, with very bright paper and a big red bow.
Hound Dog opens his bag to reveal a pair of soccer shoes with tiny golden bones engraved on the sides. He howls excitedly.
“My turn!”
Shouta stares at the shoes. They’re nice and look… expensive.
“So, woof , this person is very loud -”
“It’s Hizashi!”
“You are very bad at this game…”
Aizawa doesn’t have long to wonder what’s inside Yagi’s bag, because after Mic opens his new leather jacket, they pick Yagi to start the chain again.
“Well, this person can seem tough in appearance, but he is actually very warm and adores his students…”
Oh boy, here we go. Aizawa is practically ready to step forward, but still not wanting to make eye contact so he doesn’t show that he knows.
“...and he has a very cute doggy!”
I don’t have-
“Vlad!!”
God, Aizawa feels so stupid. And also mad because apparently it isn’t rigged after all (if it was at least Midnight would have done him a favor and set it mutual… right?) and destiny is indeed unfair and tired of seeing Shouta pining for the Symbol of Peace without doing anything about it.
Vlad opens the bag and retrieves a fondue set , some fancy gourmet cheese, and even a nice collar for his dog. He must have already some alcohol in his system because he almost tears up while thanking All Might with a crushing hug.
Ok, so All Might just gave a very thoughtful and expensive gift and Mic and Hound dog are not left behind in those matters.
Aizawa stares at the inside of his bag, which is brown and plain, and the first thing that catches his eye is a patch of tangled stitches that he couldn’t correct. Some loose threads. He’s just now starting to grow really self-conscious about his (terrible) choices.
Ectoplasm opens his present: a bottle of fine wine and an LP of his favorite rock band.
Aizawa can’t give this mess of a present to All Might. Especially not when everyone has decided to let their gift-giving skills excel and shine.
He should have commissioned a professional. He could have offered Momo extra points and money if she created it for him without question. Anything but him trying to imitate something a very important figure in Yagi’s life did perfectly. Would this atrocity offend him? He hadn’t thought about it before… Is he even allowed to touch that part of Yagi’s past just because he mentioned a little about it? Everyone is going to laugh at him and put Yagi in the uncomfortable position of having to thank him for his awful present that will end up in the back of his closet just because he ¡s too nice to throw it in the garbage right away. Why would he use this ugly thing when he probably has fifty high-quality cardigans already?
His mind is running a hundred miles per hour, passing through every possible terrible scenario.
Snipe opens his present, a ticket for two days at an all-included spa are you fucking kidding me why didn’t I think of something like this-
The place is full of laughter and clapping, everyone taking pictures of Ectoplasm and Snipe with the big golden ticket and Shouta is panicking so, taking advantage of the distraction, he runs towards his desk.
He throws the sweater behind the desk in the most discreet way possible and replaces it with his favorite mug (the cat one with a tail handle - and thank everything that is good - is clean) and a licorice pack he has hidden in a drawer to add a little something else.
“Aizawa! What are you doing there!?”
“I thought someone was calling me,” he tells Nemuri, dragging his feet back into the circle. “Where are we?”
“Thirteen just gave me my present and I’m about to give you yours. Ok, this person -”
“We already know it’s Eraser -”
“Shut up! I have things to say! Ok. This person is one of my best friends in the whole world, even if he looks like he doesn’t care, he really does, and is the most hard-working person I know in the world.”
“Awwwww,” everyone coos in unison.
“And I know from a good source that this single man is a super good kisser.” Everyone is used to Midnight's antics, so they laugh and clap. “And they say he’s super good in be-”
“Ok, it’s me! Thank you Midnight you can stop now!”
Midnight flashes a mischievous smile and runs for her hug.
“Why are you like this,” he grumbles, reciprocating the hug anyway. He’s actually thankful for the rest of the speech. The earlier part of it, anyway.
“I’m just promoting your skills, you know, in case anyone interested is listening,” she whispers into his ear, kissing his cheek and leaving a red lipstick mark.
Aizawa opens the velvet box to reveal a yellow tie with a cute black cat pattern.
“For your first fancy date ;)” the note inside says, and he manages to hide it under the tie before people approach to pry and ask him to show them.
When the silence settles in the room again, it’s his turn.
“Well,” he starts, feeling the multiple pairs of eyes on him and his ugly paper bag. He avoids looking at All Might. “This person is a great hero… well, you already know who he is, since he is the only one left.”
Everyone in the room let out an exclamation of disappointment while Aizawa approaches Yagi, who hasn’t stopped smiling.
“Thank you so much, Aizawa! Let’s see what we have here - oh!”
Aizawa sees the rest of the teachers out of the corner of his eye. There are confused looks, tiny forced smiles, and Midnight actually looks like she’s about to explode.
When he returns his attention to Yagi, he actually seems… moved.
“Your favorite mug!? Aizawa-kun… I'm honored!” Aizawa actually was hoping by some miracle he wouldn’t recognize it, like a dumbass. Yagi thanks him, genuinely excited, rolling the cup in his hands and admiring the details. “This is so special!! I’ll take good care of it!! Thank you so much!!”
“It’s nothing, really…” Aizawa mumbles, not really knowing what to say.
Everyone claps just as they did with the others to not make an uncomfortable situation but Aizawa knows how this looks. They all saw him go to his desk to grab the cup and they are probably thinking it’s because he forgot to get Yagi something because he doesn’t care, and not because he spent two weeks tormenting himself over what to get him and another restless week working on something thoughtful only to regret everything at the end and act out of panic and shame. Because why would they?
Aizawa is not like that.
He’s surprised Midnight didn’t punch him in the face the minute the circle dispersed, but now he notices she’s avoiding him, probably to not make a scene and kill the party.
It’s ok. It’s better that way. He, on his part, avoids Yagi because seeing him just makes him want to punch himself in the face.
But no matter how hard he tries to leave it at that, to convince himself that what’s done is done and that Yagi seemed happy with his present anyway, the situation can’t stop bugging him and make him visibly cringe.
He worked so hard on that cardigan. He even worked on it while on patrol, his fingers are full of pinpricks, and now that uncomfortable situation with Midoriya was for nothing.
Maybe it’s not too late. He can tell him the truth, admit that cowardice overtook him, and give him the real present without the pressure of a whole audience around. He can let him keep the kitty cup too.
Aizawa gulps a glass of beer in one go to gain some bravery and approaches Yagi. Just when he’s about to tap his shoulder to get his attention, Mic screams from the other side of the room.
“Oh. My. God!!” he exclaims, pointing over Yagi’s head. “You are under the mistletoe!!! You know the rules!!!”
Aizawa’s face burns, but Yagi is still with his back facing him and when he looks up there is nothing over him.
Yagi’s mistletoe partner is Hound Dog.
The #1 Hero chuckles, just like his big persona does in interviews to make everything seem like not a big deal.
“Is it ok?” he asks, and Hound Dog stands still but shyly nods. There are probably blushing cheeks under his fur.
“I guess they won’t leave us alone if not.”
Aizawa steps away slowly, hiding behind the rest of the teachers.
Toshinori smiles and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Inui remains stoic, but his dog traits betray him; he doesn’t have a tail, but every time he’s excited his hips give a little shake like he has one and is wagging it.
“It’s not fair!” Midnight cries “I want a kiss from All Might too!!”
“Me too!”
“Give us our Christmas miracle, All Might!”
As if it was planned, everyone starts forming a line, chanting “ kiss, kiss, kiss! ” while the retired hero blushes and laughs nervously but goes along with it anyway.
Aizawa is not having any part of that. He grabs his sleeping bag from the corner and lays under one of the tables, watching how Toshinori gives, fool by fool, not a quick peck but a full kiss on the cheek to everyone. Cementos even lines up twice.
“Hey, Shouta!” Midnight calls him, causing everyone to stare at him while he boils in jealousy and guilt inside his yellow cocoon. “You’re not coming for your Christmas kiss?”
“No,” he bites out, harsher than he intended. He doesn’t look at Yagi, who brushes it off with a laugh.
He doesn’t see how his big smile falters for a second.
Aizawa stays like that for the rest of the party. They all accept it because “Aizawa is just like that” and Mic only approaches to leave some fried chicken by his side.
He watches Yagi interact cheerily with everyone. At some point, he pours his bottle of non-alcoholic beer in his new mug and shows it to Aizawa from afar with a conspiratorial smile. Aizawa gives him a nod.
He’s waiting for him to be alone, but when he gets a chance he feels paralyzed, wastes time being indecisive and loses his chance.
When everyone is a little (too) drunk, Yagi seems visibly overwhelmed by not knowing how to handle the conversations and an overly-clingy Thirteen, so he smoothly says his goodbyes and approaches Aizawa.
“Thank you again for the present, Aizawa-kun!” he whispers.
This is the time. Tell him. That was not his present.
“Glad you liked it.”
And Yagi disappears out the door.
Aizawa has told himself that is over, what’s done is done, and then Nemuri finally confronts him.
“You are a fucking asshole.”
Aizawa exhales with frustration.
“I know.”
And that’s enough to make him stand up, grab the cardigan, and run outside.
He catches up with All Might by the entrance of the dorms.
“Aizawa-kun! What are you doing without a sweater, it’s freezing outsid-”
“I made this for you,” Aizawa interrupts, handing him the balled-up sweater. “This was my actual present, but… it's not very good so I was too nervous to give it to you. But I already made it so I might as well give it to you.”
A very confused Yagi unfolds the garment and his electric blue eyes go wide. He stares at it in silence for a few seconds. His hands start shaking.
“I know it’s not the same, but when you mentioned it I thought it would be nice, and it’s the first time I’ve done something like this, I -”
“You made this?” Yagi finally looks him in the eyes.
“Well, I wouldn’t have bought something so messy -”
“Help me.” Yagi hands him his gift bag and hurriedly removes his jacket, covering a freezing Aizawa with it before he tries on his new cardigan.
Even though the man is gigantic, Aizawa has managed to buy something two sizes too big. The sleeves cover his hands and the hem reaches past his hips.
He couldn’t even do that right.
“I’m sorry, it’s so big, I-”
“I love it,” Yagi interrupts, looking at all the details. “I can’t believe you did this for me.”
He’s crying. Real tears are rolling down Yagi’s cheeks and Aizawa is panicking again.
“This is the most thoughtful thing that someone has ever done for me,” he states. There’s no doubt in his voice, it’s just a little shaky from his excitement, and he wastes no more time, launching himself towards Aizawa to trap him against his chest in a bone-crushing hug.
He smells like cinnamon, his embrace is soft, and it reminds him of the first time he was held by Yagi, when that Nomu crushed him into the ground, and the hero cradled him which such delicacy that he knew everything was going to be fine as long as he was there.
What he didn’t know, at that moment, was how hard he was going to fall for the man behind the heroic smile.
But that has turned out fine too if the fast pace of Yagi’s heartbeat doesn’t lie to his ear.
Aizawa could stay like this forever.
And maybe he can. So he finally takes the chance to make a move and addresses something else that has been bothering him for hours.
“I didn’t want this earlier because I don’t like audiences, and I know there’s no mistletoe out, but… about that kiss…”
Yagi takes such a sudden step back that Aizawa worries he’s scared him and ruined the moment for a second, but Yagi’s big hands are still holding him by his arms.
They lock gazes and Aizawa sees something in his eyes. Something new yet familiar.
The spark of happiness he’d had in the picture Aizawa stared at for a whole week.
“I guess it’s a good way to thank you.”
Yagi starts to reduce the distance between them. Aizawa closes his eyes, shaking with anticipation.
He receives a quick peck on the cheek.
“You know that’s not what I -”
“I know, I’m just kidding.”
He cradles Aizawa’s face, his hands still covered by the cardigan’s sleeves, and closes the distance between them once again. Yagi’s lips are gentle, sweet and warm, despite the freezing weather, exactly as he imagined they would be (because he doesn’t want to admit it but he thought about that a lot ).
He had built a wall in his heart out of fear of loss or rejection, and he feels it falling down completely just as a wave of warmth invades all his senses. There is no more distance between them. Literally.
Shouta places his hands on Yagi’s hips, tangling his finger with a loose thread of his embroidery work.
“Does this mean I have to give back the kitty cup?” he asks against Shouta’s mouth.
“Not at all. But you have to let me use it when I come over.”
“Deal.”
Shouta can’t help but smile as they kiss once again.
And again, and again.
Yagi wears the cardigan until the hot weather forbids him to keep doing it.
“So ...does this has anything to do with you breaking into my apartment while Midoriya was there?”
“I’m going to expel that little traitor.”