Work Text:
“Uh, Sho, is there something bothering you?” Nemuri asked, her voice sounding loud in the otherwise quiet room, the silence disturbed only by a monotone click-clacking of several computer keyboards. It came as a surprise, because it meant all teachers in the office were unnaturally silent until she spoke.
Shouta turned to her, noticing several sets of eyes hurrying to look away from his direction, meaning they were all staring at him only a moment prior. Was he really so easily read these days?
“Besides you asking questions, you mean?”
“Oh, don’t be like that,” she complained, rolling her eyes. “You’ve been staring out of the window for like ten minutes. For you to zone out for so long means some special kind of internal struggle.”
Shouta gritted his teeth. Nemuri wasn't wrong, but it didn’t mean she had to bring it up in front of an entire room full of his colleagues, who now so obviously waited for an explanation. Granted, some of them pretended to be working, but Shouta could feel everyone’s glances sneaking towards the spot where he stood.
“She’s right, Sho,” Hizashi joined in. “Must be something really rough!”
Even Snipe and Ectoplasm stilled in expectation, while Thirteen wasn’t even pretending to be disinterested.
“It’s Eri,” he confessed, deciding he was going to give half of the truth. If he didn’t, they were going to bug him until the end of the working day. And even worse, after it as well, considering they all now lived together. “I hadn't been going on patrols after she moved to live in the dorms, but I still feel like I don’t spend enough time with her. Or I don’t spend it productively. I want to come up with something to do with her that a child her age would consider fun.”
Of course, he didn’t say how while she started to smile more often now, there was still a colder edge to her every action. Didn’t mention that she couldn’t stop clenching to him, or didn’t want to leave his sight for too long, but it never felt like it was because she wanted to be around him, more like she was scared to be without him. Scared of her abilities and relying on Shouta to stop her from hurting somebody. No six-year-old ever should think in terms like this.
“It is rough!” Hizashi agreed, swirling his stupid mustache between his thumb and the pointing finger.
“But it’s so nice of you to care about this child,” Cementoss chimed in. His voice was encouraging, but his next words made Shouta cringe. “You seem like somebody who would be a great father one day.”
“Don’t assume things,” he replied.
“Probably not biological children. Our little Eri is likely to be the only lady to steal Sho’s heart,” Nemuri sighed dramatically, and honestly Shouta wanted to strangle her there and then.
“You’re being too harsh, Miss Midnight,” Ectoplasm tilted his head. “Aizawa might be a busy man, but he still can find love.”
He completely misunderstood what Nemuri meant, and Shouta glared at her just in case she planned to go for an explanation. To his relief, she didn’t. “You’re already a dad to an entire classroom,” she pointed out instead. “And it’s not your first one either. That’s not that different.”
“I guess,” Shouta agreed. He was about to turn away, but his eyes unintentionally slid to the uncharacteristically silent All Might.
The other teacher was doing his damndest to pretend he was working on something on his computer, but he sat completely motionless, his lips pursed into a tight line, a tiny blush coloring his cheeks.
Just as Shouta’s gaze stopped at him, All Might also looked in his direction, and their eyes accidentally met. It lasted only a split of a second before both of them turned away, pretending it didn’t happen.
It’s been over three months since that stupid misunderstanding which led Shouta to kissing him. Granted, they’d made great steps in patching things up, and were even capable of having a semblance of a normal conversation once in a while, but it still was nowhere close to the quiet truce they managed to establish prior to that evening. Why weren’t they able to just move right past it and stop finding reasons to be awkward with each other?
Shouta focused on the picture that was opening through a window in the faculty office. It was the middle of November now. Almost all of the trees in the park behind the school building had lost their leaves, their bare branches swinging back and forth, moved by gusts of cold wind. The sky was covered in thick gray clouds, and it looked like it was about to snow, even if it was a rather rare weather condition so close to the seaside.
“But Night’s right,” Hizashi said, leaning over his desk, placing his chin into his own palms. “You’re already a good dad, even if ‘fun’ isn’t a word in your vocabulary.”
“Am I supposed to take it as a compliment or an insult?”
“Ha-ha,” Hizashi laughed, which didn’t exactly answer Shouta’s question. “You need help.”
That was an understatement.
“What if I create a playground behind the dorm?” Cementoss proposed.
“That would be nice,” Snipe nodded. “But as I understand it, Aizawa needs something that he and Eri can do together. I can’t imagine him swinging on a teeter totter.”
Hizashi bursted into laughter. “Man, thanks for the priceless image of exactly that in my mind.”
“Oh, what if Aizawa takes her to karaoke?” Ectoplasm suggested.
“I can’t and will not sing,” Shouta groaned, then added completely seriously, “But you can do it, I bet she’ll love it.”
“A tea party?” It was an idea that came from Thirteen.
“We could take her to a zoo,” Cementoss continued.
“It might be too dangerous to go with her out of the school premises,” Snipe pointed out. “We can’t forget that the League of Villains worked with Chisaki, and are likely aware of the girl’s unique abilities.”
“Alright people,” Shouta sighed. “Thanks for all the brainstorming, but I’ll figure something out for this Sunday. Meanwhile, we’re still at work, so we should probably cut down on the banter.”
With that, he moved away from the window and returned to his desk, taking a seat in his chair. He tried to resist it, but he still ended up peeking at the only teacher in the room who hadn't joined their conversation.
All Might was staring aimlessly at the screen of his computer, his hands laying over the keyboard, but Shouta was sure he hadn't typed a single thing since the conversation started.
As he turned to look away, Shouta saw Nemuri giving him a leveled stare, and the blood chilled in his veins. She was unreasonably perceptive when it came to interpersonal communication, and Shouta realized she'd likely noticed something. The problem was that she's also likely read way too much into it, and he was soon for a round of questioning. He wasn’t thrilled about it even the slightest.
***
Shouta was exhausted. He used to do his job as a teacher, then return home, eat and work on school plans or go on patrols. If he didn't have enough time to finish something, like reading essays, or grading tests, Shouta had Sundays to do it. All easy and planned out.
Now he had a six-year-old to take care of. And while Eri was grown enough she could dress herself, she still needed help with many tasks. Not to mention she was at an age where children were starting junior school, and Shouta needed to study with her, so the girl wouldn’t lag behind her peers. All of that also needed to be done while taking her mental health into account.
Suddenly, an entire day off that he had to catch up with work or use for personal reasons was gone. That, in turn, meant that he needed to make sure all of the school related tasks were done during the weekdays, which also meant he was cutting down on sleep.
Speaking of his sleeping schedule, it was even worse on nights Eri had nightmares. Even months after being rescued, it happened way more often that Shouta would’ve preferred. Sometimes, he had to sit next to her for almost an hour, or make her tea before she could calm down and fall asleep again.
He was grateful for Hizashi and Nemuri. While their constant upbeat attitude was often difficult to deal with, his friends were helping him a great deal. Recently, when he himself had time, All Might was also volunteering to help, but Shouta didn’t want to be the kind of caretaker who was constantly passing his responsibilities to other people. Plus, if he was absolutely honest with himself, there was a part of him that was planning on fighting to keep this child, be it with or without the approval from the rational majority of his brain.
The idea was honestly terrifying to him, but he couldn’t help how he felt.
On top of it all, Eri wasn’t his only charge.
“Again,” he ordered, throwing a disk-shaped target the size of a large plate into the air.
Shinso was perched on an edge of a half destroyed building at the training ground Gamma, waiting for the signal. As soon as he saw the disk flying, the boy jumped off his spot and attempted to entangle the projectile with the capturing weapon. He missed in this attempt the same way he did in all the previous ones, roll-landing on the ground beneath, breathing hard and looking tired.
Shinso was making amazing progress using the capturing weapon, but his accuracy still suffered when he was trying to multitask. Like in this case, he not only needed to catch a small object moving at a high speed, but he needed to do it while falling and calculating his landing in a way he wouldn’t injure himself.
“Dammit, so close!” he groaned, rolling onto his back, and splaying on the ground like a starfish.
“You’re doing good,” Shouta agreed. “The transfer committee will surely see it.”
Shinso had shown himself in a very good light during his joint training with classes 1-A and 1-B, and Shouta had no doubt that come spring he was going to see him in either his or Vlad’s class. But the majority of students of the hero curse had a potential to outmatch the boy with the strength of their Quirks alone, and that was why he needed to train three times the amount than any of them.
Approaching Shinso, Shouta hunkered down next to him. “You alright?”
“It’s...” Shinso started getting up and looking at his hands. They were scrapped in a few places, both from gripping the capture weapon a little too tight, and because his landing wasn’t always perfect. “Sometimes it feels so overwhelming. Like I’ll never be able to be as strong as some heroes. But then I see you and what you managed to accomplish.”
“It’s not bad to have an inspiration,” Shouta sighed, an image of a boy with a cheerful smile and bright eyes flashing in his mind. ‘You can do it, Shouta. You're strong!’ the memory was saying. “But I’m not the best role model, kid. Please don’t put me on any pedestals.”
Shinso hummed and looked away, his hands rising to the edges of the capturing weapon.
“Let’s stop for today.” Shouta proposed.
The sky was getting darker, and Shouta could feel cold droplets landing on his face. It was going to pour soon. Plus, he still planned to spend time with Eri, come up with an activity that would make her trust him more as a person rather than a savior that can stop her from doing bad things. Even if he still had no idea where to even start coming up with ideas.
“One more time,” Shinso shook his head. “Please.”
Shouta squinted his eyes at the boy, looking over the scrapes and bruises, his breathing still coming in a heavy gasps. “Very well,” he nodded.
They returned to their starting positions, with Shouta standing on the ground, ready to throw the target, and Shinso waiting on top of the building. The rain was falling a little heavier now, and it was adding to the challenge, as the droplets of water reduced the visibility.
Taking a deep breath, Shouta hurled the disk as hard as he was capable of, watching his protege leap into action the moment the target left Shouta’s hand.
Except Shinso didn’t jump this time. His boot slipped on the wet surface of a metal pipe that was protruding out of the building, and he started to fall down. In a futile attempt to save his face, he threw the capturing weapon, sending it flying towards a nearest tube, but either because of the stress, or because he was exhausted, he missed it.
Shouta jumped into action immediately, rushing towards the boy. Still, Shinso was way too far for him to catch mid air, and he didn’t have a higher ground or a good leverage for his own weapon to be effective. That was why Shouta did the only thing he was able to do in the given time, sliding under the spot where Shinso was going to land and cushioning the boy’s fall with his own body.
As a fifteen-year-old, Shinso didn’t weigh much, but given the velocity of his fall, the force he hit Shouta with was much more than he anticipated. The collision kicked him off his feet completely. His hip hit the hard metal ground of the training ground Gamma with a loud thud, pain shooting through his every nerve ending.
Somehow he managed not to swear in the presence of a minor. It was likely the biggest accomplishment of his week so far.
“Teacher!” Shinso gasped, sounding panicked. “Are you alright?”
“I’ll live,” Shouta exhaled carefully, dropping his student beside him, and reaching out to inspect his hip.
It didn’t feel broken, or even dislocated, but he would need a real medical professional to take a look before he could tell for sure.
“Should I call Recovery Girl?” Shinso continued.
Shouta tried to get up, finding no particular difficulties with it. His hip hurt like hell with every movement, but at least he was able to move. “Nah, I’ll manage,” he shook his head.
Making an angry, annoyed sound, Shinso shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Aizawa. I should've listened to you.”
Shouta sighed. “Yeah, you should have,” he agreed. Then, seeing the guilt in his student’s eyes, he placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You’ll have to save me when you’ll become a pro hero to repay. You’d better not back down now.”
Shinso looked at him somewhat shocked, then grinned. “It’s a deal.”
***
It was really difficult to pretend that Shouta’s day was continuing according to the plan. Not that his plan was clear, but it definitely didn’t involve passing out on the couch as he and Eri watched cartoons. There was nothing serious with his hip, only severe bruising, but it still hurt, so any strenuous activity had been put on hold. That meant that after an hour of studying, they had to settle for being couch potatoes.
“Ohh no!” Eri jumped on the sofa cushions, her excitement overflowing. “It’s the villain trying to pretend to be a friendly shopkeeper! Why can't Haruka see it?!
“Oh, don’t worry, she’ll recognize him for sure,” Nemuri chipped in, sending another handful of popcorn into her mouth. She was sitting on the couch, holding a giant bowl of the cheesy snack, her legs tucked under her. She was dressed in a loose, comfy sweater and a pair of sweats, her feet covered in the fluffy socks that Shouta bought for her. The casual outfit and a lack of make up made her almost unrecognizable. “Haruka is the smartest from the team.”
It was some sort of magical girl show, which Shouta honestly tried to keep up with, but was failing miserably, to the point he couldn’t even remember the names of the characters, beside the fact all of them were lame.
He was resting across the couch, keeping a bag of ice on his injured hip, wondering how long he was going to have to suffer from it, but expecting it to last well over a week. The thought about it made him wish he wasn’t so tired that any healing from Recovery Girl could knock him unconscious until the morning.
“I hope she will do it before he manages to kidnap more villagers,” Thirteen agreed. The Rescue Hero was sitting on the floor wearing his hero outfit. Above him on the couch was slouched Cementoss, who was absently patting Thirteen’s rounded helmet, a blissful expression on his face.
The rest of the teachers were not on the scene of this animated torture.
The entrance door to the dormitory opened and glancing in its direction, Shouta saw All Might. The man had already placed his umbrella into the holder, discarded his wet coat and was now taking off his shoes. There was a bag with the closest to the campus department store logo sitting on the floor next to him, and he picked it back up as he slid into his slippers.
“How is everyone doing?” he asked cheerfully as he approached the common room sitting area.
“Pretty awesome,” Nemuri answered in the same cheerful manner, before she extended the bowl of popcorn to him. “Wanna join us on an adventure of a lifetime? And by that I mean watching kids’ shows.”
All Might laughed at that. “Ah, I would love to, but I had something different in mind.” With that, he raised the bag in his hand higher and offered it to Shouta. “Here, I thought you and Eri could cook yakisoba together. It’s very easy and relatively fast.”
Shouta stared at the bag for a moment, then at All Might, trying to figure out if the man was joking. No matter which angle Shouta looked at his face from, it didn’t look like he was about to burst laughing at a prank well played.
“The what now?” he said dumbfounded.
“Yakisoba. You were wondering, earlier in the week, how you could spend the evening. I hope you don’t mind me taking an initiative like this.”
“Cooking,” Shouta tried again, feeling that he somehow ended up in a strange, alternative universe, where everyone was walking on their heads.
“Yakisoba?” Eri’s voice came from another side of the couch, her interest switched from the cartoon to their conversation. “Is it the kind with chicken or beef?”
“Beef!” All Might replied proudly. “Best cut I could find in the store.”
Eri’s expression changes into one of extreme anticipation, and Shouta could see her swallowing, her tiny hands clenched into fists. “Beef,” she repeated slowly.
Before this insanity could continue any longer, Shouta shook his head. “You guys are aware we have prepared food here? Lunch Rush is making dinners and breakfasts now, too, so we wouldn’t have to waste time.”
“I dunno, Aizawa.” Thirteen shrugged. “I’m with All Might on this one. Plus, Eri seems to be liking the idea.”
“Home cooked meals, a perfect way to show somebody you care,” Nemuri said, placing her hand over her heart, her eyes closing.
Shouta blinked once again, pondering if everyone in here conspired beforehand on this. “You guys are aware I can’t cook, aren’t you? Like... maybe can fry an egg.”
At the admission, Eri’s excitement dwindled, the shine disappearing from her eyes. “Oh,” she said disappointed, and that alone was enough to almost break Shouta’s heart, pushing him into action.
“Fine. How difficult can it be, anyway?” he said, dropping his ice pack onto the coffee table and getting up into a sitting position, before accepting the bag from All Might and glancing inside. “How much do I owe you?”
All Might waved his hands in front of his face. “Oh no, don’t worry about it.”
Shouta glared. All Might didn’t lie, the piece of meat in the bag was indeed the most expensive kind one could buy in a grocery store. But not only that, the noodles weren’t just some packets from the refrigerator section, it was from a department that was freshly rolling and cutting them each morning. “Don’t do things like that. It makes people uncomfortable, not to mention it looks like you’re showing off.”
All Might’s cheerfulness came to a halt. “Oh,” he said, his hands dropping, then pondered about it for a second. “It was supposed to be for you and Eri only, but if that’s the case, I’ll take a plate of noodles when they are ready as a repayment. Just go easy on sugar in the sauce.”
Biting his lip, Shouta glanced between All Might and Eri, who both looked at him with a kind of encouragement he knew he wasn’t going to be able to resist. Then he looked over at the three other people in the room and shivered internally, realizing he would have to make a fool out of himself in front of his coworkers. Not to mention Nemuri isn’t going to live it down for years and years to come.
Gritting his teeth, both from the stupid situation, and because of the pain, he got up from the couch altogether. “Alright, Eri, let’s find a video somewhere with the instructions,” he said, pulling out his phone from the pocket, unlocking it and giving it to the girl. Then he reached for the same pocket again, this time to retrieve a hair tie, doing a quick job of creating a messy bun.
“On it!” Eri replied excitedly, raising her fist into the air, then grabbing the device. “Ok, let’s see, yakisoba recipes,” she hummed on her way to the kitchen, the cartoon about magical girls forgotten completely.
All fictional TV-shows Shouta had ever been unfortunate enough to watch, depicted cooking from a strange angle. For some reason, they all showed only two types of characters, one that could fill a table with at least fifteen different dishes in half an hour time, each of them being so delicious, everyone was immediately falling in love with their amazing skills. And the other type was somebody who could burn half a kitchen, trying to make cereal.
In truth, it really didn’t seem like something difficult if one followed instructions strictly and had more than two working brain cells. It was just Shouta really hated how much time it was taking. He couldn’t understand why All Might decided to buy everything in a shape that required extra steps in preparation: cabbage and carrots that weren’t already precut, noodles that weren’t already boiled. Even the sauce wasn’t premixed, it was all just ingredients.
Yet, seeing how much Eri was enjoying it, how her tongue was sticking out in concentration as she was carefully measuring sugar (third the amount the recipe called for, so All Might could eat it, too) and adding it to tomato paste and soy sauce, Shouta realized why he did it.
“Alright, now we just need to wait until the timer runs out for the noodles, and we can place them on the pan,” Shouta said after some time, pointing at the counting down numbers on the stove. “Can you find a drainer?”
Shouta straightened out and only then noticed how quiet everything was.
The teacher’s dorm had the exact same layout as the rest,* so they only had one communal kitchen on the first floor, which was overlooking the living area. It meant that everyone sitting on the couch had a perfect view of Shouta.
“Something you wanna say?” he groaned as he looked up and saw everyone watching him, like if he was some show for their entertainment.
“Why don’t you wear an apron?” asked Thirteen, sounding genuinely curious. It was a reasonable question, because aprons served a purpose of keeping clothes from spoiling. Shouta simply didn’t think about that step.
“Yes!” Nemuri agreed with a clap of her hands. “Apron and nothing else! Yum, I’d pay money for such a dessert.”
“Dessert?” Eri asked, her interest piqued again. “Are we having dessert, too?”
“Yeah, sure, we’ll figure something for dessert,” Shouta told the girl, then turned to scowl at Nemuri. “Cut it out, you sound creepy given the context and the presence of children.”
“Oh come on, I’m not giving any details,” Nemuri shrugged. “I’m just saying that you’d look good in only an apron. We could make a calendar out of it, it’d be selling like crazy.”
“The only crazy person here is you,” Shouta muttered.
“Come on guys, back me up!” Nemuri pleaded, turning to Cementos and Thirteen.
“Ugh, no comment,” Thirteen said.
“Well, only theoretically and aesthetically speaking, of course. Aizawa’s figure appears to have a lot of rounded musculature,” Cementoss said, sounding uneasy. “Umm, All Might, are you alright there?” he added, turning to the only other person in the room.
All Might seemed... off. His face was a little flushed, and he was sitting rather stiff, his hands clenched into the fabric of the sofa. “I?” he hiccupped, realizing somebody was talking to him. “Yeah, I’m fine, just a little lost in thought, I guess.”
Nemuri hummed thoughtfully, eyeing All Might with suspicion. Shouta himself had to bite a lip, because he had a guess about what was running through the man’s head. He almost felt sorry for him now and just a little bit guilty, yet the emotion made little to no sense given All Might’s discomfort wasn’t Souta’s doing, even if he was the indirect cause of it.
The atmosphere in the room somehow grew heavier, and Shouta had never been so grateful to hear a beeping of a timer before.
“Mr. Aizawa, the noodles, the noodles!” Eri said, swinging a plastic drainer in front of him.
“Yeah, let's finish this dinner,” Shouta nodded, accepting it and reaching out for the pot.
“It’s sad tho,” Nemuri continued. “Sho himself is cooking something, and we won’t get a chance to try.”
“Sorry,” All Might sighed. “There’s a lot of us living in this building, I don’t think I would’ve even been able to carry it all if I was buying enough food for everyone.”
“Oh, don’t feel bad,” Nemuri replied. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean that for as long as I’ve known the guy, I wasn’t even sure it would be possible to convince him to do something like cooking. But here he is, doing it for the sake of a child. He’s such a softie.”
“Aizawa is,” All Might agreed with a nod of agreement, and honestly, Shouta would rather they returned to discussing him being naked, because now his face was really burning. “A very caring man.”
“Oh shut it,” he muttered, pouring out the noodles into the drainer over the sink, before dropping the mass of them onto the frying pan with the rest of the ingredients. The hissing sound from water hitting the hot surface provided a little distraction for Shouta’s mind.
“Is that true, you only did it for me?” Eri asked, looking at him strangely. Then she moved closer, wrapping her arms around him, her nose bumping into his side. “Thank you.”
Everyone went quiet, and Shouta gulped, air leaving his lungs. His usually dry eyes got a little teary, but it was likely due to the burst of white hot pain he felt as Eri squeezed his injured hip a little too hard.
“Yeah, of course,” he said, patting the girl on the head, forgetting about stirring the food on the stove.
And if their yakisoba didn’t look like much, if it was burned slightly in places, with cabbage leaves too largely cut, and some of the carrots undercooked and crunchy, it was still delicious in the end.
***
It was a very late night when Shouta found himself alone in the communal bathroom, submerged in a tub of pleasantly hot water, trying not to fall asleep. He wasn’t fond of baths and was usually taking showers. They were more than enough for him, fast and effective at keeping him clean.
Today, however, he decided to soak because of his bruised hip. Plus, the arm that was crushed by a Nomu half a year ago decided to act up at the end of the evening. He was probably going to need painkillers tonight and tomorrow to survive Monday.
His body already hated him, and he just barely stepped into his thirties.
The communal bathroom in the dormitory was rather large, and unlike how it often was in private homes, it had the tub and the shower sections in two separate rooms. The wall between them was rather thick, and so he didn’t hear the door to the showers opening, but he heard somebody turning the water on and groaned inwardly. It was past midnight, and he specifically chose this hour to be left alone here. Then again, whoever it was likely had the same idea in mind.
Shouta envied people who used the other bathroom, because there were only three of them: Nemuri and Eri were going together, and Thirteen had set a schedule at a different time than the two girls. Here, in the men’s bath, he had to try hard to end up not having to socialize.
The sound of the running water stopped after several minutes, and the door to the tub portion of the bathrooms opened. Then a completely naked All Might appeared in front of Shouta, droplets of water running down his skin, his usually messy hair slicked down.
Then he almost jumped in surprise, realizing Shouta was in the tub. There was a towel in his hands, and he hurried to cover himself up, strangely favoring his torso over parts which a guy would usually try to cover up in a situation like this. Not that Shouta himself didn’t avert his eyes out of politeness.
“Ugh, Ai.. Aizawa!” All Might stammered. “Sorry, I didn’t expect anyone to be here. I... I’ll wait until you're done,” he added, almost turning away to leave.
“Huh?” Shouta blinked. “Wait till I’m done? It’s like the middle of the night, and tomorrow is a work day. Don’t be ridiculous.”
All Might hummed a little unsure, but didn’t move from his spot.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Shouta groaned in annoyance. “I’m sorry that me being gay makes you so uncomfortable. Even if I wasn’t tired to the point of barely dragging my feet, or too much in pain to even consider a sexual thought, I have enough respect for you. So don’t worry, I’m not going to sit here, secretly ogling and lusting after you.”
He didn’t plan to be this harsh, but this was starting to get onto his nerves so much, he could barely stand it. Back in the office, then during their little cooking session. Every time the topic of Shouta and anything related to his love life was coming up, the man was simply flipping out in horror.
“What?” All Might gasped. “You think that’s what makes me uncomfortable?”
In the corner of his eyes, Shouta could see him dropping the towel onto a bench near the tub and moving closer, and no matter what he’d said about tiredness and respect, his heart leapt.
Then All Might carefully stepped into the tub, sinking under the warm water, the ripples from the movement reaching Shouta in gentle waves.
“As if there is something in here one could ogle or lust after,” he sighed, sounding hurt and unsure.
This time Shouta couldn't help it and turned towards All Might, looking over the half of his body rising over the water. There were some muscles on him, because All Might still worked out, but dammit he was skinny. Shouta could see each and every rib under the scarred skin. And scarred it was, hundreds of different cuts and abrasions, and among them a particularly ugly one on the left side of his chest, spreading like a flower from under his pectoral.
It downed on Shouta then, right now he wasn’t uncomfortable because he thought Shouta could think inappropriate thoughts about him, but because he was afraid Shouta was going to be disgusted by him instead.
“You’re an idiot,” he said flatly, and the insult made All Might’s eyes snap at him. “As if your body is the only thing that there is to you. You’re All Might, for crying out loud.”
“That’s strange, cause I thought you hated the fact I was All Might.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Shouta exhaled softly, trying to figure a way to explain his point of view. “If you wanna know what I see, I see the body of a man who gave his everything to protect others. Last time I checked, many people considered it sexy.”
All Might, didn’t reply, just looked at the water in front of him distantly. “Thank you,” he said very quietly.
“I’m the one who should be thanking you,” Aizawa sighed, his arms moving to splay on each side of him on the edge of the tub, his posture relaxing.
“For the yakisoba? It’s nothing, I just figured little Eri would appreciate it. Food that’s cooked at home by the family is... well, it feels so much more meaningful,” All Might said with a warm smile and a sort of nostalgia in his eyes. It made Shouta wonder what kind of warm childhood memory the man was reminded of.
“Yeah, for the Yakisoba, too,” Shouta replied. “But I meant that,” he nodded vaguely in All Might’s direction. “It’s possible— No, it’s very likely, I would be dead without the kind of sacrifice that scarred you.”
“Ah,” All Might said, gathering his sharp knees closer to his chest in a protective manner, his next words coming with an edge of anguish. “I wish I wasn’t an idiot enough to waste my day handling puny crimes other heroes could have handled. I thought I was too late to save you.”
“Yeah, my arm wouldn’t be killing me now,” Shouta agreed. “But then again, it wouldn't have been you if you hadn’t stopped to help people,” he added much softer. Then, after another second of consideration, he spoke again. “Although, I’m supposed to be discouraging this kind of behavior.”
All Might shook his head. He still looked like he was trying to curl into a ball, but his lips were stretched into a smile, a blush coloring his cheeks.
They were silent for some time, just sitting there and enjoying the bath. Eventually, the water started to cool down, and Shouta wondered if he needed to reach out for the thermostat and reheat it, but glanced at the clock and noted it to be already twelve forty in the morning. He had six and a half hours before his morning alarm was going to go off.
“We should probably go to sleep,” he said with a yawn and stood up, slowly, mindful of his hip. Then he carefully moved towards the small stairs at the edge of the tub so he could climb out.
“I’ll, um...” All Might started to speak, his eyes darting away from Shouta’s frame. Then he started coughing. Not as bad as it happened sometimes, but it still seems a reason for concern.
“You alright?” Shouta asked.
All Might nodded frantically, his face a few shades redder. “I’m fine, yes,” he replied, looking anywhere but him, and if Shouta didn’t know better... no, it couldn’t have been the case. The man had indicated it clear he had no sexual interest in Shouta. “I just want to stay here for a little longer.”
Confused, Shouta tilted his head, but decided not to press the issue. “As you wish,” he shrugged, before grabbing his own towel from the bench and wrapping it around his hips. “I’ll see you at school in the morning then.”
Hearing All Might mumble his good night, Shouta almost left the bathroom. Then another weird idea came into his head. “Ugh, All Might,” he called. “Eri loved cooking so much. Would you like to make something together again? And I don’t mean the hot pot you all decided to make next Sunday.”
After some more bickering and bantering, the rest of the teachers had agreed to cook something for everyone. The idea of a hot pot came up, and everyone got excited. Soon the residents of the dorm that weren’t present during Shouta’s very first attempt at preparing food were informed about the future dinner plans, and all of them wholeheartedly supported them.
“Maybe we could try on a weekday, if we’ll manage to secure some free time,” Shouta continued.
All Might’s back was turned to him, so Shouta could only see his hair. Turned out, it looked darker while wet, and was almost reaching the man’s shoulders. He turned slightly, so now Shouta could see his profile, a smile on his face was wider and more excited. “Yeah, I’d love to,” he replied.
Bonus (I couldn't find my tablet pen, so you have to suffer through my horrible marker skills):
