Work Text:
Aizawa, despite popular belief, did have some level of tolerance for the childish and unruly nature of high schoolers, especially in regards to his current students. He had a soft spot for children in general and for those in 1A more than most. And, considering the year that his class had had, Aizawa was particularly lenient about the moments of mischief when they reminded him that they were still children. They deserved that much at least, a few stolen moments of laughter and innocence where the weight of the world didn’t rest on their small shoulders.
So, when his students had begun whispering excitedly behind him as he wrote on the board, Aizawa ignored them at first. They were being relatively quiet and, considering that he heard Iida’s voice in the mix, he reasoned that they very well could be asking each other questions related to the class material. When the muttering grew, Shouta’s eye twitched, but he continued writing, raising his voice just a hair in an attempt to subtly discourage them. Really, he was in a decent mood that day, so his tolerance was particularly high, even for the class that already had won a particularly high amount of confidence from him.
Still, there was a limit to what he could tolerate. Aizawa had an image to maintain, and more importantly, a class to teach. When the volume of the talking rose to an undeniable level and then, most gallingly, came the sound of a desk chair being pushed back, as if someone was standing, Shouta sighed, fixing his face into his best glare as he turned around.
“Care to explain,” he asked, his voice low and dangerous. “What exactly is more important than my lecture?”
For a moment, the class was frozen, leaning across desks and dangerously hanging over the aisles to talk to the person next to them. Todoroki, of all people, appeared to be the one whose chair Shouta had heard as he was halfway to Midoriya’s desk. Every single one of them had their phones out.
Shouta raised his eyebrows questioningly.
The class burst into sound, all of them tripping over each other to explain what they were doing. Shouta only caught a few words here and there as they shouted.
“Sensei⏤”
“News⏤”
“Can’t be mad⏤”
“Historical significance⏤”
“Important⏤”
“Enough!” Shouta’s voice finally cut through, both his voice and his hair raising. The class fell silent again, sheepish. Shouta sighed. “Iida,” he said, doing his best to keep his voice calm. “Explain.”
Iida straightened until he was almost painfully stiff. “Sensei! I apologize for not stopping the class from disrespecting you! As class rep, that is my job. However, we were all very excited as we were just discussing the historic event taking place today.”
“Historic event?” Shouta asked, genuinely intrigued but giving none of that away as he stared at Iida flatly.
“Yes, Sensei. The legalization of same-sex marriage was just finalized and 1A was very excited about the news. However, we should not have interrupted class. We apologize.”
Shouta’s heart pounded. He knew the ruling was supposed to come through at any time, had been planning to check for updates over lunch even, but he was still winded to hear those words spoken so easily, with so little fanfare. It seemed almost too easy, too simple for such a thing. In a strained voice he asked, “Can I see someone’s phone?”
There was a second of hesitation before almost a dozen phones were being thrust in his face. Shouta jerked his head back on instinct, startled by how fast his class had moved. Funny how they never showed that ability in training.
He took the phone nearest to him, something bright pink and bedazzled, and looked at the screen. The headline was unmistakable and his heart did that fluttering thing again. He scanned the article, then did a quick internet search to confirm it. Across every news site imaginable, the same message was being proclaimed in beautiful, joyous black print.
They’d won.
In a daze, Shouta handed the phone back to its owner, Mina, apparently. He turned and walked to his desk, plucking a small black box from its usual place in his top desk drawer, nearly completely concealing it in his hand.
“If you’ll excuse me, class,” he said, his voice almost shaking. Without another word of explanation, he wrenched the classroom door open and was marching down the hall at a breakneck pace.
1A took a moment to look at each other in shock and confusion before bolting after him.
When he reached the classroom he knew Hizashi was in, Shouta took only a brief pause outside the threshold, taking one steadying breath before he opened the door with more force than he intended. It made a loud banging noise that attracted the attention of everyone in the room instantly. While Shouta would normally be embarrassed by that, it at least did him the favor of getting Hizashi’s attention.
He’d paused mid-lecture, blinking at Shouta in surprise. Seeming to recover after a long beat, he smiled broadly. “Eraser! To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Hizashi,” Shouta started.
Hizashi straightened at the sound of his given name. Seated before him, class-1B stared openly, while behind Shouta 1A drew up to the scene, somewhat out of breath after trying to catch up to Shouta’s near sprint to get to the other room.
“What happened?” Hizashi demanded, his first instinct being that something was terribly wrong. Whatever it was had to be serious if Shouta was interrupting class and using his given name.
“It passed,” Shouta said, his voice far softer than the students could remember it being in a long time.
“What passed?” Hizashi was staring at him, confused and more than a little concerned.
“Hizashi,” Shouta repeated and even the most oblivious of the small crowd gathered could hear the tenderness in that word, so shockingly unexpected from their gruff teacher. “Marriage. It passed.”
“Oh,” Hizashi whispered, his voice almost shaking as his eyes widened.
“They just announced it,” Shouta continued, walking towards Hizashi, who appeared to have forgotten that he was in front of his class as he stared at Shouta, his expression open and vulnerable.
“That’s amazing,” Hizashi croaked, blinking quickly to avoid crying.
“What passed?” Monoma asked, clearly lost even as he was shushed by his classmates, all of whom were very interested in what was going on between their teachers.
“Marriage equality for couples of all genders!” Hizashi said quickly, donning his pro voice. He tried desperately to maintain a sense of respectability as he continued, “It’s such a great accomplishment for the country. We will have to add something to the lesson plan about⏤”
“I have something I’ve been waiting to give you,” Shouta interrupted. He held out the box he’d taken from his desk, now flicked open to reveal the ring sitting inside.
Every jaw in the room dropped.
“Shouta?” Hizashi asked, his voice nearly squeaking.
“Hizashi, you are my best friend and you have been for fifteen years, since before I even knew I could have friends. Every day you make my life better by being in it. I cannot imagine living my life without you. I don’t want to. I want you to be my side for as long as we live and I want to be able to call you my husband, legally, while we do it. We are already partners in every way except for this one, and I’d like to make that official too. Will you marry me?”
Hizashi’s eyes were definitely too wet to go unnoticed but he found he didn’t really care. “You’re proposing now?” he choked out, shock overriding his brain for a moment. “In front of all the students? What happened to professionalism and keeping our relationship on the down-low at school? ”
Shouta rolled his eyes. “Hizashi. I’ve had this ring for seven years, six months, two weeks, four days, nine hours, and⏤” he glanced at the clock. “Forty-two minutes. I am not waiting a second longer to give it to you. And besides, I am not ashamed or embarrassed by our relationship. I’m sick of keeping it quiet because heroes have an image to maintain, or whatever that stupid PR guy told you . There is nothing wrong with us or our relationship and today Japan has finally recognized that after making us wait a damn lifetime. Now, are you going to ask me to be patient again, or are you going to answer my question? Fair warning, I’m not a very patient man.”
With a wet laugh, Hiazashi threw himself forward, wrapping his arms around Shouta so tightly he nearly cut off his air supply. “I know you’re not,” he murmured quietly into Shouta’s hair. “And despite myself, I love you more for it.” He drew back just enough to look Shouta in the eyes as he said, “I love you so much I can hardly breathe sometimes, Shouta. Of course I’ll marry you.”
At that, the collective students couldn’t keep their silence any longer and a near-deafening cheer broke out around them, with shouts ranging from joy to stunned, though supportive, disbelief that their teachers had been together for so long without anyone noticing.
On a regular day, Shouta would have glared them all into silence, but as he slipped the ring onto his fiancé’s finger, all he could manage was a faint blush and a small but undeniable smile. He ignored their questions but glanced at his students fondly, his smiling widening further as he took in the way Bakugou and Kirishima were standing with almost their entire sides pressed together, watching their teachers with delight (Kirishima) and poorly-concealed hope (Bakugou). He was nearly beaming when he noticed how Hitoshi glanced from Mic to Denki to Aizawa and Denki again quickly, a look of wonder on his face.
“I can’t believe you proposed first!” Hizashi laughed, drawing Shouta’s attention again. Hizashi wiped a few stray tears from his cheeks and held his hand out to admire the ring, smiling so wide it almost hurt. “And so romantically! How am I going to outdo you?” he whined.
“We’re already engaged,” Shouta said, his amusement and affection still clear in his low voice. “There’s hardly a reason for you to propose too.”
“And miss the chance to make a beautiful and dramatic speech to my husband-to-be, proclaiming my love for him to the world?” Hizashi asked, his hand going to his chest in mock astonishment. “Never!”
“Such a drama queen,” Shouta admonished, even as he drew Hizashi in for another embrace, his face buried in the crook of his fiancé’s neck.
His fiancé.
Hizashi was going to be his husband. Fully. Legally. It wouldn’t really change much about their daily life to be honest. They had pledged themselves to each other long ago and had considered themselves married in all but paperwork for years.
Still, it would be nice to know that absolutely no one would ever be able to deny that they were just as much a family as anyone else. No one would be able to keep them apart when one of them inevitably ended up in the hospital after a villain attack. They would both be able to be the legal parents of Eri and, if things went Shouta’s way, Hitoshi too before long.
That little piece of paper wouldn’t change a thing about how much he loved Hizashi, but it was something that meant the world to them. It was something Shouta had thought he would never have, even after he finally accepted that Hizashi wasn’t going to leave him for something better, because for some unknowable reason, Hizashi loved him.
That would have been enough for Shouta, ultimately. Just to be loved by someone so wonderful as him.
But, he thought as he lanced his hand with Hizashi’s, feeling the cool band under his fingers, he was really glad that he got to marry him too. Because the whole world needed to see just how unbelievably lucky Shouta was, how incredible his fucking fiancé was, and he couldn’t wait to stand at the altar and tell absolutely everyone just that.
He pressed a chaste kiss to Hizashi’s cheek and the screams of his children, their children, intensified. Shouta laughed.
His family was perfect.