Work Text:
The student stood in 1-A’s classroom on Monday morning. Their feet were firmly planted in front of Shouta’s desk, and they had tear-streaked cheeks, lips wobbling.
“You have to stop cheating, Sensei!” The student exclaimed in a soggy voice.
Shouta raised an eyebrow.
—
There was a pinboard in the teacher's lounge that had a single picture on it.
In the picture, Hizashi was grinning into the camera, very shirtless and very smug.
The other occupant of the photo was a clearly exhausted, clearly contented, Aizawa Shouta.
Above the photo, there were letters cut out of construction paper to form a sentence.
Below the picture there was a section for each teacher at UA, all of them filled out with the teacher’s answer to the question, very specifically for most, since there had been arguments in past years about technicalities.
The question on the board was:
“Which student will be the first to ask Aizawa or Yamada about their marriage and how many months will it take?”
It had been Nemuri’s idea, of course.
—
There had been years where nobody had asked at all, and those were Shouta’s favorite.
One year Hizashi had spilled the beans “accidentally” to his homeroom class.
Shouta hadn’t cared much, but Hizashi nearly fell apart under the other teachers’ admonishment. He swore never to do it again, which ended up making students more curious. He was suddenly hiding something from them, and he had always been a bad liar.
“Yes, Kato-kun, you’re right about the pronunciation of “thorough”, great job!” Hizashi said to his student, “Don’t worry about your English pronunciation too much though, Listener! Plenty of people struggle with it, including my hus- friend.. including my friend!” He would stutter in the middle.
There were also times when Hizashi never gave it away, and Shouta couldn’t if he tried, because his class was either too afraid of him or nonexistent entirely. He expelled a lot of students.
Even though all of the courses were in the running, most of the teachers only bet on hero course students, since those seemed to be the only ones that ever asked.
—
Each teacher was only allowed to guess one student, and nobody could choose one who was already taken.
Sometimes they even drew lots to see who could pick first, if there was a particularly keen student.
Nemuri had her guess firmly on the Iida boy. Shouta thought that she might actually win for once since Iida Tensei knew of him and Hizashi and likely had told his younger brother before.
Vlad always had his sights set on the quiet kids, his reasoning being that observers were more likely to spot it than chatters. The person that he wrote down was Jirou, but only because he thought Shoji wouldn’t say anything even if he did find out first.
Powerloader swung far in the other direction, claiming that it was likely to be one of the louder students because they were nosy. Shouta grimaced a little every time he read Mineta’s name on the board.
If Mineta was the first to comment on his relationship, he was just as likely to expel him as he was to give him detention for prying into teachers’ private lives.
Shouta definitely isn’t above being aggressively petty, okay?
Nedzu had Todoroki down, citing his keen eye and natural lack of(read: completely null) social skills. Nedzu assumed that the absence of tact would work in his favor.
With it being his first year as a teacher, Yagi was given the first pick of the litter and had predictably chosen Midoriya. He had spouted off for nearly ten minutes about his successor’s intellect and eventually had to be threatened with death if he so much as whispered any clues to the boy.
Ectoplasm abstained from betting every year, claiming he believed it was unwise to gamble. Hizashi had commented once when they were alone that he thought the real reason was just that Ectoplasm was a sore loser.
Snipe had his bet on Yaoyarozu, saying, “I reckon her family did some expensive background checks on everyone here after the USJ.”
Nedzu had only snickered at that.
Chiyo decided to write down a random name every year, saying that she didn’t need the money and that if she won it she would give it straight to Shouta to “help with his future therapy bills”.
The sentiment was appreciated, even if she had never won. This year her vote was on Kaminari, and Shouta expected another year of watching the money go to another smug coworker instead of his own pockets.
Thirteen always picked the most queer person, and since Midoriya and Todoroki were already taken, they opted for Sero, who used they/them pronouns too.
Lunch-Rush took the longest to pick every year since he liked to see the kids' personalities before choosing. It had twice resulted in him being late to the game and losing to someone who had picked early on, but he had also won three out of the ten times they had played, so Shouta thought it was a good strategy.
Hound Dog picked the student who had the best hair, which was a completely subjective opinion since he defined that randomly. One year it was a kid with blue hair, another time it was some student with a bowl cut.
The parameters were inconsistent at best, and Shouta only saw it as illogical, hair had nothing to do with student audacity.
But then, Ryu could be onto something, since his pick was, “That kid that looks like a Pomeranian!”, and Shouta was fairly sure that Bakugou was actually in the running this year. Chalk it up to him being nosy and loud.
But there was a single answer that Shouta and Hizashi knew would win above the rest.
Cementoss had voted on Hitoshi.
There was a long debate in the teachers' lounge one evening about whether Cementoss could change his answer(previously Aoyama, because anyone who sparkled that much had to have a gaydar that functioned at hyper speed), especially since he hadn’t asked anyone. He arrived at school before any of the rest of them and changed his vote on the board. Nedzu nearly moved to disqualify him, but he was eventually let off since his original vote had been poached by Vlad while he was on lunch.
Shouta and Hizashi weren’t allowed to vote.
That fact had devastated Hizashi ten years ago… and nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one year ago. He flounced around dramatically every year, commenting on the long-term betrayal at every chance.
Shouta couldn’t care less. The fewer people that knew about him and Hizashi, the better, in his opinion. He saw the more logical side of things, including how many enemies heroes had, especially the heroes that doubled as teachers for the next generation. But he also wished that he could vote sometimes, if just to win the money. His life was already made miserable by Nemuri’s antics, so he deserved to profit now and again, damn it.
—
They had been caught several times by various students, but none of them had commented on the flustered look on Shouta’s face or the cheeky grin on Hizashi’s. Nothing more scandalous than kissing in either of the teachers’ empty classroom, but the students who caught them seemed to balk and flee every time.
Hitoshi had walked in on them twice, but Shouta staunchly refused to address it with his protege because so help him- he would NOT be handing the win to Cementoss.
Bakugou had walked by the open door to the teachers' lounge and seen them snuggled up on one of the couches, but he only wrinkled his nose and walked away with uncharacteristic grace.
Iida had been the most embarrassed when he walked into the bathroom and saw Hizashi leaning his head on Shouta’s shoulder while they both washed their hands.
Nothing had happened, they just happened to use the bathroom at the same time, but clearly, Iida thought they had been fucking, because his flight left dust clouds and the distant sound of engines fading.
Shouta was uncharacteristically suspicious of his class.
It made no sense that several of his problem children had picked up on his relationship with Hizashi and not said anything.
—
Shouta raised an eyebrow.
Before he could say anything, Kaminari was speaking again, his voice wobbly, “I mean it’s just not right, you know? We’re supposed to be heroes! We’re supposed to be morally upright, but you’re cheating on-“
He was cut off when the door crashed open and Nemuri ran into the room, followed closely by Hizashi, then Hound Dog.
“Oh my god!” Nemuri whined, “No way Chiyo won this!”
The second Kaminari first uttered a word about his relationship, Nedzu’s security system algorithm had sent a text to the teachers’ chat, alerting them that the bet was over.
Hizashi, equally shocked, walked over to lean on Shouta’s desk with a grin, “So how did you figure it out?”
Iida was the first to speak, and his words made the teachers pause, “You shouldn’t be here, Mic-Sensei. This intervention does not need to be sidetracked by a… a-“
“A dirty mistress!” Ashido piped up from her seat.
Hizashi’s face was blank and he glanced at Shouta, who was shocked as well.
For her part, Nemuri was absolutely losing it, clutching her side and stifling her giggles with her hand.
“A… Dirty mistress?” Shouta echoed, too surprised to really put any sternness into his words.
“We know you’re cheating on Miss Joke, Sensei, and we are here to address it!” Midoriya piped up, holding one of his fists clenched in righteous indignation.
By then, the rest of the teachers had gathered at the door, save for Nedzu who was probably cackling in his office and saving the recording to use for blackmail at a later date.
Todoroki stood up, surprisingly, his fists clenched so hard that his knuckles whitened, “I thought you were better than that. I thought you both were.” He turned his glare on Hizashi.
Silence fell over the room for a moment. It stretched on while the accusation lay bare on the table and all of the teachers watched with carefully painted masks of neutrality, fighting to reign in the urge to laugh. Nemuri had, unnoticed in the confrontation, sunk to the ground and leaned against the wall, finally laughed out.
The silence stretched longer as Shouta eyed his students.
“I’m gay.”
The class erupted.
“So you admit to cheating!” Kaminari wailed.
“Did you really lead Miss Joke on?!” Uraraka accused.
“How can you call yourself a good hero, let alone a good person?” Mineta seethed in the background.
That was the straw that broke the camel's proverbial back.
“SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO HIM.” Bakugou exploded.
Literally, he charred his desk.
The room quieted a little bit, though some of his students still grumbled and the teachers were in fits of quiet laughter.
Hizashi took the chance to speak up, “Shouta and I are married,” he pulled his necklace from under his shirt collar to show them the ring on it.
Shouta did the same, and it was clear that the rings matched.
“Wait.” Said Yaoyarozu, “I thought you hid your ring because you were cheating, Mr. Aizawa!”
Shouta blinked once, and then a grin spread across his face.
“Maybe I am.” He said in a deadpan voice that contradicted his gleeful smile.
Hizashi swatted him gently on the shoulder, “Stop it, Sho. Tell them the truth.”
Shouta glanced at his husband and his gaze softened for a moment, his smile shifting to something a little more real.
“Hizashi and I are teachers here at UA, and heroes out there in the world. We’ve always had targets on our backs, why would we broadcast who the villains can use to hurt us the most?”
Bakugou grunted, clearly smug, “Told you assholes. Aizawa is cool, there’s no way he’d ever cheat.” His cheekbones dusted a little pink at the admission of admiration, and he crossed his arms and slouched at his desk when Shouta glanced his way.
It was Hizashi’s turn to smile, “It helps that he’s fully aware that I will castrate him if he ever tries to cheat on me.” His grin took on a menacing edge.
Shouta watched his entire class flinch and he pulled his capture weapon a little higher to hide his soft smile. Hizashi was amazing.
After a brief silence, Soggy Kaminari spoke up, “So… what did Midnight-Sensei mean when she said that ‘Chiyo won’?”
Shouta processed that for a moment, the gears spinning as he recalled the board, and then he stood, shoving his hands in his pockets, “That means that you guys get the rest of the day off, except for Ashido, who gets detention for calling a teacher a dirty mistress, and I’m going to a cat cafe.”
He had just won ¥10,000 after all, he had some coffee and cats to spend it on, let the rest of the teachers deal with explaining the bet.