Archive of Our Own

His eyes were the first thing Hizashi noticed about him, from his usual seat in the cafeteria. The new kid, Aizawa, had walked into the cafeteria for lunch, looked around once and squinted his gorgeous, deep, dark eyes… before turning on his heel and leaving again.

Hizashi couldn’t really say that he blamed him, UA’s students weren’t exactly known for being quiet and mild-mannered as a whole, they were kind of intimidating he’d heard others say before. And he himself really couldn’t talk, usually the loudest voice in every room. Except today, as he was still dreamily staring, chin in his hands, at the empty doorway Aizawa had occupied.

“Yamada, quit tilting your head, it’s making your hair hard to braid.” His best friend Nemuri complained beside him, flicking him in the temple.

“Ouch, sorry! Here, present, here.” He straightened up, accidentally shaking the braid she had managed so far out again.

“Okay, ponytail time. I’m not doing that again.” She shook her head and he laughed, gathering his hair and tying it back, leaving a few thicker bunches to frame his face, “You stared at the new guy so long I thought you were gonna float after him on a perfumed cloud.”

“Stop trying to make me Pepe Le Pew. I am Nothing like him!”

“You are literally him.” Hakamata contributed as he joined them.

“Rude.” Hizashi aimed a kick under the table at, well whoever he could hit really, and for all his efforts just ended up kicking the table leg so loudly it jolted and everyone looked over at them.

“Oops!” He smiled, rubbing his neck, “My bad!”

“Klutz.” Nemuri snorted and Hizashi huffed.

“Keep teasing me and see if I let you guys play with me in the talent show next week.”

Hakamata didn’t even bat an eye, “You mean, you’d love for us,”

“Your best friends!” Nemuri chimed in with her mouth full.

“Yes, your best friends, to please accompany you musically in the talent show so you don’t have to awkwardly sing to a backing track all alone on stage in front of the whole school and the new boy who’s still staring at you?” He finished. Hizashi snorted.

“You almost got me but I saw him leave! So there. But also yes, please play with me!!”

“He came back.” Nemuri tossed a glance behind Hizashi, “Guess being hungry won out over brooding mysteriously in the hallway. Also Hakamata signed us all up to play together as soon as the sheet went up this morning. Give us some credit.”

Hizashi immediately stiffened, forgoing acknowledging news he’d honestly already anticipated and instead trying as subtly as possible to turn around and see where Aizawa had ended up, in the end turning so fast his hair nearly whipped Hakamata in the face.

Aizawa, a couple tables away as isolated as he could manage, was already staring at him. Staring at him a bit… intensely. Hizashi turned back to his friends with a warm face and a smug expression.

“See? Who could resist me? I’ll just talk to him and he’ll join the friend group and then he’ll fall for me and I’ll graciously accept him and we’ll live happily ever after.”

“Resist you? Man, it’s tough.” Hakamata rolled his eyes, “But I make do. One day at a time.”

“That’s all you have to say! What about my plan?!” Hizashi whined.

“Plan? Yamada, you have a pipe dream, not a plan. He just got here, give him at least a full school day to arrive before you launch yourself at him.”

“Aww, but that worked on you!”

“We were five, I would have said anything to get you to shut up and let me nap in peace.”

“Lies, you loved being blonde buddies with me.”

Hakamata heaved a deep sigh but Hizashi knew the more stoic blonde was just joking, even so he decided to let him finish his lunch and set his sights on the person most likely to do whatever it took to see a plan through, even and especially if Hakamata thought it was ridiculous.

“Nemuri. The plan. I talk to him, he’s intrigued by me. We perform at the talent show, he falls in love with me. Thoughts?”

“Genius.” She replied, mouth still half full, “Slight hiccup to the plan, Pepe.”

“Let the nickname die. But continue.”

“Mr. Le Pew. You have committed two grave oversights I fear we cannot overlook.”

“Leave me out of this.” Hakamata interjected.

“You’re gonna want in on this.” She assured sagely, “One, You are genuinely awful at talking to people you have actual crushes on. Two, you have confirmed to your two closest friends that you have a big, fat crush on the new kid. Rookie mistake, sir. It is our contractual obligation in fact, to proceed to bully you relentlessly with this knowledge for until the end of time. Hakamata?”

“It’s true.” The other blonde shrugged, “and only fair. You teased me about Kamihara for six months. And we got together like, three weeks into that!”

“Yeah and, no offense Hiazashi.” Nemuri glanced over at Aizawa again, “But you picked the one guy in school I can’t imagine dating anyone. He’s only been here for what, five hours, and everyone’s saying he’s super rude and stand off-ish. I had a chem lab with him this morning and he didn’t even introduce himself until the teacher pushed him to.” She cleared her throat and put on an exaggerated frown.

“It was just “My name is Aizawa… Aizawa Shouta.” And that was it!! No where he’s from, a hobby, a pet! Nothing!”

“Nemuri!” Hizashi hissed, smacking her arm but it was too late, he glanced back to see Aizawa quickly turn, collect his things from the table and leave, probably heading to his next class as their break was up soon.

“Fuck, he’s gonna think we were making fun of him!”

“I was making fun of him.” Nemuri muttered, displeased with the lack of appreciation for her impression, “Plus it’s no big deal, I mimicked him a bit so what?” She collected her plates as they all stood and readied themselves to head to their classes as well,

“it’s not like I called him a weirdo to his f- ace…” she stopped short as they approached the door as Aizawa came back towards them, eyes rolling as he heard her and speeding up his pace to walk past them down the opposite direction of the hall he’d been walking down.

Mortified and a bit concerned Hizashi trailed after him a few steps, “Hey! Wait, are you lost?”

Aizawa flipped him off without even turning around.

Well, crap.

-

“That went well.” He grumbled as he dropped himself into his chair for his English class. At least he enjoyed this class, even if it took him away from his two best friends for a while. He had managed to press Nemuri to promise to apologize and explain things to Aizawa the next chance she got and that made him feel a bit better but his stomach turned at the thought of how bad it must have looked, and felt on top of it.

What a shitty first impression he sank deeper into his chair, nervously fiddling with his hair. Just before the teacher began taking attendance the door to the classroom opened again and Hizashi felt his stomach clench as he watched Aizawa clock him… and the only empty seat in class beside him… and somehow manage to look both expressionless and annoyed all at the same time.

Hizashi, to his credit, just turned to face the front quickly and kept his mouth clamped shut. The last thing Aizawa needed was to be distracted by some embarrassing apology during class. He was probably overwhelmed by how big the school was and didn’t seem the type to like being late. Maybe a note? A note would be fine, right? Because he could just read it whenever he wanted!
Hizashi quietly tore a page off his notebook and grabbed his best pen, a glitter gel pen in gold of course, and began scribbling a message.

“Hey!

If you need help around school I could totes give you a tour, you know, which teachers to avoid and what closets are good for making out in, all the important stuff!

Let me know!

Yamada Hizashi”

Hizashi looked at his handiwork proudly, blowing on it slightly to dry the ink and quickly folding it into a tight triangle and glancing over at Aizawa who was staring down at his desk, taking notes on their teacher's summary of the last lesson. With his focus off of Hizashi his expression looked much less… annoyed but still quite stern, Hizashi found.

But the little wrinkle between his rather impressive eyebrows was kind of… charming. As was his wavy, dark hair and the way to fall around his face, brushed behind his ear when it proved obtrusive by strong looking hands… those dark, mysterious eyes aimed directly at him-

“Mr.Yamada.”

“Here!” Hizashi’s head shot up as he redirected his attention to the teacher who looked luckily more bemused than genuinely annoyed.

“…yes, I see that. I asked you if you would be so kind as to share your notes on our last sessions with our recent transfer, since you seem so fascinated by him.”

Hizashi wilted a little but nodded, “…Yes, Ma’am. Of course.”

Their teacher moved on and Aizawa had already returned to staunchly staring at his notes though Hizashi knew he could possibly have anything worthwhile to write down as their teacher was beginning her rounds to check homework. No better time like the present, right? Hizashi figured.

Carefully he snuck his foot over to Aizawa’s and tapped it. Aizawa pulled his legs to the other side of the desk. Well. Fine. At least he noticed. That was all Hizashi needed after all. Knowing he had at least some of his attention he took aim and carefully flicked the note onto Aizawa’s desk where it landed smack in the middle of the page.

Perfect, Hizashi grinned, delivered and impressed with my impeccable note tossing skills-

The note hit him on the head before dropping onto his desk again, unopened. Not trusting his ability to whisper he turned to look at Aizawa again who was still ignoring him but now actively frowning. Hizashi looked at the note and wondered if maybe he didn’t know it was a note to be read… well he certainly didn’t want the guy to think he was just throwing things at him! He took his pen and scribbled “Read Me” with a little heart, blew on the ink again and let it fly.

It hit him in the forehead this time, as he hadn’t turned away from Aizawa again yet. Admittedly, seeing Aizawa casually hit a totally respectable bullseye without even glancing over at him was kind of hot. So sue him he was 17 and he had eyes okay!

So my crush and my crush’s opinion of me seem to both be getting worse. Great. he sighed, giving it one last flick over to Aizawa’s desk before slumping over his own and staring at the board in resignation to whatever happened next, fully expecting it to hit him in the head again.

God, he wished it had just hit him in the head again.

“Mr.Aizawa. I’m not sure what the rules were where you’re from, but we don’t throw projectiles or pass notes in class here.”

“I-” Aizawa stopped himself and Hizashi felt so mortified he could barely breathe, frozen in place staring down at his desk. Oh god, oh fuck, please let him still have the note, please let him still have the note-

“What was so important it couldn’t wait until after class for Mr.Yamada to hear?” Hizashi heard the crinkling of paper and he turned to stop her but his voice failed as he saw her scanning the lines before sighing.

“Mr.Yamada…”

“Yes, Ma’am…?”

“I’m not sure how badly our new student needs to know what ‘closets are best to make out in’ but do refrain from offering this knowledge until the end of my class, or I will become a ‘teacher you should avoid’, yes?”

“I’ll do my best, Ma’am.” Hizashi bowed his head a little, an embarrassed smile on his face as he tried to play it off, satisfied that his classmates, who were used to his antics, were just quietly giggling at their teacher saying “make out”. Feeling somewhat comforted that it didn’t go quite as badly as he’d feared and nobody was in any real trouble he risked a glance at Aizawa. However, he wasn’t sure whether to be comforted or worried that he was staring at his desk as resolutely as ever, only the slightly red tips of his ears betraying any sort of emotion.

-

“And he just dipped after class?” Nemuri asked, sitting on the edge of the stage in the auditorium after a successful (mostly) rehearsal. This was, of course, after collecting herself from laughing so hard she almost dropped her guitar and they had to stop rehearsing (hence the ‘mostly’) and assuming a more ‘mirthful but sympathetic’ expression that Hizashi knew well and true was a total act, but was grateful for anyway.

“Didn’t even let me give him my notes! We didn’t have any other classes together anymore today.” he complained loudly as he dragged his hands over his face and sat down beside her, legs dangling off the edge, “So now he what, he thinks my friends make fun of him and I reacted by tossing him a note trying to make out? That’s what he thinks happened?”

“Maybe he just thinks you’re kind of nuts. Wouldn’t be wrong.” Hakamata suggested from his seat behind the drums he was already starting to distmantle and Hizashi groaned.

“Hakamata, what have I ever done to you-“

“Well, just last week you added a patch to my second favorite denim jacket that says “Bottoms United”, also last week you mentioned having pictures from preschool of us to my boyfriend and he still won’t let it go, and this morning you-“

“Okay, okay, let the flagellation continue, my god.” Hizashi closed his eyes and let himself flop To the side to lay his head on Nemuri’s lap.

“He’s right though,” Nemuri nodded as she petted his hair dutifully, “You guys should really have a union.”

“You’re the only one who truly understands my genius, Nemuri.”

“I don’t want to understand a single thought that passes through that empty blonde head of yours.” Hakamata shot back.

“You’re blo-“ and Hizashi sat back up, ready to turn and argue right back but froze as he locked eyes with a figure emerging from backstage. Aizawa. Standing stoic as ever stage left with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. Hizashi clocked a couple AllMight stickers on it and felt warmth spread in his chest. He had loved those comics as a kid! That meant they’d have something in common! And ice breaker!

Perfect. A change to redeem himself, and his friends, and maybe even look cool and impress him. Excellent. Several birds, one stone. Amazing. Any moment now. Any moment. It’s gonna happen. Any-

Hizashi made a choked noise that had Nemuri looking over in confusion and Hakamata sighed deeply as he turned to glance behind himself at the stage exits.

“Alright, Romeo, let’s go. Nemuri, my dad’s making dinner and if you promise to behave I’ll lift your ban at my house.”

Immediately Nemuri’s attention snapped to Hakamata as she surrendered Hizashi to his enamoured stupor, something he’d be sure to chew her out for once he regained even a single functioning brain cell.

“But your dad’s so ho-“

“I will ban you for life if you finish that sentence.” Hakamata said sternly as he walked over before grabbing Hizashi and dragging him up. Hizashi snapped his mouth shut after horrifyingly realizing he had been in fact open mouth staring at Aizawa who was staring resolutely at the wall, waiting wordlessly for them to clear the area, though Hizashi couldn’t figure why.

“Oh fuck is he here for the talent show?” Slipped out of his mouth as Hakamata pulled him towards the opposite exit, only turning slightly as they walked to give Hizashi an expression meant clearly to communicate ‘How the fuck have you managed to fuck up every interaction with a guy you’ve never actually spoken to’ and Hizashi scrunched up his face in defeat and acceptance of his judgement.

He didn’t have to look to see if Aizawa heard him, Nemuri was further away and judging by her snort it was a no brainer.

-

For the next week Hizashi decided to take a preventative approach to his endeavor and avoid Aizawa as much as possible and it mostly worked. And in the meantime if he saw Hizashi playing it cool and then killing it on stage and fell madly in love with him, fantastic. As he had explained to Hakamata and Nemuri over dinner that fateful evening after their rehearsal, if he couldn’t stop himself from humiliating himself and blowing things with Aizawa off the bat, then he’d simply stop talking around him until he got a better grip on himself, which was bound to happen any day now provided that Aizawa somehow manage to wake up horribly ugly or shave his head or become less mysterious or less interesting.

Because god, he was fascinating. At least, to Hizashi. He just… was so contradictory. He kept to himself, but Hizashi had checked he was definitely a part of the talent show. Even though Hizashi had wracked his brain and simply could not figure out why on earth he’d want to participate or what he’d even be doing. He just couldn’t imagine the quiet, moody guy he’d gotten used to seeing avoid every possible social interaction, choosing to suddenly get up and sing or dance on stage in front of the whole school. Sure, there were other talents but… he huffed a small laugh to himself as he sat down, just a few minutes early for English class again, it’s not like Aizawa was likely to show up and start juggling.

And then there was the staring. Hizashi wouldn’t even mind it so much if it didn’t cut occasionally, embarrassingly into his own ‘staring at Aizawa’ time. Half the time it seemed Hizashi would decide to sneak a glance over at Aizawa, to see what he was wearing today or perhaps if he would do his head any differently for once, and the other boy would already be staring at him with this blank intensity he couldn’t decipher. It didn’t seem to be abject loathing, so, that was a win. Either that or he hated Hizashi so much that it had transcended normal human expression, but Hakamata had said Hizashi was transcending normal human expression himself at that point of his lament so he’d decided to let that fear go. Mostly.

Every time Hizashi accidentally met his gaze Aizawa would immediately avert his own, assuming he indeed did not just hate him, maybe he was fascinated by Hizashi, too.

For all the bravado and confidence, genuine as it was, Hizashi felt a sudden naked vulnerability in Aizawa’s gaze he wasn’t used to feeling, as if the other boy was staring right through him, peeling back his layers with ease while Hizashi couldn’t read a single emotion off of Aizawa’s face to save his life. For all he knew, maybe Aizawa had a little crush on him, too. He smiled to himself at the idea, absentminded doodling hearts in the margins of last week’s homework. Fuck He thought with a sigh, This is so not helping the whole ‘get a grip’ plan…

He chewed his lip thoughtfully before perking up as class began, trying his best to just pay attention to the teacher and not get distracted like usual, dutifully accepting the assignments from the other students in his row, placing his on top and passing it to Aizawa without looking at him. Aizawa didn’t take it. That pulled Hizashi just enough out of his thoughts that he glanced over to see Aizawa (with his hair in a bun oh god oh mercy) glaring absolute daggers at Hizashi’s assignment, all margins filled with glitter ink hearts…

Hizashi, overwhelmed by both confusion and unexpected embarrassment opened his mouth to, honestly to say what he didn’t know but certainly something, but in that time Aizawa seemed to come back to himself and he snatched up the papers, slapping his assignment on top and going back to ignoring Hizashi, who continued to stare for one long moment before snapping his mouth shut and turning back to face the board in silence.

What the fuck was that? he wondered, and why was it kind of hot?

-

“It was kind of hot because there’s something wrong with you.” was the explanation Hakamata opted for as they disassembled their equipment later than afternoon after another rehearsal. With the talent show only a couple days away everyone had been trying to get extra practice in, including Aizawa, who they had started their practice earlier every day this week so far to avoid.

“Thank you, Hakamata.” Hizashi groaned, “I’m aware of that already. I was hoping for some new insights. Nemuri, what do you think?”

“I think you’re being insane and I’m glad I’m a lesbian.”

“Again, people, the key word here was ‘new’. ‘New’ insights.”

“Okay, new insight, avoiding him is making things weird, the good news is he is also fucking weird, which is awful news for us because the last thing you need is another enabler.” Hakamata sighed and Nemuri nodded, feigning lament,

“I’m gonna be out of a job!”

“You’re not gonna be out of a job, nobody could ever replace you and your limitless enabling tendencies.” Hizashi wrapped his arms around her neck and hung off of her dramatically which she immediately reciprocated in a dramatic hug. Hakamata smacked them with his drumsticks as he passed them by but Hizashi knew in all ways but physical, Hakamata was participating in the group hug.

“Okay, okay, points taken. So, we change it up. What should I do?”

Nemuri hummed and swayed them on the spot as they tried to make their way to the stage exit without breaking their exaggerated hug, “You could try the opposite again, properly this time. Without getting tongue tied. And if you feel you’re getting tongue tied just remember how much you’ll get bullied by us the longer you go without having ever actually spoken to the guy.”

Hizashi groaned but nodded, “Yeah, because choosing to not get tongue tied always works so well. Fine. The show’s on Monday night. Gives me the whole weekend to rest and prepare. Perfect time to talk to him. Plenty of possible ice breakers. Plus, a built-in bail strategy, if it goes badly I can just go home, transfer to a school abroad and move countries before I ever have to see him again.”

“Excellent thinking. I’ve always wanted to go abroad.” Nemuri nodded.

“As long as we’re not going somewhere hot.” Hakamata added as he finally joined them, slinging an arm over Hisashi’s shoulder and giving him a rare smile.

“Aww, you do love us.” He teased and Hakamata rolled his eyes.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Also my dad is making omurice today. And yes, before you ask, with extra ketch- oof-“ Hizashi slipped out of their previous three way embrace to jump at Hakamata and hug him tightly.

“AHHHHHH THE BEST COMFORT FOOD!!! Your dad is the best. Don’t tell my dad I said that. Or yours, Nemuri.”

“I’m texting him right now. He’s gonna be crushed.”

“Don’t even joke!”

-

Dinner at the Hakamata house was always a great way to lift his spirits, especially on nights like tonight when Hizashi’s mother would get off work a little early to pick him up and stay for a plate. Hizashi treasured the moments he got to see her relax and hear the bustle of a full house again. Sure, Hizashi wasn’t exactly the quiet type but he couldn’t fill the space his dad’s loss had left in their home. If anything after long days of work he wasn’t sure if hearing him chat away at his dad’s shrine comforted or saddened her sometimes.

She caught him staring at her, amidst her conversation with the Hakamatas, from the couch he and his friends had crammed themselves onto, taking turns playing some video game he wasn’t very good at to begin with, and she gave him a knowing look, the corner of her mouth twitching up.

Feeling somehow caught, he flashed her a signature grin before sinking deeper into the couch between his friends. She’d probably be ready to go soon, probably walk over, run her fingers through his hair and scratch his scalp just the way he liked. His friends would lightly tease him, suggest he was maybe more cat than cartoon skunk, and they’d go home, he’d say hi to his dad’s picture and talk mindlessly about his day to both of them and conveniently leave out his mortifying Aizawa dilemma, do some homework and go to bed.

Hmm,he thought as he leaned his head against Nemuri’s shoulder as she cheered on Hakamata reaching a new high score. Talking to Aizawa didn’t seem so daunting anymore, at least from where he was sitting now. So what if the first attempts had been awkward or weird. Hizashi meant well and he would try his best. One day maybe, when he and Aizawa were close friends or more, they’d even laugh about the whole thing.

-

Two days and about 15 hours later, on Monday afternoon as Hizashi pinched his nose to stop the blood flow, the possibility of laughing at his awkward attempts at talking to the guy in some romantic future together was starting to look a little far fetched.

In immediate hindsight, Hizashi wasn’t sure how grounded in reality his plan had really been, upon further examination.

Logically he knew it was unlikely that he would be able to switch gears and basically bother Aizawa into suddenly wanting to make friends with him and maybe along the way magically fall in love with him but at the time of setting this plan in motion it had seemed a bit more possible than at the current moment. Incredible shit, really, teenage delusion.

It had all gone downhill quite quickly when about ten minutes earlier Hizashi, in some primo stage makeup (the good stuff, stolen/borrowed from Nemuri’s older sister), a flashy button-up shirt tucked into some as-tight-as-school-policy-would-allow leather trousers (and therefore brimming confidence, had told Nemuri and Hakamata to go to their families without him after their performance opening the talent show after spotting Aizawa backstage.

Adjusting his hair as he walked over to the other boy, who seemed to be wearing some sort of plain black martial arts uniform, Hizashi took a deep breath to steel himself. Allegedly, his rather stoic mom had been quickly charmed by his fathers vibrant personality and bold declarations, so statistically it stood to reason it could work for him, too, right? He just had to channel every ounce of confidence he had and remember that he was a delight, that Aizawa was human and nothing to be scared of, and that he’d more likely than not even understand that Hizashi had just been nervous before.

“Looking good, Aizawa!”

Aizawa looked up from where he had been fiddling with something on his clothes and his face, if even possible, fell upon seeing Hizashi approaching.

Not one to be deterred by silence, Hizashi slung an arm around Aizawa’s shoulder and smiled.

“Cone on, seriously, tell me what your deal is! I’m dying to know, you’re such a mystery around here.” He slid his arm off but remained close so as to not risk overwhelming the guy- or his own gay heart for that matter, under that uniform Aizawa seemed way more muscular than he’d expected.

Aizawa’s eyes narrowed and he took a pointed step away from Hizashi.

“I don’t have a ‘deal’. I’m a student, I’m in the showcase, I’m doing a jiu jitsu demonstration.” He replied in a matter of fact, but hard tone, the implicit threat flying high over Hizashi’s head.

“Ooh, impressive. Didn’t think you had that in you! Need a volunteer?” Hizashi raised an eyebrow and Aizawa snorted.

“I don’t think you’d have a very good time with that.”

“Oh?” Hizashi teased, pleased at the deviance from his stoic facade, “But you think you would?”

“I might.” Came a terse reply and Hizashi felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up on end as Aizawa’s eyes met his. Nemuri was never going to believe how well this was going, the tension was already off the charts, Hizashi thought as he leaned in closer to Aizawa.

“S’that what you’ve been thinking about all those times I caught you staring at me?” Hizashi quipped, conveniently leaving out that he only ever caught him because he was staring, too. Aizawa’s gaze grew in intensity and Hizashi felt his heart skip a beat. This was going great, he’d get him with one last flirty zinger and then make a very cool exit, having successfully laid the foundation for their interactions going forward and not looked like he was too desperate for Aizawa to like him. Excellent. Perfect.

Hizashi winked at him, “Guess you didn’t need that tour of the closets here after all, ‘cause you can feel free to lay one on me anyti-“ And then it happened. Truthfully Aizawa was so quick to react that Hizashi barely had time to register how nicely blushing suited him before he was on the floor, his nose was throbbing and the world was a lot quieter.

Ah, shit.

Unfortunately the punch and fall resulted in his hearing aid falling and breaking, which sucked ass, but it wasn’t like Aizawa had been trying to break it so Hizashi accepted it as an annoying accident that would make things a bit difficult and uncomfortable for a while, and his mom wouldn’t be pleased, but he had a spare in his locker so he wasn’t too focused on that at the moment. Definitely focusing more on the while ‘crush punching him in the nose’ thing. For sure.

Suddenly the voice of their drama teacher broke through the silence from across the room

“Aizawa! Principal’s office! Yamada! Nurses office!”

Aizawa slumped and Hizashi, still pinching his nose to stop the blood from completely free birding it down his face, sighed in relief.

“And then principal’s office!”

“Aww shit.” He wilted, “My mom’s gonna be so disappointed.” God this was going to be an embarrassing one to explain. So, mom, it’s no big deal, because you see, I have a huge crush on him- yeah the guy that clocked your precious angel in the face yeah, see I was actually trying to flirt- Hizashi groaned as he imagined trying to explain this to her at home. He could already picture the exact exasperation in her eyes, but then…she’d understand right?

Hizashi’s mom was a lot of things, unobservant wasn’t one of them. Of course, upon meeting Aizawa she would immediately pick up on the parallels between him and his crush on Aizawa and her own courtship with his father, and understand what he had been trying to do. A loud blonde, a stoic brunette, it was practically fate! Though, admittedly, his mom had never punched his dad in the face. So… some deviations from the blueprint, but all in all Hisashi felt the vision was still intact and comprehensible. Maybe even still possible, that is, if Aizawa didn’t totally fucking hate him after all this like he seemed to. Hizashi groaned and hoped it seemed like it was just from pain and not from bone deep mortification and confusion.

-

About fifteen minutes later Hizashi was sitting in front of the principals office, two wadded up tissues in his nostrils, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth and fidgeting next to Aizawa, who sat stoically albeit with a slight aura of disappointment around him, as if some of his air had been let out. Behind them in the office Hizashi heard his mom’s voice and an unfamiliar male voice, probably Aizawa’s dad, he figured, but with his hearing aid busted he wasnt going to be eavesdropping any time soon.

“Hey,” He glanced over at Aizawa, “What are they saying?”

Aizawa gave him a weird look but didn’t respond.

Hizashi sighed, “I know you’re mad I got us in trouble, and clearly I said something to offend you, but I’m losing my mind waiting to find out what they’re gonna do!” He hissed slightly too loudly judging by Aizawa’s slightly worried glance at the office door.

Then his expression turned to pure confusion, “That You got us in trouble? I punched you. They’re mad at me, not you. Are you trying to rub it in or something?”

“WH- what??” Hizashi stood quickly, “No- no this is my fault-“

“Wait- what are you- Yamada-!” Aizawa hissed as Hizashi stood and rushed into the office, Aizawa right behind him.

“It waS MY FAULT!” Hizashi shouted as he burst through the door to see the shocked faces of his principal, some guy with shaggy dark hair and deep eye-bags, and the exasperated face of his mom, who already began covering her face with her hands and taking slow, deep breaths.

“…Mr.Yamada there’s no need to shout.” Principal Nedzu said, signing along as he spoke. Behind Hizashi Aizawa went deathly pale.

“Sorry!” Hizashi grimaced, “My hearing aid fell when I- when I fell and it broke. On the plus side my nose isn’t broken! Perfect face maintained! …Sorry, Mom, I’m sorry. It was all my fault. I was teasing him, I didn’t mean to rile him up so much! I didn’t know he was taking it so poorly! I just wanted to meet him!”

That last part came out before Hizashi could stop it and his mother gave a long suffering groan into her hands before he registered from the shaking of her shoulders and the crinkled corner of her eyes that she was trying not to start laughing.

The dark haired man beside her had no such reservations and burst into a deep, raucous laugh that felt as if it would shake the glass in the windows. Hizashi blinked in confusion and turned to look behind him, questions dying on his tongue as he saw Aizawa stare at him like he was seeing him for the first time.

Meanwhile Aizawa’s brain was a nightmare carousel of “I broke his HEARING AID-” “I didn’t even know he needed a hearing aid-“ and “He?? Just?? Wanted?? To?? Meet? Me??” and what came out of his mouth was worse than anything he could have consciously chosen to say even in his most startled state.

“But you’re… you?!”

Hizashi tilted his head at Aizawa, brows scrunched up, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re just-“ Aizawa became mortifyingly aware of the attention of every adult in the room, “You’re so popular…”

Hizashi frowned at him, crossing his arms, “You can use hearing aids and be popular. I didn’t think you’d be so weird about it, or I would’ve punched you myself!”

The adults in the room rapidly sobered, ready to intervene between the two, though they needn’t have bothered because Aizawa was immediately shaking his head, expression distressed to a degree he rarely emoted.

“NO! No! I meant-“ he licked his lips and shifted his weight. Maybe he should just let Hizashi think he was a bigot, actually, and let him punch him. That would maybe be better than saying the truth out loud in front of his principal, his stupid crush’s mom who probably hates him, and his dad who would never let this go in a million years.

Except, Hizashi looked so disappointed amid the righteous indignation. And a bit, if Aizawa knew how to read people at all (which after this he was seriously doubting), hurt.

“I meant, why would you want to meet me so badly? I’m not… popular. Or…” he huffed out a quick breath and glanced at the floor, “…friendly I thought you and your friends thought I was…weird.”

“Oh.” Hizashi relaxed his stance, “Good, I’m not good at punching so having to hit you would’ve really sucked.”

“Yamada.” Nedzu warned.

“Sweetheart, please…” his mom sighed, “I’ve heard enough. Kenji, Principal Nedzu, perhaps we can agree that this was the unfortunate result of having teenagers?” She signed as she spoke as well, making sure to catch Hizashi’s eye and he wished the earth would maybe swallow him whole. All of them, preferably, so there’d be no witnesses left to tell the tale.

Kenji, or Mr.Aizawa as Hizashi figured, laughed again and ran his hand through his hair as he visibly tried to put on a serious face.

“Dad…” Aizawa whined, honest to goodness whined next to Hizashi.

“Sorry, yes, I think so. Of course, Shouta will be disciplined at home for misusing what I’d taught him against a fellow classmate. and of course, Tsubame, we will pay to replace the broken hearing aid immediately, I take full responsibility for my son. Even so… I’m glad they seem to be working things out. It will certainly never happen again. Right, Shouta?” At that he managed to turn very sternly indeed and Aizawa sighed, nodding.

“Yes, Dad. …I’m sorry.” He added more quietly to his father who immediately relaxed into a much more sympathetic expression and Hizashi had suddenly no doubt that Aizawa was in for an equally humiliating talk about how to be a human being with feelings and handle them, well, in any way that wasn’t this, when he got home as Hizashi no doubt was. He glanced at his mom who was hiding her mouth behind her hand. She’d make for a terribly imposing figure, her long dark hair framing her seemingly blank face… if he couldn’t see the small twitch of the corner of her mouth peeking out from behind her fingers.

Principal Nedzu nodded, “Unfortunately, due to the nature of the incident I would be remiss to not assign them a detention… but I see no reason if you don’t, that this has to be on anyone’s record.”

The relief in the room was palpable.

“I think that’s more than fair,” Kenji nodded, “Thank you, Principal Nedzu, Tsubame, for your understanding.”

”Of course,” Hizashi’s mother nodded with a small smile, “I feel we’ll be seeing more of each other in the future.” She caught Hizashi’s eye again and he felt his face heat up.

“Hey,” a hand tugged at Hizashi’s sleeve and he turned back to Aizawa again, who was now standing much closer.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” His attempt at his usual stoic facade was ruined by the guilty timbre of his voice, Hizashi noted, realizing that even though he was clearly ashamed Aizawa was making an effort to speak louder and more clearly to make it easier for Hizashi to understand despite their proximity.

“Uh,” he glanced back at his mom who nodded with an eyebrow raised, “yeah, sure.” He followed Aizawa back into the hall and closed the door behind them before letting out a huge breath.

“Oh my God, I don’t know who was more embarrassed, me or my mom,” Hizashi covered his face with his hands but laughed a little at the absurdity of it all.

“Probably me.” Aizawa replied and Hizashi stopped laughing to look at the boy in front of him. Hizashi glanced at the ground and shrugged with a smile.

“I dunno man, were you wishing the ground would open and swallow everybody up including you?”

“I wished the ceiling would collapse at least three times.” Aizawa replied, completely deadpan and Hizashi laughed again, relaxing even more.

“I knew you’d be funny! I kept telling my friends I bet if we talked that you’d be funny-“ he snapped his mouth shut as heat erupted in his face again, but Aizawa was staring at him with somewhat distressed eyes again.

“…right, I wanted to…apologize. I shouldn’t have punched you. I thought you were making fun of me, that you’d been making fun of me but still, I never should have taken the bait I thought you were dangling. You were- you were just trying to meet me. This whole time…Right?”

Hizashi’s eyes widened, “You-!” He glanced back at the door and attempted to lower his voice, “No! No, I even sent you that note because I was sorry you heard that shit and I didn’t want you to think we were making fun of you, Nemuri’s just a loudmouth she’s harmless! Mostly. They don’t think you’re any weirder than I am! And, well I really don’t think you’re weirder than me.”

Aizawa looked unimpressed again, but placated nonetheless, and Hizashi was beginning to think this was an expression he might see a lot of in future still.

“Your idea of an apology was to offer to- to make out with me in some closet? I thought it was some fake date to embarrass the new kid thing.”

Hizashi narrowed his eyes as he raised an eyebrow, “Blushed an awful lot for someone who didn’t think I was serious.”

“Shut up- it’s still a weird way to apologize-!“

“I’m sorry! But that wasn’t all the note said- it wasn’t like that- anyway, that’s beside the point! No, I wasn’t ever making fun of you. And don’t think you’re off the hook, you stare at me all the time and glare at me when I catch you! Talk about mixed signals!”

Aizawa looked like he had been caught red-handed and Hizashi felt them both settle down a bit again as Aizawa turned his gaze to the ceiling again before gritting out a reluctantly clear, “Just because I thought you were a dick it didn't make you less…”

Hizashi grinned, tucking some hair behind his ear, “Don’t be shy now, you already punched me in the face.“

Aizawa’s chest heaved in silent irritation and mild resignation as he looked back at the blonde, “… Doesn’t matter. I just wanted to apologize.”

Still grinning, Hizashi crossed his arms, “Okay then, apologize.”

Aizawa stared at him. “I just did.”

“Noooo,” Hizashi grinned, “You said you wanted to. You didn’t actually do it. So go ahead.”

Aizawa’s expression turned to a horrified mixture of incredulous, annoyed and shy and Hizashi couldn’t help but laugh again as Aizawa bristled.

“You are really annoying.” Aizawa managed.

“Ah, that’s not an apology,” Hizashi bumped shoulders with him with a grin and Aizawa, though he didn’t smile back, relaxed against him and bumped him back,

“I’m sorry you’re so annoying.”

“Rude!” Hizashi laughed, “You’re horrible at this, holy shit.”

“I’m starting to get confused as to why you don’t know how to take a punch better. Surely more people feel like punching you on a regular basis.” Aizawa deadpanned again and Hizashi leaned into his side, gasping through laughter.

“Stop- oh my god- they’re gonna hear us- you’re gonna get detention for a million years-“

Aizawa’s mood shifted again at the reminder, growing suddenly hesitant again.

“…Thanks. For going in there. Everything you said. You didn’t have to. And I’m sorry about breaking your hearing aid, I had no idea. I wouldn’t have-“

“Punched me if you’d have known I needed a hearing aid? Wow, ableist much.” Hizashi quipped before adding, “I’m joking. Oh my god, I’m joking, sorry. I know. I know you didn’t mean to break it. I also fully have a spare in my locker because I forget to change the batteries sometimes, I just didn't have a chance to grab it after the nurse’s office. Didn’t want my mom alone here for too long. I didn’t want her to worry.”

Aizawa nodded as he felt some of the tension drain from his body.

“Good.”

“Yeah,” Hizashi nodded back, sticking his hands in his pockets as he glanced back at the principal’s office where he saw the silhouettes of their parents chatting with Nedzu.

“We should probably go back.” Aizawa said but Hizashi turned back to him and reached out to grab his wrist before he could pass him. Aizawa had, in his own way, put a lot on the line to reach out to Hizashi to clear the air. The least Hizashi could do was return the favor.

“Wait uh, you didn’t let me answer you.”

“Answer me?” Aizawa frowned.

“Why I wanted to meet you.” Hizashi reminded him and now it was Aizawa’s turn to blush.

“Oh, you don’t have to-“

“I’ve been wanting to meet you since you first got here! We don’t have that many classes together but I noticed you. You’re smart and I saw you had AllMight stickers, I love those comics! He's like, the ultimate good guy! So I figured you were probably kind on the inside, even if you’re kind of prickly on the outside. And you’re really,” He steeled himself, nose dusted pink from his warm blush, “cute. So. I wanted to meet you, really bad. I wanted you to like me and I was nervous. I just wasn’t sure how to approach you. And I kept messing it up when I tried…”

He rubbed his neck awkwardly, “I thought the talent show would be a good in. Made a calculated risk but I’m bad at math,” he quipped, doing finger guns before frowning, “I actually am really bad at math, I was thinking if I didn’t talk to you at the talent show maybe I’d ask you to tutor me in math and then charm you with my dazzling personality and excellent penmanship.

“I’ve seen you write,” Aizawa managed after a moment of wrangling the conflicting influx of emotions Hizashi saw play across his face, “your handwriting is abysmal.”

“Is that all you have to say!” Hizashi exclaimed, “I totally bared my soul here!”

“You called me cute and said you were bad at math. I hardly think it was soul-baring.” Aizawa rolled his eyes but the slight blush in his cheeks gave him away so Hizashi decided to let him save a little face.

“I could do that.” Aizawa said after a bit, walking towards the office with their parents again.

“Wait, do what” Hizashi asked.

“Tutor you. In math. We can start during detention… and you owe me the notes for English anyway. I’m…kind of behind.”

“Oh. Oh! Okay! Yeah!”

Aizawa paused in front of the door and turned back to him with an amused smirk, “Your handwriting sucks but you can still give it a try with that ‘dazzling personality’.”

Hizashi felt his heart skip a beat as Aizawa opened the door to call his dad and he watched happily as they said their goodbyes and left, still smiling even when his mom’s hand settled on his shoulder and they walked in silence to his locker to grab his spare hearing aid.

“You know at home we’re going over this whole mess again, right?” She asked when they were settled in her car in the parking lot, still parked, with Hizashi in the passenger seat.

“Yeah.”

“And then we’re gonna talk about what happened in the hallway to make you look like a lovesick puppy?”

“Yeah-HEY!”

She smirked slightly before reaching out to smooth his hair gently with a softer tone, “I was really worried at first, sweetheart. I’m glad it was a misunderstanding or I’d be apologizing to Kenji for kicking his kid’s ass.”

“Mom!” Hizashi complained but leaned into her hand, gingerly pulling the bloody tissues from his nose, “Oh my god. I forgot these were there. The whole time. The whole time with you guys and then- in the hall- oh my god. Oh my god, I changed my mind, go kick his ass so he develops amnesia and forgets all about today and ideally that he’s ever seen me before and then give me amnesia so I forget too.”

“I’m afraid the ass kicking ship has sailed, kid.”

“Maybe I can get him to punch me again. And then himself. Or wait, he has to punch himself first, but then he can’t punch me anymore-“

Tsubame pressed her forehead against the top of the steering wheel and sighed. Teenagers.

-

Bonus:
In the Aizawa family car Shouta is enduring his dad’s sustained laughter for the eighth (and he’s counting!!) eighth minute in a row. By the time they’re almost home, Shouta has managed to avoid having to answer a single question about how he feels in regards to Yamada, how Yamada feels about him or anything to do with any human emotion. A considerable feat, really.

And just before he’s about to get out of the car his dad clears his throat and he pauses.

“Shouta,” Kenji’s fixed him with a stern gaze, spark of mirth barely but still visible, “I’m not rewarding this kind of behavior, you are definitely grounded for the rest of the week. However, I don’t believe depriving young Yamada of his needs is the way to go either.”

Shouta furrowed his brows in confusion.

“O-Kay?”

“Therefore you and I will be reporting to the community center twice a week together. For their sign language classes.”

Shouta’s eyes widened.

“Really?”

“Really, kid.” Kenji frowned thoughtfully, “And don’t think you and I won’t be having another talk still about the whole “why would you want to meet me” thing, but we can do that tomorrow, it’s been a long day. You’re a wonderful young man and anyone would be lucky to call you their friend.”

Shouta scrunched up his face in disgust. “Gross. Fine. Whatever.” He turned to go into the house but froze.

“Wait, why are you coming to the community center with me? Don’t you trust me to go?”

“Oh, nothing to do with that!” Kenji smiled again, “I just wanna make sure I can always talk to my future son in law once he wins you over with his ‘dazzling personality’!”

Without a word a bright red Shouta stomped off into the house, leaving behind his father’s bellowing laughter in the car and wondering if it would be possible to bribe their cat to lay on his face and suffocate him before having to endure anymore teasing he felt certain was still to come.

Then again… then he wouldn’t get to tutor Yamada at detention. Or show him when he’s learned enough sign to have a conversation. Or, he flopped onto his bed and pressed his burning face into his pillow, see Yamada’s face when Shouta finally works up the courage to actually ask him out.

Yeah, okay He conceded with a look towards his blissfully unaware cat, a serene creature with no concept of detentions or school crushes, Guess I’ll postpone the cat-bribing for another day. Like a day when Yamada shaves his head or, ugh, grows a mustache.

-
Also 20 years later long into their friendship Nemuri calls him a weirdo to his face very fondly and Aizawa has no problem calling her one right back.