Work Text:
Aizawa hated phone calls. He hated talking on the phone- talking in general- but specifically to strangers. So, when a random number called his phone, he hesitated to answer. Spam was a thing, telemarketers that were desperate, so it was probably nothing.
It wasn’t nothing, as it turns out, so he’s glad he decided to answer the phone. The hospital was calling him and they only did that for one person. Hizashi. Shouta was his emergency contact and had been since they turned eighteen.
Shouta was out the door and in the car before the women could even finish describing his conditions. He missed some of it- most of it- as he sped through traffic. He probably broke a couple laws but that was the least of his worries.
He parked his car in front of the hospital. Not in a correct parking spot, but that was also the least of his worries.
He managed to collect his composure slightly as he entered the building, slowing his run to a small jog as he searched for the closest nurse station.
The woman behind the half-wall looked tired, almost as tired as himself. She had a phone up to hear ear and it took everything for Shouta to resist rudely interrupting. He almost did before remembering the call he had gotten- he’d hate to interrupt vital information like that to someone else.
His leg tapped impatiently but then the women finally hung up. He was at the wall in less than a second. “I’m here to see Yamada, Hizashi. He was brought in earlier.”
The woman moved to her computer and began typing, assumingly getting the patient information. “Yamada, Hizashi,” she asked in confirmation.
“Yes,” Shouta replied quickly.
“Yes, he was brought in from patrol with severe injuries two hours ago but,” She typed some more. “I’m sorry sir, it seems only family is allowed in at the moment.”
Shouta responded before he could think over his words. “I am his family.”
She looked regrettable like she already had her next reply scripted and couldn’t change it. “Unless you are related by blood, or are his spouse, I’m sorry but there’s nothing I can do.”
Again, Shouta spoke without thinking. “I’m his husband.”
The woman gave him a wary look before making a few clicks on her computer. “There isn’t any mention of a husband or spouse in his records.”
Shouta lost his patience, even though he knew the women wasn’t wrong. “We’re gay heros in Japan, it’s not going to be in the records!”
The woman’s eyes softened, like she understood, but nevertheless, she hesitated. “I.. I’m sorry sir, but without official documentation on the records-“
“Please,” he interrupted, “I have to see him.” Shouta scrambled for his pocket, pulling out his wallet and then his I.D. “Aizawa Shouta, I’m his emergency contact. Do you think I would be placed over a parent or sibling if I wasn’t his husband?”
He was too busy trying to come up with a lie that the question hadn’t fully registered even in his own mind. Why was he the emergency contact? Was there really no one else that Hizashi deemed more important? It was the same for Shouta, of course, but he’s in love with him. Why was he the emergency contact? “Please,” he begged again, hating how pathetic his broken voice sounded as fresh tears surfaced in his eyes.
The woman clicked on the computer again, seemingly finding where the contact information was. “You’re who I spoke with on the phone?”
“Yes, see?” He motioned to his I.D. again.
The woman sighed, finally giving in. “I could lose my job over this. If I find out you’re not his husband, security will lay you out in thirty seconds flat, got it?”
I doubt that. “Of course.”
She stood and walked around the desk. “Follow me.”
She led him through the hallway, her shoes squeaking against the tile. Shouta tried to find any other noise to focus on but was failing. Distantly, there was steady beeping, fading in and out as they passed open doorways. The intercom sounded every once in a while, paging a doctor to one room or another, but it was gone each time before Shouta could lose himself in it. Internally, he was losing his mind, wondering how the nurse could possibly bare to listen to her shoes all day long.
Thankfully, the walk ended before Shouta could think about puncturing his own eardrums with the pen the nurse carried in her scrubs pocket and, yes, the squeaking really was that bad.
She stopped in front of a door, knocking before opening it enough to stick just her head in. “Excuse me? Mr. Yamada? I’m sorry to bother you but there’s a man out here claiming to be your husband. Would you like for him to come in?”
“My.. my husband?” Shouta almost burst through the door upon hearing his voice. It was completely wrecked and raspy, and he was speaking way quieter than normal.
“Aizawa Shouta?” The nurse questioned.
“Sho? Sho!” Hizashi coughed, the fake excitement and volume ripping at his throat. The rest was quiet and broken again. “Y-yes, of course, my husband. Please, let him in, he must be worried sick.”
The woman smiled kindly at the confirmation, opening the door further with a short nod. “He is.”
Shouta pushed past her without any qualms about his attitude, but stopped just short of Hizashi’s bed. The sight was hard to take in and it stole Shouta’s remaining breath. Hizashi was in a hospital gown with a blanket resting over him so not much was visable, but the parts that were, were terrible. His hair, usually bright and clean, was covered in soot and dirt and blood. His eye was swollen and bruising already, accompanied by a split lip. His eyebrow, opposite of the swollen eye, was also split; a cut that was sure to scar based on its need for stitches. And his nose was bruised slightly, and bandages covered part of it, as if it had been reset after a break.
Hizashi’s eyes went past Shouta’s shoulder and his voice spoke even quieter than before. “Can you give us some privacy?”
Shouta waited for the woman to leave before finishing his walk to the bedside. “Zashi..,” was the only thing he managed to say.
Despite his obvious injuries, Hizashi smiled and said, “I’m okay.”
“This is okay? Zashi, when they called-“ Shouta stopped himself and moved closer, taking a gentle seat on the edge of the bed, next to Hizashi’s hip. “They said you were in critical condition- that you might not make it- I thought..” he shook his head instead of finishing.
Hizashi waved his hand weakly, brushing it off. “They were being dramatic. I’m okay now.”
“How did it get so bad? Where the hell was your backup?”
Hizashi shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about it yet, is that okay?”
No, it wasn’t okay. Shouta was pissed that it got this bad and he wanted answers. But, for Hizashi’s sake, he nodded. He wiped his tears away. “Okay.”
There was silence for a moment, and then Hizashi let out a broken noise as he laughed. “So you’re my husband huh?”
Shouta shook his head and snorted. “They wouldn’t let me in.”
“Yeah I had that same trouble when I went to visit you a few months ago.”
Shouta hesitated, the words he wanted to say laid on the tip of his tongue. He steeled his nerves and spit it out. “We should get married.”
Hizashi’s body jerked violently as he sat up. He winced but his eyes stay wide. “What?”
Shouta shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, like his heart wasn’t pounding, like he didn’t just propose to the love of his life. “It’s rational. Strictly for convenience so the hospital won’t deny us. We’re pros, we’re bound to get hurt again.”
“Sho, you can’t just- we’re not even- marriage is important and it should be with someone you love. You should save that for when you start dating someone and want to spend your life with them.”
“You’re my best friend. I do love you. And I’m bound to spend my life with you because of that.” He listed his response as facts, reasons as to why this made sense to him. Hopefully it would make sense to Hizashi too.
“That’s not what I meant, Sho. I mean real love. Like wanting to live together and wake up to them next to you every morning. Wanting to hold and kiss them. You should marry someone you’d die for and can’t imagine your life without them.”
Shouta frowned. “Those are all things I feel for you.”
“What?”
“We share an apartment, yes? And when I’m sick, I wake up next to you. You kiss my forehead when you take my temperature. I would die for you and I don’t think you’d leave my life even if I wanted you to so no, I can’t imagine it.”
“Sho..? What are you trying to say?”
Shouta shrugged again, not understanding why Hizashi always felt the need to make him repeat himself. “I already said- marry me.”
Hizashi said nothing for a long moment. He sat there silent, staring at his bed with wide eyes. Occasionally, he’d mumble and then shake his head. Finally, he looked back up and met Shouta’s eyes again. “Okay, listen. I’m sorry for dragging this out, but I really need you to clarify what you mean Sho. I have this idea in my head right now and if it turns out I’m just getting my hopes up for nothing then I will cry. Also I’m on, like, a shit ton of pain meds right now and I’m half convinced that you’re a hallucination or a coma dream.”
Shouta nodded softly and then pulled a nearby chair up to the bed. He took a seat and then offered his hand out. He ignored how hesitant Hizashi was to take it. “I want to marry you. I’m not going to find someone else that I want to wake up to or kiss or die for. It’s just you. When I think about my life ahead, no matter how far ahead I look, I always picture the same thing. You, me, and our cat, all living together. Working together in school and as heros. Maybe we get a few more cats, maybe we adopt a kid from a broken home, it doesn’t matter- it’s always you.”
Tears brimmed Hizashi eyes before falling down his cheeks. “You want us to have kids?”
Shouta chuckled softy. “If we find one we like, yeah.”
“So we’d be dating?”
“We’d be married.”
“Right. But you said the marriage was strictly just for convenience.”
“Yes.”
Hizashi eyebrows furrowed inwards and he shook his head. “But you just said there are feelings to it.”
“Yes.”
“So we’d be dating then? You want to date me?”
“I want to marry you.”
“Oh my god Sho!” Hizashi threw his head back against his pillows, groaning at the pain. “I can’t have this conversation right now.”
Shouta frowned again, unsure of what kind of answer that could possibly be. “You don’t want to marry me?”
Hizashi held his hand up to him. “Please. Not right now, I have a headache. We can talk at home when I’m discharged.”
Shouta found himself saying, “Okay,” despite the fact that he did not want to wait to continue the conversation. “Where does it hurt the most?”
Hizashi gave a quiet scoff as he stared at the ceiling. “My ego,” he laughed, “No, um, probably my face. My nose and eye are throbbing and my throat hurts. The sinus system that connects it all is probably so tired of my shit.”
Shouta nodded, despite Hizashi not looking at him. “Don’t speak then. Just get some rest and I’ll be right here.”
Hizashi sighed, his gaze slowly falling to meet Shota’s. He looked deflated or tired, which made sense, but Shouta knew it wasn’t because of his injuries. “You want to marry me?”
“I thought we weren’t having this conversation?”
Hizashi shook his head but it was gentle. “If you think I can think of anything else right now, I don’t- I mean come on Sho. Marriage?”
Shouta groaned and rubbed at his face with his hands. “It’s rational.”
“But there are feelings?”
“It’s- It’s rational for my feelings. I don’t know, okay? I don’t know how else you want me to say it. I said I love you- I said I want a kid with you- what am I doing wrong?”
Hizashi frowned and slowly sat himself up. “You did, but you also said you wanted to marry me strictly for convenience and when I asked if you wanted to date- like with feelings- you said you want to get married. But marriage is apparently only convenient, s-so why does that mean? What do you want, Sho?”
“For fucks sake Zashi-“ Words were obviously failing him so Shouta did the only other thing he could think of- he kissed him. Which, was everything he’d thought it would be- warm and absolutely electrifying- but, he kept it quick and short. Hizashi didn’t kiss him back, if he even had the time to, and he winced from the split in his lip.
“Sho-“
“Shit.” Shouta pulled back and sat down before immediately getting back up and stepping away, setting a small pace in motion a couple feet from the bed. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, it’s okay- Sho, stop pacing. Talk to me.”
“I tried talking, okay? And it didn’t work. I didn’t mean the thing about marriage- yes I want to marry you- but that’s not what I meant. Obviously it’s not just for convenience Hizashi. I-I thought I was going to lose you today- I thought you were going to die- so I wanted to try to tell you how I feel and-“
“Sho, I get it now, it’s not your fault. Your words were obvious, I just- I mean- I’m me. I’m loud and annoying and everything too bright. Why the hell would you ever love me? Don’t,” He added when Shouta stopped to protest, “Don’t answer that because I know you will- I know we’ve been here before when I questioned why you were even friends with me- I just can’t believe.. I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”
Hizashi put his hand out, palm up, a silent ask for Shouta to come back. So he did. He moved back to the seat next to the bed and gently held Hizashi’s hand, giving him a soft squeeze. “I love you so much Sho. I have since high school, so I didn’t want to think that.. I wouldn’t be able to platonically marry you. I think that would actually break me, so I’m sorry about making you repeat yourself so much. I just had to be sure.”
Shouta nodded softly, despite not agreeing at all. “Don’t doubt my love for you.” Hizashi laughed quietly and then sniffled. “I’m serious, Zashi. I love you more than anything. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without you. You make my life everything that it is- everything that’s worth having a life for- is you.”
“And suddenly you’re good with words?”
Hizashi wiped his tears away as Shouta laughed. “I guess so.”
Hizashi sniffled quietly. “Are we dating now?”
Shouta hesitated with his response, worried he’d ruin the progress they made. “I still want to marry you.” He looked at Hizashi’s expression cautiously.
Hizashi nodded softly and smiled. “With feelings?”
“With all of my feelings.”
Hizashi squeezed his hand, his smile only getting brighter. “We’ll be skipping a few steps.”
Shouta nodded in agreement. “Fast tracking. It’s rational.”
Hizashi laughed, wiping another tear from his eye. “So I can go to work tomorrow and start calling you my fiancé?”
Shouta deadpanned, all previous amusement leaving him. “No. If you think I’m letting you go to work tomorrow then I’ll have the nurse check you again for a concussion.” He looked to their connected hands and couldn’t stop his small smile from returning again. “Yes, Hizashi, we’re fiancés.”