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The staff room at UA was quiet besides the chattering of Present Mic, aka Hizashi. It wasn’t unusual for the blonde to be rambling about whatever was on his mind to whoever would listen. Sometimes that’d be Shouta, sometimes it was Thirteen, more than not it was Nemuri, and right now it was All Might. The new teacher had just started working here not too long ago and Hizashi had gone out of his way to make him feel welcome. He included him in conversations and lunches and spoke to him often enough.
Right now, Hizashi was leaned up on the back of the couch, waving his hands animatedly as he talked about some American band to All Might, of which the man had no clue about them but he could relate well enough to the American culture of it considering he’d been there enough times. Hizashi loved rambling about American culture to someone who could understand it as well as he could, though Shouta’s sure he probably knows a good few facts because of how much his husband has ranted to him about it too. Shouta was sat at his desk grading papers, offhandedly listening to the two men’s conversation, more as background noise than anything. Until All Might said something stupid. The man may have been the symbol of peace, but he was not all the great at social cues.
“You can be really loud, y’know that Mic?” he said, wide smile still plastered on his face. He clearly meant no harm to it but Shouta caught the words instantly.
He glanced up discreetly from his paperwork to take a look at his husband. Hizashi stopped talking for a moment, his smile faltered ever so slightly but he quickly fixed it back, though now Shouta could tell it was more fake than before. He knew this would be something he’d have to talk to Hizashi about later, but not in a staff room full of their coworkers.
“Oh, hah, yeah. I guess I can be kinda loud, huh? Makes sense when my quirk is amplifying my voice, ya dig?” he laughed but Shouta could hear the tension behind it.
No one else seemed to notice however, and All Might tried continuing their conversation as normal but Hizashi’s heart was no longer in it. He watched his husband make a few attempts at trying to continue the conversation before ultimately resigning and excusing himself from the room with an excuse. Definitely a conversation they’d be having later then. Ever since Hizashi was a kid, one of his biggest insecurities had always been being too loud. When you’re a small child with a quirk that you can’t quite control and has a chance to make others deaf, or at the very least, make their ears ring, you don’t exactly get very popular. What you do get, however, is a lot of people telling you to shut your damn mouth and that you’re too loud, too much. Hizashi’s birth parents had resigned their rights to him the moment he was born because he’d deafened not only them but the three other doctors in the room. So even though Shouta knew that All Might meant no harm in his comment, he couldn’t help but feel a little anger towards him for saying something so stupid without thinking.
For the rest of the day, the blonde kept up his persona. He was loud, he was smiling, he spoke to everyone kindly and enthusiastically, but it was off. His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes and his laugh was more forced than natural. The two men walked into the break room after school had finally ended. Shouta started gathering papers off his desk and putting them in a folder before tucking them into his bag. Hizashi was stuffing his belongings into his bag as well, preparing to head home. He still had the usual closed mouth smile plastered on his face but Shouta knew it wasn’t real. He didn’t know exactly what was running through Hizashi’s mind, but he had a good enough idea to know better.
“All righty! All ready to go, Shou?” He shot finger guns at the dark haired man.
“Mhm,” he mumbled, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
The two walked out to the teacher parking lot and found Hizashi’s blue mustang. Hizashi opened Shouta’s door with a dramatic bow like he always did and Shouta still giggled at it even if the only visible reaction he gave was an amused huff. He plopped into the passenger seat before Hizashi closed the door and skipped around to the other side, more sluggishly than usually for his exuberant husband. He got into the driver seat and started up the car, the engine revving loudly before returning to a normal volume hum. Hizashi flicked on the radio, keeping the music low like he usually did for Shouta because the man usually had headaches after school. Can you blame him? Try spending seven hours with quirk enhanced teenagers. It’s as bad as it sounds. The blonde set his hand on the center console, the other still on the steering wheel.
Shouta reached over and interlocked their fingers, resting their conjoined hands on the center console still. He thumbed over rough knuckles, calloused from years of hero work. The two sat in silence until they got home, Hizashi still acting strangely. He did his normal routines but his body language was enough to tell Shouta that he definitely took what All Might said hard.
Shouta waited until they walked past their front door and closed it behind them before he said anything, now in the comfort of their own home.
“Hizashi,” he started.
“Yeah?” He didn’t even turn around, still placing his gear onto the table by the door and hanging his jacket on the rack.
“About what happened this morning—“
“Forget it, Shou. You read into things too much. I’m fine,” he said with a dismissive wave off to the side.
“Hizashi—“ he tried again. He knew his husband and he knew when he was upset.
“I’m going to shower,” the man promptly stated before walking quickly to their bedroom.
Shouta sighed and followed a few minutes later. He pushed the bathroom door open gently, the sound of running water and steam already rising from where the blonde was showering. He’d always liked his showers hot.
“Zashi?” Shouta called.
“Yeah? Do ya need something babe?” he responded, exhaustion lacing his tone.
“Are you okay?”
There was silence from the other side of the curtain. Shouta moved forward slowly, reaching a hand to pull back the curtain a little. Just enough to peek his head in without letting water spray out. Hizashi was standing limply under the spray of the water, his back to it and a frown etched on his face.
“Zashi, can I join you?” he tried.
The blonde shrugged and Shouta took it as permission enough. He shed his clothes quickly and hopped into the shower, closing the curtain behind himself. He was standing in front of Hizashi now. He reached a hand up and placed it on his jaw, brushing his thumb over the man’s cheek softly. Hizashi leaned into the touch and closed his eyes. Hizashi hadn’t begun washing his hair yet if the still crusty looking hair was any tell. Shouta shuffled past Hizashi, grabbing his fancy shampoo and squirting some onto his hand. He turned back and started rubbing it into the blonde hair, scrubbing his scalp and thoroughly scrubbing the gel out. He guided him back under the stream of water, tilting his head back and watching the suds rinse down his lean body into the drain. He next grabbed the condition, putting a good helping of it into his hand again and lathering it into his husband’s hair. He scratched at the man’s scalp and he sighed contentedly. Shouta rubbed his head long after the conditioner had been applied, the blonde being very pleased by this is his leaning back and little noises said anything. He finally tilted the man’s head back and rinsed it out, the blonde strands becoming smooth and silky like liquid gold under Shouta’s fingertips.
“You don’t have to do this,” Hizashi said suddenly.
“I know.”
There was silence between them again for a few moments and Shouta continued scrubbing at his scalp, rinsing the conditioner away.
“Am I loud?” Hizashi asked after a while, insecurity prominent in his tone even if he was trying to hide it.
“I like that you’re loud.”
“You’re only saying that to make me feel better,” he pouted.
“No I’m not. I don’t say shit I don’t mean. I like that you’re loud Zashi. If I wanted quiet, I wouldn’t have married you.” He grabbed Hizashi’s hips and spun him around to face him. “Things feel too quiet without you.”
Hizashi’s eyes were focused on the ground next to Shouta. He didn’t seem like he fully believed the man, so he pressed on.
“Do you remember when you left for a week long mission last year?”
Hizashi’s eyes refocused on Shouta’s face, a confused glint in them. “Yeah?”
“I told you I’d been fine while you were gone but that I missed you.”
“Yeah, you did. What’s your point here, Shou?”
“I didn’t tell you the whole truth that time because I was embarrassed to admit it. The house felt empty without your noise in it. I didn’t like it. I was constantly playing your favorite music or old recordings of your radio show. I had to play your show on more than one of those days just to fall asleep because I couldn’t fall asleep without you there. I like your noise. You’re never going to be too loud or too much for me, Hizashi. Not for as long as I’m alive.”
Hizashi looked like he could be just about ready to cry. He leaned forward and planted a kiss on Shouta’s lips before resting his forehead on his shoulder.
“I don’t deserve you, babe,” he chuckled wetly.
“You deserve so much more than me, but unfortunately for you, I’m not willing to let you go, so you’ll have to make do with what you got here.” He carded a hard through wet, blonde locks of hair, gently detangling knots he came across as best as he could.
“Oh no, what a tragedy,” Hizashi snorted and lifted his head off Shouta’s shoulder to look him in the eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Zash.”