Five

The next day, Shouta met Hizashi at the airport.

He'd gone there thinking that he could be as calm and collected as he always was. He'd dressed nicer, fought his hair until it was up in a partial bun, and had even picked up flowers. But the moment he saw Hizashi, his composure broke, and he ran at him, nearly shoving other people in the terminal out of his way in order to get to him and fling his arms around him, holding him tightly.

In his ear, Hizashi laughed as Shouta buried his face in his shoulder, his fingers grasping at the back of Hizashi's shirt as he breathed his scent in, Hizashi's warmth filling him and finally making the rest of the boredom and the loneliness go away. He sighed, resting his head on his shoulder as Hizashi held him, people pushing around them and passing them by in the busy airport.

"Someone missed me," Hizashi sang quietly in his ear, having abandoned holding onto his bags in favor of stroking Shouta's hair. Hizashi's lips pressed against his forehead, and Shouta closed his eyes, wanting to stay here forever, only humming in agreement. Hizashi pet him slowly, long fingers combing through his hair. "Aw, I'm sorry I was gone for so long. I got your email about that villain you caught yesterday and saw it on the news today. You did so good, Shouta—even those corrupt cops are being investigated."

Shouta just hummed again and forced himself to pull away enough that he could hold Hizashi's shoulders and look into his green eyes, "...Are you jetlagged?"

Hizashi just laughed, immediately knowing what Shouta wanted, "Why? Do you want to take a nap with me?"

Shouta couldn't even bring himself to be grumpy about it, grabbing Hizashi's hand and starting to drag him out of the terminal, "Yes."

------

The year went by. Shouta checked the forum every few days. With the schoolyear picking up again and graduation coming up, Shouta was busy and didn't have time to chat or read through posts on there, but he did check his messages. Occasionally, one would come up from Hitoshi, and Shouta would immediately take care of whatever criminal was trying to get their start in his neighborhood. They never chatted much, since Shouta was busy and Hitoshi… well, Hitoshi seemed a bit embarrassed. But Shouta kept his promise and took care of what Hitoshi asked him to.

The year ended and Shouta was swamped with hero work, preparing for his new class of first years, and also trying to prepare himself to work with the one and only All Might. Still, he tried to check the forum site at least once a week.

The next schoolyear came.

And three days into it, Shouta almost lost his life.

Aizawa Shouta never forgot about Hitoshi, the kid who idolized him and wanted to be a hero, but when he was in a full body cast, trying to recover both physically and mentally from taking the brunt of an inhuman creature's beating and watching his entire class very nearly die, there wasn't much he could think about. The schoolyear took over his entire mind, and when the sports festival came around, Shouta was really just focused on trying to doze off while Hizashi talked through every second of the events.

When it happened, Shouta was nearly asleep, but the mention of a specific name caught him off guard.

He'd looked at Hizashi, unable to do much, his words muffled by the bandages as he tried to speak, "What did you say?"

Hizashi flipped his microphone off for a moment, his voice falling back into a normal tone, "What? About that purple kid? He's unremarkable, hasn't done anything—"

"No, his name! What was his name?"

"...Shinsou Hitoshi…?"

Shouta looked away from Hizashi, out on the battlefield, seeing the same kid from a year ago. He was taller, lankier, and grinning a sly, toothy smile, but he was definitely the same kid.

Hitoshi had gotten into UA, had worked hard in his class, and then had worked his way up in the sports festival, just like Shouta had told him to.

Shouta knew he wasn't going to win overall, but he knew what he had to do.

------

If Shouta had to compare Shinsou Hitoshi to an animal, it would be a mouse, because that kid was constantly finding new and improved ways to avoid Shouta. Shouta had been trying to talk to him for close to a week now, and by now, he was being obvious about it. Hitoshi had avoided him at every turn, though, ducking into crowded hallways, darting off of schoolgrounds, even diving into a supply closet once. Shouta wasn't giving up, though, and one day, he waited, having had Hizashi do his end of the day homeroom, and cornered Hitoshi in his gen ed classroom, letting all the other kids empty out until it was just the two of them left, Hitoshi in his school desk, his entire face red, and Shouta standing next to him, his arms crossed like a disappointed parent.

"You've been avoiding me," Shouta said once the door to the classroom finally shut one last time, leaving the two of them alone. He stared down hard at Hitoshi, frowning, "I've had to chase you all over this school for a week."

Hitoshi swallowed hard and slowly, he lowered his head to his desk, covering his face with his arms, shaking a little. He was a tall, lanky kid who put on a solid face of uncaringness around his peers and Shouta's students, but Shouta knew that he wasn't like that all the time.

"You… told me you didn't teach here," Hitoshi's voice was muffled, given that he was hiding his face away from Shouta. "How am I supposed to face you after I said all those lame things to you?"

Shouta raised an eyebrow at him, "You talked to me just fine on the internet."

"That was before I knew you were my fucking childhood hero!" Hitoshi's voice was a little sharper, and he groaned. Shouta had to fight his own amusement back, forcing himself to not show it. He knew Hitoshi had been embarrassed, but he had no idea it was this bad. "And then… I was trying to get myself to talk to you again on… that website… but then I came here and you're the goddamn heroics teacher. What was I supposed to do?"

"Talk to me," Shouta told him bluntly, shaking his head. Hitoshi didn't say anything and finally, Shouta saw an opening. "Alright, now that I've chased you down, I have an offer for you. I can't move you into the heroics class because honestly, you're far behind everyone physically. You have potential, though, and a lot of it. So come train with me and I'll get you ready for the heroics course."

Hitoshi raised his head a little, enough that Shouta could see his violet eyes peeking out at him from behind Hitoshi's arms. He could see that the kid was biting his lip, that his face was still red, but he was obviously considering it. Shouta let the silence fall over them, let Hitoshi think and debate with himself, and let Hitoshi lead the way. Eventually, Hitoshi did speak, picking his head up a little more.

"You're serious…?"

"I mean what I say and I always have," Shouta told him. "Is that a yes?"

"I—" Hitoshi closed his eyes, swallowing hard again. "Yeah, of course. I'd be stupid to turn that down."

Shouta smiled at him, a rare, genuine smile, and it felt like the first time he'd grinned since the attack on the third day of the new schoolyear. He tried to shake it off, but didn't have any success, and let Hitoshi see one of his real, actual smiles.

"Good. Come by my office in a few minutes and we can start on a schedule."