Ch 5: It's ok, because we have each other.

Chapter Summary: It's been a long day, Aizawa and Hizashi head home.

To say Aizawa was tired would be the understatement of the century. Aizawa was always tried. Most of the time he was even exhausted. Right now he wanted to sink into the ground and rest eternally, thou he supposed he had just promised not to do that.

It hadn't been too hard to get the class under control after "emotions" had happened. He let them disperse and wander around the complex for about two hours, definitely not so he had time to compose himself. And when time was up, they had all loaded back onto the bus with little fuss. Nemuri had offered to drive back the car she and Hizashi had come in, so he could take the bus too. And Aizawa had made full use of his husband rights, promptly using him as a pillow for the ride back.

At some point, he had been approached by Hagakure and she had demanded that he come to all of their weddings. To which he had responded that she couldn't just invite him to all of their weddings. So she corrected herself to insisting that he he had to come to hers, until he gave up and agreed. After that another third of the class had demanded he RSVP for weddings they didn't even have partners for yet. He supposed he'd need to plan a lesson about having relationships while being a pro hero for sometime in the future.

At another time, Uraraka had shyly asked if he prefer chocolate or vanilla cake to which he had responded strawberry. She thanked him and ran back to the retirement party planning committee, at least he hoped that was all they were planning. Oh god did he have a birthday coming up soon? He honestly couldn't remember, but they wouldn't know about that anyway, unless… he squinted up at the blonde who looked down at him innocently. Whatever, he'd deal with it later.

All Might was on shift at the dorms tonight, thank god for that, so they were able to go home, to their now frankly underused apartment. Aizawa had walked with everyone back to the dorms, reminded them of the paper they had due on Monday, informed them that he would not be happy if he got called in because something had been blown up and left the rest to All Might. It was one night, he could handle it. Probably.

But now that he was in the passenger seat of their car as Hizashi pulled up to their apartment, he couldn't bring himself to move.

"Shouta," Hizashi teased, "Come on, we're home, it'll take two minutes to get there."

Aizawa proceeded to pout at him. He hunched up his shoulders like he normally would when he had his capture weapon on and not for the first time today felt overly exposed without it.

Hizashi sighed and went around to his side of the car opening his door and looking at Shouta unimpressed.

"Are you seriously going to make me carry you?" he asked.

A small smile played on Aizawa's lips. Mic let out an exasperated and over dramatic huff to cover his laugh, before leaning over and scooping the raven haired up. Aizawa fit his arms around the others neck with practiced easy and snuggled into his shoulder.

"Alright, let's go home," Hizashi said, placing a soft kiss on Aizawa's forehead.

"Hummm," Shouta agreed.

When they entered their apartment they were greeted by two balls of fluff that promptly ran underfoot demanding attention.

"Hey, hey!" Mic said in English, "Let me put the big cat down and then I'll deal with you." Aizawa growled in his arms, which only proved Hizashi's point and made him laugh.

Hizashi carefully maneuvered into the living room and laid Aizawa down on their couch, which he immediately snuggled into grabbing the blanked the hung on it's back and cocooning himself in it. Mic turned on the radio to one of his softer channels and went about feeding the cats and putting on a dinner that would be fine simmering for a while.

He worked, humming along to the tune, until he was happy with the seasoning and put a lid on the pot. He brought over two cups of steaming tea and smiled down at his husband who had fully encased himself, only the top of his head peeking out.

With a loving sigh, Hizashi put the tea on their coffee table and leaned over the other man. With a bit of shifting he positioned himself over Shouta, staying propped up on his elbows to keep most of his weight off the other.

"Shoutaaa, heyyy," he said gently, pulling the blanket down to expose Aizawa's slightly puffy eyes and grumpy pout. "Don't pout," Hizashi chided, as he leaned forward and placed a kiss on his forehead.

Aizawa grumbled something unintelligible.

"What?" Hizashi said pulling back.

Shouta huffed, refusing to meet his eyes, "I said, I'm not pouting." And Hizashi had the audacity to laugh at him for that. Shouta tried to push his face away, but his blanket wrap was working against him and the blonde only snuggled in closer.

"Sorry, sorry," he chuckled, "You're just so adorable Shouta, I can't help myself." He pressed a soft kiss right beside the others ear. "I'm really proud of you."

Below him, Hizashi felt Shouta's breath hitch. It was ok, he knew this was coming. "You did really good today," he continued peppering the other with soft, caress kisses. "Thou, I'm not sure I've ever heard you talk so much," he teased.

Shouta laughed softly but it was choked, the emotions he'd been trying to suppress all day finally breaking out under the tender love and care of the person he trusted most. "Those kids adore you, Shouta. You've done so much for them, they know that, and they just want to make you proud."

"I am proud," Aizawa whispered.

"I know, they know," Hizashi reassured. He brought a hand up and gently started running it through the others tangle of black hair, working out the braid and massaging his scalp just the way he liked it. "You pretend to be all gruff and mean, the hard core teacher that expels everyone, but it's just a front to cover up how much of a softie you are," He said, fondly nuzzling up against him. "And your not fooling anyone anymore, you know."

Shouta groaned, but still pushed back into Hizashi's hand enjoying the comfort and attention. "I think they figured it out a while ago even." He moved up trying to catch the others eyes, "Shouta, you didn't see their faces when you said most underground heroes die young, they were heartbroken."

"It's a fact," Aizawa mumbled, turning away from his husband.

Hizashi sighed, not sure if he'd ever put more love and sadness into a single sound. "They don't care about the statistics Shouta, they care about you. I know you have a hard time accepting that people love you, and you think that because your rough edges and wear a scary, indifferent facade they can't, but that's not true. Not to the people who know you. And they know you now, they know how much you care. You only cemented it today."

Aizawa stayed quiet and still, refusing to meet the others eyes, so Hizashi continued, "It would be nice if you took your own advice."

"I don't always have a choice," Aizawa defended. "And it's just more likely."

"Shouta," Hizashi admonished, "You're not a statistic, you the love of my life." He felt Aizawa inhale sharply under him and tears prickling his own eyes. "I know it's hard, but no one's asking you to be perfect. Just take care of yourself. Try. Don't see that as the inevitable end, let yourself believe that a happy future is possible. Because it is. I pray for it everyday," Hizashi looked down at his husband eyes shining, "Fight to be the exception to the rule because, Eraser, you are exceptional."

Shouta finally met his eyes, black looking into bright green. "I did promise," he whispered.

A happy, bright, loving smile spread across Hizashi's face. "Yes," he said, leaning in for a kiss to the lips, "You did."

They stayed like that, trading soft meaningful kisses, until Shouta broke under him. And Hizashi held him together as Shouta sobbed, trembled and fell apart in his arms. He whispered reassurances and love, rubbing soft circles on his arms, intertwining their fingers and holding them close to their hearts.

They stayed like that until sobbing became sniffles, trembling stopped and Hizashi wiped all the tears away with kisses and gentle fingers. And they stayed like that a while longer, until breathing became even and content. Until the cats jumped up and piled around them. Until the sun got low and the pot on the stove demanded attention.

And they pushed it off a while longer still, because despite all the promises they could make, they can't know what tomorrow will bring. But that was ok. Because here, in the moment, they had each other, safe and happy in their arms.

"I love you," Shouta said.

"I love you, too," Hizashi answered.

And really, there was nothing else to say.

Notes:

OMG, they're so goddamn cute! I just love them so much! These precious boys must be protected at all costs!

Also this didn't fit anywhere in the fic since it was all from Aizawa's perspective, but I still thought I should include it because it's funny!

"So Todoroki, why did you know your way around so well?" -Midoriya

"I used to come here with Endeavor for training. A walk through example of what not to do." -Todoroki

And Midoriya had foolishly thought he couldn't hate Endeavor anymore then he already did, he probably owed someone money for that.

:D

Keep an eye out for my next work, I have lots of ideas! I hope you enjoyed this story, it was a lot of fun to write. Please leave a review to tell me what you thought and to feed my soul!