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There aren’t many times when Shouta acts without thinking - even when working as a hero, he prefers to take an extra split-second to consider his options before making a move, and it’s saved his life on numerous occasions. He prides himself on being a quick thinker, as well as someone who acts deliberately: even the smallest of his actions have a purpose.
There’s an exception to every rule though, and Shouta finds his when he kisses All Might mid-sentence, his body moving of its own volition. At the time, his only thought is of wiping that smug grin off All Might’s face, and their surprise is about equal. Shouta never acts without thinking, except just this once, and he immediately knows that he has made a mistake.
All Might’s lips are chapped, and even though the kiss only lasts a second, Shouta can still taste blood on his own when he pulls away. He wipes his mouth as All Might looks at him, frozen in place, and just as Shouta is about to speak All Might brings his hand to his mouth, coughing up the blood that had rushed to his face and losing the stature of his powered form with a series of wracking groans.
Shouta is on him in an instant, handing him a handkerchief and rubbing his back soothingly.
“God, I thought it would shut you up, not give you an aneurysm,” he says, tone carefully dull. All Might clears his throat, looking down at him.
“Is that what that was?” he asks. For a second, Shouta’s anxiety picks up at the vulnerability in All Might’s tone - he can’t even think about beginning to untangle that one - but then he reminds himself of All Might’s sickness. It must be disconcerting to have anyone witness him at his weakest, even if you know they’re already aware of your secret. It’s certainly not something Shouta would want to experience himself.
“Well it worked,” he grunts. “I’ll have to remember that for next time - it’s the only thing that has, so far.”
There’s a pause as All Might continues to regard him, and Shouta wonders if he might have gone too far. Despite their first impressions of each other having changed, they’ve sustained a mutual antagonism, and Shouta is constantly toeing the line between somewhat consensual torture and outright hurting All Might’s feelings. He might be a symbol of strength and peace, but All Might is much more vulnerable to insult than Shouta had ever previously imagined.
Shouta shifts in place, opening his mouth to apologise, and All Might begins to laugh. Even in his reduced form, it reverberates across the room, powerful enough to make Shouta visibly flinch. It quickly fades out into a cough, but All Might is unperturbed, using the hand that doesn’t cover his mouth to squeeze Shouta’s shoulder.
“How surprisingly American,” All Might comments, and Shouta scowls. Somehow All Might has managed to win this one, too. “I never took you to be so forthright, Aizawa-kun. Though I suppose I should have predicted it, what with your disregard for other boundaries.”
Shouta can do nothing but grumble, looking away distastefully. He won’t give All Might the satisfaction of a retort when he can’t think of something sharp enough. Shouta’s only respite is that All Might’s ears are still pink in spite of his cheer; at least Shouta has managed to keep his embarrassment to himself.
“I’ll have to remember that for next time,” All Might parrots Shouta’s words with a grin, and Shouta sighs, shrugging All Might’s hand from his shoulder and walking away without comment. He has a class to teach - and his own motivations to contemplate.
*
“All Might.”
When Shouta approaches All Might in the teachers’ lounge the next day, he beams before Shouta even has a chance to speak. Abandoning his original intentions to ask All Might about class 1A’s next practical assignment, Shouta slows his pace, immediately on guard.
“Come now, Aizawa-kun,” All Might begins. Shouta’s eyes narrow further. “After yesterday I think we’re past all of that, don’t you? Call me Yagi, at least.”
It’s the first time Shouta has heard All Might’s name, even though he’s sure some of the other teachers - the principal, at least, and Recovery Girl - are aware of it. It rings loudly between his ears like a bell, but Shouta hasn’t earned his place amongst his peers by backing down from a challenge.
“...Yagi-sensei,” Shouta says, drawing out the syllables with a determined reluctance. He meets Yagi’s eyes stubbornly with his own half-lidded, and watches as the smile freezes on his face. Yagi laughs, loud enough that on anyone else it would seem forced, and claps Shouta on the arm, shaking him vigorously.
The last time Hizashi had done that Shouta had threatened to rip him in two. Shouta doesn’t have the ability to make good on that threat with Yagi, though, so he remains silent. All Might isn’t Hizashi, and would probably let go if Shouta asked, but his laugh is distracting and for some reason it slips Shouta’s mind to voice an objection.
“I didn’t think you’d do it, but I like it!” Yagi exclaims. “Sensei has a nice ring to it - even the children don’t always call me that. It takes me back to my school days.”
“Well, you are here again,” Shouta points out, and Yagi laughs again, this time softer, but with more humour. Shouta’s only been able to make Yagi laugh like that a small number of times, and he counts each one as a victory.
“So I am. Does that make me your senpai? Do let me know if there’s anything I can do to support your experience here.”
Yagi is always smiling - of course - but sometimes there’s a glint in his eyes that’s hard to catch. Shouta sees it now, even as he bristles at the way Yagi condescends to him. He’s enjoying this far more than he should be.
“Seeing as I’ve been teaching longer than you, I think I’m actually your senpai,” Shouta says drily, watching with satisfaction as Yagi double-takes. “It’s about seniority, not age. I’m always willing to offer advice to the ‘world’s greatest hero’, though.”
“Oh,” Yagi says, and there’s a moment of silence. Shouta watches him through tired eyes, observing how he plays with the sleeves of his blazer when it hangs loose on him - a nervous habit, maybe? It’s difficult for him to picture Yagi of all people being insecure. “In that case, could you go over this afternoon’s lesson plan with me…? There’s a few things I’m unsure about.”
Once again, Yagi has managed to surprise him.
“Alright,” Shouta concedes, directing Yagi towards one of the couches. Yagi’s mouth stretches into a wider grin.
“Thanks,” he says, pulling his notebook out of his back pocket and leaning in to kiss Shouta on the cheek. “Senpai.”
Yagi walks ahead of Shouta to the couch, and it takes a second for Shouta to scowl appropriately, his cheeks warming beneath his scarf. Is this really how they’re going to play things from now on?
This is a recipe for disaster, Shouta thinks, but he says nothing as he sits beside Yagi, ready to review his notes.
*
“So…” Kayama begins, setting a large mug of coffee down in front of Shouta and shifting the chair she sits down on closer to him. Shouta groans; Kayama isn’t one to do favours for people, and she only ever brings Shouta coffee when she’s fishing for something.
“What?” he says, “I told you, I don’t have Mount Lady’s number - you should call her office.”
“I tried that,” Kayama says, distracted for a moment by her sulking, and then she puts both of her hands on Shouta’s thigh. Shouta lifts them off, eyeing her with distaste. “We’re not talking about me right now, though -”
“Surprise, surprise…”
“- shut up. We’re talking about you and Yagi.”
Of course Kayama would call Yagi by his name, and with no honorific, no less. Shouta notes the address with an odd discomfort and raises an eyebrow.
“What about us?”
“That’s what I want to know,” she says. “When did your cat fighting turn into this will-they-won’t-they flirting? Do we have an office romance scandal on our hands?”
“It was never ‘cat fighting’,” Shout says sourly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He does, though. Since the kiss, they have been engaged in an increasingly uncomfortable game of chicken, and it was only a matter of time before somebody noticed and took it up with him. They’ve kept it away from the students, of course, but Yagi seems determined to force Shouto to admit defeat through continuous false advances. Shouta, fool that he is, rises to the bait every time, and the stakes are only getting higher.
Shouta’s expression doesn’t change, but he and Kayama have been friends for too long now. She steeples her fingers on the table, unfooled, and Shouta gives up with a sigh.
“It’s nothing, alright,” he tells her, the bitterness in his voice directed only at Kayama smug grin and nothing more. “Just another way for us both to let out our mutual dislike.”
“Is that what the kids are calling it nowadays?” Hizashi’s voice makes Shouta wince, and when he takes a seat Shouta is flanked on both sides. They’re supposed to be his friends, but Kayama and Hizashi together form his least favourite duo, and he’s beginning to feel like he’s under interrogation. “You’re getting something out, alright, but ‘dislike’ isn’t what I’d call it. As they say in America… ‘UST’.”
Shouta doesn’t speak English that well, but it’s not like the term is uncommon in Japan, either. He rolls his eyes, and Kayama laughs, eyebrows skyrocketing.
“Come on,” she says. “Everyone on the planet has fantasized about being with All Might. You’re telling me he’s offering it to you on a platter - fake or not - and you haven’t even considered it once? You’re special, Aizawa, but you’re not that special.”
Shouta’s gut instinct is to rebuff her. There isn’t anything about sleeping with All Might that appeals to him - even before they’d come to know each other, Aizawa had been put off by his hulking stature and performative grin. He’s far from Shouta’s type.
All Might isn’t who they're talking about, though. Shouta has gained a new appreciation for All Might since growing to understand Yagi. His heroic personality makes sense and serves the purpose it needs to. Underneath all that, Yagi is a man who’s always able to get a rise out of Shouta - and out of anyone he considers an enemy; whose tongue in cheek sense of humour and relentless optimism endear Shouta as much as they infuriate him.
Not to mention that Shouta has always been attracted to those who are deceptively strong. Yagi’s lanky form could still run circles around most of the world, and now that he’s considering it, his square jawline looks much more handsome on hunched shoulders and baggy clothes. Shouta’s particular, but Hizashi knows his type, and judging by the grin he’s sporting he’s read Shouta’s mind right now.
“Oh shit…!” Hizashi calls, making everyone in the teachers’ lounge jump. “You’ve just triggered an epiphany, Kayachin. We’d best roll before he takes it out on us.”
They’re laughing as they walk away, and Shouta makes a mental note that he needs to get new friends. In the meantime, he needs to figure out just how fucked he is.
*
Shouta prefers not to acknowledge his personal problems. He’s a reluctant overthinker, and once he’s accepted something - for example that his feelings for Yagi might be something other than platonic - he struggles to get the issue out of his head until he’s thought of a solution. It hovers in the back of his mind during his classes, thrumming noisily like an engine left to run dry. When he meets Yagi after school to scout locations for class 1A’s next field trip, he shuts the feeling down in the boot of the car, determined not to let it cross his mind anywhere in Yagi’s vicinity.
Of course, that would be easier if it wasn’t for the game they’ve established. Yagi ‘misses’ the gearbox, large hand firmly squeezing Shouta’s thigh before he ‘corrects’ his mistake. Though his illness has left him weakened, he’s still infuriatingly strong, and the image of those hands pinning Shouta’s wrists against a mattress flashes searing hot in his mind, forced away with a disapproving glare.
“Oops,” Yagi says, and though All Might would never eat shit, Yagi’s grin certainly is right now. “My bad.”
Shouta hums, sucking on his tongue and slumping with his legs spread in the car seat, glowering at Yagi from below. His eyes are on the road, navigating carefully through the rain, but they’re practically sparkling with mirth, and his fingers drum against the steering wheel. His self-satisfaction leaves Shouta infuriated, and he spends the rest of the journey plotting his revenge.
Yagi drives them up an old dirt trail to a clearing in the middle of the woods. It’s a long journey, but the school bus can make it, and it’s out of the way enough that if the children cause too much trouble they won’t have to deal with any complaints.
“We used this area when I was at UA. It’s a good thing I remembered the way.”
“Back before motorised vehicles existed, huh…” Shouta says drily. “No wonder it’s so overgrown.”
Yagi takes the joke in good stride as he switches off the engine, and Shouta sees his chance. He leans across Yagi’s chest, tilting his head up to look him straight in the eye. Yagi looks down in surprise, scanning Shouta’s face in confusion, and Shouta wets his lips deliberately, reaching out to flick the windscreen wipers off.
“You’ll drain the battery,” Shouta says, and Yagi makes a strangled noise in the back of his throat. Before Shouta can acknowledge his victory with a smile, though, Yagi’s fingers thread through his hair, grip just as strong as before as he pulls him closer into a kiss.
It’s different from the few kisses they’ve shared since the game began; Shouta is reminded of the first time, when he had been acting on instinct. This time, he’s the one caught off guard, but he recovers quickly, kissing Yagi back with determination. He can’t tell whether he’s acting on urges or just a stubborn desire for one-upmanship, but when he parts his lips, tongue running over Yagi’s lower teeth, he can’t bring himself to care anymore.
Yagi sighs into the kiss, and the noise is enough to jerk them both out of their instinctive reactions. The grip on Shouta’s hair loosens, and he pulls back, careful not to move too quickly as he regards Yagi from the passenger seat.
“Was that to shut me up?” Shouta asks after a moment of deliberation. He suspects - hopes - that there’s more to it, and from the way his heart is thudding inside his chest Shouta knows that it’s time for their game to end, regardless of the outcome.
Yagi opens his mouth, but his words stall and he coughs, averting his gaze. It’s bizarre: All Might is such an adept entertainer, but here Shouta is privy to Yagi, a man whose demeanour is tense and awkward, hands clasped in his lap as words continue to fail him.
“...No?” Yagi says eventually. It’s a question, not an answer, and Shouta can only frown at the uncertainty. Yagi tries again. “This...what is this to you, Aizawa-kun?”
Yagi’s thumbs fidget on top of his fists, and his cheeks are tinged pink. His posture is that of a middle school girl with his first crush. It could be endearing, but Shouta has been stuck in his head for too long now, and he’s impatient, frustrated by Yagi’s sudden lack of initiative when they both need him to act the most.
“Let’s walk,” Shouta says, getting out of the car and slamming the door loudly behind him. Yagi takes a few seconds to follow suit, scrambling out of the car and tripping over his feet with none of his usual grace. He locks the door and Shouta begins to walk away, waiting for Yagi to catch up with him. It feels childish and cold, but if Shouta is going to have to take the lead here, he wants to feel like he has the upper hand.
They walk the perimeter of the clearing, shifting trees and examining the environment - neither wants to let this stop them from doing the job they set out to do. About a quarter of the way around, Shouta feels able to speak.
“Our relationship...has been turbulent,” he begins, and Yagi finally stops turning in on himself, throwing his chest back to laugh loudly and looking at Shouta with amusement.
“That’s true,” Yagi agrees. “It’s good, though, right? Better than it was, at least.”
Yagi seems uncertain, and in all honesty, Shouta doesn’t know what the answer to that is, either.
“It’s...something,” he settles for, and it’s supposed to sound dry, but instead it comes out earnest and vulnerable. There’s no turning back now. “It’s become something . I’m not sure what that something is, though.”
He falls silent again, thumbs tucked into his pocket as he moves around the clearing, Yagi taking careful steps beside him. Shouta feels exposed, and if they weren’t alone in the forest he would have sworn a thousand eyes were on them both. He chews the inside of his cheek and stops, sitting down on a tree stump and gazing at the ground. Yagi’s feet come to a halt in front of him, and Shouta drags his gaze up Yagi’s form to see him offer his hand and a reassuring smile.
“Well that’s still...something,” Yagi jokes, wiggling his fingers. Shouta eyes them suspiciously. “It’s a relief to hear you admit that. Do we have to know what it is?”
“I don’t follow…” Shouta says. Yagi’s hand is still outstretched, and it’s beginning to feel awkward, so Shouta takes it, standing up. Yagi doesn’t let go once Shouta’s on his feet, though, instead tugging him closer.
“You’re too strict, Aizawa-kun,” Yagi says into Shouta’s hair, and Shouta feels his shoulders tense, his nose almost pressed against Yagi’s neck. “Not everything has to be defined straight away. If we’re honest about that - and with each other - we can see where it goes.”
“You’re too old to be living fast and loose,” Shouta quips instinctively, and Yagi laughs.
“Ouch,” he says. “You’ll have to help me out, then. Use some of that youthful exuberance.”
“I’ll do my best,” Shouta retorts, and they both look at each other, the full meaning of Shouta’s words sinking in. Yagi’s eyes are filled with hope and possibilities, and Shouta still doesn’t know what they’re doing, but when Yagi moves to kiss him again Shouta has no qualms about reciprocating. He squeezes Yagi’s hand as their lips move together, more casual and comfortable than they’ve ever been before, and they’re both smiling when they part ways.
“I’m in your care, then,” Yagi says with a grin, and they walk the rest of the perimeter hand in hand.