Yamada watched his scruffy dark-haired friend down his lukewarm cup of coffee in nearly one go and raised an eyebrow at him. Aizawa either didn't care that the man was staring at him or he was so hyped up on caffeine that he didn't notice as that was his fourth one already and it wasn't even noon. Yamada was well aware that his friend of some fifteen years was addicted to the substance as he often gotten terrible headaches when he went too long without the stuff, but this was a little much. This was Aizawa being bothered by something.
Yamada turned his attention back to his computer and not ten minutes later, the man beside him started to stand while reaching for the empty cup. The blonde grabbed his arm and pulled Aizawa back down to his seat, earning him a half-hearted scowl. He flinched back, realizing just how much more sleep deprived he looked than usual.
"Man, when did you last sleep?" Yamada asked, sincerely concerned for his friend. He was always concerned for the man's well being but this was a little much in his opinion.
Aizawa just blinked at the man a few times, like he was just seeing him for the first time that day. Yamada brought his hand up in front of the man's face and snapped at him, immediately breaking his stupor. Remembering the question that had been asked, Aizawa just shrugged as his eyes slipped closed.
Yamada huffed and gripped his elbow, pulling him to his feet then led him to the teacher's lounge. He purposely left Aizawa's cup by his computer because he really didn't need anymore caffeine in his system. Once inside the room, Yamada slid the door closed behind them and guided his friend to the couch, prompting him to lay down. He turned his head for two seconds and Aizawa sat up with his back to the door, pulling his knees to his chest. It was something that Yamada had not seen him do in years.
He knew that Aizawa wasn't one to vent or share his feelings openly, not even with him. But everyone had their limits and Yamada could see that that his friend had reached his. He moved to sit on the opposite side of the couch and watched how Aizawa tried to pull his knees in closer and bury his head in the folds of his weapon.
"Shouta," he said with a calm voice, knowing just how he needed to speak to ease Aizawa into talking to him. "What's keeping you up?"
Aizawa hated this feeling. It was something that he didn't know how to explain which only further irritated him. Before Yamada had befriended him back in high school, he never had anyone to go to with his worries or fears so he learned to deal with them on his own. The ever energetic and extroverted individual had changed that a little though Aizawa still kept mostly everything to himself.
After the attack at the USJ, he realized that he'd never been more fearful about seeing an innocent being hurt in the entire time he'd been a hero. It was horrible to think but after that day, he was plagued by the thought of what if he'd failed to save even a one of his students that day? It was a difficult burden to bear as a hero, because sometimes you weren't fast enough or the best suited for the job and couldn't save someone.
It had been a different feeling when he thought of losing one of his students. He'd suffered from nightmares for weeks when he would manage to sleep, but he'd never told anyone until one day it just slipped. He'd been heading to the teacher's lounge for a nap that he desperately needed only to find it occupied by All Might. Not wanting to be rude and ignore the man in favor for sleep, but also not in the mood to talk he had echoed a quick apology and turned to leave. Well, he'd turned too fast and nearly collapsed at the door when he felt someone holding up his weight.
All Might had lead him to the couch to lay down, much like Yamada had just done for him, and threw his suit jacket over him since there wasn't anything else that could be used as a blanket. The man didn't ask or say anything to him, but Aizawa spoke anyway. It must have been the sleep deprivation causing him to lose control of his tongue because he just kept talking about what had been going through his head while he was fighting that day and the nightmares that he'd been having since then.
Aizawa didn't remember any of this until the next day when the man he'd told everything asked to speak with him. It was then that he was reminded of what he'd said to him and when the blonde was done explaining it all to him Aizawa could only duck between the folds of his weapon and mumble an apology for bombarding him with all that. All Might had merely brushed aside his apology and told him that he didn't mind it one bit. He confessed that it had actually been a bit enlightening to that side of Aizawa because he too struggled with what had happened that day.
From that point, Aizawa had begun to see the inexperienced teacher in a new light. During lunch, he'd often find the blonde eating very little of the bento he brought each day and would sit with him for a little bit and a few other teachers before leaving to go take a quick nap. He started to notice that behind the public mask he wore as the number one hero, All Might was actually pretty down to Earth. As the weeks continued on, he started to notice other things about the man, like how bold the blue of his eyes were or how he pulled at his bangs when he was nervous about something.
Of course this was something that he kept to himself until became infatuated with the man. His nightmares stopped for a bit and whenever he slept, he thought about those striking blue eyes and that playfully innocent smile of his being directed at him. Then the nightmares returned as he remembered that they had been attacked that day because the villains had planned to kill All Might. It was an irrational fear that had no bearing, but Aizawa also knew that the human mind did many irrational things when one hadn't rested for so long.
Which led to him to where he was now, sitting across from his long time friend after not having slept more than an hour or two each night before waking up due to the nightmare. It was starting to affect his work and as he sat there on the couch with his knees pulled close and head buried, he was shaking. It wasn't out of fear of the nightmare though, it was the caffeine that he'd had too much of in such a short amount of time.
At his breaking point and actually needing to talk about what was on his mind, Aizawa lifted his head and met the eyes staring back at him. After fifteen minutes of sitting in silence, Yamada was relieved to see the man finally look up at him.
"I'm an idiot, Hizashi," he admitted still trying to piece everything together to say properly. "I..." he sighed when the words left him suddenly and he returned his head back to his knees. Yamada looked to the door as it started to open to see All Might.
The lanky man was about to greet them but was silenced when Mic held a finger over his lips then motioned for him to step inside and close the door. As he did so, he noticed that Aizawa was curled in on himself with his back to the door. He didn't know if the dark-haired man was sleeping so he just waited by the door until Mic gave him the okay to move.
Yamada directed his attention back to Aizawa and tried again to get him talking. He knew that his friend wanted to, he just needed a little more prompting. "How are you an idiot, Shouta?"
"Because," he mumbled into his scarf.
"It's not like you to answer with 'because'," Yamada commented glancing over to All Might who had tilted his head. He didn't understand what was going on but now knew that Aizawa was not asleep and was obviously troubled by something.
"Dammit, why do I have to say it out loud?" Aizawa spat at blonde sitting across from him.
"Because I'm not a mind reader and you need to talk about it," Yamada responded coolly. Anger was good. Anger meant that Aizawa was close to being so irritated that he'd just stop caring and practically pour out the contents of his heart.
Aizawa narrowed his eyes at Yamada only to have the man cover his mouth to keep from laughing. He responded by hanging his head and sighing. He'd know Yamada long enough to know when the man was right. As eccentric as he was, Yamada wasn't an idiot and always knew just how to help when his mind was muddled over.
"I think that I have a crush," he confessed finally, still not looking at his friend and still unaware that the two of them weren't alone.
Yamada nodded at the admission then turned his head to meet All Might's eyes. The taller man flinched back a little at Mic's fixed gaze. What was he trying to get out of Aizawa and why hadn't he left yet?
"My friend with a crush? I don't believe it," Yamada teased, causing Aizawa to hunch his shoulders.
"I'm serious you ass," Aizawa hissed glaring at Yamada.
The blonde raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. That doesn't explain why you look like you haven't slept in days, Shouta."
Aizawa threw his hands up in frustration. "I haven't slept because he's all I can think about when I do. I thought I was fine and didn't think too much about it because they were only dreams but now I'm having nightmares again and I'm fucking afraid to see this one scene of him dying over and over again. It's stupid and I hate feeling this way, but I don't know what to fucking do about it." Aizawa finally took a breath and closed his eyes, barely able to keep from falling asleep.
"So who is he?" Yamada asked.
Aizawa snapped his head up. "What does it matter?"
"Well I think that you should talk to him," he shrugged. "Find out if there's anything between you two."
"Very funny, Hizashi. Like Toshinori would ever be remotely attracted to someone like me," Aizawa scoffed.
All Might's eyes widened at the statement. Based off Aizawa's behavior, the man wasn't aware of his presence. But Mic was and he was looking as smug as could be.
He cleared his throat, causing the dark-haired man to freeze. "I'm right here, you know?"
No, he didn't know which was obvious to Yamada as the smirked at the reddened face of his friend. The blonde hopped to his feet and walked past All Might to the door.
"Where are you going?" he demanded. It wasn't fair to throw Aizawa into this situation and then just walk away..
Mic stopped in his movements and turned to All Might. "You're the reason he's like this. I got him to finally admit the rest is for you to deal with," he said then walked out, leaving them alone.
After he'd heard All Might clear his throat, Aizawa's mind had stopped. He heard the man say something to the other blonde but his heart was beating so loudly that he didn't hear the exact words. He just wanted to disappear and try to forget that any of this had happened, but he couldn't move. He'd been curled in on himself for a minute now that he no longer had any strength to get up.
All Might sighed at Aizawa's form and walked over to the couch, crouching down beside him. He started to reach out to him but hesitated and ended up pulling his hand back. "Aizawa, how come you didn't come to me?"
'Because... I don't know why. I just couldn't.' he thought to himself. Aizawa didn't have a reason other than that he just didn't know what he would have said to him. Even now, when he'd been forced to talk to the blonde, the words just weren't coming to him. Probably because he was crashing and crashing hard.
"If you'd like to be alone I can leave," he offered and stood up. "I'd understand-"
"No!" Aizawa said louder than intended. He was gripping the man's hand a bit too tight that All Might could feel the bones shifting. He pulled Aizawa's hand from squeezing his and intertwined their fingers, looking down into the man's eyes that were too red. "I need to sleep, will you stay with me?" he pleaded.
All Might reached down to brush the man's cheek with his free hand and smiled gently at how Aizawa nuzzled into his touch. "Of course, but we need to talk when you wake up."
"I know," he agreed as he watched All Might move to sit on the opposite side of the couch. "I just haven't slept in days and I'm crashing hard right now." All might propped one leg on the couch and held his arms open for Aizawa to settle in. "I-Is it alright?" he asked, trying to hide the forming blush.
"If you do one thing for me it is."
"Anything."
"Say it again, please?" Aizawa looked into those blue eyes that he'd come to adore and settled into the man's arms that immediately wrapped around him.
With his lips brushing against the base of the taller man's throat he whispered "Toshinori," then fell soundly asleep.