Shouta idly thought about jumping out the window; it would probably be less painful than sitting on this couch next to Izuku, being stared at by Midoriya Inko's big, green, teary eyes. Who knows, he might even survive the fall.

They had quickly retreated to Izuku's bedroom after Izuku's outburst. Izuku's outburst had been something along the lines of "Oh God, we can explain! Um... One moment, I'd rather not have this conversation in a towel, thanks-" and then him quickly shoving Shouta into the bedroom so hard Shouta nearly fell on his face and slamming the bedroom door shut, sinking down the closed door to the floor and whining "Shoutaaaaaaaa, what do we do?!"

Thankfully, Shouta had been slightly more composed behind closed doors and had been able to put together a rational plan that consisted of: putting on clothes. Yeah, okay, fine. His brain wasn't exactly working at top capacity. Sue him.

He had pulled Izuku up, shoved sweats and a t-shirt in his arms, quickly threw on some clothes of his own, and promptly threw himself face-first onto the bed. "We have to talk to her. No way around it," he told the pillow he was currently buried in.

"Yeah, but we haven't even talked to each other yet!"

Shouta had turned his head to side-eye Izuku. "Then let's talk."

Shouta rolled over onto his side and Izuku had climbed up to lay down facing him, twining their fingers togther. "O-okay."

"Izuku," Shouta started, "I meant what I said earlier. I don't think I can give you an exact moment when it happened, but I'm in love with you. I want this. All of it. Whatever you're willing to give."

Typical Izuku, he had teared up, ever the crybaby. "M-me too! I d-didn't realize it until recently, but I've been in love with you for so long and I want this too."

"Okay, so then here's the plan: we go out there, apologize for the scene and making her wait, and tell her that we only just made this official last night so we haven't had a chance to make any major decisions yet. Sound good?"

"Um, Shouta, we didn't make this official last night."

"Nope, but I'm sure as hell not about to tell your mother we slept in the same bed and had sex before we even had a relationship talk."

"Okay yeah, good point."

And that brought them to Izuku practically dragging him out here, onto the couch, where Shouta's unfortunate social awkwardness had made itself known once again.

"S-so, when you said yesterday you had been seeing someone, you meant my Izuku?" Inko eventually broke the silence shakily.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"How long?"

Shouta's head shot up from looking down at his lap, where Izuku was holding one of his hands with a death grip, and looked at Inko. To his credit, only a hint of emotion played across his face as he murmured, "I'm sorry?"

Inko's eyes were hard as they bored into him and he had to suppress the urge to flinch as she stared him down, quiet anger seething in their depths. "How long have you lusted after my son."

"Wha- Mom, no! It's not like that!" Izuku interjected, sitting straighter as he tightened his grip on Shouta's hand.

"Izuku, I asked your ex-teacher, who is significantlyolder than you, and I would like for him to answer me," Inko snapped and holy shit this woman could be scary when given the right provocation. "Aizawa Shouta, did you target my son while he was your student?"

Shouta felt like absolute shit, despite his earlier resolve. Here he was, nearly forty years old, trying to take away the future of her twenty-five year old son. Izuku had so much love to give, and life ahead of him, and Shouta was asking him to give all of it to a downtrodden, tired old man like himself. Izuku's mother was right to be angry; Shouta was angry at himself for how selfish he was being. How could Izuku ever think Shouta was the right partner for him?

His mask on his emotions crumbled and he broke down into sobs as he choked out, "N-no, I would never."

"Then how long?"

"Only a c-couple of weeks, I swear." Shouta stared down into his lap as tears fell unbidden, silently tearing himself apart. His stomach twisted painfully in stress-fueled nausea, but he willed the bile back down his throat. He had prepared himself for these kinds of reactions. He would not- could not- run away from this. He may not be worthy of the warm ray of sunshine that was Midoriya Izuku, but he had already made his decision to be with the man and he could not hurt Izuku by retracting his love now.

Steeling himself as best he could, he looked back up at Inko and explained, "Mrs. Midoriya, Izuku and I have only been seeing each other for a few days. We made it official last night after you left, though we would have made it official sooner if we hadn't been called on-site in Musutafu." He sucked in a shaky breath before continuing, "I swear to you, this is a new development and I would never take advantage of your son, no matter what age, and certainly not while in school or under my tutelage. The only reason you were not informed of this last night was because Izuku and I had yet to speak to each other about it. It was not our intention to keep this from you."

Inko appeared somewhat mollified by his explanation, but anger and disappointment still simmered in the downturned lips and furrowed brows on her round face. "I will not pretend to like your choice to be together. But if what you say is true, and believe me when I say it will be checked that it is, then I will accept it and learn to live with it." She turned to Izuku, who was rigid next to Shouta, and asked, "Are you sure this is what you want? To give up your chance at your own family, to possibly have to bury your partner before you have a chance to grow old together?"

Izuku's already-rigid stance went even more so as he sat up straighter and looked his mother in the eye. He was pissed at his mother for talking to his partner like this, enough that he wasn't even crying, for tearing into Shouta's weakest points, but as he had watched the exchange he had slowly caught on to the underlying message being left unsaid. He and his mother had always been close, so he could read her intention. She wasn't lying that she didn't approve, but she also realized it wasn't her choice. Instead, Inko was testing their resolve, hitting them where it hurt most, while behind closed doors and early in the relationship, so when they faced a more public audience they would be strong enough to withstand it. So he answered the question she was really asking.

"I want Shouta. The good, the bad, all of it. He is the first and only person I have ever felt this way about. I have been in love with him for years. My decision will not change."

Inko closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath, before opening them again. "Then I support your relationship. Izuku, I only originally came over to cook the two of you breakfast so you can focus on work. Would you rather have some privacy?"

"I think that would be best."

"Then I will leave you be for now. Let me know if you'd like me to come back to cook you lunch or dinner. I'm sure you'll need to cram some extra time in today since you'll be getting a late start, so I don't mind helping out in that small way." With that, Inko and Izuku nodded at each other, and Inko got up and left. She wasn't going to stay composed much longer, and they both knew it; she needed to leave before she broke down and cried in front of them.

As soon as Inko was out the door, Izuku pulled Shouta up into his lap and held him as the older man quietly cried against his shoulder. "It's okay, Shouta. She didn't mean most of what she said. She was testing our resolve. Saying the things others would so we could prepare ourselves. I'm not going anywhere." He kissed Shouta's temple as he swept the older man's hair out of his face, cooing gently and murmuring reassurances.

"I know," Shouta choked out, "Doesn't make it any easier to hear." Izuku hummed in agreement as the tears started flowing from his green eyes, his fury subsiding and being replaced by the soft hurt of knowing his loved one is hurt and needs him. He closed his eyes and leaned his bed back onto the back of the couch, letting the tears fall as they cuddled and took comfort in one another.

They would be okay.