Lunch Conversation

Hizashi knew where Shota would be the moment, he'd seen that his friend hadn't taken the couch in the break room for lunch. It meant that he'd prioritized time to himself over the minutes it would take to have a cup of coffee at the end of the lunch period.

That being said, Hizashi still made a cup for Shota, knowing that whatever was bothering him, he'd be more receptive to the idea of talking about it if Hizashi brought an offering. That didn't mean he'd actually say anything, just that he'd be more likely to.

And Hizashi was worried.

Hizashi's warning bells started going off the moment he caught his first glimpse of Shota at the assembly. He was clearly exhausted, even by his own standards. Some of his student's kept shooting the man worried looks, too.

When Hound Dog started barking and growling about a fight last night, Shota didn't look just look annoyed, but frustrated. It must have been a couple of his kids. Hizashi glanced back at his group and noted that his pal's two biggest 'problem children' were absent.

Hizashi exchanged a glance with Nemuri to see that she had noticed his behavior, too.

Still, it might have just been their friend's protectiveness over his students. Ever since the USJ incident and with every one that followed, Shota had become ever more attentive toward them, even if he tried to pretend otherwise.

It was upon walking into the 1-A classroom a few minutes later that Hizashi had been absolutely sure. Shota had changed the students' seating arrangements. Shota never made changes like that. Ever

Shota liked to do things as simply as possible and didn't 'waste energy' on things he deemed unnecessary. He classified changing seating arrangements as just such an inconvenience. He'd never done it once in the whole of his time at UA.

As Hizashi made his way to the classroom with the cup of joe in hand, where he knew Shota would be curled up under his desk in his yellow sleeping bag.

When he entered the room, a sigh was issued from beneath the desk before a familiar voice asked, "What is it, Hizashi?"

"Somethings up with my best bud and I wanted to check in on him," He announced in a tone he usually used when talking as Present Mic before taking up a calmer, more quiet voice, "Really, though? Are you doing okay?"

Shota sighed. "That obvious, huh." There was a short pause before he asked, "is that coffee I smell?"

"You bet!"

There was another sigh before the chair, already partially displaced from beneath the desk, was shoved further out. It was a clear invitation to take a seat and a warning not to expect Shota to come out from the cave that was the space the object usually occupied. So, he was in one of those moods, huh?

"Must be big." Hizashi commented as he came around, spun the chair and sat so he was he could cross his arms on the back of it and lean over to look at Shota as he extended a hand, into which Hizashi placed the cup of coffee.

In a matter of seconds, Shota managed to position the cup so that he could slip in a straw he'd probably taken off one of his nutrient pouches and retracted himself back into his sleeping bag and position himself so he could easily move his head to reach the straw as desired.

For a moment, Hizashi and Shota just enjoyed each other's company. They didn't get much time to themselves these days. This year had been especially bad in that regard.

Then the moment passed as Shota declared, "I can't say much." Then he took a sip from his straw.

Hizashi sighed. Most people might just hear a denial to share information but he knew better. If he didn't want to talk about it, he would have said that he "wouldn't" talk about it. To say he "couldn't" meant that there was more to it than personal reasons. The only other people who would have understood the statement for what it was were Nemuri and possibly Nezu, although the latter would probably try to find out anyway if he didn't already know what the problem was.

At first, it had frustrated Hizashi when he heard those words in relation to Shota's underground work, even as he understood the other's need for secrecy. It hurt that there was a part of Shota's life that he could never be part of, in order to protect himself, Shota and whomever he was in contact with on the job.

Then, as a teacher, Hizashi found that there were also moments where he had to tell Shota the same words, in order to respect the privacy of his students when they came to him for help over sensitive matters.

It made Yamada realize how hard it must be for Shota to have to say that for almost everything he did on the job.

"Okay, I'm here for what you can talk about."

"I can say that last night, I was made aware of Midoriya and Bakugou history. They should never have been placed together and I plan on minimizing their contact for the time being and prefer that they be heavily supervised when they do. All Might also needs similar supervision for anything he does in relation to any students."

"Wow. Your biggest troublemakers and All Might all in one night? No wonder you're bundled up under here."

"You have no idea," Shota replied. "But if you could keep it in mind…"

Yamada nodded, "I'll keep that in mind for group assignments in my classes. I'll even pass the word on to the others. Anything else?"

"Not unless it leaks out. Otherwise I'd have a full-blown rant right now."

Despite trying to hide his nerves by taking another sip of coffee, Hizashi could tell from Shota's tone that he was either angry or scared by whatever it was he couldn't say.

"I'll always be happy to be your listener if you need me to be."

"I know," Shota responded warmly. "Thanks."

Deciding to change the subject, Hizashi asked, "So, how's young Shinsou's training coming?"

"He's getting a handle on my capture weapon faster than I did."

"To be fair, you had to teach yourself. He has a great mentor to guide him."

Shota rolled his eyes before he declared, "It would be illogical to have him waste time struggling on his own. He needs whatever edge he can get, especially with all of his potential classmates getting pushed harder than any group before them. If he's to catch up by next year, he'll have to climb higher and faster than I did."

Hizashi sighed and acknowledged, "this year has been an absolute mess."

Shota said, "and another thing, based on what I can't talk about, it's only just started. Things are probably going to get worse with the villain attacks."

Hizashi grit his teeth at the thought, and stated, "that's just nerves talking. You can't know that." Hizashi was aware how much he cared for this group of kids. Heck, he'd been there when Shota had finished watching the footage of Stain ranting while at arms-length from Izuku Midoriya and calmly announced that he was going to investigate the possibility of entering his students into the licensing exam at the end of the summer.

"I can and I do," Shota said, still tired. "It will and my class will be at the center of it for their entire time at UA."

"You sound like you're the one with tat power Sir Nighteye is rumored to have."

"Trust me," he declared, voice tense. "I don't need a foresight quirk to be sure of this." There was a tremble in his voice as he added, "the dorms won't be enough to keep the villains away forever. The murder and kidnapping attempts won't stop and Midoriya will increasingly become a primary target."

Fear. It was fear.

"We'll keep them safe."

"You can't know that," Shota retorted.

"Shota…"

"I worked so hard to keep my hero work and my teacher career separated, you know. But how can I do that when every day, I'm instructing children who either put their lives in my hands or held mind in theirs?" Shota asked. "I've fought side by side with my students twice now, Yamada. Some of them are fighting villains without me more often than they have had me to rely on! And the last time, so many of them got hurt and one got kidnapped. At least on the job, I apprehended the villains, did what I could for the civilians and then moved on. I have to walk into class and see these kids every day. Now, I'm not sure I can live without that happening. We weren't trained for this, Yamada. And I can't keep my emotions separate from this anymore."

"Then maybe one good thing did come out of all of this."

Shota looked at him, confused.

Hizashi took a deep breath before continuing. "You've always kind of kept you yourself, Shota but after, Shirakumo died, you closed yourself off to almost everyone. Over the years, you healed some and made a few friends, but it was more like it happened despite how you fought it. As a teacher, you've been focused on making the kids prepared to survive and be ready for the worst but nothing else. These last few months, I've watched you open up more than in all the years since then. Like you've finally decided to let it happen. You're more like the guy who snatched up a kitten from Shirakumo to make sure it was taken care of right than you've been since the last time we were all on the roof, together." He smiled and added, "Nemuri and I are happy for you and you know what? Shirakumo would be, too. We've missed that secretly huge softy and it's good to see him come back."

Shota stared up at the underside of his desk. "Softy?" he growled.

Hizashi shrugged, huge smile on his face. "You heard me."

"I'm not soft." Shota deadpanned.

"Sure, fine. You're totally not soft as your sleeping bag." With a smile on his face Hizashi clapped his hands together, determined to keep the mood light as he asked, "now, why don't you give me the highlights for the Licensing Exam. I want all the juicy details of how our students did against the other schools."

Shota seemed momentarily startled and seemed to be debating on continuing the argument on how caring a person he was but chose to oblige Hizashi's current request, slipping back into his usual calm, serious tone as he described the events of the previous day. Of course he had; he'd probably already logically deduced that he'd lose thar fight.

Where Hizashi would have added flourish and built up the big moments, Shota spoke of the students' performance through a critical lens far more fitting for a police report than for entertainment purposes. Yamada still enjoyed hearing the man talk about what happened and occasionally ribbing him about Ms. Joke, who had, as always, hung out with him during the exam. By the time the lunch period ended, Shota had collected himself and was ready to face his students as if he hadn't just had an emotional break down.

Hizashi slipped out as the students started filing in. His English papers wouldn't grade themselves.

This conversation was originally written from Aizawa's perspective, about a third the length of this and tacked onto the end of the previous chapter. Then I looked at things from Present Mic's perspective and found I liked the result better. I honestly had no idea where I was going with it until I had Aizawa admitting to how scared he was of the changes that had happened in his life but it seemed like a good way to wrap up these last few chapters that have been so focused on Aizawa's relationship with this year's students vs how he has been in the past. What's really funny is that this whole mini arc came up because I wanted a smooth transition for the first part of the day.

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to pull it off. Then I started writing.

Next Chapter, we're back with Bakugou and Midoriya. Yay! We'll be moving away from Aizawa's perspective for a while.