Beautiful
Author's Note: Hey everyone and welcome back to Beautiful! I hope you are enjoying this so far! I will be getting a bit more speed in within these next few chapters! Not much of an author's note aside from that! On with the fic!
Chapter Warnings: Mentioned Original Character Death
Chapter Five: How One Thing Can Change Everything
Summary: Shouta finally breaks down about one part of his new appearance and goes to Kayama. Meanwhile, Class 1-A get together about doing something for Aizawa on Family Day. Meanwhile, Tsukauchi shows up at U.A.
It had taken a few days, but he had finally caved about his hair. He couldn't handle it being as long as it was. It was getting annoying, and it was in the way now. He had walked up Kayama at the end of the school day, leaning over and asking her to come to his dorm once she was done here.
She had only given him a look of curiosity before she nodded. Announcing that she was already done and packed up her stuff. Before they actually got back to his room, they had stopped at hers to allow her to change out of her hero costume and into causal clothes before heading over to his.
"What is it, Aizawa?" Kayama questioned as soon as he had his door shut.
"Cut my hair." Shouta said point blank.
Kayama blinked, pouting for a second as she said, "But your hair is so pretty!"
"Kayama."
Kayama sighed, "Okay, fine. You win."
The two of them had gotten settled as Kayama went and grabbed his hair kit. He never really used it since most of the time, he never really got his hair cut except for certain occasions. Even then, he usually just ended up at a professional. Kayama had started, not really saying anything else to him as she moved in on getting his hair back to the same length that it had been before.
They mostly sat in silence as Kayama worked. Getting his hair back to before. When she was done, Kayama took a step back, smiling at him before she was moving to pick up the hair that she had cut away. Shouta stood up, dusting off his clothes before looking in the mirror that he had.
For once since all of this started, he could actually see a resemblance of himself in the mirror. He still had a softer face, no facial hair, but the length change definitely was doing numbers in making him feel right again.
"Better now?" Kayama questioned, popping up behind him in the mirror. She paused for a second, her hand settling on his forehead with a frown on her face, "You feel kind of warm."
"It's nothing." Shouta replied, turning to face his friend. "Thank you, Kayama."
Kayama just gave him a smile. "You know I would help with anything you need. Now you just need that hero costume and you'll be all set." Then that knowing teasing smirk came to her face as she put up the scissors back into their case. "Though, I'm going to miss watching Yamada drool over you. Not that he didn't before, but oh boy, you should have seen his face."
Shouta rolled his eyes, pulling off his capture weapon and heading into his conjoined bathroom. "Kayama, this isn't some game. We both know I would rather not wear this."
"It looks nice on you." Kayama shot back.
"That doesn't matter." Shouta stated. He grabbed his casual clothes, switching out of the costume and tossing it to the side for him to put back on the next day. It was one of the long-sleeved shirts that Hizashi had gotten for him and a pair of sweats like his old one. He pulled his hair out of his shirt as he moved back into the main part of his apartment. Kayama was sitting on the edge of his bed, her head tilted as she looked at him. "I liked what I had. I'm not a woman. Even if this is my body at the moment."
Kayama chuckled, "Can't a girl dream?" She paused for a second, the seriousness coming to her face for a moment, "It's more than that. Isn't it?" Shouta stopped. Where was Kayama going with this? "It's Yamada."
Shouta felt the air catch in his throat, as he immediately let the denial come out of his mouth as he shook his head, "What makes you think that?"
Kayama snorted, shaking her head, "The two of you have been dancing around each other for fifteen years. It doesn't take a genius to see it."
Shouta sighed, shaking his head as he moved to go sit at his desk. "Kayama—"
"Don't even deny it, Aizawa." The Rated R Hero threw back at him. "It's not the comments from the students or the other faculty members. It's Yamada." Shouta squirmed, crossing his arms over his chest as he moved his chair back slightly. Kayama was still looking at him, that sharp glance that she could pull off leveled on him. He hated that Kayama was actually right.
"Kayama, please." Shouta replied, tilting his head to look over at her.
Kayama sighed, raising her hands, "You both are just idiots." It was the last thing she said as she pushed herself up and started for the door. "See you tomorrow, Aizawa."
He didn't say a word back as he turned to face towards his computer. He went to turn it on but stopped short as he thought about it. Hizashi had been acting differently to him ever since he came back from the hospital. It wasn't like before. The lingering gazes. The speechlessness. Hizashi never did that before.
If he got everything in order and everything settled back into place, so would Hizashi. Hizashi was only giving him those looks because he was turned into a woman. Nothing more.
Right?
X
The next day, the students had the day off and Shouta and Hizashi had met up in one of the fields. Shouta was in hero costume while Hizashi was in his casual clothes. Shouta was doing his stretches. His legs in the splits as he leaned forward. He only peeked up as Hizashi broke through the tree line, seeing him there.
"Oh damn." Hizashi stated, "When you said you had more flexibility, I didn't think it was that bendy."
Shouta felt the slight smile come to his face as he rolled his eyes, going back to continuing his stretches. "Yeah, it's annoying. I want to wear my jumpsuit, but it keeps stopping me." Hizashi chuckled, walking forward as Shouta curled his legs, turning to get back to his feet. Dusting off his pants of the dirty. "It'll be better once I have one that is made from more appropriate fabric."
"Yeah." Hizashi paused, shuffling on his feet for a second as he peered at Shouta through his sunglasses. "It's still so weird to see you wearing something that shows skin."
Shouta shrugged, bending over, and twisting his back and raising one arm up into the air. "It feels weird, but if wearing something that makes me slightly uncomfortable until I get the right thing in just to make sure I can use my fully capabilities, I'll take it. My students need me at one hundred percent. Not with a handicap."
Hizashi snorted, shaking his head, "I wouldn't call it a handicap. I would guess that it makes your range of motion about the same of what it was before. Right?"
Shouta nodded, switching arms. "That's what's odd about it. I can tell I can do more, so it's bugging me that I can't with that jumpsuit. My designer is confident of making me one that will work." As he got back to his full height, he started his arm stretches.
Hizashi made an overdramatic sound for a second, bringing Shouta's gaze to him. "Phew, then I can stop staring."
Shouta's eyebrow shot up as Hizashi just gave him a teasing grin. "I'm kidding."
Shouta doubted it, but he was going to drop it. He just continued with his stretches before he would start his training regime. He was getting more confident that he knew all of the differences now. Though, that comment that Hizashi had bugged him.
He was starting to believe that this change in Hizashi's behavior was just because of this. He had to ignore the twist in his stomach as Hizashi offered to help him with his stretches as normal. On one hand, Hizashi was acting normally but on the other, he was acting different. It was giving him a headache.
"Did you cut your hair?" Hizashi questioned.
Shouta looked over his shoulder, up at the blonde as he nodded. "Kayama helped me do it. I wanted my hair back to the same length I had before."
Hizashi gave him a smile as Shouta had moved, flipping himself onto his hands as Hizashi's hands went to his ankles to keep him balanced. It wasn't a stretch, but it was one thing he liked to do to help his upper arm strength. He definitely had to work on his physical strength a bit more. This quirk had taken quite a bit of his muscle from him.
"I didn't even notice." Hizashi stated. "Your hair is always nice to me. You think I would notice." He gave a nervous chuckle after, and it was making Shouta's stomach twist more.
As Shouta got to the count he wanted to get to, he flipped himself back onto his feet as Hizashi released his ankles. It was like he was getting mixed signals and he did not like it at all. Hizashi was completely starting to confuse him.
He just wanted things to go back to the way they were between the two of them.
"Shou…" Hizashi's voice trailed for a second as Shouta turned to look at him. "You've been working yourself to exhaustion again. Why not take a break for a day? Rest up."
Shouta sighed, shaking his head, "I still have a lot of work to do to get used to this."
Hizashi's face broke out into a smile, "To me, it seems like you've got a good handle on it. One day won't kill you."
Shouta grinned as he took a step back, activating Erasure as he pulled his binding cloth. Hizashi just watched him for a second as he moved the cloth, letting it wrap around one of the larger tree branches. Hizashi rolled his eyes, making a noise as Shouta pulled himself up, landing on the tree branch and kneeling down. "Looks like you're going to have to catch me to stop me." Shouta murmured.
"You know that's not an easy task, Shou." Hizashi shot back.
"Come and get me then." Shouta smirked, jumping back as he noticed that Hizashi had taken the challenge. He had landed on the next branch pretty easily. Using his capture weapon to maneuver through them and lose sight of Hizashi.
He smirked as he settled back down onto the ground. He peered around, looking for any sign of the older man. His smirk only got bigger as he noticed that he had in fact lost him. He looked up to the trees for a moment. He had managed to find out a bit more. How much easier it felt to move around in such a small area. He could do it easy before, but now it felt almost flawless. Maybe it was the difference in his height. He had gone from six foot to roughly five-four in height. He could use smaller spaces now. Which worked great for him.
Well, that was until arms wrapped around his waist and hauled him off of the ground. The first thing he had smelled was Hizashi's cologne. It was so specific. Hizashi had been wearing it for as long as he could remember. The thing that always threw him off was it was the same cologne that Aizawa bought for him over a decade before. Hizashi had not diverted from the scent since.
Shouta's smirk turned into a softer smile as his feet were placed back on the ground, but Hizashi remained draped over his shoulders. "I think I won." The Voice Hero stated.
"I suppose you did." Shouta hummed. He reached up, letting his hands rest on Hizashi's biceps for a second as his smile returned to a smirk. "Or I might have." He pivoted, using the momentum of his shoulders and grip on Hizashi to flip the blonde over and forced him onto his back. He brought his foot down, settling it on his chest and kneeled down. "How many times do we have to go through this before you realize I can beat you in a melee match?"
Hizashi chuckled, huffing for a second, "The game was to catch you. I won that part."
Shouta stood up, tilting his head to the side. "Alright, I'll let you win just this once." Shouta paused as his phone buzzed in his pocket taking his attention away from Hizashi. He reached in, bringing out the device and clicking the notification.
Come to my office. Nezu.
"What's this about?" Shouta questioned out loud.
Hizashi gave him a confused look, asking, "What's going on?"
"Principal Nezu wants me to meet him in his office." Shouta stated, slipping his phone back into his pocket. "I'll see you later."
Hizashi pushed himself off of the ground, dusting himself off, "I'll go with you."
Shouta rolled his eyes. "Alright." With that, the two of them were heading back to the main building. Shouta had a lot of questions going through his head. What this could possibly be about. What Nezu could be wanting to talk to him about. He had to push down the nerves and questions. It could be a million things, but there was a feeling in the pit of his gut that was telling him something different.
He always hated when he got this feeling. Usually when it did, it was correct.
On their way there, they had stopped by his apartment, allowing Shouta the minute to change into looser clothes. He had picked out a pair of baggy sweatpants and a long-sleeved black shirt, opting to leave his capture weapon alongside it. It felt nice. Hizashi was right about getting as close to what he wore originally as possible. They were exactly the same. Same material and all. He had been feeling a bit warmer than usual, and the tighter articles of clothing didn't seem to be helping that much. Having his capture weapon off was letting the air hit his neck. He was sure that it was just from his work out. He always tended to feel a bit warmer after a workout. It'd go away after relaxing for a bit.
He still had a meeting to go to. Afterwards, he would come back and take a bit of time to relax. He did feel a bit lightheaded as the two of them walked along towards the main campus.
"You alright, Shou?" Hizashi questioned, casting him a concerned look for a moment.
Shouta looked over to him, "Yeah."
Hizashi's frown deepened, "You look a little flushed."
"I just did a workout. I'm always like this after one. You know that." Shouta shot back.
Hizashi rolled his eyes, laughing for a second as he looked ahead of them. "I just meant more than usual. Are you sure you aren't coming down with something?"
"No. I feel fine." Shouta replied, grumbling for a second as he shoved his hands into his pockets.
"If you say so." Hizashi sang-songed, throwing his arm over Shouta's shoulders. Shouta wanted to shrug him off, but he had tossed it to the side. Instead, leaning a bit into him as he blinked away the fatigue that he was feeling.
X
It wasn't very often that they just had down time. Many of their classmates were either out doing their own training or were lounging around the dorms. Todoroki was in his room, sitting at his desk and Bakugou was lounging back at his tatami mat, scrolling mindlessly on his phone. Todoroki was writing out a letter to his mom, preparing to send it out once it was all done.
He had the thought cross his mind about asking Aizawa to give him permission to go see her in the hospital. It had been a while since the last time he was able to. He was sure Aizawa would have no issues with it. Letters would have to work for now.
Parents Day had come to mind as he wrote it down. There was a big part of him that wished Rei could be temporarily released from the hospital for a few hours to come enjoy the day with him, but he knew it wouldn't be a good idea. He was going to be here. Instead, he was going to ask Aizawa if he could go to her instead. It was a day about parents and dorm life. If there was anyone he absolutely wanted here, it would be his mother.
He didn't even think of the idea of talking to his father about it. He knew all it would do is anger the man. But there had been a part of him that wondered if he could make a compromise if it could be cleared with the hospital. If Endeavor could be here for part of it as not to upset the man and then Rei got to spend another part with him. From the messages he got from Fuyumi, her and Natsuo were going to be in attendance as well. It felt like the impending shit show was going to start that day, and there was nothing he could do about it. It hurt knowing that his mother couldn't be a part of it.
He felt like he should probably warn Aizawa, but at the same time, Aizawa was a no-nonsense type of person. He probably would put a stop to anything immediately. Aizawa didn't even blink when it came to Endeavor. Endeavor could be intimidating, but Todoroki had his money on Aizawa in this case. He didn't think anything could beat that signature glare that came from his teacher.
This time, he did write about the incident. What he felt about the situation. It felt nice to be able to get it all out there. He could trust his mom with it. He tended to tread very carefully with what he told her about anything revolving heroes and villains, but last time they had spoken, she had been interested in knowing what was going on in his life and how his schooling was.
He had hesitated when writing it down. What would his mother think about all of it? Was it really worth mentioning. They were all okay. Nothing insanely bad happened, and Aizawa seemed to be coping well enough. In the end, he decided to keep it in, also going on to tell his mother what Aizawa had told him. How he strived to hope that he had that kind of mindset one day.
With this letter complete, he sealed it away into an envelope, pushing himself up from his desk. His movements had caught the attention of Bakugou. "Done already?" Bakugou questioned.
"Yeah." Todoroki replied, smiling down at the envelope. "I do want to go speak to Aizawa-sensei about something." Bakugou hummed, peering over his phone for a second.
"Your mom?" Bakugou questioned.
Todoroki nodded, looking back at the envelope. "I think it would be nice to have her see this place. Meet all of you. She's been in there so long… but I'm nervous." Bakugou dropped his phone, standing up and crossing the room to where he was. "My dad is probably going to be there, and I don't want to put her through that."
Bakugou nodded. "So, that's why you want to talk to sensei about it."
Todoroki made a noise of confirmation, letting the soft smile slip onto his face. "I just… think it would be good for her."
Bakugou shrugged towards the door, turning back around long enough to grab his phone. "Well, let's go ask him."
As they started out of his dorm, Todoroki watched Bakugou's back. There had been something he had noticed among the class. The class gossip had died down a lot with Midnight reprimanding them for it, but Bakugou had always told them to practically drop the conversation. Every. Single. Time. "Hey, Bakugou?" Bakugou turned his head, looking at him again, "With Aizawa-sensei, you're always telling people to stop."
"Yeah?" Bakugou hissed, the annoyance coming to his face. He didn't raise his voice like he normally would, but the frown did come to his face. He looked away after that. It was always Bakugou's tell that he didn't want anyone to see the care on his face. "Nothing changed, so it shouldn't matter. If it was me, I would kill anyone who dared to talk about it."
Todoroki felt the smile slip onto his face again as he reached out, letting his fingers slip into Bakugou's. Bakugou grumbled from the action but relented almost immediately.
You really do have a good heart in there.
X
Tsukauchi was dreading this. He didn't want to have to make this visit to U.A. His original hopes had been they had cracked the case and the criminal and were able to get information on reverting Eraserhead back to his original state, but that wasn't going to be the case now. He had already requested the meeting with Nezu. Asking him to make sure Aizawa was in attendance as he did so.
Walking into the U.A. gates, his stomach just continued to drop. He was nervous about seeing the look on Eraserhead's face. Having to tell him, they had no way to change him back.
His steps echoed through the halls as he moved. Each one haunting him more and more. This situation never should have happened. They never should have had a gap time that the League of Villains had managed to sneak into the jail and kill their prisoner.
As he got to the office, he was immediately allowed entry. His gaze had immediately settled on Nezu, Eraserhead, All Might, and Present Mic. They had caught on almost immediately to his somber mood as he noticed the dark glance in Eraserhead's eyes. "What happened?"
"We have a lot to talk about." Tsukauchi muttered just as the door closed behind him.
X
When they had gotten to the common rooms, Todoroki had dropped off his letter in the outgoing back, noticing that the others were all sitting around the tables. That was odd to him. Normally, they were all off doing their own thing or they were within their little groups. Todoroki shared a look with Bakugou before they had walked over, settling behind the couches.
Midoriya had noticed them first, giving them a smile, "Todoroki! Kaachan!" He exclaimed, "We were wondering when you were going to come down."
"They were probably up there doing the—" Kaminari started but was almost immediately smacked in the top of the head by Bakugou.
"Get your brain out of the gutter, dumbass!" Bakugou shouted.
"What's going on?" Todoroki questioned.
Uraraka turned, smiling wide as her eyes lit up. "So, Parents Day is coming up and we came up with the idea that we should do something for Aizawa-sensei!"
"Aizawa-sensei?" Todoroki muttered. What would they do for him? He was their teacher. It took him a second to connect the dots, but the realization came next. Aizawa acted a lot like a father figure to them. If Todoroki was being honest, Aizawa acted more like a father to him than his own father did.
"He is like our class dad, so we want to do something special for him." Ashido added. "We're just not sure what to do."
Shinsou smiled, hand balanced on his chin as he stared down at the notes on the table, pulling papers from the pile. "Aizawa-sensei is hard to read. He's never really spoken about his own interests and likes to me." He paused for a second, sighing, "But he is like our father. He deserves to have a moment."
"After everything he's done for us…" Midoriya interjected, "The USJ, the training camp, going on the media as a distraction… there are so many things I could list and each of them is just even more reasons for us to do this for him."
Todoroki hummed, leaning on the back of the couch. "It has to be something good, right? Not just like a thank you or something."
Iida stood up, "We could ask him things he likes!"
Bakugou scoffed, bringing the attention to him, "If you do that, he'll catch on immediately."
Iida made a noise, chopping his hand, "You are right, Bakugou!"
"Why not ask Present Mic?" Midoriya questioned. The silence fell over the room and eyes were on Midoriya. Todoroki blinked. Present Mic? Then for a brief moment, the USJ came to mind. Mic-sensei had looked angry when they came in, but it wasn't until his eyes fell on Aizawa that the true hatred and seething anger came to his face. Then again at the Sports Festival, the two were together. Mic had been able to talk Aizawa into the Announcer's Box with him. Midoriya was on to something there.
"Mic-sensei?" Uraraka questioned.
"They do seem close." Yaoyorozu hummed.
"That could be a good place to start." Iida added, "Though, we want to be secretive about this, right? That means we need a distraction for sensei."
Todoroki felt the smile tug on his lips as he turned to look at Bakugou. "We were just about to go see Aizawa-sensei." He replied, turning to look back at his classmates. "We could…"
Midoriya's face lit up, "You'd do that?"
Todoroki nodded. "I don't really know what is going on, but if you need him distracted for a bit, I'll do it. I need to talk to him about something important anyway."
Before anyone could question Todoroki about why he needed to see Aizawa, Bakugou was grabbing his wrist and dragging him towards the door. He looked back behind him, giving a small wave before they were heading out. "What was that about?" Todoroki questioned as they got outside.
Bakugou made a grunting noise as he shrugged, "Our classmates being morons." Though Todoroki didn't miss the very subtle smile that came to his face.
X
Hizashi could only stand there, listening to what Tsukauchi had to say. His eyes had fallen on Aizawa to see the mask that he was wearing. Hizashi could see right through him. He was pretty sure that Aizawa had no idea what Tsukauchi was saying anymore. Not after saying that the villain who did this to him was killed in jail. That only meant one thing.
Aizawa was stuck like this.
There was no changing him back.
Not unless they found some other way.
He had reached out, attempting to give Aizawa a form of silent support, only for Aizawa to raise his hand and move a step away. It was like the action had snapped him back into reality as he muttered out a quick, "I have to go."
Tsukauchi gave a look of understanding just as Aizawa all but fled from the room, barely taking a second to shut the door behind him. Hizashi sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. He couldn't imagine what was going through Aizawa's head right now. Aizawa had been acting indifferent to the change. Small moments that Hizashi would see where he was either uncomfortable with it or the times where he seemed fine with it. He knew Aizawa better than anyone else, this was going to be a hit to him. It was the life of a pro hero, but it didn't mean that they weren't allowed to feel.
Aizawa had been having to change so much. His hero costume while waiting for his own designer to get back to the country. Some of his fighting style to compensation for the change in his body. Constantly having to remind people that it didn't change anything. It was a lot in such a short time span. There was only so much that a person could take before they finally broke. Aizawa was always one of those people who never showed it. Never spoke about it. There was a part of him that was getting concerned. Aizawa had been acting like nothing was off, but there was always the subtle moment of looking into his eyes. Aizawa's eyes were always the thing that gave him away. Hizashi was sure Aizawa didn't know he did it. Having his eyes constantly concealed behind goggles played a role in it.
"So, you really think the League is involved?" Hizashi questioned.
Tsukauchi shook his head, "Honestly, with the note that was left on the body… I would say they were targeting our perpetrator for going after Class 1-A and Eraserhead."
Hizashi groaned. "I don't know what's worse. The League killing that bastard or if there was a possibility that they were in cahoots with each other."
"However, that brings up the possibility that the students are being monitored by the League." Tsukauchi stated, bringing Hizashi's full attention back to him. "We combed through security footage that was nearby and we spotted Dabi on one of the cameras. He hung around for a while but didn't appear like he was going to act."
"Dabi was there?!" Hizashi exclaimed, eyes going wide.
Tsukauchi nodded, "I would advise that if any student or faculty member needs to leave school grounds, that they have a partner with them or travel in groups. We can't be certain that is what is happening, but Dabi hung around for a while but left as the fight was being broken up."
Hizashi felt like he could breathe for a second. That must mean that the League doesn't know what happened to Aizawa. Though, Aizawa's body didn't start to change until he was in the hospital already."
Nezu hummed from his desk, getting out of his chair, and rounding the table. "I see. I will call a faculty meeting and we will discuss options. We can't in good heart keep students locked away on campus. We will take steps to ensure their safety."
Hizashi found that he kept peeking over at the door. Wondering where Aizawa had gone. He turned back to the others, excusing himself from the room before he was heading out.
Was Aizawa really this effected by all this, and they just didn't notice?
Or it was finally setting in and Aizawa was having to face it now?
Either way, Hizashi was going to find him. He couldn't leave Aizawa alone in this.
Author's Note: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! So, it seemed pretty much a majority would rather see Aizawa stay as a female, so I cut off his way to do so xD though, I can always come up with something later if I need to xD anyway, I hope you enjoyed! See you next time!