When his eyes first opened, he was understandably puzzled. The bedroom was unfamiliar to his groggy mind. There was a subtle, floral aroma to the pillow beneath his head and the blanket that was pulled up to his chest. A warm body was lying on top of him beneath the cover and bright crimson hair was spread out over the black blanket. A head was resting on his chest, a delicate and pale hand half-gripping to his shirt.
Blinking up at the ceiling, Aizawa slowly remembered what had happened. He swore to help her get a full night's sleep and had gone to her apartment to see how he could help. A glance at the alarm clock showed that it was actually morning so he had more or less succeeded. They had been asleep for almost twelve hours.
He contemplated waking her up or even just trying to slip out of the bed, but it was too warm and comfortable. Even with her on top of him, he felt too cozy to want to get up. Instead, he slipped an arm around her and closed his eyes again.
It was as he was falling asleep once more that he heard the lock on the apartment door click. There was a whistling for a moment as the door opened and closed, followed quickly by their blond friend's louder than necessary voice. "Akari, baby! Want to go get some breakfast?"
Shit. The dark-haired hero burrowed further beneath the blankets, attempting to do so without waking up Akahana. He accidently turned onto his side in the process, but managed to get his face hidden under the covers. However, now they were in a different position. Her chest was pressed against his, her right leg wedged between his legs and her arms wrapped around his neck. Aizawa pressed a hand to her back, trying to make them look as inconspicuous beneath the blanket as possible.
There were a few thuds as Yamada removed his shoes near the door and then soft footsteps headed straight for the bedroom. "Akaaaarrrriiiiii! I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop in! Are you still asleep? C'mon! Let's go eat somewhere nice today; my treat!"
Aizawa tensed, hearing the man's voice draw closer. This is bad. It was not a matter of getting embarrassed. No, this was a matter of comfort. Yamada was about to interrupt this warm, comfortable moment and thereby force Aizawa into the bright morning light. Holding Akahana closer, he grimaced and closed his eyes tightly. Just leave. I want to go back to sleep. It's a Sunday.
Yamada snickered as he approached the side of the bed. "Awww! Someone's extra sleepy today, hm? Wait, are you holding a body pillow? Let me give you something better to hold while you sleep," he teased.
Don't you dare. He almost growled when he felt the other man flop onto the bed and press up against his back, throwing an arm across Aizawa's covered form. Gritting his teeth, he had the urge to throw the blanket back, but it was still so pleasant underneath.
"Babe, why do your shoulders feel so broad?"
Shift P.O.V
Akari felt so warm and comfortable that she was reluctant to wake up, but consciousness returned despite her wishes. How long did I sleep for? She started to open her eyes and realized that someone was holding her against their chest. The woman tilted her head back and her cerulean eyes met a pair of dark, half-closed ones. "…Shouta…?" she mumbled, still groggy. "Wait! Shouta?!"
The female hero backed away so quickly that she tumbled off of her bed and onto the floor with a hard thud. She scrambled to sit up and was further alarmed to find Yamada also in her room, sitting on the man's other side on top of the blanket. "Hizashi, what-?! What happened? What's going on? Why are you-? I mean…what…what's going on?"
He peered at her over Aizawa's still blanket-covered figure and raised an eyebrow. "Shouta?" He threw the blanket back and grinned. "Did you two have a sleepover without me?"
"Nn." Akari ran her fingers through her thick, crimson hair as warmth rushed to her face. "Wh-what time is it?"
"Hm? It's around seven o'clock in the morning," the blond replied, poking at their friend's cheek.
"Stop." Aizawa was quickly up and leaving the room, his expression clearly showing his displeasure.
Yamada approached Akari to help her stand and grinned. "That guy's like a cat, babe; he can fall sleep anywhere! Did you have a good nap?"
"Seven o'clock…" She realized that one of her tank top straps was half off her shoulder and moved to fix it. "We were out for around twelve hours."
"Wow! And you slept that whole time? Maybe you just need to sleep next to someone, huh? I can volunteer~" His grin spread wider when he saw her faintly blush. "Aww! You know you love me, Akari, baby!"
She snickered and shook her head. "You're ridiculous."
"You feel better though, right? You got a full night's sleep!"
"…yeah…" Akari grabbed some clean clothes and changed in the bathroom. When she walked out to the living room with Yamada, she planned to give him an excuse as to why she could not go to breakfast. As much as she did want to, she needed a moment to herself after apparently spending the night cuddling against their mutual friend. Unfortunately, this mutual friend had other ideas.
Aizawa glared at the two from the apartment door, already wearing his shoes and looking annoyed. "Are we going or not?"
Yamada's face instantly lit up. "You want to get breakfast with us, Shouta?"
"You said you're buying."
"I am!" He threw his arm around his friend's shoulders as Akari grabbed an energy drink from the fridge. "Just like a real morning after, huh? You two didn't do anything last night-?" A bright red ribbon wrapped around the lower half of his face, muffling his words. He began wildly waving his arms and shaking his head, trying to free himself.
Akari glared from the kitchen and approached slowly. "That's enough." Her gaze briefly flitted to Aizawa, just to see his reaction. He rubbed the back of his neck and cracked the tiniest of half-smiles. Oh…no. Oh no. Don't make that face. I can't…deal with a face like that.
When she released him from her capture weapon, she shot Yamada a stern look that he immediately smiled at. "Nn. You said you're paying?" she asked, frowning to herself.
Throughout the meal, she found herself stealing glances at Aizawa. The woman silently cursed herself for getting so flustered. I'm thirty years old. I'm not a teenager. I shouldn't get all fluttery over something like this. I mean, it's not like I'm a virgin or something. She yawned as she stirred her coffee and frowned down at the dark beverage. From her peripheral, she could see him yawning as well.
Yamada was doing something on his phone for most of their meal, thankfully. The walk to the restaurant had consisted of him asking many questions and receiving few answers. A good night's sleep or not, the other two teachers were still Akari and Aizawa. Quiet people that had no wish to discuss personal stuff.
Green eyes lifted from the phone screen as a mischievous grin spread across his face. "Akari, remember our sleepover?" he started.
"Which one?" she mumbled, yawning.
"You know the one." There was a teasing tone to his voice and he winked at her when she looked his way. "You know!"
She smirked. "Oh, right. That one."
"That was a fun sleepover, wasn't it? I'd kill to have another sleepover like that one!" Excitement leaked into his voice as he leaned forward in his seat toward her. "How about it, Akari, baby? Want me to stay the night?"
"No." Watching his grin crumble made her smirk grow a little. "We've got work tomorrow."
"Sunday it is! I'm putting it in my calendar!"
"It's too early for this crap." Their dark-haired friend glared at both of them, a cup of black coffee in his hand. "What are you talking about?"
Yamada pressed a finger to Akari's lips when she was about to answer and turned to Aizawa with a sly smile. "It's a secret~"
After parting ways with Aizawa, she found herself thinking about the whole incident. Dozing off next to him and then waking up in his arms, in her bed. It was still flustering, no matter what she told herself. That was embarrassing. I had my arms around his neck like I was cuddling with him.
Running her fingers through her hair, she glanced over at Yamada and saw him still wearing that kind of mischievous grin. "What?"
"I never thought I'd catch you with Shouta in a position like that."
"Nn? Well…it happens, I guess. It doesn't really matter anyway; we were both just sleeping," she explained. Scuffing the tip of her boot against the ground, she frowned to herself. That's right. It doesn't matter. I mean…it didn't matter to Aizawa, right? He didn't seem like he really cared at all.
She bid her friend farewell after a while and settled on her bed in her room, holding her pillow to her chest. Staring up at the ceiling, her crimson lips were twisted into a deep frown. I'm weird. I'm creepy. I can't blame Aizawa for just taking off after breakfast. That was awkward. Burying her face in the pillow, she could still smell him on it and it made her flush almost as red as her hair.
As much as she wanted to think that it might have meant something to him, Akari knew that life was not a fairy tale. He was not a prince and she was not a princess. He would not call her and say he was thinking about her. He would probably never mention this day again and she would just have to make peace with that. In real life, things rarely lined up. A person was not guaranteed that their crush would reciprocate their feelings.
When Akari's phone rang, she nearly fell off of her bed again in her haste to grab it. Her hopes were high for all of five seconds before her brain registered the name of the caller. "Hey, Kayama."
"Hey there! What are you doing right now, Akahana?"
She sat upright on her blanket and hugged her pillow, looking around. "Not really doing anything. I just got back from breakfast with Hizashi and Aizawa."
"So I was wondering…"
"Nn? What is it?" It was clear that her friend was about to ask something embarrassing. Her voice always got a little bit higher, as if she could hardly contain her impending amusement.
"Did you and Hizashi get back together?"
