"Akaaaariiii, baby! Ready to go back to your place?"
The redhead snickered and ran a hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face. "You're drunk, Hizashi!" she shouted over the other bar patrons.
"You have eight bottles in front of you," the man beside her argued.
"And you've only got two, Shouta! You're falling behind!" Their blond friend pushed a half-finished bottle of beer toward him, grinning.
Why did she drink so much? Aizawa narrowed his eyes at the various beer bottles, reminded of the energy drinks in her fridge. He started to wonder if she just had some sort of beverage addiction in general.
She leaned heavily against his shoulder, giggling and wrapping her arms around his neck. "No fun, Shouta! Look at that serious expression!"
"Off. Now."
"No way! You're always so grumpy! You wouldn't even stick around after we slept together! Why're you like this, huh?! I…fucking love you…and you're just like a cat! You just…"oh, look at me, I'm Shouta and I'm a grumpy boy and I don't want anyone touching me"…but then you're like "hey, let's be fuck buddies"! I don't even…know what the hell…nn…"
He felt her slump against him and carefully lowered her so she was leaning against the table instead. Her eyes were closed, cherry red lips parted slightly. She passed out? The man glanced across the table in time to see Yamada lean over and push Akari's hair away from her face.
When Yamada looked at him, it was with a huge grin across his face. "I'll take her home, Shouta!"
"Not a chance. You're as drunk as she is. I'm taking her home." Aizawa slid Akari's arm across his shoulders, letting her lean against his side for support as he half-carried her. "Can you settle her bar tab? I'll pay you back tomorrow."
"All of those drinks were bought by someone else," Yagi pointed out from his seat nearby. He, unlike everyone else, was enjoying a simple bottle of water.
"What? Who bought them?"
"Some guy that was here earlier. I just overheard it, but it sounded like an admirer or something kept buying her drinks." He frowned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Probably for the best that she has you and Yamada-san looking after her. Who knows what the guy had planned, right?"
As Aizawa took her out of the bar, he scanned the other patrons with a careful gaze. No one was watching him. No one really stood out to him, either. He had hoped that he might catch a glimpse of whoever was sending her drinks, but he suspected that the "admirer" might have given up when he realized that Akari was there with friends.
Now for the real challenge. He had to get her back to her apartment, hopefully without her getting sick on the way there. When he was a good distance from the bar, he maneuvered her onto his back and scowled to himself.
After hearing her rant in the bar, he had to wonder if she might have consumed so much alcohol so she could avoid talking to him. Remembering everything that she had half-shouted at him, the man felt himself growing irritated.
Is that what she thinks of me? She thinks that I just wanted to sleep with her? His hold on her tightened and he bowed his head, dark hair falling over his face. As terrible as her life choices were sometimes, as dense as she could be, he was able to recognize that the "like" he felt for her before was growing more toward something deeper and powerful.
Shift P.O.V
What…happened last night? Akari felt an arm wrapped around her waist, her back pressed against something warm. Soft breathing could be heard behind the woman and she looked down to the arm that was around her. She remembered going to the bar with Aizawa and meeting up with the other teachers. She remembered a number of drinks brought to her in succession, all of them being gifts.
The other memories were fuzzy. She had sat on Yamada's lap at one point, but she remembered someone pulling her off of him pretty quickly. She could recall Kayama laughing and joking with her. Akari had talked to Yagi at one point, too. The redhead had tried to avoid talking alone with Aizawa, drinking more to try to build up her courage to confront him at the end of the night.
Aizawa. She blinked and slowly looked over her shoulder at her sleeping coworker. His expression was soft and peaceful. Nothing like the harsh glare he tended to wear during the day. The man's messy black hair was spread across the pillow behind him as he slept. Warmth rose to her face as she looked at him and she felt a tingling sensation everywhere that his body made contact with hers.
Akari remained in that position for a while; enjoying his embrace and admiring how attractive he looked without the fear of him seeing her stare. Finally, she snapped out of her trance and carefully slid out of bed. He stayed asleep as the woman slipped out of the room to walk to the kitchen.
They were both fully dressed so she knew that they had just slept next to each other. That was a small relief. However, as she began to fill the kettle for tea, she realized that she still had a problem. Frowning, she leaned back against the counter and waited for the water to heat up. I still need to have that talk with him. We never got around to it last night because I drank too much.
Threading her fingers into her thick, crimson locks, she bit her lower lip. It was not an easy topic to approach. She wanted him to know how she felt about him, but Akari had only really confessed her feelings to someone once before. That had been Yamada, in their second year of high school. He had made it obvious from the start that he liked her so it was really easy to tell him.
Aizawa tended to be kind of cold sometimes. Aloof. Like a cat, she thought as she grabbed a box of tea from the cupboard. It's like dealing with an angry black cat. Rubbing the back of her neck, she remembered that night they spent together and she began to blush again. He bit me. And it left marks. Hizashi didn't say anything, but I know that he saw them.
Footsteps approached from the bedroom and when her dark-haired colleague appeared in the doorway, he found her glancing at him briefly. "Morning," he spoke, pushing his hair away from his eyes.
"Mm-hm." Akari swiftly turned her back to him, focusing her gaze on the cups in the cupboard. "Want some tea? I already heated up some water. I've got mint tea, black tea, some green tea, and cof-" Her eyes widened as an arm wrapped around her waist from behind, the man's hips pushing against her backside as her words faltered. Heat rushed through her and she bit her lip again, trying to summon forth some courage.
"Akari. You can't keep avoiding me." His voice sounded a little rough from just waking up and when his fingers moved to draw her hair over her shoulder, his fingertips brushed over her collarbone. "What do you think this is?"
She swallowed her nervousness and bowed her head. "It's…just fun. Right? Casual. I told you how I felt…and I was sober for that. It took a lot of courage, you know. But here's the thing; I don't want something like that. I don't want a one-night stand or hookups here and there. I'm…too old for that, okay? We both are. I'm an adult. I want some form of commitment so-"
The female hero went silent as she felt warm lips caress the side of her neck. Fingers ran through her hair and gently tipped her head to the side, giving him better access to her pale, sensitive skin. When he drew away, she bit back a soft whimper at the loss of contact. Her knees felt weak, the warmth in her body increasing as he pressed closer against her back.
"I don't want something casual," he stated firmly. "I thought I made it clear enough that night. I like you. So I want to make this work."
"Nn…" Akari gripped the counter's edge as she felt his fingers slide beneath the waist of her jeans. "Sh-Shouta…wait…"
"We have all day. Do you want this?"
"We don't have work, but…" As if on cue, there was a knock at the door that drew Aizawa's attention. "I made plans with Hizashi today. And he's early."
He buried his face in the side of her neck, growling quietly and pushing his hand deeper past the denim. "I'm staying tonight."
She felt his fingertips brush over a delicate area and her hips involuntarily bucked forward against his hand. "Ngh. Y-yeah. I like that idea."
When Akari went to answer the door, her blond friend's grin quickly faded. He looked past her at Aizawa and raised an eyebrow. "Did you two hookup last night or what?!" he inquired, peering at her curiously through his glasses.
Her face went red and she held up her hands. "Hizashi-!"
"What if we did?" The question came from Aizawa as he looked down into his cup of tea.
At this, Yamada's grin returned. "Then I'd say "nice"! Didn't happen though, did it?" He strolled into Akari's home as if it was his own and went to join Aizawa in the kitchen. "Oh! What kind of tea are we having?"
"Ah…black?" Akari poured a cup for him and snickered when he scrunched up his nose at the bitter aroma. "Something wrong?"
"You're both kinda crazy, huh?" Seeing them shrug at the same time, he laughed. "So! I guess we've got a change of plans, Akari, baby. I thought it'd be just the two of us today, but we've got Shouta with us now, right? Or were you going home?"
The man downed his entire cup of tea and set it down with a satisfied sort of look in his eyes. "I'll come back later, Akari."
Yamada waited for him to go before turning to the redhead with a curious expression. "So? What was that about?"
"We just slept together." She saw his eyebrows raise and shook her head, her face turning pink. "Not like that! Hizashi, pull your mind out of the gutter!"
"Awww! You know you like it when I think dirty~" he teased. Reaching over, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to him. "So is this still a date today?"
Her heart felt like it was dropping into her stomach. Guilt made her avert her gaze and she frowned. "Hizashi. I think maybe we should put a pin in the dating idea for now, okay?"
"It's Shouta, right?" He saw her nod and sighed. "Akari, baby!"
"I know. I just…need to sort this out, okay? I'm not going to lead you on."
"I know you wouldn't do that! You really think that I thought you'd do that?!" Yamada rolled his eyes and released her wrist. "Well I'm here if you want to talk! Just remember that, babe!"
