Chapter 8
Fatgum

"Aizawa!"

Kirishima instantly looks up when he hears the familiar voice. Before he could say anything, a giant yellow blob dashes from the classroom door and right towards his homeroom teacher.

"It's good t'see ya again!" Fatgum says excitedly as he engulfs Mr. Aizawa in a giant hug that lifts his teacher off the ground. He gasps at the sight, and hears his friends doing the same. He's surprised that Fatgum is here but he, and knows everyone else, are very surprised that Fatgum would hug Mr. Aizawa like that!

What surprises him even more is that Mr. Aizawa doesn't make any attempt to escape the embrace, merely lets himself limp in Fatgum's arms.

"Fatgum," Mr. Aizawa starts, voice slightly muffled by Fatgum's costume. "I told you specifically to meet at Gym Beta later."

Ah, so today's training is going to be special and it involves Fatgum! That sounds exciting!

"I got too excited t'meet ya 'n' dun wanna waste more time!" Fatgum replies, bringing Mr. Aizawa closer to him almost completely engulfing him into his body. His teacher only sighs.

"Fatgum, sir!" he calls out to gain the Hero's attention. "You know Mr. Aizawa personally?" he asks and hears his friend agreeing with his questions. He receives a happy laughter from Fatgum.

"'Course I know Aizawa!" Fatgum replies as he finally puts Mr. Aizawa down. "He's my friend!" he tells everyone excitedly with a wide smile, one hand placed on Mr. Aizawa's shoulder. The smile is infectious because his own smile widens. Fatgum sounds proud when he proclaimed his friendship with Mr. Aizawa!

"Is there a reason for you to grab me?" Mr. Aizawa asks the taller Hero, not removing the giant hand from his person. Fatgum laughs but much gentler than the previous one.

"What'd ya mean? Ya love hugs!" Fatgum loudly proclaims. "Well, I wouldn't've known if Miruko hadn't told me that ya secretly a cuddler."

He hears a few of his friends giggle but he can only smile sympathetically, feeling sorry that Mr. Aizawa got rat out. But Mr. Aizawa loves hugs, huh? He can't help but thinks that's pretty manly!

"Fatgum please," Mr. Aizawa says in exasperation. Immediately, Fatgum slaps his hands onto his mouth.

"Oh, sorry! I shouldn't've said that out loud, 'specially t'your kids!" Fatgum says and Mr. Aizawa only sighs. "Oh, before I forget!" Fatgum quickly puts his hand in a pocket and pulls out a decently sized bento box, wrapped with purple cloth with cat pattern on it. "Here's f'ya."

"You don't need to this every time," Mr. Aizawa comments, but takes the box from the giant Hero anyway.

"Ya ain't always comin' t'have a meal with me when I invited ya. Can't just leave the food there, y'know," Fatgum replies with a smile. Mr. Aizawa doesn't reply to that, merely puts the bento box on his table.

"Fatgum, sir!" he hears Kaminari starts. Looking at his friend, he is standing up from his chair and has a hand risen. "How long have you known, Mr. Aizawa?"

"Irrelevant questions, Kaminari," Mr. Aizawa shoots down. Kaminari wilts and sits back down.

"Don't be so harsh, Aizawa!" Fatgum laughs while slapping Mr. Aizawa by the shoulder. "It ain't time f'their trainin' yet 'n' I ain't minding answerin' some questions," Fatgum continues. Mr. Aizawa only sighs in defeat, which seems to be a go for Fatgum. "Aizawa 'n' I had been friends f'a long time, been workin' with each other since we became Heroes, 'specially when Aizawa went undercover."

"Yo, Mr. Aizawa went undercover?!" he hears Ashido says, sounding astonished.

"Y'got it right! Aizawa's great at undercover that Heroes arrested 'im! Which's actually how he met his now wife!"

"Fatgum," Mr. Aizawa interrupts but his voice gets drown out by the round of laughter from the class with Fatgum being the loudest of all.

"Oh! I got somethin' t'show ya!" Fatgum says to everyone. He steps forward and away from Mr. Aizawa and takes out a photo, he thinks, from his pocket. Immediately, almost everyone, including himself, gets out from their seats to get a closer look. Unfortunately for him, his friends are blocking the way.

"Wow!"

"How did he do that?"

"Is that even humanly possible?"

"Mr. Aizawa is a cat confirmed."

Now he is very interested. He quickly pushes himself further into the mass until he pops out on the other side, where he knows Fatgum is at. It turns out he is right, it is a photo, but it is what's being photographed that got his friends so surprised.

It's Mr. Aizawa sleeping on top of a thin fence without any support, somehow balancing himself. It looks impossible to pull off yet Mr. Aizawa looked comfortable.

"Aizawa can sleep in any places as long as it's flat," Fatgum says with a giddy smile. He looks happy sharing the information! "This ain't the best one yet too!"

"It is an essential requirement as an Underground Hero, especially those specialized in undercover operations," Mr. Aizawa suddenly interrupts, gaining everyone's attention. "Comfort is never the necessity when you need to be prepared at the opportune time."

"But in the silver linin', ya love snuggles!" Fatgum instantly replies as he quickly grabs Mr. Aizawa and pulls him into another massive hug. Mr. Aizawa only groans but doesn't demand to let go.

RING!

"That's the bell," Mr. Aizawa says, voice muffled by Fatgum once more. "Get to Gym Beta and be prepared for special training today."

"Yes sir, Mr. Aizawa, sir!"

"Now get going," Mr. Aizawa orders and immediately he and his classmates dash out the door and sprint to Gym Beta without wasting any more time. He's excited for today's training!

The sight of Mr. Aizawa allowing himself to get hugged by Fatgum stays firmly in his mind.

It might get him distracted later and Mr. Aizawa will not be happy about it.

.

When school hour was finished he had gone straight to his room to get a good shower before deciding to head back downstairs to the common area. As he rides the elevator down to the common area, he releases a satisfied sigh, feeling really refreshed. The training on the first period was awesome! Fatgum was so manly too! He looks forward to who is going to help them in future training!

The elevator doors slide open and he strolls into the common area but falters in his steps when hush voices enter his hearing. He frowns in confusion on why his friends are being so quiet. Entering further, the first thing he sees is Fatgum's large form sitting in the middle of the couch.

Before he could say anything, excited that Fatgum is staying a little longer, Fatgum quickly puts a finger to his lips. Immediately, he closes his mouth. Now that he acknowledges Fatgum's presence, he begins to notice his friends circling around the large Hero, all whispering while looking at something Fatgum has. Curiosity mixed in, he tiptoes closes to get a better view.

It's Mr. Aizawa, leaning heavily into Fatgum, almost consumed by the larger Hero. His eyes are closed and that is probably the most relaxed look on his face. He had noticed that even when he is sleeping in his sleeping bag, Mr. Aizawa always has a light frown. But right now… there is none.

Mr. Aizawa is blissfully sleeping.

"Before Aizawa was a teacher at UA, he occasionally dropped by my agency," Fatgum suddenly starts with a hush voice. The quiet whispers from his friends disappear and they focus their attention to the large Hero. Fatgum has his eyes glue on their homeroom teacher. "I always made time f'im, t'be there with 'im, y'know? Coz he's my friend."

Fatgum carefully lifts a hand and gently lets it rest on Mr. Aizawa's shoulder. Their homeroom teacher shifts before releasing a deep sigh and leans more into Fatgum.

"One day I made a joke 'n' made m'self laughed so hard I had t'hold Aizawa t'keep m'self from fallin'," Fatgum continues. "When I let go, Aizawa didn't move away. Seconds later I felt him slackened. Thought I choked him or somethin', you know?" he jokes which makes a few hush giggles. "But when I looked down, he was in a deep slumber."

Fatgum rubs a giant thumb over Mr. Aizawa's shoulder. He notices that a soft smile blooms on Fatgum's lips, eyes still glue on the smaller Hero's form.

"Since then, it had been a sacred tradition." The smile quickly shifts to sheepish. "Well, I would say it a tradition but I didn't know if Aizawa sees it the same. He never seeks me out, never asked for it. It's always me who started it."

The sheepish smile disappear and the soft one from before returns.

"If we're somewhere private, I would pull 'im t'm'self 'n' he would instantly drifts away, so deep in slumber he wouldn't wake up easily, 'n' that is a shocker because Aizawa's a very light sleeper. Slightest vibration could wake 'im up in an instant." The smile turns sad. "I know it's 'cause of paranoia, somethin' every Underground Hero faces on every day basis, 'specially Aizawa."

Fatgum suddenly stops speaking. He lets his thumb to continue rubbing Mr. Aizawa's shoulder. He notices his friends are looking at each other with surprised but saddened look. He guesses they are reeling that Mr. Aizawa is so paranoid that he is not truly resting this whole.

That would explain the frown on his face even when he's sleeping.

"I would never, ever move," Fatgum starts once more. His voice is quieter than before. "I would never disturb his sleep. I would hold him here just like this 'til he wakes up. I would tell my agency that I won't be available f'a while and they'd understand, even cancellin' the plans that had scheduled up at that moment. Sometimes, I would stay like this for hours. Aizawa would apologize f'it when he wakes up."

The soft smile returns on Fatgum's lips once more. Now it is bigger and somehow shines in his eyes too.

"But I always tell 'im that I will go 'n' wait forever for him. Because Aizawa is a friend I very, deeply, care about. Aizawa is one of the few who I hold very close, closer among others." Fatgum stops the gentle rubbing and pulls Mr. Aizawa much closer to his being. "F'a long time I thought Aizawa might've not thought of me as the same, but I was wrong when he suddenly invited him over for his wedding. And I didn't even know he was gettin' married."

The soft smile changes to a more cheerful one but the softness in his eyes stays.

"T'say I was happy was an understatement. I know just how private Aizawa is, so to be one of the few he is comfortable with… it sent a wave of relief 'n' pure happiness throughout my body."

Fatgum goes silent. He guesses that's the end of it. He looks around his friends and notices some are teary eyed, mainly his female friends with Ashido being the worst. Fatgum suddenly lets out a nervous chuckle, careful not to wake up Mr. Aizawa.

"Sorry t'tell y'all all that, kids. Just wanna y'all know Aizawa's ain't all that mean."

"It's okay, Fatgum sir," Kaminari replies with voice slightly thicker than what he usually heard from his blonde haired friend. It affects Kaminari too.

He himself is not fairing any better anyway, he thinks as he wipes away a trailing tear.

"Hope y'all forgive Aizawa if he's bein' too harsh," Fatgum adds.

"It's okay, sir. We already know," he hears Yaoyorozu says.

Yeah, they begin to see that Mr. Aizawa is not entirely bad. In fact, Mr. Aizawa was never bad to begin with; he's just harsh but for their best. The past few weeks had showed them that Mr. Aizawa is just more than just a Hero/teacher. The conversation with Principal Nedzu had said so much volume and the revelation had made him wept.

Mr. Aizawa is among the manliest there is!

"We should have a sleepover here!" Hagakure whispers excitedly. "Mr. Aizawa looks so comfy there and I'm so jealous." Immediately, everyone quietly cheers in agreement.

.

"Is the popcorn ready yet?"

"It will be just a sec."

"Did you make sure to close it?"

"Crap!"

"Shh!"

"Make sure to turn on the subtitles."

"Make sure to put the movie on silent especially."

He puts down the many blankets on the carpet in front of the TV. He sees his friends silently walking around the room, preparing some snacks, their own blankets and pillows. Everyone is being quiet, even Bakugou keeps his mouth shut and ends up being the quietest.

"Popcorn's ready."

"Movie is set."

"Everyone's here too."

"Get it start already!"

"Shh!"

"Sorry."

He makes room for Asui to walk through. He grabs his pillows and makes himself comfortable in his place. The movie begins silently but everyone watches nonetheless.

He looks away from the screen and up to the only two occupants of the couch.

Fatgum is tenderly runs his hand over Mr. Aizawa's hair.

A grin appears on his lips.

Mr. Aizawa and Fatgum are so manly!