Chapter 22: Falling Slowly

Kimura

The rest of the day dragged on, but she had renewed energy. But I also just want to see you to be honest. She couldn't help running those words through her mind. The next day she packed an extra lunch in case Aizawa forgot. He showed up at her classroom at lunchtime, his own lunch in hand. She had not seen him since his invitation the previous day. They ate their lunches, talked "shop" talk, talked about what he would be preparing for dinner, talked about additional plans on Sunday and meeting up. Ren felt like one of her students, giddy with excitement for their day off. She hoped she would keep her resolve. She worried all this may be too much for her, that she wasn't ready. But now that she had a more clear idea of Aizawa's feelings on the matter (did she really though?) it gave her the courage to make those steps with him. Guess she would see how the weekend panned out.

Saturday they didn't meet for lunch due to Aizawa's schedule. She had walked to work that morning leaving her bike at home since the plan was they would ride the bus together to Aizawa's apartment. The last bell rang and as her students filed out she saw Aizawa waiting outside her classroom doorway. She tried to suppress a grin. One of the girls had stopped abruptly in her tracks when she saw Aizawa. She turned and looked at Ren, then back at Aizawa, and continued walking out of the class her head low and her stride quicker than it was before. She was a first-year hero student in Class B, so she didn't have Aizawa as a teacher but Ren was sure she was probably a bit terrified of him through reputation. She walked out and the two made their way to the bus stop in silence. They got a few stares from students but none of them gave them much notice. Word had gotten around about the Pain/Erasure study through the student body so the two of them being together probably wasn't alarming to anyone.

On the bus, they sat on a bench next to each other. Aizawa would look out the window and then at her, then break the gaze to stare ahead, a slight smile on his face. They sat in silence, but she didn't mind it. She knew that was his natural and most comfortable state. Ren many times would talk to fill the silence. Small talk or jumping right into something deep. She could chat with strangers, she just liked engaging with others. She remembered trying to engage young Aizawa in talk back when she was at Golden Time Agency. He was polite, but she felt she probably talked around him way too much then. But ever since working at UA this school year, her interactions with him were very different. She was a little intimidated by him so staying silent around him had been easier than it was with others. The last 5 years had made her a bit more introverted as well. They arrived at his stop. As they exited the bus and started walking next to each other, Aizawa grabbed her hand gently. She reflexively pulled her hand back. She glanced at his face, he was looking forward, his lower face partially obscured by his binding cloth. She grabbed his hand, looked ahead, and they continued their trek downtown. They arrived at his apartment a few minutes later. Socks was happy to see her again. She thought that Aizawa probably didn't get a lot of visitors. Aizawa retreated to his bedroom without a word. Ren got out her laptop and sat at the bar. She retrieved her grade book from her bag and started going through the online assessments. Aizawa returned, his hair looped loosely in a low bun. He was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with a large faded and peeling label on the front and old faded jeans. "You actually own clothes that aren't black! I was convinced a peek into your closet would reveal just rows of black."

Aizawa smirked. "Well, that's not very far from the truth. And due to how busy I've been I have a lot of laundry to do. You see me wear something like this, know it's because my closet is almost empty."

Aizawa

He opened his fridge to start dinner. Suddenly loud knocking filled the air. Aizawa sighed heavily.

"If that's Yamada, I'll take care of it," Ren said irritated.

He opened the door to find a man standing with bags of food. "Sorry, I think you have the wrong apartment," Aizawa said.

"Are you Shota Aizawa? Apartment 33-D?"

Aizawa nodded. He turned his head looking at Ren suspiciously.

"It wasn't me. I trust you won't give me food poisoning," she said with a laugh.

Upon further questioning, the meal had been paid for already. Aizawa shrugged, tipped the delivery man and brought the food to the island. There was yakitori, miso soup, and takoyaki. His favorites from a local place.

"Hmmmm." He looked quizzically at Ren again.

"I swear it wasn't me!" She laughed again. He looked at her sitting at the island smiling; Her laughter ringing out, her hair draping over her shoulders and down her back, her face full of contentment. It brought life to his dreary apartment. He brought out plates and chopsticks. As Ren was tidying up the bags she found a small white card with a written message. She handed it to Aizawa.

"Heard through the grapevine you had a hard week. Take care of yourself, please! Dinner's on me tonight since I know you would normally just have instant ramen and an applesauce packet tonight. You do know you're not a child anymore right? Rest this weekend! I'll be back in town Monday and will yell at you in person then!

Kayama"

An amused look came over Aizawa's face. Kayama had been out of town for the last two weeks on vacation. Yamada must have told her what happened, his "brain zap," as Yamada put it. How did he have friends that were so meddlesome? He told Ren about the card as they sat at the table and had dinner.

"So, I remember Kayama dropping by Golden Time to see you back in the day. You guys were at UA together right?" Ren asked him.

"Yes, we've been friends since UA. She was a year above me. I worked with her at the same hero agency during my work-study. She was really more like a mother hen to me, Yamada, and Shir…" Aizawa cut off his sentence and paused a bit before resuming. "Let's just say I think that dynamic has just stuck through the years. She does the same with Yamada. Probably why she switched to teaching years ago, natural nurturer. It doesn't seem to match her R-rated hero aesthetic but it is what it is."

After dinner, Ren sat back at the island and continued her grading.

"Guess you'll have to come over for dinner tomorrow since I still have all that food that needs to be cooked up."

"I'm game."

Aizawa decided to work on school papers as well. He had about two dozen drawings/schematics the hero class students had submitted for updates/upgrades to their hero costumes. The second-year support students had already started meeting with the first-year hero classes to begin tweaking and adding support gear to their costumes. Vlad, the other first-year hero class teacher, asked Aizawa to look at his students' update forms. He told Aizawa this was outside his skill set and if he could meet with him after school for suggestions. This was Vlad's first year teaching at UA so Aizawa understood why he was a bit hesitant. But Aizawa didn't want to change his Saturday night plans so he told Vlad he would check all the hero class updates and approve the ones that were safe and practical and next semester when the opportunity arose again he would go over it with him then. He walked over to the living area and spread them out on the rug. He sat crossed-legged on the floor looking at the designs.

"Well this looks a lot more interesting than what I'm working on." Ren was kneeling next to Aizawa looking over the colorful papers. Aizawa shrugged. "Want any help?" she asked.

"Don't you have a bunch of grading to do?" Aizawa replied.

"Yes, but I'm already over it and want a break."

Aizawa looked at her slightly amused. "Sure. So stapled to the back is the original design….."

Kimura

After about an hour they had edited, declined, or approved the costume schematics. Ren tried to suppress her smiling when Aizawa would go into lecture mode. He was all about the details. Ren would not have thought there was so much to consider for a costume. Not just safety for the wearer and those around them, but also if the ability the support item was enhancing was a good fit for the fighting style of the individual. Aizawa also mentioned it was important to think about how the support item meshed with the rest of the class. "You have to consider these kids will be training alongside each other the next 3 years. It is worth it for them to play to the strength of good matchups amongst their fellow classmates. But you can't sacrifice their abilities in one-to-one combat. It's a balance. Most likely when they are scouted by pro-hero agencies, their employers are observing how their quirks work with other quirks. I think these kids just think hero agencies are looking for the smartest, the quickest, the strongest, or the flashiest. But, as you know through your experience with Golden Time, oftentimes agencies are looking at the new prospects that will work best with their already existing roster."

"Well, what if they want to be a solo hero?" Ren asked him.

"I haven't had a single student purposefully choose that path. A few students a year end up not placing in hero agencies. Some try solo work or they freelance with the police or hero agencies. They usually will get picked up by an agency after a year or so. Others don't continue down the hero path, they go to university or take a job in the civilian sector." Aizawa continued writing notes on one of the schematics. It was barely legible.

"Why did you decide to be a solo hero? Lack of options wasn't your reason from what I remember. Golden Time was one of many that hoped to sign you."

Aizawa stopped scribbling his remarks on the paper and looked at Ren. "Normally I would say it was none of your business," Aizawa gave a half-smile. Ren felt a bit hurt for a second and hoped her face didn't show it. "But, I think it's a conversation we need to have. That I want to have with you. Just not right now." Aizawa looked away from her and continued writing.

"Fair enough," Ren replied. How could he at times be so cautious and delicate with how he said things and then he could turn around and say something sarcastic or abrasive? Jekyll and Hyde.

Ren leaned over and reached for the spread-out papers Aizawa had finished with and started stacking them. She reached to grab the last one furthest from her and suddenly felt the large curl that had fallen over her right eye being brushed behind her ear. She froze and dared not look to her right.

"Ren." He said her name softly. She turned towards Aizawa. He reached for her arm and pulled her towards him. Her face felt hot and she felt slightly dizzy. As he pulled her into his arms, she saw his dark brown eyes ignite to crimson, his hair pulled itself from the confines of its loose hairband and floated above him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and their lips met.

Aizawa

He sat on the floor his back against the front of the couch. Leaning his head back against the seat of the couch, he squeezed the last of the lubricating eye drops into his eyes. He blinked his lids in rapid succession. They were terribly bloodshot. He closed his eyes and wrapped an arm around Ren. She was curled up against his right side her head on his shoulder. He took a deep breath and exhaled contentedly. The evening had crept in on them. The lights in the apartment were not on, but the living area was dimly illuminated by the bright signs and street lights from the city below them.

"How do you sleep at night? The lights outside are so bright," Ren asked.

"I have room darkening shades in my bedroom. Although I could still sleep without them."

"Not surprised. You can sleep under the harsh glare of fluorescents in the teachers' lounge."

Ren turned in towards Aizawa her face inches away from his neck behind his ear. He felt her warm breath tickle his skin. He pulled away.

"None of that until we have more eye drops."

"Do you have any more in the apartment?"

"No, we went through two and a half bottles." Ren grinned. "You're worse than any group of villains I've ever had to fight. A bottle when I was an underground hero would last me at least 4 days on my busiest week."

"Trip to the pharmacy?" Ren asked a sly smile on her face.

Aizawa gave her a skeptical look. "There's a 24 hour pharmacy about a fifteen minute walk from here."

"Does this pharmacy have ice cream, too?"

Aizawa

They walked down the street hand in hand. The evenings had started to become chilly. The streets were surprisingly less crowded than usual for a Saturday evening. At the pharmacy, Aizawa had bought all the bottles they had of the specific brand of eye drops he liked. Seven bottles. "That's a bit presumptuous of you," Ren said to him as they checked out.

"Or I just don't want to have to come back here anytime soon. I am rationing these out now. One bottle in a 24 hour period from now on."

Ren groaned, "You're no fun."

When they got back to the apartment, Ren pulled two bowls from the cabinet and dished out mint chocolate chip ice cream for them both. Aizawa shook his head. "I don't eat ice cream."

"You said you liked mint-chocolate chip."

"No. You asked if you should get mint chocolate chip and I said yes."

Ren rolled her eyes. "Well, I guess I'll have to eat both bowls then."

Afterward, Ren was shivering at the bar her arms wrapped around her. Aizawa shook his head. He left down the hallway and then reemerged with a gray fuzzy blanket. He draped it over her shoulders and then lifted her up suddenly off the barstool. He plopped himself on the couch with Ren in his arms still shivering. He gently pulled her head against his chest and she tightly wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. Aizawa did nothing to suppress a luxuriant yawn.

"I'm pretty beat. I've been so busy, not getting in my 10 hours of sleep a day."

"10 hours? Are you a toddler?" Ren chided.

"Many seem to think so. If I don't get that, I just can't function at 100 percent. You realize you've kept me up very late 3 nights out of the last 10."

"My apologies Sleeping Beauty," Ren said trying not to laugh. "I can call a cab and get out of your hair." Aizawa's heart suddenly sank. He wasn't having that.

"No. I just bought all those eye drops and I'm going to get my money's worth." Aizawa leapt off the couch and slung Ren over his shoulder. Due to her being wrapped in a blanket she was completely incapacitated. She even somehow got her head covered up in the blanket. She thrashed about, like a worm on a hook. "Aizawa! Put me down!"

Aizawa smiled slightly, pleased with himself. His sadistic side was having a little bit of fun. He walked down the hallway to his bedroom. He tossed the Ren burrito on his bed. Aizawa went into his closet and pulled a black long sleeve shirt off a hanger. It took him a while to find some black sweatpants that had a long drawstring. He didn't wear that style much anymore. He favored the waistband to be more tailor-made to his own waist so that there wasn't a lot of bulky fabric under his utility belt. He walked out of the closet and saw Ren sitting cross-legged on his bed. Her hair was frizzy and a bit wild from her journey from the living room.

"Clothes for you to sleep in, Mrs. Kimura. The bathroom is across the hall. Bed is yours for the night." He leaned across the bed and kissed her on the forehead, activating Erasure at the very last second. He was getting good at this.

"Goodnight Aizawa."

"Goodnight Ren," Aizawa said softly.

He walked to the living room and laid on the couch. He wanted to stay with Ren, be next to her. The idea of laying there, her body curled up against him, her head on his shoulder or chest was so very tempting. But he had reservations. Her nightmare the other night needed to be avoided for one. He felt perhaps his presence had made it worse. The second reason was that prolonged physical contact via Erasure would increase their chances of harm. Especially when they were both tired. Erasure was draining to use physically and mentally and his stamina and precision definitely took a nosedive when he was tired. And he was now exhausted. He wasn't joking about the ten hours of sleep he needed to function. And third, he wasn't really ready to go further along in their physical expression. This relationship felt like it could really become something amazing. He didn't want to treat it like a fling or a one-night stand. He didn't think Ren felt this was super casual either. Her eagerness seemed to be like that of a teen and not necessarily someone who wanted a notch on their bedpost so to speak and it made sense. This was all new territory for her. She was excited at the newness of intimacy she had never felt before; it was hard for her to contain her enthusiasm. He felt a pang of guilt suddenly. He and Ren were being intimate in ways she could have never experienced with Timeswapper. These thoughts raced through his tired mind for about a minute and then he was fast asleep.

Kimura

She couldn't sleep. The bed was comfortable and the room was completely dark. She had felt Sock's wet nose touch her arm and she had jumped with surprise. It was so dark and she was so nimble she had not seen or felt her jump up on the bed. She curled into a ball near her legs. It had been a great evening. She couldn't stop thinking of Aizawa. Shota. It was strange to feel a longing for someone when they were in the next room. It was too much. She slowly crept out of bed trying to remember where the door was that Aizawa had retreated from earlier. She grabbed the grey blanket and wrapped it around her. Aizawa kept his apartment quite chilly. She reached her arms out in the darkness worried she would walk into the wall. As she went through the doorway and down the hall, things started to become visible. She entered the living area and slowly tip-toed to the couch. Aizawa was asleep. He was laying on his back, one arm arched over his head, the other arm resting on his chest. He didn't have a blanket, she wondered how he wasn't freezing. She kneeled next to him on the floor. She knew he was a pretty deep sleeper so she decided to risk what she wanted. She carefully sat by him on the couch and he didn't stir. She leaned back and brought her legs off the floor and lay next to him. The side of her face brushed his shoulder. Thankfully he was wearing long sleeves. She inhaled deeply realizing his scent was becoming familiar to her. She wasn't sure how much was him or if it was hygiene products, but it was pleasant. Her anxiety lessened and she drifted off to sleep.

She opened her eyes to a room filled with bright light. She sat up, her cheek slightly sticky from drool. She wiped it with the long sleeve of her borrowed shirt. "Nice, Ren," she thought to herself. She sat up and saw Aizawa was gone. She walked over to the kitchen then into the bedroom and saw no signs of him. The bathroom door was open and it was dark inside. She walked further down the hall and saw a closed door but light was shining through at the bottom. She knocked but didn't hear an answer although she heard movement in the room. She opened the door and saw Aizawa in the middle of the room on the floor doing pushups. One-handed pushups. He didn't notice her most likely due to the earbuds he had in his ears. He was sweating profusely and bright red in the face. He was shirtless but wearing his trademark black sweats. The room had a foam padded floor, a treadmill, a weight lifting bench, and many different weight sets. She backed up and closed the door behind her, her face flushed red with embarrassment. She went to the bathroom and flipped the light on. "Oh No!" She saw herself in the mirror. She had not taken her makeup off from the night before. Her face was shiny and her mascara smeared leaving black specks and black smudges around her eyes. She dared to open a cupboard adjacent to the mirror and saw a stack of grey handcloths. She took one and washed her face. She walked out into the living area and decided she would head home and get cleaned up. They had talked about spending the day together, but she had not thought of the logistics of getting ready for the day herself. And had not expected to spend the night either.

Aizawa

Aizawa had showered and gotten dressed after his workout. Ren had left he assumed to get things taken care of at her house and to shower and change herself. He hoped that was why at least. She had not left a note. When he had awoken early that morning he had found her pressed against him, arm draped over his chest and a leg curled over his. It was like he was a full-body pillow. He laid there for several minutes enjoying the quiet and calm. He listened to her faint breaths, felt her chest move with each inhale and exhale against his shoulder and upper arm. Eventually, he expertly extracted himself from her embrace and managed not to disturb her sleep. He leaned against the counter of the kitchen and thought about what they would do that day. They had talked about a lot of possibilities but hadn't decided on anything in particular. He heard his phone vibrate on the counter. He grabbed it and saw it was a text from Ren.

283-8433-42: What's the plan? This is Ren, btw.

He saved her number and texted back he would pick her up. He was so glad he had left his cell phone number written on the note he left at her house earlier in the week.

He called Yamada.

"Hey, can I borrow your motorcycle for the day? Need to make a drive up to Aichi prefecture and check on a case."

Kimura

Ren stood in her bedroom with a backpack in her hand trying to decide if she should pack an overnight bag. Maybe she could leave items over there at his apartment? Toothbrush and some clothes? Would that be presumptuous? She and Aizawa didn't have the best communication. She was too embarrassed to clarify things that were awkward and he seemed to be too much of a minimalist to bother over mundane things like clothing and toiletries. She had worn his clothes home and left her outfit from the previous day there in a hurry to leave. She was washing his black clothes, but maybe it was a good idea not to return them….

She packed PJs, a change of clothes, and her normal toiletries. She made sure Mr. Socks had plenty of extra kibble and water. Her doorbell rang; It was Aizawa. He handed her his backpack. "Drop this inside." He saw her backpack she had slung over her shoulder. "Don't bring your overnight bag. Just what you need for a day trip, the lighter and less bulky the better." Ren was taken aback by his directness but proceeded with his requests. She placed his backpack on her couch, put her backpack in the closet, and grabbed a small cross-body purse big enough for her wallet and an extra pair of gloves. When she returned he was standing in the front doorway on his phone reading something. When he saw her, he turned and walked away into the driveway. Ren followed locking the door behind her. When she turned she saw him sitting on a motorcycle in her driveway. He had a helmet in his outstretched hand.

'Umm…" Ren wasn't expecting this at all.

Aizawa smiled. "Helmet's for you. Hop on. We're heading up to Aichi prefecture."

"Well, you should wear the helmet considering my healing quirk."

Aizawa nodded, donned the helmet, and Ren tentatively straddled the bike behind Aizawa. She had never ridden a motorcycle and felt foolish to be so nervous. She had faced off in hand-to-hand combat with some of the most wicked villains imaginable. And here she felt fear to do something many civilians did daily. She had gotten so soft the last few years. She heard Aizawa yell through the noise of the machine underneath them, "You're gonna want to hold on."

He increased his speed down the street and she jutted her arms clumsily forward and wrapped them around Aizawa's middle. It took them about 15 minutes to leave the city. Once they were outside the city limits Aizawa increased the speed. Ren kept flip-flopping between extreme exhilaration and utter terror. The highway was just two lanes and very narrow. After about 10 minutes of him weaving between the two lanes passing slower cars, they hit the countryside and the highway was mostly empty. Ren finally stopped holding her breath and relaxed a little, trying to enjoy the scenery and trying to figure out why on Earth Aizawa needed to go to Aichi Prefecture.

After about an hour they arrived at a large, abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Shinshiro. Well, what was left of the abandoned warehouse. It had been set ablaze, the concrete and metal walls still mostly solid, but charred a smoky black, and all the windows now empty dark holes instead of holding glass. It had police tape at openings leading into the building.

"Stay here, I won't be long," Aizawa said as he walked towards one of the front doorways that no longer held the panels of glass.

"Okay," Ren said as Aizawa disappeared into the darkness of the ruined building.