Chapter Sixty-Three
"Sawada."
Tsuna looked up to see Ectoplasm gesturing him to the door where Hizashi is standing.
"You're needed in Recovery Girl's clinic." The math teacher said.
A sudden wave of trepidation dropped on his gut as he stood up. His intuition didn't negate it, which made him more worried. His classmates gazed at him worriedly that he assured with a positive smile. It worked since they relaxed. He went to Hizashi who immediately ushered him to the hall where Chiyo's clinic is. Tsuna tried to ask what's happening, but his uncle only told him that the medic will do the explaining. He relented and assured his uncle that everything will be alright. The blond visibly relaxed from his stiff posture.
It's already been a week since they visited Kurogiri, or Oboro for that matter. Everything has been normal, except for Shouta who had been clinging to him much closer than before. Reborn has noticed it too, and asked him about it, but he honestly has no idea. He speculated that it's probably the coughing or because of seeing and talking to Oboro again (albeit short). He thinks it's the latter. Tsuna knows how his Dad treasure Oboro with Hizashi.
Now that he thinks about it, where's his Dad?
"Come in!" Chiyo's voice rang from the inside after he knocked.
"Chiyo-san." He greeted with a smile after entering, Hizashi in tow. "Good afternoon."
The old lady grinned back. "Good afternoon to you too, Tsuna."
"Have you had snacks? This is a good time to munch on something." He opined as he took a sit on the cot.
"Not yet. Probably later when we explain things." The medic responded before turning serious. "Eraserhead, your Dad, got shot by a quirk."
"Oh?" He blurted, blinking.
"It's not that dangerous, Tsuna." Hizashi assured, rubbing his back.
"What quirk is it?" He asked, not bothering to go to details because he knows his Dad isn't a careless one, knowing there's a 'Tsuna' waiting for him. So it was probably an accident.
"A de-aging quirk." Recovery answered deliberately. "Its effect is for a week. Right now, Eraserhead is sixteen years old both body and mind."
Tsuna blinked several times before looking back to Hizashi. "If I remember from your stories,"
"Yup. Brace yourself to a more reserved one and an anti-social Shouta."
"But Dad was cute when he was my age." He pointed out, easing the tension in the air. "His hair was like a black seaweed back then."
The blond laughed. "Shouta will throw a fuse when he hears that!"
"Hear what?"
All three of them turned to the bathroom where a teen, taller than Tsuna in terms of height, stood. His black hair, as what the brunet said, is like a seaweed with how wavy they were, black narrow eyes, upturned lips in a frown. He's wearing the UA school uniform, and it fits rather well. Tsuna remembered all of the pictures he collected during his Dad's school days. Shouta Aizawa is handsome.
Bouncing off from his seat, Tsuna smiled amicably to the teen who looked at him suspiciously, almost curious if he didn't know how his Dad's mind works. Huh. He wonders what he could bribe to this Shouta. Wait, shouldn't he worry of how he should address his Dad? He can't just outright call him Dad or Shouta. He'll get more suspicious. He'll resort to family name then. Regardless, Tsuna offered his hand.
"I know it's not a Japanese custom, but I'm part Italian and handshake isn't that disturbing. Anyway, hi. I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada, Tsuna for short. Nice to meet you, Aizawa-san." He greeted.
Shouta tentatively took it and shook it firmly. He feels incredibly warm with how the brunet smiled at him. "Likewise."
"Will it be alright for you to be taken care by me for the next six days? Mic-sensei won't be available all the time."
"Are you available?"
He grinned as the two adults behind him chuckled. "All the time."
Shouta cautiously followed the brunet, Tsuna as what he wanted to be called, who ushered him to the cot before conversing with a grown up Yamada and Recovery Girl. He doesn't want to call him that, but he felt complied to do so. The two seem to trust his fellow teen to take care of him while in his state. For starters, the brunet is taking notes of all the things the heroine is saying, meaning he's pretty responsible, unlike some of the people in UA he had met during his 'time'.
When he came in terms of what happened to him, the first thing he heard is how a certain someone will be so furious and probably get sad with what happened. His questions were answered by Recovery Girl when he wanted to remember. What he was told were he's currently thirty-one, a teacher in UA and a underground hero known to be Eraserhead. He immediately believed when he saw adult Yamada came in and talked with him. The bottomline is he was hit by a de-aging quirk that turned him sixteen and regressed his memories when he was sixteen too. Well, he does remember things, like training and Shirakumo's death.
Oh right...
"Are you okay?" He looked up to see warm caramel eyes staring straight at him. For some second, the brunet went thoughtful before he gave a small understanding smile. "Are you thinking of Oboro-san?"
His brows furrowed. "How do you know Shirakumo?"
The brunet moved and sat on the seat he pulled in front of him. Yamada must have gone back to work since he was gone. "The older you told me about him when I asked."
"I did?" He questioned, surprised at the information.
"Yup. It was actually unintentional since I saw a picture of you two with Mic-sensei during this age of yours. But you kinda indulged since I was a curious. I remember you called me troublesome." The other chuckled softly. "Don't worry, your future you accepted that Oboro-san is dead and recovered from it."
He looked down to his hand. He recovered?
"Hey hey." He eyed the brunet who shook his head. "Don't look like that. It doesn't suit you. Go grumpy. I don't like a sulky Aizawa-san."
"How did you..."
"Oh? I just know." The brunet grinned cheekily before standing up. "Come on. We should get in class. Sorry if we're attending my class. I'm currently a first year and you're second year, yeah? Good thing I'm also an A. It will be embarrassing if I pulled you to B."
He stood up too. "I don't mind." The other is already taking care of him, so why become a bother?
"Tsuna." They turned to Recovery Girl who walked towards them with his capture weapon. "Here."
He watched as the capture weapon latch to his fellow teen who laughed. "Thanks. Let me put this on you, Aizawa-san."
He wanted to decline and say he'll do it himself, but he found himself leaning in and letting Tsuna put the capture weapon around his neck. The brunet asked if he feels warm around the neck, he nodded, albeit curious how the other knew he's cold without it. He was led out after they said their 'goodbye's and 'thanks' to Recovery Girl. He got a little fascinated with the building as they walked through the halls though. It was kinda different from the UA he knew. Tsuna explained to him what's new. The dormitory, the new security and the facilities that didn't exist yet in his time. There's also the optional internship that the brunet explained as something resulted to Shirakumo's death. He doesn't know what to feel about that.
"Tsuna!" Teens around his age exclaimed as they opened the door for Class One-A.
"Woah. Calm down." The brunet placated with an easy laugh. Shouta noted how relax the teen with the current situation.
"Mic-sensei informed us what happened." A curly greenet voiced, sounding worried with how furrowed his brows were. He has freckles across his nose and green eyes, a little shorter than Tsuna. "Is Sensei alright?"
"He's fine." The brunet answered while gesturing him to follow. "Come on, Aizawa-san. Let's introduce you to your homeroom class." He looked over to the teens who watched him with shocked face when he entered fully, a little behind Tsuna who stood by the podium. He stood beside the brunet. "Go on. Introduce yourself."
"I'm Shouta Aizawa, sixteen, from Class Two-A." He informed, looking around while keeping his face neutral.
"What should we do?" A lady with pink hair and small horns asked to others.
"We should introduce ourselves too!" A guy with square glasses responded. "It's the best way so in case he needs help, he can ask too."
"Great idea, Iida!" A redhead agreed.
"What do you think, Tsuna?" A lady with her hair in a bun questioned to the brunet who nodded.
"No problem. The more help, the merrier."
They spent thirty minutes with everyone introducing themselves with their quirks. Tsuna stood beside him all the time. As he listened, he honestly can't believe he became a teacher. Maybe what Shirakumo said about him being good with kids were true? But these people are teens. It's not the same. After the introduction, where he found himself memorizing all their names, he was ushered to sit behind Todoroki who turned to Tsuna, who sat at his left, with a worried look. The brunet waved it off, arranging his jacket with a smile.
When his upperclassman Kayama came in to teach World History, Tsuna asked permission to share his notes with him. Their 'teacher' permitted, which made the brunet push their tables together and teach him the ropes. Although he was listening, he can't help his mind from flying away as he thinks. It was a shock to him that he really became a hero with his own agency, and a teacher of UA, what more that Kayama and Hizashi were teachers too. However, he can't help noticing the flinch he sees among the teens and Kayama whenever Tsuna calls him 'Aizawa-san'. Maybe they aren't used with the brunet addressing him without a '-sensei'?
After Japanese, where Tsuna shared his notes again, he was ushered to go with his temporary classmates. Instead of the dormitory though, his guide separated them from the group and led him to a building. They walked in. He looked around the interior and deemed it normal.
"This is the teachers' dormitory. You practically live here when you're inside the school since teachers have to keep their classes safe. Especially our class cause we're pretty prone to villain attacks. No worries, you have your own apartment outside. Anyway, I dragged you here cause I want you to meet Eri-chan." Tsuna informed as they moved around. "She's five with a rewind quirk. She's extremely shy with serious trust issues since you and a group of heroes saved her from a Yakuza den that was using her for experimentation purposes. The problem right now is her quirk is pretty powerful. You and Reborn, another teacher, are training her so she could start using it. In a sense too, you're her registered guardian because you can erase her quirk when it's hurting her."
"Oh." Was his only lame utterance from all the explanation the brunet said.
"You'll be fine." Tsuna assured as they entered a courtyard. "You're good with kids."
"I'm... Not." He denied with a little wince.
Tsuna chuckled. "Trust me, you do."
"Tsuna-nii! Aizawa-san!"
Shouta watched as a girl with white hair and red eyes ran towards them. She's around his waist and has this yellow horn at the right of her forehead. She's adorably cute. He watched as Tsuna crouched down and hugged the girl when the latter jumped to him. Both of them laughed. For a sec, he felt his heart swell at the scene. It made him a little confused, but he pushed it aside as Tsuna whispered something to the kid before red eyes looked up to him.
"Say hi to Aizawa-san, Eri-chan." The brunet encouraged to the girl who stepped up a little in reluctance.
"Uhm... Hi, Aizawa-san." The girl, Eri, greeted.
He gave a nod.
"See. He's still the same." Tsuna cooed softly. "Ask him something."
The girl blinked. "What's the color of the sky?"
Shouta looked up a little before answering. "Orange."
"Oh. Tsuna-nii is right. You are the same." Eri voiced with happiness.
"Since when did Dame-Tsuna go wrong about those things?" Shouta incredibly tensed as a man in black suit, black fedora, and black eyes walked up towards him. He looks like a foreigner, but what really tipped him off is the aura surrounding the man that seemed so off. Especially when the said man smirked. "Chaos, Aizawa."
"Aizawa-san," Tsuna called softly, making him relax a little. "This is Reborn, a fellow instructor who teaches Math. You and him train Eri-chan."
He tensed up a little when the man stared at him intently before turning to Tsuna. "So what I heard from Midnight?"
"Ah. I couldn't surprise him. I doubt he will take it well. And besides, I called him that for three years and here in UA." Then Tsuna shrugged. "What's the difference."
"There's a difference, idiot. He's your pillar."
"I still have you. And it's just a week."
He looked back and forth to the two as Reborn 'tsk'-ed while Tsuna looked unaffected. "Just a week. You couldn't resist for a day without hearing from me or your guardians, even from him, and you're saying it's fine?"
"Let it be." The brunet waved off before looking down to Eri who is looking at Tsuna with this melancholy expression. The teen sighed. "Not you too. Just go and distract Reborn. I'll tour Aizawa-san around before I return to my dorm."
"Okay. You'll say bye bye, right?" The girl queried.
Tsuna's lips curved into a smile. "I will."
"How about story time?"
"I'll try."
"Okay. Reborn-kun! Come on! Let's play tag!" The girl cheered.
"Tag?" He asked as he followed his guide.
"To get her stamina high. Quirks use energy, so stamina is needed." The brunet answered. "Come on. I'll show you around."
They spent thirty minutes going around the building. He saw the kitchen, dining room, the bath and CR, the laundry and the living room before he got ushered to his room. He couldn't get himself to ask Tsuna why the latter has a duplicate key to his room. When the door opened, the brunet stalked in and turned the lights on. Shouta cautiously went inside. He looked around and eyed everything. Well, the room does look like his with the minimalist decoration and neat way things are arranged. Just the way he likes it.
Tsuna gave him a rundown on what closet has this, what drawer contains what and who to ask when he needs something. When he asked what he could wear since he thinks all of the clothes in his closet are too big for him, Tsuna opened a portion of the closet and took something from the top shelf. Shouta kept himself from pointing out something as he got handed some clothes to wear. He opted to turn around and go inside his bathroom to change. Before he went out, he noted the two toothbrush in the medicine cabinet when he inspected it. The brunet asked him if he wanted to stay or go out to the living room. He answered to stay. His fellow teen nodded with a smile before bidding him goodbye.
The moment Tsuna got out, he started to rummage the room. He inspected every nook and cranny before he sat on his bed and contemplated what happened that day and what he had noticed. First, why did Yamada and Recovery Girl entrusted him to Tsuna? Second, how come Tsuna knows him? Are they friends? Relatives? Third, how come Tsuna knows that he's good with kids? Fourth, why does it feel like the talked between Tsuna and Reborn was about him? Fifth, why does the brunet have a duplicate of his keys, knows where his stuffs were inside his room and knows what stuffs to give him? Lastly, where is his phone?
"Yamada." He called after dinner.
"Yes, Shouta?" The blond smiled responded.
"Where's my phone? It's impossible that I don't have one." He asked.
Yamada sported a confused look before some realization settled on his face. "Tsuna didn't tell you, did he?"
"He didn't." Kayama and Reborn called out from the living room as they braided Eri's hair while watching TV. Of how Reborn knows how to braid, he won't ask.
"That self-sacrificing brat." Yamada muttered before groaning.
"What are you talking about?" He queried, utterly confused.
"You should've asked me earlier. No wonder I thought his message was a little cryptic. Geez. Wait here for a sec. I'll get it from my room." Then the blond went off.
Shouta took a sit in a single seater and watched the two teachers style Eri's hair.
It has been three days. He is staying in his room at the teachers' dormitory and attends classes with the Class A, even though he's a second year. Things are quite okay, although a little different. Tsuna helped him adjust even though his condition is just for a week. He got provided with a bag that contains a thin notebook, two mechanical pencils, erasers and some books. The whole class is helpful too. Inviting him to eat with them when he can't be with Yamada. But he can't stop himself from noticing how Tsuna let him be.
The brunet will be around when their classmates invite him to do something. If he needed something, Tsuna will be there to coax it out of him. But in a closer inspection, his guide is quite closed off. He's pretty hushed, not saying anything when they're alone. In lunch, he'll meet up with this purple head and they'll eat together while Shouta gets swept away by the others, crowding in one table. Sometimes though, Midoriya, Bakugou and Todoroki will ask the brunet if he's okay or not. He wonders why.
"Here." He looked up to Yamada who raised a touchscreen phone with black casing. "It has no password so it's accessible."
His brows furrowed. "No password?"
"Yup." His friend grinned widely as Kayama giggled. "It's because of your lock screen and desktop wallpaper."
"Oh! Please let me see! Please!" Eri pleaded while running towards him.
He eyed Yamada who cackled. "Nothing obscene?"
"More of adorable." Kayama laughed while Reborn smirked.
He looked down to his phone as Eri sat beside him. Closing his eyes, he pressed the open button then peered at it. It was... Him, sleeping in the couch and facing the camera. Someone must have taken the picture because he looks dead asleep, but peaceful. Actually shaven and his hair is in a messy bun, pretty different from Kayama's picture of him. His eyes darted to the thing he's holding though. It's a brown furry cat stuffed toy. He stared at it for full second before he slid it open.
He got greeted with a picture of small Tsuna, grinning widely with a hand formed in a quirky peace sign. His eyes is so bright with mischief with a caption at the top that says: Hey Dad! I'm your energizer! Tsuna looks like he's nine or ten, and very adorable. Shouta can't help blushing as he hears Eri cooing at how cute the brunet is.
"W-What does this mean?" He queried to Yamada who smiled a little.
"You adopted Tsuna when he was four after a villain attack in his home, which put both of his late parents in a coma. You were nineteen that time. You were pretty reluctant to adopt him too, but you got interested with him since he doesn't make a fuss and pretty easy to handle. Although since you were pretty down with Shirakumo's death, you're hard to handle."
"But he said I recovered."
"When he found a picture of us three in your old album, he asked me about it. I told him what happened and who Shirakumo was. When Obon came, he asked you if he could go to the cemetery to visit Shirakumo. You got mad that he figured it out. I honestly didn't know what happened cause he asked me to go out. What I know is... You cried to him." His eyes widened. "He said so. He was pretty mad when you implied that he didn't know and doesn't understand that Shirakumo was dead. I mean Tsuna is usually quiet and cheery, but when he's mad, he's mad. He was like your pillar, you know. Remember, at this time, you lowered your social interactions and put yourself to training? You continued to do that until you became nineteen, and focused on being a underground hero. Tsuna pushed you out of it. He'll kick up a fuss when you said something offensive to a person and kick you out of your apartment to apologize to the person. He'll know if you lied about apologizing. I've seen him scold you too."
"It's the reason why we entrusted you to him." Kayama added. "Tsuna knows you like the back of his hands, age sixteen to thirty-one. You told us that all Tsuna needed to do was look at your face and he'll know what you need and what you're thinking. Sometimes it's not you who is taking care of him, it's him who is taking care of you."
"Did you know that you had an agreement on how to call you back then?" Yamada informed. "He wanted to call you 'Dad', but you kinda stirred away from it, so he proposed. At first, it will be Aizawa-san. It took him three years before he could call you 'Shouta' after you permitted him. Then two years before he could call you 'Dad'. You confessed that Tsuna cried to you for the first time after he saw you with so many injuries that almost killed you. He called you 'Dad' in his sleep after taking care of your wounds, and you gave him the permission in his ninth birthday."
He looked down to his phone. "Then why didn't he tell me?"
"He doesn't want you to get surprised." Reborn answered this time. "You were already confused with the changes in the surrounding. He wanted to give you at least a sense of normalcy, so he didn't tell you directly."
"And he doesn't know how to explain it." Kayama furthered. "Tsuna is more or less afraid of blatant rejection. He's the kind to get the subtle hints, as what Yamada had said."
"I, too, found it unusual." The blond voiced, frowning a little. "He's not the type to keep away from you. He'll always want to hear your voice when you're away, and stick with you as much as he could. Whenever you're in summer lodge, it's either you call or he does."
"I'm clingy?"
"To him alone." Reborn clarified. "He is your adopted son with legal custody in your hands. You went through thick and thin since you both became family. Your relationship is the strongest to him right now."
He stared at his phone.
"Don't think about it." Yamada consoled. "This is why Tsuna doesn't want to tell you. It will surprise you and cause you confusion. He doesn't want you to doubt yourself. You could talk to him tomorrow."
"Yeah. Eri-chan is already asleep too." Kayama pointed out.
"I'll take her." Reborn volunteered as he stood up and walked near them. "She's my responsibility right now."
Shouta watched them move. When Yamada asked him if he's going to bed, he agreed. When he got to his room, he flopped on his bed and scanned his phone. There's a single game there, a tracker app and a news app. He looked up to the music. His eyes blinked at the only playlist there. He clicked one song titled 'homesick', then heard instruments getting played. He went back to 'home' and clicked the album as a familiar voice started to sing. His eyes stared at the very first picture when he registered that it's Tsuna's voice he's hearing.
His heart warmed and pained at the same time as he listened to the song and the voice while scanning the first folder. The camera has thirty pictures, all pictures of Tsuna laughing, pouting, smiling, some of his fellow 'teachers', Class A, some people he doesn't know, and some cats. When he went back, he clicked the folder with 'Fifteen' on it with thousands of pictures. He can't help gulping as he noticed how Tsuna has a lot of picture in there. He went to 'fourteen' until he reached 'four'. He reached the conclusion that the folders were named by Tsuna's ages with most of his pictures in there with names why he took the picture. Like this cookie spelling his name and got renamed to 'Tsuna's first baked cookie' in folder 'four', or that fluffy brown cat stuff toy that was renamed with 'Little Tsu' in folder 'six'. His desktop picture 'Tsuna Energizer' is in folder 'nine', while his lockscreen is in folder 'thirteen' with a name 'Tsuna was sick, so I had to hug Little Tsu'.
He never felt so warm with everything he saw. Tsuna had been there, and was able to grow with him. He perked up when he heard some tapping by his balcony. Putting his phone away, he stood up and peered by the curtains to see who it is. He immediately put the curtains aside when he recognized who it is. It was Tsuna. He opened the door and stared at the brunet who gave him a shy smile.
"Sorry for scaring you, Aizawa-san." The other apologized politely. It sounded so wrong. "I suddenly got this feeling that you're in distress so I flied over."
"You flied over..." He trailed off.
"Yeah. It's not that far, but I'm quite cold and I can't scale the building to get here so..."
He felt his throat get clogged with this big lump as tears fell from his eyes. Why? Why do such a thing? He's not the Shouta Aizawa who took him in, but why?
"H-Hey." Tsuna placated as he walked nearer. He's frowning in worry. "You're okay, Aizawa-san."
"Why?" He voiced, sobbing. Fucking hormones. "Why do you care so much? I'm not the one who adopted you. I'm not your adoptive father."
Caramel eyes stared at his before Tsuna smiled softly. "You really make things complicated, Dad. And this is what I love about you."
He cried harder.