Okay, I started writing this to comfort myself because I've been sick all day. I just wanted something cute and fluffy with Shirakumo and Aizawa showing up to hang out with a sick Yamada, and then this happened? And I don't really understand how? But, well, here it is, so knock yourselves out lmao

I know a lot of people think Aizawa started off in general studies, but I wrote this with the assumption that he was in the heroics department all along.


"Hey, Aizawa—it is Aizawa, right? Aizawa Shouta?"

Annoyed and more than a little wary, Aizawa stopped and glanced over his shoulder. One of his classmates, a tall boy with bluish-white hair whose name Aizawa couldn't remember, was weaving through the desks toward him, one hand raised in greeting.

"What?" asked Aizawa. He pivoted at a tight angle, keeping his body turned to the side so he wouldn't have to speak face-to-face. Not for the first time, he found himself wishing he could wear his capture weapon outside of hero training. It gave him another layer of protection against the world, and he felt vulnerable without it to hide behind.

"Hey, I'm Shirakumo Oboro—don't know if you remembered my name."

Grinning, he held out his hand. Aizawa stared for a moment before remembering oh, right, shaking hands, that's a thing people do.

He made no move to take Shirakumo's hand.

"What do you want?"

Shirakumo, not put off in the slightest, asked, "Wanna help me with something?"

"Not really, no."

"You know that guy Yamada, the really loud one?"

"Pretty sure everyone knows him by now."

"Yeah, with a quirk like that, how could you not?" Shirakumo laughed, but to Aizawa's surprise, he didn't seem to be making fun of Yamada. "Anyway, you know how he was out today?"

In spite of himself, Aizawa nodded. Come to think of it, the school had been much quieter than usual all day. Aizawa couldn't figure out why he saw that as a bad thing. He preferred the quiet, didn't he?

"Well," said Shirakumo, pulling Aizawa from his thoughts, "I heard Sensei telling Katasugi* to be sure to take notes for him, because he called in sick. Sooo, I was wondering, d'you wanna come drop by his house with me? Nothing major, just to say hi and make sure he's doing okay."

"Why? I don't know you, I don't know him, and I need to go home now."

Shirakumo shrugged. "You two seemed like you were good friends. I mean, with the way he's always putting his arm around your shoulder and talking to you and stuff."

Aizawa blinked once, twice, too dumbfounded to speak. Finally, he drawled, "Your observational skills leave a lot to be desired."

Clearly, it was impossible for Shirakumo to take offense.

"Yeah?" he said. "You're probably right. But hey, you can help me with that! You have to be good at looking around and finding people, what with your quirk and all. Which is super cool, by the way! Oh, but right, what I was gonna say was, I thought you might be able to come with me to Yamada's because you're always here late. Like you don't have to go home right away or something. Everyone else always has somewhere to be, but not you."

Well, shit.

Aizawa was good enough at making himself scarce that he thought no one would notice him loitering in the halls long after classes had ended. Apparently not.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said. He meant to sound adversarial, even threatening, but when he tried to draw on the anger simmering in his chest, he found it was not anger at all. It was fear.

If anyone found out why he spent so much time away from home…

Aizawa clenched his jaw and forced himself to swallow down the lump in his throat. A metallic taste lingered on the back of his tongue.

"Oh, no prob!" said Shirakumo. "I wasn't trying to make you tell me anything. Sorry if it came across like that."

Then Shirakumo smiled at him, and—what the hell? Aizawa could feel the tension in his body beginning to soften. His shoulders lowered, and the knot in his stomach loosened ever so slightly. His heartbeat stuttered, then started to slow down to its normal pace.

That was… odd, to say the least. Normally, when his anxiety spiked, the only way Aizawa could calm down was by isolating himself. People just made him more afraid. No matter how friendly they seemed, Aizawa couldn't trust them not to lash out. He'd been told he had a way of making even the gentlest people snap.

But this Shirakumo guy? He radiated reassurance. Sure, both times they'd sparred during training, Shirakumo had knocked him on his ass before you could say knife, but that was different. In fact, the sheer control Shirakumo had over his power made Aizawa all the more willing to trust him. He wasn't going to lose himself in a moment of anger (and if he did, well, at least Aizawa would know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he deserved the pain that followed).

"Fine," said Aizawa, turning fully to face Shirakumo. "I'll go with you. But I'm not going to stay."

Shirakumo's eyes lit up so bright Aizawa had to struggle not to smile.

"Awesome!" he said. "It'll be fun, you'll see."

And honestly? Aizawa was tempted to believe him.


* Since we're never told who 1-A's class rep is, I just picked a random name from chapter 59 of Vigilantes.

There's probably going to be a part two? Where they actually get to Yamada's house? But like I said, I've been sick all day, so I might wake up tomorrow and be like, "Wtf did I get myself into yesterday? No way am I continuing this."