Chapter 05
Momo Yaoyorozu

It all started when she was lagging behind her friends whenever she is surrounded by other students. Her friends noticed this and she usually caught up to them and brushed it off. It is nothing to worry about as she would say every time. It is nothing a big deal, she would add after.

Him? He noticed something else.

She would stare at the other students, mainly the females. At first, he thought she was longing for friendships like theirs, but then he caught her looking at lone girls as well. Then he thought she just wanted to be friends with them or something more, but she never made any attempt to get close to them.

After a few times this happened, he finally saw what it was.

She wasn't looking at the girls. She was looking at their hair, mainly long hairs that are tied in intricate patterns and such. Then, he saw her discreetly touching hers. It was very brief, gone much sooner than when it came. No one noticed. Either that or they just let it slide.

Not him. He noticed everything. And he also noticed something whenever he watched her looking at other girls' hair, a look in her eyes that quickly disappeared behind her smile when she caught up with her friends, pretending it never happened.

He saw jealousy.

.

"Son of a…"

He raises an eyebrow, somewhat silently surprised she can curse out loud. Thankfully, she's not as foul mouth as Bakugo. He's just about start writing the questions for his class' next test. He was going to the kitchen to grab a coffee. Just as the elevator door opens, he heard her voice. Intrigued, he quietly makes his way to the common room before stops at the doorway, looking in.

She's sitting in one of the couches with one leg underneath, leaning sideway against it. She is slowly and carefully twisting her hair, concentrating on the phone that lying right in front of her that she doesn't notice his presence. From the sound her phone makes, he guesses she is watching a tutorial video. Nonetheless, they all answered his suspicion that he had for a while.

Yaoyorozu is jealous of other girls' hair of how they are tied stylishly.

"Motherf…" she growls out as she yanks her hair out from the failed attempt of a braid. He almost winces at how hard she pulls it. She grabs her phone to pause the video before literally throwing it at the opposite end of the couch. Then she buries her face in her palms.

She looks as if she had given up.

His chest aches.

"What are you doing?" he finally voices out as he makes his way to her. Yaoyorozu jumps in her seat before staring at him with wide eyes, being caught off-guard. Her eyes are also brimming with unshed tears.

His chest aches once more.

"Oh, uh… Nothing," she stutters, breaking eye contact while wringing the hair that flows down her left shoulder. He lets out a long hum while raising an eyebrow, feigning confusion even though he already knows the answer. Yaoyorozu twitches guilty before relents in defeat. "I'm just jealous of their hair."

"Of whose hair?" he asks, furthering his feigned confusion.

"The other girls," she clarifies. "The way they tie their hair, the style, the intricacy, the beautiful complication, they just look so beautiful." Now she is twisting her hair with more force than before. "I want style my hair like them, but I can't go beyond a simple ponytail."

"Why hadn't you asked your friends?" He asks with genuine confusion this time, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

"Tsu only knows to do a simple bow." That makes sense, he guesses. He had rarely seen Asui out of the usual bow on her hair. He just never realizes that she can only do that. "The others have their hair short and didn't bother to learn it." That makes sense as well. "So I had to learn it myself. I had not made that much success."

He stifles a sigh at the bitterness of her tone at the last sentence. He glances at the thrown phone on the opposite side of the couch. The paused video shows a woman in the middle of braiding her hair over her left shoulder. The smile on her face suggests that all this make it all look easy, as simple as counting one, two and three.

He looks back at Yaoyorozu before him, silent and slumping. She's still wouldn't look at him in the eyes, and her hands are still wringing her hair on her left shoulder. Then he looks back at the phone.

Then he sighs.

He makes his way around the couch and then sits on the carpeted floor. He places his empty mug on the low table before looking back at Yaoyorozu, who is now looking at him in confusion. He beckons her over. She hesitates before climbing off the couch and kneels in front of him, with a very sizeable distance between them. He rolls his eyes.

"Sit closer; I can't reach for your hair all the way over there." He sees her stiffens.

"Ex… Excuse me, Mr. Aizawa?" she asks him, looking at him with wide shocked eyes.

"You heard me," he groans out, his patience is already wearing thin. Yaoyorozu hesitantly shuffles closer, and he urges her more when she is too far, until their knees practically touched.

Then, he bunches his hair in his hands before moving them over his left shoulder. He brushes a few loose strands with his hands, making sure all of them are over his shoulder. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Yaoyorozu is openly staring.

"I'll teach you how to make a braid first," he says, making one final comb with his fingers.

"Wait… What?" Yaoyorozu whispers in disbelief. "Excuse me, Mr. Aizawa but did you just say you'll teach me how to… braid?" He squints at her disbelieved tone but nods his head nonetheless. "You know how to style your shaggy hair?"

His right eye twitches. He doesn't know if he should be offended or not but he knows she doesn't mean it… to a point.

"May I?" he asks, masking his voice from irritation while reaching for her hair. She jolts from her shock before quickly nods her head. "Watch me ask I braid your hairs. Copy my movements and listen to my instructions. You can use my hair." That seems to throw her back to shock, judging how her body stiffens once more.

"Use your hair, Mr. Aizawa?"

"Did I stutter?"

He waits impatiently as Yaoyorozu hesitantly reaches for his hair. Then she combs it with her fingers, running her fingers through it.

"Wow…" he hears her whisper. She has an admired look in her eyes as she stares at his hair, continuously running her fingers through it. "I never expect it to be so… soft and smooth," she comments, breathlessly, surprised.

He silently wonders how many times he can surprise his student tonight.

"Now then, watch closely," he instructs as he gently gathers her hair into his hands. He waits until she does what he did. Then he splits her hair into three approximately equal sections, waiting for her to follow.

"I know this much, Mr. Aizawa," Yaoyorozu tells him, and he guesses as much. Then he starts weaving, making sure he makes his movements deliberately slow.

"One over the other, twist, grab with the other hand, repeat," he says. She nods her head as she tries to copy his hands. He pauses midway when she is still higher up from her work. He watches with mild amusement at the concentration on her face, so far as biting her lower lip.

Silently he finishes the rest of the braid. He shoves his hand into the pocket of his sweatpants and takes out a pair of black hair tie (he always keeps a spare). He places one on her knee while he ties her hair neatly. He waits for her to finish hers.

When she finally did, tying it with the offered tie, she cringes in her spot and flushes deep red.

"It looks… horrible," she comments quietly, refusing to make eye contact with him in embarrassment. She's not wrong, he thinks as he inspects the braid. It looks unkempt, and that's him saying that. He concludes that she doesn't know how to weave the hair just yet. He could understand why she might find it hard.

He looks back at her and finds her admiring her hair, braided cleanly and smoothly thanks to his calloused, scared but deft hands. She runs her hands gently through it, her glittering eyes glued onto it.

"I never know you could braid, Mr. Aizawa." He could hear the awe in her voice, hands still moving through the braid. "Is that why you kept your hair?" she asks, finally looking at him. The admiration didn't disappear. Instead they are now directed towards him.

He merely hums in affirmation, letting go of his braid. The movement catches her attention. She cringes once more at the sight of her work.

"Sorry for the disaster," she says, letting go of her own braid and fists her hands on her lap guiltily. She looks like she's expecting him to be angry. He isn't, but he won't voice that out. Instead, he hums once more as he pulls the hair tie, releasing her attempt of a braid.

"Start all over again," he commands, ruffling his hair until they are straight once more. Yaoyorozu is staring at her hair with great hesitant before reluctantly pulling the tie off.

"Are… are you sure? You don't have anything to do, Mr. Aizawa?"

"I have time."

Those questions can wait.

He still has an entire week anyway.

It's definitely not because this here right now is more important to him.

.

It took her a couple of tries to finally get the hang of it. The first few times she apologized to him profusely for ruining his hair, despite him saying to not mind about it and just focused on braiding. Afterward, she started to enjoy braiding and comfortable enough to giggle at him at how his hair thanks to her.

Once she got a decent looking braid, he complimented about how she had improved. She glowed at his praise and he could feel his chest swelled at the sight.

"How did you know how to braid, Mr. Aizawa?" she had asked him once in the middle of braiding his hair for the countless time. She had a smile on her face, enjoyed seeing the way how nimble her fingers had become.

He didn't give an answer. After all, it's obvious enough.

What seems like the umpteenth time he releases her hair, braided many times tonight. Yaoyorozu is not far being, being able to keep up to his speed. She tugs his braided hair once more, feeling each bumps before releasing it.

"Done," she says, nodding to herself in satisfaction. She looks at him expectantly as he inspects her work. He makes sure he puts a theatrical look while at it, pretending to be intensely critiquing the braid when he already knows the answer before she even let go.

"It's perfect," he comments. Yaoyorozu begins glowing as her eyes lighten up. She begins vibrating in her spot.

"Really?!" she asks him excitedly. When he nods she throws her hands to the air and whoops loudly but sheepishly quiets down when he shushes her. "I did it," she says under her breath, almost disbelief, as she stares at his braided hair.

"Now try to do it on your hair," he tells her. She is still smiling widely when she nods her head. "It is a different angle but same concept." He watches her as she undid his work, quickly runs her fingers through her hair before quickly but swiftly braids her own hair.

"How did I do?" she asks him, no less excited than before as she looks at him with glowing eyes. He gives her hair a single glance before nodding his head.

"You did well."

Yaoyorozu lets out a watery quiet laugh, muffling it with her hands. She looks extremely happy, and he has to suck in a deep breath when his chest gets very warm.

"Is there a specific hairstyle that you would like to do?" he asks. Yaoyorozu snaps her head to him, another glitter of hope in her eyes once more.

"You're going to teach me that too?" she whispers, almost in disbelief. He rolls his eyes in exasperated affection.

"You've got to tell me or else I don't know what it is." She gasps as she brightens up for another ten folds.

Suddenly, she lunges forward and throws her arms around his neck, letting out a joyful unrestricted laugh.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, Mr. Aizawa!" she screams into his ear as her arms tighten around his neck. Then her mouth runs a mile, describing the hairstyle she wants. He suppresses an affectionate sigh and instead waits for her to finish.

It's definitely not how wide her smile is nor how bright her eyes are that make his chest warm. It's just that she is still hugging him the entire time that makes him warm. And it seems she won't be letting go anytime soon.

Nevertheless, he didn't regret putting a hold on those papers. He'll gladly spend the rest of the night with her.

.

"Yo, Shouta! Nice hair!"

"Your hair looks quite nice, Aizawa."

"I didn't take you to style your hair, Eraserhead."

He ignores his co-workers as he makes his way to his class. He expects it that much from them. After all, he's not the type to style his hair during work.

But today is an exception. And he wouldn't take it any other way.

Before he could enter his classroom he could already hear the buzzes inside, and the words "hair" and "Momo" come up very often. He opens the door and for a split second he could see Yaoyorozu's table is crowded before his k- students rush to their seats.

Then he notices how everyone is now staring at him; the girls are particularly sparkling. He ignores them and proceeds to start the class. Yaoyorozu is practically glowing in her seat. He wouldn't blame her. She's very proud of her work, of her multiple braids tied together. It's like a piece of art. He knows so.

After all, she did his as well.

Seeing Dadzawa matching hairstyles with the girls would be very adorable.