Izuku was maybe more surprised than he should have been when he realized that sleeping with Shouta hadn't changed a damn thing about their relationship. Waking up the next morning, he'd expected some form of awkwardness-some sort of embarrassment from one of them. But waking up next to Shouta, remembering that they'd finally managed to make it to bed-it had been a relief. More than that, waking up with the knowledge that Shouta wanted Izuku to move in...he felt more relaxed than he had since this entire situation had started.
He'd never woken up with anyone like that before-he'd always slipped out of bed and made his way to his own apartment long before his bedmate had woken up. The easy, pleased smile Shouta offered him when he woke up had made it well worth the fact that Izuku's arm had been going numb in the position he was in, but he was grateful for the chance to shift without waking Shotua up. The fact that he was able to shift even close-and that Shouta reached out to pull him in-was just a bonus.
"I love you," Izuku said softly, enjoying the peace of Shouta curled around him.
Shouta's answer was a soft kiss that was sweet enough that it almost brought Izuku to tears. But crying over a kiss was sort of ridiculous, even if Izuku was a crier, so he closed his eyes against the sting of tears and tucked his head under Shouta's chin. Sadly, it was not one of the rare days they both had off, so when Izuku's alarm went off thirty minutes later he huffed and rolled out of Shouta's arms to turn it off.
"You could call off," Shouta coaxed gently, sprawled lazily in the bed with his eyes focused on Izuku. "I don't think Hideo would mind."
He probably wouldn't, if Izuku was being honest with himself. After everything that had happened, Hideo would probably be as close to delighted as he ever got if Izuku called in. But even without Nite-Lite there, there were still those who resented the fact that Izuku was very obviously the favorite and Izuku tried to never give those people anything solid to complain about. So he offered a now slightly grumpy looking Shouta an apologetic look as he said, "I'd better not. We have a big project going down right now, and I'm heading it on our end."
Which had been a huge shock, when Hideo had mentioned it to Izuku. The older man had looked at Izuku like he was being deliberately dumb, and pointed out, "I don't put just anything in charge of coordinating with other Agencies. You're in charge of this."
It had definitely explained a lot of the overtime. Izuku had been concerned, when he'd realized he'd been pulling far more overtime than anyone else in the Agency besides Hideo. The realization that he was heading the raid had soothed a lot of worries on both his and Shouta's end. Sakura, his counterpart from Best Jeanist's Agency that he'd been working with, had just laughed
at him when he marveled at being put in charge of this. Other people recognizing that his analysis was good was...an ongoing issue for him, but this more than anything else had helped him understand that it was not only good, but something he excelled at, far more so than most other people. Even if Izuku was his favorite, Hideo wouldn't have put him in charge of planning the raid if Izuku wasn't the best person for the job.
Izuku glanced at the time, winced, and made a beeline for the shower. He needed to get out of the apartment soon if he was going to be on time. He scrubbed himself down quickly and got dressed, and when he headed into the kitchen with just a few minutes to spare before he had to be out the door, he melted. Shouta had a travel mug of coffee sat on the table, his own cup cradled in his hands.
If he hadn't already been desperately in love with that man, the easy care he showed Izuku would have shoved him right over the ledge. Izuku...tried not to think about what could have happened if Shouta hadn't been as good of a man as he was. But he was well aware of the fact that if someone who was less honorable had shown him even a fraction of the sort of care Shouta did, he could have been in deep trouble.
The thought that Bakugou could have realized that all he'd needed to do was be sweet and act like he cared about Izuku was honestly stomach turning and something that he shoved into the little box in his mind labeled Shit To Be Dealt With Later TM. The one and only time Abe-san's professional veneer had broken was when he'd mentioned that particular box-he'd actually laughed when Izuku had said what he'd labeled it.
He snagged the coffee from the table, dipped his head down to brush a soft kiss over Shouta's mouth, and then hurried out the door-almost dropping everything during the process of shoving his feet into his shoes, as per his normal incredibly graceful self.
It was something that had made Hitoshi complain a thousand times over, how Izuku was so graceful while they were sparring, but the second they stepped off the mats he would trip over his own two feet and nearly break his own neck. Izuku hadn't had any explanation to give him-it didn't matter what he tried, when he wasn't on the mat sparring he could barely keep his feet underneath himself.
Izuku slid into his desk with exactly one minute to spare, and he rewarded himself with a long drink of coffee-the amount of sugar he put in his coffee had straight up appalled Shouta the first time he'd seen it, so the fact that it was perfectly sweet for him made Izuku's heart swell a little. He didn't even bother to glance up when he caught Sonic glaring at him from across the room this time. He'd tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, but he was over it at this point.
As long as she kept it to glaring at him and pouting, he didn't have a problem with it. And Izuku doubted it would get any further than that-Sonic was far more timid than Nite-Lite had ever been, in his experience.
"So." X-Ray dropped into the chair beside Izuku's desk, and Izuku briefly considered throwing the entire thing-X-Ray included-out the window. He did not want any bad news when he was in such a good mood, and it seemed like bad news was all X-Ray brought him nowadays.
But Izuku, sadly, couldn't bring himself to do it. Nor could he bring himself to just ignore X-Ray and hope he'd go away. Heaving a sigh, Izuku put the report he was reviewing down and slowly turned to face him.
"Wow, way to look like you're facing a firing squad." X-Ray made a frankly immature face at Izuku.
In a stunning display of his own maturity, Izuku made one back. "You're always bringing me terrible news," he muttered before straightening up and rearranging his face back into something semi-professional. "Alright, lay it on me. What's the problem now?"
The other man grimaced. "I'd love to say you're being paranoid and I just swung by to say hi, but I think we both know I'd be lying."
It was true enough. X-Ray wasn't necessarily the friendly sort-he wasn't rude by any means, but he also wasn't the type for casual conversation in the workplace. It was something Izuku honestly appreciated. Making friends with his co-workers wasn't something he was opposed to, necessarily, but X-Ray's friendship felt more organic than some of the other Heroes who were overly friendly.
"You're not making me feel any better about what you're about to say," Izuku informed him flatly.
"Fair," X-Ray admitted before sighing. "Nite-Lite is headed back our way for the big takedown in a few days."
Izuku paused, blinked, and then pursed his lips tightly so none of the expletives racing through his mind made it out of his mouth. A few deep breaths later, Izuku finally trusted himself enough to speak. "And why, exactly, is she doing that?" He noted the edge to his voice but shrugged it off. He hadn't started cursing up a blue streak, and that was all anyone could ask of him at this point, in his opinion.
"Ok, so you know that stomach bug that's been going around?" X-Ray asked. Izuku nodded warily.
"Right, so we're already...spread pretty thin, but we were able to handle our end of things." X- Ray grimaced. "And then when Sonic and Doc were sparring yesterday, she broke his arm." He nodded when Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Yeah. And Sonic just went to Hideo and told him that she thinks she caught the stomach bug-threw up right there in front of him."
Izuku wasn't paranoid.
Well.
Izuku tried his best to not be paranoid. But..."It's a curious coincidence," he murmured, "That she broke someone's arm bad enough they won't be able to participate in the raid, and then she caught the stomach bug and left us short-staffed enough we need to bring someone experienced over-and it's curious that Nite-Lite is the only one in the Tokyo Agency with enough experience."
"Yeah." X-Ray's expression was grim. "They've had an...interesting time over there now that Nite-Lite's been sent there. Hideo was concerned to begin with, and quite frankly if this raid wasn't vital I think he'd have us pull out."
Dropping his head against the back of his seat, Izuku just stared up at the ceiling for a long moment. "If I'm being honest, I wish he would," he admitted before sighing and sitting back up. "But it is, in fact, vital. So we're all just going to have to suck it up and hope she gets sent back immediately afterward."
"That's the spirit," X-Ray said drily. "I'll do my best to run interference, and with any luck, the two of you can avoid any direct contact with each other."
It had always been hard for Izuku to accept help, but the slightly strained, "Thank you," he offered was genuine. He paused before asking, "I don't suppose you want to tell Eraserhead that she's going to be back in town for me, would you?"
X-Ray's sharp bark of laughter answered that, as did his quick escape. But just in case Izuku was confused in any way, the clear "Nope" that trailed behind X-Ray made his position very clear.
"Damn," Izuku muttered.
Pulling out his phone, Izuku made the decision to go ahead and text Shouta now and get it over with. There wasn't any point in waiting, unfortunately.
Izuku: Hey, you busy?
Shouta: Not for you. Is something wrong?
Izuku took a moment to just breath through the sudden wave of affection that swamped him. Not for you . He didn't think he'd ever get used to the easy affection Shouta offered him. Just the acknowledgement that Shouta would put aside whatever he was busy with to talk to Izuku made his chest ache.
Izuku: Yeah, unfortunately.
He took a deep breath and stared at his phone as he considered what to say.
Izuku: Nite-Lite is going to be headed back our way for a few days during the raid we're working on.
It was best to get it all out in the open at once. It wasn't a good situation, to say the least, but Izuku couldn't help the way his lips twitched slightly when he saw the notification saying Shouta was typing pop up and then disappear several different times. Obviously Shouta was having a difficult time expressing his dissatisfaction with the situation too.
Shouta: I'm going to ruin a whole lot of people's lives over this. I thought we were done with her. Izuku: Yeah, same. But fingers crossed I manage to avoid her while she's here.
Shouta: Do you really think she's going to let you?
Izuku: I live in hope.
Shouta: That's cute.
Shouta: If she touches you I'm going to make the rest of her entire life as miserable as possible. Izuku: I think that might be the most romantic thing you've ever said to me.
He laughed at the eyeroll emoji Shouta sent him and tucked his phone away. Izuku wasn't thrilled with the situation, but there was no point in dwelling on it right now. There wasn't anything he could do to stop it, so his best bet was to focus on what he could control here and now-which was reading the reports and working on the plans for the raid.
Going home to Shouta was a relief, and being able to curl up on the couch with him and talk things through was even better.
"It's weird, right?" Izuku asked once he'd finished explaining how Nite-Lite had ended up the
only person available to fill out the needed spot for the raid. "Like, I'm not just being paranoid?"
"Not that I think a little paranoia is a bad thing," Shouta began slowly, "But no. You're not being paranoid-it's very odd that just the right sequence of events happened to bring Nite-Lite back so quickly after Hideo sent her away."
Izuku huffed a little. "This is getting ridiculous, honestly. I feel arrogant to assume that she's somehow manipulated her way back here just to get close to me again, but..." He trailed off, frustrated with himself. Izuku just couldn't think of another reason for her to want to come around again, given that nearly everyone at the Agency had taken a large step back from her particular brand of crazy. Except Sonic, which was frustrating on a whole different level.
"It's not arrogant to assume that when she's made it very clear that you saying you're not interested doens't matter to her." Shouta scowled briefly. "I honestly can't think of another reason for her to be willing to come back here, unless she's planning on trying to convince you to dump me for her again."
His aggravation with the situation was obvious, and made Izuku feel a lot better about his own frustrations. He hated to admit it, but misery loves company had never been as true as it was when he was dealing with Bakugou and Nite-Lite's shenanigans.
"I'd put some feelers out and see what happened that made it so Nite-Lite was our only option available, but I honestly don't even know if it'd be worth it," Izuku admitted with a sigh. Not to mention the fact that he was certain Hideo was already doing his own investigation of the situation, and Izuku definitely did not want to step on any toes.
Shouta hummed in agreement, but Izuku's face caught his attention-and not in the normal way. Normally Shouta would be easily distracted by how attractive Izuku was, but tonight Izuku's normally smiling mouth was in a tight line, lips pale from the tension in his face, and there were stress lines around his eyes and mouth that Shouta had never seen before.
Fishing around for a distraction, Shouta's gaze caught the TV-and more importantly, the re-run of one of the interviews of one of his former students. "What do you think about all of these interviews with former UA students?" He could have cheered when Izuku's mouth twitched up into a half smile. Izuku was obviously aware of what he was doing, but more importantly he was willing to let himself be distracted.
"I think some of these journalists are fishing for something they're not going to find," Izuku murmured. "They want to be the ones to find the big scandal within one of the best schools in the country."
"They won't find anything." Shouta was perfectly confident in that.
"No," Izuku agreed. "Even if there was a problem, the presumption that they'd be able to find something Nedzu would have hid deep is sort of hilarious." A wry little smile crossed his face then. "I'm lucky," he admitted, "That Nedzu decided Bakugou needed to be punished in the court of public opinion." Otherwise, Izuku's plan would have never even gotten off of the ground.
"Do you think Nedzu has a plan to protect UA from the backlash of one of our former students behaving this way?" Watching Izuku tip his head and consider the situation was always a delight for Shouta.
"I think he has to," Izuku said after a few minutes of contemplation. "Bakugou was behaving poorly even before he was admitted into UA, but that's...part of the problem." He nodded towards
the muted TV. "They're saying UA should have vetted their students better and found problematic beliefs like that prior to them being admitted." He paused. "They're...not wrong." His voice was a little reluctant.
"No, they're not," Shouta agreed soberly. The realization that Bakugou was so blatantly Quirkist had been a hard pill to swallow-UA had it's fair share of students with Quirkist beliefs, but for the most part they stayed under the radar. Bakugou had been blatant about it, and he'd still been admitted.
Tapping his fingers on his thigh thoughtfully, Izuku added, "I think Nedzu has already started to mitigate the issue by changing the entrance exam. Changing it so it's less focused on flashy Quirks is the first step to doing a better job of vetting Heroics candidates."
Shouta let out a small, surprised noise. "You think Nedzu is going to make more changes to the admittance requirements? I don't know that the Board is going to allow that."
"I don't know that they're going to have much of a choice," Izuku pointed out. "It's obvious something has to change, and Nedzu has been wanting to make some of these changes for years- he's going to make this situation work for him."
Watching Izuku delve more deeply into some of the changes Nedzu had been wanting to make, Shouta settled in with a smile. The stress lines on Izuku's face had faded, and the tension that had been keeping his back straight and stiff had disappeared. Izuku looked more relaxed than he had all evening, and that was more than enough of a reason for Shouta to sit back and listen to him expound on changes Nedzu had talked about more than once.