AN: This story is on ao3 and contains artwork and pics that I am not able to post here. None of it is necessary for the story, just for fun! BUT ao3 is also the explicit version so watch for warnings over there if you dare.

Shota was propped up in bed and working on his lesson plans on his phone while absently petting Hizashi's hair as he curled up against his chest like an attention-hungry cat. He'd been like that for days, using Shota as his best-worst way to deal with his emotions… Over Chiharu. Hizashi had even changed her name on his phone from Sugita to Chiharu.

Shota glanced down when Hizashi's phone buzzed in his hands. He was texting Chiharu to 'practice' English.

Chiharu

['I love you']

.

{Oh… Ehhhh… 'I love you, too?'}

.

[Yes!

Very good Chiharu!

Do you know what it means?]

.

{3 3 3}

.

[Yes!]

"You're shameless," Shota commented drily, though Hizashi's head bounced a little as Shota laughed quietly.

"Hush, you," Hizashi mumbled as he got back to texting with a big, goofy grin on his face.

"What's that picture you have for her?" Shota asked, referring to the little picture of Sugita's face above her name on Hizashi's phone.

"A pic of Chiharu and her neighbour's cats," Hizashi answered. "She says it's the only pic she has of herself that she likes, and only cause there're cats in it."

Shota's huff echoed Hizashi's. "Let me see..."

"Is she growing her hair out?" Shota asked, before plucking the phone out of his partner's grasp once Hizashi found the original picture. He hadn't really noticed till now, but her light green hair was a lot longer than when they first met, falling around her face instead of the messy, pixie cut... Then again, nearly an entire school year had passed since then.

"I don't know... I hope so. It's so pretty," Hizashi had wiggled up to his shoulder to look at the pic with him. Shota hummed in agreement. It was a beautiful picture, really.

There was only one real solution, "tell her not to cut it."

Hizashi scoffed and reached for his phone, laughing when Shota lifted it away while pressing on the screen. "You tell her not to cut it! Hey... What are you doin'?!"

"If I tell her, she'll probably have it buzzed off," Shota reasoned, calmly holding Hizashi at bay while he texted himself that picture, and then handed the phone back.

"You cheat! It took me like six months of nagging to get a pic of Chiharu!" Hizashi exclaimed, then looked at the picture mournfully. "I swear she can sense whenever a camera is pointed at her and immediately teleports away." Shota smirked as Hizashi settled his head back down on his chest, looking totally immersed in a simple picture, but practically purred when Shota trailed his fingers through his silky hair.

Now that sounded like an awesome quirk. Imagine being able to escape unwanted attention as fast as Sugita could... "I'm jealous."

Hizashi burst out laughing at that, shaking the bed as he tilted his head back to look up at Shota from his chest, neon green eyes a little wide with surprise and mirth. "Wow... Your future wife can fucking teleport, and you're only now jealous of her quirk because she can escape the media faster than you can?" Shota joined in with a quiet laugh at that and didn't deny... Any part of that, just proceeded to make that her profile picture on his phone too. Then he changed her name to Chiharu.

"So… You two don't ever go on dates, do you?" Chiharu asked, looking across the booth at the two of them as she quickly devoured her chocolate ice cream. She liked anything and everything chocolate.

They'd spent the morning playing at an interactive arcade with various team games like shooting hoops, climbing on walls, dodging laser lights and much more, and naturally smashed their way through all the high scores, each of them winning t-shirts and basketballs. The staff seemed super happy when their time was up.

After that they went for lunch, walked around a park on a lake, played around, joked around, and ended up at an ice cream shop.

The only real problem was, Chiharu was wearing a damn crop top for some unfathomable reason. It was white and said Put Your Hands Up Radio in black with a silhouette of a headset and triangle glasses. Hizashi was to blame for this entirely, since he'd given her that damn shirt. It was designed to hang off one shoulder, leaving the strap of her grey sports bra visible, short sleeved and only fell to her belly button. So a good chunk of her jaw-dropping abs were just exposed by the low waist of her beige cargo pants. Her torso was long and her waist narrow with all that lean muscle, the flare of her hips only adding to it.

Chiharu wore flip flops and her toenails were painted light blue to match her nails. She didn't wear a single speck of make up unless chapstick counted, but she'd painted her nails. Hizashi could barely take his eyes off her, and Chiharu was the most oblivious and perfectly unaware of their own attractiveness human to ever exist. They'd dressed just as casual as her, Shota in a black v neck t-shirt, cargos and boots and Hizashi in an old, dark blue band t-shirt, acid wash jeans with the knees ripped out and black and white sneakers. Hizashi and Chiharu barely passed for adults as they were. If not for Hizashi's little blond moustache and broad shoulders, the sharp line of Chiharu's jaw and foxy angle of her eyes, plus how tall and fit they both were, they'd probably get ID'd just trying to see a horror movie.

The two were chattering away about Snipe or Nezu at this point and every now and then Chiharu's eyes flicked to him and then down to the chocolate mousse cake he'd ordered. He'd taken one bite, deemed it enough sweets to last him a month, and stopped there. He didn't order it for himself after all.

"Chiharu, what's with old lady Chiyo acting like you're her precious granddaughter or something, anyway?" Hizashi asked as Shota scooped up a good size spoonful and reached it across the table, not saying a word to interrupt their conversation. Chiharu eyed him with blatant skepticism before looking back at Hizashi.

"Mm, yeah, her and Nezu-chan put on the kid-gloves with me cause I'm a rescue with anxiety, and I bite," Sugita explained with a grin and Hizashi burst out laughing, with her soon joining in. "Nezu's probably scared I'll ditch UA before too long, and he seems to want me to stick around. I'm sure he's just delighted that we're friends." She finished sarcastically. Shota felt like he was attempting to spoon feed a tiger and she even bared her teeth a little bit, making him smirk as he moved the spoon closer. She finally leaned forward and closed her mouth around it. Her eyes shut and she gave a soft little moan as she pulled back, leaving nothing on the spoon. "Why'd you get that? You don't even like sweets," she complained when he bounced another spoonful in front of her, grinning bigger when she struck like a shark after blood. He lifted his plate up when she tried to snatch it, glaring.

"Come on, Chiharu," he cooed, holding out another spoonful and easily avoiding her attempts to get the spoon from him, her cheeks now burning red. Of course she gave in quickly, leaning in for the bite. "There's a good girl."

"You're so fuckin' embarrassing, Sho-ta," she complained but still ate another bite off his spoon. Okay… He liked that. A lot. His partner's giddy laugh told him he did too.

"You wouldn't leave UA, would you, Chiharu?" Hizashi asked and Shota glanced over but Hizashi was busy staring at Chiharu as she licked a bit of chocolate off her bottom lip.

She shrugged. "If I did it's not like we couldn't stay friends, Hizashi."

"I won't let you leave," Hizashi declared, voice a bit loud, and Chiharu smirked.

"I'm pretty hard to tie down," she commented. "How will you do it?"

"Marry you," for a split second Hizashi's expression was serious and Shota flicked his eyes back to Chiharu. Her softly freckled, tan cheeks were still a bit pink, eyes wide and locked on Hizashi and if he blinked he would have missed the tiniest something that flashed across her face. She probably deserved it after all her teasing and her bullshit, but they weren't a lonely… Scarred up, hurt, little rat-elf, were they?

Chiharu took her chance to drag Shota's plate over while he was distracted with a little snicker before digging into what was left. "Good one, Hizashi," she grumbled but didn't look back up till the cake was gone…

Not long after, Hizashi dragged them to a music shop where he thoroughly impressed Chiharu by playing several of the instruments, even singing along to a song he played on a guitar. By the time they left, Chiharu was basically staring at Hizashi with hearts in her eyes, and freaked out about it all for nearly five minutes straight. She confessed to listening to his radio show as if that was the most embarrassing thing she'd ever done, and how much she liked it.

"Can you just stop," she whined, walking between the two of them as they strolled back through the same park from earlier. It was still nice out. Just past noon and not too warm.

"Stop what?" Hizashi grinned over at her.

Chiharu leaned into Hizashi a little while answering, "being so awesome… I'm gonna start stalking you for real!"

"Cute stalkers are the best stalkers," Hizashi declared, and Chiharu sputtered.

"I'm not cute!"

"Yeah, you are." Much growling. "And when you growl like a little puppy you look even cuter." Truth.

"Puppy!? I'm a wolf!" Chiharu snarled and Hizashi laughed, leading them toward a bench before settling down. Chiharu didn't sit, but Shota did. She settled back on her heels, lifting her arms and crossing them behind her head as she gazed up at the clouds for a minute. Like that her shirt inched up past her belly button, drawing their eyes. So damn careless…

Shota reached out, and touched the top of that scar that almost traced the visible v line of her abs, her low slung pants showing far too much. Her stomach instantly tightened revealing even more of her abs in response as her gaze jerked down, and she froze. More like a deer than any so-called wolf. Shota didn't look up at her as he slowly traced the long, white scar with one finger. Her skin was a natural tan apparently, sprinkled with freckles, and the occasional mole in places other than her face too. She didn't jerk away or growl, just stayed as still as a statue, probably fighting the urge to disappear entirely.

"What's this from?" Shota asked, gently pressing on the scar with a few more of his fingers. "Was it… A scalpel?"

"Yakuza. Blade quirk," a shutter went through her as she forced herself to relax and not escape.

"Ren fixed it up for you?" Seemed Ren's healing quirk always left a scar… Recovery Girl's quirk can erase wounds entirely, but it depends on the person's energy level and how bad the wound is. This was too clean a scar to have healed naturally. It wasn't even raised, just as smooth as the surrounding skin.

"Yeah, his quirk leaves scars. He said I… Probably won't be able to ever have kids," the words were even. No hint of sadness or negative emotion.

"Chiharu…" Hizashi's voice contained the anguish she should have expressed, drawing her gaze. He reached out too, and splayed his hand over her exposed skin, making her waist look even smaller than it was as he stared at her stomach with a sad frown. Shota wrapped his fingers around her flank and slid his hand up. Warm. Her skin was toasty warm despite the chill in the air. "Your skin's so warm…" Hizashi's words were perfectly, unintentionally erotic, echoing Shota's thoughts. A sound like a startled kitten left Chiharu's lips, her eyes went huge as if she'd only just realized what was happening, and she promptly disappeared with a soft pop and faint rush of air. "Fuck…" Hizashi whispered the littlest curse, and stared down at his hand like he was thinking about eating it. Shota couldn't really blame him since his hand was still warm, and damn- he wanted to feel more. Hizashi rubbed his face with his hands, drawing in a slow breath.

A few minutes later, Chiharu reappeared with drinks. Herbal teas in cardboard cups slotted into a little tray with three sticks of colourful dango between the cups. Accepting their cups, both moved of like mind toward the edge of the bench and received mild glares before she gave in and sat between them with the tray in her lap. "Do you ever stop eating sweets?" Shota asked, sipping his lemon ginger tea.

"Chiharu, you're not supposed to buy stuff," Hizashi accepted his dango stick with thanks.

"Why not?" She asked as Shota declined one.

"Cause we're treating you today," Hizashi sighed, clearly enjoying more treats.

"Yeah, you've paid for everything so far. That's more than enough already." Chiharu was like a furnace compared to the air around them. No wonder she didn't seem bothered by the cold at all. Did that have something to do with her quirk? How had he missed that before now?

Shota wasn't so distracted by this new discovery to miss the incoming group. He heard them before he saw them and refrained from sighing. An annoyingly popular group of kids from UA in class 2-A this past school year that were shaping up to be the strongest to come through for the past several years.

Togata, Hado, and Amajiki rounded some trees, Hado talking excitedly about their summer internships. They were all dressed casually in jeans and t-shirts except Hado was wearing a green coat. Shota eyed them as he stretched an arm out along the back of the bench, the other hand holding the cup to his lips, and met Chiharu's eyes when she looked over at him. She was already swallowing the last bite of the dango she'd bought for him and shared with Hizashi. Hizashi gathered up the garbage and stood up to head over to the nearby bins. "Exam coming up, huh? You excited for your newest batch of 1-A's?"

"Mm," he hummed, "hopefully not another batch of problem children."

"I love problem children! Send them all to my class," Chiharu grinned, and Shota returned it with a sigh.

"Of course you do. I'm sure the worst of the brats love you too," Shota huffed, tipping his head back to finish off his tea, otherwise he was going to keep staring at the bit of sticky syrup shining on Chiharu's lips.

"That's cause I'm a cool teacher. You're a mean old goat," Chiharu explained, and Shota shook his head with a little chuckle. Brat.

"Speaking of problem children…" Chiharu perked up and followed his gaze to his husband who'd been pounced upon by Hado and Togata, with Amajiki predictably hiding behind them. It was clear Chiharu had already noticed them. Perhaps at the same time he had.

"Whaaat!? Those three are the sweetest! They're gonna be incredible heroes," Chiharu chirped. "We better go rescue Hiza-chan."

"Hiza-chan," he said with a smirk, holding back a laugh. That suited Hizashi even better than Mic-chan did. He stood and offered Chiharu a hand up. She took it, laughing when he nearly yanked her right off her feet on purpose. Then she disappeared and reappeared beside Hizashi. Hado screamed, and Togata gave a little shout of surprise before they burst out laughing.

The three kids stared at Chiharu with various shocked expressions. "Wow… Sugita-sensei?!" Togata broke the short silence first just as Shota strolled over.

"Sugita-sensei, where did you get that scar? And this one?… And this one?!" Hado was as tactless as ever, and Chiharu only patted the girl's bright mane of hair affectionately as Hado leaned in close.

Togata was still just staring at Sugita in obvious shock. Amajiki was still hiding. It was always surprising to discover the UA teachers, the pro heroes that led them on the path to becoming heroes themselves had a normal, civilian side. This bunch had seen him and Yamada out and about before. They'd all been in class 1-A with him last year after all. But this was their first-time seeing Link like this. "You look—

"Like your Social Studies teacher." All eyes whipped to him and the three brats froze, Amajiki's head dropping so fast he nearly tipped over.

"Yes! Exactly, Aizawa-sensei!" Hado cried, as she rose out of the hasty bow she and Togata had dipped into upon realizing who was suddenly standing on Chiharu's other side.

Hizashi absently looped an arm loosely around Chiharu's shoulders saying, "the kids were wondering about summer camp this year, but it's still undecided I think."

"Ectoplasm will inform you as soon as he knows the details," Shota replied, voice somewhere between irritation and impatience. His usual tone for any and all unplanned student interactions. Ectoplasm was their homeroom teacher and if he hadn't told them anything yet then he probably had a good reason for it.

Togata gave a nervous laugh and bowed again, "yes, of course."

"Don't be so mean, Aizawa-sensei," Chiharu complained in a whiny voice as she leaned over to poke his ribs except he caught her wrist and twisted it behind her back.

"Sugita-sensei!" Hado cried in alarm, clutching Togata's arm.

"It's okay, kids! This is just how our dear Aizawa-sensei shows affection," Chiharu explained, bent forward as he pulled her arm a little higher up her back. She didn't even lose her light tone, and Hizashi burst out laughing while Togata reached out like he wanted to save her but didn't dare.

There was a soft pop as Chiharu disappeared from his hold and then there was a sudden weight on his back and shoulders. Not to mention strong legs slung around his waist. And fingers in his hair. "Chiharu…" Hizashi sounded worried.

"There, there," she cooed near his ear, close enough that he could feel her warm breath as she petted his hair. "Lets go to a cat café, okay? That'll cheer you right up, won't it, Aizawa-sensei?" All three students and his husband flinched back when Shota activated his quirk, dark eyes flaring bright red. Then he heard an excited, "oooooh!" Before that little rat proceeded to run her fingers through his hair that floated up and around his head.

"Chiharu-!" Shota's voice came out in a strangled, barely contained growl as he approached murderous.

"Run, Chiharu!" Hizashi cried, laughing, and seemed she got the hint as she barely had time to scramble off him upon realizing he'd canceled her quirk when he whipped around. She ducked his attempt to grab her before scrambling across the ground like a literal rat and bounded into a laughing sprint.

Naturally, she'd picked the wrong person to tease as she found herself chased down like a dog when she raced deeper into the park, surprising him with her unprecedented skill at running in flip flops. Probably the only thing that stopped people from calling the cops was her squealing laughter. They hit a trail and Shota soon couldn't keep the grin off his face as he started to pant with exertion, blood pumping, heart racing, anger slowly switching to excitement before switching to something else.

She ducked off the trail and Shota blinked before quickly reactivating his quirk as they weaved through the sparse trees, a tall wire fence looming a head. She jumped, reaching the top of the fence with ease but Shota was no more than five steps behind her. He could have cleared the fence in one jump but instead he jumped right on top of her as she prepared to vault her body over the top. One arm locked around her waist and the other hand gripped the top bar of the fence. He planted his feet on the wire and pushed off hard.

Chiharu gasped as he ripped her off the fence, and they landed down some distance back from it. She twisted in his hold, swinging on him but he caught her punch before pinning her down in the grass. Hard and fast enough to force some of the air from her lungs. Stunning her a tiny bit. He didn't want to play. They both panted, him crouched over her, one hand pressing her shoulder into the ground and the other still holding the fist he'd caught. Some uncertainty crept into her expression at whatever she saw in his face. No wonder. He wasn't playing, and she was finally realizing that.

Seconds were ticking by. He'd already blinked four times, the seconds he could keep his quirk active lessening each time. His eyes were already strained and burning.

Shota let her go, moved down, grabbed and twisted the front of that sorry excuse for a shirt in his fist before pressing down on her sternum when she tried to jerk upright. It exposed her midriff all the way up to her ribs. She didn't get to protest before he gripped the waist band of her pants in his other hand, dipped his head down, and licked up the length of that fucking scar on her hip.

The taste of her skin and sweat was a warm and faintly salty explosion on his tongue, and Shota almost groaned when the strangled, shocked cry from Chiharu sent tingling shooting straight down, low in his stomach. He tensed all over, and pressed harder, tongue sliding back down to just under the edge of her pants, and then back up before he sealed his lips over the top edge of the scar and sucked hard.

"Shota!?" Chiharu gripped his arm, pushing, a little whimper escaping her when he sucked even harder, pulling her skin up between his teeth and biting just enough to pinch. "Oo-oh fuck…" She shuttered under him, and he pulled back, his lips leaving her skin with a sharp pop, panting and staring down at her, the burn in his gaze nearly forgotten.

"Chiharu…" His eyes traveled up to hers, slowly.

"What the hell, Shota!?" She practically squeaked the words, too confused to be angry yet, face flushed, brow furrowed like she wasn't sure if she should punch him off her or not. She looked… Really good. His eyes moved to her lips and then to her long neck that seemed almost too slender. He wanted to taste more, and suck and bite there too.

This was new. Shota wasn't used to being attracted to someone like this. To wanting someone other than Hizashi. It was different from how he felt about Hizashi. Hizashi was home. Warmth. Good. Safe. Hyper, too loud love, but calming in his own way. Chiharu was fiery. Wild. Hotheaded. Exciting. Dangerous. Annoying. All snapping teeth and stinging punches. Stirring something deep inside him that he didn't know was even there before.

"What did you expect, walking around like this all day," his eyes dropped to her faintly trembling stomach and he blinked before reactivating his quirk again, barely feeling the brush of his hair. He let her go and she scrambled out from under him, yanking her shirt down as she went.

"What the fuck does that mean?!" She snapped and he let his eyes drop back to her waist. "Hizashi gave me this and you-you stretched it all out, you asshole! And I should be able to wear whatever I want without having to worry about getting molested!"

"You're careless," he replied, not at all bothered by her out burst but still unwilling to let her use her quirk to run off just yet. "And completely oblivious outside of an active fight, spar, or mission." He didn't really mean that or the bit about her clothes. Anyone had the right to wear whatever the fuck they wanted… Just pissing her off a little was better than addressing the feelings he was attempting to subdue.

"No-no, I'm not!" Chiharu practically hissed, baring those little fangs. "None of that explains…" She dropped her head and hunched forward so she could see her stomach and the dark hickey he'd left on her. "Shota!" She gasped at the sight of it. "You-you dick!"

"Don't make a fuss. Besides, we're dating now," he smirked and blinked with a soft groan as he sat back on the ground. Damn, he'd really over done it.

"Very funny. We are not dating. This was a pity date, and you know it," Shota almost flinched at the feel of her fingers on his chin, tilting his head back. He cracked his eyes open a tiny bit. She snapped her fingers, "drops?" He dug them out of his pants pocket and she snatched them out of his hand before urging him to tilt his head back further.

Firm yet gentle fingers pried open his left eye just enough for two drops that stung worse before the burning started to ease up. She made quick work with the other eye before brushing away the excess tears that dripped down his cheeks. "Awe, don't cry, sweetheart," she cooed and then snickered at his answering growl. Even when she was mad she still couldn't resist being a brat. Shota kept his eyes closed, but bit back a groan when she started massaging his temples and around his eyes. She pressed into the harsh lines between his brows, pushing and rubbing upward and easing the tension headache that tended to come along with quirk overuse. This time a small sound did escape him. Then they were quiet while she worked for a few minutes, pressing and massaging away any tension she found. It was nice… She was good at that, and he liked that pissed off Chiharu still wanted to make him feel better.

Shota broke the silence, "we're dating, Chiharu, for real. This wasn't a pity date. You, Hizashi, and me. All dating." Chiharu laughed like he was joking, hands dropping away. "Three-way." She choked on an inhale at that.

"As if you would ever date anybody! You don't even take Hiza-chan on dates!" It was true. That term was solely for her benefit. In his mind this was already something more. More permanent. "Three… Way… What?!" She nearly shouted, her voice high as she jumped back and away from him.

"A three-way relationship. You. With Hizashi and me." Shota stood up, watching her with narrowed eyes.

"Why?! Why would you even… Even want that?! Hizashi… He doesn't like me like that!"

Shota laughed. Actually, really laughed as he closed in on her again. Was she serious? How was it possible for someone to be this clueless? "I assure you, Chiharu, Hizashi likes you like that." She tensed when he grabbed her shoulders but by the look on her face it was clear he'd pushed her too far.

"Shota, stop it. I mean it," she looked away, the muscle in her jaw flexing. He let her go and stepped back. "Tell Hizashi to hit me up later or… Or whatever. Thanks for today."

There was that now familiar rush, that faint tingling, and then he was standing in front of their house. Hizashi appeared a minute later looking confused beside him. "Where's Chiharu?!"

"About that…

"But… You're gay!" Chiharu did yell this time, and Shota was surprised Deejay didn't bolt out of her lap. The black, ex-stray tomcat they were fostering never even batted an eye, just kept purring away even when she stopped petting him.

"I'm bi," Hizashi revealed with a smile from where he was sitting across from her and beside Shota on their black couch.

"I'm asexual," Shota added before finishing his tea. Neither Hizashi or Chiharu had even touched there's. "It's simple, Chiharu. It's no different from what we have now except we'd spend more of our free time together."

"What?! No! No, it's not… I don't know jack shit about being asexual, but that was probably the most asexual words ever spoken!" She declared with a glare, and Hizashi laughed, though there was a nervous edge to it. "Just… Why?"

"I… Already have feelings for you, Chiharu. You're already more than just a friend to me," at Hizashi's words she just stared at him, pale green eyes wide. "You're funny, kind… Amazing… You're a great teacher. You make me feel good and accepted. I know I can tell you anything and you wouldn't even bat an eye. Every hidden fault and weakness… You just don't even see things like that. Being friends with you has changed my life..."

"Mine too. Hizashi has been my only close friend for many years. Then you. Making him happy like I never could. Fixing all the little things that have been wrong with our marriage that I couldn't even see. It's been like watching a wilted flower come back to life. I didn't even know anything was wrong," when Hizashi tried to interject Shota stopped him with a lifted hand. "At first, I was just happy and grateful that you cared about Hizashi so much. That he'd found a friend and could find more joy in his life, but then things started to change. I started to feel happier too. I started wanting to see you too. To spend time with Hizashi and you." Her eyes had dropped and she was tense. Much too tense. She didn't let either of them continue.

"Stop," she bit out the word, fingers digging into the arms of the chair. "No. Neither of you know anything about me. Not the real me. This," she pointed at her chest with her thumb. "Ain't the real me. I am a mentally unstable, fucked up person with deep and mostly unresolved issues. I… I have episodes." Her gaze locked on Hizashi. "I asked you out cause we hit it off, and I wanted to feel like a normal person, but I never would have let it go beyond a few dates… I would never enter a long-term relationship with anyone, and I would never willingly do anything to hurt either of you. Which includes allowing either of you to get into that kind of relationship with someone like me. I apologize if I made either of you feel like I was looking for more." Bitter smile in place she went back to somewhat aggressively petting Deejay, back straight, glaring at Hizashi and then at Shota, and then down at her tea and strawberry mochi.

"Chiharu, its not like that!" Hizashi immediately protested, almost getting to his feet but she only looked up and gave him a big, toothy, fake smile.

"Okay," she chirped before shoving almost a whole mochi into her mouth. It definitely was not okay…

Watching Hizashi pine was a new level of irritation that Shota found he was unprepared for. Understandable, he supposed. Chiharu was being distant, also understandable. It had only been one week and Hizashi had given to apologizing to Chiharu like he was some kind of awful villain for even suggesting an interest in something more and the little rat just kept brushing it off like everything was fine. Except everything wasn't fine because she was being distant again. It was enough. One week was all he could stand of the sighs and all the talking about feelings and Hizashi thinking everything bad that had ever happened in the world was somehow his fault on some deeply ridiculous spiritual level.

So... Shota waited outside her classroom, barely glancing at the kids that filed out. Some of them looking at him nervously, while a few he remembered from the field trip almost seemed happy to see him. The students had probably noticed something was wrong with their beloved Sugita-sensei.

When he walked into the classroom, Chiharu didn't even notice. She was leaning on her desk and staring blankly down at her phone all hunched over and spaced out like someone just died horribly.

All the anger just drained out of Shota as he rolled his eyes. These two idiots were exactly alike.

When he started forward she startled, head swivelling toward him, eyes going wide as she basically jumped to face him.

"What's your problem?" Shota asked, walking forward despite the way she tensed.

"Nothing," it came out in a sigh as her shoulders slumped and her head dropped. Shota stopped right in front of her. "I-I…" She choked up, squeezing her phone so tight it creaked in her grip.

"You what?" He asked, not even checking his tone.

"I miss…" A shutter when through her and she lifted her hand to press her palm against her forehead. Shota smirked. She was clearly fighting tears. "I miss Hiza-chan," she admitted with so much anguish you'd think his husband was dead.

"Oooh-kay," Shota shook his head, tone laced with sarcasm as he pried the phone out of her hand and slipped it into one of the pockets on the outer thigh of her costume, but she was busy trying to hastily wipe her cheeks. He smirked, not at all moved by her nonsense. "I know. Don't cry."

"I'm not cr-crying, you dick!" She snapped in a wobbly voice. Shota gave a quiet laugh while grabbing her left wrist. He leaned down and swung her up over his shoulder in an easy move. She didn't even fight, just laid there like a sack of rice as he started off. She basically spent the walk to Hizashi's last class sniffling and trying to stop crying. The few remaining kids scattered out of his way, whispering frantically.

The saddest and admittedly funniest part of it all was seeing Hizashi all hunched over and staring down at his phone. The mirror image of Chiharu a few minutes earlier. Shota waited for two students to scatter out of the room before he closed the door. Hizashi didn't even look over, assuming it was the departing kids. Not till he heard footsteps, but by then Shota was already there. He yanked Hizashi and his chair out from the desk and then dropped Chiharu right on top of him. He had almost none of his gear on, even his coat was hanging over the back of the chair, leaving him in just one of his white radio t-shirts, pants, boots, headset and usual mohawk. The man probably would have come to school in his pajamas if not for Shota.

"Sho!?" Hizashi only had time to wrap his arms around her before the chair tumbled back with a loud thump, and they both spilled out onto the floor. Once there Chiharu finally came back to life. She twisted around, grabbed Hizashi's wrist and put the confused man in a hammerlock, pinning him face down on the floor. "Hey! What the hell, Chiharu!?" Shota just righted the chair and sat down.

"I'm sorry," she bit out the quiet words, sniffling and Hizashi struggled harder.

"Are you crying? Chiharu?!" Hizashi near shouted and the only reason he didn't throw her off was because he was worried, but he turned his head, trying to see her.

"Shut-up! I'm not crying!"

"Yes, you are!"

"Will you-you shut-up so I can apologize, please?!" She snapped, voice hitching, and Hizashi stopped struggling, going quiet as she drew in a calming breath. "I'm sorry for not considering your feelings when you told me how you felt about me. I promise to try to be more sensitive to your feelings in the future. If… If you still wanna be friends."

Shota barked out a laugh, "did your therapist tell you what to say?"

"Yeah, she did," Chiharu casually admitted like she didn't know where the problem was and twisted around to glare at him when he snickered. "So? What?!" Shota put up his hands in surrender.

"Nothing, nothing," he replied, calming down quickly. "Do I get an apology too?" He smirked but it fell at her serious expression.

"I'm sorry, Shota. For not considering your feelings when you told me you wanted to be more than friends," their eyes locked. "I said some stupid, selfish things that probably made you both feel really bad. My mental illness is a part of me, not some separate thing that represents the real me. Even if I am totally fucked up, it is okay for me or anyone like me, to make meaningful relationships." She was clearly still quoting with her added flare.

"Do you even believe that, Chiharu?" Hizashi asked from the floor, and she turned back to look down at him.

"I don't know…" She replied quietly. "I know I'm sorry, and I miss you, Hiza-chan…"

"Chiharuuuuuuuu-!" Hizashi practically howled, sounding like he was going to cry too.

"Did you miss me too?" Shota asked, turning the chair and leaning forward while gaining himself another glare.

"Hell no," she tried to snarl but she just sounded tired, "you're a mean old goat…" Shota couldn't help but laugh at that before he shoved out of the chair. But she was quick! The second she realized her quirk was cancelled she bounded off Hizashi like a bunny. Didn't matter though. Shota still caught and pinned her down on the floor between the rows of desks in seconds. Mostly because her emotions weren't at all in check. She barely struggled, hands coming up to try and hit him, but he'd already dug his fingers into her ribs before cutting off her immediate scream with his other hand while simultaneously avoiding her punch. He blinked and she quickly appeared on her feet and across the classroom. "You have the worst quirk of all the quirks!" She circled wide back to Hizashi who was up and standing there, watching her come back to him, and smiling like he just couldn't help it.