Pairing: ShinMicZawa (Shinsou/Mic/Aizawa)
Full summary: Aizawa has gone most of his life not thinking too much about his soulmate who he has had yet to meet - he has more important things on his mind, like sudden fatherhood and trying to make enough to support both himself and his new daughter. He doesn't have time to date, doesn't have time to meet anyone new, and certainly doesn't have time for the not at all subtle yakuza who have suddenly started frequenting his workplace.
Now if only said yakuza would get the hint...
Content tags/warnings: Yakuza AU, canon-typical violence, no-quirks/powers AU, soulmates, soul marks, Dadzawa (with Eri), aged-up characters, trans Hizashi, established ShinMic
Note: If you don't like this pairing, go on and click the back button or X out of the window and go read something you do like ❤
Chapter 1
Shouta doesn't hate his job per se, but there are definitely days when he'd rather be at home napping. The Daily Grind Cafe isn't in the greatest part of town, but it's busy enough that he gets the hours needed to pay for his dingy little apartment and take care of his daughter.
His boss has been nervous the last couple of days, and Shouta is weighing the merits of just outright asking what's wrong when the door chimes and three men walk in. Two of them he vaguely recognizes, and he inwardly groans upon realizing just why his boss has been in a mood. Members of the local yakuza, likely here to collect protection money.
He probably isn't supposed to know who they are, but Shouta's lived in this area long enough to know the regular faces of trouble and try to steer clear of them. Fortunately he has a fantastic resting bitch face that doubles as a poker face, so he ignores them as he waits on the customers he's already attending, and they fall to the back of his mind as he gets busy doing his job.
About half an hour later he's up at the cash register finishing out the ticket for a table that just paid when the clearing of a throat catches his attention. "Yeah?" he says shortly, punching in the last items and double checking it matches his written ticket before running payment.
"I'd like to order," says a smooth, deep voice.
Shouta looks up and just blinks at the sight of the third yakuza, the one he hadn't seen before. They're about the same height, but the other man looks to be in his early twenties at the oldest, with fluffy violet locks atop an undercut that does absolutely nothing to hide the dragon coiled along one side of his neck and down under the collar of his jacket. Being yakuza, Shouta's fairly sure it's a tattoo and not the man's soul mark. "All right," Shouta says, fishing his order pad out from his apron pocket. "What can I get you?"
"What do you recommend?"
Go eat somewhere else, Shouta thinks. "Depends on what you're in the mood for," he says out loud, voice monotone. "Our sandwiches are decent and the coffee's not too bad."
"A ringing endorsement," the man drawls with a smirk.
Shouta shrugs. "I just work here."
The man raises one (pierced, Shouta's traitorous brain notes) brow in clear amusement. "Well, if the coffee's not "too bad", I guess I'll have one of those to go."
"Size? Anything for it, or just straight black?"
"Medium with a dash of cinnamon and a scoop of sugar," the man replies, his lips curling up at the corners in a brief smile. "Spicy but sweet, just how I like it."
...Shouta really doesn't have the energy for this. He finishes putting the order in and reaches out to take the man's payment. He pulls out a few bills but pauses for a second before handing them to Shouta.
"Cute tattoo," he says. "You like cats?"
Shouta's eyes dart from the screen to the man's face, but if his interest is unseemly he's doing a good job of keeping it from his expression. All Shouta has to go on is his gut. "Yeah," he replies. "Cats are nice."
Soul marks differ from person to person, some more elaborate than others. Shouta's is simple, a small outline of two cats curled together with a fluffy bird chick nesting between them. That and its placement on his forearm makes it easily mistaken for a tattoo. He's never felt the need to purposely hide his soul mark, but under glinting purple eyes with oddly opalescent pupils he's suddenly regretting his habit of rolling his sleeves up at work to keep from getting food on them.
"Here's your change," Shouta says, dropping it in the man's hand so as to avoid touching him. He doesn't like touching other people in general, but his hind brain is practically screaming at him that this guy is dangerous; making physical contact with him even more so. "Your coffee'll be out in a bit."
The man's lips quirk up at the corner. "Thanks," he says, pocketing the change.
Shouta hands the ticket off to his coworker who handles making coffee and their other drinks to go back to the other table he'd been waiting on, but he can feel the man's eyes on him up until the point he gets his order and leaves. Shouta lets out the briefest sigh of relief when he does.
He's a simple man trying to live a simple life; he does not want to get caught up in the sort of nonsense getting involved with a yakuza is likely to bring.
Hitoshi doesn't normally collect protection money – being Yamada Hizashi's right hand man (and soulmate) makes what is usually grunt work rather below him. But this arm of the Yuuei group is relatively new to the area, so sending someone high up for the first few collections is needed both as show of strength to anyone who might think about challenging them for the now former Shie Hassaikai territory, and to assure the people formerly under the Shie Hassaikai's protection that business for them would continue as usual.
And that's the secondary reason for sending Hitoshi specifically with one group today and Uraraka with the other. They're both observant, and with Hitoshi's charisma and Uraraka's chipper demeanor they can put people at ease while fishing for possible information as to just what had prompted the Shie Hassaikai group to basically implode with next to no warning.
From what they can discern from swirling rumors and the remnants of the group that had been absorbed when they took over, the old boss had taken ill suddenly a few months ago. There was some grumbling over his apparent successor, a Chisaki Kai, taking over, as the man was standoffish and not well liked by some of the other higher-ups who had been there longer. Then Chisaki had disappeared, and with no one to directly blame the group fell apart to infighting as Chisaki's men blamed those who had disapproved of him, and they in turn denied they had anything to do with it.
Casualties from yakuza infighting generally get ignored by the police even if they aren't dirty, the understanding being if it spills over into unaffiliated civilians the police will step in then, and until that happens they're happy to let them kill each other off. With no evidence of just what happened to Chisaki, the police weren't about to look a gift horse in the mouth and actually figure out what happened to him, which meant they weren't about to be a reliable source of information in all this.
So here Hitoshi is, accompanied by two of the lower level grunts that Hizashi had deemed trustworthy enough to have his back. The visits with the businesses they've already been to today have been uneventful enough that he's expecting the other shoe to drop any second now just to even things out – call him paranoid, but he prefers not to be caught off guard.
The owner of the Daily Grind Café is a twitchy man behind closed doors, especially after Hitoshi properly introduces himself, but he calms down a bit once Hitoshi explains quite plainly that they're not looking to inconvenience small businesses like himself, just ensure that things go smoothly for everyone involved, as they are part of the community now.
Good neighbors and all that, yeah?
He waves the grunts off to wait outside after they finish up. They still have ground to cover and Hitoshi could use some caffeine to carry him through the rest of the day.
The man behind the counter doesn't look up as Hitoshi approaches, too focused on the register. After a moment of no acknowledgement, Hitoshi clears his throat.
"Yeah?" the man says brusquely without looking up.
"I'd like to order," Hitoshi says, just barely keeping a slightly sarcastic edge from his voice.
The man looks up and stares at Hitoshi for just a second longer than is polite before taking a notepad from his apron pocket. Judging from the dark circles under his eyes, he may need a coffee more than Hitoshi. "All right. What can I get for you?"
"What do you recommend?"
"Depends on what you're in the mood for," the man replies, his voice flat in a way that has Hitoshi itching to do something to provoke a reaction. "Our sandwiches are decent and the coffee's not too bad."
The lackluster response has the corner of Hitoshi's mouth curling up. "A ringing endorsement," he drawls.
The man shrugs. "I just work here."
"Well," Hitoshi says, raising an eyebrow. "If the coffee's not "too bad", I guess I'll have one of those to go."
"Size? Anything for it, or just straight black?"
"Medium with a dash of cinnamon and a scoop of sugar. Spicy but sweet," he adds with a hint of mischief. "Just how I like it."
There's a fraction of a second where Hitoshi sees the words register and another half second where the man decides not to react and just do his job. That's a shame, Hitoshi thinks as he waits for his order to be totaled. There's a rugged handsomeness about him, what with the stubble and the short ponytail, even if the eyebags make him look a little bit like death warmed over – he could probably benefit from loosening up a bit. He hands some money over to pay and that's when he sees It.
Soul marks start out as dark outlines, only gaining further detail and color when soulmates first make skin to skin contact. On the underside of the man's forearm is an all-black outline of two cats curled together with a bird chick nestled between them, a design that Hitoshi would know anywhere considering he has the same on his arm, albeit partly colored. Even now, the larger cat remains an outline only on both his and Hizashi's arms, while the smaller cat and bird are shaded the same as their respective hair colors.
"Cute tattoo," Hitoshi says aloud, voice blessedly steady as his mind races. The timing of this is terrible. "You like cats?"
The man – his soulmate – looks at him briefly before his attention goes back to the register. "Yeah. Cats are nice." He counts out the change and drops it in Hitoshi's hand. "Here's your change. Your coffee'll be out in a bit."
Hitoshi smiles slightly. "Thanks," he says. He watches as the man goes back out to one of the full tables, for all appearances unaware that he's completely upended Hitoshi, and by extension Hizashi's, life just by existing.
His coffee is ready all too quickly, and Hitoshi has to tear himself away from the store, reminding himself that he is in the middle of his job, he doesn't have time for this. Shit, he thinks woefully as he and his companions continue on to their next stop. His and Hizashi's soulmate is a civilian.
This is going to require some delicacy.
A/N: *waves weakly* Hey, I'm not dead! ^^; And I've joined a couple new fandoms hehehe ^^;;;;;
So, fun fact: if you don't MANUALLY select in your account settings to receive emails from FFN every so often, you get automatically opted out after 90 days! So since the last time I updated any of my fics on this site was in 2019/2020 and then I didn't write for like three whole years, if you've left a review or sent me a message since then, I did not receive an email about it and therefore had no idea you did that; I wasn't purposely ignoring you, I promise. If you're a returning reader, info can be found in my profile regarding the status of my current fics/WIPs.
Anyways, I actually started writing and posting fic again about a year ago with a ShinZawaMic Hannibal fusion fic over on AO3 (link is in my profile), but this is the first fic I've posted since then that can be crossposted to FFN as well since the rest of them definitely would violate the TOS here lmao xD This fic is T-rated tho, so I can share it with you all here! Fair warning if you do look up my other fics on AO3 to PLEASE read the tags thoroughly; most of it is adult content and is tagged accordingly and I don't want anyone getting blindsided lol
On that note, AO3 has spoiled me in terms of tagging, so I've posted some tags/content warnings at the top of this chapter/the beginning of the story so people have an idea of what they're getting into. If you comment on this fic just to complain about it being a teacher/student ship or whatever you're getting blocked. I've been writing and posting fic since I was a young teenager myself and do not care about the current discourse. This is all fiction babes ❤
Written in the present tense which isn't something I do often, but it fit for this fic ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ If you enjoyed the chapter let me know! I know I certainly had fun writing Shouta in food service hehehe :3c