Hizashi groaned as he stretched.
He had just finished his last set and thankfully his soreness from the fight yesterday was starting to fade enough for him to go out and have a good time tonight.
Which was fantastic news since Tensei had chosen to come over and party with them for his birthday this year, which they hadn't done since they were twenty.
Not that he would blame the guy for it.
Running the new branch of such a big name agency, with nearly fifty people under him plus the other staff and basically raising his brother in another prefecture would leave most people too drained to keep in contact.
And that was before taking into account Tensei's own hours as a pro-hero on top of that.
Hence why they normally went to him and crashed at his place in Tokyo.
Okay some of the clubs there were nicer too but the three of them mainly went to see Tensei.
As busy as each of them were, running businesses, working as pros and balancing everything else they did, Hizashi knew it was important to all of them to make time for each other.
As painful as it was sometimes, it was worth it.
"Alright! I'mma clean up in the back then I'm outta here! Catch ya tomorrow, Shelly." Hizashi exclaimed over his shoulder as he left the booth.
The woman scoffing "As if you'll be in any fit state to broadcast!" she shouted back, making Hizashi laugh.
She was probably right, Tensei's birthdays usually got wilder than their average get togethers.
Hizashi entered the backroom and went straight for the shower, he was so glad he argued it's necessity and enjoyed washing all of the hair products out of his hair and the grime that built up from wearing his costume.
Stepping out he made sure to wrap his hair carefully and popped out his contacts and checking his eyes once he put on his glasses.
Glad to find there was no damage from wearing them for so long Hizashi set himself to getting dressed in his 'nicer' barhopping clothes and blow drying his hair before he put it into a loose ponytail.
Hizashi chuckled seeing how different he looked without all the grit and glamour of his hero-persona and for the fun of it gave himself finger guns in the mirror.
Hearing his phone ping Hizashi checked it and grinned when he saw the text from Nemuri that she was waiting out front for him and shot her a thumbs up back before collecting his costume.
Five minutes later Hizashi had slipped out of the private exit and headed towards where Nemuri was parked, she whistled once she saw him as he jumped into the passenger side.
"Woof, you looking to bring someone home tonight, Zashi?" Nemuri teased with a chuckle as she pulled out of her parking spot.
Hizashi huffed back "Nah, Sho may be in a better mood but I'm pretty sure he'd kill me if I brought someone back to the apartment." Hizashi playfully replied.
"Ooh, what about your mistress?" Nemuri asked, batting her eyes at him as they stopped at a stoplight.
Hizashi snorted.
"Then you should be ready to wake up without any hair, eyebrows included. Sho's been in a 'mood' mood." Hizashi told her and Nemuri sighed.
"What a pity, guess we'll both have to abstain tonight." Nemuri said pretending to be more dejected than she actually was.
Making Hizashi chuckle himself at her pouty dramatics and leaning so his head was on her shoulder.
"Ah, c'mon Nem, we both know that you missed Ten-Ten." Hizashi teased her.
"Of course I did." Nemuri snorted pushing him away as the two of them laughed, arriving at the bar they planned to meet Tensei in a matter of minutes, thankful they had chosen one of the hero hubs to get drunk at.
The Iida family was pretty famous, and they didn't want to deal with a bunch of people coming up to try and chat up Tensei, and alcohol only made those fans bolder.
Carefully fishing out and showing their licenses to the bouncer they slipped inside and were glad to see that Tensei and Shouta were already there.
"Ten-Ten!" he and Nemuri exclaimed as they both glomped onto their bluenette friend.
Tensei of course laughed good naturedly as he hugged them back.
"Geeze, guys you don't have to act like I'm returning from war." Tensei teased them as they settled to sit with the two at their table.
"But we haven't seen you in months." Hizashi protested with Nemuri backing him up.
"Yeah, you didn't even bother to visit us the last time you were in town." she told him poking his chest.
Tensei chuckled rubbing the back of his neck "Okay, okay, I get it." Tensei said back holding his hands up in mock surrender.
"Now come on and tell me how things have been going for you guys?" Tensei asked, changing the topic.
Hizashi was happy to tell Tensei all about the kids he was watching over for the year, little stories of what the students were hoping to accomplish and the projects they turned in.
Nemuri was just as eager to share about the debates her homeroom class got into about the current first-years costumes.
"Speaking of, how is the Ankle-biter?" Shouta asked after Nemuri commented about a heels sponsorship she rejected recently.
"Sho come on, that was years ago. You can't hold that against Tenya forever." Hizashi playfully jibbed, softly elbowing Shouta's side where he knew Shouta wasn't bruised from patrol.
Tensei, however, waved him and his scolding off.
"Tenya's doing alright, maybe studying too much to prep for the entrance exam next year but I've been trying to get him to lighten up." Tensei answered, fond but exhausted with his little brother.
"Is he still planning to go with the public exam?" Shouta inquired before sipping at his drink.
"Yep, said he didn't want any special treatment." Tensei confirmed with a nod, rubbing his neck before glancing away.
"I don't doubt he'll pass too, I just hope he can manage to make a couple of friends once he starts at U.A." Tensei admitted a little downtrodden.
Ah, Hizashi shared an uneasy glance with Nemuri.
They had met Tenya out of costume a few times and heard more from Tensei about how, what was the right word? Dedicated he was to following the rules and his personality causing a few interpersonal problems at school.
So, it wasn't hard to understand how Tenya had somehow remained mostly friendless over the years.
Shouta murped "He'll be fine Legacy case, plenty of people don't make friends until they're older." Shouta told Tensei rather unbothered, then he pointed with his glass in one hand at Tensei.
"We didn't get closer until our second year remember." Shouta pointed out.
Tensei huffed and clinked his glass with Shouta's.
"Yeah, I'm probably worrying over nothing." Tensei agreed then turned back to Nemuri to ask her more about the sponsorship she turned down.
Hizashi's shoulders slumped a bit though as his eyes went down to his own glass, nervously nibbling on his lip as Shouta's point sat a bit heavier for him.
Shouta hadn't been wrong, they hadn't been nearly so close to Tensei when they first met him back then.
Tensei was in the same year as Nemuri and in class B at that, and with Shouta's rivalry with Kan Tensei was more like Nemuri's rich acquaintance than their friend.
But then they had their work studies.
Hizashi's hands tightened.
They had lost Oboro and could have lost Shouta too if Oboro hadn't acted just in time to send Shouta flying out of the collapsing building with the kid they went to rescue.
That loss had shaken them all in ways they hadn't known they could be, trauma tended to suck like that and as a response to it they had all firmly locked down on each other.
Whereas everyone else in their class drifted apart in their mourning he, Shouta, and Nemuri became attached at the hip and fully dragged Tensei into their fold and spent nearly every day with each other after school.
Not that they used Tensei to replace Oboro.
No one could replace him.
But after losing one of their best and closest friends in such a horrid way a lot of their inhibitions in fully befriending Tensei had been wiped away.
And Hizashi would never regret the years and years of friendship they had built between the four of them.
Still though as he sat with his three friends, he couldn't help longing for Oboro to be sitting with them, to see how the years would have aged him though Hizashi was sure it wouldn't have changed him that much over time.
At the very least Hizashi was sure Oboro was happy they stayed so close and didn't drift apart after his death.
"Hey Zashi, Zashi don't tell me your tolerance has gotten worse since we last saw each other." Tensei asked waving one of his hands in front of his face, bringing Hizashi out of his thoughts.
Hizashi snorted "Nah I could still drink you under, just got lost up here." Hizashi told him, tapping his forehead "So what were we talking about?" Hizashi asked, only to regret it when Nemuri smirked at him.
"Oh, nothing much, just how you're Midoriya's number three hero." Nemuri playfully answered.
Hizashi felt flush at the reminder, but he snorted and quickly pointed towards Shouta.
"I may be the little guy's number three but Sho here is his favorite." Hizashi pointed out, making Shouta groan and his head hit the table.
"Don't remind me." Shouta growled, his face still firmly planted on the table.
"Well considering he's probably going to be one of Tenya's teachers next year I was actually hoping to know a little more about the kid." Tensei told them.
Hizashi smiled and placed a hand on Tensei's shoulder, chuckling about how much of a mother hen his friend could turn into when it came to his little brother.
"You don't have to worry about the little speedster, Ten-Ten. Midoriya is great with the kids and Tenya will definitely learn a lot from him." Hizashi promised.
Nemuri snorted "Oh Midoriya's a little more than great considering the year wide protest the kids had for him during the festival this year." Nemuri commented.
Tensei chuckled himself "Can't believe we missed it live, the third years were great, but I wish I could have seen that in protest in person." he told them.
"It certainly shook things up that's for sure, what did Tenya think of it?" Hizashi asked, sipping on his glass.
Tensei chuckled a bit more awkwardly as he rubbed his neck.
"Actually, Tenya hasn't watched the first years section this year." Tensei said, and Hizashi didn't have to look at Nemuri and Shouta to know that they were also looking at Tensei.
"Why?" Shouta questioned for them.
"Well, you see it took a lot of convincing to get Tenya to watch the third years with me, he wanted to just study and when I was going to watch the first years later, he told me he wasn't going to watch it because of the protest." Tensei awkwardly explained before holding his hands up.
"It wasn't about the reason, I swear. He didn't even know why there was a protest, just that the first years wouldn't use their quirks and refused to 'compete honestly'. His words, his words." Tensei elaborated further.
Hizashi stared at Tensei, his mouth opening and closing before he managed to ask "How did Tenya learn about the protest but not why there was a protest?"
"Pretty sure he didn't look into himself since he went right back to studying afterwards, but he did tell me he overheard some of the kids talking about how crazy it was to not use their quirks in protest." Tensei answered.
"And he didn't hear what the protest was about from the other kids?" Nemuri said in disbelief.
Tensei shook his head.
"Tenya doesn't want to eavesdrop and doesn't really talk with his peers, and he's hasn't paid much attention to the news lately either with all of the studying he's been doing for the last couple of years." Tensei told them with a shrug.
"Wait, wait, wait. Does Tenya not know about Midoriya being a teacher? Like at all?" Hizashi questioned.
Tensei blinked, thinking about it.
"You know what I don't think he does... Tenya would've definitely said something about how inappropriate it would be by now." Tensei said looking just as confused about his brother's lack of knowledge as they were.
"How? Just how?" Nemuri asked not looking at any of them "Midoriya's been all over the news and the only thing people have been talking about aside from All Might moving to part-time." she exclaimed.
"I'll make sure to bring it up to Tenya when I get back, I wouldn't want him to have a misunderstanding if he runs into Midoriya once he starts at U.A." Tensei said shaking his head.
"No, don't tell him anything." Shouta told Tensei and now it was time for the three to look at Shouta confused.
"If the ankle-biter ain't going to do even basic research then he deserves to be in the dark." Shouta argued.
"But Sho what if he ends up in Midoriya's class and does something-" Tensei tried to ask but Shouta waved his hand dismissively.
"Midoriya's got thick skin, ain't anything your brother will do that'll get under his skin and if your brother does try to start shit then Midoriya will out him in his place." Shouta said setting down his glass.
Nemuri sighed "I hate to say it but I kind of agree with Sho." she told them face palming.
"You can't police Tenya's behavior forever or always tell him how to act, and it might not be the best memory for him but sometimes the best way to learn will be to mess up." Nemuri told Tensei.
Tensei sighed letting his head rest on his hands.
"Yeah... Yeah, you and Sho are probably right, just please don't be too hard on him, he doesn't react well to surprises." Tensei pleaded with them.
"As long as he ain't blatantly quirkist or outright malicious then he'll be fine." Shouta replied rolling his eyes.
"Wait, do you think he'll be in Sho's homeroom or Midoriya's next year?" Hizashi asked.
Nemuri hummed "A round at the bar says Sho." Nemuri bet, offering her hand.
Hizashi grinned holding his hand out and shook Nemuri's "Bet." Hizashi agreed while Shouta grumbled about them being idiots as Tensei laughed.
As if Shouta wouldn't be singing along with them in the taxi back to the apartment.
I really wanted to write the four of them drunkenly wondering out of the bar and into the park where Izuku and Hawks were hanging out and then having Izuku drive all four of the drunk heroes back to Shouta and Hizashi's apartment, with the four singing along to the radio surprisingly on key.
I even know which song I wanted them to sing, it was Affection by BETWEEN FRIENDS and drunk or not they would have killed singing that song.
If I ever finish this I'll make that in a deleted scenes fic.