Sound of Silence (Aizawa X OC)

Ch. 23: Distracted

-----Shinobu's POV-----

When I awoke the next day, Nii-san hesitantly informed me of the mandatory dinner with his parents, and I felt my anxiety spike immediately. Not wanting to worry him anymore than he clearly already was, I just smiled and said okay before quickly getting ready and heading to UA. On the way there, I put in my lavender wireless ear buds and turned on some music on my phone. This was one of the ways I was able to make myself not use my quirk as a clutch.

The entire 15 minute walk to UA, I listened to my twenty one pilots and Cavetown playlist on Spotify. It helped calm me down a bit, but I was still very much distracted by the upcoming dinner. My memories never quite recovered from the poison from that villain. The doctor's said that the memories would only fix themselves when faced with a reality that didn't quite match them, similar to how some of my memories started to clear up a bit when Nii-san was super nice to me.

I was so focused on the anxiety I was dealing with that despite taking out my headphones as I entered the teachers' lounge at UA, I didn't notice that there was anyone else in the room. With a large silent sigh, I sat at my desk and pushed my hair back with my hand, trying to focus on the training plan Shouta and I had worked on for Tamaki.

"Morning, Muffle," a low, gruff voice greeted with a nervous tinge, causing me to jump in surprise before giving him a small wave to Seikijiro who had sat beside me without me realizing, not really knowing how to act with him either. I still was not happy with him shouting out Shouta's business out of jealousy. It was petty, and I was disappointed in the blood hero. The large hero let out a sigh before scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Listen, Shinobu-san, I'm really sorry about yesterday." Seikijiro apologized as I continued to look at him with a blank expression for several moments before finally responding, my voice quiet but more stern than usual.

"I'm the not the person you should apologize to, Vlad-san," I responded, my voice stern but not bitter, the use of his hero name being more than enough to let him know I was not happy with him at all. As if on cue, the door to the teachers' lounge opened to reveal none other than my favorite scruffy, underground hero.

Shouta sent me a nod in greeting, his expression softening ever so slightly before turning to glare at Seikijiro who immediately distanced himself from me. I got up and walked over to the coffee pot, pouring Shouta his usual black coffee into a travel cup and pouring some hot water over a green tea bag for myself and adding two sugars before bringing him his drink at his desk.

"Thanks," he muttered gratefully as he took a sip of the scalding hot beverage before looking at me with a tiny smirk, "Were you able to get good rest yesterday?" I smiled and nodded excitedly thinking back to the awesome time I had had with Zashi-nii the night before. A gruff clearing of a throat caused our attention to Vlad who was now standing awkwardly in front of Shouta's desk.

"What do you want?" Shouta asked in his usual tired tone.

"Look... I... I wanted to apologize for what I did yesterday... It was uncalled for and petty," Vlad admitted, clearly being sincere and very uncomfortable. I held back a smile. It was nice that he was willing to put his pride down and apologize to Shouta. Shouta looked at me for a second and recognized my expression before closing his eyes with a sigh and taking another sip of his coffee. When he put down his coffee, he opened his eyes and looked up at Vlad with a stern gaze.

"You're lucky that Mic stepped in when he did, Vlad," Shouta stated bluntly before continuing, "Interfere with mine and Shinobu's relationship again, and I won't be so forgiving. I'm only letting it go because it's clear that that's what she wants. So we're fine." I smiled a bit at his words. It made me happy to know that Nii-san still had Shouta's back the morning after all hell broke loose. Vlad nodded in understanding as Shouta got up, finished his coffee, grabbed my hand as we walked towards Class 1-A. My face flushed as I realized he was still holding my hand when we left the teacher's lounge.

"Um... Shouta?" I got his attention and looked at our hands, trying to hold back my blush. He smiled a bit and let go but immediately ruffled my hair letting me know he was thankful for me pointing it out. He and I had both agreed that we would rather keep our private life private, especially when it came to the students. It was safer and more comfortable for both us since neither of us were the most social individuals. I'm pretty sure that the only reason he told Vlad was because he wanted Vlad to stop hitting on me all the time.

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Shouta had been trying to keep my attention for the last couple of hours so we could work on Tamaki's training plan. But my mind kept drifting due to my anxiety about the dinner with my aunt and uncle. The last straw was when, after 3 hours of getting my attention every fifteen minutes, I accidentally canceled my own hearing and my sight in a wave of anxiety. After a couple of minutes, the familiar feeling of my quirk being erased washed over me, and my sight and hearing returned. I was greeted with the sight of my boyfriend's ever stern expression as his eyes narrowed slightly at me and his arms crossed.

"Now, are you going to tell me what has had you so damn anxious this whole day, or are you going to try and keep bottling it up and handling it yourself?" he questioned bluntly, quirking an eyebrow at me. I looked down at my hands as I began signing as I was speaking aloud.

"It's nothing important, Shouta. I don't want to bother anyone with something that's not even a big deal," I admitted quietly, looking up to see Shouta with a concerned frown before he let out a long sigh.

"Is it about the dinner with Mic's parents?" he suddenly asked and my eyes widened in shock, answering his question, "I thought so. He texted me about it this morning after you left the house. Why are you so anxious about it?" I shrugged in response, not wanting to really talk about it.

"Talk to me, Shinobu. I'm no good with this kind of stuff, but I can't help if you don't tell me," he stated bluntly. I thought for a moment before letting out a silent sigh and signing as I spoke.

"I don't have any good memories with my uncle, Shou... I don't know if it's because of the poison from that villain or if they're real. If they are real, then I really don't want to go on Saturday. But if they aren't, why can't I find even the happier memories?" I rambled quietly as I kept signing until a felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Shouta with a soft expression as he spoke in a much more soothing tone that I was pretty certain no one else got to hear.

"You won't find out if you don't go. Hizashi won't let anything bad happen to you. So if it becomes too much, you can always leave. That's one of the perks of being an adult. We have the power to choose for ourselves when others become too much; however, we also have the responsibility of dealing with whatever consequences come from those choices," he points out, the fact that he was a teacher through and through definitely showing with his little speech, but it did make me feel better a bit. I gave him a small smile and put my hand over his.

"Thanks, Shouta," I said quietly, no longer feeling anxious enough to need to constantly sign as I spoke. He gave me a small smile and a placed a quick, warm kiss on my forehead before returning back to his seat at his desk across from me.

"No problem. Now that you're focused, let's get this training plan for your student done," he said getting right back to business making me smile even more. This guy... Dating or not, he still holds me to his high standards. I might just be okay on Saturday with support like this behind me.

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Song: Armor by Landon Austin