Resurrection | Shota Aizawa

Chapter 22

I wrote most of this on my phone in an airport, so fingers crossed there's not too many typos! Apologies in advance if the writing is stilted y'all

Third person pov

It's different having a teenager in the house. In some ways, Hitoshi is the perfect buffer. In others, he toes the delicate line between helpful to Shota's ongoing crisis and detrimental in the way he mutters all-too-obvious comments under his breath.

It's domestic in a manner Shota quite literally never could've imagined. He and Hiroki don't exactly sleep in the same bed, but they sleep close enough that you could almost lie and say they did. The room is small and they share it, and in Shota's eyes that's basically the same thing anyway.

Breakfast in the morning and a drive to school full of chatter. Dinners spent asked about his day and watching Shinso awkwardly fidget through a recollection of his own, hesitantly blooming under Hiroki's steady attention and warmth. It's, in a word, absolutely glorious.

Shota is a plane gone down. He's pretty sure years are being sheared off his lifespan. He can't tell if he's developing a genuine heart issue or if it's all just Hiroki. Every little glance and smile sends his pulse racing, and it only seems to be getting worse as the days pass.

You would think he'd have adjusted by now, at least to some extent. Grown used to Hiroki plopping down on the couch next to him, or bumping shoulders with him in the kitchen. To the groggy good mornings he's offered when the alarm goes off, and the way Hiroki looks with his messy hair and sleepy expression.

Shota wants to bite him. He wants to kiss him. He wants to give him everything he wants and more. Shota wants to do a lot of things.

Instead, he sits here and stares. He knows he probably looks like a lovestruck idiot. He finds that he doesn't give a shit. He's past caring at this point.

"God." Hizashi muses, voice airy and on the edge of a laugh. "This is so painful to watch."

The other teachers all share a nod. Shota is shit at hiding his overwhelming affection for their resident resurrected. Seeing as his adoration only seems to grow by the day— something that had floored even Mic, who thought it couldn't get any worse— nobody sees that changing anytime soon.

Hiroki had quickly become a favorite on staff, with his tendency to sweep into the teachers lounge with homemade confections of every kind. Cookies and brownies and tiny cakes that look straight out of a magazine. He is a man of many talents, honestly too bright and cheery for the brutal pace UA sets.

He seems to thrive here, though. The kids certainly adore him. Mr. Akisuka's class is the talk of the school, just as it was all those years ago back when they were students themselves. Getting criminology with Hiroki is akin to winning the lottery.

Right now, he was currently with 1-A, all of them holding court outside on one of the unused tracks. Apparently the day was way too nice not to be spent outside— his words, not theirs. The kids all seemed completely immersed in whatever he was saying, following his wide gestulcating enthusiastically.

Even Katsuki Bakugo seemed completely immersed. And that wasn't even taking into account Todoroki. Maybe them being related had something or everything to do with it, but it didn't change the fact that the usually-stoic boy turned into the human equivalent of a puppy in the face of his uncle.

"There's no way he hasn't noticed." Nemuri agreed, peering curiously at Shota's face. "He's not an idiot. And Shota's not that subtle."

"He's not subtle at all, I'd reckon." Snipe corrected, leaning back in his seat. "He's spendin' his break starin' at 'im. Visibly. From a set of picnic tables not even intended for staff use. We have our own private ones, on the roof and in the courtyard. There ain't no reason for us to be out here."